The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 199 (699)

Taking a personal day to deal with personal things. I'll be back tomorrow for Day 700.

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 193 (693)

Passing on blogging today. Instead, I'm typing hyphenated words in yesterday's Washington Post into a list from which Son #1 and I can fashion entries for the Style Invitational humor column running this week. I won a few things in the Invitational way back when. When Son #1 gave it a try and succeeded admirably--he won one week, something I never did manage, though I have an entry in the top ten of all-time list put out by the man who started running it--the woman who now runs it noted that I had not entered in several years and should pick back up. And so I have. I've yet to score on any level, but it keeps my mind active. The current contest, if you want to give it a try. If you do and beat me, that's quite all right. 

The View from the Hermitage, Day 473

Birthday Selfie 2021

I'm still reading and taking just a few notes on the pandemic, but this post is birthday-oriented. First, have I kept the resolutions I made for 2021?

EACH MONTH:

1. Make a pie.
2. Use the Instant Pot.
3. Start, work on, or finish a "creative thing."
4. Donate or toss one banker's box of stuff.
5. Use Apple watch's monthly fitness goal or set one of my own.

Why, yes ... yes I have, all of them even.

What does the Washington Post's horoscope say about people whose birthday today is?

You are soft, giving, and perceptive. You tend to draw attention to you whether you seek it our or not. You are adventurous and impulsive, and you have an excellent memory. You are always generous and kind. This year you want to secure your future for yourself and those who are close to you. Don't push yourself too hard. Explore real estate opportunities.

With all the flowery what-not, they must really want me to keep my subscription going.

Besides my birthday, today is Canada Day, International Joke Day, and the 100th anniversary of China's Communist Party. Probably the most famous person to share my birthday would be Diana, Princess of Wales. I'm five years older than she would be.

Finally, in the "do something every day that scares you" realm, I wrote a poem for this birthday. I wish I could get the lines formatted differently, but that's definitely a first-world problem. Enjoy the rest of your day. I certainly plan to.

When I Was a Child

 When I was a child

big brothers picked on little sisters

saying they were no bigger

than a piece of dirt.

Bullying? It wasn’t called that then.

 

Now I am older.

Big brothers share with little sisters

and dirt is never mentioned

except in contexts such as gardening.

Not bullying but brothering.

 

When I was a child

we hid under our desks or in the cloakroom

not really sure just what it was

our parents were afraid of

as they talked in muffled voices.

 

Now I am older.

We no longer duck and cover

against some unknown enemy.

We are our own worst enemy

destroying our world on our own.

 

When I was a child

smallpox was real as was polio.

One Saturday morning we left cartoons

to get vaccines

one of which came in a sugar cube.

 

Now I am older

and have outlived smallpox

but not polio by decades.

There are scary new ailments

with vaccines for those willing to get them.

 

When I was a child

grown-up children moved home

to a place called a hometown

to plant seeds of their own children

as they themselves ripened.

 

Now I am older

mother to kids with a hometown 

even if but one still lives in it.

Those kids call our house their home-place

something that pleases me.

 

When I was a child

sixty-five meant grey hair and wrinkles

men retiring to go home

and prepare to die

unless they puttered.

 

Now I am sixty-five.

Some wrinkles but no grey hair.

Old looks different these days.

It may feel different, too.

I’ll let you know when I find out.

The View from the Hermitage, Day 377

Today will be less pandemic, more free association. I got back to going through the detritus of our packing the house up last summer, and got a little distracted when I might have been news-farming. I think I mentioned that CSPAN was starting coverage of the 2024 Presidential race. Mike Pompeo, crony of XPot, is leading off giving several speeches--where else--in Iowa. Of course, POTUS said during his first press conference that he planned to run for re-election, so there you go. The race is on!

Epic is a subscription platform for kids; with kids at home during the pandemic, there are currently 50 million kids subscribed. From their choices, the folks at Epic have come up with an interesting list of which things kids prefer to others. For instance, kids prefer owls to chickens but chickens to hedgehogs, and they hunt for unicorns twice as often as they hunt for mermaids. They prefer owls over koalas and worms over kangaroos (sorry, Land Down Under). Ferocious beasts have a good following as do grumpy-faced boatfish. Volcanoes are better than tsunamis but tsunamis are better than earthquakes. Kids also seem to think that the Titanic is better than cowboys, pizza is better than cake, and science is better than art. Those three things being said, "poop" tops all six of those. 

Last I heard, one of the world's largest container ships (it's almost 400 meters long, 59 meters wide, and can carry 20,000 containers) is still suck in the Suez Canal. Dredgers have so far removed 20,000 tons of sand and clay from around the bow. The people charged with fixing the situation were hoping that today's high tide might help, but I don't think it has. A Dutch company is bringing in a land crane. The plan is to remove 600 containers from the bow of the ship to reduce its weight. I have not heard where they plan to put those 600 containers. 

The asteroid Apophis, that has been feared in terms of its getting up close and personal with Earth, won't hit Earth for at least another 100 years according to NASA. Whew! That was close!

I did take a few notes on coronavirus-related matters, but to what end? I'm going to stick with the lighter side and wonder where wombats sit in Epic's animal rankings or how will they get a gantry crane in place beside that giant ship. And if they do get a large enough crane there, will they line up 600 semi trucks to move the containers so as to avoid stacking 600 containers up on the shore?

Dinner tonight is steak cooked on a hot rock. It's been too long since we've done that.