December started off fairly mild this year, especially today, when a few nearly warm hours meant an outdoor lunch of leftover chicken. The lack of wind especially made the quick meal pleasant.

One more thing I spotted in Dwight, Illinois, last weekend.

One small step for a man. Maybe that’s the only mark that person got to leave on the world.

Here’s a mark I wouldn’t mind leaving: I want to un-invent the leaf blower. Good thing I’m not prone to violence, and have fairly good impulse control, or some noisy leaf-blowing neighbors would be at risk.

Then again, I’ve never been persuaded that “leaving your mark” on the world is such a worthwhile ambition. Seems like the world has entirely too many marks on it already.

A few days ago, I heard an ominous crack as I moved in the office chair I sit in most days. The noise was from the chair’s support system.

A few days later, an even louder crack made it definitive: the chair would collapse under my weight if I leaned too far — not far at all — to the right.

So on Sunday, the old chair will be out for the junkman. One of the roving junkmen, anyway. I’m not sure how, or whether, they divide their territory. Someone will pick it up regardless. Meantime, I’ll have to put together the new chair still in its box, which is in the garage.

Further afield, any notions of international travel will remain on the shelf for now.
“The testing requirement for international arrivals is being further tightened: Starting December 6, all international arrivals, vaccinated or not, will need to be tested for COVID within 24 hours before flying to the U.S.,” Afar reports.

And if you’re positive? Or false positive? I don’t think I want to get stuck somewhere on the say-so of testing tech. Vaccination should be a free pass. Good thing I’ve still got a lot of domestic destinations in mind. A lot.