Jeremy Herndon Blog

From time to time people tell me that the reason that the Irish celebrate St Patrick’s day is because St Patrick drove all of the snakes out/off of Ireland. One story tells that he had made a deal with the snakes that if they left Ireland he would give them poisonous venom as a reward. I was just reading an article that explains that the last Ice Age is what rid Ireland of snakes. So I wonder who is St Patrick REALLY and why is he supposed to be such a hero that his “day” is celebrated every year with green beer and parades and corned beef cabbage.

Easter Gift Baskets have already appeared on the store’s shelves, right beside the clearance Valentine’s Day candy. I noticed that last weekend when I dropped into Wal-Mart to pick up a few things. I was walking past the seasonal section and realized that it was the perfect time to score some discount Valentine’s candy to take home and share with the family.

One of the things that I’ve tried to do in regards to holidays like Easter is to reuse and recycle a lot of the “trimmings.” For example, the plastic grass, the plastic eggs, and the baskets themselves can be reused over the years. Just the thought of buying one of those cellophane-wrapped baskets that are intended to be thrown away a week later, filling up the landfills makes me cringe.

That is one of the things that I really admire about my mother, and about my wife; they are so creative and thrifty with their talents to be able to reuse and re-purpose items in such a way that it never looks like they are being “cheap.” In fact, some of the things that they re-purpose have turned into well-loved family heirlooms that will be in the family for-ever. For example, several years ago my wife took an empty plastic cool-whip tub and covered it with batting and fabric and turned it into a beautiful basket that was an Easter Basket one year, but now holds our remote controls in the living room.

My sister was telling me about the horrible weather she and her household experienced yesterday. They apparently were right on the outskirts of some of the horrible tornadoes that were ripping through the country yesterday and last night. She told me that when they looked out their window there was hail the size of golf balls coming in torrents, bouncing up higher than their house after they hit the ground. She said that the noise they made when they hit her roof was the loudest noise she could ever remember hearing.

Her dogs were terrified, and she put leashes on all of them and tried to keep them together near the front door of the house. She said that was in case they had to vacate the house in a hurry. I was rather surprised to hear her say that because I thought that the advice for tornadoes is to try to stay as close to the center of the house as possible, like in a closet or bathroom.

But thankfully her house was not damaged, and her cars survived too. I am really grateful for that. I don’t know if I could have handled the situation any better than she did.

Guest post by Jewel Cole

Amazon Prime account, things ship in two days for free! I decided to get on-line when I got home and just check to see if the prices were any better than they were at the store. I was really surprised by how much less expensive things were. You also don’t have to pay sales tax, which saves you a ton on its own. They even have a cool feature where you can put items on auto-ship. That means they will ship you whatever you need on a time schedule with out you having to do anything. It sure saves me a lot of time and a lot of trips to the store!

Have you noticed that the days are getting longer? Spring is definitely here, no matter what the calendar says. One of the things that I dislike the most about winter is the shorter days and longer nights. Used to be that I had to take the trash to the curb in the dark – it didn’t matter if it was the night before the trash collectors came, or the morning of – my work schedule was such that it was dark in the winter both coming and going. Our long driveway doesn’t have lights so taking the trash out in the dark was/is a pain in the neck. And letting the dogs out at night I’d always wonder if there might be a skunk or a porcupine in the yard that they might go after. Yes, I like the longer days much better.