A little while ago, I purchased a small parcel of land, just under 20 acres. This was a big deal for me, as my whole life I have pretty much banked every single penny I have ever made, preferring to “live small”. On this parcel are a few buildings, one of which we are rehabbing (the old barn). Oh the surprises you run into when rehabbing an ex-dairy farm. But those stories are for another day.
Personal Narrative
As Much As Anyone Who Wasn’t Blood
My mother-in-law died Easter morning. My husband had gone across the street to ask her when she wanted to come over for dinner; we had just bought some aids she had long resisted – believing they were a sign of dependence she wasn’t quite ready to accept. But by now she was blind and a new wheel chair, for instance, would make crossing the street safer and faster than with her halting steps which had slowed during the last year. She would have been 91 in a couple of months; she had held her great grandson in her arms. She had a quiet life – one of those people who defined herself as much by what she wouldn’t do as by what she did. But it was, nonetheless, full with a richness of purpose and accomplishment.
Waking Up Sleepy Teenagers
Have a teenager that has trouble going to sleep at night and who can’t be gotten out of bed in the morning by any means short of explosives? They might have “delayed sleep phase syndrome” and a simple therapy using special sun glasses and blue colored lights might be the key.
My son has this pattern. He becomes very active around 9pm and then cannot sleep until 2am or so. Needless to say, he doesn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. I did the same thing when I was his age.
I wonder if this is related to artificial lighting? It has been long known that artificial lighting alters the human body in unexpected ways, e.g., causing puberty in girls to start sooner, and this might be another “lightbulb” related phenomenon.
I’m going to give this a whirl with my son using the sunglasses. I’ll let you know if it works.
Note to Self…
… don’t put up a post touching on religion and then ignore it for the weekend.
Unexpected Flying Objects
So, I’m standing in my front yard just now when I hear a really loud aircraft drone. I look up and it’s a freaking B-17! It was just flying along majestically at 300-500 feet. Gape jawed, I just stood there watching it drone out of sight, wondering where the hell it came from.
Turned out it was this B-17 that was in town for an exhibition. *Sigh* I never seem to find out about these things too until to late but I do have a knack for spotting odd aircraft at odd times. A couple of years ago I was just outside the small town of Lampases, Tx, a hundred mile from anywhere, when I looked up and saw a Mig-15 with Soviet markings zipping along at less than 200ft. Back in the early ’90s, I was walking out of a mall when I looked up and saw a V-22 Osprey shoot overhead. At the time, there were only two prototypes in existence.
The B-17 seems to capture the imagination of a lot of aviation buffs as few other aircraft do. For example, few seem to feel the same way about the B-17’s contemporary, the B-24 Liberator. In addition to the romance of its wartime service, there seems to be something aesthetically appealing about the aircraft itself although I doubt anyone could articulate exactly what that might be.
It sure did look pretty, flying by.