So the first thing I want to put in my blog to update recent events is that my baby sister has graduated and is officially an RN now! I am so proud of her! That is super cool! Not only is it a massive accomplishment, but it is a secure future for her! I am well chuffed with her!
There is other good news that is personal to the owner of it, but this is as close as I will come to publicly acknowledging it, making it known that I am celebrating!
Yesterday was Christmas. Normally, I would be asleep right now, having a lie-in for Boxing Day, but I am awake, and will be pottering around a bit before I get ready to go in to work. I need to put the rubbish bins to the curb, and feed the animals, and then go push for money on DoorDash. I am so fed up with it. It is no career. It is not even a job. I would not even call it a good side hustle. And this is coming from someone who has been doing it to live on. There are a multitude of reasons, but as I said, yesterday was Christmas, and I would much rather talk about that.
We did our usual fare for the season, though I added in a Christmas light peep on the 23rd with my daughters and grandson. I called it Grandpa’s Sleigh Ride. I think I will change some things about it before trying it again next year, such as localizing it to one or two towns. But we tried to peep at everything I could remember from going around the valley that was big and grandiose.
There is something to be interjected about lighting these days. There are lots of people who have installed the permanent lighting on their houses. Those lights require them to come outside with an app and select a color and pattern at most, then they are on their way. Looks total rubbish. I used to get more of a thrill looking at the Casinos of Las Vegas when we drove through when I was a kid. They were at least interesting. But straight, permanently affixed lights on the eaves of a house do nothing for it. It was the folks who put in the effort and went out to put some things up organically, and creatively that made their displays worth looking at. A little wonkiness and a bit of randomness, as well as some variety is what attracts the eye. Aesthetically, there is nothing worth driving for to see a house with a perfectly straight set of lights flashing away, and color changing under the eaves. But put a deer in the yard and add some figures of Santa and his elves somewhere, and things change. The more that gets added, the more curiosity is peaked, and the want to see it.
Christmas Day, we had the boys over, with their kids, and of course the girls were here, as always. My Missus made it magical, as she always does. She did not even let “this economy” slow us down. We all had a gift exchange, and food. I think everyone had cut out by three or so, and that’s okay because the Even before was its usual good time with games and Chinese food. My gifts out were from my hand made candle collection. I would like to have done more, but “this economy.”
As it is, I am sat here now, 6:30 in the morning on a day I would normally have off, and just pecking away before I go get ready to go in and work. Money is low right now, and I need to go make it up.
This New Year has got to bring some new things. I cannot keep going like this. It is not that Dashing is particularly hard, or unenjoyable. But it is requiring too much on my car just to earn so very little. Repairs cost too much, and fuel and other wear and tear and the miles are deteriorating a valuable asset too much. It also takes too much time to earn so little. I am left with little time or money for myself. I have nothing to spare and feel like I have nothing to show for it. No, it’s just too much. They don’t pay nearly enough.
My best path forward would be to build a photography business, then supplement it with some woodworking and firewood. I can always DoorDash along the way to get a little extra, or to fill a gap now and then, but I need to make my move into what I know, and enjoy, and can charge a reasonable amount to do without destroying my car, and without taking all of my time away from my home and family.
Well, there’s my lament this morning.
Christmas is over. Boxing Day is today. Normally I would be enjoying a buffet at breakfast and some time with the kids today. But I have got to get to work. Bills are coming in, and the bank is extremely low. Bouncy, even. The week between Christmas and New Year’s Day have traditionally been very slow, but this time, it needs to have a right kick up the shorts.
A note on the Global Warming Hoax. It’s a hoax. This winter has only just started. I am sure we have set records for the warmest days ever recorded for weeks in a row now. Late autumn has been almost completely without snow. It is 6:45 in the morning and 43°F. Last year the low for this date was 30.8, and the year before it was 1.4. It was 22 in 2022, and 18.1 in 2021. All the years before that it was in the mid-teens going back to 2018, when I first put in my weather station. Global Warming, Climate Change, the end of civilization, or just a little change in the weather, I am not bothered by what you call it. But it is different this year to the others. Our streams and rivers are running high and rain continues to fall when we normally are storing water in the mountain snow. There is little up there right now. Maybe the warmer weather will do for winter what we normally get in the warming spring weather with heavy snowfalls, and loads will accumulate. But that’s hope, and that’s only for this year. I am certainly uncertain for the future beyond it.
These are just my observations, and opinions. This is what I see that is undeniable. Philosophies and politics beyond it are beyond what I would even publish here today. We all have a length of rope, and we all get to decide how to use it.
It’s 7:00AM. I am going to go get my day going, and then go chasing pennies, which were recently cancelled because they are not worth digging around for among the rich. For the rest of us, poverty sucks.
