Out With the Old Year

2007 is almost one for the history books, and I for one am glad. In general, '07 was not all that great for us, and my family and I are looking forward to a better 2008.

There were some good times though. The one high point that leaps to mind was the visit of my daughter, son-in-law, and granddaughter from California, for Thanksgiving.

Another fun time was had at a get-together at my friend Tim's place out in the country. And since I'm tired of snow and snow pictures, I'll post a few photos from last fall's "brush burn", as a quick farewell to the old year.

Out in the country...

As more people arrived, this table was filled to overflowing with food.

Ignition!

Thanks again to Tim and his family and friends, for a fun time of great food and fellowship.

I'll leave for now with my wish for a happy, healthy, and prosperous New Year for all of you.

See you in 2008!

Christmas 2007

This is belated, but I hope all the readers of The Porch had a good Christmas. Ours was good, we sang a lot of carols both at the Christmas Eve candlelight service, and at the Christmas morning service.

Then, home to open presents, and help ourselves to our Christmas "buffet". Simple stuff really, we build whatever sandwich we want from choices of turkey, ham, cheese, lettuce...then add selections from a veggie tray, snacks, etc. That way, no one has to prepare a big dinner; that's been our tradition for a few years now. New this year...our second daughter requested potato salad. So my wife made some, and it was very good. That tradition may have to happen again next year.

In the evening, we went over to my mom and stepdad's, and exchanged presents there. Everyone was thankful for a good day, and happy with what they got (a few items of clothing have since been exchanged for different sizes for a better fit).

My favorite present? Thanks for asking! Our daughter in California gave me a really nice scrapbook of photos of our granddaughter's first year. That's as good a gift as I could wish for.

All in all, a satisfying time of enjoying the decorations, being with family, and most importantly, remembering the birth of Christ our savior.

Last Sunday in Advent

Christmas is almost upon us, and happily, I've gotten all my shopping done. We should be able to enjoy the next couple of days and relax a bit.

We went to Church today, my son ushered, and the sermon was good. We sang one of my favorite hymns, Oh, come, Oh come, Emmanuel.

As it happens, I don't have anything particularly profound to add to this post, so I'll share the words of that hymn.

Oh, come, Oh, come, Emmanuel, And ransom captive Israel
That mourns in lonely exile here Until the Son of God appear.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Oh, come, Thou Rod of Jesse, free Thine own from Satan’s tyranny;
From depths of hell Thy people save And give them vict’ry o’er the grave.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Oh, come, Thou Day-spring from on high, And cheer us by Thy drawing nigh;
Disperse the gloomy clouds of night And death’s dark shadows put to flight.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Oh, come, Thou Key of David, come And open wide our heav’n-ly home;
Make safe the way that leads on high And close the path to misery.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Oh, come, Oh, come, Thou Lord of Might, Who to Thy tribes on Sinai’s height
In ancient times didst give the law, In cloud, and majesty, and awe.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Oh, come, Thou Wisdom from on high, Who orderest all things mightily;
To us the path of knowledge show, and teach us in her ways to go.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Oh, come, Desire of nations bind In one the hearts of all mankind;
Bid Thou our sad divisions cease, And be Thyself our King of Peace.

Rejoice! Rejoice! Emmanuel Shall come to thee, O Israel.

Winter weather update

Since I last posted, the ice from the "ice storm" has melted off. Before it went away though, I managed to get a couple of nice pictures while the sun was out.

Ice covered trees in our backyard...

...and in part of our neighborhood.

Then Saturday, December 22nd - the aptly named first day of Winter, we started with rain, which changed to sleet for only a little while. Then from mid-afternoon through the evening, it snowed. The weather forecasters were saying we could have six inches or more, but it looks like we had only two or three inches accumulation. The folks in St. Joseph and on north had more, and I-29 to the Iowa border was closed for a while.

No trouble getting around here today, and we'll see how warm it gets tomorrow. I imagine we'll still have snow on the ground, at least in the shaded places, for a bit of a white Christmas.

