New Shoes in the Rain

Happy Thanksgiving to all! What am I thankful for today, on this national day of thanksgiving?  Here are a few things: I am eternally grateful to have a wonderful family, where all of us are healthy and happy and support each other. I am equally thankful for my many friends who are always there for me, no matter what. I am appreciative that I live in a country where I can be who I am, to say what I feel, and to live as I prefer. I am grateful for the lessons I've learned, both personally and professionally, as often we receive a particularly difficult set of circumstances to navigate.  It's my sincere hope that the sum of these experiences will help make me a better person. I appreciate the opportunity to share my thoughts on, well, whatever comes to mind in this space, where we're able to exchange ideas safely and without hesitation. I am thankful to live in a country where the majority of us have what we need, and more, and would be even more appreciative of...

Happy pre-Thanksgiving Monday to everyone.  I hope that you'll all have the chance to spend some quality time with those you love this week. My wife and I will be on our own again this year, and plan to duplicate last year's plan, when we were in the same situation, by going to Shaker Village at Pleasant Hill for a lovely, traditional Thanksgiving dinner served in their historic Trustees' House. But I digress.  Came here today to talk about auto maintenance, one of our least favorite subjects. Once upon a time I followed the example set by my father, who was terrible at remembering to do even the most routine of car maintenance.  So he traded cars every couple or three years, but, back then, buying a car wasn't such a major investment. I know how poorly he did the routine stuff, because I bought a car of his and paid the price, having to replace an engine block because it had run too long on less motor oil than required.  So, yes, I do what's necessary to ke...

Good morning, all.  It snowed here in Kentucky last night, and this is most likely the earliest instance of visible snowfall that I can remember here in the area. Not complaining, mind you, as parts west and north of here got and are getting a lot more than that... For those of you keeping score, you'll recall that I was suddenly displaced from a job to which I was heavily recruited last spring, around the first of May.  At that time I had embarked on a pretty broad career search, and, given my age, a very frustrating process, as I was rapidly rejected for so many positions for which I would have been perfect, and had many near misses as the runner-up in a selection process and in once case where I was the finalist the company elected not to fill the position after conducting a search process that lasted about two months. Anyway, after about four months I accepted a job with a company in an extremely narrow niche of the healthcare industry, starting in late August. ...

Friends, it appears that we've been victimized by porch pirates! I ordered an item from Colonel Littleton when I visited their shop last week (see my most recent blog post) and it was to be delivered yesterday.  For some reason I had forgotten about it but ran across the e-mailed shipping confirmation and clicked the tracking and the system indicated it had been delivered. Since we don't enter the house through the front door, using the garage entry door instead, this happens, where we may not know that there's a package on the front porch.  So I stepped outside and looked on the welcome mat--nothing.  Checked behind the topiary we have out there--nothing there, either.  Looked on, under and around the bench that is positioned right next to the porch--not there either. So I contacted FedEx, the shipping company that Colonel Littleton used, and, long story short, their system indicated it was delivered and placed by the front door several hours earlier.  I ...

Happy Sunday, everyone.  Hope you had a good weekend, and enjoyed Halloween, whenever your area conducted Trick or Treat! I write that knowing that here in central Kentucky most cities and towns postponed from Halloween night to the following Saturday afternoon, due to an extreme drop in temperature on Thursday followed by high winds.  Locally I'd say they made the right decision. I had to travel south for a business function on Saturday, so headed through Tennessee Friday afternoon after conducting some business closer to home.  When I realized what time it was and that I didn't have to be anywhere by a certain time Friday evening, I did what any right-thinking admirer would do--I paid another visit to Lynnville, Tennessee to visit the retail location of Colonel Littleton, Ltd.! If you'll recall, I did the same on my way back from Birmingham a couple of months ago, and successfully restrained myself, buying only a coffee mug. Not this time.  Not only did I t...