Monday, January 6, 2014

It's A Great Day To Be Alive

The sun is shining, the sky is blue, and it is a beautiful winter day.  You're all okay.  I'm okay; everyone in my family who is supposed to be okay is okay; those who aren't okay are doing the best they can.

The marvel that is the human mind created insulation, windows, running water, flushing toilets and reliable furnaces.  My life is so much more comfortable than that of my ancestors a mere three generations back.  It is cold today, and I'm in a warm house that required I do nothing more than click the dial on a thermostat.

I pushed a button on the coffee maker and hot coffee was produced.  I opened the refrigerator and there is food, including fresh fruits and vegetables.  Modernity is a blessing.

My internet friends are on the other end of this electronic gizmo.  What a nice group they are.  It's another day filled with goodness, grace, forgiveness, love, laughter, mercy, kindness and delight.

I think to fully enjoy this day, I'll not complain about anything.  This day is too good to be wasted complaining and whining.

84 comments:

Darcy said...

Amen, brother Michael! :)

(And I knew this was your post as soon as I read the title)

Grateful for another day of a roof over my head and warmth, including the warmth of friends.

Gonna play some Travis Tritt now and sing it loud.

Michael Haz said...

Why, thank you Darcy!

Some Travis Tritt, indeed.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

This day is too good to be wasted complaining and whining.

When I was just starting law school, I was freaked out about a writing assignment, and I got some good advice from a writing instructor that I remember to this very day.

"Worry solves nothing."

The underlying principle has broad applicability.

Just thought I'd pass that along.

AllenS said...

My furnace just kicked in. I also have my corn burning furnace in the basement running. It's been going nonstop for about 2 weeks now.

-20º

ndspinelli said...

We are soulmates. WTF ever happened to being tough Cheesheads and act like vthis is no big deal. I moved to Wi. in November 1983. That winter had some of the coldest weather on record. Colder than this. It was no big fucking deal. "Yah hey" it's cold, no big fucking deal. In my 30 plus years in Wi. that has all changed. Weather channel and cable news.

bagoh20 said...

Oh sure, I bet it's nice up there on top of your frozen capitalist castle of racist worker oppression sitting on your throne of paternalistic male hegemony sucking the Earth of it's life force while sipping hot coffee made from blood beans in your onesy pajamas.

Ignorance is Bliss said...


This day is too good to be wasted complaining and whining.

It's a good thing you're a conservative, 'cause you'd really suck at being a liberal.

The Dude said...

Just got back from walkin' the dogs in the neighborhood - it was 50 degrees, sun shining - but there is a front comin' in, you could feel it in the west wind, you could see the mare's tails on the leading edge, and by this time tomorrow it will be 9 degrees. Count them - nine. Niner. One less than ten. Single digits. Oh the horror!

But today was wonderful. Hope the dogs don't mind if we skip walkies tomorrow - ol' Pappy has his limitations, just sayin'.

And, if I may say so:

Tritts!

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

Thanks you MH, we need to focus on the good and not a football game. There is always next football season.

bagoh20 said...

I often wonder about why people would stop and settle in inhospitable places. Sure Wisconsin is lovely most of the year, but the first settlers knew within a few months what they were in for. I wonder the same about people who settled in places like Las Vegas with no air conditioning and 115 degree summers.

And why the hell are their Eskimos? You just walk south for a while and life gets so much easier. I assume they got where they were because they didn't like where they came from, but where the hell is that terrible place that's worse? Just keep going.

I always assumed that early peoples who expanded out around the globe did so primarily because they were being killed or threatened by people where they lived, so they just ran away, and that kept happening, which makes me here on the very edge of the Pacific coast either the biggest coward or the hardest to satisfy. I like it here, and nobody has tried to kill me yet, so I'm staying.

The Dude said...

Story in my family is that the first of my relatives who arrived in Mississippi put up a sign telling others in our family to stop there.

