The New Year's Eve Evening Rambler

My last post of the year.

Christmas update, part 1

Well, Christmas Eve the power stayed on, the dimming of the lights was caused by an infrared heater cycling on. In fact, the sleet quit just a few minutes after I posted, and it snowed the rest of the night and pretty much all day on Christmas. We got five inches of snow here, and I heard mention that some parts of the metro got as much as 11. Another inch and a half fell on Sunday the 26th. That's a bit misleading if you expect I could measure 6 1/2 inches of accumulation out there now...since then, the snow's blown around some and compacted some. And Tuesday (or was it Wednesday?) it got up to 34 briefly, so some has melted. It's colder now, and it may get down to the teens or even single digits tonight.

I took a lot of pictures this week, and I planned to transfer some of them from my camera to the computer earlier in the day, to post here. But that didn't work for some reason, and I'm not sure what I was doing wrong. So for now, allow me to back up to late November, and show you a few older pics...

Lights!



It was a reasonably temperate day the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, when I finished putting up my outside lights and tested them.

A few days after that, we had a visit from my Sister and Brother-in-law. They gave me the address of a good friend of theirs who lives on the Kansas side, and who is seriously into decorating.



This display really has to be seen in person to be fully appreciated.



This is an actual show or program, computer controlled, synchronized to music which is broadcast by a low power FM transmitter to your car radio. There was the effect of motion; different segments of the tree would change color in synch with the music, at times a star on top of the tree appeared to spin, there were "leaping arches" around the tree, the lights outlining the roof would change color and so on. Planning for this year's display started months in advance, and I understand there is a group of people who put on these elaborate displays in different locations all across the country. My Brother-in-law helped set this up in October, and mentioned a big, thick three ring binder with page after page of detailed instructions, and custom made wiring tagged with numbers or letters to keep the assembly in the proper order while hooking it all up.

By the numbers:
5 - days to set up and test
14 - minute program
47,000 - lights.

More Christmas stories and photos to follow. Also, I plan to start January with a few blogs with some highlights of 2009 - things I should have posted months ago but somehow didn't get around to.

For now, have a happy, healthy and prosperous New Year! And remember...it'll be 90 years before we have two zeroes together in a year again. I don't know what that bit of trivia does for you, but there it is.

The Christmas Eve Evening Rambler

This has been a pretty good day, I managed to get everything I had to get done, done. And at a reasonable pace, too.

Only one problem. The much anticipated Winter Storm began to make itself known right at 4:30, when we were going to leave for the 5 PM Christmas Eve candlelight service at our church. Right as my kids were getting into the car and I was about to close the garage door, the sleet began in earnest (it had been raining on and off all day).

I don't like snow, but I'd take a foot of it over any amount of sleet any day. My wife and I hadn't gotten in the car yet, and we looked at each other and briefly discussed the pros and cons. We decided we'd stay home and have a last Advent devotion instead. After an hour and a half of sleet, who knows...it might be difficult to walk from church out to the car, much less drive home.

That's been three hours ago, and even though this is supposed to change over to snow any time, I still hear sleet hitting the window. Four to Eight inches of snow predicted...and while four isn't that uncommon, eight is pretty rare around here. At least we haven't lost power yet.

Well, I really shouldn't have typed that last bit; the lights just flickered. I've already rounded up candles, flashlights, and batteries. This could get interesting.

Years ago in similar situations, adults would joke about too many kids praying for snow. But I wonder if kids do that much these days.

Anyway, If any of my readers are traveling in this mess tonight, you're in my prayers. A safe and Merry Christmas to you.

(Man, that was kind of loud...something bigger than sleet just twanged off a window or the siding. Tree branch, maybe. Hopefully nothing big.)

Think I'll shut this down now.

Return of the Lyrics Game - three songs

I've been meaning to get back to this for quite a while. Recently I heard one of these on the radio, just thought of another lyric out of the blue for no apparent reason, and was reminded of another when I looked over my music list project.

Hints: three different decades, two genres (in other words, two of these songs you might hear on a classic rock station, the other you won't). And as always, it's more fun to guess if you resist the urge to "Google".

So here they are, in no particular order:

#1:
"Every day when I get home from work,
I feel so frustrated, the boss is a jerk,
And I get my sticks and go out to the shed..."

#2:
"He didn't say much, he kinda quiet and shy,
And if you spoke at all, he just said "Hi"..."

#3:
"I have never met Napoleon,
But I plan to find the time,
'Cause he looks so fine upon that hill,
They tell me he was lonely, he's lonely still,
Those days are gone forever..."

Can you guess? Let the game begin!

Thanksgiving -> Advent -> Christmas

Seems like it’s been difficult to sit and write lately, and I’m not sure why. It is a busy time of year, but I’m not as busy as a lot of people I know. Maybe I’m not satisfied with what I have in mind before I get to the keyboard and I hope to come up with something better, so I tend to put it off.

