I have decided that I could deal with hurricanes, tornados, and snow far more than I could fire. These fires out west are horrific. I don't know how all those out there deal with this kind of thing.
My first thought was, Oh my goodness how close is this to Rick's sisters?
So we look it up. We check on them.
Then the 2nd thought was shallow and self-serving.
Wine country is being destroyed. The cost of wine will skyrocket if there are any grapes left to make wine. No, I can't deal with a fire.
My sister Stephanie lives in western Washington state. She has had fires.
She awoke to her fire alarm going off because the smoke was so bad and yet it was far away. She and her family have had to deal with these fires all summer.
Instead of brushing snow off your car, you are brushing off the ash. It all sounds so scary and awful to me. I will take snow over that. I want neither.
We had our friend/neighbor right next door to us over on Saturday along with his girlfriend. They are moving to North Carolina. The movers are here today. I moved my car for the moving van. They were so happy that I moved my car without them asking, this older guy did a little jig and then took off his hat and bowed to me. Too damn cute. I must say he seemed too old to be moving furniture but good for him.
This neighbor lives smack dab next to me. Been a great neighbor and lots of fun to do things with. They already bought their new house. The house is gorgeous with a capital G. They showed us all the photos. It is 2600 sq on 1 acre. Now where we live that wouldn't be affordable for me. That would be in the 800's and more in high-end areas. But down south it is only 292,000.
That cracked us up. Simultaneously Rick and I asked, "Does it have a roof and windows?"
Our neighbor pulled out his phone and showed us the pictures. WOW.
He sold his home next door (just a townhouse) for 435K (5 over asking) and his girlfriend made 300K on her teeny tiny Arlington home so they paid cash and are retiring there in March. They are renting a small apartment here and fully moving then. They will be down there a lot between now and then of course.
We spent the evening laughing, drinking, eating and my neighbor telling Rick to move down there too. It's near this big ole fishing lake. (These two both love fishing) I know I'm going to end up in the south because it's cheap but I so don't care for the south. (I sigh heavily here.) But we can't afford to retire here unless we win the lottery. The places I would love to live are expensive. Maybe I will be surprised. Who knows right?
Now to the haters. I know everyone hates the Yankees. Well not everyone, just those that lose against them. They are the most loved team around the world. You don't hear a kid in Taiwan playing little league telling you he wants to grow up and play for the Twins. When I traveled you'd see the NYY logo on their shirts and hats. And yes, they have won 27 WS rings. But it's not like they win all the time. The 80's were a complete drought. Only twice in the 70's and in this century we've only won 2 times. Most of the wins were way before I was around.
It's been a very long time to me, but not in Chicago Cub terms but a long time.
I get it, easy to hate the Goliath. But this year they were the underdog for the first time in a long time. Actually 1st time I can remember. Sports Illustrated said they would probably be in last place but it would be a good rebuilding year. Yep, that is what we all thought honestly.
Everyone including me felt we would be very very lucky to win 50% of our games and finish at .500. That was the best outcome in my eyes. The majority of the team is playing for the 1st time in the majors. The good thing about these kids is that they all played together coming up in the minors for the same team. So they had time to gel. But c'mon no one, absolutely no one thought it would get this far.
When we play my nemesis Boston I never berate Boston to my Boston friends. So unclassy, so uncool. I hope we speak on the field and I don't have to send them I hate the red sox memes or email or comments. They know how I feel.
It is so childish and honestly, it feels like football behavior and I won't stoop to that level.
But these Cleveland friends/family have been ugly.
They text me, they leave messages on my timeline on FB, they trash talk to me in emails. I never said anything about their team. They have a great team. I would never write trash talk to them. My cousin sent me something and I just deleted it. I knew if we won it would kill him and I wouldn't have to say a thing. I ignored them all and never responded. Now you see I didn't need to.
Look, it's just a friggin game. We have a stupid president who has an IQ of an inanimate object. He doesn't want to help Puerto Rico or the US Virgin Islands. You know Americans. He has passed nothing good while in office. Our infrastructure is a hot mess and he doesn't address it, more worried about bad stores about him on TV. That is far more important than any game. But the games are a great relief from thinking of this imbecile and what he is doing to our country.
I was shocked we pulled this win out. Cleveland is such a good team.
Houston has swept us all season and we play them next. Who knows. But it is fun to watch and it helps me escape from reality. So the haters can hate. But my husband pointed out to me that all these nasty things being thrown at me are from trump supporters. I had to laugh. Okay, consider the source, they aren't too bright to begin with.