The ones that could read, did.

The rest continued on to Texas.

That's the story and I am sticking to it.

Eric the Fruit Bat said...

I often wonder about why people would stop and settle in inhospitable places.

Speaking of Sam Kinison, he did a bit about how you shouldn't send money over to Africa to help the starving natives.

You want to help them? Send them a plane ticket. Here. See this shit? It's called sand. Nothing grows in it. You wanna know why you're starving? You're starving because YOU LIVE IN A FUCKING DESERT!!!!

chickelit said...

Q. I often wonder about why people would stop and settle in inhospitable places.

A. Various 19th century State and Federal Homestead Acts. Individuals responding to Big Government incentives.

Next?

Michael Haz said...

I often wonder about why people would stop and settle in inhospitable places

In the case of my ancestors, the places where they stopped were less inhospitable than the places from which they immigrated.

And they were thankful! (See what I did there?)

AllenS said...

I like the changing of the seasons. What's bad about right now is this prolonged cold spell. Far below what is normal. However, temps can very wildly from winter to winter.

I have been buying trees through the county every year for almost 30 years. Last year, like all years they arrived the last week of April. That was the first time that I was unable to plant them because the frost hadn't left the ground. 2 weeks went by before I could plant them, then it snowed 8 inches. Almost all of the trees died. That was a first.

I blame Algore.

ricpic said...

Their Beauty Has More Meaning

Yesterday morning enormous the moon hung low on the ocean,
Round and yellow-rose in the glow of dawn;
The night-herons flapping home wore dawn on their wings. Today
Black is the ocean, black and sulphur the sky,
And white seas leap. I honestly do not know which day is more beautiful.
I know that tomorrow or next year or in twenty years
I shall not see these things, and it does not matter, it does not hurt;
They will be here. And when the whole human race
Has been like me rubbed out, they will still be here: storms, moon and ocean,
Dawn and the birds. And I say this: their beauty has more meaning
Than the whole human race and the race of birds.




The poem is by Robinson Jeffers. He was famously dour. And you don't even have to agree with his conclusion. The appeal of the poem, for me anyway and in agreement with Haz's celebration of the day, is in the line I honestly do not know which day is more beautiful.

john said...

The latter waves of immigrants found Pennsylvania and the Ohio Valley filled up. Travelling onward, the rocky glaciated thin soils of the old northwest, and the bitter cold winds, helped abate their homesickness.

That's how I was told MN and WI got settled.

chickelit said...

Thanks to my aunt, I have a collection of stories culled from various historical society meetings and mid-20th century newspapers which record the doings of my ancestors, who homesteaded in Wisconsin. I should type them up and sprinkle them into the digital ocean. But the words are not mine and I claim no copyright. Here is one passage I like because I still visit there when I can:

On the hill above the home of Daniel is the old cemetery where those noble souls who came and conquered the vast wilderness were laid to rest after a lifetime of toil and hardship.

Stars and sun have shone down upon this final resting place--soft summer winds and the white blanket of winter snow have appeared in turn upon the graves in that old cemetery. Their memory lives on as the mighty trees that stand the test of storms and time.

deborah said...

That's lovely, chick.

JAL said...

Made my day Haz.

Michael Haz said...

It's -55F wind chill here now. But it's a dry cold!

JAL said...

I honestly do not know which day is more beautiful.

Every day or two I take pictures of our hayfield from my kitchen window.

Almost every day is amazing.

JAL said...

I agree about the weather channel (which we don't get ... no cable) and the weatherweatherweather focus.

Do you realize that those horrendous hurricanes in the 1930s on the east coast were things no one knew were coming? At least the magnitude of them. (One guy took his barometer back because he thought it was broken. Until the weather arrived.)

Now every twitch in the temp is magnified.

"It's the coldest since 1989!!11!1!)

It comes and it goes. It just seems that because of the increased congestion of the east coast over the last 40 years that the impact is bigger.

