New Shoes in the Rain

Happy Monday, everyone.  Got going early today, so hope you're able to have a good day, too! Once in a while a thought crosses my mind and I think "I should include that in my next blog post," but it isn't really related to whatever I happen to be writing about in that next post.  So this is going to be something of a listing of such random thoughts and comments, and they're in no particular order. While I'm not quite as strident as Alabama's governor on her stance on COVID, I have to agree to a point that the unvaccinated are putting everyone at risk by not getting their shots.  I know, there are a number of legitimate reasons why people are hesitant, but for goodness' sake, the vaccines do not contain microchips and are not designed to rearrange one's DNA.  I am appalled at the number of otherwise thoughtful and intelligent individuals who take refuge in one of these tinfoil-hat theories rather than doing the responsible thing for society and get

Good morning, and happy Tuesday, everyone. Was thinking not long ago about how common it is for people to start food blogs and post pictures of items that they've whipped up in their own kitchens.  I don't do that, although I'm not above bragging about a really enticing plate of food at a restaurant with a photo and a description for a friend or two! But I confess here and now that I've always enjoyed playing around in the kitchen, from the time I was a kid--and that was in a house with a gas stove!  This is true....my mom used to let me make my own lunch sometimes, and it was usually a can of pork and beans that I would "doctor up," as she would say, with brown sugar, ketchup and occasionally some meat, usually a cut-up hot dog or some Spam.   Humble beginnings. My wife did all of the cooking when we met, but she taught me a few things about grilling and during the warmer months we grilled regularly, first on a traditional charcoal kettle grill and later on a

I've been meaning to stop by and share some semi-random thoughts and observations, so it appears that today is the day! Last week I had my first overnight business trip since the start of the pandemic in March 2020.  My job has steadily increased the amount of time I'm out in the field over the past several months to where it's pretty much what it used to be, which is four days per week.  So let me start there with firsts. First time since the pandemic to have rented a car.  I hadn't had any success even reserving a car recently, given what's in the news about so many of the car rental companies having sold off large percentages of their fleets during the idle periods of the lockdown.  But for last week's trip, which was to northwest Indiana, I was able to secure a car.  When I arrived to pick it up, I was offered a compact pickup truck or a Nissan Rogue compact SUV.  I chose the latter, as I've had earlier models of that car, and felt I made a good choice.