The Blog Goes Ever On And On

Bits. pieces, and updates from previous posts.

A while back I talked about the chintzy yellow ribbons on SUVs, and voiced the opinion that only those signed by actual vets should be given any slack, comparing the signed ribbons to the old WWII-vintage blue stars that people posted in the windows to show a family member serving (yes, that’s a Norman Rockwell moment). Then I saw exactly that two days ago on the highway – a blue star on a white field with a red border. Very, very classy.

I haven’t had anyone come up with earlier instances of the “impromptu car lots” I’ve been seeing around here on the weekends. The closest I’ve gotten was a friend in New York City, who always remembered students selling books and albums (that dates his sighting of this phenomena) in Washington Square at the close of each semester. It could be the same spirit (and needs) that motivates both.

The destruction in the front yard still continues, and the ditch is filled in, the front hillock mildly scraped, the mailboxes moved three times, and the road widened but not asphalted yet. No casualties among our trees in the front, but our neighbor on the left lost one of his. The road crew wanted to know if we wanted the wood – otherwise they would charge to haul it away. The neighbor on the left, a very pleasant elderly gentleman, felt he had “enough wood for the rest of his life”, and so the neighbor on the right (who is trying to keep his oil heating bills down) took it. In general, the road crew has been pretty pleasant – they have respected the various properties they are working with, and only mildly intrusive (meaning – they blocked my front driveway with a steamroller only once).

Oh, and I did choose “Benedict” in the "name-the-pope" office pool. Got five bucks and two “Hail Marys”.

More later.