JAL said...

Anyone heard from rh recently? He must be hunkered down with his wood stove or whatever.

bagoh20 said...

I take issue with the claim that "You're all OK." Some of us are seriously not right, and I believe the authorities are tracking others down at this moment. In the tundra nobody can hear you scream...... BECAUSE EVERYONE IS INSIDE HUDDLED NEXT TO THE FIRE!


But seriously folks, this is one very fine community of commenters - a strange and interesting lot with big hearts. I'm proud to be a part of it. We do have a great deal to be grateful for, and I for one, am grateful for having all of you.

It's really an amazing thing to wake up and have coffee with strangers who you never met, and discuss the day's events or whatever, or to share things over a glass of wine thousands of miles apart late at night in widely different environments. If you ever tried to explain it to someone who has no idea what a blog like this is about, it's almost impossible to get across that there really is a level of intimacy and friendship that seems very unlikely, but it's there.

Thanks.

Meade said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
AllenS said...

I can buy bare root oak trees, 18 inches tall 25 for $27. The trees that I planted last year were Balsam Fir. Same price. Ordered 25 more this year.

40 years ago I did the acorn thing.

The Dude said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
bagoh20 said...

This may sound negative but it's not to me.

I don't know if I've mentioned it before, but the reason I developed cancer a few years back was because I've had chronic Hepatitis C since I was 19 years old, and I just found out in late 2001. It takes decades, but eventually it causes tumors, and that's what happened to me. Before I found out about the cancer, we tried to cure the virus through a year of antiviral therapy which basically makes you anemic and you feel like you have the flu 24/7 for a year straight. It was tough and even managed to depress me, which is no easy feat, but I refused to stop living my life. I continued to do everything as before. I went hiking, and biking, and I even went hang gliding, which was a challenge since I could barely pickup the 80 pounds of gear involved.

The medication had about a 50% success rate then. The virus did disappear from my blood, but it was only hiding and returned a few weeks later, so I still have it today.

The FDA just approved a new treatment with a new drug that has no side effects and a better success rate and only takes 6 months. The tough part is that my doctors want me to use the old medication in combination with this new one to give me the best chance at a cure. I'll only have to take the debilitating stuff for 3 months, so that is much better. I just started it today, and I already feel the nausea coming on. I'm very optimistic, of course, and if I get my cure when it's over, it will all be worth it. Wish me luck. I'm actually excited by this.

AllenS said...

I will plant a tree for you, Bags.

bagoh20 said...

Cool Allen, but if it dies, just lie to me. Tell me how it thrives, and reaches, and laughs at the wind. I'll buy it all like an Obama voter buys the lightworker's crap.

Michael Haz said...

Good luck, Bags! You've got a whole team cheering you on.

bagoh20 said...

Yes, Haz, It's a great day to be alive! Tomorrow will be even better.

chickelit said...

deborah also wrote: This post is closed to comments, because I don't want Meade bashing here.

That had a nice double entendre.

More from the same writing I posted above:

This homestead like the one of the other brothers whose home was presided by a buckeye tree, has a huge pine tree as a guardian angel. Amid the large orchard of apple and cheery trees on the slope of the hill back of the farm buildings, it stands erect, a giant by comparison to the other trees, its branches forming a cone of perfect symmetry that stands out in relief against its background of hill and sky. This tree's history is interesting because when the other trees of the forest were cleared away a tiny pine seedling was discovered and left to grow. It was perhaps about the age of the two sons of Wm. and was given special care until it grew large enough to fend for itself. It was sheltered from the cold winds by the surrounding hills and there were no near by trees to cripple its growth so it has grown into a huge tree that has withstood the ravages of time. The apple orchard that was planted by man have almost all died, storms and disease have taken their toll. The masters of this land have too gone to their reward, but this mighty tree lives on, a giant in all its glory. How many more generations will it live until some act of nature shall mar its perfect form and it too shall return to the earth from which it sprung.

