Finding Direction: The Wind Vane Chronicles

This post is for all of you readers and commenters who have dropped by leading to the milestone 10,000th hit Friday, which I wrote about Saturday, in one of my “off days” posts. (Now, here’s another – what can I say? Well, I can say that this one started out as my own comment to the last post, but got too long – surprise, surprise – and was so eloquent (ha!) I decided to post it).

But, I promise – the grand winners in my “Winter Desktop” Picture Contest will be announced and shown next time for y’all to enjoy. So you’ll have to come back in a day or so to see who’s won.

You all have been, and are, very kind and it warms this “refurbished” heart of mine! Very much so. Especially here in these cold, dreary, blustery, rainy, winter days I’m slogging through right now.

Okay – I guess “cold” is a relative term and noon weather reports of the current “cold front” directly over us dropping the temperatures from the high 60s to the low 60s (low 60s?) isn’t quite what you guys “up north” in northern Mississippi (that was how our life long Mississippi friends at church used to divide the country!) and places further beyond the horizon may call “cold” weather or a “cold front,” but live here long enough and it will grow on you.

Oh – and I’m not actually exactly “slogging” through winter here, either, on my nifty scooter, which I’m now daring to take up to “rabbit” speed once in a while when we are “out and about” at Super Wal-Mart loading up on groceries for another week.

However – there is a big “down side” to rabbit speed (remember “Rubber Baby Buggy Bumpers“?) in that my driving is still not – shall we say – as “accident free” as my car driving and I nearly ran down some poor guy in front of me in the cereal aisle the other day. His only saving grace was that he apparently heard Tom hollering out to me “Watch it” (or maybe Tom was hollering out to him), causing the guy to swiftly jump to his left as I sped by him.

Tom said that was enough rabbit speed for a while and turned the speedometer back to turtle while he tried to call our insurance agent to see how much liability insurance would be on a “Go-Go” scooter. Well – actually on the driver of such a scooter.

But, guess what?! This is really neat. The January 9 issue of Newsweek had an entire page in its “Lifestyle” section devoted to an article about scooters just like mine (there are two pictures of them, if you happen to have that Newsweek or access to one). Although I’m a little troubled by the title of the article because it says many “obese” Americans are going to scooters rather than walking, thus (duh) leading them to even higher weights.

It barely even mentioned those of us who are incapacitated in some way leading us to get one.* Besides, my scooter is so small and compact that the most weight it will safely hold is about 250 pounds, so you couldn’t get too obese on one.

Anyway – that’s the news for today here in Lake Wobegon . . .. (Oh yeah, Garrison Keillor already has that line. Never mind.)

Cheers!

*I’ve got to tell you about Tom’s older brother, Jim Andrews, here, because it could be important for some of you, as I found out it became, unexpectedly, for me. I wrote last spring about he and Tom “Living at the Movies” when they were growing up. Jim, who had polio as a child, recently retired from years at HUD and is the country’s leading authority on government regulations on housing and accessibility when it comes to those disabled and handicapped. He is now a consultant, as an expert and Certified Property Manager, for anyone, anywhere, who needs his expertise in any way related to those important issues, which will become even more important as so many of us “baby boomers” age. Jim has a bright red scooter, himself (mine is a more conservative blue), now for when he has long distances to walk and he’s the one I consulted in getting my scooter. So, thanks, Jim! (If you’d like to contact him for information, you reach him him at jimandrewscpm@comcast.net. Believe me – he’s great.)