I trust that the presents have been purchased, the decorations are up and the fridge is stocked in preparation for your version of the annual Christmas Dinner.
This year, my household has done nada, zip, zero, to decorate, or prepare. Neither of us have been into it. The dog doesn’t care as long as his treat supply isn’t interrupted.
This year has been much like last year and honestly who wants or needs to go through all the machinations for just the three of us? Meh whatever.
There are few things we need, and most of those aren’t special or anything. In fact since a lot are clothing related, (underwear, socks, sweats etc,) it makes more sense to purchase those items at the after Christmas sales. Since we’ve been trying to purchase only what we need and attempting to purchase locally or American manufactured products, we’re trying to make our rapidly depreciating dollars go further.
I thought we were going to have a white Christmas and there may still be snow on the ground come Christmas Day. It’s been warming up, the snow is melting so that’s iffy. Because of warming, I’ve at last managed to remove the 1/2” slab of ice from the road in front of the driveway.
Thank YOU for the Christmas present to the moronic flood control people who have managed to redirect any rainwater down our street instead of into the wash! The mud and rocks make it especially fun, since we can’t safely use the snowblowers without risking broken windows up and down the street. This last storm started out as rain, then froze into a glacial mass of ice.
This has left myself and the other neighbors having to remove the snow sitting on top of the 1/2” thick ice using only shovels and ice cleats on our shoes so that we don’t fall.
Perhaps that’s part of my mood, Six months of the year, every year, the flood control people turn the neighborhood into a construction zone. Don’t try to sleep past 6:45 in the morning. It’s not going to happen.
On the plus side, because of the horrendous mess the flood control people have created on the maintenance road, they can’t get their vehicles in and out. So for the past week there has been blessed silence on that front.
This time of year I don’t frequent shopping malls because the traffic and crowds are insane. I have little enough patience for people most times of the year. Christmas is almost 100% out of the question for me. The Holiday season seems to incite an extra level of stupid in the general populace.
I will go shopping with good friend(s) as long as we go someplace where we can have adult beverages during shopping. I draw the line at shopping malls where there is no readily accessible alcohol.
This year the shopping expeditions have been cancelled because the friends in question have been tied up with other obligations, as have I.
Perhaps in the days remaining before Christmas itself I’ll get into the holiday spirit by watching Christmas movies. Die Hard for example. Given the winter storm moving across the midwest and Northeast I may watch The Day After Tomorrow because, well it’s a disaster movie talking about the freezing of the northern part of the US. It’s not really a Christmas movie but is enjoyable because so many politicians freeze to death in Washington DC.
That might make me feel Christmassy!
I think this year Christmas is going to be just another day for me.
I sincerely hope that your Christmas is exactly what you want it to be.
It’s snowing lightly now. Yesterday all we got was a slushy wet mix that’s turned to mostly ice overnight.
For me, what we got yesterday is the most hated of Winter weather. It’s heavy, and difficult to clear. You’re tempted to just leave it and hope that it goes away. But you only do that once. If you leave it, you’ll need a pickax and wonder if it would be legal to use dynamite. The slush freezes to the road and driveway and then everything is a skating ring. That stuff takes forever to melt on its own and it typically doesn’t melt until you’ve get many days of sunshine and temps above 40° F.
So I was outside in the rain/sleet/snow for about 2, maybe 3 hours doing the shovel work to clear as much as I could. In a way, doing the work was therapeutic. When I came in I was soaked through but not really cold. I think I was working out frustrations and anger against an intractable force.
I wasn’t angry or frustrated at the weather or anything, I was just being physical and doing something constructive.
It turns out that even moderately strenuous physical activity does more to get my head on straight than just about anything else. Sure I can be physical anytime, the difference is, that I always feel like I should be doing something else if I’m walking or working out. Crazy as it sounds, taking that time for me seems selfish and undeserved. Fighting to keep the street and driveway clear is one of the few times when I’m really in the moment.
I guess it’s a matter of the snow keeps falling, the ice keeps forming and there’s nothing personal about it. It just is.
Over the past two years or so, banging my head against the job market has taken on a personal feeling. “Why do these people not like me? Why can’t I get traction? What is wrong with me?” Those questions eat at you. After a while it becomes personal, frustrating, and super depressing. In part it’s because you have no human interaction and therefore can’t figure out what your’e doing wrong. There’s no body language to pick up clues from.
I think that’s why so many people may have stopped even trying to find a “real job”. It’s easy to sink into depression wondering what the point is. Sure, you’ll maybe get a job but you’ll have to deal with a large group of people. Many of those people are looking to be offended about something all the time, and some of those are looking to cash in on a nice lawsuit retirement plan. For someone like me, walking on eggshells all the time is exhausting. The vagaries of human interaction just complicate getting the job before me completed. I prefer to do what we’re paid to do and go home at the end of the day.
