Countrymouse Posted November 2018
On My Mind
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Replacing the much lamented 'On My Mind' profile option, this thread is for musings, jottings, whimsies, preoccupations and the rest of the thesaurus for anyone to jot down anything they please.
I can't remember what the maximum character count was before, can anyone else? But anyway it wasn't very many so let's keep to that.
--find something you're passionate about. try to make it your job. it would be great if you say, "i can’t believe i get paid to do this!"
--learn something new every day
--if someone comes at you, yells at you, or insults you, look the other way
--just be a good person. if you’re a good person, somehow everything works out to be good.
🙂
May we all be blessed with some.
Love you all! May The Lord bless and keep us all this day.
In 2016 when I drove away from the house, bumper to bumper traffic for miles, I had no idea if, within a couple of days, my house would still be standing . I eventually found one of the oil sands work camps associated with a huge processing plant. Another evacuee there said "Oh the fire can't come here". I said "Sure it can." And it could have.
Fortunately the wind changed and it moved east away from us. I was one of the lucky ones to be flown out. My son here and his wife got through by highway. My dd and fam were in another camp and some of the last ones flown out. I couldn't breathe properly until l I knew they had landed in Edmonton safely. R was in Edmonton at the time and beside himself thinking of volunteering for fire fighting. NO!!! Oldest son J had us, all his family, up here. It was a strange and difficult time.
Yes, the condo is in a safer area, another one of my reasons for moving. Not that there aren't fires, but it is built up so you don't have the acres and acres of forest that is so flammable in dry seasons. We here and also Fort Chip are totally surrounded by forest. It will end once it rains and rains and rains.
Sounds like a scary HE ** (double hockey sticks) . Is your condo in a less fire prone area ?
I hope this ends soon . Stay safe . 🙏🏻
My dd watched her dogs on someone's security cam. They were eventually rescued and returned to them but after the fire in town was out. She wasn't able to bring them with her.
It's not like a flood which covers all of an area. Some areas are burnt but one or a few houses may be OK. Other areas are OK but one house may be burnt.
Yes, it does raise emotions (and hormones) for sure. I know how the people in Fort Chip are feeling right now.
Bless God it rained last night here - not much but any is better than none.
I know it feels safer to try to stay in your home sometimes, rather than drive through fire. Or leave your home and get to the main street and you go nowhere, because it is bumper to bumper with smoke in the area.
It does bring back all those past fires, the minute you smell smoke, and have to be on alert for quite awhile.
It raises our cortisol levels for sure.
Any rain in your forecast?
The river is a good idea!
Absolutely a miracle!
I have driven along the highway with fire on either side but not out of control. .I drilled my children as they grew up that if there was fire and I or another adult wasn't there to head for the river
I can’t imagine what that must be like. It has to be terrifying to watch everything literally going up in flames.
I worked with a woman who accidentally left a candle burning. Her cat knocked it over and her entire house burned to the ground. She was so upset about losing her home and her cat.
Fires spread so rapidly. She said that she would always make sure that she extinguished all candles before leaving for work. After going through what she did, I don’t know if I would ever have a desire to burn any more candles!
I burn candles when I soak in the tub. I have candles that have covers. I put the cover on immediately after my bath.
Our fire started May 1 and was under control 2 months later, but continued to smoulder for over a year and covered about 1,500,000 acres. This one could be very large too.
Thanks need. I hope it isn't burnt either. The old church there was burnt down last year but they believe it may have been arson. Katrina did a huge amount of damage, I know.
How awful! We are good at evacuation too but for a different natural disaster, hurricanes.
Most places have to contend with something, fires, floods, tsunamis, hurricanes, tornadoes, earthquakes or volcanoes.
I would hate to see a historical part of town destroyed too.
New Orleans had to rebuild after Katrina. Some things cannot be replaced and it is truly sad.
Praying is about all you can do at this point. I certainly hope that the area isn’t destroyed by the fires.
Fortunately we are good at evacs. Accommodation has been arranged here and in the town up the river where the boats will dock. Even pets will be cared for as much as possible. However I know it is hard leaving your home. I pray that they contain the fire so that the town isn't burnt down. It is of historical and cultural importance and started as a trading post in 1788 and it is for some the only homes they have ever known.
My heart goes out to them.
Sounds like you have great memories!
It’s funny that you mentioned a studio apartment.
One of the happiest times in my youth was when I was living in a studio apartment.
