If there’s one positive thing that’s come out of this recent snow storm, is my having finally acclimated to the cold, and in spite of it being noticeably cold this morning, I was actually quite fine with it as long as I was bundled-up. I did have to pull out another one of my long wool coats yesterday, because I’ve finally decided to wear it after had been hanging in my closet for well over three years. My navy blue one had become so worn, I was afraid the general public would think me a homeless person. The only reason I didn’t wear the one that’d been hanging, was it’s color. After having worn it for several days now, I’m growing accustomed to wearing gray until I can find an acceptable navy blue one. Fussy me.
When I arrived at office early, my first job of the day, was to get the front sidewalk of my office cleared of snow, and of course there were a very many cat tracks in the night from the patrons of that tavern two doors down. I’ve learned years ago, how much more difficult it is to get sidewalks fully cleared of snow after so many people have walked on them. Yes, I did get in a good early-morning exercise before dawn arrived.
With it being another Sunday morning, I headed back to my darkened corner to get my contemplative session started, and while going thru my petitions, I was suddenly reminded of those intentional land mines which that very naughty Capbend Group had laid for me these recent years, but fortunately I did manage to get them fully removed from any and all of my business dealings. Because I’ve been ever-happy to be finally rid of them, I gave all the more thanks this morning for whatever Divine help I did receive, which should be a reminder for us all, to never forget about giving thanks for the many good things that come our way, even if they appear to be the smallest.
I was a little tardy getting over to St. Paul Lutheran, but still had time to run thru all the hymns before their Services started. When one of their members finally turned their lantern lights on, I immediately noticed they’d all been fully serviced by replacing the many burned-out bulbs they contained. Wow, what a big difference it made! The combination of their lantern lights working as they should, along with the organ pedalboard lighting that was just installed, I felt like I was in seventh heaven, and yes, I was able to sight-read all be better, which I’m sure most of their members were noticing. Because their recessional hymn was a more modern and a little on the jazzy side, I decided to play it on their piano. Because of where their piano is situated, I wasn’t able to hear if they were singing to it, but afterwards, I did ask one of them if they were singing along, and she said they were.
Being a little thirsty for something warm, I ran downstairs afterwards, just to grab a take-away cup of coffee, and just as I was walking out, one of their members stopped me, just to talk about how people have been overly-complaining about our current temps. Since he grew up on a farm like I did, we shared a few stories about having to be out feeding and watering animals, irregardless how bad the weather was. I believe the reason we gravitate towards each other, is because we came from similar beginnings and circumstances. In spite of him being retired, he still keeps busy with his small farm operation, which is likely why he doesn’t have the weight-gain most men seem to acquire after retiring. Yes, I bless all those who keep their minds and bodies active after they’ve entered their golden years.
When I got back to office, I changed into my work clothes, and headed out to re-shovel all of which had fully-completed yesterday, and in spite of having to do it twice, it would’ve been far worse if I’d left it all for today. I learned long ago, that it’s much easier to handle snow, as long as it isn’t any deeper than four or less inches. I had laugh to myself when seeing a guy using a leaf blower to move snow that was on a sidewalk in our Downtown. I’m confident he’d never been fully taught how to quickly and easily get snow removed. There’s another nameless crew who likely burns up a quarter-tank of gas when trying to get a parking lot cleared of snow, and only because they’ve got the most curious of attachments on their pick-up truck. Truth be told, I could’ve have that shoveled by hand faster than it was taking them, and my job would’ve been more acceptable. Yes, I was taking my time today, just to make sure I didn’t get myself tuckered-out like I did yesterday, which is why I was at it far longer until the hour of three arrived.
With everything taken care of, I decided to get back to cracking nuts until it was time to call it quits. After handling likely three or four hundred of them since I started well over a month ago, I’ve come to know the best cracking method for all four of the sub-species I have, which is why they’re now getting cracked all the faster, along with more of the quarter pieces remaining intact after they’re shelled. Out of the one sub-species I like the most, I’ve held back five of them which I placed in a moist and cold-temp storage, which I’ll be planting this Spring. Yes, it’ll take a good 20 years before they have any sort of crop, but at least I will have helped to keep that sub-species alive.
Being in deep-thinking mode as I was working on those nuts, I was pulled back into my past thoughts about how angry it makes me when seeing our City’s “powers that be” making decisions on so-called improvements to our City, which almost always turn into future disasters. Like my dear friend said, who by the way is far more right than wrong, “This City has been making costly mistakes for generations, which have fallen on the shoulders of our tax paying citizens since I was a child, and my parents if they were alive, would confirm my words.” Just this past month, I’ve heard at least a half dozen life-long residents tell me that Southbridge Mall should be bulldozed, and then open Federal Ave. from the south, back up. They’ve done it in Cedar Falls, so why not here?
Tonight’s One-liner is: In order to have friends, you must first be one.