Could have been worse

The ice storm turned out better than it could have been. Our electricity didn't go out, and we got maybe 1/4 of an inch of ice. I was able to get out around 10:30 and shovel an area of our driveway near the garage door, and put down some ice melt chemicals. While I was out, I heard a crack and watched a medium sized branch fall from our neighbors tree.

Later I went back outside with my camera, and noticed a few more small to medium sized branches had fallen from the same elm tree, landing on my side of the fence.

I like how the snow caused this exposure to darken the sky.

More pics:
If there's going to be an ice storm, I prefer it to be just enough to give a "winter wonderland" effect for a few photos, and stop short of major damage like we had in 1984 and 2004.

A view from a different porch...

Close-up...icicles on lights, not icicle lights.


Love these digital cameras.


I heard that parts of southwest Missouri had a bigger storm these last few days, and a lot more trouble with the ice. Mike, how are things at your place?

Wait, is it too late to choose more snow instead?

Here's a photo taken out my front door, just to prove we did indeed get over an inch of snow last Thursday evening.

Since then we've had one round of sleet on Sunday, and now tonight, the freezing rain has begun. We're in an ice storm warning for the rest of tonight and most, if not all, of Tuesday. I've heard from a couple of sources that we're forecast to get up to 1 inch of ice. Looks like there will be plenty of slick spots tomorrow, and driving and walking might be treacherous. I'll be surprised if many schools are open tomorrow.

Now, if I have to have winter weather, I'd much rather have a foot of snow. But it doesn't look we have much choice. There's been some mention that the temperatures could rise a bit tonight, and if it's even 30 degrees or above, the rain will mostly drip off the tree branches and power lines before freezing on the ground. If it stays in the 20's instead, we could have a major ice storm with trees down and power outages. I expect the utility companies will have a busy night and day tomorrow. I'll try to post an update tomorrow, assuming it's not all that bad and that IPL is able to keep the power flowing.

Look at the photo again, 'cause I have a story about the evergreen tree to the left of the house across the street. 44 years ago (give or take a year), I watched the neighbor man carry that tree out of the front door of that house, and plant it where you see it standing. The couple who lived there at the time had bought a live Christmas tree, with the roots in a ball of dirt. It has thrived and grown through the years.

Is that you, Don Knotts?

Just to reassure any readers who might be wondering, yes it does get, um, creative (silly) around our dinner table sometimes. A couple of recent cases in point...

A week ago or so, somehow we got on the subject of Australia. Ayers Rock eventually got mentioned, and our youngest daughter had read about it. Something was said about it being the biggest rock in the world. That reminded me of something I read in a book recently, so I asked, "Do you know what the biggest living thing is?"

My son answered, "That fungus". So he had heard about that. There's a hillside in Oregon which has this fungus growing on it. Apparently they tested the DNA at several places and it's all the same fungus...connected by tendrils or filaments underground. It covers acres and acres and according to science is thought to be at least 2,000 years old.

My son said "If it's that old, you think it would have learned to talk by now". I replied, "It's probably such a low frequency that we can't hear it".

He paused a bit, then seemingly out of the blue:

"Well, if we could hear it, it'd probably sound like Don Knotts."

Inspired, I tell you. Where did that come from?

Then tonight...

Somehow we got on the subject of how Hannibal crossed the Alps on elephants. How many elephants?

"Twenty-one", according to my youngest daughter. That sounds like a pretty good guess to me. Hannibal probably couldn't get his hands on all that many elephants at once, so maybe the rest of his army was on horseback or on foot. The discussion turned to elephants in general. Their big ears? A natural radiator, according to my wife.

I added that elephants can communicate over distances of miles, using sound frequencies too low for most people to hear. One group of elephants can hear the other group call, from way out of sight. My son picked up on that...

"Hey! Is that a K-Mart up there?"
"No, but we've got a Wal-Mart."

Heh. Much more of this, and we'll be ready for Fake Trivia Night.

And more thanks.

”My mom has been through and difficult year and more and we are thankful that this Thanksgiving, Thelma (that's the title the two parents gave her) is much stronger, alert and active than she was early last spring.”

