I live on the street opening into our development. We are two houses away from a wooded area that is a wetland.

Peeve one-speeding

Some drivers in the development don’t obey the speed limit.

The community had traffic humps installed on my street to slow traffic. They slow some traffic as the vehicles go over the hump, but only over the hump. Several drivers enjoy seeing what speed they can reach between the protrusions. Others driving high clearance vehicles accept the jar they receive when they don’t slow for them.

We have grandchildren living next door, and another family with children lives across the street. Several of the children are under six years old. Children crossing the street is a common occurrence. I fear a child who isn’t adept at judging vehicle speed will dart into the road, and the driver will not have time to stop.

Peeve two-stop signs

Drivers treat stop signs as a caution sign.

There are stop signs throughout the neighborhood. I see drivers who slow down before running the signs. They do this at all hours and in many types of weather. I expect if I spoke to one of those drivers, they would tell me there was no car at the intersection or coming. Maybe valid for most, but I have observed and had drivers slow before cutting through the intersection in front of me.

One day, two such drivers will not see the other, and another accident will occur, hopefully without major injuries.

Peeve three-trash

People throw their trash into the wooded area.

This is an ongoing problem related to peeve four. Often, too often, food wrappers and drink containers will appear along the sidewalks running street’s side of the woods. My impression is they throw the trash from moving vehicles. Some garbage is glass beer bottles. Sometimes the bottle hits the sidewalk and shatters into some large but many small pieces. I won’t write what I think when I see the glass along the street where I am walking my dogs.

Peeve four-poop

People don’t clean up their dog poop.

Owners will walk their dogs to the woods and back. Periodically, I find dog waste in my yard or along the sidewalks shaded by the woods. I walk my dogs, two male Labrador mixes, in this area. I police my dog’s leavings as a matter of being a good neighbor with dogs. I wish others would do the same.

Enough peeves for the day. The idea to blog this subject came as I was picking up some droppings that weren’t my dogs.

Do you have pet peeves? I would love to hear them, so I offer a comment form for your use. I look forward to hearing from you.

We are in the last hours of Christmas Day. A week from today we will start a new year, 2019. How quickly the year has passed.

In January, I retired for the second time. The first time was from the United States Navy. The second was from contractor service to a military program. I spent twenty-five years with each. It was a bitter-sweet time, but I haven’t regretted the decision one time.

My wife and I spent Easter with family in Ohio. This was a branch of my wife’s family tree we had recently discovered. The visit was a great time, and many memories created.

I suffered a tear in my left knee’s meniscus chasing a soccer ball at the girl’s team training. In June, I had it repaired, and now the only pain is because of arthritis. (Sucks getting old.)

We spent almost three weeks with my wife’s cousins in Texas. We took our RV and two grandkids on the trip. While there, we visited the gravesites of my wife’s parents and brother. A great time with some sad moments.

I spent another week on a whirlwind trip to visit my cousin in Illinois. We overnighted in Ohio where we spent time with my wife’s cousin, Jennifer. It was a great time with Crystal’s family.

The fall soccer season started in August with training and tournaments taking evenings and weekends. The winter season is underway, and the team trains two nights a week outdoors. We are on break Christmas week.

Bowling leagues started in August also. I made it five sessions before suffering a minor tear in my bowling shoulder. Four weeks rest was the recommendation. I returned to competition using a lighter bowling ball and finally getting back to form. We are on Christmas break this week also.

In my spare time, usually late in the evening, I am writing a novel. I have completed the third revision. It has a long ways to go, but I have time–after all I am retired

So, here we are nearing bedtime on my first Christmas Day after retiring. They asked me at my retirement party how I would spend my time retired. “I’ll find something to keep me busy,” I said. 

Looking back on the year, I succeeded.

How was your year? Tell me something interesting using the comment form.

‘Tis the countdown to Christmas and the panic is subsiding, or is it?

Make a list, check it twice

The list made, and names checked off as the gifts hidden waiting to be wrapped. Such a relief to know there is no need for another hectic shopping trip or jaunt online to find a gift.

What kind of gift? Is the person a child, family or friends? An adult friend? An acquaintance or co-worker? The relationship is paramount to the next phase of gift procurement.

You review the list again. Terror strikes the heart. You remembered a name that should be on the list. Oh drat, another gift needed.

Children’s gift

When it is a child, there is someone to guide the gift selection. Call, email, or text the parents and place the burden on them. Demand they tell what the child or adult wants or needs. Require them to give multiple options to ensure you can locate a gift that will be appreciated.

Adult’s gifts

Adult family members, friends, or co-workers require fewer mental gymnastics. Think hard, and an acceptable gift idea will creep out of the mental spider webs.

