What a feast, as grand as it was unexpected. It started out small, eventually a crowd, it was a little too arctic outdoors so we moved inside. I’m the only one who’s managed two helpings so far, but then I’m the youngster around here. Sure, I overdid it. Now I’ll have to take a nap so I’ll be ready to sleep tonight. Here’s photos of the main course and the gang around the dining room table. A table that would look familiar in North Carolina.
I got my chasing around done this morning, noticing how little (commercial) Xmas activity is taking place compared to the past. I was in and out of the mart in a half-hour. Maybe it was a slow day but I don’t think so, I think this is the slowest season I’ve ever seen. Wallace told me not to eat since y’day noon meaning I was running on empty when the grub arrived. Oddly, the lady who baked the turkey didn’t come around for the dinner.Blog rules (again) say I must report anything surprising, so who remembers that pin I lost to the spare fridge? The one I was going to chase all over town to replace, JZ even offered to custom make one for me. I found it. It was on the counter right beside the fridge all along. The rub was that it had rolled under the microwave. So no, I’m not going blind.
What did we learn today? We learned we do not have enough cutlery. Or a set of serrated knives and that French bread can be tough to slice. Let’s see, do I have an excuse? Yes. Never had a place big enough for eight people in one room, so four settings was always enough. I also relearned that the oldest, stalest jokes from out west can still survive table talk in Florida.We have a week’s supply of leftovers. The crowd was mostly bachelors, who cleaned up after themselves, which was nice. Everyone was impressed by the hardwood floors and by the fact the interior here does not look or feel like a “trailer”. In the end, it took Wallace and I hours to get everything spruced up for company but it was worth it. I told everyone this was a nice place and obviously knew what I was talking about.
Pete the Rock is an enigma. He was an upper-mid level business manager. There are dozens of articles about his career on the Internet. But like so many I’ve met, that ability does not always translate into a successful retirement. It is akin to having a job on a computer at work, then finding out that doesn’t help you worth a lick when you buy a PC at home. They are two different environments. I've often said management jobs do not impart any useful life skills.
He’s the Panera crowd all rolled into one. And if there is a predominant characteristic at the Panera, it is that none of the adults there seem to have any intellectual hobbies. Such hobbies are absolutely necessary for an enjoyable second half to life. Sorry, playing computer chess and checking your email do not constitute “intellectual” activities. Those are things little children can do quite well.
It dropped to 57 degrees, sweater weather. I curled up with a good book, which brings you today’s trivia. Way back in World War I, a German scientist correctly figured out that electric signals “leaked” out of the buried telephone cables the Allies were using. He drove iron posts into the ground and tuned in. It was a good idea, but too good, because the secret conversations were drowned out by whistling noises. He can be forgiven for not figuring out where the whistling came from.
Ah, but you want to know, your curious mind won’t leave it be. Okay. It is caused by lightning strikes on the other side of the Earth, but nobody knew that in 1916. When you hear on your AM radio the “click” of a lightning stroke, that signal flies around the world in around two millionths of a second. The ionosphere splits the click into its spectrum of frequencies, with the higher ones arriving first in the opposite hemisphere. Hence, the “wolf whistle” perception, like the sound of a falling bomb. I told you I studied physics.
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