Such good news to hear how much better your mom is recently. Thelma’s older sister – my mom – has had a rough go of it this past year too, but all things considered, she’s doing pretty good now.

Not to get too carried away with old news, but there’s a story in my family…

Apparently, our grandparents had some difficulty deciding on a name for your mom. They asked my mom, who was three or four at the time, what her little sister’s name should be. Mom replied in a soft voice, “Velma”, the name of her best friend at the time. Our grandparents thought she said Thelma…

So I’ve been told, anyway.

”We have two great kids and this summer added a son-in-law to the mix. We thank God for them all.I'm more in love with my bride than ever before and it's glorious!”

Mike, you have a truly neat family. Quality, that’s the word. Your wife is one of the kindest people I’ve met. You’ve all given me and my family great hospitality every time we’ve gotten together. Not to mention a great deal of fun.

”We go to a church where the pastor preaches the Sovereign God of Heaven, the beauty of His Word and the grace He imparts to His people.”

Outstanding. Grace really is the key to it all. Now, we Lutherans might phrase it a bit different, something along the lines of preaching law and gospel; the gospel of Christ the redeemer, centered on the cross and the empty tomb. (Interesting how I’m thinking of the passion season while we’re sitting here in the beginning of Advent.)

At our church we’re thankful this year for our new Director of Christian Education. He’s really gotten the youth involved – high school And college (!) - to the point where we’ve gone from four or five “die-hards” attending to where they’ve outgrown the old youth room, moved, and are about to fill their new quarters. Church kids bringing friends, outreach actually happening…we are blessed.

”Some of the folks from our church went with our family to distribute Thanksgiving meals to convenience store clerks who had to work on Thanksgiving. The stores are located near our church and I can say the employees were happy to get the food, but I am thankful for the happiness in my heart as a result of being a part of that effort.”

What a great idea!

We had a great thanksgiving. Our second daughter came home from Missouri State, then our first daughter, son-in-law, and cute, sweet, one year old granddaughter came from California to stay for a few days. On Thanksgiving day itself, we had both sets of parents over to our house. We all were thankful for and enjoyed great food.

The out of town kids stayed for most of the weekend. Board games were played, good conversations took place, and we got to hold our grandbaby.

Did I mention she’s sweet and cute?

Yes, we’re blessed more than we’re usually aware. And come to think of it, things did go pretty much according to plan.

Thanks a Lot!

Bob asks an important question in the post below concerning thankfulness and the truth is, we all have much to be thankful for. Soooooo . . . . where do I start?

My mom has been through and difficult year and more and we are thankful that this Thanksgiving, Thelma (that's the title the two parents gave her) is much stronger, alert and active than she was early last spring. (Did you notice I strung 10 words in a row that begin with 'T'? Just checking.)

We have two great kids and this summer added a son-in-law to the mix. We thank God for them all.

I'm more in love with my bride than ever before and it's glorious!

We go to a church where the pastor preaches the Sovereign God of Heaven, the beauty of His Word and the grace He imparts to His people.

Some of the folks from our church went with our family to distribute Thanksgiving meals to convenience store clerks who had to work on Thanksgiving. The stores are located near our church and I can say the employees were happy to get the food, but I am thankful for the happiness in my heart as a result of being a part of that effort.

We had international students in our house Friday night before Thanksgiving and it causes me to be thankful for my homeland. I don't say this with any sort of arrogance, for those students in our house all missed their homes and didn't find that America held any place for them above their native land. I think we all were perfectly happy with and thankful for our homes.

More could be said, but I think the point is made, we are blessed people.

Oh, and Iced Mochas. I am thankful for Iced Mochas.

The day after Thanksgiving

I know there's not all That many of you reading my blog...yet...but I know there are a few of you out there, and I have the obvious question for you. So, how was your Thanksgiving?

Did everything go according to plan?

Let's hear your stories! More to the point, what are you thankful for?

Nature's Parking Ticket

Back on November 3rd, I walked out to my car to find this one maple leaf, which had landed right where you see it. Too good to resist, so I went back inside to grab my camera.

