Some See Free Pallets - Some See Free Grow Boxes...With A Lot Of Work

 Free...

I give you the pallet, something that allows modern civilization to exist. The pallet allows for tons of food to be delivered to your store, and then, to your homes. I can't imagine how we would transport and store the food, the auto parts, the clothing, basically everything in our modern lives.

Because pallets are so important, it goes to reason that you can find pallets everywhere. Drive by any industrial part of town and you'll see pallets. And not only are they important for their original purpose, do a quick internet search on the things you can make with free pallets. 

It's endless.

With enough pallets you can build your own shed or even a home. We're not looking to build either, but something more simple...grow boxes. 

I have a friend who runs several businesses. He's got the Midas touch, very successful. I messaged him a few weeks ago to see if he had any pallets lying around that he no longer uses/needs. He did, and we drove down to his business and picked up a few. Such a nice gesture. I saw the above post in our local town Facebook group. We've gathered the pallets and will hopefully gather more, then...

The hard work begins.

My wife and son have drawn up some plans on how we want our backyard garden to look. It's going to take time, but it could be something great.

I'll keep you posted.

Things A Hat Might Tell You...If A Hat Could Speak

 If you do an image search for businessmen attire in the first half of the twentieth century, there's a good chance those businessmen were wearing hats...

I wonder if they even liked hats.

I don't think it mattered either way. Men wore hats, bowlers, fedoras, porkpies, panamas, to name a few. They were as integral to a man's wardrobe as a tie or a white shirt or even shoes.

Times have changed.

And, personally, I'm sad...I LOVE those hats.

But, I like hats in general, for both fashion, but mostly practical reasons. I've mentioned on this blog many times that I wear hats in the winter to keep my head warm and in the summer to keep my skin from burning off. Hats are also integral to my wardrobe. Take, for example, the hat I wear working in the yard. We're now in summer and that means higher temperatures brought on by more sun. I wore my hat last week as we moved rocks--lots of rocks--for landscaping in our front lawn. And when laundry day came around, I tossed in the hat so it could be returned to its original clean state.

That was needed.

If my yard work hat could speak, it might say it appreciated being outside, but I may be pushing it a bit. And it would definitely want to be washed more. I'll try to accommodate it in the future. Heck...I'd like it to stay clean and pristine in the garage. My many baseball hats might accuse me of favoritism (which I definitely am...I like hats that are red and sport a big "U" on them...). I have a couple of hats I wear in the winter, but since I've been working from home, I haven't been standing on a platform in a blizzard waiting for the train to come, and therefore, not needing my winter hats. They're probably the most mad at me...

And would have the most to say.

The Cost Of A White Christmas...

The first thing I did after returning from church was to start shoveling snow. Since we didn't need to dig out in order to get to church, I put it off until after.

Since we hadn't used our snowblower in a couple of years, I drained the old gas out of it, and put in new. After about a hundred pulls, we realized the gas line had broken off where it connected to the intake. We stretched the existing rubber tube and attached it. The snowblower started, but didn't run well enough to clear the foot or so snow we received. We had to resort to the trusty shovel.

A couple of hours later, we had cleared sidewalks and driveways. It allowed us to travel to my in-laws for a family get-together. We had a terrific meal, exchanged gifts and enjoyed sitting inside a warm home shielded from the elements.

"It's sure beautiful out there," we said as we gazed outside. And it truly was. For those praying for a White Christmas, their prayers were answered--and how! But while we admired the view, I thought about the costs of that beautiful view. On a superficial level, a huge snowstorm means, if we want to go anywhere, work has to be done. People have to shovel out, city, county, and state trucks need to roll to plow the roads. There's definitely a cost involved. The beauty we saw was not in any way free. And even if you're in a home and free to just enjoy a White Christmas from inside, work--a lot of work--had to be done beforehand. Food had to be purchased and brought in. Energy to keep everyone warm, safe, and dry had to be earned.

There's a simplicity in life, a constant. There is both good and bad in the world. In fact, without one we wouldn't know the other. It was an absolutely beautiful day. There was a cost. For me it was worth it (even though I'm going to be sore tomorrow...). I hope you and yours had a wonderful Christmas day. God bless.