Sunday Snippets

A variety of un-related thoughts for a Sunday.

1. Our church is having a blood drive in a couple of weeks. This morning Marilyn told the congregation that she had never thought about the importance of giving blood until two years ago when she began needing 2-3 pints of blood and a couple pints of platelets EVERY month. I've given blood regularly for years and years, but her story put a face on the need. What a reminder!

2. Ken is type O so his blood is always very much needed. I'm AB which is pretty rare, so they need less from people like me. Both of us volunteered for a study on "Chagas Disease" the last time we gave blood. We were warned that there were a lot of false positives. A few weeks later Ken found out he is one of those false positives and, until they discover a test to weed out the false positives, he can no longer give blood. What a shame!

3. My mom doesn't need blood, but she needs Gatorade. She doesn't drink water but will drink the ubiquitous sports beverage so, in the interest of keeping her hydrated, I make frequent Costco runs. Usually I hit Costco on a weekday morning and it's bearable. Yesterday (a Saturday) I went at 2:00 p.m. You wouldn't know we are in the midst of a recession from our Costco. Every register was open, every line at least ten people deep, every cart overflowing. Yes, there were the necessities - the tp, the tissues, the cereal, the meat - but there sure were a LOT of non-essentials. What waste!

4. Tomorrow I go to Tulsa! I've never been in Oklahoma! All that's left on my list of states I've never visited are Idaho, Nevada, and Hawaii! Think BER will send me to Hawaii next year?
What a wild dream!

5. Today it's snowing a bit, windy and cold in Chicago. In Tulsa it will be 60º Tuesday, in Phoenix it will be close to 80º on Wednesday, in Portland and Seattle it will be rainy and maybe hit 40º. How strange it will be to experience all that different weather in just 4 days. What a strange assortment of clothes to bring on this BER jaunt!

6. David is now an approved Forest Preserve Chain Saw user! Having taken the training yesterday morning, he is no longer limited to removing the evil "Buck Thorn" growth by hand when he does his monthly Forest Preserve volunteer gig. David's "certifications" now include welding, bridge inspection and chain saw usage. What a hoot!

What can possibly follow the revelation that my son is a chain-saw buck thorn massacre-er????

Happy Sunday!