Wish I could write like TC

TC is a Lieutenant in the Bangor, Maine Police Department.  He writes their Facebook page with a flare that is second to none.

 His latest post contained some of the old standard hints for holiday shopping.  Most should be a given - like keeping your packages out of sight and not punching other shoppers over the latest toy because you will hate to have to Skype the kids from county jail on Christmas!  Cause sure as you give in to that urge to HAVE THAT TOY AT ANY COST  someone will whip out their phone, film it and send it to the police and  ruin your holiday (see comment regarding Skyping at Christmas)!

Drive through (carefully) a parking space rather than choosing one you have to back out of - and if you have to back up try to at least glance in those decorative mirrors on the sides of your car.  They are there for a reason.

But I think my favorite in today's post was his recommendation for wearing mittens.

 Middle fingers are not the best way to say, "Happy Holidays." Keep those things down low in the car. If you have a hard time keeping "the bird" to yourself-wear mittens. Mittens make the WOTB (waving of the bird) appear to be a friendly salutation or a "go ahead of me at the traffic-light" wave. Mittens will make you appear kinder.

Anything that makes us appear kinder (or even makes us be kinder) in the tumultuous world of today is worth sharing.

So if you have a hard time controlling your fingers?

Buy mittens!

The thing we don't have - edited a bit

Thanksgiving is traditionally all about being thankful for what we have.  Not a bad thing since most of us have friends and family, food in our stomachs, a roof over our head and a modicum of stability in our lives.

We have the choice of whether to have the 2.5 children along with the cat and the dog (or neither, or both) or instead to choose to focus on a job we love or a hobby that consumes us.  Even in today's not so perfect world a person has a ton of choices on what path to follow...

As a matter of fact you can even choose to be a follower if that is what, as they say, floats your boat!

I know that we don't live in a perfect country where we all get together and sing the same song.  We argue about everything up to and including which weather report is the most accurate.

So what don't we have?

Anyone telling us what to think.  We don't have someone saying "you can't think that" or "man, that's not a popular idea".  We are free to speak our minds or, even, choose to shut up!

I'm not sure exactly where I am going with this Thanksgiving post but I have to say that even when I am annoyed with the way the world is turning I know I am at liberty to say so.  Imagine living where there is metaphorical duct tape over your mouth!

This is still a free country, dammit!

And this would be the edit:

Saying that we live in a country where we are free to speak our minds comes, in my mind, with one caveat (a caveat is defined as a warning or proviso of specific stipulations, conditions, or limitations.

synonyms:

warning, caution, admonition;  proviso, condition, stipulation, provision, clause, rider, qualification)

It's fine to speak your mind but doing so in an abrasive, aggressive or abusive manner does nothing but anger others.  An angry person cannot hear anything but their own anger!

So, speak your mind in a way that may actually do some good and, if not that, at least makes your point without hurtful words.  One of the things that bothers me the most about today's communications is the apparent license to be just as offensive as you possibly can without regard for anyone else.

Hold your family close this Thanksgiving Day (remember "family" doesn't always mean "blood") and be thankful for what we don't have along with all the wonderful wonderful things that we do!

Have a Happy Thanksgiving and remember to be keep your words as soft and sweet as possible cause you may just end up having to eat them!

As I am so fond of saying, you've got this!

But it might be winter

Definitely might be winter!

22 degrees here yesterday and now it's officially NOT Indian Summer any more.  My beautiful flowers- especially the Nasturtiums -

have been reduced to a yuckiness and so cold they froze my hands when I pulled them out of the gardens. Not to mention being slimy and hard to even get a grip on.

My volunteer sunflower which was doing so well sadly never got a chance to bloom.

I had thought the bird bath was just skimmed over with ice but when I dumped it out I found a big honkin slab of ice!  Past time to retire that for the winter for sure.

So, what's to do?

Bow to inevitable and get ready (more ready) for the next season.

In many ways this has been a hard summer and fall.  Too many "moments of silence" for innocents slaughtered and too much dissension among formerly close friends with different ideas of how to "fix" everything.  I stay away from politics most of the time here - at least partly because I'm not really qualified to "fix" anything and just tend to stand to one side and remain horrified at the things we do to each other.

So I focus on what I can hopefully have an impact on!

As in:  do you have that spare key securely stationed somewhere outside your house so when you inevitably lock yourself out this winter you can smugly stroll over, retrieve it and come in out of the cold?   And don't count on the world's battery backups for automatic doors - just don't!

I get to revisit some old favorites:  what will you do if you lose power?  What do you have for extra food in case you're unable to get out to the store? And how about your pet's food?  Is your car kept at least half full of fuel to avoid condensation in the tank and/or being "that guy" who runs out of gas at the absolute most inconvenient time?

Yup, I do tend to go on about the same things - sort of an endless loop of stuff that really needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.  Things that are easy to do ahead of time and harder than hell to try to accomplish if you are playing catch up from behind the eight ball.

I've noticed through life that the 8 ball never seems to be on level ground - just sayin!

So break out the winter coats, the long underwear, the doggy jackets

and whatever else makes you feel warm and fuzzy!

You've got this!

It doesn't have to be winter

No secret that a lot of people in New England are living through the "it doesn't have to be winter to have a storm that raises hell with everything" scenario right now.

