No Place Like Home

We fly a full-size flag atop a flagpole that Bill made, most days of the year. Four days before July 4th, Bill realized our flag had become raggedy and worn, and asked me to buy a replacement. I was in the bigger (but not big) town to the north, so I thought the odds would be better of finding one there.
Called Tractor Supply. Chris answered the phone and wanted to know how big, a reasonable question. "I dunno," I said. "Big." "How big?" Chris repeated with a trace of irritation. "Big enough to fly on a flagpole."
They only had flags that measured in inches.
Called Lowe's. I instructed the automated system to connect me to the operator. The operator never answered the phone.
Called Ace Hardware in Hollister. Friendly female connected me to Kathy, whose voice I recognized as the Kathy that used to work in our bookstore.
They had large flags in three sizes, and yes, they did have the kind with embroidered (instead of printed) stars.
Thank you Kathy. Thank you Ace. Three cheers for the red white and blue.

I'm back!

Since nobody has commented on previous posts, I feel safe in jumping back in with no explanation of my silence.

Right after my last post, last year, I lost my job. I did some fitful job search and got unemployment for awhile, but then decided to declare "retirement" and start drawing Social Security.

We spent several weeks in August in Illinois, where both Billy and I are from. I still have a crush on it, although when we moved away almost 50 years ago (I was a junior in high school) I couldn't wait to leave.

Now, maybe because I've lived in New York and Amsterdam, and seen much of the world, it seems appealing. Of course, even Champaign has more going on than Hollister, thanks to the U of I. But it's also lushly green, and warm, while this part of California is dusty and brown, and chilly.

Wisteria, April 10

Testing

I think this is how one sends a blog from iPhone ...

It's Easter, a feast day linked to the phase of the moon. Linking to the resurrection of Christ, for me Easter is mainly about renewal. Since it's a different calendar date every year, the timing reminds us that we can't know when spring will come, but it will come.

This year the wisteria has already started to bloom. It seems that only yesterday the buds had not yet begun to swell. I look at the bare branches and realize that they already contain all they need to become the delicate purple blossoms, as long as the sun shines on them.

The chickens are also laying bountifully. The first year we had chickens, I saw that they stop laying when the days get short; then when hours of sunlight increase, the eggs resume. And it hit me! Easter eggs! No wonder they're a symbol of the return of life. After scraping by with few or no eggs per week, suddenly there are 4, 5, 6 a day, more than we can eat and almost more than we can give away.

I now return to the continuation of Filing Month which has morphed into Paperwork Project. I have been slogging away dutifully and feel good about not only my progress but my persistence.

Credit Default Swaps

I finally found a satisfactory explanation of credit default swaps, in a Rolling Stone article I haven't finished yet.

You need to get interested in this. It's worse than you think.

Stay tuned.

Interlude

It began with a runny nose. Although, looking back, it probably began with several days of unexplained fatigue.

It progressed to "malaise," a crushing headache, a 100.3 degree fever, chills and weakness.

Luckily, by the time I was able to get to my doctor, it had already begun to recede. He prescribed cough medicine and suggested "Umcka," a South African geranium-based homeopathic virus-fighter. I also used those Zicam nose swabs. Maybe they worked!

Anyway, I was in a fog for a few days but now I'm back.