My World of Wonders, aka The Wednesday Ws November 6

Where have I been this week?  A long walk from the troll park, the Kennedy Center to see the National Symphony Orchestra, National Airport for a flight to Cleveland, Stow Ohio for a funeral, back to National Airport, a grocery store stop. The Mt Eagle Grill to meet our neighbors for our once a month gathering of LGBTQI neighbors for drinks and dinner. 

Who have I heard from?  A Halloween card from a blogger - what a nice surprise, traded emails with Spo and Mitchel. J's cousin Ray about travel and the funeral. 

What plans am I making?  I have firm dates for a board meeting in Phoenix in early February and will be making travel plans, I have a 5 or 6 day part of next springs big adventure to plan. For the most part I plan to be home for the next almost three months.  

What have I been trying not to think about?  The election.  Truth be told, I am avoiding the subject. 

What have I been cooking? Not much with the travel, chicken and saffron rice. I will cook more in the coming week. 

What am I reading? Essays from the Sunshine State. I finished three books related to articles I am writing last week. So this week is a little quieter. 

What am I listening to? As I write this traffic going by and the Sweet Bear gently snoring. 

What is the big event this week?  The Sweet Bear's birthday, one that ends with a "0".  

Who made me go "huhh! this week? Father Ted, not his really name, the same priest who bumbled Eds funeral, was nearly late and just not very well prepared for Tim. Apparently there is a shortage of priests to do funerals in northeast Ohio. 

Who deserves a huge atta girl this week? Diane, Lisa, Caryn and Sharon, for doing such a wonderful job of organizing everything in Stow.  

 

Travel Tuesday: Ft Wayne Zoo

We had a day to explore in Ft Wayne Indiana.  We hadn't been to a Zoo in years, so off we went. 

There was an open walk through exhibit with Kangaroos, I have never seen them up front. These are Zoo roos, used to being around people, still don't touch, and don't get between them and their babies. 

 

Monday Moods - Take 2

Let me take another try at my Monday post, the first one went up off schedule. 

Fall is upon us, in northern Virginia the trees are nearing the peak of fall colors, the nights are cooler, with still warm sunny afternoons.  It is time to think about the holidays.  

Turkey for Thanksgiving in November.  Roast beef for Christmas, and Ham for New Years.  My fruitcake has been ageing in booze for a couple of months.  I have an article coming out in the November in an American Bar Association e-journal titled "Old Family Fruitcake." And I am not talking about great uncle Dutch. 

We start holiday shopping early, when we see something we think the other one would like, we buy it and set it aside.  I can't say I am done shopping, but mostly.  What do you get for the man who has everything? 

I really need to help with the Christmas decorating this year, I have wimped out of it most years.  Our styles are different, I never aim for perfect, just fun and done.  I get pissy when things are moved around to the proper place after I have done my thing. I need to work on that. I can be sensitive, I am not perfect.  To quote Diana in Waiting for God (a great BBC sitcom) I am not easy to live with, believe me I find myself hard to life with.   

My goal for this fall, is to take each day in stride.  Awaken, glad to still be alive, and move forward.   

What is the photo above? The Pentagon, from a window seat departing out of DCA on a cool November morning. 

The Sunday Five: Dream big

1: If you could go anyplace in the world, where would you go? 

2: How would you go there? 

3: Where do you dream of staying there? 

4: How would you spend a day, wandering around there? 

5: What is holding you back? 

My answers: 

1: If you could go anyplace in the world, where would you go? The dream trip for me is Japan.

2: How would you go there? I would love to go by boat, I loath 12-14 hour airline flights. 

3: Where do you dream of staying there? There is a nice Hilton in the city center.  

4: How would you spend a day, wandering around there? The shopping district, and out into the residential areas. 

5: What is holding you back? Worry that I am pushing to much travel too fast. 

Please share your answers in the comments.  

The Saturday Morning Post: Adventures in Flying: Sometimes there are tears of sadness

The V-tail Beechcraft Bonanza, was known around small airports in the 1970's as the V-tailed doctor killer.  Fast, sleek, and expensive most of the buyers were higher income professionals who sometimes were overconfident in their abilities in an airplane that could be unforgiving.  The only crash at the local airport in one of these was a friend of my fathers, who was in the gas and oil distribution business. He ran out of gas and ended up in a farm field a couple of miles from the airport trying to make it home without stopping for fuel.  Everyone walked away. His wife sold the wreckage. 

