Thoughts That Come To You

Just started chapter 4 of the book Born on The Fourth of July by Ron Kovic. Once you get started, it's difficult to put the book down

Do your kids/grandchildren know how & when to call 911? If not, sit down & teach them!

Do they know their home address? If not, have them memorize it & repeat it back to you often.

This knowledge could help someone in danger.

What is the first major news story you remember as a child?

For me, it was the death of JFK

I remember the charitable fundraising song "We Are the World" coming out. I was literally like three. In a weird way, I understood what it was about. That it was for a cause.

I remember both the Challenger and Chernobyl, both of which happened before my fourth birthday. I understood the Challenger Explosion. Not so much Chernobyl. I thought it was to do with War. A bombing. I remember both stories though.

This dates me but oh well. It was the story of the Patty Hearst kidnapping, by the Symbionese Liberation Army. (SLA for short) led by that hardened criminal Donald DeFreeze and his radical following who wanted to incite "Guerilla Warfare" against the United States Government (J6 WAY before it's time) 

It's ironic that this is the first "major" news story I remember considering that in my lifetime there was 

1) The resignation and later pardoning of President Richard Nixon

2) The OPEC energy crisis 

3) The uprising of Ayatollah Khomeini and the Iranian Hostage Situation

4) Ida Amin and all the issues there was with him  

5) Two assassination attempts made on US Presidents (Ford and Reagan) 

These are just five that come to mind 

What's you guys' go-to species? Growing up, for the early part of my life, we always had Douglass Firs. Then at some point I guess we got bourgeois because we begin to have all Noble Firs, which are more expensive. I don't think I have ever purchased a Doug Fir myself. I have always bought Nobles. Two of my last three trees have been Nordmanns. Nordmanns are quite beautiful trees but the lack that Christmas tree smell I so covet. For the past five or six years I have searched area lots/farms for the blue spruce, which is and an absolutely beautiful tree but the are native to the Rockies. Amd when you live in the Northwest, it doesn't make since to bring in trees from out of state. I typically buy my trees from actual tree farms and most folks grow Dougs, Nobles, and Nordmanns.

And do you guys do a water tree stand? My tree this year just doesn't want to drink. It's given up on life. Pretty disappointing.

@StumpTownStu

 Did you cut a half inch off the trunk?

We have good luck with that process.

Did you add a little sugar to the water?

Of course I did. I buy trees from local farms. There are several, tons even, within a 5-10 minute drive radius. I cut that thing down myself and carried it few hundred yards through the muck. It's just the tree itself. Every plant responds differently to stress. I gave it a second cut even though I only live a few minutes from the farm. It probably didn't much care for that. Likewise, it might not like the warm house. Some trees respond to it and like the warmth. Others don't. It's like getting a husky but you live in Mobile, Alabama. Sure the dog will adapt if he doesn't know better but the first time he experiences snow he's gonna realize what he's been missing and not want to come inside. 

My aunt and uncle once planted their tree in their front yard up in Lake Tahoe. The thing hadn't even been in water. Just nailed to an old school wooden t stand. Botanist will tell you this is pointless. That they are done for after being cut from their root ball yet science be damned, that thing took root and grew. You can still see it on Google Earth. Every plant is it's own individual and they all respond to stress differently. This one just went into shock and didn't recover.

You can literally turn a female weed plant into a hermaphrodite by stressing it out.

@StumpTownStu

 Maybe you should stop singing to it.

"The problem in the world is that the intelligent people are full of doubt and the stupid ones are full of confidence." Charles Bukowski

How dare you!? Trees love my singing. Trees and my cocker spaniel. No one else. My wife appreciates it, in spite of in. I'm good at a lot of things but singing is definitely not one of them.

Six of one...a half dozen of the other 

Dropped off Christmas presents at the fire department this morning & thought...

We never had anything like this when I was growing up. 

Our gifts came from Santa, Mom & POPS & an aunt.

There was no such things as gifts from the community back in the 70's.

There probably were gifts from the community, just not on the same scale there is today. As a youngster I never really seen people appreciate the fire departments and EMT's as much as they do now. 

@Midnight1

 I have donated toys in some fashion, since I was 19. When I still lived in California, we had a few different drop off but one was my very own tradition and that was the drop off at Lefty O'doul's, a hof-brau and pub started by the baseball player in the 50's.  I have always loved a hof-brau and discovered Lefty's when I started working in the city. The cool thing about Lefty's toy drive was that you could drop of toys even on Christmas eve. Lefty's was an institution. I donated for the last time in 2016 even though I had technically moved earlier in the year, i'm still always in the Bay on business. Sadly Lefty's closed a few months later in early 2017. Priced out by rising SF prices. Up here, almost all the toy drives are connected save for the one-off individual drives that might be connected tona church, community center, etc. You can donate at Fred Meyer, which is s major grocery store chain. Les Schwaab tires, fire departments, and a host of other spots. It's all part of one big drive.

As far as the 70s, I can't speak to that, but in the 80s and 90s there was a old woman named Mother Wright. And I swear, Mother Wright would give a toy to every child in Oakland. Oakland is a fairly decent sized city. Over 300K in those days. I grew up in the hood but my household, my upbringing, was fairly middle-class. I had some pretty insane Christmases growing up. My parents went above and beyond. And even I still appreciated that Mother Wright toy. For some of the kids I grew up with though, the only toy they may have received some years was that Mother Wright toy. Oakland has seen a lot of transplants in the last 20 years but real ones know, Mother Wright is Oakland lore. I know she must be resting in peace.

@StumpTownStu

 A week before Christmas, my Pops would take me & my little sister up to the rail yards where they had hundreds of trees. Pops would buy a tree that we could afford & our job was to pick up branches that were on the ground. We would bring all of that home.

Once in the stand, we could see how barren the tree was but Pops would drill holes in the trunk & fill them with the branches we picked off the ground. To us, our tree looked better than the one in Rockefeller Center.

That is a wonderful story and glimpse into midnight childhood lore.