I'm keeping my head up. I don't trash talk. I think Dodgers will win it all is my prediction. (I can see beyond my love of my team.)
I had a classy move from my friend Laura this morning, congratulating me on the win. I told her I wasn't playing, but thanks :-)
Now that is how a fan from another team acts. Classy.
11 comments:
I'm glad I don't follow sports. I have enough trouble keeping up with politics under the current administration and now Trump is going to out of the Iran nuclear deal. Great! No way to check and verify anymore for us!
Housing prices across the nation are crazy. Some so low, and some so high.
"they" say Jean that the end of the world is Oct 15th - while I have never believed that stuff before. It's not so far fetched anymore is it? How he is treating P.R. is inhuman. He makes me ill.
What you have to understand, and probably don't see because you aren't that way and you are in the middle of it, is that the Yankees are hated by so many because their fans, as a whole, are more obnoxious than any other fans in the world (outside of Red Sox fans and Dallas Cowboy fans.) That's all I'll say.
Re fires, one of our fire alarms went off too, and we are a good 20 minutes away with hundreds of thousands of homes between us and I'm sure not all of them had their smoke detectors go off. So weird! What you need to understand is that these fires are always in 'wildlife' areas, meaning homes in areas surrounded by wild brush. It might be a couple of hundred homes surrounded by hundreds or thousands of dry brush. I am not saying that any of these people deserved to have their house down; no one does. I am saying that when they bought those homes, they had to know the inherent higher risk they were at that this could happen. It's sad, but there is a potential price for living in those (gorgeous) areas. There is a potential price to pay for building a home at the top of a cliff, especially in CA where there is the threat of a major earthquake. There is a potential price to pay for having your 'across the street neighbor' the Pacific Ocean. (or the Atlantic Ocean. Or the Gulf of Mexico.) see my point? It's a calculated risk one takes to have those kinds of spectacular views. Maybe you'll get lucky and never have the worst case scenario, but you are at a higher risk for it. :(
My dad watched the yankees and rooted for them from the time games were televised. He was 96 when he died, and when they carried him out the night he died, the Yankees were playing on the television.
Silver, ask the man who got killed in Fenway about that logic. Walking to his car - beat to death - no words uttered. I'd say Philly fans are the worst but that's okay, doesn't matter. Still no reason for everyone to behave the way they do. But look at our leader - he is the same exact way. You don't treat people the way you feel you are treated you elevate.
Bellarum - I bet that will be how I go too. :-)
A - check out New York State wines. They're really pretty good, especially is you like Reislings. But the reds are also very good.
B - I'll keep my snow, the south can have their hurricanes & humidity and the west can have their fires. Snow melts and doesn't make your house disappear.
C - Being a native New Yorker (UPSTATE - WAAAAYYYY UPSTATE) people think it's weird when they ask me who my favorite baseball team is and I respond "Whoever the Yankees are playing". Cuz really? I am closer to Pittsburgh, Cleveland and Toronto than I am NYC. (I'm a Pirates fan when it comes to baseball)
The spousal unit wants to sell & downsize. We have 3 years on the current place and the mortgage is done. The thought of another mortgage is SO unappealing - she may have to move with out me.
October 15th! Wow, I'm going to buy a five gallon pail of ice cream and go in style. But seriously, a nuclear mushroom cloud could kill us all. Way to real of a possibility with #45.
Brian, I'd join you upstate in a heartbeat. Preferably lake George but....upstate. Not a fan of sweet wine at all so no rieslings for me, but thank you. I like dry reds. or dry whites if I am stranded on an island and that is all there is....tee hee. Yes, no one wants a mortgage in retirement.
Jean, I told Rick that if I knew that were true I'd eat gluten and dairy and have myself a field day because I would be dead before I could get terribly sick. :-) funny we both thought in that direction isn't it?
These fires are indeed horrific. I will have to admit that I too had the shallow and selfish thought about the loss of wine country though.
Olga, that made me smile this morning. :-) thank you. I just bought 2 bottles last night to go visit a friend today. I am leaving work early because I need some mental health, and good friends help that don't they now?
The fires are horrible! We had one day where we could smell the smoke inside our work building and it was just gray outside. I now know my inhaler expired 2 years ago. Going to have to be drinking some Lodi wine I think. We were talking about how the price of wine is going to go up too.
I know how well the A's are doing by how loud Scott is yelling from the recliner lol
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