Shouting Thomas said...

I'm babysitting my granddaughter.

We're having fun.

She's got a table with a hole in the middle that the can stand up in. Supports her little 6 month old body so she can stand.

She can turn a full 360 and bang on any one of half a dozen toys on her table. Each one makes some noise.

She's pretty excited and wants grandpa to watch!

AllenS said...

I'll dig up a 24" red cedar this spring from the back pasture and plant that for you in the fall. I'll pot it and let it grow nice roots first. I've done this a bunch of times and had really good luck. 8 to 10 feet in about 5 years.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It warmed up quite a bit here in Jersey. the snow is melting. it's overcast, light drizzle, but other than that, its a beautiful day every day that I'm alive.

I believe I'm almost positive when I say that, that it is a beautiful day every day that I'm alive.

if I clear all the dreaming thoughts cluttering my head. If I look at the wonderful unlikely opportunity that it is that I'm breathing. It's a beautiful day.

The Dude said...

At my old place I tried to eliminate all the lawn. I would go into the wooded section of the yard and dig up trees that naturally occurred there - cedar, white oaks, black walnut, whatever seemed a likely candidate.

By the time I sold the place there were some huge trees growing where once only grass grew.

I see that as just doing my part to stamp out those who earn a living mowing lawns.

The Dude said...

And, after I dug them up, I transplanted them. I forgot to mention that. Kind of crucial to the story.

Where I live now I grow walnut trees from walnuts I gather while walking my dogs. Last year I got 6 new seedlings in the ground, and the one survivor from the previous year is growing quite nicely.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

It is a FINE day. Everyday is a gift. To shamelessly link whore to a post that I wrote some time ago.....Sand in the Hourglass Seems appropriate to this topic.

The list of things that I am grateful for runs from the small not so important things to the larger and most important.

I am thankful that I have a loving, patient, strong, loyal, hardworking, wonderful man to stand beside. Our families are healthy. Everyone is doing well in body AND in spirit. We have a comfortable life. It wasn't a gift or something handed to us on a silver platter. It is something we have to work at everyday.

The little things in life, like being able to be WARM in a cozy comfortable home instead of living under a bridge. Take a long hot shower on demand. Music and entertainment at our fingertips.

I'm even grateful for the cats, even if THEY aren't the least bit grateful for the food and warm spots to lay in the sun. They take it for granted....bad cats!!! :-)


Life isn't perfect. Or as the song says. No one promised us a rose garden....BUT, when we do have some roses, it is incumbent upon us to stop and smell them and marvel in the beauty.

bagoh20 said...

That sounds just fantastic Allen. I really appreciate that. I assume it will have a 24hr armed security detail preventing any unauthorized urination, as well as an electric fence and heated viewing platform. I mean, that's just standard amenities.

Michael Haz said...

I'm thankful for global warming. If I understand the theory correctly this week, I can warm ice cream in an oven in order to freeze it.

Darcy said...

Aww, you're all a bunch of saps. =)

As I tweeted earlier...rain nor sleet nor snow stops me from spending my gift card. So, after the neighbor dug me out of my driveway and some nice man gave me a push out of the left turn lane (lol), I now am the proud owner of a new dress and blouse.

And it's sunny outside!

Beautiful, beautiful day. Thanks for reminding us, Michael.

AllenS said...

Someday that snow will melt and you'll have to buy some galoshes, Darcy.

bagoh20 said...

I've read stories of my ancestors moving into western PA. There is even a small town (Herman, PA) named after my great great great grandfather - Herman Smith(Schmidt).

The accounts talk of intensely thick and impenetrable woodland that was surprisingly low on edible wild game, which made it tough going, and they nearly gave up, except they came all the way from Germany and didn't really have any other options.

Today, possibly because of all the farming, there is lots of game of all types, like rabbit, pheasant, deer, and welfare recipients all living off the bounty.

ndspinelli said...

