A THANKSGIVING OF SORTS...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone. Well, it's a holiday, so I thought I'd use specially-colored typography to mark this holiday. As you can tell, I go all-out, don't I? Anyway, it's cold, taxes have gone up, nothing's as cheap as it used to be, and there's always problems around every corner.

I've got aches and pains now that I didn't have even 4 or 5 years ago. Sometimes it's hard just to do the little mundane things, and sometimes it gets a little scary. Yet I think of people who can't even walk, who are housebound. So, I have "hope" that I'll just get thru all this the best I can, and I give thanks that I've managed to make it so far.

So, my Thanksgiving wish for all of you, is that you can remember the good things that are around you, and give thanks. Even if your life is pure hell, you're alive, and that's something to be thankful for, because life is precious; it can be gone 'just like that'. Enjoy your turkey and dressing and mashed potatoes...and heap on plenty o' GRAVY! MMM!
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Whatever floats yer boat dept.: I read in the paper today that the Tugboat business on Lake Coeur d'Alene is basically in "survival mode". There isn't as much for the tugboats to do these days, what with the lumber mill situation the way it is. Another mill in the area will be closing soon, it seems, and the tugboats are going to have to find other ways of staying "afloat"...

It looks like those in charge of the tugboats are going to have to find "other" types of jobs, such as performing "residential"-type duties on properties around the lake. It's a serene sight to look out over the lake and see a tugboat transporting its cargo. It would be sad not to ever see a tugboat on CDA lake again. Let's hope they don't disappear anytime soon.

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As one business disappears, another one springs up dept.: I'm widely known for being very inobservant; something can just "up and leave" and I don't know about it for ages. That may be the case here...stopping in at the "Do It" center on 4th Street today, I noticed that the little "Medicine Shop" pharmacy, which was next door, is now a thing of the past. When did it disappear? I wouldn't be surprised that all of the mega-stores with discount pharmacies put that shop outta business.

Meanwhile, it looks like the Big "Y" truck stop (well, that's the old name for it, anyway) at the east end of Sherman Avenue is being re-constructed, and hopefully it'll open soon. Actually, the last few weeks may have been as good a time as any to be closed, since gas purchases went "down" as gas prices went "up". I hope the same crew is hired back; they're great folks.

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Hey Hey Mama, like the way you move, gonna make you sweat, gonna make you groove dept: Last night, I watched a DVD that I've had in my collection for ages: "Led Zeppelin DVD", and I know what you're thinking: "Geez, they're LOUD, and they drive me crazy!"; well, I always have liked their louder stuff. However, there's a segment where they're all just sitting quietly on stage, playing acoustic guitars, mandolins, and doing their softer stuff like "Goin' To California", "That's The Way", and "Bron-y-aur Stomp"...such talented musicians. Talented because they can do such a wide range of material. I don't know if it's me gettin' old, but I like that softer stuff now, a lot more than I USED to. Nice stuff indeed.

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Another talking head bids "adieu" dept: I watched "Nightline" last night, and I've been a semi-regular viewer of that show for years. Host Ted Koppel's struggles with the ABC Network management hierarchy have been well-documented over the years; it's always been a possibility that when one tuned in to ABC at 11:35 pm, instead of "Nightline", there'd be some inane late-night talk show taking its place, like the "Pee-Wee Herman Variety Hour", or something.

As the program drew to a close, Ted had one last "closing thought" in which he implored us viewers to give the new "Nightline" broadcast team a chance, or ABC would most definitely replace it with another silly talk show where overbearing movie stars, singers, rappers, professional athletes and other pseudo-influential beings of little note attempt to be so very witty, all the while hawking their latest new TV series, books, recordings, movies, veg-o-matics or whatever. Isn't there already enough of that CRAP on TV now? Ted Koppel went out at the top of his game, for sure, though. I wonder if the decision to retire was "totally his", though, given his conflicts with ABC over the years.

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A quarter can be so little, yet so much dept: Beginning the day after Christmas every year, you'll see Salvation Army Bell-ringers in various places. Standing out in the cold, ringing the bell. (Although, surprisingly, there are businesses who DON'T WANT the bell-ringers to ring their bells! I think that's INSANE! That's as bad as outlawing fireworks on the 4th of July!) Of course, I also "rang the bell" for businesses who made me stand outside in the cold for 8 hours. Those SAME businesses would allow other charitable groups to sell brownies or candy inside their stores! I could never figure that out.

Anyway, I understand bell-ringers this year will be volunteers, rather than paid employees. I "rang the bell" in 3 different winter seasons not so long ago. I got paid for it, but without that Salvation Army job, I wouldn't have made it thru the winter. Some folks would contribute, some didn't; "oh well"! I always thought that if everyone who passed me dropped in a quarter, just a QUARTER, there would be a LOT of money in the ol' red kettle. So, that's something to think about. A relatively painless small sacrifice, and it goes to a good cause.

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Well, that's it for this here post. I've now held off as long as I can; I've gotta finish what I'm doing here and turn the heat up! What with fuel increases on the way, I'm waiting as long as I can to do that, but I've got icicles on my toes, you see. Anyway, happy Thanksgiving!