If you were in a coal mine and there was a dead canary lying in his cage, wouldn’t you recognize that as an ‘indicator’ of danger? At the very least, would you not at least recognize the old metaphor/adage/cliche regarding canaries and coal mines?
Of course you would. But what about indicators that are NOT cliche metaphors? What of indicators, harbingers, signs and omens telling you something in a language you are entirely unfamiliar with? Do you still listen to the little voice that usually whispers at such times? Do you stare at such signs-o’-the-times and try to read ’em? Do you stop to think? ‘Hmmmmm….what’s wrong with this picture?’
As a rule, I am a bit oblivious to that sort of thing, myself. And Sal is usually focused on squirrels or shoes so I don’t rely on her observational skills. Neither of us has a sixth sense and, at our age, we are starting to wonder about the first five, actually.
I am not much better than Sal. A bit. Not much. No interest in shoes or squirrels allows me time to scan for other things but I don’t do that as much anymore. I could easily get 100 feet into a busy mall that was vacant and not really notice the absence of people as quickly as I should. I am just not all that observant anymore. But I still NOTICE. Eventually. It might take me a few steps into the mall before I wondered what ‘was wrong’, but I would still see the absence of people…in a few seconds….under a minute…I hope. I am not blind.
Well, I just noticed something wrong. Stupidly late, actually. Especially since I cracked a joke about it last January: “One thing about Trump that is for sure, book sales will continue if not increase. Any sane person will at least consider getting out. They have to!”
And we both laughed.
Sal checked sales figures today. We are selling at twice the rate as the two previous years for the same period reviewed. Admittedly two-times minuscule is still insignificant and hardly a dead canary or a candlestick in the library but it has been a remarkably consistent double-the-fun-run since January. I think Trump really HAS boosted sales.
I am looking for the cruise missile attack on Syria to boost sales even further. Hey! If you can’t add boobs, guns and rock and roll to the title of the book, scaring the hell out of people with the threat of WW3 is a good motivator for off-the-grid books.
Jus’ sayin’.
“Man, oh man! When they nuke Kim Jong-un, we’ll make out like bandits!”
You think I am kidding? That is the precise conversation that the US military industrial complex is having around their boardroom tables right now. Probably have been since January 20th….I was just too busy to notice til now.
Our Off the Grid Home 
Correct! Word of mouth is also adding juice.
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You are kind but I attribute the juice spurt to Trump. Credit where credit is due. If I were a ‘Merican, I would be looking at New Zealand right about now. Same if I was a South Korean or Japanese. More to the point: We ALL should be looking at New Zealand, too.
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New Zealand.
Where a group of expat “Nova Scotians” sailed to over 150 years ago…….
I was back east about 5 years ago and met some Kiwi tourists on the ferry between Nova Scotia and PEI. They were heading to “where their ancestors came from….”
Whaaat? sez me.
Seems there was a schism in the expat Scottish parishoners that had sailed to Nova Scotia about 40 years earlier. And Australia was a “nirvana” according to reports
So , over the winter months, about half the Nova Scotian parishioners built two ships and then sailed halfway around the world to Oz where they found disease and wickness(apparently not much has changed….). Their leader was in his late 60’s at the time.
They appealed to a New Zealand governor for help and then moved to Kiwi.
A lot of the New Zealand “establishment” today are decendants of those early settlers.
https://www.google.ca/url?url=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norman_McLeod_(minister)&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwi29v7–5fTAhVBT2MKHScEC1IQFggeMAI&usg=AFQjCNHlsUcmQgftuZsS4ifXc4mbZ4kNLg
But if you really wanna go back in history…google the Acadian Expulsion of the mid 1700’s to see where all THOSE early settlers ended up……….
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See…? You just kicked the blog up a notch, from torn underwear wearing cartoon hillbilly chicks, pizza rats and Donald to history, sheep and the Acadians (more than just a sedan). We all 6 missed you.
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NY Subway Pizza Rats have way more appeal than Kiwi settlers.
Then again I hear there is an area in new Zealand where people go to feed the eels….yep. Voraciously hungry eels that wait for catfood, dogfood, whatever…..the locals dont swim there……..
https://www.google.ca/url?url=https://www.youtube.com/watch%3Fv%3Dh0pz2VH6TXs&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwiR1rLrsZjTAhVK6GMKHUhFAnkQtwIIGTAB&usg=AFQjCNGDiKJbKsUVodCGuO1pHavqGtnaoQ
Yum!
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Or the Falklands or South Georgia.
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Hmmmm……..Falklands sound sufficiently remote. Patagonia, perhaps? Tasmania?
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Tasmania definitely.
Still too many undiscovered Argentinian landmines in the Falklands…but then again….thats why there are grazing sheep everywhere.
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Personally speaking, Daisy Mae Yokum was my first fantasy. Been partial to torn underwear OTG ever since.
Glad you are back.
Wouldn’t that make shopping for mutton easier?
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It’s not Trump thats helping book sales..
Its the diversion of the “hacked site” that has people interested.
OTGPorn definitely had me confused……but coming back for more…..
