Actually it wasn’t Water Boi. It was Vactor 2100i. We couldn’t see all the letters on the truck because it was behind trees. There were two of these things plus a smaller city truck and that whole crew of chiefs out there conferring in the street. Stayed for maybe 15 minutes and left without obviously doing anything. No problems with any of our utilities so not sure. Storm sewers maybe? Or just a convenient place for a conflab. I dunno but that was about as exciting as it got around here today. Except for the sleet that happened as people were once again scrambling to get out the door at 0-skunk-30.

The GG went to O-haaaa-o again, mouse went to work, and lizard got some much-needed extra sleep then hung out with me until mid-afternoon or so. She is also off work this week and we had a quiet day of puzzles and other quiet activities. I started a fun new book Great Circle. The Big Lake They Call Gitchee Gumee is (unexpectedly) a minor character in that a couple crashes into it in a Cessna, orphaning an infant. Sault Ste. Siberia even gets a brief mention. Hey, I used to fly out over Lake Superior in a Cessna. My dad drove it and we did not crash. No orphan.

Delete long rant about the current lack of available COVID tests, people who would rather travel to be with family and possibly pass the disease to them without TESTING after possible exposures before traveling, and so much more. People, for most of us, xmas is just a day. If I had to be alone for the holiday I may be sad but I would use an old trick of mine which is to think, “In 24 hours, it’ll be tomorrow and xmas will be over.” And the stores will be jam-packed with people taking COVID risks to return crapola that they didn’t want for xmas. I always tell my kids if they don’t want something they are welcome to re-gift it or donate it or whatever. But I also try to stick to their gift lists. At any rate, it’s a no-guilt policy.

When I was a kid in the yooperland, xmas was magical to me with all the lights and music and gifts and the events at my grandparents’ and aunt and uncle’s houses and sometimes the cousins from out of town were even around. One year I remember my dad driving us up the “hill” through a huge snowstorm to our little airport to pick up my Planet Ann Arbor cousins from the old Blue Goose prop-jet, the biggest plane that could land there. And even the xmas eve church service was fun. I knew all the xmas carols at an early age and by age three, I was singin’ it sister! Loud, clear, and in tune. O Come All Ye Faithful… etc.

When my first beach urchin was two months old, we traveled to the yoop to spend xmas with my parents. Driving up there we were in an ice storm. Driving back we were in an ice storm. We had freezing rain the whole time we were up there to the point where we couldn’t even walk around outside. No YakTrax in those days. I swore I would never do that again and we haven’t, although there were times we went up there for a few days AFTER xmas. In those early days I had TWO WEEKS of vacay and I decided if I was gonna use that up on the yooperland, it would be in the SUMMER!

The best memory I have of that ridiculous trip was when I walked in the door and put my baby girl in my mother’s lap and HER (the baby’s) WHOLE FACE LIT UP IN A HUGE GRIN! Did my baby actually remember my mother from the last time they saw each other – when she was two WEEKS old? I’d like to think so.

P.S. I do understand that those who have elderly relatives want to spend holidays with them and understand how difficult our choices are with the ongoing COVID plague.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 27th, 2021 at 6:57 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.