Not so bad

Our virtual on-line Thanksgiving wasn’t too bad. We spent the first part of the afternoon in a Zoom meeting with family. The second half was spent on-line with friends. It was nice to see friends and family from Maine to California. Thanksgiving morning started with freezing rain so it was good that nobody had to drive anywhere.

My lovely wife and I have an awful lot of leftovers, but that’s a bonus.

While I wouldn’t want to spend every Thanksgiving physically isolated, we weren’t socially isolated.

Hope your holiday went well.

-Sixbears

Happy Thanksgiving

Thanksgiving is my favorite holiday. Normally it’s getting together with friends, family and expressing gratitude for the blessings in our lives. The food’s amazing too.

This year we are observing CDC guidelines and staying away from people. It’s a video meeting sort of holiday. As it turns out it’s a good year to stay home in other ways. We are getting a mix of freezing rain and snow. The driving is horrible. Just as well we aren’t going anywhere an no one is trying to get to our place in the woods.

Be well everyone and never forget to be thankful for the good things.

-Sixbears

Where I’m coming from

There’s some confusion on where I stand. Hope this straightens things out a bit.

My strongest guiding principle is my belief in freedom. However, I also believe in responsibility. You can’t have one without the other. Too many want freedom but have no sense of responsibility to their fellow human beings.

Communism and Capitalism both limit an individual’s freedom. It’s easy to see how Communism uses an iron fist to enforce its rules. Capitalism is more subtle but also insidious, using everything from advertising to financial shackles. If you are lucky your handcuffs are golden. Few have the strength to reject chains of gold.

In the real world the most successful societies have a mixture of regulated Capitalism with a strong social safety net. By successful I mean the average citizen seems healthy and happy.

I am more of a spiritual person than a religious one. However, I believe in freedom of religion and also freedom from religion. Give me an ethical Atheist over a hypocritical Christian any day. When someone asks what would Jesus do, remember that flipping over tables and attacking people with a whip are a couple of things he did.

I try to love my enemies. I turn the other cheek. After that I believe it’s my right to shoot them.

Personally, I’m always suspicious of people who’ve never put themselves in harm’s way sending others into danger.

I’m not a fan of abortion, but recognize it’s sometimes a last resort. We can have legal safe abortion or illegal dangerous abortion. It’s proven that access to education and birth control greatly reduce the demand for abortion. Sorry if that triggers you.

Something can be both legal and immoral. While I might not always be legal, I try my best to be ethical.

When going through life I assume other people are experiencing struggles I’m totally unaware of and try to cut them some slack.

Most importantly I’m open to changing my beliefs as new facts come in. I believe that one of the reasons we are here on this earth is to learn and grow. If you aren’t changing, you aren’t learning.

-Sixbears

Foolishness almost over

Now that the transition team has been allowed to do its work, Trump election denial should be soon coming to an end. If you don’t believe that, stop typing. You’ll just get deleted anyway, and I don’t delete too much.

So where do we go from here? We hunker down and mind our own business. We have plenty of business to mind too. The pandemic is getting worse by the day. Without Federal leadership we’ve been left with a patchwork response. Recently I watched a nearby city go through a big mask debate. In the end they came to a split decision to require masks. The next day the state of NH made a state wide mandate so the local debate was pretty much a waste of time.

Personally, I’ve decided to be cautious. There are few downsides for being super careful. It’s a bit of a drag not spending the holidays with family, but we’ll adapt. We are missing them this season so we can enjoy many more holidays in future years.

By the way, if you have any freezer space left, stock up on frozen turkeys. The price is right. It’s a huge value right now. My lovely wife and I will be roasting a large turkey for two of us. It’s just as easy to cook a large one than a small one and turkey leftovers are amazing.

People are panic buying toilet paper again. I saw someone leaving a Staples with a shopping cart absolutely overloaded with TP. I’m still pleased with my bidet investment.

If you can, it’s not a bad idea to round out any preps you are low on. We’ve been adding a few extras in every grocery order. One of my big concerns is getting through the cold northern winter. My heating oil tank is full and a one ton pallet of fiber blocks has been stacked up for the woodstove. The battery bank and solar election system has been serviced. In addition to my large solar election system there are three small solar generators running -backups for the backups.

Security is good. No need to go into details.

My advice, take it or leave it, is to remain calm and carry on.

-Sixbears

Two More Years

New Hampshire’s governor just had a press conference about the pandemic. A nursing home up the road from me has been hard hit. There’s a bad nurse shortage. Nobody wants to move to our rural area. Nurses who’ve tested positive are working the covid ward.

One of the key things that came out of that conference was about the vaccine. They estimate it will be about two years before it’s commonly available. I heard it confirmed by the governor so it’s not some crazy conspiracy crap.

Plan for the long term.

-Sixbears

Nobody’s running to Canada

Remember how in 2016 there was all this talk about running away to Canada? Guess what? That really happened, at least it did where I live. Many of us have friends and relatives across the border. That makes moving there a lot easier. My lovely wife lost her really good doctor when the doctor moved to the land of hockey and poutine.

One of my daughters normally would have gone to Canada after this election. However, she always vacations in Canada after an election. She says it’s a good way to clear her head and also let the country cool down a bit.

Maybe we should all vacation in Canada for a while and cool down. Too bad the border is closed. I can’t say I blame them.

-Sixbears

Now What?

 

Trump lost. Get over it. Don’t be a snowflake. He really wasn’t your friend anyway. He did talk a good game, addressing the concerns of a large group of people who’ve been ignored by the establishment. However, it’s the one tenth of one percent who really benefited. I bet you didn’t get your coal miner job back.

So who’s going to benefit under Biden? The one tenth of the one percent, that’s who. There’s going to be some cosmetic changes, but not as much real stuff will change. I hope more regular people’s lives will improve, but I’m not holding my breath. At the very least, maybe we can start getting the pandemic under control. It would nice to be able to hug my grandkids again without fear of dying.

Don’t worry about the right to bear arms. Because of Trump, I’ve never seen so many liberals acquire and train with firearms. They aren’t going to give them up.

Speaking of guns, don’t think you are going to change the election results with them. That’s a really good way to end up dead or in prison. Most people I know with guns mind their own business and don’t go looking for trouble. Just don’t break into their homes at 3 a. m. and expect to walk back out.

It’s going to be tense for a few months yet. Don’t let fear and emotion rule you. We’ve got a nation to rebuild and it’s going to take all of us.

-Sixbears