Happy New Year

Well here we are again, on the brink of a brand new year.  2019 is almost upon us, and I know that the coming year will fly by just as fast as this year has. When I was in high school, way back in the 1960s. any year after 2000 seemed impossibly far away, yet here we are, well into the 2000s.  In case you're wondering, I have not made any resolutions this year.  Why should I set myself up for failure?  I have discovered one positive though.  Since I'm paying most of my bills on line these days (who could have imagined that in 1962?) there is much less chance of writing the wrong year on my checks.  Progress indeed.  Happy New Year everyone!!!

Easy to assemble

I am expecting company in a few days.  I may have mentioned this before.  It's been on my mind a lot lately.  In fact I've been waking up at odd hours of the night (like 4:00am) thinking of things I still need to do or trying to decide what to feed two adults and four children, ages 2-12.  Last night at 3:56am I realized that I don't have enough towel racks in my guest bathroom.  So, today, after church, I took myself to Walmart and, with the help of a friendly clerk who led me half way across the store to the hardware area, I found, and purchased, an over the door towel rack.  The package said it would be easy to assemble, and guess what, it was.  Six little screws and my handy-dandy Phillips screwdriver and, hey, presto, I have an over the door towel rack.  Only two problems: (1) with the towel rack in place the door won't close so no privacy. A lot of people like privacy in the bathroom.  and (2) it bangs agains the wall when the door is open.  I really don't want holes in the drywall.  Happily, I have come up with a solution.  I hung the towel rack in the guest bedroom (which is pretty close to the bathroom) on the outside of the closet door.  Nobody cares if the closet door doesn't close tightly and at least there is a relatively handy place to hang three big damp bath towels. I know, I know there are six people coming but, hey, it's a start, and there's always the shower rod.  

Facts that don't help at all.

I learned this earlier this month "On average a person has 70,000 thoughts per day." Wouldn't you think, if I had had 70,000 thoughts today, at least one of them would be worth bloging about?  Nope, I've got nothing.  Oh wait, here's another fact.  Today is "Tick Tock Day."  What do you suppose that means?  Is it simply that we're winding down to the end of the year or does it mean that I should go on line and shop for a lovely new watch?  Well, tick tock, it's bed time.  I guess I'll never know.

Not the prediction I was hoping for.

You may have noticed that this has been an unusually warm December.  Not tropical, mind you, after all we do live in Indiana, but still temperatures in the 40s and 50s are relatively pleasant. I appreciated this when I was pumping gas earlier this week.  However there have been two weather predictions in my 'Old Farmer's Almanac' calendar that have me concerned.  I've always felt that, after Christmas, it's fine with me if we just slide right into spring but these predictions don't bode well for the kind of spring I'm dreaming of.
On December 25 the quote was "At Christmas, meadows green (the grass does look green from my balcony), at Easter, covered with frost."
And today "Who doffs his coat on winter's day (I saw lots of people running around without coats today), will gladly put it on in May." So now you have been warned.  

What's in a name?

I didn't know that winter storms were named these days but evidently they are.  I guess I shouldn't be surprised.  Hurricanes have names and so do tropical storms and wild fires, so why not large winter storms?  Today I heard on the national news that Winter Storm Eboni is dropping lots of snow across the midwest (except for northern Indiana evidently).  Eboni?  Isn't that the dark wood from which black piano keys are made?  I know that the wood is spelled 'ebony' but still it sounds the same.  Wasn't there an old song "Ebony and Ivory?"  It seems to me that if someone wants to name a SNOW storm they might have considered a more appropriate name.  I know, you're probably going to point out that this is the 5th named big snow storm (who knew?) so the name had to start with 'E.'  But why not Eggshell or Ecru?  Too bad it has to start with 'E.' Alabaster would have been catchy or Ivory.  Although maybe the namers were thinking of all the potential black outs from downed power lines.  In that case Eboni might make sense.  
Just out of curiosity I googled the definition of 'Eboni.'  It is an Egyptian baby name which means Black. So now you know. Can't wait to hear what they name the next big snow storm. I vote for 'Frosty.'

it's evidently not permanent

Three days ago I suddenly lost my hearing, at least partially.  It has been the strangest feeling. I hear swooshing sounds in my left ear (sort of a perpetual rain storm) while my right ear is still hearing a little.  I really didn't have time to look into this while going through the usual Christmas Eve and Christmas day celebrations.  The hearing problem did lead to some interesting moments.  I managed to read my assigned scripture at our late service but had no idea what my voice sounded like. My son said I sounded normal.  On the ride home after the service my granddaughter said that she had spent some of her holiday time with her boyfriend, but she was sitting on my left and I heard her with my right ear so I thought it was my daughter speaking and asked what she was doing spending time with her daughter's boyfriend? Everyone looked at me strangely until I realised who had actually been speaking.  The whole next day went like that.  When my brother called from Spokane to wish me a Merry Christmas I couldn't hear him until I thought to switch the phone to my right ear.  I got a good feeling of how awful it must be to not be able to hear well. Today, I did have time and went to the doctor to see what is going on.  It turns out I have a minor infection and some fluid in my left ear, all of which can be cured.  In ten days I should be back to normal, or at least my version of normal. 

and to all a good night

Last night I spent the night at my daughter's house so I could be there to experience Christmas morning with her and her husband, two grandchildren and three grand-dogs.  I assumed, since my grands are teens now that they would sleep in. Not so, we were all awake at 6:30am.  Some things never change.  We explored stocking treasures, unwraped larger gifts and sniffed the breakfast casserole baking in the kitchen.  All this before 7:30. Some things do change though and I looked on with interest as my grandteens unwraped purple tights, blue and purple hair dye, a set of throwing axes and target board, a large computer monitor and much more.  The gifts have changed but the delight was still there.  I guess Santa is keeping up with the times but I do wonder how he got that computer desk down the chimney.  More family came later, adding eight more people, more food and another dog to the melee.  All in all a busy fun day. I shall sleep well tonight.