Christmas is an Easy Target

Posted on by December 25, 2016

christmas-star

It’s not hard to write a Christmas post.

You can reminisce a little, you can talk about the present, you can project on into the future if you get really adventurous.

You can sit here, in the early morning, alone at the keyboard while everyone else is still asleep at 7:20 (which is probably the biggest Christmas miracle of all….that these little guys are still asleep) and have your very own “Christmas Carol”.

Dickens knew what he was doing.

It’s good to get a handle on some of the real meanings of Christmas….you just don’t need a trio of ghosts to help you do it.

It’s a no-brainer, anyway.

Christmas is about Christ.

That’s not hard to figure out.

That’s an old story.

We should know it by heart.

“By heart”…..

We’ll open our presents….eat our meal….and relax together as a family….but what it really comes down to is this is the day that Christ was born.

The kids sang “happy birthday” this morning before we ate our breakfast.

Why don’t we always sing happy birthday to Jesus on this day?

That might be a good tradition to start?

(It’s 5:30 and I’m trying to finish this post…..but it’s coming slow in fits and starts. A Christmas post is an easy target. If you ever have something that’s worth writing about, it’s a day like today….but it’s hard to describe a miracle. I hope that you had a good day….that it was full of the best of Christmas….that you remembered what the day was all about….)

That’s it.

I’m pooped and I’m running out of words.

Goodnight.

 

Merry Christmas!

lemonade

Posted on by December 24, 2016

Image result for alaska christmas

What a pleasure to be able to bring this fine post back around for another Christmas Eve!

A friend in Alaska, Rod Perry, wrote this a couple of years ago, and has allowed me to use it as a Christmas post for a number of years on my own blog.

That’s a big deal to me.

Read the post….it puts things in a good perspective during a busy “holiday season”….and is a great reminder of what Christmas is really about.

Thanks again, Rod!

Merry Christmas, everybody!

Ice Cream and Lemonade

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My mother spent her last years here with us near the old Iditarod Trail. But she grew up in a sod house and half dugout on a land claim in New Mexico Territory. She was born at a time when Pancho Villa’s raiding was keeping things lively thereabouts, before the territory became our forty-seventh state.

Among the frontier folk who scratched out a bare living scattered about the arid, sparsely-grassed country were many that were hardly schooled. Once a good little wife and mother walked five rough miles across the plains (then five back home) to borrow from my grandmother some “ingredients.” When questioned what ingredients in particular she sought, the poor dear looked puzzled. She explained that she had flour, salt, baking powder, and everything else called for except the item, “ingredients” she saw mentioned in the recipe.

My mother happened to be in the general store when a little girl came in to pick up an order. “I came to get wipin’ paper. Ma said put it on our bill.” The store keeper, not recognizing which family the girl belonged to, asked, “Little Lady, who is this for?” To which she answered, “All of us.”

Parents on a distant claim sent word around that they would be holding a birthday party for their son. A social event of such rarity drew every kid within walking or riding distance. My mother went, as did three sisters who came as they did each day to school, astride Ol’ Silas, their mule. Upon arrival each guest paid respects to the birthday boy then joined in the festivities honoring him as the center of attention. That is, until a young chap, getting there late, burst through the door. With not so much as a look in the direction of the one whose birthday was the sole reason for the entire gathering, he loudly proclaimed, “I come for ice cream and lemonade!”

Now, looking around during the Christmas season, I see parties, celebrations, plays and performances, going home for the holidays, family, children and friends. I see Santa and traditions, gift giving and benevolence to the needy. Center Jesus in his rightful place and it’s all so rich. But those celebrants who leave out the Savior, never stopping to so much as acknowledge God’s greatest gift as the very reason for the season, well, they are as crudely off the mark as that boorish late-arriving boy at the party on the plains almost a century ago. Leave Jesus out and even the highest and best of the rest is only, “I come for ice cream and lemonade!”

A “Happy Holidays” kind of Christless Christmas season, one that ignores, circumvents, or purposely shuts out both the Christ and the mass (celebration of his birth) might best be summed up using words of the famous trailsman, gold rush dog driver, Old Ben Atwater. “Whagh! Why, it’s all worth no more than a cold half pinch of last years’ bear scat!”

If even that.

When you guage Christmas by how it feels to be a postman during the holidays….period.