Eric, That YOU LIVE IN THE FUCKING DESERT YOU FUCKING MORONS bit by Kinnison got the biggest laughs when I saw him. It was one of his best, not his cheap shit that he would throw out and say to himself, "Yeah morons, I knew you would laugh @ that."

ndspinelli said...

My son flew to Boston yesterday to visit many of his cousins[6, all girls] aunt and uncle. This morning it was 58. Tonight it will be 16.

ndspinelli said...

He's a Niners fan, has been since he was little. He roots for the Pack unless it's against the Niners.

Darcy said...

Hi Allen! Hmmm...galoshes? I don't know if they will go with my dress!

Rabel said...

Youse guys are sounding a little like the Black Knight.

"It's just a flesh wound."

I do recognize that my prejudices about cold weather influence my reading of Michael's inspirational post - which I can't help but interpret as "It's so freaking cold that I'm happy just to be alive."

But that's too negative. I will try to open my mind to the beauty of a crisp Winter's day. Happy Happy, Joy Joy.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

Hazman is the Cold Commander.

chickelit said...

My dad wasn't much of drinker, but when he celebrated something he'd spring for ColdDuck

JAL said...

HAZ -- YOU have NOT been keeping up with the news in your igloo. Here, copied from Fox so you don't have to go there (all is fair when it's -55, right?)

WASHINGTON - If you're feeling down on Monday, know this -- you're not alone.

Monday, January 6, 2014, is what some psychological researchers call "Blue Monday."

Millions are returning to work after time off for the holidays and they're facing the facts -- the big price tag that came with all the gifts.

Others are worried about weather, or relationship trouble, or their New Year's resolutions.

"Blue Monday," which is said to be the most miserable day of the year, was originally calculated to be at the end of the month.

But researchers analyzed tweets over the past few years and found that Monday, January 6, 2014 is the day the most people feel sad and guilty.


So there all you pollyanna conservatives @ Lem's. Even Fox says it's not great today.

Here's the link. Go to Fox and read a sidebar to make up for this. Read more: http://www.myfoxdc.com/story/24370679/blue-monday-said-to-be-the-most-miserable-day-of-the-year#ixzz2peKpctwd

JAL said...

Bags -- thoughts and prayers ...

Will you be visiting your friend during this treatment?

Ha! Just thought -- would smoking marijuana help ;-)))?? Get yourself a permit and don't get arrested.

AllenS said...

It's a great day. It's just not a great day to be wondering around outside. At least in this part of Wisconsin. Very few cars are even driving by. School might be canceled again tomorrow.

Icepick said...

Happy Happy, Joy Joy.

I guess I'll just have to imagine the repeated hammer-blows to the head on my own.

Icepick said...

Others are worried about weather, or relationship trouble, or their New Year's resolutions.

New Year's Resolutions are an institution that should be banned. If you make the thing on January 1 and it is already getting you down by January 6, then the thing is a fucking disaster.

***

Also, people might have been tougher about these things in the past because of less reliable forecasting. People didn't know about hurricanes coming back in the day, and they were tougher too. Which is the great Galveston hurricane killed so many people they don't even had a good estimate on how many died - but somewhere between 6000 and 12000 last I heard.

It isn't just that people were tougher then. It's that they were also more ignorant, too. And that includes times as recent as 1982. Weather forecasting, as off as it often is, has come a long way in just the last 30 years.

Trooper York said...

Bags I hope you beat the hep. I know you can. Keep a positive attitude which I know you have.

Best wishes buddy.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

The wine produced was given the name Kaltes Ende ("cold end" in German), until it was humorously altered to the similar sounding term Kalte Ente meaning "cold duck".

For a minute I confused it with the wine from Silence of the Lambs.

Chianti.. not the same.

I don't think I existed before Google.

Calypso Facto said...

Lots of Kaltes Enden out there today. Kaltes Enten too, I suppose.