When my parents bought the house in Florida, I discovered that a high school friend of mine lived on the corner.  His mother worked locally, his father worked 150 miles away.  They had saved up and bought a 172 Cessna, so Bob could fly home on weekends, or even overnight if he wanted to, with traffic it was a three hour drive, but just a little over an hour by air.  Coming home one Friday evening, he flew around bad weather, and didn't stop for fuel, he landed in the trees about 500 feet short of the runway, walked away from the crash.  He had let the insurance on the airplane lapse the month before. The plane was not a total loss, but he lacked funds to repair it. His wife moved out on Monday. 

Where my parents were at in Florida there were two local airports.  One was less prosperous than the other.  The planes were older, the maintenance was not as precise.  One of the flight instructors picked up a contract videotaping natural gas pipelines from the air. This involved flying the pipeline routes at 500 feet or so, with a camera strapped to the wing. It was several hours a week and it paid really well - instructing was slow she needed the money.  She didn't see the stabilizing cable on the 1,000 foot television tower, that snapped the end off of a wing.  She died on impact.  

The same airport had a Piper J3 Cub on the rental line.  It was buzzing low and slow over a neighborhood late one afternoon when the crankshaft broke, and it crumpled into a swimming pool.  Dad and I had flown that plane a couple of hours before.    

When I was about ten years old, I watched a plane crash.  It was 4th of July and we were returning from uncle Dick's house on the lake.  A small plane was in the landing pattern at the local airport, and Dad stopped on top of the hill at the end of the runway so we could watch, except the plane didn't make the runway.  There was a mechanical issue, and the pilot misjudged the hill at the end of the runway and landed in a corn field across the road. No one was hurt. 

I had a lawyer friend in Kentucky, who had survived an airline crash. He and his teenage son were flying cross country, when an engine failed, destroying the hydraulic system on the plane.  His son was killed on impact, Bernie survived but spent two years recovering. Then went to law school, he was a ferocious advocate. 

And yes, I still fly. I still love airplanes. 

Monday Mood November 4, 2024

Well, I posted this on the wrong day. It already has comments,  I will let it stand. 

Today is a somber day, the funeral for J's middle brother.  Being the youngest child, you kind of suspect you might outlive your siblings, but it still comes as a shock.  Being the last one left. Wondering when your time will come.  

I have older siblings, none of whom is in the best of health.  It is impossible to predicts, but there is a good chance that I will outlive at least a couple of them.  My brothers are likely to leave complicated estates and no real plans for what they want to have happen.  For one we will need a dumpster on the driveway to start the clearing out process.  

And really a dumpster on the driveway is often the first indication that someone is gone.  When my parents bought the house in Florida, Norman lived across the street on the corner.  He was a retired Navy officer, with a wife from Germany.  They had been there just a couple of years, they had done the same thing my parents did, went to the space coast after the Apollo program shut down, looking for an affordable place to life.  Norman was a good neighbor, a great neighbor.  His wife developed dementia and was in a local nursing home.  One fall there was a hurricane coming up the coast, the nursing home evacuated, she died on the bus on the trip inland.  Norman was heartbroken.  A couple of years later a dumpster appeared on his driveway.  That was the first my parents knew he was dead.  He died of a heart attack while driving his car, went off the street and came to a stop against an electric pole. 

This will change us, and we will move forward. Reminded to enjoy each day. To have fun along the way. 

Tim did in his own way, enjoying watching his five kids, grandkids and even a great grandchild prosper. He drank a little more than others thought he should.  He was a regular at the gym.  And loved working in his garden.  For 40 years he traveled for work, millions of miles in the air, thousands of nights in hotels.  When he retired he stayed close to home.  Only family weddings took him more than a days drive from home.  A few years ago he bought a Camaro.  He was riding with us to visit his older brother in the hospital before he died this summer.  We got to talking cars and fun.  I mentioned that J had sat in a new Corvette at the Auto Show, but had to crawl out onto the floor to get out.  Tim said, he bought the Camaro instead of a Corvette, because he couldn't get in and out of a Corvette without help.  Always practical, always having a little fun along the way. 

