December 28, 2019 thought for the day:  Make not your sail too big for the ballast. English Proverb

I am feeling lonely for my sister. She is still in the hospital. Things seem to be improving slowly. My daughter-in-law has been spending a lot of time with her. I am thankful for that. There are long distances to walk when visiting, traffic in the area of the hospital is horrendous, and I am a big chicken (and old). I have been doing what I can, which is also little by little, to get things ready to move her bed to the first floor. We still have a lot of storage boxes to unload in the living room, where the bed will be, since we have had little help with the holidays, accident, etc.

The photo theme for December 27 was “I’m grateful for...”. Over time this theme has been used before. There are so many things that I am grateful for that is it hard to choose any one thing. For today’s photo I shot my pet, Sugar as she laid in the sun looking out the window at the neighborhood with some of my flower collection in the background. I am grateful for the peace of this time and place.

To start the day today was a bit of a headache. My email went down yesterday. Everything I tried to get it open didn’t work and eventually locked me out due to too many attempts to log in. I had to call a techy at AT&T for help this morning. If any of you have had to get tech support on the phone, you know what I had in store. We did get it started but there was an unwelcomed appendage to the support. Before I completely realized what was happening, the tech was trying to sell me what he said was a needed new software to clean up and protect my computer. (I just paid over one hundred dollars for an update on my virus protection plan yesterday). At this point he was on an outreach to my computer. When it dawned on me what was taking place, I told him to stop and we were done.

This is one of the best days in the week for just doing things as they pop into my head so I don’t have a lot on the agenda.

The photo theme for today is “I got this!”. This was one of my birthday gifts this year. It is called Winterberry. I love the red berries particularly in the winter season.

I chose danger for the word today.  He who learns but does not think, is lost. He who thinks but does not learn is in great danger, Confucius. The greater danger for most of us lies not in setting our aim too high and falling short; but in setting our aim too low, and achieving our mark, Michelangelo. Between the great things we cannot do and the small things we will not do, the danger is that we shall do nothing, Adolph Monod.  Physical courage, which despises all danger, will make a man brave in one way; and moral courage, which despises all opinion, will make a man brave in another,  Charles Caleb Colton. There is less danger in fearing too much than too little, Francis Walsingham.  Through danger safety comes - through trouble rest, John Marston. Thus, that one can find no place to walk through the breadth of the earth is not because the earth is not tranquil but because the danger to every step of the traveler lies generally with words, Xunzi.  If we must fall, we should boldly meet the danger, Tacitus. Beware lest you lose the substance by grasping at the shadow, Aesop. A common danger unites even the bitterest enemies, Aristotle. No one that encounters prosperity does not also encounter danger, Heraclitus.



There are a lot of “left overs” after the Christmas holiday. This article gives some tips on how to dispose of things. The article today started with the fact that 25 million tons of trash appear around holidays, which cover from Thanksgiving thru New Years. The article listed how to handle removing Christmas trees. The Army Corps of Engineers and the Ohio Department of Natural Resources will collect trees to be used as fish habitats. The trees are placed at the bottom of a lake for hiding places for fish and feeding and living “quarters”. Of course all ornaments etc. must be removed from the trees. Trees can also be used in people yards for birds to nest. The article points out that putting trees in land fills cause a problem because they don’t break down quickly. They can be recycled thru Rumpke and a few other drop off places. The article covered how to get rid of other things like wrapping paper, cards boxes all of which can be recycled. Another item covered in the article to clear away was food waste. First they advise to be thoughtful in the amount of food that is chosen. Beyond that, use left overs or compost food to keep it out of landfills to reduce the methane gas they release there.

We are going to have KFC for dinner tonight.

Joy