Life in the fast lane--where's the on ramp?

By Pat_B - About Me - E-mail this page - Add to My Favorites - Add to Blog List - See other blogs in Journal

Saturday, January 11, 2014

Thaw

Last Saturday I went to the store for stock-up items. We were due for a blizzard and sub-zero temps the next day or two, and I did not want to be stuck in the house with a short supply of Charmin. It was overcast but "balmy" at about 40 degrees F. As predicted, we had 14.5" of snow and the... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:02 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Friday, January 10, 2014

A newly stolen anecdote.

Saw this one on Facebook, thought of Wiley and others, and decided to fwd fwd this story to you all, freely admitting I did not write the original. A farmer picked up a bucket late one summer afternoon and headed for the berry bushes that grew around the pond at the back of his farm. As he... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:01 AM | add or view comments (8) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Lemonade from Lemons

Mother nature can seem like a vindictive witch at times, like when she descends on half the continent wielding the Polar Vortex. This winter so far sucks like a lemon. I keep reminding myself it's not personal. She's not really out to get us. What she is, is indifferent. It makes no difference... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:21 AM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Wednesday, January 8, 2014

White Trash Tragedy

My baby girl has the gift for putting her finger on things, telling it like it is with a side of grins, and since she was raised with two older brothers she learned the art of getting even in ways only a petite girl with a mind like a steel trap can do. There were a lot of pranks played in our house... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:00 AM | add or view comments (4) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

The Occasional Butterfly

A few years back while I worked at Seattle Central Community College, there was a brilliant anthropology instructor named Jay Miller who taught one quarter each year. The rest of the year he worked in the field, primarily at a First Nations settlement along the Pacific coastline north of Vancouver,... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:06 AM | add or view comments (6) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Monday, January 6, 2014

So much for good intentions...

I filled the bird feeder on Saturday, the kind of seeds that redbirds and others seem to like best - a mix with dried fruit and sunflower seeds. Then I set a few peanuts on the upper deck rails in case Itchy or Mama WhiteEars decided to venture out. At the time it was practically tropical at a few... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:35 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Sunday, January 5, 2014

I remember the storm of '82...

It shut EVERYTHING down, extreme cold, over a foot of snow that blew and drifted into dunes as high as my head. The plows cleared the main roads, but blocked side streets and driveways, and the sidewalks were knee-deep. Getting to the garage to find the snow shovel was an Arctic expedition, trudging... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 5:21 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Saturday, January 4, 2014

Footprints

In the nordic expanse of my back deck, pristine and untouched, I see footprints. They look like footprints, roughly as far apart as a person's would step. But they appear mysteriously a few feet inside the fence and stop a yard or so from the back steps, which I managed to sweep clear of snow. I... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 6:59 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Friday, January 3, 2014

About Paying it Forward

I loved reading all the thoughtful comments on yesterday's post. We can all empathize with parents faced with an impossible decision to give up on their brain dead child. End of life issues are conversations we tend to duck, we just don't want to think about them. But... It's much easier when you're... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:13 AM | add or view comments (7) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

Thursday, January 2, 2014

On Letting Go

There's a story in the news about a little girl who went into the hospital for a tonsillectomy, probably one of the simplest and most routine surgical procedures there are. Something went wrong, there was a bleed and the child who should have been up and asking for ice cream a couple hours later,... Sign in to see full entry.

posted by Pat_B at 4:30 AM | add or view comments (11) | leave calling card | link to this | view only this entry

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Sometimes you have to write it down in order to learn what you really think about life, what it means, how to do what's best. Sometimes you need feedback from someone else to put things in perspective.

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