Dreary day thoughts

We don’t know about where you’re at but it’s raining here on
the east coast of Iowa and has been for a while. And since it
is wet out I decided to embellish my coffee with some jumbo
deli donuts to ease the discomfort.

We even have a pot of beef stew simmering for later, enough
coffee, and TV reception so we’re good to go. Nothing like a
rainy day to justify gnawing on donuts while drinking more
coffee and watching the race. If we have any donuts left by
race time.

Donuts must be like socks in the dryer. You open the lid and
wonder where they went. The lady who follows me around always
points the finger at me and does not accept my plea that we
must have mice. I guess I should wipe my face before stating
my defense.

I think these dreary days help us appreciate the sunny days.
Even though dark days can hold their own special beauty it
seems sunny days are often passed over too. All too often we
hear ‘it’s too nice to be outside’. I don’t think it’s ever too
nice, or too bad, to be outside.

And even today I’ll be out several times just to have a look
around. The birds may be in the tree and squirrels preparing
for winter. So enjoy our Sunday as it’s the last day we get
this week. Now I need a refill in my cup and a donut is calling
my name.
Comments are always welcome.

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The advertisement

You may remember we mentioned our trek to the movie theater
yesterday and the movie we saw while there. A day or two before
we left on that adventure we received a glossy advertisement
from the multi-screen theater airing the show.

Said advertisement stated in all bold letters that the
reserved seating featured luxury loungers that were all new
luxury recliners. It went on to add that the recliners were
electric-powered with recling backs and extended footrests and
that they were ergonomic, plush recliners with tables.

When the wife handed me the flyer to read about these modern
marvels she awaited my reaction. I believe that went something
like ‘Oh hell no!’ I can say after the experience that the
seats were comfortable and did kind of work as advertised. The
leg portion would raise so your legs were straight out, but the
back would only recline about an inch.

The wife used this feature, I did not. If I had used it my
snoring would have probably caused a rucus. The tables? Think
the school desks of our childhood. I do not consider a sliding
piece of artificial wood with built in cup holder a table.

This was a lot of luxury to someone who remembers getting in
to see movies for around 70 cents in my youth. Back then, movie
seats were mohair and wouldn’t move if you hit them with a
Mack truck. There was also a lot more people crammed into the
theater and your neck got sore from looking up at the giant
screen.

We’ll post a snicker later today so enjoy our Saturday.
Comments are always welcome.

We know it’s late…

but I wanted to wait until after we saw “Only the Brave” at our
local super cinema. Since I’m not big on movie theaters we’ll
start with the fact that I saw “Love Story” at a Drive-In when
it came out, next came “Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s
Stone” in 2001, and today “Only the Brave”. So I’m probably
good now until around 2040 if the good Lord lets me hang around
that long.

As for this movie, all I can say is WOW! I was a little
handicapped knowing something of the tale before we walked in
but was still impressed. The move stayed close to all I’ve read
written by Amanda Marsh and others, with some creative add-ons,
that rang true to us.

What did surprise me was the sound. Everything seemed
amplified to one good ear including helicopters flying over
and fire trucks racing to the fire. And I’m glad we didn’t go
see it in 3-D. Seeing a full sized bear, on fire, running out
of the screen and into my lap would have been a bit much.

We went to the matinee, paid over $10 for an iced tea and a
Coke, and saw more trailers for upcoming attractions than I
thought possible. It was still worth the hassle of having the lady who follows me around dragging me to the theater.

The only word that comes to mind after this movie is ‘real’.
It felt right. The lady who follows me had her eyes start
leaking at certain points. Josh Brolin played Eric Marsh and
Jennifer Connelly played Amanda Marsh, and the entire cast
just seemed to make the movie better.

Can’t say I’d go again as that’s not my thing yet have no
regrets seeing it today. Now we wait until it comes to the
small screen to see how much that changes the movie. Enjoy
our Friday as I know we will. I’m stocked up on pizza,
Snicker’s, and critter food so we’re good.
Comments are always welcome.

More of the story

Yesterday we devoted a portion of the post to the story of
John Deere winning a lawsuit against another company using
the green and yellow colors associated with Deere on their
agricultural equipment and thought we’d flesh out that story.

About 155 years ago John Deere hammered a steel saw blace into
a plow and made history. Before that plows were made of wood or
iron that the soil stuck to making cleaning a constant chore.
Now, Deere & Comapany is is ranked 105th in the Fortune 500
and manufactures agricultural, construction, and forestry
machinery.

Deere started making tractors in 1907 with their successful
Dain All-Wheel-Drive, purchased the Waterloo Engine Company
in 1918 and produced the Waterloo Boy tractors until 1923
when the John Deere Model D debuted. The first combine
harvester followed in 1927.

And in 1988 the John Deere green and yellow color combination
was trademarked. Since the trademark of the colors Deere &
Company has asked 40 companies to stop using their color
combination and all but 3 did so. One of those 3 who refused
was FIMCO, Inc.

