What She Thinks

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Posted by on in children, collaborating, Family, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

January 28, 2026-

The little girl throws her arms straight out, when she wants to be held close. This is something commonly noticed, in toddlers and older infants, but Hana, my granddaughter, is five weeks old.

When she hears a familiar voice coming in from outside, she calls out, in a single syllable, loud enough to let everyone know she is aware, even from her basinet in another room.

When I read to her, the eyes alternate between looking at the book and gazing intently at my eyes.

She values warmth and hates cold, like a lot of people. She is fairly insistent on being covered, even by a cotton towel, while someone is dressing her and knows to push her arms and legs into the onesie.

When we adults are at the dining table, having lunch or dinner, she calls from her nearby basinet . Someone gets her and holds her on a lap, and she wants to face everyone, so that usually means the right leg is the lap.

Her smile already lights up a room and her cries go deep into my heart. This is our Hana, and there are so many great days ahead.

Thawing Out

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Family, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Striving

January 27, 2026-

The space heater got turned off, I bought a floor scraper that doubles, nicely, as an ice scooper and the essential surfaces are now clear of ice and snow. The floor scraper, made by Marshalltown of Iowa, is the kind of solid steel mechanism that my Dad had around when I was a kid. It made clearing the driveway and walks a relative piece of cake.

Hana responded to the improving weather by being more mellow, not acting like she had a splitting headache. I swear that babies and toddlers take it on the chin when the barometer drops.

She is assertive, and we always know if she is happy or upset. Isolating her cries helps in solving the problem and she is happy again, giving the person holding her a world class smile.

The thaw will come soon to many areas that Fern visited after leaving the southern Plains. My prayers and positive thoughts, though,to all facing the coming Nor’easter.

Then, there is the slight ICE melt in the Twin Cities. It took the death of a Federal employee, at the hands of other Federal employees, to bring about, but there seems to be some degree of sanity in the air today.

Remember, in small matters and great, we are all in this together.

Breakthrough

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Striving

January 26, 2026-

The cold water came on at 11:15. That capped the internal recovery from Fern. There will be one more cold night from that storm, with other below- freezing nights sure to come between now and April..

Outside, we made serious progress on clearing the driveway and front walk. Hard ice remains , in both areas, but I have an idea as to what tool to get, tomorrow, and will deal with it then.

Aram was able to move one of the cars around front, but generally speaking, Plano’s response to the storm, with regard to clearing the roads, has been negligible. There win’t be mail delivery until and least Wednesday and other delivery services are not looking to fulfill orders until the weekend.

I am certain this is the case, or worse, in many areas of the nation as well. Take it one step at a time and stay safe.

Pipe Struggles

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Posted by on in Assistance, distraction issues, impediments, Personal Values, Striving

January 25, 2026-

Most of the house fared okay last night, as Fern left us and focused on the Southeast and North.

One problem remained, throughout the day: The water at the kitchen sink was frozen. We did all the things we remembered from frozen pipes past. Hair dryer on full blast, towels soaked in boiling water and wrapped around the pipes, and a pot of boiled water directly under the frozen pipes

Of course the faucet remained open, as did the doors to the under-sink cabinet. The rest of the faucets, showers, bathtubs and toilets all were fully operational.

At 12:00 noon, the hot water tap started flowing. We are maintaining the above- listed protocols until Tuesday morning, regardless, as Frozen Fern’s tail effects will cause overnight freezes, the next two days.

My prayers and positive thoughts to all in the rest of the affected areas. Be safe, above all.

Fern the Frozen

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Posted by on in Community, Hiking and Nature, impediments, Personal Values, Striving

January 24, 2026-

She gave plenty if warning, slowly but inexorably moving out of the Four Corners region, dropping snow and ice as she went.winter Storm Fern came to us today and will hang around until Monday, while extending her reach to New Hampshire and Maine.

She left a sheen of ice, then dumped snow on too of it. I cleared our little driveway and front steps/walk, then repeated the process five hours later.

As I look out, this evening, though, Fern is dropping more snow on Plano, even as its front end is blasting through Tennessee, Kentucky and Georgia.

The jury is out, on whether we will lose power and water before sunrise. Many others, across the South, already have.

Storm Preps

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Family, impediments, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

January 23,2026-

Cardboard has many uses. We are putting former packing boxes to use, this evening, as insulation on several windows. I also spread Icy Melt on the driveway, steps and sidewalk.

