Wanted: Hero

I succumbed to the flu bug and spent Monday at home, which gave me a couple of minutes to watch some of the Miracle on the Hudson coverage.  I was immediately struck by the humility shown by Captain Sullenberger.  Apparently, so were a lot of other people.  

Today I stumbled across this USNews blog entry titled:  What Sully Sullenberger can Teach CEO's.   It's well worth a quick read-through.  

One thing that struck me as missing in this entry - undoubtedly as a member of USAirways pilot's union, Sullenberger has over the past years been asked to give up some of his compensation to help the airline survive not one, but two trips through bankruptcy court.  And yet he didn't use this as an excuse to not continue to train, work, and behave as a professional.  

On the other hand, we have CEO's who decimate U.S. workforces, burn through their company's cash reserves, and make such poor risk management decisions that we the people must help their companies stay afloat - and yet they worry about a $500k salary cap - or even worse - their personal income taxes being raised.  

We need a hero - a real hero - who doesn't use drugs to enhance athletic ability, who doesn't think about me first and to h*12 with everyone else, who can find a win/win solution when none seems to exist.  

Thank you Captain Sullenberger - we need you more than you know.  

Flu Season and Daytime TV

Yes, it's that time of year.  You know, when one kid at school gets sick, and then the rest of them take turns getting sick.  Finally, your number is up and its your kid who is sick.  

Until this year Diva has been the model of health, but she woke up yesterday with a mysterious fever, which just isn't going away.  Today was day 2 of home from school, and she was begging to go back to school.  Seems there isn't enough entertainment here at home.  She gets a bit clingy when she's ill, so I sat with her for a couple of hours this afternoon and we watched a few programs on TV.  I rarely watch TV, so I'd like to share a few observations:

~ the prime choice today was Travel Channel's "Extreme Retail Locations"  Did you know that there is a store that sells yodeling pickles?  And the world's largest underwear at a rate of 2000 pairs/year?  And all kinds of bacon themed items (like gummy bacon and bacon band-aids) for your vegetarian friends?  How did I live 40 something years without shopping here? 

~ Just when you think a program is safe to watch with the kids, they show the extreme Las Vegas store that sells books on learning to pole dance.  Remember Diva loves to dance - so guess what book she wants?  How does one explain pole dancing to a ten year old?  

~ This summer I'm heading for Sharon, PA.  Don't know exactly where it is, but they have the world's largest candy store, and that's enough for me.  While there, I'll explore the world's largest outlet store, because I'll need some bigger clothes after my visit to the candy store.

Any good shopping in your neighborhood?

   

Why I call her Diva...

Where:  Museum of Science, Boston

When: December 26, 2008

Me:  Stand over by the dinosaur bones and smile for the camera.  

Need I say more?

Clear as the nose on your face.....

So here it is, a month after Christmas.  You may recall that just last Monday I confessed to finally putting all the boxes of decorations away.  

I've often accused Diva (and Kilowatt) of selective hearing.  You know, missing those subtle sentences, usually the ones starting with the words "will you..."   Well, it appears I have selective vision.  Because after declaring the Christmas decorations down and put away, I stumbled across this:

I could think of some creative excuses, like we don't come into this part of the house often (lie: it is the kitchen/dining window - the one we look out the most often.)  

But truth is, only as I was staring out this window at the birds munching down while it snowed (which is something I do pretty much daily) did I realize that the little gel thingys on the window that I was playing with were decorations that shouldn't be there now.  

Guess that's a good reminder it is time for my annual eye exam.  I wonder if they make glasses for selective vision? ;)

Raking the Roof

Quite a few of you expressed interest in the roof rake - one of those tools that is unique to those of us living in a snow belt.  Well, tonight I was surprised when Kilowatt arrived home from work early.  I asked him why he was so early, and his reply 'because you are home tonight, and I have to go up and rake the roof.'

I hear these words about once a year, and they never cease to cause me extreme anxiety.  Our house is a Gambrel, meaning two stories in the front, but three in the back as we have a walk-out basement.  So there is no way to rake the back roof from the ground.  

Raking roofs is serious business.  Not only can you get the dreaded ice dams with accompanying leaks -- if you have a flat or low slope roof -- it can collapse from the weight of the snow.  Typically this is more common in commercial buildings, but it can happen to houses too.  So tonight while I'm praying and typing, I can hear the rake, as see the snow falling out my office window.  

Yesterday, my neighbor had a guy with a shovel on her roof - but her house is a ranch - 1 story.  Right now I'm wishing our house was only one story.  

Fun Monday - Front Porch Lookin' In

Our hostess this week, Julie over at Another Chance Ranch, apparently overheard me lamenting that I needed to clean my house and put away the Christmas decorations, because here's her assignment:

Instead of standing in your front door and taking a photo of what you see outside, let's turn around and take one of the inside. Maybe that will prompt some of us to pick up a tad (you know who you are). :)

So last night I diligently put away the boxes of Christmas decorations.  I even straightened up a bit.  Then today hit.  I thought of doing a quick deep cleaning, or taking the photo from a different door - but that just didn't seem right.  I figure anyone who is reading this wants to know what our life is really like, not see some great photo like you can get from buying a magazine of lovely houses that no one really lives in.  So here is the view, in all of its dirty glory.

Yes, I know the photo is a bit tilted, but sometimes so am I. If I'm not going to clean, then getting a straight photo probably isn't going to happen either.  Let me describe a bit of what you see when walking in.  