Posted on by December 23, 2016

What do I have to complain about?

Nothing.

“Nothing” is the answer to that question…..but, still….

Man….I’m so tired.

One more day until Christmas, and it feels like I’ve been put through the wringer.

I”m glad the season is almost over.

That’s kind of a shame, too.

You should be able to revel in the mounting enthusiasm….ride the wave of Christmas spirit until the wave peaks and you wake up on Christmas morning, joyful about everything connected to the season…..and not feel tired and excited that the hurry and discomfort is coming to a close.

One of my buddies on the route had 3 cookies, wrapped and ready for eating, and the two latest Leonard Cohen CDs waiting for me when I got to his mailbox today.

I used to work with him at the PO….in fact, his was the route that I took over when he retired.

I get some tips at Christmas from some of my customers.

(To say that they can buy my affections is kind of crass, but….they really do hold a special place in my heart…..)

Anyway….I get some tips….monetary and food related…..but this was one of my favorites.

Cookies and Leonard…..singing about the end of his life.

There’s a lot of gravity in that last Leonard Cohen album.

It was good to listen to on the route today.

That was a thoughtful tip….and some darn good cookies, too.

I guess that what I really do, if I can back up enough from my exhaustion to recognize it, is….I deliver possibilities.

At some house this season, there’s going to be somebody who’s really happy because of a package that I delivered.

That’s a big deal.

When I feel like I’m just another faceless cog in a constantly turning machine, I need to remember that what I do really does matter.

But, heck…who doesn’t make a contribution to the general good that matters in some way?

I don’t remember all of the faces of the people who sold me stuff for my family this year….but….I should.

I need to slow it down a little and really take a look at the people I come in contact with.

That’s all that any of us needs, really….we just need to be noticed on some level.

I’m tired….and I ramble when I’m tired, but….this really was a good holiday season.

In spite of all my tired whining, it was good!

“Holiday season”? Heck….this was a great Christmas!

Christmas was the day that Christ was born!

It’s easy to forget that when you’re delivering too many packages.

I remember.

two wheels in CO….grab a buddy and it’s four

Posted on by December 20, 2016

Anything about riding a bicycle around and camping is interesting to me.

Figuring out that the thrift store fake tree we got has stopped smelling like cat pee is interesting to me, too

Probably the cat pee thing is a more pressing concern, anyway.

Christmas with a foul smelling fake tree is not very pleasant….no matter how much money we saved.

Here’s a couple who are cycling around to show how water conservation is important.

Makes good sense.

1529….and, er….2

Posted on by December 20, 2016

I missed a second post out of 1529 somewhat consecutive days of never missing a day of writing this blog….last night.

I mean, I missed a day.

Of writing.

2 now….2 missed days out of years of writing.

Dang.

It’s really no big deal.

I’m the only one who probably noticed.

But, it’s just like the running.

If I don’t skip at least one of the priorities that I need to try to cover….whether it’s cleaning up after myself….or trying to fix something that is broken or sure to break later….or….maybe just getting some sleep….if I don’t put the activity out in front of my responsibilities….I’m going to miss a day at some point….and every time I miss a day, it gets easier to miss a day on down the line.

Once you miss one, the spell is broken and you see that none of it really matters.

I fell asleep with Nate…putting him to bed….and when I woke up it was 11:00 and the computer was off and I didn’t think about anything other than just going to bed

So…..I didn’t post anything.

Until I woke up this morning, I didn’t even realize that I’d missed another day.

But….maybe it’s better to not post “anything” than it is to try to find another video to hold my place until I’m not too groggy to write something that I actually care about?

Maybe.

Nah…..here’s another video.

Maybe I’ll get some rest and the pointless string will continue.

And….it’s really hard to find a “stupid” YouTube video when you’re trying to prove a point. This video is actually kind of cool….cycle touring Japan.

That would be a good reason to miss a blog post…..cycling Japan.

That would be more exciting than trying to fix the old dishwasher.

Man.

2 out of 1529 isn’t really all that bad.

our big dog….an anniversary story

Posted on by December 17, 2016

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We have a big dog now…a Great Pyrenees….named Appa.

Appa chews everything.

We cleaned out a storage shed that we had some stuff in, and found a bunch of old slides and photographs that I’d had for a while….stuff from high school and college….and during the process of finishing the cleaning, Appa got hold of them and chewed them all up.

