Thankful Sunday--January 17, 2016

These are the books Kimmy and I read yesterday.

I am thankful for the library.

Kimmy, a special needs teenager who lives next door, visits me most days so we can read together. She loves the actual process of reading out loud more than listening to a story, so that has evolved into she reads a page and then I read a page. While her reading has improved, she has not progressed beyond the beginning reading stage and that limits our choice of books.  

Kimmy has a very good memory and remembers most of the books we have read. She doesn't like to repeat a book, so that limits our choices further. That is where the library comes in. While we have read hundreds of books together from there, there are still hundreds (thousands?) to go. And for that I am thankful.

Lottery Fever Lingers

As you know, the Lottery Fever that had been gripping the country lately has been cured. Meaning that someone finally won. Actually three someones each won over a billion dollars ($1,000,000,000!!!). Now just a few days later after the drawing, people have quickly moved on. Back to reality and dealing with the same amount of money they had yesterday.

However, thoughts about the lottery are lingering with me. Like many others, Ward and I had a conversation about what we would do if we suddenly came into a large amount of money. It seemed like a silly exercise, but it was interesting all the same.

We started with the big picture and moved inward. First, we said that we would give most of the money away. Now if truth be told, we wanted to do this as much as to avoid the hassle of everyone wanting something from us as doing a good deed. But if we were going to  give it away, how would we do it? I saw an interesting show once that interviewed some very rich people about philanthropy. They said donating money to good causes was much harder than it looked. First there was no end to the people that would like a slice of your pie and everyone believed their cause was the most worthy. Second, they wanted to give their money to people who would actually spend it well and not have a large overhead in their organization. That took a lot of work to figure out.

Gates Foundation

So we decided that maybe we'd give a large amount to the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Many of the issues they support such as improving the health of children around the world, we were in agreement with. And they certainly knew how to deal with large amounts of money. (Of course, we'd have to check into the statistics of how well run their organization was.)

Next we made the circle a little closer and thought about other people we'd like to help. One was providing dental care for people in Appalachia. We talked about the grants we'd give to understand and implement a program for this. We also wanted to help rural libraries. Another idea was to provide scholarships for needy kids to get tutoring. After discussing a few more things such as new camping equipment for the local Boy Scout troop, we moved on.

Then we narrowed our circle more and talked about the extended family. Luckily, most of our relatives are in pretty good shape and don't need much. Maybe a little fun money would go their way or maybe a family vacation. The exception to this was to make sure our elderly relatives had all the money they need to get the best care.

Now down to our immediate family. We want our kids to find their own way, so we wouldn't be giving Wally and Theo much. Maybe some help with health insurance and or a low interest loan to set up a business that has been mentioned. Maybe there would be a trust for them that they could access in a decade or two.

Swedish Chef

Then finally ourselves. We'd keep enough of the money that the interest on it would provide us with our current standard of living. Well, maybe a little better. A personal chef and tailor sounded pretty good.  And Ward would build the workshop he has always wanted and I'd have some professional landscaping done on the yard. We'd also keep enough to pay for good health insurance so we could take early retirement if we wanted.

Not very exciting discussion, was it?  Especially since a billion dollars was involved. But the reason that this conversation is lingering with me is the very fact that is was not exciting. There's not much on this list that is beyond our ability to do now if we put our minds to it and do some creative thinking.

So we didn't win the lottery, but I'm glad there was lottery fever which prompted our "what if" conversation. Unknowingly, our talk gave Ward and I a chance to revisit our priorities. So, we're off now to start our lists and do some creative thinking.

Did you have a Lottery Fever discussion? Did you have fun imagining some exotic things you'd do with the money or were you more down to earth?

Thankful Sunday--January 10, 2016

I am thankful for the simple, silly things 

that make me happy.

Yesterday, Ward and I met with Wally and Theo in a central place to have lunch and take a hike. The hike had us exploring muddy trails around a lake in a cold mist and fog--meaning the weather wasn't good. We were trucking along through the naked trees with occasional glimpses of the lake when seemingly out of nowhere, a large billboard appeared. Now I don't think I had ever been up close and personal with a billboard that can be seen from the Interstate, so I was interested in checking this one out.

And since I was with the rest of my "Cleaver" family, I immediately thought about the Leave it to Beaver episode where Beaver gets stuck in a bowl soup on a billboard.  The rest of the family vaguely remembered it, but listened as I told the story. We all got a chuckle of how the Beav always manages to get himself into messes and how Ward always seems surprised that he does.

So during a cold, muddy hike with my family, we had a simple, silly experience that made me smile. And for that, I am thankful.

Be Careful What You Ask For

The feeders are just an easy climb up the branch
and a little jump for the squirrels now.

Aunt Martha and Uncle Billy have a very nice feeder set up for the birds in their yard. They have things for big birds, little birds, seed eaters, and insect eaters. The have lower perches and higher perches and during the summer they grow flowers under the feeders that attract birds. The birds appreciate their efforts as seen by the many of them that frequent there each day. In fact when I visit Aunt Martha, I often have a hard time concentrating on the business at hand because I am distracted by watching all of the birds. If we have something important to discuss, she makes me sit with my back to the feeder.

So when I found out Uncle Billy had drawn my name for Christmas, I asked for a branch to be installed close to my feeder like they have at theirs. I hoped that would be the first of several additions I had planned to my set up. And on Christmas Eve, it magically appeared.

As I had hoped, the birds flocked to it. Yeah! However, what I had forgotten to calculate into the equation was that we had just added a convenient way for the squirrels to get to the feeder. How soon I had forgotten that we had worked so hard on a setup to keep the squirrels out of the bird feeder. This included placing the feeder at a distance far enough from the trees so the squirrels couldn't easily jump from one of them onto the it.

 I'm not sure what to do now. The birds are enjoying the new branch, but not as much as the squirrels are. And if truth be told, the squirrels are pretty fun to watch. However, the birds don't come around so much when they're there. And it's pretty expensive to feed a squirrel as much suet as it wants to eat.

So for now, as we consider the next move, we're enjoying both the squirrels and the birds, And we're looking for sales on bird food. :)

Here are a few pictures of the squirrels with their new-found treat.

A Second Look--January 6, 2016

Accumulating snow still eludes us in this warmer-than-normal weather, but the temperature is starting feel like it really is January. This morning it was in the single digits. Despite the cold weather, a couple of pansies are still providing color. A welcome sight among the browns.

The deer are coming in increasing numbers with 8-12  at a time not uncommon. You can tell that they are comfortable in our yard because they often take an afternoon nap here. The squirrels are busy as ever and I observed one doing something I had never noticed before. It was gathering up dried leaves in its mouth and then disappearing into a tall pine tree. I assume that it was lining its nest to help protect against the cold weather that is finally here.

Here are a few things I saw this week 

during a Second Look.

Although this pansy is a little ragged around the edges, it survived last night's very cold temperatures.

This picture was taken before the really cold night. The pansy is still blooming, but drooping a little now.

You just never know when or where you'll find a dandelion blooming.

Downy woodpecker

At the end of the yard, there were 11 deer grazing yesterday.

Much closer to the house, these deer were lounging after grazing for a while.

The squirrel stuffed some more leaves into its mouth before it disappeared high into a pine tree.