First, I don't have a garage, so this is our main entry to the house as well as our family room.  We use it to house our impressive collection of winter footwear, including the three pairs of ice skates (one still in the box) by the slider.  It also houses our collection of winter outwear.  You can see Diva's winter gear lying on the floor drying out after some tumbling in our latest 8 inches of snow -- and looking out the slider you can see some of that snow.  Lot's of it, actually.  A careful viewer can even glimpse the treehouse that came with our house.  

Next, notice the folded up treadmill.  I insisted we put the treadmill in this room so I might use it occasionally.  I knew if we put it in the basement I'd never step foot on it.  Need I tell you how well that strategy is working?

Then there's the Dell box.  Since Kilowatt is so handy, we periodically receive such parcels from friends and family with the message  - 'can you fix this?'

Finally, the boxes on the surround sound speaker that look like shoe boxes - those are train boxes.  Kilowatt picked out his birthday present yesterday.  And the surround sound doesn't go with the teeny tiny TV  you can see in the photo - there's more to this room than you can see from this photo. 

Finally, because I'm in rule breaking mood this week - here's a photo looking out. 

This photo is of Kilowatt using another one of those tools you just don't hear much about down south - the roof rake. Yes, when the snow gets too high on your roof, you have to clear it off just like your driveway and sidewalk, or risk something called ice dams.  

And the brown thing you see in the left - that's a snow shed.  If you want your bushes to look good in the summer, you've got to cover them in the winter to keep the snow from weighing them down.  Then you put fencing around them to keep the deer from snacking.  Hungry deer don't care that my front door is mere feet from their target.  

Well, I'm off to see what you see looking in at your house.  I hope someone else has a house as 'lived in' as mine!  

It's All About Me

My friend and blogging idol - Hulagirl - has helped me come up with something to blog about, as my mind is a frozen mush here in the arctic tundra that goes by the name of NH.   She has been  kind enough to interview me, asking my opinion on several topics of critical importance.  

BTW, it was -15 this morning when I took Diva to school.  So for my interview I'm wearing a turtleneck, covered by a sweatshirt, topped off with a fleece overlayer.  Oh yes, must not forget the flannel-lined jeans and wool socks.  And this is indoors, you should see me when I venture out.  Oops, that's right, you can't see me when I'm outside, I'm just a very rounded blob of clothing with Sorrel snow boots and tiny eyeballs barely visible between the neck gaiter and wool hat.  

Anyway, back to the interview:

1. When you take a week long vacation how many pairs of shoes do you take (just for you) and what kind are they?

Well dear reader(s), I must confess that I'm not a shoe person.  I think this comes from wearing a size 11, which basically means I go into a store and ask what they have in my size, and if they have something, that's what I buy.  And when you are close to 6 feet tall high heels just don't make sense.  Shoes in this size aren't cute or fun, they are just functional.  So I typically take 3 pairs - black sensible dress shoes (goes with everything), sneakers (in case I actually do decide to exercise someday, and Tevas (for my beach wanderings.) 

2. In Sartre’s play No Exit the three main characters are stuck in a room with no exit and don’t like each other. They eventually realize that hell is being stuck with each other forever. What person or persons would be hell for you to be stuck with in a room forever? If you don’t want to name names, just speak in generalities ie..the girl who relentlessly picked on you in third grade.

Yikes!  I don't even like to think about this one - it's too scary!  There are a couple of personality traits that drive me bonkers, so let's go with those:

1 - people who can't stop talking.  A little conversation is a good thing, but there comes a time when we all need the wonderful sound of silence.  I could probably list at least a dozen people I know who fall into this category.  You know, the ones who when they call you on the phone force you to lie and say - "gotta go, someone is at the door."

2- Extremists - yes, people who hold extreme views drive me absolutely crazy.  In all but a few very extreme situations (like murder) I can usually at least understand both sides of an argument.  I'm a very moderate person and I don't believe I have the answers to everything (but I do know a lot of the questions.)  I seem to bump into many people who think their point of view is the only valid one, and they have the right answer to everything.  Especially in politics.  

3. In honor of the inauguration: If you could ask any US President, living or dead, one question and he would have to answer it HONESTLY, which President would you pick, and what question would you ask?

This wanders into the political arena, which I usually try to avoid because it seems to bring out the worst in almost everyone.  But having a political figure forced to be HONEST is really an interesting concept.  I'd probably have to ask George W Bush "who convinced you that there were WMD's in Iraq, and how strong was your belief in what they said?"  Does that count as two questions?  

4. Our local newspaper does a weekly thing where they stop someone on the street, ask what the top ten songs are their iPod are and print them. What song in your entire music collection would you be most embarrassed to see in print next to your name?

So I'm not supposed to be embarrassed to see it in print on the relative anonymity of my blog, huh?  Okay, most of the embarrassing songs on my iPod are embarrassing because they are kid songs, or pop candy type stuff.  But there is one in particular that is embarrassing enough I can't even print the whole title: 

Jimmy Buffet - Why Don't We Get Drunk and S*&^%  (I just put the whole CD on my iPod, and this song was on it, really:)

5. Are you a “hat person”? If so, describe your hat or hats. If not, explain why.

I love hats!  I don't wear mine often, but I do have an impressive collection.  One of my favorites is this cowgirl hat, worn back in the days when line dancing was my favorite activity.  Another is my much loved black cashmere fashion hat that I got in Germany (there's a good story behind the hat, maybe a future blog topic.)  The photo is of me in younger days, on top of a mountain in Switzerland.