100 Tips to Slightly Improve Your Travel Experience: #30 ATM or Cash Machines

Automated Teller Machines (ATM) or cash machines have spread far and wide over the past 40 years. When I first started traveling to Europe, 34 plus years ago, we were still taking travelers checks and paying outrageous fees to cash them into local currency.  Credit cards worked but the connection of ATM networks was in its infancy.  

By 2000 debit cards had become the way to obtain local currency in Europe and North America.  Today very much all bank cards are compatible, and have a compliant PIN number. 

Nearly all of the machines give a choice of language, with at least the local language and English being available.  

There will always be a fee.  Three thoughts on fees.  The fees are usually less at cash machines connected to a major bank. It pays to check the fee before agreeing to the transaction. Often the fee is a fixed amount say 7-Euros, the same amount if you withdraw 100 Euros or 500 Euros. Withdrawing a larger amount and only doing it once in the trip can reduce the impact of the fee. Third, consider a higher service account with your bank.  As long as I maintain a substantial minimum balance ($5,000) with my bank, the bank reimburses out of network cash machine fees.  (I pay no service charges on the account, and checks are printed without charge.) 

Another thing. Before you leave home, contact your issuing bank and let them know you are going to be traveling. Most banks call it a "travel notice."  Sometimes you can do this online, or call the customer service number on your card.  They need to know the dates of travel and the contries you anticipate being in.  

The usual cautions apply.  ATMs at banks (or post offices in many countries) are a little more secure than one's on the street side or in a bar.  Keep your receipt. Be aware of your surroundings. Protect your card and PIN number.   

     

The Thursday Ramble: The US Election

I voted early, it was simple and efficient.  The line was only four or five people in front of me, mid morning on a Saturday.  The ballot was custom printed for my precinct. I marked it, and it is read by the standard scanning machines.  Before I left the polling place I knew that my vote had been counted. Under state law, the totals on early voting won't be announced until after the polls close on election day.  I would normally vote on election day, but I will be traveling that day, and I didn't want a delay in travel to result in not making it to the polls.  

This is too important of an election to miss.  

The top race on the ballot is President and Vice President.  

The choice here is:

• The Convicted Felon
• Or the Career Prosecutor

To those that think that the prosecution of the former President was political; bear with me for a moment. He was convicted of directing that the books be falsified to make a personal payment of over $100,000 look like a tax deductible business expense. Our tax system relies in the honesty of business owners and managers to keep a set of books that reasonably report income, and necessary business expenses.  Paying off the boss's mistress to buy her silence, is not a business expense. It is a personal expense.   

When this kind of cheating on the bookkeeping is uncovered, when witnesses come forward, it is prosecuted to set an example for other businesses to keep an honest set of books. If we didn't prosecute these crimes, business owners would be free to fraudulently underpay their fare share of taxes. It is not political. Ask the imprisoned officers from Tyco and Enron who were convicted of the same kind of frauds. (The CEO of Tyco charged as a business expense shower curtains for his home.)  

This also paints picture of the former President's character. Not only did he cheat on his wife with a porn star, and pay her for her silence, he then directed that it be covered up and made to look like a legitimate business expense. 

Simply put, Trump is a lier and a fraud. Please don't vote for him.  If can't you bring yourself to vote for Kamala Harris, please don't vote in the Presidential election.  You can skip that item and vote the rest of the ballot.  

Personally I like Kamala, I have since I voted for her four years ago.  She is a woman of color, an experienced criminal prosecutor, she was attorney general of California, and elected to national office.  When I voted for Joe Biden in the primary, I was really voting for Kamala, I doubted that his health would not allow him to finish a second term in the most stressful job in the country.  

If you are looking for the American dream, Kamala is the daughter of immigrants, and a self made success story rising from poverty to the second highest elected political office in the country on her merits.  She is bright and not one to be intimidated by anyone.  

Any world leader who tries to second guess her, ignore her, or push her around is in for a shock, you don't where she is without being a strong advocate for your beliefs.  She is not a lier or a fraud. She is the real deal.