The Legend of Hanksgiving

Hank, a well reguarded man in three counties, was known for his kindness, friendship and generosity. Every fall, he would have a combined Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner, on the second weekend in December. That way, he could invite more relatives and friends, and they could all attend (not having other important events that weekend).

Hank and his wife would prepare a great feast; it was a joyful celebration. Hank would have small, nice gifts wrapped and ready for his guests, nice gifts, but not too expensive. He was a bit eccentric though, and he had his own traditional ritual after the guests were done with dessert.

He would approach a guest, give him or her the gift, then from behind his back quickly bring up a short piece of bamboo and "Thap" (his word) the guest up side the head. Never hard enough to cause a bruise, just enough to startle them and get their attention.

Thus, the now famous phrase "Thappy Hanksgiving".

(c) 2002, Robert K. "Bob" Wingate.

Wait, did I mention the fireworks?

Quick! What Would It Be?

My number one son came up the stairs this evening and asked me an important question. If you could have just one super power, what would it be?

Hmmmm.

Jacob decided that he would like to be able to fly, though, he had reservations about it. He thought he'd like something more effective in actually changing his surroundings.

What inspired the question is his newfound interest in the NBC program "Heroes".

Anyway, after brief deliberation, I decided I would want supersonic speed like Flash (pictured). As we all know, Batman is King, but he lacks any super powers. And of course, this is a large part of why he is King. I always liked Flash and having super speed is not a bad power at all, it's as good as flying in many ways.

So, Porch Heads, what would it be? Flying? Super Speed? Web-Spinning and Wall-Crawling?

And, not to be overlooked are Slipping Under Doors Like Jello and the Ability to Be Lint. These are options, as well.

Let Me Clear Something Up

I posted yesterday about Sputnik and what I remember and, mostly, what I don't. The end of the post says that Bob posted, not Mike.

That's an error.

It was Mike, not Bob.

As you were.

Mike's On the Porch

I am younger than Sputnik, so I either have to just make stuff up (which I can do), or do some homework (which is not appealing at this hour), or go off on some tangent.

Well . . . . I think we can see where this is headed.

Sputnik, eh? So how far does a Sputnik go?

I went to school with a guy named Spuddy. Spuddy Weigel. It's like Sputnik, only it's Spuddy. Spuddy was a distance runner on the track team. I think he also hurled something - trackwise, I mean. Spuddy ran the two mile race and so did Arve. Arve Levang. He was an exchange student from Norway which is pretty close to Russia, I think.

That's what I remember about Sputnik.

It was fifty years ago today...

Happy birthday to the Space Age, fifty years old today. On a personal note, I was old enough that I could have remembered when Sputnik launched. But, like many kids growing up in the '50's and early '60's, I lived a kind of sheltered life. What I really remember, what got me interested in rocketry and space travel, was Alan Shepard's suborbital flight in May of 1961.

For a couple of Sputnik 50th anniversary articles, try these links...
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/features.cfm?feature=1487
and...
http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/50th-sputnik-timline-2007.html

Ahoy, matey! Don't forget this Wednesday...

Avast, ye landlubbers! Find yer way to this site:
http://www.talklikeapirate.com/piratehome.html

9-11-01: My memories

(A check of www.buzz.mn this morning - via James Lileks "bleat" site - and I was challenged to recall where I was when I heard that a plane had hit the World Trade Center. Here's a slightly edited (corrected) version of what I posted there.)

My car radio was tuned to one of the local classic rock stations, as I was driving to work. A song ended, and the DJ said that “a plane has just crashed into the World Trade Center”. For those of you who might know Kansas City, I was making my way through the “Grandview triangle” interchange, so I was kind of paying attention, but mostly focused on the traffic. I didn’t know what to make of it, whether this was just some morning shift radio skit that would develop, but like many I assumed the plane was a small plane. If it was really happening, my thought was with the pilot and his family. What a tough way to go. Moments later the radio switched to a live network feed, and it became clear that it was a commercial jet and a big tragedy. Then the second plane hit.