In case the spider is still weaving, what makes a perfect gift? Gift cards! A gift card to a favorite restaurant, to a store where they shop, to a dinner theater or movie, or a cash card.

Once you have the gift, you can cross the name on the list off. Your heartbeat can slow, the sweat on the brow can be wiped away, and the nerves calmed until another name comes to mind.

I hope that you won’t experience a mental faux pas and wake up Christmas morning remembering you forgot someone. Review your list while there is still time to find that perfect present.

Have you experienced forgetting a person you should had a present for? The comment form is the perfect place to tell me about your experience. Look forward to hearing from you.

Writers of all genres and levels of experience took the challenge of writing fifty-thousand words in the thirty days of November.

Today, many of those writers are sitting before their computers or with pen in hand frantically writing in the effort to meet the challenge.

NANOWRIMO WEBSITE

The NANOWRIMO website has a tool to count the words written and judge success. The writer copies the words written from the computer file and pastes into the word counter. When the count is at or above fifty-thousand words, a winner’s certificate becomes available for download.

The winner’s certificate notes the winner’s name and the title of his work.

I didn’t take the NANOWRIMO challenge this month. Instead, I created my own challenge to finish the fourth revision of the work I wrote during the 2016 challenge.

I can create a winner’s certificate for my challenge and issue it to me. The fourth revision was completed on 28 November.

In 2016, NANOWRIMO suggested I spend December finishing the novel and getting it ready for publishing. Needless to say, I didn’t.

Use the comment form to let me know if you receive such an email from NANOWRIMO. You can use it to let me know if you plan to work your novel until published. Or was this just an effort to win the challenge?  

November is the eleventh month of the year.

November is a month when the clock falls back an hour; the weather portends cold days and snowy days, and we celebrate Veterans Day and Thanksgiving Day.

 Everyone, well almost everyone, enjoys the setback of the clock. I am one of the well almost group.

I might enjoy the extra hour of sleep if I didn’t wake up according to my internal clock. Even if I conquered my internal clock, I can’t control my dog’s clock.

On “turn back morning” as I struggle to doze the extra hour, my dogs recognize I am awake. “Feed us,” their whines say. This year, I silenced them with a not yet. Bear and Duke grumbled before settling. An hour later I got up, and feed them according to the clock’s schedule.

Preview of winter days

The changed clock brings cold weather. I am convinced Mother Nature waits until we turn the clock back to drop the temperatures into the ’40s and ’50s, or less on dry days. The early arrival of darkness ensures even colder nighttime temperatures.

I don’t mind the drop in temperature when I sit comfortably in my easy chair. I mind when I am at an outdoor soccer practice, and the sun has been down for two hours. Thermals and the long sleeve shirt and long pants replace the Pipeline training shirt and shorts worn in October. I am less active than the coach and players, so I add a heavy jacket.

Colder temperatures further frustrate me. They bring cold rain, freezing rain, and snow. I tolerate snow easier than any variation of cold rain.

Snow guarantees slick–slick sidewalks and slick streets. In Maryland, drivers understand how dangerous snow is (but don’t drive like it). Many drivers stay home rather than drive in the snow. Rain brings out those drivers without the sense of danger snow gave them.

Brrrr cold, can’t wait for spring and warming temperatures.

Armistice Day was a federal holiday in November until 1954. It marked the end of World War One (WWI). The Armistice went into effect the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month.

In 1954, President Dwight D.Eisenhower signed a bill renaming Armistice Day to Veterans Day. Armistice Day recognized the veterans of WWI. Veterans Day recognizes all veterans.

Veterans Day hasn’t always been celebrated on November 11th. The United States celebrated Veterans Day in October for four years in the 1970s. Since on November 11th.

Thanksgiving Day is the second federal holiday in November. Wikipedia notes there were many celebrations of thanksgiving in our country’s founding days. One marked the safe arrival in Virginia of a group of English Settlers. Another a celebration at Plymouth, Massachusetts. 

People in the United States, Canada, and Liberia celebrate Thanksgiving Day, though the celebrations occur on different days.

Our celebration of Thanksgiving included my niece and her family from Washington, Illinois. Their Thanksgiving week memories include more than the turkey dinner at our house.

 They made the trek early and enjoyed time to visit Pittsburg, PA., Washington, DC, Antietam National Battlefield, Baltimore Inner Harbor, and Fort McHenry. I enjoyed hearing they enjoyed their time and look forward to a return visit.

There are thought, feelings, or impressions of the 11^thmonth you could add using the comment form. Don’t be shy, what did November bring to your life.