It’s best then, to sit down and just begin. In fact, I’m toying with the idea of starting the year with a post a day, no matter how slight. Well, more on that if it happens. Stay tuned!

So to catch up, we had a small, quiet Thanksgiving, just the five of us with daughter number two home from college. My son ushered for the Thanksgiving service, then we returned home to a good early afternoon dinner and family time. We had turkey and other traditional side dishes – cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, pumpkin pie and the like; all on the good dishes. But we didn’t knock ourselves out over-preparing each and every possible thing, the goal being to keep the stress to a minimum. I had the good sense to not interfere with the cooking, and after dinner I did dishes. The rest of the afternoon and evening we relaxed. When it got dark, I turned on our outdoor Christmas lights, and after a while turned on the TV to watch the ceremonial lighting of the Plaza lights. I suppose you could ask for more, but I’m not sure why.

I had been keeping my eyes and ears open for comments on thankfulness. I got an email from a friend, somewhat of a lengthy but good list. Here’s a few that resonated with me:

“I am thankful…

…for a lawn that needs mowing, windows that need cleaning, and gutters that need fixing because it means I have a home.

…for all the complaining I hear about the government because it means that we have freedom of speech.

…for the parking spot I find at the far end of the parking lot because it means I am capable of walking and that I have been blessed with transportation.”

And I especially took note of this one:

“I am thankful…

…for the lady behind me in church that sings off key because it means that I can hear.

And I appreciated what Cousin Mike had to write on his blog about Giving Thanks, and…well, click here, the whole thing’s worth reading.

Now, on to the first Sunday in Advent, November 29. When I saw the Advent wreath, I made a point of saying to my kids, “Happy New Year”, being as that day marks the beginning of the Church year. The thanksgiving theme was repeated in the first two verses of our Epistle Reading for the day (1 Thessalonians 3:9-13):

“ 9 For what thanksgiving can we return to God for you, for all the joy that we feel for your sake before our God,
10 as we pray most earnestly night and day that we may see you face to face and supply what is lacking in your faith?”

That stuck with me the whole service.

Advent is a special time of preparing our hearts as we approach the celebration of the birth of Christ, a time that will reward us if we’re not in such a rush that we ignore it entirely.

A friend of mine has blogged a series of 13 posts on his journey from his early memories of Christmas as a boy, to his current celebration of a scaled-down, Christ centered Christmas. Most of his entries are short, and if you click here, you’ll go to his last post where you can link to each of the previous 12 posts. His Advent comments start with his seventh post, but I found it worthwhile to read them all in order starting with the first; perhaps you will too. I couldn’t have put it better.

I got out our Advent wreath and candles late, the second week of Advent. Hopefully next year I’ll be organized from the first, well, it’s a work in progress. I do enjoy lighting the candles and having a devotion…there have been years where I’ve skipped that entirely, I’m sorry to admit.

And as for the Christmas decorations, I guess I decorate more than some and less than others. I do get a great joy out of decorating, especially putting up the lights. For what it’s worth, I guess my personal rule of thumb going into this season is:

1. Keep the faith – don’t neglect gathering as believers.
2. Decorate as much as you enjoy, but if you start to stress out, stop. It’s good as it is.
3. Shop early, not the last few days…definitely not Christmas Eve.
4. Keep the Christmas meal simple, sandwiches, finger food and snacks, a few simple desserts. Don’t make it a lot of work (unless your family has a tradition of a big gathering and feast that you all enjoy – your mileage may vary, as they say).
5. Relax, enjoy, make memories, and take photos to look at later, if you wish.

Well, I’m in more of a writing mood now, so it’s likely I’ll post again before Christmas (though probably on other topics). But in case I forget, I’ll say it now. I hope and pray you all have a blessed, fun, stress-free and safe Christmas season.

The Evening Rambler for November 15, 2009

This rambler will be short...

I meant to put this in my last post, in response to Cousin Mike's comment:

"A lot of warehouse-type places are named for Crazy Dave or Crazy Joe or some other guy who is crazy. Sure you can buy an end table...from Crazy Bill, but your fireworks? From a crazy man? No."

Actually the best fireworks warehouse around here is...

wait for it...

Mike's Fireworks in Riverside (okay, technically Kansas City north, but right on the edge of Riverside). They're kind of hard to find...unless you live right in that area or happen to be driving along Vivion Road and notice it, you'd have to find out how to get there and drive a bit out of the way.

They pride themselves on storing their stock properly. Other places may be cheaper, but if you buy from those other places you may have more duds; if you buy from Mike's you'll have more of a chance of everything working. At least, that's what I heard a salesman there say several years ago. It could be that some of the new places are now up to speed and equally good.

