Elixir

Empire Happy Hour-

Antidote

      Traveling the mountains of East Tennessee in my little Cruze has been quite a challenge this year. The car gets great gas mileage (44-46 mpg) but with the little 1.4 engine and the six speed transmission, I often find myself in the wrong gear at the wrong time. What compounds this problem is large pickup trucks that just love to bear down on you and sweep the road so to speak.
      I picked up some big iron from an another era to level the playing field.  

Unfit

Our president was very even handed when he was asked at a press conference what he thought of the Republican candidate. "It is a very responsible job". That really says it all!

Asked again at a later date about "The Donald" the President didn't reply in kind to all the abuse he had received from this particular quarter of the political spectrum.
He simply stated, "He is unfit for the job".

If someone had asked me I probably couldn't have stopped talking about how dangerous and crude I think Mr. Trump might be as President. Reduced to one sentence would be that he an unqualified egotist who churns up hate and reacts to criticism with a hot head and thin skin. Not the qualifications necessary to lead an already great nation.

Good Turn on Time

Sometime this week, a tree fell from the public landing across      
the fence and was perched precariously close to the power line going into my house. Couldn't get my chainsaw started which was quite fortuitous since I'm not very good with it anyway. This event called for more skill than I could provide.

I thought, why not go to the DNR and see if they could take care of it since it was really their tree. In the past, I've always taken care of these situations myself especially when storm damage blocked my driveway. Time for a different approach.

They were very nice when I reported it and said they would take care of it. Well the next day, as I'm driving down the road, I passed a pickup truck with a state seal tattooed on its door. I turned around and went back to the landing and talked to the the guy. I showed him the tree and he said that he would handle it Sunday. It seems the state doesn't allow employees to operate a chainsaw unless there are two people present. Good safety rule I say! 

Timing

I dislodged this ice chunk from my dock in an attempt to get a pail of water for my cabin. The mallard duck flew in just in time to paddle furiously to avoid being swamped. As he turned the bend, the ice was still on his tail. 

Truths: Ancient and New

You can't step in the same river twice. Heraclitus 
Nature hates a vacuum. Bacon
You can't roller-skate in a buffalo herd. Miller

Leap Day

"He drew a circle that shut me out--
Heretic, a rebel, a thing to flout.
But Love and I had the wit to win:
We drew a circle that took him in!"

Edwin Markham

...Hold That Thought

... I need to make a call. 

A View Point

Neither the flowers or owls are authentic, but together they look quite natural.

Specialist

In Mei Fong's book, "One Child: The Story of China's Most Radical Experiment", she explains some of the major dislocations this policy caused which are still being worked out through the present generation. Because the cultural revolution was taking place during the initiation of this change, the government only trusted the scientific community. So, guess what...a rocket scientist was put in charge. In my little town the expression to explain that something is very easy is to say, "It doesn't take a rocket scientist." Apparently that isn't the case for human behavior.

Mind's Eye

The heart of a road machine!

Personal Time Zone

Colleen woke up this morning half way around the world continuing her great adventure. Living in the desert will be an entirely new experience for her. She did say Rome wasn't that far away by air so the future looks bright for a world traveler.

This is one of the texts she sent me this morning. "We walked out to our tiny back yard, and there were four cats waiting for us, haha!" 

Hope's Birthday

Hope always seemed to have that metaphysical quality. Not because she could spot spirits, but the ability to forecast the end of events. When she told fortunes it was always in fun and she would dismiss her ability, but when they rang true you just knew, she understood much more then she would ever convey.

Tennessee Wrap

It would be a good idea for me to start taking travel notes as to not repeat the same mistakes. Arrived in Elizabethan after a fourteen hour trip. The (GPS) confirmed that it was really set to be a twelve hour jaunt.

When I turned off the interstate, I made the first mistake which turned out to be costly with both time and energy. I depended on the GPS instead of my AAA maps. 

I was drawn into two unnecessary states needed to arrive at my destination. Virginia, and state of mind that didn't question the GPS and its choice of  endless, rural, two lane switchbacks, in the mountains of Kentucky.

My errors were compounded on my return trip as I again relied on my GPS. When I pressed the home button, it couldn't resist routing me through the adjacent state of Indiana. I've been down that road before on the long way home.

