January 21, 2026 a thought for today, Who watches not catches not. Dutch Proverb

Photos in my life yesterday

My first upload was titled “shallow depth of field”. It is a shot I used peeking under my gate leg table at the chair on the other side. 

Next is “coffee” . I don’t drink coffee anymore due to one of those health things that I had to change a few years ago. I drink decafe iced tea most of the time now. 

The third challenge was “my reelection”.  I shot this on when I was waiting in line at a fast food drive through.

The last one was “that’s so Gouda (cheese)”. I would have liked to use a roll of God cheese for this one but I didn’t have any of that flavor on hand, Swiss was my substitute. 

Life today. It’s been a good day. My visual test for the drivers licence was near perfect. Almost no difference from the one a week ago at the eye doctor’s office. I learned that apparently the Optometry department at the OSU has the ability to do the vision test with one piece of larger equipment. They are also trusted to make a determination that the visual requirement the BMV accepts is something that a normal eye doctors office can’t due to the larger equipment.  I have my new license. I was down in the dumps about it because I had to miss the scheduled appointment for the eye test at OSU yesterday due to the weather. I was able after several tries to connect with OSU yesterday and was lucky to get a new appointment for today.  I’d like to thank the team at the OSU Optometry Center are professional, kind and considerate all during the exam and process. My stress level has decreased noticeability. Not having a drivers licence would have changed my life drastically to say the least.

Another good thing for today is that my son-in-law will be released from the hospital after cancer surgery. 

One sad note for today was that a dear friend and neighbor died last night. She had two very serious health issues one being major cancer surgery another a new heart problem in the past several months.

All of the things I need to print for the bulletin and newsletter are ready for tomorrow morning. I just hope the snow holds off until I get home from that chore. I am sad that I had to miss both days of food pantry this week. 

The word today is property.  Our houses are such unwieldy property that we are often imprisoned rather than housed in them. Henry David Thoreau. I am a Conservative to preserve all that is good in our constitution, a Radical to remove all that is bad. I seek to preserve property and to respect order, and I equally decry the appeal to the passions of the many or the prejudices of the few. Benjamin Disraeli. The best ideas are common property. Seneca. When neither their property nor their honor is touched, the majority of men live content. Niccolo Machiavelli. Where justice is denied, where poverty is enforced, where ignorance prevails, and where any one class is made to feel that society is in an organized conspiracy to oppress, rob, and degrade them, neither persons nor property will be safe. Frederick Douglass. Wherever there is great property, there is great inequality... for one very rich man, there must be at least five hundred poor. Adam Smith. We take care of our health, we lay up money, we make our roof tight and our clothing sufficient, but who provides wisely that he shall not be wanting the best property of all -- friends? Ralph Waldo Emerson. Man was born to be rich, or grow rich by use of his faculties, by the union of thought with nature. Property is an intellectual production. The game requires coolness, right reasoning, promptness, and patience in the players. Cultivated labor drives out brute labor. Ralph Waldo Emerson.  Democracy is when the indigent, and not the men of property, are the rulers. Aristotle. Property is surely a right of mankind as real as liberty. John Adams. Where there is no property there is no injustice. John Locke. Truth is the property of no individual but is the treasure of all men. Ralph Waldo Emerson. By appreciation, we make excellence in others our own property. Voltaire. Avoid lawsuits beyond all things; they pervert your conscience, impair your health, and dissipate your property. Jean de la Bruyere. God hates violence. He has ordained that all men fairly possess their property, not seize it. Euripides. Government has no other end, but the preservation of property. John Locke.  Few rich men own their property; their property owns them. Robert Green Ingersoll.

Article summary. Things come along as time passes that come to light in science and other life changing events and new findings. That is a reason why we read and learn and decide to agree and help where and when we can or disagree and work to change it. This is something I feel I needed to take a look at and share with the prices, cleaning up a waists and possibly helping with issues of heating in modern times. The article title is America’s next big clean energy resource could come from coal mine pollution – if we can agree on who owns it. Hélène Nguemgaing, Assistant Clinical Professor of Critical Resources & Sustainability Analytics, University of Maryland. Alan Collins Professor of Natural Resource Economics, West Virginia University. At theconversation.com.  It begins with a description of abandoned coal mines in Appalachia. It’s a colorful description of rust colored water seeping from the mines as it drips staining rocks an orange color and flows into streams coating them with metals. Along with the unpleasant sight of it contributes to environmental problems. It seems there is a value in the drainage that is a valuable metal. The metals are called earth elements they are used in connection with smartphones, wind turbines and military jets. According to the article they are found  in over 13,700 miles of areas of mine wastes in Pennsylvania and West Virginia. The hopes and plans seem to be to turn the acid waste domestically for the US to b able to use these critical minerals. The “extraction” could result in cleaner water and cleaner energy not to mention affect our economy and security. The article said we import 80 percent of these elements now. One of the problems leading to the process is finding who the land belongs to. The article relates that using the acid drainage and extracting the rare earth elements is a way to change pollution to profit while offering cleaner streams and offering a possibility to cleaner air.  

I have a new xtra sharp cheddar cheese that is acceptable to my three way health diet. I am going to try to make Welsh rarebit with it for dinner tonight. So far I have found that it doesn’t melt easily.

Photos in my life today 

 

The first challenge for today is “a little chaos”. This is one of the bins in my book shelves that has become a bit of a gathering place for things that don’t have a place of their own. 

Next is “homemade” this is one of the pillows my great grand daughter made
for several of us for Christmas.  This is the one she made for my sister. The one she made for me is in one of my other photos. 

The last upload is “something unique to you (me)”. This is another of my Christmas presents. My daughter and son in law gave me this terrarium kit. I haven’t had time to get started on it yet. I use to make them at a flower shop where I worked for several years. 

Joy

              I think I am eager for signs of spring so I use image from my archives to sooth the                                                                                                  urge