TubaOrNotTuba

Over the years we have developed a very careful coffee dance. That refers to our routine of buying a large amount of unground coffee which we store in the freezer and then we go through until there is none left. As the bin on the grinder is filled for what seems like a final time we start making calls to our supplier who lives about twelve hours away by car. Too far to go for a random pickup. And so we place our order by telephone and a few days later a large box is droppe, shipped by the postals people. At that point our only task is to get it inside before the weather covers it up. We do a very good job. Now this time around we had decided that we would go to the source and pick it up during a road trip but that trip has not got a start date for good reasons . With that we made an early morning call to the supplier. And of course we ignored the change in time zone. No real matter we were not that early. But from here until the arrival of our box I will be cutting back on my daily number of cups of coffee. Probably better for me would say some. Now in the good old days my grandparents would buy a large can that would keep them going for who knows how long. My parents were more in favor of bags of tea and those you keep around indefinitely. It was only when I was a fully grown adult in the workplace that I developed my own need for Java. Went so far as to name one of our dogs. And over the years I have tried a number of different techniques. Right now we have gone full tilt machine. It grinds and it showers and comes online when I need it most. Almost magical. I cannot picture a life where the only excess is taken away and that would be easy to do. Just run out of coffee and have the supplier stop answering the phone. That would be painful.

Who makes your furniture? Or a better question who made your furniture? If you are fortunate you live in a home where the materials of the furniture in your home meant to last. I have pieces of furniture that are not as old as me but getting there. In sharp contrast I remember my first couch. A gift from a friend. Made from foam covered in fabric. You could literally lift the whole thing with one hand. Of course that couch did not last and returned to the street because I imagined that is where it came from. Something abandoned by someone who is in the process of moving out of their apartment. In fact I remember when we used to make the rounds. Checking out the street corners after the annual moving day to see what treasures had made it to the curb. Today I watched a video about the changing furniture industry. There was a time when furniture was made by craftsmen. The largest problem with good furniture is that it is heavy. In our modern world where stores go in and out of business, I noticed that the best furniture stores in my town offered to deliver the products they sold. Few people have delivery trucks in their driveway. The industry for many has moved to something called flat pack where a pile of cheap pieces are placed in a cardboard box and sent to you to be put together. Looking at you IKEA. Unless you are very careful you will not be keeping that IKEA table for any more than a few years. Designed to be used and thrown away. If someone asked me should you go into the furniture industry and learn to do it properly I would have to say no. Very few people have the time or the money to do the job properly. I think the next time I go into a furniture store I am going to look more than once at what was involved in the manufacture. Something assures me that MDF will not be a major selling point.

If you have a quiet afternoon might I suggest trying to do a timeline of your life. When you are 20 the job is simple. Other than the obvious distractions of life you can get it done in that afternoon. With very few gaps I hope. Fast forward another half century and the task becomes more complex. Also the lines start to overlap. When I was 20 I believed that 50 years was a long time. Fast forward 1/2 century and the task becomes more complex. The details start to fade and blur. In fact all I can really say is that by 70 I am still alive. Things are still going on despite my best efforts to move to the sidelines. Why was I not told this earlier? Of course you can blame it on those around me. My grandparents were probably still alive and they were not going with the idea that death was imminent. My parents were still going strong after them and death was not imminent. For me at 20, the road seemed to be endless. I intend to keep trying to get the details in the right order even if nobody else really cares. This is my task and this is my timeline. You do yours. As I look outside with the rain falling and the amount of snow on the ground equivalent to what I would have seen on the first day of winter back then I have to assume that I cannot predict with certainty anything. All I can do is to make sure I get the details down while I still remember them. Otherwise the timeline becomes a work of fiction. With underlying facts of course but still completely uncertain. Again I suggest that you do your timeline while you still have control over the narrative. That way when they decide to make a full feature film about your life the details will be constant and nobody can argue about who you were or what you stood for. Just a thought. What I would like to know is whether or not animals go through the same process. Is each day for a dog just an endless search for treats. And yes I have asked and I received no answer. Dogs failed to share the details.

