Snopes.com gives this poem an uncertain origin and lists two possible/probable authors.  I believe if you will just think as you read it…, well, give it a try…

The embers glowed softly, and in their dim light,
I gazed round the room and I cherished the sight.
My wife was asleep, her head on my chest,
My daughter beside me, angelic in rest.
Outside the snow fell, a blanket of white,
Transforming the yard to a winter delight.
The sparkling lights in the tree I believe,
Completed the magic that was Christmas Eve.
My eyelids were heavy, my breathing was deep,
Secure and surrounded by love I would sleep.
In perfect contentment, or so it would seem,
So I slumbered, perhaps I started to dream.

Just in case you thought it safe to visit New Orleans for personal or professional reasons, take a look at this from today’s New Orleans newspaper, the Times-Picayune.

“CBD” is “Central Business District.”

 See article  here. 

One might wonder how a city so dependent on tourism can spawn and feed those so ignorant as to publicly do something like this, and I doubt the funding came from a collection of donations of housing development occupants.

Any bets on Al Sharpton or Jesse Jackson wagging their fingers at these dolts?  Interesting comments by readers, too.

There are always leftovers.  We’re talking extra pieces after assembly of Christmas toys, a third drumstick on that Thanksgiving turkey (???), concrete after a paving job, and pictures after using others to tell a story.

On the off chance that someone of the crew might stumble by here, and few people do, the remainder of the pictures, unused to this point, are on the next linked page.

I still hadn’t seen anyone looking for something to do — everyone kept the project moving at a steady pace.  The water folks, the county, and the taxpayers are getting their money’s worth when this crew is on the job.  And the bonus for anyone with the time and interest is that they are just plain good be around.  

For the final phase of the operation, click here.

In the first post of this series I said, I appreciate workers of any trade or profession who actually know what they are doing and do it efficiently and effectively.  That kind of performance is worth watching and there is enjoyment in doing so.  It’s a bonus when there is a team of workers and they all exhibit those same qualities.

The team on this job was from the Toho Water Authority and were an interesting group to watch.

I was born les than four years after the attack by the Japanese on Pearl Harbor, so I have no memory of it.  However, I, like so many others, have seen the newsreels and photographs of the time.  A study of the history of that time shows how widespread and aggressive the Japanese intentions were.

Having been stationed in Hawaii during my military career, I have been to the USS Arizona Memorial several times; a visit there never failed to move me.  Years later, after two years of duty in the Pacific, South Korea to be exact, I was honored to receive a cased flag that had been flown over the memorial and it is a treasured possession.

To succeed in battle, one must either break the will of the enemy or reduce the enemy strength to less than that of his own.  [Karl Von Clausewitz]

Go here for a pictorial essay of the next phase.

Tuesday morning the street in front of my house, and in front of the house to my left, and in front of the three houses to my right, was filled with vehicles.  There were a van; a pickup truck with a trailer containing a Ditch Witch tunneling machine; a LARGE Vac-Con truck holding several thousand gallons of water and a system and tank for sucking up large amounts of water, dirt, and whatever else is in the way; a large dump truck; another pickup truck with substantial tool boxes mounted on the side; and most impressive at the moment I walked out there, a back hoe, sitting in front of my driveway.  

I love work — I could watch it for hours. 

That’s my mantra now that I’ve been retired for a few years.  

To me it was a matter of leadership.  This is how I do it; climb on up here and do the same beside me.  Next time, I’ll be doing it again and someone else can join me and learn while you do the same elsewhere.