Snow and ice are pure. You can see what you need to do, and what you need to do better. For me it allows the opportunity to direct any frustration and anger in a constructive direction and if I call the snow a name there’s only the whispering hiss of ice meeting ice. Mother Nature isn’t going to be offended, no one’s feelings will be hurt, and the snow keeps falling.
I actually prefer to be outside alone when I’m clearing snow. I don’t have to speak, or interact with anyone. There’s a purity about it and when I come in, there’s satisfaction in a job well done.
Because the neighborhood is calm and quiet right now, I can see rabbits and squirrels wandering around fearlessly untroubled by humans. The scene is serene and peaceful. One of the neighborhood dogs just ran by, she’s a shorthair and bundled up in a nifty yellow sweater. She’s more interested in catching snowflakes than chasing the bunnies or squirrels. Her exuberance makes me smile. I wish I could always live in the moment like dogs do.
The local forecast says the snow should stop in an hour or so. After that the likelihood of snow drops to 30% for the rest of the day. I’ll have another cup of coffee and some breakfast. My dog is still being sleeping beauty in the middle of the bed. When I start working in the kitchen he’ll be up trying to mooch something, then he’ll notice the new snowfall and be a 2 year old running in and out all day long.
My day is going to be busy, I’m sure there’s going to be at least one game of “Chase the snowball” in the yard. Then I’ll head out to shovel snow and close my exercise and activity rings.
Maybe the snow will hang around to add to the holiday cheer
My plan is to ignore all the “News” and enjoy some simple peace & quiet.
I’ve got a good supply of bourbon. Plenty of ice, and some decent burgers for the grill.
No plans to go anywhere, no plans to see anyone.
If a friend drops by they’ll be welcomed, but with gas prices as high as they are I doubt anyone will make the pilgrimage.
I’m looking forward to getting some writing done, and playing with the dog.
The dog is not interested in playing too much when it’s hot. I know he’d be much happier if we lived in Alaska. At temps above 75°F he lives for ice cubes bouncing out of the icemaker.
I don’t think he could possibly be a cheaper companion to have around. Ice cubes or cold carrots and he’s over the moon.
A while ago, I subscribed to an online Calendar that neatly stuck all the US holidays into my digital Calendar.
It was nice at first. Everything that I wanted to know was there. I could plan long weekends and knew when it was likely to be a bad day to go to the bank or post office.
As is usual for me with these things, I simply forgot about it and was content that I wouldn’t have to enter holidays that moved around from year to year depending on Fridays or Mondays closest to the actual date if the holiday fell on a Saturday or Sunday.
Years go by. There was small additions to the observances, but they were pretty mundane. One here, one there, in a month. No big deal.
A few more years go by.
Today I opened my calendar to full month view for the first time in I don’t know when.
WTF?!?!
My once simple calendar was now loaded with all kinds of observances and holidays that mean nothing to me. There were literally hundreds of Civil Servants days. Obama Day? Librarians Day? 4 different wordings of Juneteenth? Columbus Day, Indigenous Peoples Day, National Indigenous Peoples Day?
In some cases there were so many observances on a single day that the “All Day” section of the calendar was saying +9 more because it couldn’t display them all in the space provided.
There were also duplicates… So Many duplicates! (I hate duplicate data.)
Come on…
Unless it’s a national holiday and therefore a day off from work, or the banks are closed. I don’t care.
There was a time when it was nice to see “National Secretaries Day” but now, it’s become easier to find a day without some observance or another than to pay attention to all the observances.
It’s all become noise, a distraction. Is my calendar free for that day? Who can tell at a glance anymore?
After spending a few minutes trying to figure out the best way to flush all the random crap that had become meaningless. I decided instead to simply unsubscribe from what had once been a very useful service.
My calendar took 2 minutes to reconcile itself.
When it was done…
AHHHHH! Once again at a glance, I can see my schedule without having to open the day to specifically check.
My appointments, and mine alone show up. Their little green tags clearly show how much of my day they occupy. They’re not being overwritten by events and observances that don’t matter.
My historical calendar is visible again. This is a calendar that I created years ago with neat facts about the day in history. Amelia Earharts take off, the first man in space, the first woman in space, the date of the Norman invasion, that kind of thing. In each of these entries notes section I’d put detailed information about the event.
Suddenly Anniversaries, Birthdays, and my stuff is all there, with the original color coding I’d selected, instead of a muddy mess.
You know, it’s not so hard to enter “Real” Holidays into my calendar. There are some that require special treatment, but it’s a small price to pay for a clean readable schedule.
This is what happens when you pander to everyone.
Maybe we should pick just a few biggies and leave the rest to be observed by those who care?
