What has become of Thanksgiving?

Today is the fourth Thursday of November. If you boil down the majority of newspaper articles into a theme, the result is that today is a day to eat as much as possible in order to go shopping tomorrow. Shopping? Yes, shopping. In order to prepare for that next major holiday - the one that celebrates retail sales. If you get to WalMart between 10pm and midnight tonight, you can maybe buy one of the two new eReaders for only ten dollars. Certainly cause for celebration and remembrance. Oh, and travel will be difficult.

The price of stove-ready wood

Stove-ready wood - even on our own property - comes at a cost. You see, it requires a tree that has been dead for a year or more, but hasn't had the good sense to topple earthward. And even though the tree may still be standing, critters have attacked the base and its fibers have become brittle - causing my angst.

Anyone can fell a tree. The skill - nee art - is to have it land in a place certain. With a live or recently deceased tree, the inner fibers are intact. Cut a notch toward the desired direction of fall and make a hinge cut 180 degrees from fall. Fibers hold the trunk together and it goes as/where planned. Standing dead doesn't work that way. Fibers snap instead of bend and tree falls where it wants, often shedding dead branches in the process. Hard hat is mandatory!

Finally - what the photo above represents. Tree 1 is the lower tree. It fell 20 degrees off course and got hung up in another tree. Ask Chris or Alex and they'll tell you this is par for my felling record. They have simply never been around for a live tree felling operation... So, I thought that I'd topple tree 2 on top of tree 1, sending them both to the ground. Another 20 degree twist and tree 2 instead landed in another tree top. Fortunately, plan C worked like a charm. Attach strap around tree 2 and give a quick tug with the tractor. Down it came onto tree 1 - then to terra firma.

While this may seem like a lot of effort, the process is really a wonderful diversion to life as we know it.

Apostrophy's gone wild!

Many of you may not know this, but I am a secret member of the underground apostrophe police. Not a day goes by that I couldn't issue several citations for minor or serious infractions. Now, I know that English is a difficult language, but many of us have been using it nearly all of our lives. One would think that some of the basics would have stuck by now. Or are there new rules that haven't made it into Strunk & White yet? Maybe the "when in doubt, add an apostrophe" rule. When inappropriate use makes it into print media, I feel pain.

Now, I will grant that there are some circumstances where determining the correct usage is difficult - especially when the "authorities" don't agree. Like how to show possession when used with a proper name that ends in 's'. The rule differs if it is a famous person vs. a regular person. But really, those situations are infrequent. My cell phone doesn't help the cause as it will add an apostrophe to "it's" regardless of appropriateness.

The other day I was a customer's site and noticed a self-made sign:

To all employee's

At the end of you're work day, please take time too clean up you're work space, including sweeping all of the floor's and putting tool's back in their proper place. Thank you.

Granted, I was able to understand the intent of the message - but not without a few stumbles. Who remembers the Ott House sign: "Skier's Welcome". It was a big sign carved in wood. They likely paid extra to have that ' installed.

The golden rule asks us to not judge a book by its cover, the reality is that we all judge others. And one of my yardsticks is a simple apostrophe. Please use it with care.