Let’s do rants first!
You! Yes, the nitwit 10 feet behind the car in front of you at the stoplight. Your selfish, texting little butt is blocking me from being able to get into the turn lane and take a left on the arrow. I know your profundity on the very-special-snowflake-communication-device is something we cannot live without, but pretty much the whole world is wise to the reason you didn’t get up into the proper space for the red light. Consider doing that from the side of the road, not the middle lane, the next time.
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To the businesses and neighbors who haven’t shoveled or salted the sidewalk yet this season: I think I hate you.
Not a totally Christian sentiment, but your lazy behavior has now left 3 inches of solid ice on the sidewalk that fronts your home. Same for the drive-through for your business. You own the real estate that fronts the street when it comes to snow removal. Same goes for your alley. No excuses. Get out and make it safe. I’m part mountain goat and if it makes me nervous, it’s in need of some salt and shovel action.
Pretty much the same goes for those of you on a corner lot. Look up and down your street. You will note that many of your fellow corner dwellers have taken the time to remove the ridge of snow that the plow left next to the curb. I fully realize you are not legally responsible for the street. But wouldn’t it be nice if you followed the lead of those other people and cleared the area less than 6 feet (total) wide where the curb ramps down into the street? Perchance just past the eight-inch tall ridge of crusted ice that’s smoother than oiled marble? Once again, not legally mandated, but a courtesy you might want to extend to the passers by.
Best part of this past Christmas season? The food. I was trying very hard to not eat my way to an early grave this year. Naturally, it was the year when I was gifted with more free Blue Sun Soda (Check out the link for their christening of the new bottling line this weekend – you should go!) and Salty Tart cookies than ever before in my life. I topped the goodie fest with Hmong egg rolls on Christmas eve, compliments of my favorite Saint Paul visit. No pounds gained, but every one of those cookies I nibbled, or sodas swilled, meant I had to give up some broccoli or tofu. Not a huge loss, come to think about it…
Second best part? I sang with an awful lot of children this year. Including my extended family on Christmas Day. Rudolph The Red-Nosed Reindeer is one of the few songs I can actually do in key.
Speaking of Christmas music, I have a new one to add to the list this year. I do a lot of work at venues that have some sort of musical performance going on at the same time, and it’s run the gamut from Mariachi bands to family singers. This year it was a guy on guitar with a rhythm machine doing Christmas tunes and whatever else came along. Totally made my 4 hours in the chair a joy. He could play that geetar purty like. And, as I try to do, I popped some money in the jar and bought one of his compact discs of Christmas music. (I have to turn the radio off every time they play “Happy Birthday, Jesus” as a matter of principle, and sanity.)
Imagine my surprise a few days later when I was driving to a Santa event and I find myself singing along to an instrumental track of “There’s A Kind Of Hush.” I hit rewind, listened again and tried to figure out the link to Christmas. Was it a secret Christian anthem? Had I misunderstood Herman’s Hermits for all of these years? Nope. He just ran out of tracks to put on the thing and threw this in to fill out the disc.
I approve. With that, I leave you with the video for Herman’s Hermits, “There’s A Kind Of Hush.” A pretty nice tune even after all these years have gone by.
See you all soon. Thanks for taking the time to read my rants and rambles.
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