By the time I arrived at work, it was clear to all that this was an attack. We tried for a few minutes to get some work done, but from time to time we just had to stand up and talk about this evil news. We were alternately stunned and angry (one comment I recall: “Nuke them till they glow”). There was a TV on in our supervisor's office, so we stood and watched the replay of one plane hitting one tower, then the second…fire and smoke, clouds of debris, people running in the street. The owner of the company walked in and said that since none of us would be able to give our work the concentration it needed, we should go home for the day.

I got home just before my wife returned from driving our youngest kids to school. I turned on our TV, and then waved my wife in when she came in the house. I could tell she hadn’t heard, so I brought her up to speed as fast as I could. We watched the second tower fall.

Later, there was a rumor that supplies of gasoline might be cut off, so I drove a couple of miles and found a station which was up to only $2.99 (a couple of other stations were at $4.00 or higher). My low gas indicator light was on, so I got in the long line and started inching forward. I was concerned that they might run out, and then that my tank might run dry before I got to another station; but finally I got my gas.

Back at work, one day flyers were passed out all through the office park inviting everyone to a memorial service. About half of us from our company went, and I estimated there were 700 people in total from all the buildings. The speeches were patriotic and spiritual in nature. With that many people there were bound to be different beliefs represented. Not only did no one object to the prayers, everyone seemed eager to hear what each speaker had to say. I remember one lady who handed out simple bows that she’d made of red white and blue ribbons; I pinned mine to my shirt and wore it the rest of the day. I still have it, right next to my computer monitor as I type this.

(I'd also mentioned in my post to buzz.mn that later, back at work, we all looked out our windows and watched a jet make a 180 degree turn. The atmosphere was such that the bright, white contrail was very obvious, looking like a giant U on it's side. It lasted for a long time, seemingly hours. Reading some of the other comments, and on further reflection, the air shutdown was probably on 9-11, and we saw that before we all drove to our homes. Whether I remember the exact time or not, it was dramatic. While the truly horrible events were the attack on the WTC and the Pentagon, being an eyewitness to nationwide air travel being disrupted - right here, we could look up and see it - brought it home somehow.)

I’m thankful that there hasn’t been another attack here to the magnitude of 9-11. But, the world is a dangerous place, and we can’t afford to forget.

Who needs a clock radio, anyway?

That was new…I woke up from a late afternoon nap by dreaming about two songs that suddenly started up. They were songs I like, “What a Bringdown” by Cream, and the first bit of “I’m Bad, I’m Nationwide” by ZZ Top. It was like I had a built in clock radio alarm.

I could do without that. Sure hope it doesn’t become a habit.

Speaking of songs, a couple of weeks ago, I started a list of songs that I would just start thinking about during the day, for no apparent reason. So far:

Paul McCartney / Wings: Medicine Jar
Tom Petty: Learning To Fly
Mott the Hoople: All the Way From Memphis
Al Stewart: Broadway Hotel
Buffalo Springfield: Bluebird
Neil Young: Cinnamon Girl
Rory Gallagher: The King Of Zydeco
The Police: Spirits In the Material World
Talking Heads: Once In a Lifetime
Alvin Lee / Ten Years After: I’m Going Home

Many of these I’ve already listed on my “favorite songs” project…still in progress. Over 425 entries…help, I’ve created a monster…must…edit…list…

If there’s a pattern to the above list, I’m not sure what it is (other than the Buffalo Springfield / Neil Young connection, and that three of the songs – Learning To Fly, All the Way From Memphis, and Spirits In the Material World – were catchy enough that I thought of them more than once).

It does remind me of the time back in the eighties a college friend, who was a radio DJ in another city, asked me to keep track of songs I heard on K.C. radio stations for a week. He had written down what he thought I’d be hearing. Best as I recall, he had a song or two written down that I did hear, but not on the same days. No ESP there, anyway.

The other thing my list shows, yes, I’m of the “baby boom” generation, and I’ve listened to a whole bunch of classic rock. My wife and I were talking this evening, and I admitted that I don’t have the foggiest idea of what music is out there these days (well, that’s not entirely true…I have watched a bit of American Idol). But I’m – happily – mostly out of touch with the current trends.

