Oh, and yesterday I learned deer like forsythia. They leave the daffodils and hyacinths alone (too fragrant); but this is this first time I watched a herd chow down on the large bush in my backyard.
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I saw a video on a local subreddit today (or maybe it was NextDoor) of a turkey hen running down a downtown neighborhood sidewalk. Someone saw it and screamed ā¦
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Sorry!
This is some video of a turkey filmed by a local news station that was Mr. Bold As Brass on my route to work every morning, last year. He was a character!
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Yes, in the dentistās waiting room, of all places! The experience was surreal. I walked in, checked in at the reception counter, sat down with my brand new shoulder bag ( beautiful cordovan leather) on my left side and the strap on my shoulder, and pickec up a magazine to read. In a minute I was charged by the guy sitting kitty corner to me. The purse, tangled on my arm and me went flying out the door with the thief pulling, all along trying to separate myself from my purse. I wouldnāt imagine that ever happening in a medical office. Fortunately the car keys were in my jacket pocket. It turns out the āclearing houseā was just around the corner. Afterwards, taking a ride with the responding police officer (in an unmarked car) he pointed out the house and asked me if I recognized any of the people hanging out in front. No. I have never forgotton the perpās face, after all these years. He was not another patient, just a hawk waiting for a pigeon. Know your surroundings at all times. Be aware and be alert. The world needs more lerts!
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Thatās horrible. Looks like people need to have a knife under the belt like in the old times.
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Iām not big on weapons. Iā m not a āwalk softly and carry a big stickā person. I did consider packinā a concealed weapon in my jacket pocket . But I donāt live there anymore. The event was horrible to me and Iāve learned to ignore the scary flashback thoughts. For years I wore waist bags or fanny packs. To this day I carry only what I need for an outing. My shoulder healed, but I would never, ever go to Kaiser for counseling or mental health issues again! I actually found a reasonable private pay counselor that got me through the trama, and I never, ever visited that dentist (and he was the best!) or that part of town again. It took a move out of state 3000 miles away to get my head straight, and get the credit problems solved. I spent over ten grand of my own money (which I had to borrow) to pay for all the fixes. No victimās help from anyone, anywhere. I had been the victim in two physical crimes in four years there in my sweet hometown and decided that was two, too many. Much happier now! The message isā¦crime happens everywhere and in many forms. Be aware of your surroundings at all times. At all times, everywhere.
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There was a boy from Scotland, he was 22 then, who had been abducted by a trishaw that he had hired in another Asian country. And robbed him. (Iām not naming it.) Even in Sri Lanka he refused to go in a trishaw. He wouldnāt go near a trishaw, he would cross the road to the other side until he went past the trishaw park.
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A good news announcement.
My daughter #2 despite her maths and engineering degrees upcoming (May 2023) has not had great school-based recruiting. Part of the problem is that she finished the maths degree in 3 years at school 1, and when transferring to school 2 (to add on the engineering degree) she could not have her profile and GPA be in their recruiting system for at least 9 months (Iām not positive about the how/why of this, but she assures me it hindered her ITO recruiting).
But sheās just got a great offer (which I think sheāll take) for a progression-engineering path designed to make entrants into managers within 2 years.
Sounds good to me.
Daughter #1 is an engineer as well. My son will enter an engineering program this fall.
Fruit/tree, etc. LoL.
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Thatās really tough to parse - an experience like that, and how it affects you.
I grew up shooting (and having shooting safety drilled into my head) but despite that and almost 9 years in the Army, Iāve never gotten a gun thereafter. Iāve thought about it from time to time but never pulled the trigger (sorry for the obvious pun).
I just donāt see the need. But my oldest daughter wants to get one and be trained in its use, so I guess Iāll do that for her (or her new husband will).
My best Army bud is never without at least 2 guns. Everywhere he goes. Itās like putting on socks for him - puts on the socks, puts on the guns. To me thatās kind of foreign, despite my Army training.