It is nearly midnight, and while it is snowing and windy, we have not lost power and it is warm inside. I am watching Hana overnight, and we are snuggled in a blanket , until she falls asleep again.

My thoughts are with all those in the path of this mega-storm, from Northern Arizona to New England. If you are in the crosshairs, let a loved one know your whereabouts. We are all in this together.

Powering Through

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Posted by on in children, Family, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Striving

January 22,2026-

My son worked at clearing all our yards of leaves-until close to 11:30 p.m. A suctioning, mulching and bagging tool, carried on his back, made a four hour job shrink to two .

This came about after he put in eight hours of work and spent a few hours with his daughter.

My daughter-in-law, after seeing her mother off at the airport, came back determined to handle her own mothering duties as independently as possible. She did just fine, which shows that one’s most heartfelt efforts to give advice, while appreciated, need to be tempered with letting the recipient of the advice integrate it into own skillsets.

Hana, for her part, is working on turning over and is practicing crawling up from the belly of the person holding her, up to the shoulder. She also has a couple of one-syllable utterances: “Hi”, when seeing me first thing in the morning and “Oww”, when something hurts. The latter is incorporated in the accompanying cry.

My little family is a remarkable trio, powering through life.

Mental Acuity

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Literary criticism, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

January 21, 2026- in my going around Collin County, I dovetail between using Apple Maps and relying on my memory and general sense of direction. Today, for example, I used the GOS to get to the Plano Costco and memory got me back to the house.

I generally don’t have trouble finding my way, though in younger days, I let social pressure get me rattled and confused. Now, I follow my sense of direction and common courtesy guide my driving. The person at an intersection ahead of me comes first and the one behind me can just wait.

There is a lot of concern about senescence and dementia, in people between the ages of 65-100+. This is a risk we all take, but there are principles of diet, rest and mental exercises that reduce the chances of mental decline.

Shakespeare wrote King Lear as a cautionary tale in that regard, and we have seen many films, read many books and heard a few songs dealing with the matter. It follows that the greater a person’s responsibilities are, the more crucial it is that a trusted team of advisers be in place, to make sure the responsibilities entrusted to the person are carried out in a coherent manner.

As a contemporary of the President of the United States, I understand the risks he is facing. As a citizen, I expect that his advisers take their responsibilities towards the nation and the world more seriously.

Crowded Houses

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Posted by on in Uncategorized

January 20, 2026-

I walked into the VA medical clinic in Plano, just before noon and found a full waiting room.

I then learned the clinic was at capacity and was given a list of other VA medical facilities in north Texas. I called Garland and will get confirmation from that medical facility in a few days.

We are planning, as a family, for this weekend’s anticipated storm. This evening, I bought a bag of Icy Melt, for the sidewalks and driveway, plus a scraper with brush for each car. Ee will be ready with plenty of food, water and power source alternatives for a 3-4 day period, if it comes to that.

The Prime Minister of Canada gave a well- thought out address at the Davos Economic Forum, earlier today. He did not mince words about the need for a truly equitable trade system and about acknowledging that all countries have baggage, when it comes to systems that feed greed and corruption. A crowded global house needs to truly consult all its members, and not revert to a system that mainly rewards its elites, who as we are seeing, go beyond the best practices of well-run business and install that which feeds their portfolios and their egos.

A crowded house safeguards its denizens and involves each of them in the decision-making, the work of the house and the rewards emanating from the success of that work.

This is as true of a family of nations as it is of a nuclear family.

Inclusion

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Historical, Inspiration, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

January 19, 2026-

We have come too far, as a nation and as a species, to go back to a world in which fever dreams of a “Master Race” or favoured status of one group over another can dictate policy or social coda.

I say this on a day when many people honour the life and legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. it is not a liberal or conservative matter. One of Dr. King’s lieutenants was Ralph Abernathy, a social conservative and sometime Republican, who also did not wish to be relegated to second-class status. Another was a noted progressive, Jesse Jackson, who has spearheaded the movement towards full inclusion.

Two years ago, when I was still in Prescott, for MLK Day, a presenter spoke of the concept that “All means all”. She said that conservatives are part of the mix. She also said that no one group should be allowed to limit any other.

That arrangement allows even extremists to speak freely, while putting a check on their ability to act against the rights of those they seek to dominate.

That, to me, is the basis for social inclusion.