One of the things that I love about living here is how quiet it is. Especially during a snow storm. Everything is so still and quiet; it is like the world is holding its breath!
Every now and then I get the whiff of the wood fire coming from the chimney of one of the neighbors. I can’t see them through the trees, but the smell of their home fires tell me they are there just the same.
I love to bundle up and stand outside and listen to the quiet and breathe in the scent of snow. Have you ever smelled it? It is so fresh and crisp. I wonder why the laundry detergent companies and air freshner companies don’t sell a product that smell like it. They could call it “snowstorm.”
My aunt and uncle moved to Florida last year. They called us to say hello on Thanksgiving and said that they have moved to Paradise! We were talking about trying to go down and visit them sometime and see their new place. It’s in a senior living community where no one is allowed to live there with young children. Sounds like Paradise to me! Not that I have anything against young children, but there are times when I’d like to just be able to hear myself think, and when there are a lot of young children running around the joyful noise of their laughter, or their heartbreaking crying is just about all you can hear!
Anyway, I’ve decided to buy them a year’s subscription to Direct TV in Florida for their Christmas gift this year. It is certainly going to be an easy gift to wrap! I’m sure that they will love having the Direct TV bringing them their favorite shows for the year, entirely free (to them!) And right now there are some great specials going on with the Direct Satellite TV
services, which will make it look like I am being much more generous than I really am! I like that!
Knowing that Christmas is sneaking up on us, I promised my wife that I’d be starting to decorate the house and yard for Christmas this coming weekend. The weather is supposed to be dry and about as warm as you can expect it to be this time of year, so that’s the time to do it. I always laugh at the people that I see putting up their Christmas lights in October, but come December I start to think maybe that they had the right idea; putting them up before it got bitter cold! Oh well, decorating for Christmas this time of year helps to put me in a Christmas mood. I don’t think I can deal with it much earlier than this!
It wasn’t that many years ago that shoes were a major industry in this state. I can remember for most of my life going to the outlet store that was on the same property as the factory to buy outlet-priced sneakers.
There were several big brand names that ran factories within an easy drive of where I grew up, so we had no trouble at all finding great deals on just about any kind of shoes you ever wanted to buy. Most of my friends and I tended to buy mostly running shoes – they were the most comfortable, and they looked trendy as well.
Sadly, most of the factories have closed down and moved overseas. They have moved overseas because the big corporations can make bigger profits by having the factories overseas. The employees get paid less, and the environmental pollution controls are almost non-existent overseas. Yet the price of the shoe, to the consumer, only increases. I always used to say that if this trend continues, the American people will not have the money to buy those brand name shoes anymore, and I think that the time is now. Makes me sad.
Now that December is officially here, my thoughts are turning to snow. I’ve put the garden and boat to bed, finished up hunting season and the fall cleanups and am getting all of the work and fun equipment for winter ready for the long cold months ahead. I understand that the Farmer’s Almanac is calling for record snowfalls this year! I bought a new 9′ plow and a new sander, so I am ready for it! In the meantime I’m tinkering with the snowmobile, and making sure that is ready for action too! I hope to have the time to go ice fishing with Joe sometime this winter. It’s always fun to take the snowmobiles out on the lake to his ice shack and spend the day fishing and relaxing!