As I was setting up the BBQ for Summer cookouts. I grabbed the Propane canister and gave it a good shake. It was about half full.
“Oh, I should go have this topped off,” I thought.
Then I thought about the gas in my car and thought, “I should probably fill the tank too.”
Then I thought about the price of gas and how much it was going to cost me. Almost $100, Damn! That’s a lot of cash. I decided to wait on both.
These thoughts inevitably led me down the road to petroleum and the economy in general.
I honestly can’t think of a single factor that has more control over our whole economy with more far reaching effect than petroleum cost.
We’ve all been feeling the pain at the gas pump. Many of us use gasoline on a daily basis. If we’re lucky we only fill up once a week or less. (I’m in the less category thank goodness.)
But it’s not just gasoline.
Jet Fuel is derived from Kerosene (petroleum). If the price of Jet fuels go up, then so do the prices of passenger tickets and air freight.
Kerosene is also used to heat homes in the North East. Even in the South when I was a boy, we had a 55 gallon drum in our backyard. Every fall, the Kerosene man filled the drum and if it was a cold winter he’d come back again in December or January. The big Kerosene heater in the hallway of the house was a center of activity on cold mornings. We’d have our coats draped over it for a few minutes to warm ‘em up before heading out for the day.
Diesel Fuel (petroleum) has seen prices skyrocketing in recent months too. We’re all familiar with Diesel. It fuels the 18 Wheelers that deliver almost all the goods we depend on to our shopping centers, grocery stores, gas stations, etc. If it costs more, then so do our goods.
That’s a simple equation to get your head around.
What’s easy to forget about Diesel is all the other things that it powers.
Most ships for example. Not just your fancy Cruise ship. But those big assed cargo carriers that deliver cars, and manufactured goods, from China and the rest of the world. Yes, even those big oil tankers are powered by Diesel.
Estelle Maersk on her maiden voyage. Credit Simon Burchett www.channelphotography.com
Then there’s the fishing fleet. You know, the fishermen that catch Salmon, Tuna, Crab, Lobster, and Shrimp. If their fuel prices go up, so does the cost of your Summer Seafood festival.
Most farms use Diesel to plow the fields, run irrigation pumps, harvest the crops, dry the grain, and ship it to factories to make bread.
Cattle Ranches, Chicken Farms, Dairy Farms, and all the rest are dependent on Diesel to run the heavy equipment like skip loaders, and backhoes. Some may use Diesel generators to run heaters in the Winter so food animals don’t freeze to death before they’re ready for market. Then they transport those animals to slaughter houses using Diesel trucks.
Even the railroads are dependent on Diesel. Most of the locomotives use big Diesel generators to power big electric motors that drive the locomotive, carrying goods all over the country.
Cranes, bulldozers, Cement Mixers, Dump Trucks, and all manner of construction equipment use Diesel fuel to level the ground for new housing developments, and raise girders for skyscrapers. Those same machines are used to make roads and maintain them. Snow plows, garbage trucks, school buses, and lots of city buses use Diesel fuel to provide necessary services.
Given that Diesel fuel prices have doubled in the past year it’s reasonable to expect for the cost of all these goods and services to go up as well. Or the services will be curtailed to maintain profitability and the ability to make payroll for the entities that provide them.
The practical upshot is that everything will become more expensive. From a box of Cheerios to that slice of ham in your lunch pail.
It’s not just fuel either. The ink in your ball point pen is oil based. Kiln drying of lumber will become more expensive, adding to the cost of lumber. Which in turn adds to the cost of construction.
Plastics of every type become more expensive from the plastic tub your cream cheese comes in, to the wrap the butcher puts over ground beef in the meat section.
Recycling plastic, (Only about 50% efficient,) while a good thing, has an interesting effect. With each recycle, the quality of the plastic goes down. This implies that there is a finite number of times a plastic wrapper or container can be recycled into useful life before it ends up in a trash dump.
Ultimately, new plastic wraps or containers will have to be made from petroleum, and the increased production costs will be seen by the consumer as higher prices.
Even fertilizer is petrochemical based. Making fertilizer more expensive will either translate into higher food prices or shortages. A lot of farms run on very tight budgets. An increase of 1% can mean that the fields in the north 40 don’t get planted.
President Biden has said,
“When it comes to the gas prices, we’re going through an incredible transition that is taking place that, God willing, when it’s over, we’ll be stronger and the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels when this is over,”
Well, he’s right about one thing. This is a transition. I don’t know if I’d call it incredible. I also found his choice of the words, “…the world will be stronger and less reliant on fossil fuels…” to be odd.
I’d characterize his statement as reckless domestic policy. However, America is not the world…
Thinking about the rising petroleum prices and our government’s hand in those price increases domestically, I have to ask.