I admit it. I have never really considered what happens to foodstuffs that are considered to be surplus. Past date if you will. Almost everything in the modern supermarket has the best before date. When that date is reached someone on staff is given the task of disposing of the food stuffs. We can think of the easy ones. A banana that has gone black. Bread that has to be reduced in sale price. And meat I guess. But almost everything else in the fruit stuff produce section or anything else that comes with a date must be handled with care. This morning I watched a news story about how a food bank handles the surplus they receive. That is one way that stores have found to get rid of their problem of what to do with the leftovers. In this case tons of avocados that were judged to be just a bit too small to sell. The staff had a great idea. They found a source of chips and then they offered their clients a recipe to make guacamole. Nothing wasted and nothing gained except perhaps some new clients for the chips. I have no idea what that means in terms of quantity but the article did mention that they had tons of fruit that needed to be disposed of. Someone swallows the cost. Probably less than we think because the whole idea of retail is to pay less for what you get and receive more for what you sell. Even avocados. Take a few moments to think about the different quantities that the average supermarket has to handle on a daily basis. A certain amount goes to waste. There is probably someone on staff whose task is to reduce waste to an acceptable level. Nothing is wasted if you can find someone else to take your product. Even at a perceived loss. For the store they just write that back into their financials and for those that frequent the food bank they may get a better quality meal then that box of dried pasta.

Have you ever watched a robot prepare food? Some years ago I sat and took the time to observe a machine making doughnuts. None of those frozen ones that are offered up by national coffee chain. I hesitate to refer to those as donuts. Rather a way to market sugar. However I was in a small food court years ago and there was a machine that was working magic donuts. Seemingly unlimited in number and the process was rather simple; a machine would squirt batter into a bath of very hot oil. Gravity did all the rest. Turns out that donuts are a format that goes well with the machine. Squirt wait and pick up the wonderful product. I’m not even sure that they bothered to put sugar on them. These were going out the door as quickly as they could cool. A long line of clients. And all I could think was is this how real life works. I had watched my father make donuts in small quantities at home. In an electric frying pan. They were good but they were few in number. This machine had that part all beat. I must go back, the next time I’m in the city and see if the machine has stood the test of time. I can only wonder about how many small pastries you could make in that amount of time. If they’re still at it maybe I can get some for me. A brown paper bag full please. Just like the good old days. Yes, I know that machines are common in the food production business. But this was right there in front of me almost within reach. I could figure out all the steps in the process and that’s really what it is all about. This was a showpiece to attract the customers and it worked.. Tirelessly. Like a real robot.

 Many years ago, on canadian television we had programming aimed at children. Fun programs with fun music. One song that has stuck with me, so long ago, had a simple line. « Never be a dodo ». The programming was meant to teach children to avoid careless or dangerous behaviour. Things like jumping on your bed. I want to dedicate that song to the person in Los Angeles who had an unfortunate incident with his personal drone. He ran into a water bomber. Now keep in mind that the bomber is large and very yellow. The drone not so much. And now the authorities want to find the owner because the water bomber has been grounded at a time when it is most needed. Due to the behaviour of someone who is a dodo. I do not own a drone but I realize that flying it into the path of a large airplane is not the smartest thing you can do. Also if your drone happens to damage that large yellow airplane and involves a foreign government you may have to rethink your career as a pilot. Yes I know. The drone really was in the wrong place at the wrong time but some people failed to think things through. I imagine that when the authorities finally discover the name of the owner, that person will become infamous. And probably earn the title of dodo. In passing you can find recordings of this song from a prominent Canadian rock band. We have had a few of those along the way. Rarely does a song so fit a situation. Be it, jumping on your bed or running your personal aircraft into a water bomber could be the things our parents would not want us to do.

 Given the distance family members and the opportunity to interface with other I have to depend upon sending recommendations of good things to watch. With that, yesterday I sent a link to an interview between a noted late night host and the potential national politician. One of ours if you will. I do not do this often and I got back a thank you note which also pointed out that I was one of more than 10 to forward that same link. In other terms the material resonated. What does that mean for the upcoming changes in governance nationally. I do not do hats or bumper stickers but I will tell others when I learn of material that might cause them to think about a situation. Choosing our politicians is one of those moments. I am also pleased about the affirmation that my take on the situation is not that rare. Most of us are more politically aware and astute then we realize. On other things of interest, I watched a video about putting out wildfires with sea water. Anyone who has studied history will remember the rumor that the Romans salted the fields of their enemy. It turns out that pouring salt water on those fields is not the same thing. Dumping salt water on large fires has been going on for years. Those oversized airplanes that scoop water from the ocean and then release it is real. And the only caveat is to wash the plain afterwards with fresh water. Like you would do with your own car here in Canada after the winter. Not that serious. And for the record we have a lot of salt water around. More than enough to extinguish the occasional wildfire. Not my job but I do like to be up to date on the possibilities. This has nothing to do with irrigation of your crops. Please do not confuse the two possibilities. Your fields of food do not need you to dump the ocean on top. Continue to use fresh water just like before. This is for emergency use and you will know when the emergency is at hand. I did mention wildfires.

