A Study in Contrasts

I started my day with a stop at Marchant's Foods to stock-up on perishables for the coming week.  Upon entering the store I was met with this....

Hand sanitizer, nitrile gloves and home-built masks for adults and children - free, for nuthin'.  The masks are being sewn by a county-wide network of volunteers for distribution to those who need them.  I know this as Jill has been cutting the components and running them to the local fire station for assembly by teams of volunteer sewers.  There was a jar for shoppers to throw a few dollars at this righteous and noble cause.

30 percent of the people that live here year-round are over the age of 70.  That happens to be double the state average and this is the most vulnerable segment of the population to Covid-19 infection.  As a consequence, the good people here on the peninsula look after our neighbors and make every attempt to honor the governor's, county health department's and local law enforcement's guidance to stay safe and stay at home.  Sure, nobody likes it (including me) but it's as much about the safety of others as it is our own - especially the safety of health care workers.  That is what good, honest and law-abiding people do.

Meanwhile in Brookfield, Wisconsin there was a gathering of people not honoring any sort of social distancing or wearing masks so they could protest state and local authority's request to stay safe and at home.  Or maybe they were looking for a Darwin Award for spreading Covid-19 on a very large scale.  Who knows.

In any event, one of the participants had hoisted aloft both a Gadsden Flag and the Stars and Bars of the Confederacy Southern Cross Confederate Battle Flag.  At first blush that strikes me as a mixed historic metaphor.  Maybe he skipped history class in high school or didn't graduate.  Or maybe history makes his head hurt.  I suppose you cannot fix stupid. 

photo - JSOnline

I take no issue with peaceful protest or airing your grievances.  Pick-up the phone and make some calls.  I do that periodically.  Nevertheless, behavior like this during a pandemic puts everyone's health at risk - including the health care workers that may end-up treating those that get sick or die from contracting a very unforgiving virus in a setting like this.  This is what selfish, self-indulgent and foolish people do. Whiners - the lot of them.

There is that Darwin Award thing too.

All I got to say is I'm glad I don't live there or associate myself with such craziness.

Cajun Navy

Texas has been clobbered by Hurricane Harvey - and as Harvey has degraded to a tropical storm it has turned back to deliver another round of torrential rains on Texas and then to Louisiana.  I have to say it is heartwarming to see ordinary people reaching out during extraordinary times to help ordinary people.

Tonnerre mais ça c'est bon!

Casting Bread Upon the Waters

In the Old Testament the Book of Ecclesiastes tells us the following:  Cast thy bread upon the waters: for thou shalt find it after many days.   

The biblical metaphor is the reason for casting your bread on water is to let it go.  Just toss it out, give it away, and be generous without obsessing over where it is going.  When you give in the true spirit of giving it will come back to you.  If you are truly generous good deeds will ultimately be reciprocated.   

While visiting with family in Mississippi last week the grandson and I walked down to the pond with a loaf of stale bread and we cast it upon the water.  Literally.   

 click on images for a better view

The bream (called blue gill around these parts) came to feed on it and eventually a half-dozen turtles joined in the fray.   

No metaphor here.  Just good fun for Opa and the kid.

Robert Earl Keen

Late Saturday afternoon my pal Julie from Sturgeon Bay texted me and asked if we could use a couple of tickets to the Robert Earl Keen concert at the Door Community Auditorium.  To which I responded:  Heck Yes!  So last night we connected with Julie and her good friend from college and husband visiting from Boise, Idaho.  It turned out he's in the same line of day job as yours-truly.  Grabbed some pub food and craft beers at Bayside Tavern in Fish Creek before the concert.

Click on images to enlarge

Speaking of college friends - Keen and Lyle Lovett knocked-around a bit at Texas A&M back in the day.  Keen is still going strong and last evening was no exception.  It was a full-tilt and most awesome performance with his road and studio band:  Rich Brotherton on guitar, Bill Whitbeck on bass, Tom Van Schaik on drums and Marty Muse on steel guitar.  

If you like concerts in a totally intimate setting (trust me on this - we saw Lyle Lovett there last July) you need to checkout the events for 2017.  And I owe Julie a big favor for thinking of us at the last minute.

Raising a toast to the thoughtfulness of friends and Texas-influenced, pure-bred, country music.  Nashville not allowed...

Observation of the Day

Lindsey Graham, Jeff Flake and John McCain are among the few elected Republicans that speak truth to power.

Edit to add:

This post went up before I witnessed Sen.McCain's participation in FBI Director Comey's testimony this morning.  Is McCain senile, off his meds or was he having a brain fart?  Sheesh...

Dump Run

Trip to the dump today.  Unlike city dwellers who enjoy curbside garbage pick-up in rural America we do not.  It's probably because we have no curbs.

In polite company we call this: Paying a visit to the Brussels Waste Disposal and Recycling Facility.  

Don't you think it still looks like a dump?

Oddly-enough the old pick-up truck started.  It was really slow to crank and fire-up but it did finally start.  No wonder - it's been sitting in the shed since Christmastime I think.  And it's been horrifically cold lately.  I was feeling really sort of smug about that old, reliable truck of mine.

In any event, I arrive at the dump and dump my three barrels of recyclables and a pile of broken-down cardboard boxes.  I prepare to depart and the battery is frankly just about dead.  Engine won't crank.  The guardian of the dump facility performed a good turn by allowing me to hook my jumper cables to his truck battery.  Vroom! 

So much for smugness.