What are they thinking?
If the idea is to force America off a petroleum based economy this isn’t the way to do it. First and foremost, the infrastructure isn’t ready for this miracle transition.
It’s almost as if the Administration is thinking about automobiles only, and neglecting to consider the overall impact of their energy policies.
I for one don’t buy into blaming Russia for our energy prices. On the first day in office President Biden took steps to thwart American energy independence and his administration hasn’t stopped since.
All the Biden Administration has succeeded in doing is kicking our economy in the balls, while it was trying to get up after the COVID lockdowns.
In a way, this could be characterized as a “Shadow” lockdown. I know I’m traveling less. I’m staying home because I don’t want to spend the cash on fuel.
All of my household errands are planned to minimize travel and maximize the return on driving. (In truth, this is not terribly different from my normal way of doing things.) What I have noticed is that I’ll put off making a trip to pick up something I need for a project until I’ve got to get several items in the same general location.
That, replicated across millions of households also has an effect on our economy. Couple this behavior with people tightening their belts, the unavailability of some products due to production or supply chain issues, and I start to wonder if people may be simply choosing not to purchase things. In effect making do with what they’ve already got or going without entirely.
That could have far reaching economic implications over time.
Just in housing, we know that recent reports state housing starts are down. But we know that more people are coming to this country who will need to be housed. The cost of my little house has jumped by almost $100,000 (According to Zillow estimates) in the past two years.
That kind of price increase will certainly exclude a number of home buyers from the market. Especially if the cost of living and interest rates continues to squeeze those buyers from both ends.
Rental costs are skyrocketing too. The rental cost of an apartment alone begs the question; How are thousands of people with limited skills streaming into this country going to afford a place to live? Even if the government, A.K.A the taxpayers subsidize these folks living arrangements?
Many of these folks are arriving with no jobs, few skills, and no transportation. While at the same time, this country is generally built around everyone having a vehicle.
When factoring the cost of used vehicles, increasing food prices, along with the gas prices to power them, how are these folks supposed to make it?
I can understand people wanting to come to this country because of the “Dream” of America. The harsh reality of what is happening due to poor government policies is another thing entirely.
It’s been said that midterm elections are a referendum on the current administration. If that is true then the upcoming midterms should be a bloodbath. The question is, will the administration get the message?
Will Washington D.C. understand that the unintended consequences of their actions have been far more devastating, and potentially longer lasting, than an actual attack on our country?
I suspect that the baby formula crisis is only the tip of the iceberg.
“Winter is coming,” as was said so often in Game of Thrones.
This upcoming winter may be long, cold, and deadly. I say that seriously.
Each year we hear of the elderly freezing to death because they can’t afford heating oil. We hear of people being found dead because they used a charcoal BBQ inside to heat their homes. What happens if food supplies run low, while simultaneously more people are forced to curtail their heating expenses? Will this become a starve or freeze situation?
Just how “green” is it having people going into forests cutting down trees to feed their fireplaces?
How will this country react if desperation reaches a level of “Survival, Cancels out concepts like Right and Wrong”?
The die may well have already been cast. Planting season is well underway. Decisions about how many fields to plant and with what crops have already been made. Cattle and poultry production schedules have been set based on current cost and anticipated cost to the ranchers.
All of these producers have to make profit to feed their families too.
Grain reserves may provide a buffer this winter. But by next spring, if nothing is done to address fuel costs, and with it supply chain issues, the following winter may be really hard.
How many Americans is this administration willing to lose in their incredible transition? How much destruction to the economy will this administration do, or idly stand by and watch before they take action?
Only time will tell.
I will not be surprised if soon the Mexican and Canadian Governments have to set up checkpoints to process a sudden influx of migrants trying to get into their countries.
The Canadians already have pretty strict immigration controls in place. The Mexico side of America isn’t too worried about people coming into Mexico. Since most people are trying to get into America they’ve left a lot of the worry to America’s Immigration and Border patrol.
I find myself sometimes wondering how Mexico will react if suddenly, the flow of immigrants reverses? What happens when / if people who’ve come to America decide that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be and head South for a better life lower fuel costs, lower cost of living, less regulations, and a warmer climate?
What would that look like? Would the Mexican army suddenly be patrolling their side of the border?
I’m not trying to be depressing, or depressed. These trains of thought sometimes start in my head and once started, have to run to their conclusion.
This one started with me shaking a propane canister on Memorial Day, in preparation to grill a couple of burgers.
This time next year, I might have lost the 10 pounds I’ve been wanting to lose and Memorial Day lunch might be a couple of wayward rabbits seasoned with rosemary or wild sage.
A lot can change in a year. I hope whatever change comes, it’s for the better.
The jury is still out on that.