I wanted a change, a fresh start in a new place. I decided that I didn’t want to have to rely on a roommate in a larger apartment.
So, I rented a one room/kitchen/bathroom attic apartment, completely furnished in beautiful antiques.
I adored the deep claw foot tub! My apartment was on top of a fairly large home so it was a decent sized attic.
Cat,
I know right! I truly hope this is a relatively calm hurricane season for us.
So I learned to drive and the kids (some of the kids are in their 40s now) did too in the TN hills. We have a few laughs about the snow weather transplants that run their mouth about us turning out or delaying the start of school because of a "little inch of snow" when they learn our "wet" snow on a surface that changes elevation and direction frequently is a different challenge than driving on 8 inches of powder on a flat surface. My favorite is the guy that planned to stop at the end of his driveway and slid across the street, ended up in a culvert in about 1/4 inch of our typical snow/ice mix.
BTW: Memphis is a different place than Johnson City; no mountains (just Mississippi delta flat land) and a Democratic party run big city with most of the problems that come with that. JC has more diversity in cuisine but not as much great barbecue and fresh seafood. We've had a lot of immigrant families settle here over the years and have some good Asian restuarants in addition to most of the chain places. The family favorites are a Mexican, a Japanese, and a Chinese restuarant; mostly home food is mostly cooked at home...
Random thought , I miss Dairy Barn too . A drive through for milk , bread , eggs etc . Was great if I had a sick kid and DH was away for work . Just drive through with a sleeping kid in the car seat . But now can always have food delivered . They had the best ice cream sandwiches .
As a kid I used to think the drive took forever but come to find out when I map quested it that it was only a 4 hour drive. 4 hours in kid time was like a million hours.
Wildwood is not the same as it was in the eighties from the pics I see online now. I loved all the kitchy hotels they had back then. Great times.
I wanted to visit Myrtle beach , hubby doesn’t like the alligator problem they have there. I’d also like to go to the outer banks in North Carolina , I have a friend that goes nearly every year .
Sounds lovely.
I have visited the Smokey mountains (Gatlinburg and Pigeon Forge) several times. The mountains are beautiful, especially in the fall.
We don’t have the beautiful autumn foliage here. The very first time I saw the red, gold and orange leaves, I told my husband that it looked like God took a paintbrush and painted the leaves magnificent colors!
We have been to Memphis a few times as well. That’s a totally different vibe. Great BBQ and music though.
You are in a great area to visit other places. I don’t know if I would acclimate easily to driving in the mountains. My husband does well driving in the mountains.
I was surprised how well my daughter acclimated to Colorado. She can’t wait to move back.
Did you grow up in the mountains? You learned how to drive in the mountains if you did. What about your children and nephews? Are they driving yet?
I have to admit that I am a horrible driving instructor! LOL 😆 I was a nervous wreck when they were learning to drive.
My girls preferred their dad showing them how to drive, plus we signed them up for driver’s education classes.
Although we have relatively small towns around, we are between Asheville NC (60 miles) and Knoxville (100 miles) - just down an interstate highway. Myrtle Beach, Charleston, Washington DC and Atlanta are all about 5 hours drive time away. I prefer to drive to Charlottesville and take Amtrak into DC; much easier to get out of town on a Friday afternoon.
Crime isn't a big deal unless you are involved in some way with drugs; mostly thefts from empty houses during working hours. We do have an occasional dispute between a couple of drunks or a divorcing couple that ends up with someone getting shot. On the other hand the two stranger/active shooter incidents within a hundred miles and over 20 years were both ended by an armed civilian with 2-3 total casualties.
I'm very biased. I have traveled the entire country and do not know of anywhere as lovely or generally safe and peaceful as East Tennessee. Our idea of "traffic" is cars traveling down the interstate at 70 mph with only 50-75 ft between them or waiting on a red light. I live beside pastures with multiple grocery stores, pharmacies, parks, and even walmart within a 8-12 minute drive. Plus I have lots of family around!
Yep, that’s a good description. Both of my nephews have been married twice. One of my nephews, my godson, his first marriage was in a hotel in Vegas. Yep! Fun time!
I couldn’t live in Vegas either but it is fun to visit occasionally. We went on the way to the Grand Canyon. I think it was about a four hour drive from the Grand Canyon.
Flying to Vegas was cheaper and gas was cheap than so we decided to do both, Vegas first, rent a car and drive to the Canyon.