If it weren’t for homestarrunner.com and Strong Bad’s email’s, I wouldn’t have any contact with today’s pop culture. Those guys will keep us informed.

National Tell a Joke Day

Famous blogger James Lileks reminded us all on http://www.buzz.mn/ this morning, that today is National Tell a Joke Day. The subject of humor made me think of comic strips, of which I've been a fan for decades. Recently I searched on the web and found the site for the Charles M. Schulz museum in California. That looks like a fun destination. Maybe the next time I'm in California...

Anyway, I sure hope they've given the loyal museum staff a raise. The last time I heard, they were working for Peanuts.

Gotta give credit to my son for that...I just re-worked it a bit. His original:

The guy who helped Charles Schulz never made much money. He worked for Peanuts.

Bobservations

Earlier this year (February 17th, if you must know) I took a load of towels our of our dryer and started to fold them and put them away. One of them was a kitchen towel with this sentiment: "The Kitchen is the Heart of the Home".

Now that's all very well and good. But I say, "The Frog is the Philosopher of the Pond".

You'll never see that on a towel, though.

A hot evening for a walk

Most days, my wife and I take a one mile walk. In this blistering heat, we wait until after sunset, but before it's totally dark.

This evening's best comments:

Bob: "I wouldn't mind the cicadas so much, if we could teach them to sing a tune."
Bob's Wife: "But what if it was something you couldn't stand?"

The shuttle gouge: my two cents worth

After this week's nearly perfect launch of the space shuttle Endeavour, now we have word of a three inch square gash in the thermal protective tiles on the belly of the orbiter. The experts say this was caused by ice breaking off the external tank on launch, hitting Endeavour - not just the less dense foam insulation. What caught my eye in the article I read yesterday, was the word "worrisome".

From today's Space.com article, a quote by mission management team chairman, John Shannon:

"We have a rich flight history of tile damage, some of which is more significant looking than what we have right here," Shannon said. "Instead of guessing, we'll go and get the right characterization of what exactly the damage is."

The astronauts have three repair choices, they could apply "a heat resistant paint, a drill on patch, or a thick goop". Or, they could determine the gouge isn't sufficiently deep to need repair and do nothing (though it now may seem routine, extra vehicular activities still involve some risk, too).

I've been a fan of space exploration since 1961. I don't claim to be an expert, and I realize the aerospace engineers will have a much better understanding about such things. And I think the articles I've read are well written and reassuring - the situation is in hand.

Still, I think you paint the paint. Or you attach the patch. Or you spread the goop. Whichever method the experts say will give a more reliable repair. I'd sure hate for doing nothing to lead to another shuttle disaster.

Happy Birthday, Mike!

And many more.
Now remember, Darth Vader already knows what you got for your birthday. He felt your presents.

Seriously, I know that this year you have another special event to celebrate, and this will be a busy day. Congratulations all around, from me and my family.

Gentlemen, start your search engines!

Once in a while my mind wanders. That’s always been the case, but in recent years we have a new fun tool…the search engine. Sometimes while I’m “surfing” the internet, out of the blue a thought will occur to me, like “I wonder if there’s a picture of _____ on the net”.

This week, the subject was the art on fireworks labels. When it comes to fireworks, I’ve always preferred fountains, cones, Roman candles, sparklers, pinwheels, and ground bloom flowers (It’s more fun if it lights up, as a friend of mine once said). But I have shot off a fair number of firecrackers in the past. Imagine my delight to find this fun site:

www.crackerpacks.com

It was stinkin’ cool to see the good old Black Cat (wildcat) label. Not to mention Turtle brand (Best Quality Supercharged Flashlight Crackers), and of course, Thunder Bombs. Good memories…at one time or another, I had some of each of these. Many, many more are on display…what a collection!


This just in…look what I found in the basement. Must…scan…document…










I sure hope he doesn't get into my garden. I had enough trouble with squirrels until I put the green plastic fencing across the top.

Hot heat

Since everybody talks about the weather, I almost didn’t mention this. That kind of stuff is old news. But, it’s as good a place to begin as any, so why not?