I went on an RV trip with him in March 2021 to his āback homeā area in Southern Indiana heād bought land in. We had a big dinner at his brotherās house with all the sibs and cousins in attendance - like 25 of them, all told.
Every single one of them had at least 2 guns packing, men and women alike. The topic actually came up and everyone brought out their weapons.
I felt naked. LoL.
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Congratulations to your daughter! Is it with GE by any chance?
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Thank you! Not GE, though. I guess any number of companies have similar training tracks, and my understanding is that this company (makes a lot of engineered products that feed into other industries) modeled theirs on GEās āAspireā program.
Her older sister works for a huge energy conglomerate and tried to get her to join there (theyāre desperate for new engineers, it was like a āraise your hand weāll hire youā type situation) but she wanted to stay closer to home. Which Iām happy for - sheāll only be 90 minutes away and can come home weekends if she wants.
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It sounds like your daughter landed in a perfect situation. I just thought of GE I grew up in a GE town (the facility was big enough that it had its own zip code even 40 years ago. My father worked there and always spoke highly of the program.
Youāve raised some smart kids!
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I do see many who do that. The (to me) silly, cross chest CC purses I see women wearing seem to be so cumbersome and self defeating, especially in the rural area we live in. For the gents, it is double wide packing that cracks me up. I used to go shooting at the rifle range in younger years but never did I think Iād need a gun.
Oh well, to each their own.
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Good job with the parenting!! We sometimes wondered about the tree thing, thinking which orchard our child came from, them not being anything like their parents. Management tracking can be difficult; it takes a special person who can be successful with it. One of ours found out that the management path they imagined was 180Ā° from what the reality was and thus carved their own path, successfully. We were there 100% behind our student and that was the most important part of their journey. Congratulations!
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Thanks again. Yeah I never wanted to be a manager but kind of got dragged into it. Luckily everyone on my team were ādo what you need to get doneā kind of people and really didnāt need much management at all. From a manager standpoint I was mainly the face of the department, the interface with the C-suite folks and other departments. My wife has resisted multiple attempts of her work trying to push her into management. But I think D2 will take to it well as long as the company culture isnāt toxic. From what I can find on Glassdoor and the like, people seem really happy there.
Weāre still trying to figure out what to do with daughter #3, though. She dropped out of nursing school 2.5 years into it, after last semester - straight As and seemed to enjoy the coursework, but when she got to clinical rotations she figured out she couldnāt stand being around people in pain and not being able to āfixā it. So after clinicals we had a lot of long discussions over winter break and she decided to take this semester off and think through stuff. I (privately) never wanted her to be a nurse anyway because it can be such a hard life, especially in the early years until you can work your way into an office type setting. Sheās now thinking registered dietician and is enrolled in a different U for this fall, so weāll see how that turns out. Iām pretty sure sheāll need at least a masters to get anywhere in the field. But in the long run I think sheāll be a lot happier with RD than nursing. Or opening a tea shopā¦ or a gluten free bakeryā¦
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RDs can make a great career life for themselves, especially in our current health conscious climate. Not so fifty years ago. If you can get past the tough chemistry exams, itās pretty fun. One RD I know worked as a lactation specialist while getting her RN and then the NP. Kinda backwards but she excelled. Another RD (I was in a similar course of study) rules the health club nearby with all sorts of classes and excursions for the curious and has a side gig at one of the health food store chains. Sheās in her 60ās and is lovinā it. The world is your youngerās oyster. Knowing the science behind the food works out well in food production. Just tell her to stay away from health department inspection careers unless being spat upon is her thing.
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LANGUAGE WARNING 
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Iāve been waking up with a random song in my head for the last 3 years or so. I wonder if this is a middle-age thing, bc I donāt recall this being a thing in my waking hours before.
Itās not even necessarily a song I like or heard recently. Mostly it annoys TF out of me, bc I would prefer to sleep longer.
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