Birthday Wish

I texted my brother Mike on his 76th birthday today. His response..
"Thank you it was tough getting here"

Car Show

Got my oil changed and three of the four tires headed in the right direction for a car show in Tennessee. Pictured above is just a few of the cars that will be featured there.
Check it out.

Ruminating

I paid my house off yesterday and it was really quite an emotional rush! I was financially upside down when I retired and the imbalance needed to be dealt with immediately. It meant living strapped economically for six years and some of my friends and family questioned that draconian concept. As I read years ago, "If a fool persists in his folly, he becomes wise." So... I can't say that I'm any wiser, but it sure is easier to live on my new budget.

Inertia

Got my driveway plowed for the fourth time this January. It is quite the middle class thing to me now. I keep my car in my wife's garage, and knock out orange juice when the opportunity presents itself. Caught in an upward draft of social mobility it would seem.

Built a fire this morning as it was only two degrees. Furnace and Eden Pure running at full tilt. I am predicting that the situation will warm before too long.

Habit Forming

This marks the third Monday in a row that we have had a snow storm. About fifty schools in the area were closed from the night before. It is about nine degrees this morning for the third morning in a row. Looks like a pattern might be forming.

The resident duck population now also have the opportunity to race the ice flow which adds a bit of incentive to move along as fast as they can.

The Slide

I Got a new metal roof a few years back. Water was just pouring down the inside walls of my house when the ice would melt to some degree. Now, again when it gets warmer, I can hear these sudden crashes as ice and snow cascade down my new slide. Makes me wonder why I waited so long.

Transfer Case

In the mid '70's and early 80's, Bobby Bare put out some incredible long playing records. When the musical world went digital, I did too. This left these great records gathering dust. Unlike many record companies, his didn't transfer the music unto CDs so they could be played in that format.

Over an inordinate amount of time, with a convoluted process, using retro analogue equipment, I was able to accomplish that task. Musically, the world is now a richer place.

Stay of Execution

The last chipmunk that gained entry to the Outpost had a very peculiar habit. I didn't discover it until this winter. His game was taking mouse poison and hoarding it in my boot. Not much future in that exercise.

A Little Insight

     Ben, about two and a half years old, was moving around the table and somehow tripped himself up and fell on the carpet. His grandmother queried in a concerned tone, "What happened, Ben?" Picking his head off the floor and looking in both directions, he responded in a tone fit for a teenager under review, "It happened". 

Overnight Success

For the last two days, I have been having difficulty getting this fire started. First day, two failed attempts, second day, one failure, one success. Wet wood and not enough kindling 
were the main difficulties. I had to take a sledge hammer to my pile of wood to break some kindling loose after I dug it out from under two snowstorms.

This morning though I see a spark of hope as I arrive at the Outpost. My fire has lasted overnight- Wha Hoom Boy, let him out of the gate. What you see is what I got!

parsimony

Brother Mike and I were talking about how sometimes we hoard our medicine. Don’t really use it as much as we could.  When we talked about this aberration we agreed it was foolish but still did it.

After brother Paul and I visited Mike in the hospital on Christmas Day we got into an odd conversation of sorts too.  I was telling Paul that he could use his phone to help him do the accounting for his painting business and the conversation quickly moved into budgeting in general.

Paul lives to some degree on the financial edge and isn’t inclined to budget much whereas I tend to the extreme opposite. An example of this would be me trying to pay my house off at all costs after I retired.

Then Paul made the statement that is a paradox but true in an odd sort of way, “Ten dollars means more to you than it does me.”

"Mere parsimony is not economy. Expense, and great expense, may be an essential part in true economy."     Edmund Burke

Week 2

Another week of the new year brought another snow storm. Pretty much a duplicate of the one last week except to say there wasn't near as much tension that preceded this storm.

Last week, the forecasters were calling in a combination of  ice coupled with a snow which would have meant a lot of folks without power. We lucked out as it got colder before the snow started which allowed us to miss the ice section. "All the people can't be alright all of the time".

Exceeding the Load Limit

Digging out after a snowstorm, I experienced a mobile equipment failure. The handle on the left side simply broke.

Well, there you have it. Busted in the middle of a big job. After twenty-five years of faithful service, kaput.