It’s sure hot and dry here. Here being Missouri, more specifically the Kansas City area. Depending on what part of the city, or which suburb you live in, temperatures have reached highs of 97 to 104 this week. Monday the 6th (mid to late morning), I went out to check my garden. I wasn’t outside ten minutes, and I didn’t do anything I thought was strenuous. But in the process of opening part of the fence, picking two cucumbers, and putting the fence back, I almost passed out. I got back into the air conditioning just in time. A few hours later a reporter on the TV news said that temperatures and heat indexes are measured in the shade. In direct sunlight, you could be exposed to 115 to 125 degrees.

Now he tells me.

I’m not surprised that it’s hot (after all, it is August), and I’ve heard all the warnings before. What did take me by surprise was how quickly this affected me. Not that many years ago, I would stay out in the heat for hours. Bring it on. But now, it seems I don’t tolerate it as well.

My wife and I talked about this, and the discussion turned to how different our lives are from years ago. Long gone (for many, though not for all) are the days of houses without air conditioning. Gone also are long summer road trips with “470 air conditioning” (four windows rolled down, 70 miles per hour), sitting on hot vinyl seats with your shirt drenched with sweat. Sometimes we had to adapt our travel plans, driving mostly in the evening or at night. At home, we’d draw the shades and turn on some fans. When we were kids, we’d sometimes run through a lawn sprinkler outside to cool off. But now, we wouldn’t stand for houses or cars without air conditioning.

Enough about how times have changed. If it’s hot and humid enough that a heat advisory or heat warning is in effect, do the smart thing. Don’t go out unless you have to, and don’t stay out long. Wear a wide brimmed hat. Keep hydrated; drink more water than you think you need. If you have pets, make sure they have enough water. And, if you know people who have health problems or don’t have air conditioning, do them a favor and check to see if they’re all right.

Poppy's Front Porch RAQ's (Rarely Asked Questions)

Question: Is this a real place?
Answer: That depends on what you mean by real.
The front porch of our grandfather’s house was very real, but the house and porch no longer stand, except in our memories, and in a few old photos.
Poppy’s Front Porch exists now as this blog site, where my cousin Mike Scowden and I post things we’re interested in. Some posts may be of a serious nature, but mostly this is just for fun.

Question: Who are you people, anyway?
Answer: That’s a good question.
We’re two cousins, guys who both have families who tolerate our blogging (so far), as long as we don’t get too carried away.
When I was a kid and they asked me what I wanted to be when I grew up, I replied, “A blogger”. Then they washed my mouth out with soap. Naah, that didn’t happen, I just made that up.

Question: Is this going to be a genealogy site with lists of names, dates, family stories, and old photos?
Answer: No, not really, though a family story or picture might appear from time to time. This is mainly about what’s happening in our lives now. One of us will bounce an idea off the other, then we’ll build on that and see what develops.

Question: So, you’re posting things you’re interested in. Is this just a waste of my time?
Answer: That depends on how long you’ve been looking at this.

Just logged on to a couple of minutes:
Welcome to the Porch! We hope you enjoy your stay!

Fifteen minutes to a half hour or so:
Wow, I’m humbled! Obviously, you’ve found something here you enjoy. Come back again, and tell your friends!

Hours and hours – “Must…stare…at…glowing…screen…”:
For pity’s sake, get up, move away from the computer, and do something! Go out in the fresh air! Take a walk or ride a bike! Exercise or play a sport, or go to a game! Wash your car! Walk your dog! Go to a park or lake! Take some pictures! Put old photos in albums! Build something! Visit with family members or friends! Mail a card or letter! Pray for somebody! Read a good book! Write a story! Put a hobby kit together or work on a craft project! Draw or paint something! Make some music! Cook something good! Start a business! Clean or organize something in your house! Do a load of laundry! Get stuff ready for recycling! Play cards or a board game! Work a puzzle! Work in your garden! Teach your bird to say something! Take a language class! Watch the sunset! Go out on a clear night and look at the stars! Live your life!