This photo is one that I saved from the trash can.

Photos are easy to lose.

Memories…..not easy to lose.

I’m thankful for that.

In the picture, I’m standing behind Mel Brooks at a Diamond Brand Christmas party.

I’d moved back to North Carolina to work at Diamond Brand Camping Center….and had been there for a couple of weeks.

(I’m kidding about “Mel Brooks”. The man is the owner of the company….Arnold….and I’m photobombing him….)

The reason this picture is important to me is this is where I met Jenny for the first time.

She was at the party with a co-worker….and I spent the evening trying to talk to her without usurping my friend’s attentions.

I was snaking in the most subtle way.

I remember that after the party, I was sitting at the lunch table with some of my friends at work, and I mentioned that I thought that it was weird meeting her, that it felt like “I’d met my wife or something”.

So….that’s what this picture is all about….the first time that I met Jenny.

I had another picture in the bunch that got thrown away that actually showed her off to the side….but that one is gone now….in some landfill somewhere.

That’s why memories are so important.

I didn’t see Jenny again for three years after that party, but when I did I asked her out and….the rest is …history.

Today is our 23rd wedding anniversary.

That’s a big deal….4 children….a lot of living under our belts….always together.

Thank goodness I went to that party.

Thank goodness that Appa’s teeth missed this one picture.

It’s fun to have it and remember.

 

billy barr…the snow guardian

Posted on by December 17, 2016

This is not political.

It’s just a guy measuring snowfall….alone in a cabin in Colorado…filling his days with an activity that proved useful later.

I don’t know how Climate Change….or whatever you want to call it….became such a political issue.

Now, it feels like a witch hunt or something, rounding up all the people who supported the theory, refuting that there’s any truth to the idea that the planet may be going through some hard times, and that we may play a part in shaping what our ecosystem reacts to.

Of course we play a part in the whole thing.

Of course we do.

Now, we may not be the whole problem.

It may be a bunch of cows expelling methane out in a pastoral looking field who make the most impact.

The cows are oblivious, of course…..

Whether we politicize it or not, it’s happening.

How deep into it do we need to get before people say that maybe something is happening?

This guy measured snowfall…..and knows that something is different.

He’s not trying to shut down the wheels of commerce.

He just knows that it doesn’t snow like it used to.

It’s not all political.

That doesn’t make it any less sad.

I hope this doesn’t get me sent to the “Climate Change Concentration Camp”.

“I heard about a guy….”

Posted on by December 16, 2016

It’s almost too easy these days.

Here’s a lady talking about a 15,000 dollar house.

That’s pretty cool.

Now, of course, I don’t mean that building a house for fifteen thousand dollars is easy.

That’s incredibly hard….but attainable, obviously.

What I mean is that it’s a lot easier to find out about any of this stuff these days.

Seek….and ye shall find.

You can find the information….and the people to supply the information….pretty quickly if you know where to look.

Finding a “building guru” was a little harder back in the day.

“Back in the day”? It’s all back in the day.

By the time you recognize that something happened, it’s “back in the day”….even if it was only milliseconds before.

It’s all back in the day.

What am I saying, anyway?

I like being able to see people doing interesting things.

I like, hopefully, to do interesting things myself.

A 15,000 dollar log home?

That’s pretty interesting.

If I had the time, I could do stuff with no money.

I’m too busy trying to make money to do something interesting like build a 15,000 dollar house.

That’s my excuse, anyway.

 

working dogs

Posted on by December 15, 2016

Our dog, Appa, will pull me down an icy slope in the morning when it’s still too dark to see what I’m careening into, down towards the garden where he will spend the day after a long, cold night spent in the laundry area on the porch.

He’s a big Great Pyrenees….almost too big….almost too strong.

It’s hard to hold him back.

I imagine that he could pull a sled all by himself….if he thought that it was his idea.

Look at all the dogs in this video!

That’s a lot of dogs.

I’m glad that I only have to worry about trying to control Appa.

It would be hard to keep my feet on solid ground if I was holding back 50 dogs.

I don’t think that Appa is really a working dog, anyway….unless eating and digging and chewing up all our stuff is a job.

Maybe that’s his avocation?

Who knows? He’s a dog….that’s what dogs do.