I was in the US Navy, and many times we were stationed in locations not conducive to going home for Turkey Day.

One particular Thanksgiving comes to mind.

The location was Galeta Island Panama. I was there as the EMO, department head responsible for the maintenance of the operations systems.

My wife, two children, and I lived in quarters (apartment) on the waterfront. The quarters were once Panama Canal workers housing. Like you see in movies, we parked our car below the elevated apartment.

Soon after my wife arrived in Panama, my commanding officer asked her to serve as the command ombudsman.

She agreed and became responsible for representing him and the command at many organizational and council meetings. Of course, she developed a phone list of important contacts, many in the US Army.

Then Thanksgiving arrives.

We decided to cook our turkey in our round Weber grill. The turkey was placed on the hot grill, and I added charcoal regularly. The bird was doing well with the goal of eating about 4 pm.

2 pm, the power in our housing area failed. There was no power to the ovens filled with turkeys. We knew of the outage when our lights went off.

Long story, short…my wife called one of her contacts in the Army Public Works, and power was restored promptly. Ovens reheated and turkeys browned, dinner was saved,although late, for tens of families living in housing at Galeta Island.

As the wife arranged for power restoration, I made trips up and down the stairs to our Weber. I maintained the heat where Mr. Tom roasted.

When the turkey was done, we dined while others in the housing area waited. A fortuitous decision to cook our turkey on a grill rather than in the oven.

Thanksgiving this year

This Thanksgiving we are blessed with family from Illinois visiting, and my daughter’s family from next door will dine with us.

Two turkeys to serve the number of us. One turkey will go in the oven, and the second is going in the smoker. I am comfortable both will turn out mouth-watering. The smoker and oven are electric. We must have power for dinner to be on-time.

Baltimore Gas and Electric Company be nice to us.

Dinner sides are mashed potatoes, sweet potatoes, corn, and green bean casserole at this point. Pumpkin pie, apple pie, and maybe Watergate salad. (I have made myself hungry.)

How do you celebrate Thanksgiving? Tell me using the comment form.

Celebration, this is my 100th blog.

When it all started

I posted my first blog on October 5, 2016. It warned I would share things I found interesting and that I hadn’t a particular theme for the posts. I have been true, posting about family, about my favorite pastime—bowling, about writing a novel, about the Pipeline soccer teams I help coach, and more. There are Ninety-nine in fact. Two years to the 100th blog.

More visits please!

I am encouraged by the 6135 visits to the site over the past two years. Visitors from readers in the United States and from the Netherlands, United Kingdom, Brazil, Singapore, Germany, and more.

I hope to one day write the breakout blog and see that number become common for a week, perhaps for a day.

Do you leave comments?

I am disappointed by the lack of comment on my posts. I shouldn’t be since many of the posts are, most likely, of little interest to most people. But, I enjoy interacting with my readers and hope to see more comments on coming posts. Thank you to the readers who contributed to the 67 comments received.

Those who have previously visited my site, https://dwaneknott.com, will notice a new design. The new look showcases more of my musings on the front page. (May one become a breakout post and result in the number of visits exceeding the current high of ninety in a single day.)

Addition site content

The new look still provides access to the genealogy data available under the old look. I will update that content when I understand how to get past an issue with my gencom file being too large. There will be future posts spotlighting some of the people in the site database.

The new look includes my email address where readers can submit questions and comments. I hope to keep it active and will unless spam becomes excessive.

Follow me

There are options available to sign up for a yet written newsletter and to subscribe to the blog. I encourage readers to do both.

What is coming?

What do I see in the future? I will highlight my Pipeline team’s contests, share interesting events, for me at least, from my life, share interesting tidbits about ancestors, and anything I find interesting. If you dig back and read my welcome post, you will notice the future reflects what I promised then.

Enough, time to get this posted, ready for your comments. I hope you find at least one thing to cause you sleepless nights unless you provide a comment to this, my 100th, post.

The refrain most often heard by me today has been, “Where were you on that day?” The day being September 11. 2001. What are your memories of that day?

Will you remember September 11?

I worked for a government contractor on 9.11 and scheduled to fly to Dallas and on to San Antonio in the afternoon. My wife and I had arrived at the FT Meade bowling alley when the music channel we were listening to interrupted for a news break. They announced a plane had flown into the north tower of the World Trade Center. I left her at the center where she later told me they watched the rest of the happenings on large screen monitors.

Television coverage uninterrupted

I went home and tuned into a live broadcast. I vividly remember thinking the first plane was an accident as I listened to an announcer suggest the same. That the pilot lost track of where he was, causing the crash into the north tower.