Being the PC challenged idiot that I am…I’ve been trying to log on every few days and was redirected to hackcrap so I backed off for a while.
Figured you’d get it figured out before I went through OTG withdrawl.
I was right.
Totally off subject.
The weather this past winter and spring has been, without a doubt, THE worst I can remember in all my 36 years of living here on the Wet Coast..
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Personally speaking, Daisy Mae Yokum was my first fantasy. Been partial to torn underwear OTG ever since.
Glad you are back.
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The canary in the coal mine? How about the rat in the NY Subway? A rat carrying a slice of pizza down the stars in the subway has gone viral. Damn, I had to watch it! More addictive than kitten videos. A downward spiral.
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Definitely downward.
THATS what my blog needs: something simple, primal, cute and sexy. I was relying on myself for that but clearly a rat dragging pizza has more basic-instinct appeal than do I. Sad.
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The title of your blog, “Indicators” makes the pizza rat indicative of what you have been saying. Within 1.5 hours of the rat being posted some one registered the ‘pizza rat’ name for his pizza joint. On his menu he will probably list a section called ‘Rat Chow’! A pizza with everything could be the bin special. And the beer might be rat…!
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Cajuns, what happens when Acadians are expelled to da swamp.
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I did NOT know that Cajuns were derived from Acadians. Fascinating. To go leapfrogging around the continent in a group in the 1700’s….that’s the stuff of pirate making…
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About 50% of the expelled Acadians died. Some of them ended up in Louisiana and in time helped to form the French speaking Cajuns. Some of the expelled Acadians returned to the Maritimes in the 1670s and their descendants exist there to this day.
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I went to Wolfeville(named for the British General who defeated the French forces on the Plains of Abraham in Quebec city) Nova Scotia a few years back and visited the Acadian monument.
The govt has built a replica stone church on the spot where the original church stood. Archeologists found the remains of the original church by noticing a straight line of obviously planted willow trees that are hundreds of years old ( and the biggest willow trees I have ever seen….anywhere). They dug around and eventually found the burnt remains of the foundation. Anywho.
There is a plaque that names all the original settlers from the 1600’s. The place has become somewhat of a pilgrimage for decendants of Acadians in the US. When I was there, a man was with his wife from Louisiana reading the family names of the original settlers..
Most of them are the old, rich Establishment of New Orleans……
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Here’s my Cajun link….
http://www.google.ca/url?url=http://www.novascotia.com/see-do/attractions/grand-pr-national-historic-site/1335&rct=j&frm=1&q=&esrc=s&sa=U&ved=0ahUKEwjf1NWN9ZnTAhXBKGMKHVfHBDgQFgglMAE&usg=AFQjCNFKi5diKEVwtNNBJDGi2XLS3yldtA
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ha! my bumper sticker says ‘ Hipsters are what happen when you tell every child they’re special’
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The coiffed beard, the red plaid shirt and Dayton work boots.
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Now, now….I trim my beard every month or so. I live in my heavy red plaid shirt (with holes and stains) and my boots, tho not fashionable, are heavy. BLOODY heavy after a long day. So far, my only concession to fashion is very cool underwear. Why? Well, you just never know when you might be called to display your underwear and I am always prepared for such an eventuality.
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Send some of those book sales our way. We tried some Amazon paid advertising that helped, but when we quit this have cooled off again. – Margy
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Well two times a few isn’t a bunch but the numbers have doubled. I like that. Trump the bully salesman is scaring people to consider running for the hills.
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Whitehouse Press Secretarty implied today that Hitler did not use chemical weapons on his people.
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Auschwitz? Buchenwald? Does he NOT know?
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The precursor to war often is of the invoking of the memory of Hitler and the slaughter of innocent red haired babies by sarin gas.
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WW3 is not pre destined yet but Tillerson giving Putin ultimatums is kinda asking for it. Sending the fleet to North Korea is looking like a battle if not a war. And war is good for business, don’t you know. Trump promised to make America great again.
Great!
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Oscar Munoz now facing a ‘Chinese Lives Matter’ petition now circulating in the People’s Republic of China. United Airlines stock lost one billion in value in today’s trading.
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Smidge unfair, I think. I mean…only a little. It was a stupid policy and it is a stupid policy to overbook and then kick people off against their will. If $1000 is NOT enough incentive, then maybe $2000 will buy back space for travel staff? America BELIEVES in money. And it is a lot cheaper than losing a lot of value in your company and way more humane to just UP the bribe. The reason I do not think it fair to Munoz is that – even tho UNITED’s policies are stupid and inconsiderate – it was a nut-case security guard who punched the guy out. United Air MUST use airport security when they need that sort of thing. And, remember, ALL the airlines have been getting away with this crap for years. Air Canada is a bully carrier as well.
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Minimum wage might not get the most astute workers.
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Good point. Still, two guys! A simple pressure hold and he moves. No need for punching. Especially a 69 year old. The security guys are trained like police are trained. Escalate and control. If that doesn’t work, blow ’em all to hell. Stupid, wrong and, in an odd way, evil.
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