Now I have to ask:

are

you

that

guy?


Not throwing stones here but how prepared are you for an out of season storm that takes down power for loads of people?  No, you don't even have to have a generator - it's still relatively warm out.  But you do need a plan:

Even if your plan is just to go to a hotel for the duration of a problem, it IS a plan!

So what do you actually need to account for (assuming it's not the dead of winter and cold enough to freeze the bazokas off that old brass monkey) in your plan if you want to stay home?

Just hitting the high spots here - you need a functioning phone so you can call for help if you need to.  That's actually a pretty high priority in the giant scheme of things.

And, no, it doesn't have to be that complicated - sometimes just a car charger can mean the difference between a charged phone and one that might be useful as a paperweight.  And since you always keep your car at least half full of fuel you can run it to charge the phone - no problem here!

You also need sources of light - flashlights (with extra batteries), perhaps a battery lantern (I'm not a big fan of the ones that work off propane or liquid fuel) and maybe some solar lights?

You also need a way to cook, water to do it with (and flush that all important commode) along with enough for basic hygiene.  The key word here is basic:  water to wash your hands, brush your teeth and drink.

A simple one burner propane stove will be enough to cook with for the short term.  Doesn't have to be complicated or expensive.

As usual this is not a "how to" deal - it's meant to start you thinking about what you might need/have to do if you lost power unexpectedly.  We all expect it in the winter - this time of year?  Not so much.

So take a look around your world and be that OTHER guy!

Does it have to be perfect?  No.  Will it be perfect?  Not a chance - there is always something you will wish you had done better/more of/sooner/whatever.  But it's a place to start and something to improve on for next time.

If you were totally not ready for the first time it's also a wonderful opportunity to make a list of what you wish you had done - honest.

Because there will be a next time - there always is.

Housekeeping

A note to those hardy souls who follow my blog by getting an email telling them there is a new post - and actually showing it to you right there on your e mail.

Apparently not everyone knows that if you click on the title of the post (or the "Sometimes I talk to myself" at the top) it takes you to the actual blog website and the post.

You not only get to see it in living color (orange:  my favorite) but you can see the other links that are there on the right side of the posts.  And if you are really feeling adventurous you can page down and voila!  all the other posts are there in sequential order to be paged through.

I'm grateful to anyone who reads my posts at all but being able to see the whole deal gives you access to other blogs that are worthwhile - not to mention that wonderful orange!

P.S.  there is also a place to leave comments

Just sayin!

I saw a hawk this morning

Actually I didn't see it at first, I heard it as it left it's perch on the top of the church up at the center - the flapping caught my attention.  That's how quiet it is around here that early.

The reason I didn't see it is easy - I was walking with my head down.  Wondering if my back was going to hurt too much to do yard work today - thinking of what I had to get at the grocery store and hoping I would beat the rush.  Hoping that no one did anything incredibly stupid today and started WW3.

When I walk/I worry and that keeps my head down.

Once I heard the hawk flapping across over me I stopped looking down - he (or she) landed in the top of a tree across from me and started looking for breakfast.

After I'd looked up once it was hard to look back down - the trees are in full fall color around here and the air is cool but not really cold yet.  Walking along became easier once I stopped looking 2 feet ahead of my feet!

What kind of a hawk was it?  Not sure - probably a Marsh Hawk cause there are a lot of them around here.  If I had been paying more attention I would have seen it flying rather than just landing.

Short and sweet this morning - stop looking down and pick your head up - you might see a hawk.  It's amazing!

Words to live by

Keep your sense of humor and always take it with you; always!

Keep your sense of trust in your family and friends and always take that with you; always! 

Be ready when folks look to your for help and advice. Do not let them down!!

Do not back peddle, wane  (decrease in vigor, power, or extent; become weaker) or ever become a victim. 

Make the week ahead a very good week.

Alan writes a blog - yeah, a lot of people blog these days (that word always sounds to me as if you have your foot caught in something that is going to suck your shoe off) but Alan is my buddy.

He encourages me when I think I have nothing to offer the blogging world (that's most of the time after I read what he or my nephew or his daughter or my brother wrote), he aims me in different directions when I get stuck in prepper doom and, most of all, he's just Alan.

The bolded lines at the beginning of this post are the ones he used to end his latest post.  I did let him know I was planning on stealing them.  Stealing them because if you stop to think for a moment, they really summarize a way of life.

If we lose our sense of humor we really are sunk - even dark humor is still...well, humor!  




Admit it - you chuckled.

Pretty much says it all.  There is no love without trust.

Be ready to help:  technically you do not even have to wait to be asked!

No victim here!

Sometimes the best way to approach a new week is to forget the old one!


Now lest I come across as some wacko version of Pollyanna, let it be said that I do none of these things perfectly - ok, some of them I do poorly - that trust thing is hard.  The dark humor?  I get that.  I have no problem helping people even if they aren't helping themselves but I spend too much time looking over my shoulder trying to outrun things that probably aren't even chasing me and no doubt worry about the wrong things (they never happen - something else does).

So Alan's parting shots came at a good time - a reminder to get my head out of where the sun doesn't shine and get on with things.

Care to join me?