A few moments later, I watched the second plane enter the picture on my television. I watched as it flew into the south tower at 9:03. There was no longer doubt this was an orchestrated attack on the United States.

I remained glued to the television as the day’s events unfolded. I listened to the frantic voices of the announcers as they announced a plane violated its flight plan. It headed into Washington, D.C. Some feared destined for the White House, but it hit the Pentagon at 9:37.

I watched as the north tower collapsed and it was announced a fourth plane hijacked. Passengers on that plane attacked the terrorists who, then, crashed the plane in a Pennsylvania field at 10:03 rather than return control to the passengers. Shortly after, the south tower collapsed.

Staying home

I decided not fly to Dallas before President Bush grounded all planes.

“Where were you on that day?” What are your memories? I hope you will share them with me using the provided comment form.

I previously blogged about making memories. This weekend two Pipeline Girls team made memories at the 2018 Spirit United Kickoff Classic Tournament.

Pipeline 2006 Girls Black

The Pipeline 2006 Girls Black team is a meld of Pipeline players from last year and girls recruited after the May tryouts. The team began practice in early August. Though, some of the girls missed scheduled practices because of summer activities including family vacations.

2018 Spirit is the second tournament for the team in August. The team won the first tournament. The team score two wins and a draw on the way to the championship game. The game was hard-fought with each team exchanging goals in forty minutes of play. The opponent score in the last ten minutes and Pipeline was unable to find the goal, although having a shot went over the goal and two went wide. Final for the championship game, 1-2. The team’s performance in sunny, high 80’s, with only two substitutes, was impressive.

More impressive, to me, is the team has a championship and was a finalist in another after only eight games playing together. Congratulations to the team. There will be many good results as the team grows together.

Pipeline 2007 Girls Black Team

I am an assistant coach for the Pipeline 2007 Girls Black Team. This team played Spirit but had a less spectacular result. Like the 2006 Girls team, the 2007 team are a group talented girls. Some played for Pipeline teams last year, and some recruited at the May tryouts. They, also, began practice the first week of August and this was their first tournament of the fall season.

The team played three games, ending in a consolation game. The first game lost 1-2, the second lost 2-3, and the third a draw 1-1. The scores don’t adequately show the girl’s play. Yes, they were two losses and a draw. The girls suffered breakdowns allow the opponents their scores, but gave their opponents fits in all three games. E.g., in the second game, Pipeline scored their second goal with less than five minutes to play and had a third nullified by an offsides call as the game ended. Praise is deserved for the hard play, and a never-give-up attitude displayed to the final whistle.

Memories, memories!

Thank you to the girls on both teams at the 2018 Spirit for giving me many memories to treasure. The 2007 team as a coach and the 2006 team because my granddaughter, Elizabeth, plays for it. I hope the girls treasure theirs as I do mine.

I expect the 2007 team to drown me in memories this holiday weekend when they play in their second tournament of the season!

The comment form is yours to use to tell me about your plans for the holiday weekend? Don’t forget to use the follow button to receive notification of new posts.

Road trips are a place to make memories and learn of other’s memories. Road trips are something we are familiar and comfortable with. Pack the car, settle the kids, charge off to the destination, a short stay, and return to home. This weekend followed the menu with one exception, no kids settled in the car.

Stopping in Ohio

We spent the first afternoon and night in Dayton, Ohio where we had dinner with Jennifer, my wife’s cousin. We did an after dinner visit with Ronald, Jennifer’s father–my wife’s 92 year-old cousin. For two hours, we listened to stories of Ronald’s years in Scotland and some from his years in the United States.

My wife, Jennifer, and Ronald exchanged stories until it was time to go. Before we left, Jennifer and Ronald treated us singing several Scottish songs. The visit was interesting and entertaining.

The next day we visited with my niece, Crystal, in Illinois. The hours sped by as I told some of my memories and she shared some of hers. They were stories of family and friends from mine and her youth. We sometimes strayed into stories of my siblings and my parents. Unfortunately, time was called, and we had to leave, leaving many stories yet to be told.

More Family Memories

I find it difficult to translate the enjoyment of hearing stories of Ronald’s life and sharing remembrances with Crystal into words. I relished learning of Ronald’s time in the Army during World War II and Crystal’s adventures on a three wheeler on School Street’s hill. But, melancholic at knowing when Ronald, Jennifer, Crystal, my wife, and I pass on interesting and fun stories of our lives will leave with us.

That is unless we share them with others. I can’t tell their stories, but I can mine. Occasionally, I will use this venue to pass them on.

Make my day by using the comment form to relate a memory you cherish.