Posts

Damp Peculiar Weather, Milking Cows and Ancestry

Date:   1/28/2021 Dad Joke :   A grenade thrown into a kitchen in France would result in Linoleum Blownapart.   (That is bad, but I like it as a “historyophile”.)     Random Thoughts on a Passing Scene:    It was so icy this AM from dew, humidity and generally damp peculiar weather that I had to abort my early AM walk. I simply was slipping with every step.   And, the fog was thicker than pea soup. When I wrote “damp peculiar” above, I immediately thought of my Grandfather Avender.    In our entire time together (and we did spend a lot of time together doing farm chores), I only heard him cuss once.   This was when a Holstein heifer, learning to be milked, kicked the milk pail over, knocking my Grandfather back, him getting swatted by a tail to add further insult,   etc.   At this point, a German expletive that clearly had something to do with “God” was heard.      However, always with a twinkle in his eye and a slight smile, he liked to find occasion to say that the weather wa
Post a Comment
Read more

Money, Saving and Preparing for Life

 Date:   1/28/2021 Dad Joke :   Don’t trust atoms.   (Pause) They make up everything.     A rubber band pistol was confiscated from algebra class because it was a weapon of math disruption. Random Thoughts on a Passing Scene:    After a three-plus-hour-semi-ordeal for us, with JLOB waiting patiently in the car, I received my first Covid vaccine shot.   For the record, this was the Moderna version.    No pain in the arm where the shot was administered.    Afterwards, I was a bit headachy which may or may not have anything to do with the vaccine.   JLOB is scheduled for her first shot this Saturday.    Maybe, just maybe the end game (for us, as far as holding the pandemic at bay) is afoot! More to do than can ever be done :   Save more than enough money to thrive financially in your retirement years.   Interested?   Read on! More to see than can ever be seen :   I saw EAB I jump off an incredibly high cliff into the raging surf of the Pacific Ocean to rescue Maria from a bale
Post a Comment
Read more

More Australian Thoughts

 Date:   1/27/2021 Dad Joke :   She was only a whiskey maker, but he loved her still. (Oh, that is bad!) (From Kathryn) Tom Brady is once again appearing in the Super Bowl.   Bill Belichick is deflated. Random Thoughts on a Passing Scene:    Today, Jan and I are trying to sign-up for the first round of the Covid vaccination shots.   We have to get an assigned time-slot – along with about “eleventy-zillion” others in our county!   As I finished writing this post, my ace Executive Assistant (that would be JLOB) has me signed up for the first of my shots later this afternoon.   The game is afoot!   JLOB is scheduled for Saturday.   Whoo-Hoo! More to do than can ever be done :   Take the ferry boats from north Seattle out around the San Juan Islands.   The ferry boats that cross Lake Michigan between Michigan and Wisconsin are also worth “doing”. More to see than can ever be seen :     Whales off the North Shore of Kauai.    Ask JLOB about this as I did not take the boat-excurs
Post a Comment
Read more

Australian Thoughts

  Date:    1/26/2021 Dad Joke :   On my visit to an Alaskan Island, I thought I saw an eye doctor, but it turned out to be an optical Aleutian.   (Oh, that is bad!) Random Thoughts on a Passing Scene:    In regard to today’s Dad Joke, I should write about my work-related trips to Alaska’s Admiralty Island (the Fortress of the Bears).   I did not get to see much as it was nearing the shortest daylight days of the year. More to do than can ever be done :   Other than a quick business trip for me, I think EAB II of our family is the only other one to have visited Australia.   Eric and Maria have been to New Zealand, with a stopover in Australia, I think. More to see than can ever be seen :     Totem Pole Rock, Fortescue Bay, Tasmania, Australia.     https://www.mountainproject.com/area/105962409/the-totem-pole More to know than can ever be known :    For this Day in History, Australia Day is the official national day of Australia.    Observed annually on January 26 th , it mar
Post a Comment
Read more

21 . . . Washington Stonehenge; Zulu Wars

  Date:    1/22/2021 Dad Joke :   A slice of apple pie is $2.50 in Jamaica, $3.00 in the Bahamas and $3.50 in the Virgin Islands.      (Pause) These are the Pie Rates of the Caribbean. Random Thoughts on a Passing Scene: As we generally agree to track the passage of time in the modern western world, last night there was a rare moment.    The moment was 21/21/21/21/21/21.    Before you ponder this too much, this is the “brief-moment-in-the-history-of-time” that occurred at 21 minutes and 21 seconds after 9 PM PST.    For a very short moment in military time, it was hour/minute/second 21:21:21, of the 21 st day, of the 21 st year, of the 21 st Century.    (Of course, I was sound asleep then.   Jan was likely awake and reading a book on her Kindle.   As I drifted off, I vaguely recall her commenting that she needed a new upgraded Kindle and I of course muttered something about “….not in the budget….wait till your birthday, or Christmas”….did she say “Valentines is upcoming”?)
2 comments
Read more

MLK, Silly Songs. and Being a Papa

  Date:    1/19/2021 Dad Joke :   I don’t play soccer because I enjoy the sport:    (Pause) I just do it for the kicks. Random Thoughts on a Passing Scene: Yesterday was the National Holiday honoring Martin Luther King.   He provides a unique leadership example.  He never held a high political office; he never held a military command; he never held a high religious position.    Yet, he drove necessary changes in America, spoke to a generation, and cast a societal vision that few other 20 th century leaders can match.   He led through strength of character, communication, conviction and compassion.   Through his speeches and writings, he captured a generation of his people.   My suggestion would be to read his “I Have a Dream” speech.   https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/i-have-dream-address-delivered-march-washington-jobs-and-freedom The closing sections are inspired eloquence and the ending lines resonate profoundly:  “Free at last.  Free at last.  Than
1 comment
Read more

Social Styles ala Bassier

  Date:    1/15/2021 Dad Joke : (My grandkids appreciated this one.)   What is a ghost’s favorite breakfast? (Pause)   Boo-berry pancakes.   (These are one of Beau’s favorite breakfasts, as well.) More to do than can ever be done :      More to see than can ever be seen :   Today I will combine the above “been there, seen that, done that….” My career in geology took me to the Piceance Basin of Northwest Colorado in the early to mid-70s of the last Century.   (Pronounced “pee ance” – with a soft “a” and not “piss aunts”.) [Editor: Rhymes with Beyonc é – without that third syllable.]   My work there was mapping the geology, surveying the topography and logging Oil Shale core samples from the drilling/coring rigs.      Besides holding vast deposits of Oil Shale, the Piceance Basin – rimmed by the dramatic Cathedral Bluffs – is one of North America’s remaining wild spots.    While working here, I saw my first elk and heard that eerie / haunting bugling of the bulls, and encounte
Post a Comment
Read more