FIMCO is based in South Dakota and was using the Deere colors
on its sprayers they market said sprayers under the brand
name of Ag Spray Equipment. FIMCO used the trademarked colors
and refused to stop so Deere sued.

In the lawsuit Deere claimed FIMCO deliberately chose the
colors to create the allusion of an association with Deere. The
court ruled recently, agreed with Deere, and gave FIMCO 60
days to file a plan on how they were going to implement the
color change.

What we find hard to believe is that while Deere & Company has
trademarked the green and yellow combination, it did not do so
with the individual colors. So FIMCO could still paint their
equipment all green or all yellow. We’ll just leave it there
in hopes it better explains the short mention yesterday.

Enjoy our Thursday as we can almost the weekend from here.
Comments are always welcome.

Casual day

Had a visit with Dad this morning and we enjoyed a good chat.
Not many subjects were missed as we talked about our names, the
wildfires, food, health, and misconceptions. We even covered
John Deere and their recent lawsuit over colors.

At one point I even mentioned that the scaffolding was coming
down on the steeple of the church near us but the cross wasn’t
back on top. The cross was taken off before the steeple was
re-roofed and when the rigging was up never gave it much
thought.

The critters got fed while the rest of the chores are on hold
due to my lack of interest. It’s just too nice a day to work it
away. Time may be spent with the camera, or a nap, whichever
sounds more interesting when the time arrives.

I also found out the lady who follows me around got tickets
online to see “Only the Brave” Friday afternoon. She even
claims we have reserved seats. Many can’t believe that I have
not set foot in movie theater since the first Harry Potter
movie came out.

Never cared for watching movies inside and cell phone usage
has not changed my mind. So at 12:30 Friday afternoon we will
be in our reserved seats to view the 2 hour and 13 minute movie
along with others who attend. When that is over I’ll go back to
my mantra of ‘I can wait until they show it on TV’.

Enjoy our Wednesday, it’s a beautiful day here. Now I need
another cup of coffee and some leftover pizza.
Comments are always welcome.

Since the morning chores are done this looked like a good time
to get a post done. The feral kittens are letting me get a
little closer, the birds are fed, and I’ve had just enough
coffee to be semi-coherant.

The California fires have been in the news lately, not because
it was bigger than others, but because of the casualties and
property losses. And it amazes me that people are looking for
the cause of said fires instead of answers on how to avoid the
next one.

Wildland fires have been around since we’ve had wildlands and
there are even controlled burns at times to cut back on excess
vegetation. But what would be wrong with putting in fire breaks
before the fires start? Environmentalists won’t like this idea,
but if cutting down some trees now could stop fires later,
why not?

You may remember when lumber companies cleared land to make
lumber to build our houses before all the protests and new laws
to save the three toed frog or whatever. With millions of acres
of wildland there are places this could be done without ruining
the natural beauty of our wildlands.

And other natural firebreaks have been removed by either a
government agency or our need to live closer to nature. We no
longer see much bare land around the forests as fear of erosion
fueled some to fill the bald patches with plants while builders
are more than happy to erect homes on the edge of said forests
for those who like to wake up to the natural beauty there.

Somewhere common sense has to prevail in this matter. Those
who say putting in fire stops harms the planet evidently don’t
consider what the smoke from all the fires does to air quality.
If people just stayed calm and drank more coffee we could
figure out a solution that most could agree with.

Enjoy our Tuesday.
Comments are always welcome.

An amazing woman

You probably haven’t heard of Amanda Marsh but you may if you
see the movie “Only the Brave” when it comes out on October 20.
She is the widow of Eric Marsh who was a wildland fire fighter.
Because of her husbands death she was a consultant on the film
when it referred to her husband.

When younger, she and her family lived in Chino Hills,
California. She moved to Arizona to study creative writing at
Prescott College and spent her nights in a bar. She had a
problem with alcohol when younger, had stopped, and met her
husband in a 12-step program. Eric Marsh talked at one meeting
about his work with the Granite Mountain Hotshots.

They discovered they had mutual interest in music, rock
climbing, and horses so in January of 2010 Eric proposed during
a trip to the San Juan Mountains. The first fire of that season
left Amanda alone and she knew she couldn’t live by his
schedule as work became his mistress.

She got busy and worked their horses and grew her business
while he fought fires. They had settled into a routine
until June, 2013, when she received the call that her
husbands crew was missing.

When news did come she wanted a beer and cigarette but didn’t
act on it. She remained sober a day at a time and later sold
their place with the five-horse stable and got her own place,
started the Eric Marsh Foundation for Wildland Firefighters,
consulted on the film, and some criticized her of being in it
for the money as her business prospered.

We believe she is an amazing lady who is surviving and keeping
her husbands memory alive through the foundation. We find it
hard to believe that some people would try to shame her for
that.

Enjoy our Monday, it’s the first day of the rest of our lives.
Comments are always welcome.