BagO: keep coming back here for your important daily dose of laughter ... and good luck!

Icepick said...

I don't think I existed before Google.

You're just a figment of SkyNet's imagination.

Darcy said...

I too am hoping you kick this, Bagoh.

Icepick said...

But weather pr0n is a real phenomenon.

The Dude said...

I lived through Hurricane Hazel in 1954 - and when I see films of the destruction that storm did from SC to wherever it ended up I am amazed. I think something like 300 people were killed.

I don't think there was much warning other than people who were hit by the storm trying to get word to people where the storm was headed.

Satellites are better.

bagoh20 said...

Thanks guys for the support.

Jal, I will be using my sad unfortunate suffering to milk affection from my new girlfriend, and possibly also to get a doctor to give me a prescription for the medical pot. Both the pot and the girlfriend have become too good these days and may overpower my delicate constitution. I can live with that.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

El Pollo

For your Dad

Cold Duck Time

Did I miss something. Is Bago ill? :-<

Icepick said...

Did I miss something. Is Bago ill? :-<

See Bagoh's comment at 1:18 above.

Icepick said...

Turns out he's been ill, and not in the RUN-DMC kind of way.

Michael Haz said...

Blue Monday, JAL?

There's a song for that.

Dust Bunny Queen said...

Thanks, Icepick.

It is amazing what medical miracles can happen anymore. You can do it!

bagoh20 said...

I am not ill. I'm sharing my body with a foreign life form, that's all. Viruses think I'm hot, and they want my body. I think they take me for granted, and I've lost that loving feeling, so I'm trying to break it off after 36 years. I'm just not that into them.

bagoh20 said...

My parents used to have that Cold Duck around all the time. Despite numerous attempts, I could never get drunk on it.

AllenS said...

Never give up, Bags.

deborah said...

Great post, Haz. Like others here, I love all types of weather.

Bags, I'm so glad you have this opportunity, and so sorry about the three months of flu-like symptoms. You will be in my thoughts.

Evi L. Bloggerlady said...

bagoh20 said... I often wonder about why people would stop and settle in inhospitable places.

Hey, Wisconsin is gorgeous all the time (although it does get cold occasionally in the winter). That is easy enough to deal with. You want cold and bleak, try eastern North Dakota.

Why are there Eskimos? People go places because there is something there that they want (obviously Eskimos went for the pies...I mean seals). Then they either grow to love the place and stay or grow to hate it and leave. I think in the case of Inuit (Eskimos) they realized their enemies would probably not go there, the hunting and fishing were good, so they stayed.

Unknown said...

While I would definitely want to be Bagoh's girlfriend, I would NOT want to be Bagoh's virus.

Eeeek. No way.

Kick that virus to the curb, babe.
(Sorry to hear about the side-effects. That sucks.)

Unknown said...

Happy to be alive... yadda yadda. blah blah blah.
The cold does not make me happy. Winter is not my thing. I need a warm climate and am working on a long term plan to get the heck out of here in winter. Standard options: Arizona, Florida (nah), CA, Hawaii, Central America. I'd love to just chuck it all and move to Moorea. pffft - I hear that's expensive. Must. work. harder.

Trooper York said...

Just don't mention the herpes Bags.

That can be a deal breaker. Just sayn'

Trooper York said...

If Brandi Glanville were not drunk she would say that is fucked up.

Bleach Drinkers Curing Coronavirus Together said...

This is a beautiful post.

Trooper York said...

Well it shows what you get when you have talented and generous people working together to get some form of understanding.

Different eh?

bagoh20 said...

"While I would definitely want to be Bagoh's girlfriend..."

Oh sure, now that I can't take you up on it. That's what they say: women are more interested in a man once he's safely taken off the market. It's feast or famine.

chickelit said...

Thanks deborah (12:21) and DBQ (4:30)

deborah said...

y/w chick, it put me in mind of Thanatopsis.