I do wonder about the place out east with the inflatable King Kong on the roof. Buy fireworks from a gorilla? Let me ponder that for a while.

Here's another post on Strange Maps...not a map actually, but a flowchart of The Lord Of the Rings. Click on this link right here, and you'll notice it's the movie version (Look at "Isengard Flooded" and you'll see the flowchart has both Saruman and Wormtongue die there).

Bob Day...the report

Cousin Mike's post was one of the highlights of the day. Can Bob resist making a few comments? Let's find out...

"No Bob Day Festival would be complete without fireworks, of course."

Well said; there's really nothing to add here.

"A lot of warehouse-type places are named for Crazy Dave or Crazy Joe or some other guy who is crazy. Sure you can buy an end table made of thick, heavy, dark wood in a style that matches nothing you own with a floor lamp sticking up through the middle of it for $39 from Crazy Bill, but your fireworks? From a crazy man? No."

I saw one of those heavy, dark end table lamp combination thingys at a garage sale for only $15, and I passed it by. I'm still kicking myself (figuratively speaking).


"Go to the garage and look for a box that used to have fruit drinks in foil pouches in it that you got from the bulk place (Crazy Egbert's!), but now has left over fireworks from the summer and you can use those for Bob Day. You may have to look behind the grass seed and some plastic device that came from an oscillating fan or an appliance or the car..."


Mike, how did you know where I keep my fireworks? That almost gives me the jibblies.

"...and you can't throw it away because you might need it some day."

Hey man, once it's gone, it's gone! Know what I'm sayin'?

"Anyway, light your left over fireworks for Bob Day and grab a Mountain Dew and raise a toast to Bob. If 78 percent of the fireworks go off, he'll be pleased."

Of course you realize that 78 percent of all statistics are made up on the spot.

* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Actually it was a good day. Kind of quiet, but that was what I had in mind. My lovely young wife took me for breakfast at IHOP (okay, second breakfast...I was working on a bowl of cereal when she told me her plan). Throughout the day I got three birthday phone calls, from my Stepdad, my Daughter in California, and my Sister. She sang the birthday song to me, and we had a nice long conversation. At some point we got into the subject of lightning somehow. Sis had seen a program (Discovery Channel maybe) where they showed a lake or a river in South America which has the most lightning of anyplace in the world. So I got curious and did a search and found this. Interesting.

Back to the birthday. Earlier in the week I decided I wanted to spend some time on my day, at the Midwest Genealogy branch of the local library. Any of you readers who are into genealogy at all (hi, Trish!) have got to come here. It's like a candy store.

So I went there Thursday afternoon. They have lots of neat databases on their computer system, but the only downside is that you're limited to an hour. That's an automatic thing though, and I probably should have asked for an additional hour since there were plenty of empty terminals. Next time. Anyway, I found a couple of old census records, made a copy of one, and after my computer time ran out spent an extra hour browsing the periodicals and the rack after rack of family tree books. I've decided that in order to really use that resource and make additional progress on the family tree project, I need to schedule time to go there on a weekly, or at least bi-weekly basis. That and I need to take time to make a detailed list of what I might want to look for, before I go.

The rest of the evening was a traditional, small birthday party; just the four of us at home.



Ice cream cake from one of the local supermarkets. Delicious!


And presents.

And yes, earlier in the day I had Mountain Dew. Of course, that's like pretty much every day, but hey.

It's Bob Day

Lest you get too carried away by all the Columbus Day and Veteran's Day celebrations (I swear it seems you just get the Columbus Day tree put away and they start playing Veteran's Day music at the dime store! Sheesh), don't forget that Bob Day is upon us.

As I write, in fact, it's Bob Day Eve. I hope all the baking and shopping is done and you've got your kilt back from the cleaners, for the Presbyterians among us.

No Bob Day Festival would be complete without fireworks, of course. But since the fireworks stands have long since disappeared, you'll have to wander out to the warehouse outside of town that has the word 'crazy' in the name of the store. A lot of warehouse-type places are named for Crazy Dave or Crazy Joe or some other guy who is crazy. Sure you can buy an end table made of thick, heavy, dark wood in a style that matches nothing you own with a floor lamp sticking up through the middle of it for $39 from Crazy Bill, but your fireworks? From a crazy man? No.

No. Go to the garage and look for a box that used to have fruit drinks in foil pouches in it that you got from the bulk place (Crazy Egbert's!), but now has left over fireworks from the summer and you can use those for Bob Day. You may have to look behind the grass seed and some plastic device that came from an oscillating fan or an appliance or the car and you can't throw it away because you might need it some day.

Anyway, light your left over fireworks for Bob Day and grab a Mountain Dew and raise a toast to Bob. If 78 percent of the fireworks go off, he'll be pleased.

Happy Birthday, cousin!