musing minds

Shark Clean & Empty Cordless Vacuum

Our old cordless vacuum with integrated handheld reached the end of its life 5-1/2 years after we bought it so it’s time for a new one.

Amazon Cyber Monday has a great deal on the Shark Clean & Empty Cordless Vacuum and we’ve had great luck with the Shark family of appliances so we’ve ordered one and we’ll receive it on Friday!

Affiliate link – may receive a commission.

Veterans’ Day 2024

Armistice Day, Veterans’ Day, Remembrance Day

The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month…

In Flanders Fields

poppy

In Flanders fields the poppies blow
Between the crosses, row on row
That mark our place; and in the sky
The larks, still bravely singing, fly
Scarce heard amid the guns below.

We are the dead. Short days ago
We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow,
Loved and were loved, and now we lie
In Flanders fields.

Take up our quarrel with the foe;
To you, from failing hands, we throw
The torch; be yours to hold it high.
If ye break faith with us who die
We shall not sleep, though poppies grow
In Flanders fields.

Written by Lt-Colonel John McRae (1915)

Happy 85th Mom

Mom would have been 85 today. She died 11 days before her 79th, six years ago this past September 19th. Dad preceded her in 2002.

Since then two of her sisters have joined her and one of Dad’s sisters. They’re all leaving us.

But they all live on in our hearts and memories.

So happy birthday Mom!

Those About to Die

We started watching Those About to Die on Peacock. All ten episodes have dropped. It stars Anthony Hopkins as the Emperor Vespasian. As yet, we’ve only watched the first episode but we’ll be continuing on.

One line, in particular, struck me and I thought it needed some wider distribution.

Hopkins was speaking to one son about the other son. The son asked if he was going to punish the other and Hopkins said, “Praise in public, discipline in private.”

This reminded me of a situation when I was working at a University bookstore and the manager came up to me in the middle of the floor in front of both co-workers and customers and yelled at me about something. I asked her to follow me to the back room and said, “First of all, NEVER speak to anyone like that in front of co-workers or especially customers again. And secondly, I didn’t do what you just yelled at me about.” She was suddenly extremely apologetic. I think more about what she’d done out on the floor than accusing me of something I hadn’t done.

But these are words to live by…

20th Blogiversary

It was on Monday, but I was busy at DragonCon and frankly, it slipped my mind.

Twenty years.

Picture with burning birthday candles and the words Happy Blogiversary.
Happy Blogiversary to Me!

Deadpool and Wolverine

We saw Deadpool and Wolverine today. Totally irreverent, tons of foul language, pretty good story, lots of cameos and easter eggs, the audience was laughing out loud. A good time was had by all.

Harris at the AFT

Kamala Harris was speaking to the American Federation of Teachers in Houston today.
It was supposed to be a White House speech but it was a campaign speech.

“People should have a right to join a union” means “People should be forced to join unions”

People have never been barred from joining unions. Union formation isn’t a snap of the fingers, but it isn’t banned or barred. People have been forced to join unions to gain employment in certain states in certain fields. If you want to work there, you join the union the union. It’s a union shop.

“Unions helped build the middle class” – “Unions have helped destroy the middle class” Only approximately 7% of the private workforce is in unions. Compared to 36% of the public workforce. Union wages are predicated on some multiple of the Federal minimum wage and as that rises some people gain, but others lose.

Employers don’t only have the rise in wages to account for, they have the rises in FICA taxes, unemployment taxes, workers’ compensation, and other benefits. For every dollar in minimum wage rise the employer has anywhere from $1.17 to $1.27 or more. For each dollar for each hour for each employee.

Prices have to rise or employees have to be let go. Overheads remain the same. Rents, inventories, lights, heat, etc. Fixed costs. Labor is a variable cost. If the employer has to let too many people go and can’t do the work him or herself, they go out of business. And then there are no jobs. Minimum wage: Zero.

“extremists attack our freedom to vote”
“extremists refuse ‘common-sense’ gun laws”

So everyone who isn’t thinking like she is is an extremist.

We want to ban assault weapons” – there is no such thing.

“We are in a fight for the future”
Yes, we most certainly are.

Fanboy Knoxville

We were at Fanboy Knoxville on Saturday and had a lot of fun meeting a lot of people.

We met Danny Trejo, C. Thomas Howell, Rob Schneider, Gina Carano, Giancarlo Esposito, Femi Taylor, Doug Jones, and spoke with Michael Rooker as he wandered the audience at his panel, leaving his moderator to twiddle his thumbs.

I had a few people asking about my rollator walker and I didn’t have a card for them. So, I came home and made stickers with a QR code to put on my Drive Elevate Upright Walker with seats and armrests and I’m making cards to hand out as well. These cards and stickers with the QR code lead to my Amazon Associates affiliate code so I may get a commission if you purchase through the link.

I have to say that I love this walker. I still have my previous Drive brand walker, the Drive Nitro, which I also love, but this one allows me to stand up straighter especially when tackling the hills in Knoxville or Atlanta for DragonCon!

The storage bag on the Elevate is larger and has an included strap so it’s easy to take with you while leaving the walker behind. It also has a built-in cane holder.

QR code to link to Drive Elevate walker on Amazon
Photo of Drive Elevate walker

18 Years Smoke-Free

Eighteen years ago I went to a place for laser acupuncture to quit smoking. I had half a pack of cigarettes with me.

Halfway through the treatment, I threw the pack of cigarettes away.

I haven’t had one since.

I had tried many different methods to quit smoking before but none had quite worked, until this one.

Oh, the money I’ve saved over 18 years! I was in a store recently and saw the price for a carton of cigarettes, more than $78! In Tennessee! I was paying less than that for three cartons in Illinois 18 years ago.

New Umbrella Canopy

The canopy on the patio umbrella that we bought almost five years ago tore and ripped and the wind finally took it almost completely off the framework.

We didn’t want to have to replace the entire cantilever umbrella framework so I looked for canopy replacements. The first one we bought was just a smidge too small. I think it was because our umbrella has solar-powered lights built into the ribs and the center of the umbrella is a little larger than normal.

We had measured the ribs correctly for the first one we purchased but hadn’t accounted for the center hub. When I ordered another one, I made sure that the measurements had a couple of extra inches to accommodate that center hub and it fit perfectly.

Putting a new canopy on your patio umbrella is much less expensive than having to buy a new umbrella and the process isn’t too hard.

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