Day: November 25, 2022

Unenlightened Self-interests

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My mind lately has been a packapoo ticket, thoughts indecipherable and confused. In my musings, I ponder how we, the designated stewards of our planet, are failing. The world has become a somber place, gloomy, dark, and dangerous. But most haven’t an inkling of what’s at stake or how they are responsible for the darkness ahead of us.

I look out the window and see men having arguments over some minor grievances while they greedily partake in a banquet of the bounty of Mother Earth.

But I am but one individual, virtually powerless to impact the political realities of unenlightened self-interests.

Written for these daily prompts: Ragtag Daily Prompt (packapoo ticket), Word of the Day Challenge (musing/steward), Fandango’s One Word Challenge (somber/dangerous), Your Daily Word Prompt (inkling/argument), My Vivid Blog (responsible/banquet), and The Daily Spur (window).

Friday Faithfuls — Holiday Shopping

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Jim Adams has posted another Mindlovemisery’s Menagerie Friday Faithfuls prompt in which he asks us:

How do you do your holiday shopping? Do you make a list for everyone that you will get presents for? Do you set a budget so you know how much you can afford to spend on every present? Are you a last-minute shopper? Do you make sure that you are getting the best deals? Have you ever re-gifted something that you didn’t want?

I would say that the bulk of our holiday shopping is online. I have neither the will nor the patience to drive around to brick and mortar stores looking for that perfect gift or deal when I can do it from the comfort of my family room couch. And the credit card we use has this neat little feature that, when we use it for our online purchases, it will scour the internet looking for the exact same item at a lower price and let us know. Shazam!

Our list of holiday presents that we buy is not that extensive. It’s only family members and a few close friends, so the task isn’t that onerous, at least for me. Were it up to me, I’d just get everyone on our list a gift certificate so they can buy themselves whatever they want or need.

But my wife thinks that’s cold and impersonal, so she drives the gift-giving process. She does most of the thinking about and hunting for presents. She researches, reads countless reviews, looks for the best prices, with free delivery services, etc. And she’s very, very good at it.

We don’t really have a budget, but I do have right of first refusal if I think she’s spending too much on any one gift. (Unless it’s for me, of course.)

My wife is also about making sure our shopping is done far enough in advance that whatever we purchase can be delivered well before the actual holiday. I would tend more toward being a close to the last minute shopper. But that’s the beauty of gift certificates. They are literally no brainers.

And as to re-gifting, no, I’ve never done that. If I were given something that I don’t like or want, I’d try to return it to the place of purchase. But if that’s not possible, I’d donate the item to Goodwill and take the tax deduction for charitable donations.

One-Minute Fiction — The Mural

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I told him I wanted him to paint a mural on my building. Something artistic, something unique, something people would notice, would remember, would appreciate.

At the unveiling, I saw something frightening, something macabre, something scary, something that made children cry and adults scream in horror.

I loved it.

Written for Cyranny’s One-Minute Fiction prompt. Photo credit: Cyranny.

Fibbing Friday — What’s What?

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Di (aka Pensitivity101) hosts Fibbing Friday, a silly little exercise where we are to write a post with our answers to the ten questions below. But as the title suggests, truth is not an option. The idea is to fib a little, a lot, tell whoppers, be inventive, silly, or even outrageous, in our responses. Today Di wants to know what…

1. What are fish nets? They are the nets used for games of water hockey where the idea is to hit a dead fish into your opponent’s net to score a point.

2. What is a teddy? A cute, cuddly bear.

3. What is cross stitch? An angry bird.

4. What is a basque? It’s what you do at the beach when you want to just relax and soak up the rays.

5. What are daps? Dollops.

6. What are culottes? The opposite of warmlottes.

7. What are pedal pushers? Another name for bicyclists.

8. What are trews? The opposite of falsies.

9. What is a gym slip? It’s when you fall off of the treadmill while working out at the local fitness center.

10. What is a feather cut? It’s when someone takes the quill of a feather and attacks someone else with the sharp, pointy end.

Fandango’s Flashback Friday — November 25th

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Wouldn’t you like to expose your newer readers to some of your earlier posts that they might never have seen? Or remind your long term followers of posts that they might not remember? Each Friday I will publish a post I wrote on this exact date in a previous year.

How about you? Why don’t you reach back into your own archives and highlight a post that you wrote on this very date in a previous year? You can repost your Friday Flashback post on your blog and pingback to this post. Or you can just write a comment below with a link to the post you selected.

If you’ve been blogging for less than a year, go ahead and choose a post that you previously published on this day (the 25th) of any month within the past year and link to that post in a comment.

This was originally posted on November 25, 2011 on my old blog.

Turkeys and Crabs

Who knew? I suppose that having spent the majority of my 65 years back east (with very brief stints in southern California, Dallas, and Chicago) contributed to my perception that the traditional Thanksgiving dinner across America always involves turkeys. (I’m not talking, for the most part, about those who attend Thanksgiving dinner, but about the main course.)

This year, though, my wife and I are in San Francisco for Thanksgiving and I’ve learned that in this city by the bay, it’s the Dungeness crab, not the turkey, that apparently serves as the Thanksgiving entrée of choice. Sadly for San Franciscans, according to this article in the San Francisco Chronicle, Dungeness crabs are scarce this year.

“Looks like the Bay Area will actually have to eat turkey this Thanksgiving,” the Chronicle article warned. That’s because crab processors are unwilling to pay a penny more than $2 per pound for crab, while the crab fishermen are unwilling to accept anything less than $2.50 per pound.

And so the crab fishermen are not out there catching crabs — at least not Dungeness crabs. Who knows what kind of crabs they are catching now that they have all this free time?

Anyway, this is good news for Dungeness crabs and bad news for turkeys. Hmm, I guess this year the President won’t be granting, in the annual White House tradition, a pardon to a particular Dungeness crab. Oh wait, that presidential pardon is exclusively for turkeys.

I hope everyone had a very pleasant Thanksgiving.