My own experience with HR is limited both as an employee and an employer. However I am at least passingly familiar with the process. That is your name is put forward for a position and they look at your credentials and they decide whether or not to interview you and then. In the case of the United States government they will go so far as to hold public hearings about your candidature. And with the incoming administration people are wondering what is actually happening. In the last week three of the top candidates we’re told that they would not be going through the hearings. At least not right away. The calendar said that they would happen but then the calendar was changed. So what does this tell the rest of us? Well one division is that things are confused right now. There are people who do not know how to do their job or what their job should be. Therefore they make it up as they go. Is this a problem for a large nation? Only if you believe that the administration is important. If you have a nation where one man holds all of the power there is no need to worry about the staff below him. Those posts are irrelevant. Now I am not going to say that we do a better job up here in Canada but at least we tried to keep the confusion vector to a minimum. If only I had a time machine so that I could fast forward this movie to his conclusion. I want to know how it is going to turn out without having to spend the time. And remember this whole thing applies to both them and us. We like to believe that we elect people so that they can represent us. Not to rule over us. That page has been lost in the script. Please look under your desk to see if you can find the missing words. We would like to get this show back on track. Meanwhile the rest of us will continue to pay our taxes and hope for a resolution.

Through the family grapevine I have learned that one of my sons has something new in his family. No not the baby they’re waiting for, something a little easier to hold onto. He has bought what I believe is his first the SLR. Oh how I remember my first and my second. The first just stop working nothing, that could be fixed. And so after long reflection and counting my pennies I bought something new. Something better. Something that would be with me for the next half century. By the time I gave it up and send it off to be recycled even the film was no longer available to me. That’s how it worked. We had dreamt of something that used free media. Back then we had no idea what that could even be. And so like you do with any new toy I learned all the Inns and outs of the care and feeding of an expensive camera. I had to learn a lot and they had to spend a lot of time doing so. But in reflection I never left it out in the rain or by the side of a bed when I move from one room to another. Like any expensive toy I learned to take care of it. I did not go crazy. I bought very few carrying straps and very few fancy bags. I still have that bag if you’re asking. As for the straps, nope I didn’t use them then so there was no sense in hanging on to them. What my camera did teach me beyond being willing to keep an eye on the world around me is that if you treat your equipment properly it will be there when you need it. Over and over again. And of course I extended that principle to most other pieces of equipment that I spent too much money on. Yes there is still diving gear in the garage even though I will never take it underwater again. And my bicycles because there was more than one that went to newer homes. When we get started with technology we are usually unaware of the commitment that we are in baking in terms of time and money. But we will learn. My son did not call for advice which was a good move on his part. You have to make your choices and live with them. Again something that my camera taught me. And going forward I will probably never buy another camera or diving gear or bicycle but along the way I learned that what you choose is what you have to be happy with.

A sense of pride is also a virtue. If you are like me you want others to see the place where you make your home. Time and distance will keep others from my doorstep. However I have started to find a library of video coverage that covers time and distance. I can through my choices allow others to see places through my eyes. Or close enough. I have been forwarding video content two others in the hope of attracting them to a place. In my home. Today I found a video that showcases where I started going to the beach so many years ago, where I camped at every opportunity. There are some who have that rare skill of showing a place in its best light. And we can share those moments. Thanks to those who take the time to share images from my home. I will not list those places here because that is not how this works. But if you go looking you can find other places that you can then add to your view of the world. It does not always require a huge budget of time or money. And something as simple as a walk on the beach might be what someone else needs to make their day. Add in a dog and we are on our way to paradise. Seriously look beyond your own belly button. Share with others your happy place if at least virtually. Maybe they will take the time to stop by and create their own reels. Right now I have been told to prepare myself for a road trip. I am not ready but when I get there I will probably be very content. Adding something to my list of memories. And I have a lot of them.