Daily writing prompt

Do you ever see wild animals?

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Nothing out of the ordinary. Birds and squirrels are common. There’s plenty of wildlife around, but they do a pretty good job of concealing their whereabouts most days. We do have a couple of local bald eagle pairs, which we catch glimpses of every now and then, and if we’re driving to or from our son’s place, we’ll see some white-tailed deer in one field or another. Our son saw a fisher when he was out hunting the other day, and my wife has had a couple of black bear sightings over the years.

A while back, we had a close encounter with a skunk. That was fun.

Daily writing prompt

Do you have a favorite place you have visited? Where is it?

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Domestically, we have options. Two of our three children live far from Pennsylvania, so we have taken road trips to Maine and Colorado, both of which have provided the experience of different regions and landscapes.

We made a trip to England and Scotland about 20 years ago, and that was a memorable venture. For me, though, the trip of a lifetime was one I made to Israel in 2013. A small group of us spent two weeks driving around the country, starting in Jerusalem, heading south into the Negev, then back north to Tiberias, Nazareth, Cana, and on to the Lebanese border and the Golan Heights, ending with a stay at a hostel above the Sea of Galilee before heading back to Jerusalem again.

In between, we visited Beersheba, Mitzpe Ramon and the makhtesh, and Sde Boker, where David Ben Gurion chose to retire; climbed the Snake Path to the top of Masada, hiked into En Gedi, swam in the Dead Sea, experienced several checkpoints in the West Bank, stayed in a hostel on the shore of Lake Kinneret, a.k.a. the Sea of Galilee, and swam there, stayed along the Mediterranean Sea in Acco, ventured further north beyond Qiryat Shemona, stayed at Tel Hai, a hostel with a view of Mt. Hermon, lingered at the headwaters of the Jordan River, took a side tour of an old Israeli army bunker from the 1973 war with Syria, which was close enough to the Syrian border that we might have been able to walk there.

There was so much more, including all of our time in Jerusalem itself. We got to know our way around the Old City pretty well, ventured out into the new city a couple of times, and put a lot of miles on our footwear.

It was a remarkable trip, likely a bit different than most guided tours, and one I was glad to have experienced before the flare-ups and old animosities reared their ugly heads yet again.

Daily writing prompt

What is one thing you would change about yourself?

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I need to be able to adjust to circumstances better than I sometimes do. I’m a creature of habit and don’t always respond well to changes in routine or what I consider to be impingements on how I prefer the day to unfold. In my mind, I’m often playing the retirement card, using it as an excuse, i.e. my days of being on call are over.

I’m not a fan of having my day planned for me. I suppose a certain selfishness is in play, and flexibility is sometimes in short supply, something I need to work at. I need to find a way to be more at peace with going with the flow, and at this point in my life this sometimes feels like a bit of a Titanic turn– feasible, but slow in developing.

Daily writing prompt

What are your feelings about eating meat?

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I know we can derive our protein from plants and fish and such. And large scale cattle production is a proven environmental hazard. But…

I tire quickly of contrived grievance and outsized passion, i.e. certain animal rights folks who need to tone things down a bit. Species who can’t speak for themselves may need advocates, but let’s take a closer look.

The beef, pork, and poultry lobbies will argue that they’re just responding to demand for their products, perhaps as an attempt to redirect the blame and the conversation. But they’re not wrong, as far as the demand piece goes.

I guess what I’m getting at is that, personally speaking, I might be willing to evolve in my understanding of protein consumption if someone can present an argument that reconciles the myriad small-scale meat processors– i.e. hunters– who are basically engaged in the same endeavor of killing for food (and sport) but don’t carry all the extra baggage of methane production and possibly inhumane living conditions and treatment.

Humans are at the top of the food chain. We’re omnivores. Maybe there is no other argument that needs to be made, except for a focus on the stewardship of resources. Meat has been a means of survival and part of our diet for a long time, albeit not as long as foraging for twigs and berries. I see no reason for looking askance at someone simply because they enjoy a nice medium porterhouse.

What would become of the huge numbers of cattle and hogs and turkeys and chickens if they weren’t slaughtered? They’d still need to be fed and housed. Do they then become someone’s pets, or just released to fend for themselves?

And what of local deer populations, or the numbers of other wild animals who aren’t on any endangered species list? It seems hunting seasons make sense for at least two reasons: population control and food on families’ tables.

Going meatless is a tough sell, for various reasons.

Daily writing prompt

What are your two favorite things to wear?

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Depends on the season, though one of them is a standard across the board: I have to have comfortable footwear, to keep the feet happy.

Right now, as winter approaches, the second item would have to be something that keeps my bony frame warm, for hanging out in a house we keep at 68 degrees no matter how cold it gets outside– which means it can get a bit chilly around the edges sometimes. This is usually a sherpa lined hoodie of some sort, from now until sometime in April, or at least a base layer over which I add other items.

Functional, hardly ever fashionable.

Daily writing prompt

What technology would you be better off without, why?

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It is difficult to think of anything that, now that it’s here, we’d be better off without. I don’t believe the technology itself is a problem. Maybe it’s more the issue of its advent, arriving before anyone realized they needed it. Or maybe it’s the evolution of it, everything added on that has led us down some road where we’ve become obsessed, and islands unto ourselves, or we’ve succumbed to the siren song of relentless marketing and variations on evil intent, i.e. surveillance, spying– all the Big Brother stuff.

What’s not to like, for example, about a handheld device that serves as phone, decent video and still camera, GPS guide, list keeper, means of written communication across the miles, access to the world wide web, etc.? Trouble is, we’ve let the technology gain the upper hand. And, of course, people will find devious ways to use it.

When it comes to AI, the important thing to remember is the word that begins with A. Humans are still the real thing, though we’ve begun some sort of descent to a place where we give up control, become too dependent on something that can only ever approximate the intangibles of a soul.

Daily writing prompt

Do you or your family make any special dishes for the holidays?

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Nothing too exotic, though my wife came across a recipe for stuffing from Kamala Harris that we’ve been using for the last few years. Delicious! Besides that, it’s the same fare we’ve had forever– turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, butternut squash, corn, cranberry sauce, and oftentimes some sort of store-bought rolls. Though, on occasion my wife will make some homemade potato rolls, which are pretty popular and quite tasty.

Then there are the pies.

Daily writing prompt

If you didn’t need sleep, what would you do with all the extra time?

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Find a third shift job that I could see myself doing, maybe look for a bigger place, or at least one where I’d have room for a woodshop and my wife would have a bigger space for her embroidery efforts, then hone my woodworking skills and start a small business.

I’d probably try to read more, play the piano and guitar, maybe learn a language or two, watch some late-night soccer matches or something.

I guess it might depend on whether or not others didn’t need sleep, too, or if it was just me. If it’s just me, there’d be a lot of alone time to fill. I’d have to find some way to turn my brain off every now and then.

Daily writing prompt

Who are your current most favorite people?

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My wife, my children, spouses, and their children, my siblings and most of their spouses, and anyone willing to speak out in opposition to the paper-thin veneer of authenticity Donald Trump and his ilk present to the world. Folks like Paula Poundstone, Texas Paul, Danainspired, Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O’Donnell, Jen Psaki– pretty much everyone at MS Now– along with Adam Kinzinger, Father David, the late night hosts, and any members of Congress exhibiting an ounce of courage.

Daily writing prompt

What are your favorite animals?

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Some humans, dogs, and butterflies.

Other humans are scourges and serve no useful purpose.

Dogs can be grace-filled gifts.

Butterflies arrive after a fascinating transformation, and they grace our presence for only a short while. They add beauty and lightness as they flit about.