Well, the year is winding down and I've been thinking about all the things I've learned this year.
I've learned that when you live in a home with a very large yard with lots of trees when a tornado comes through some very bad things happen. Like a bunch of trees down.
Actually I knew that. I also knew that things like that always happen to someone else.
That led me to learn that if you know very little about small engines then buy a Poulan blower and/or chain saw. They are excellent devices to use to learn about repairing small engines.
I also knew this but it was reinforced. Chains put on backwards denigrate the chain sawing experience and are apt to damage the chain.
Chainsaws that do not oil the bar adequately will cause the bar and chain to overheat and jam. Other than repairing what caused the lack of lubrication you can expect to replace the chain and the bar.
That led me to learn that if you trip and fall and try to catch yourself with and extended hand... be sure that the hand is extended far enough. Otherwise you may learn that a single middle finder can't hold your body weight and is likely to wind up pushed backwards and outward giving it an unusual angle and an ugly appearance. It will also hurt like the devil.
That led me to learn that the local feeder hospital is not to be utilized. This was made plain to me when I showed up at the ER with my right hand held up by my left hand and the ER screener asked, "What's your problem?"
I then discovered that the nearby regional ER is top notch. And I later discovered that Medicare doesn't cover the pain killer pill they gave me. Yet Medicare Part D Rx drug insurance does.
Lesson learned? Don't do something to your body that requires a pain killer pill in an ER.
And you really think our health care system isn't totally screwed up?
I also learned that if you think it was the city that chewed up part of your yard while clearing the road after the storm you may discover that the city thinks it was the local utility who thinks it was the local cable guys who thinks it was the county utility who thinks it was the county road department.
Who was rewarded for their coming inside the city limits and screwing up my yard by helping out the city in removing a 80 foot oak from across the road by me reminding them that if you break something, in my world, you fix it.
Happily, I learned that their management are stand up people.
I also learned that my home owner's insurance is limited to $1500 with a $500 deductible for tree remioval.
What I really learned was..... read the policy and that learning can be painful and expensive.
But the most painful thing I learned was this. Cutting down those trees that have been so badly damaged that they detract from the house's appearance or may fall down and damage other trees must be done.
By that standard I am in deep, deep trouble.
"Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them." - Karl Popper
“It’s the presumption that Obama knows how all these industries ought to be operating better than people who have spent their lives in those industries, and a general cockiness going back to before he was president, and the fact that he has no experience whatever in managing anything. Only someone who has never had the responsibility for managing anything could believe he could manage just about everything.” - Thomas Sowell in Reason Magazine
