Post Christmas "Blues"

Elvis Presley made a song called "Blue Christmas" and he was lamenting about the sorrow of being apart during the special holiday.

I think we all experience a bit of the "blues" during the week following Christmas. There isn't much going on until New Year's Eve and we are mostly EXHAUSTED! As usual, most of us overdid it at Christmas, whether eating, drinking, spending or just trying to keep up with all the kids. Kids experience a "down" period after Christmas too. They quickly learn that the actual experience rarely lives up to the anticipation.

So take it really easy in the days following Christmas. Remember that it is normal to feel the "let down" and it's very important to use the time for recuperation.



Please explore my blog feeds in the right sidebar including my Retired and Restless blog.

Terror on a Country Road

You know those big BIG snowplow trucks that we love to see when we are out driving in a snowstorm?

I can tell you that it is the scariest of all scary things to encounter on the road when walking the dogs at 6 am in the dark. Both dogs slipped their leashes and if not for a passing car that stopped, with it's headlights shining, the snowplow would probably have "plowed" us right off the road! (Note: encountering mountain lions and bears is pretty scary too.)

Flashlight, reflective clothing, and heavy duty boots suitable for charging into the ditch are absolute necessities when out and about with a snowplow in the neighborhood.

You see, the workday begins for all of us before sunrise here in the "far North" so dogwalking really can't wait until daylight.

The real problem, though, stems from the apparent "hurry" that the snowplow driver feels when there is insufficient snow or ice for him to travel at a decent pace down the switchbacks leading to our home. The daytime, dry road speed limit is 30, and he does all of that and a perhaps a little more while he "looks" for snow and ice, so he can move on to other roads.

There is only one way in and one way out of our little corner of the World, so we are pretty limited in where we can walk.

The liberal use of four-letter words may slow him down in the future, but who knows?



Please explore my blog feeds in the right sidebar including my Retired and Restless blog.

Kimmy Sharing Light

I've visited the Kimmy Sharing Light blog site before, and today I was especially moved by some of the quotations I found there. Without any prompting, I desire to give you a link to the site, and insert her EntreCard widget here as well.

In these difficult economic times, there are many of us who are suffering financially, and many of us have family and friends who are hurting even more than we ourselves.

One of the burdens of modern society is that we become so addicted to it, so attached and dependent, that we cannot survive without every convenience and advantage that we believe we have earned.

It is good to take a moment and reflect on what is important and what is not.

I always find this quotation amusing and insightful, but I don't recall where it came from:

"If you want God to have a good laugh, tell Him about Your Plans."

Please explore my blog feeds in the right sidebar including my Retired and Restless blog.

The Daily Coyote is now a book too; and a great story

For the past eight months or so I have been enjoying the photos and comments of Shreve Stockton, the Wyoming woman who is raising a Coyote as a pet, sort of. She adopted the coyote as a 10-day-old pup after his mother was killed. She named the puppy "Charlie" and her blog site is known as the The Daily Coyote. It is extremely popular.

The photography is stunning and intimate. And now there is a book too, just published in December 2008 by Simon and Schuster, aptly named The Daily Coyote - A Story of Love, Survival, and Trust in the Wilds of Wyoming. This is a story with spirit, and lest you think it is merely a book of photos, incredible as they are, here is a short excerpt that reveals a lot about the author herself:

"...when we only believe what has been said before, what has been done before, we give our own power away. Possibility evaporates; potential melts and seeps away deep into the earth below us. We cut ourselves short by thinking this way. I have always felt that it is from what we believe that our lives are created, not the other way around."

I've provided a link above, but also am inserting a link to the book on Amazon. I've been trying to read the book, but my wife keeps stealing it away. We have so many little tabs of paper marking especially poignant comments or photos, that it's beginning to look like a scrapbook.

Enjoy. Charlie is quite the animal; as is Eli, the resident cat who "owns" the household.



Please explore my blog feeds in the right sidebar including my Retired and Restless blog.

I'm Thankful That I Still Have My Own Teeth

I used to really struggle during Thanksgiving Day dinners when someone would suggest we all take turns saying what we are thankful for. Of course the person who suggested this drill would then quickly say, "And I'll go first!" Stinker. If not for the fact that I really hated to go through this routine, I would have been quicker to be the one to "suggest" and then "go first."

Perhaps we should all brings "lists" of "thankful fors" to have handy at the Thanksgiving Day dinner table...just in case...because there is always someone....

Even when I thought up some "thankful fors" I never got to use them because someone else would beat me to it. There wasn't a lot of originality at the Thanksgiving Day dinner table, as it seemed that everyone was thankful for the same stuff, year after year. That would be another good reason to bring a list. Each person would bring out his or her list, and, with a pencil, scratch out the items as they were mentioned, until our own turn came and we could say whatever was left on our own list. (Limit people to just mentioning one or two because, with a list handy, the tendency would be to just read the entire thing! NO!)

As I get older and older (now I am usually the OLDEST person at the table), I always have a couple of "older" guy things to be "thankful for" that younger people just can't relate to: "I am thankful that I can still get to the table on my own." "I am thankful that I still have my own teeth." "I am thankful that I can still pee."



Please explore my blog feeds in the right sidebar including my Retired and Restless blog.

Teach Your Children: Realistic Expectations or Live Your Dream?

There is no single answer or even a correct answer to the dilemmas and choices that parents must face in raising their children.

While wanting our kids to be healthy and successful, we often build up unrealistic expectations of what life is all about. We provide them with virtually every toy and piece of athletic equipment, every new doll or fashion accessory, every electronic device to keep up with their peer group, and often foot the bill for an education that we really can't afford, putting ourselves in debt to benefit the next generation. Is this really the best course?

My own parents and their generation grew up during the Great Depression, spent the prime of their youth fighting a world war and a police action in Korea, matured during the fifties under the shadow of the atomic bomb, even building basement bomb shelters to protect us children.

Then came the age of television and rising expectations. Not only were we aware of all the new inventions and products, we watched our television heroes amidst all the prosperity and we wanted our fair share.

While our parents saved cash in a coffee can buried in the back yard, salvaged Christmas wrapping paper and saved every little piece of aluminum foil, we just wanted bigger and bigger televisions, new stylish clothes, transistor radios, record players, multi-speed bicycles, and the latest toy guns, even REAL horses to ride! It must have driven our parents crazy and caused the GRANDPARENTS to just shake their heads at the "younger generation."

I know the popular practice is to tell our children that they can be ANYTHING; can grow up to be President or be rich and famous and have everything their little hearts desire.

I'm not at all certain that we do not set up our kids for failure and disappointment by building these expectations, by providing instant gratification, and protecting them from the harsh realities that LIFE often dishes out. They DO need to be prepared for the bad times as well as the good. They don't learn to cope with "want" and scarcity by being sheltered and shielded from the real life struggles that we as parents experience.


I think they should be encouraged to aim high, that is okay, but still need to realize that material goods and monetary successes are not the measures of their self worth. We need to temper our generosity with a little reality check. Teach them to save for what they want. Teach them work skills and financial skills and life skills. Why shouldn't they know how to cook and clean and operate the household appliances, to change a tire or the oil in the car?

Delayed gratification can enhance the pleasure. We learned that; they should learn it too.




Please explore my blog feeds in the right sidebar including my Retired and Restless blog.