Susan's Scribblings the Blog

Author Archives: kayewer

• Storm’s A’comin’

  Posted at 3:22 pm by kayewer, on August 29, 2026

  On a classic episode of The Golden Girls (but really, which episodes are not classics on that show), preparations were underway for a hurricane a’comin’. They noted that it’s a given for a major storm to be designated as “a’comin’,” and in fact is the only time you hear the phrase.

  I saw a nasty frontal system approaching one evening this past week while on my commute home. Sometimes the major activity naturally draws your attention, and though we have been getting our share of them this year, this one stood out. The clouds in this approaching menace were gigantic, low-slung and ominous, and we had already experienced a deluge of a downpour earlier in the day, punctuated by sheets of heavy rain. Our office building even had a power fluctuation which rattled our nerves. By the time I had left, I was walking on amazingly dry streets and sidewalks. The heat had cooked the entirety of the rainwater away.

  Flash flooding from the coming storm was a near certainty with such a powerful meteorological battlefront on the march. All of the weather experts were pinging cellphones like a symphony all afternoon. I had hoped to stop for fuel and to pick up something from the pharmacy, but decided to head straight home.

  The area became preternaturally dark shortly after I got inside and locked the doors. Fortunately the downpour was not too intense, and a few other spots received the brunt of the activity. Some college freshmen who had just moved into their dorms found floodwaters creeping into their spaces, and a town’s vehicles in low areas ended up under a few feet of water. We were unscathed.

  The accuracy of weather predictions these days is amazing, but it can’t account for the movements nature randomly sends our way. This is why it’s better to not take a risk when unpredictable weather comes and to stay put when its arrival is imminent. Or seek higher ground as appropriate.

  As to why I brought up this subject, shortly after this storm passed I saw video of the mudslides and flash flooding in Nepal which has claimed structures and lives (at last count, about 670, with thousands of locals and visitors missing). There was no time in this instance to plan ahead, as glacial calving (immense melted ice pieces separating from the main structure) are to blame, happened in an instant and with no warning. Climate change may play a role, as it can with many of our abnormal weather patterns.

  When I was heading home, I was driving seemingly toward what I should have been trying to escape. The horizon was boiling with clouds seeming to emerge from midnight itself (at six in the evening), with sunlight nowhere in sight. A force of nature not to be messed with.

  Winter is approaching, and with a predicted super El Nino this year, we will need to be vigilant when weather forecasts appear. It doesn’t appear to be getting any easier, and extreme weather will become part of our lives more and more. As we stand in its path, all we can do is prepare for what’s a’comin’ and hope for the best.

  Next weekend is a holiday with three days off. I hope to have a great story to tell that’s not about the weather.

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• Disclaiming Ownership

  Posted at 3:33 pm by kayewer, on August 22, 2026

  Women have a rough time simply by not being men. Men seem to generally disregard traits among their companions that we would notice (and likely judge) immediately. Beer bellies are shrugged off on a dude, but a woman who is slightly thick in the midsection is slovenly. This is a subject that has been written about for ages, and I’m certainly not the one to settle it in a small blog post, so I’m not going to try. I will, however, delve into another subject women are most familiar with.

  Men seem to want to claim us. We are, to some men, like a car or baseball memorabilia collection, only with a need for food and shelter and some attention at least once a day (if we’re lucky). Our modern society is still tiptoeing around topics such as spousal mistreatment and separation entitlements. Sometimes marriage between a woman and a man seems more like a mall bargain than a commitment to another human being.

  What brought this to mind was a shocking revelation which came across my social media feed this past week. Among the topics such as a woman who interprets the oriental characters on people’s tattoos to determine if they mean something or are simply gibberish, and a man who tours dead or dying malls, a nostalgia piece appeared to remind viewers of an empowering moment in a late night talk show from 54 years ago.

  Dick Cavett was hosting his Friday talk show on March 31, 1972. The special guests were Lily Tomlin and Chad Everett. Ms. Tomlin had won a Grammy for a comedy album, becoming the first solo woman to do so in that category. Her continued fame on the variety show Rowan and Martin’s Laugh-In solidified her as a celebrity of note, and she was using her moment in the spotlight to defend women’s rights. Chad Everett was still (comfortably) a major star and heartthrob on the show Medical Center.

  The conversation had turned to Everett’s narration of a piece about animals, leading to a remark about his life off-set, and he noted that he had a menagerie at home which included three horses, three dogs, and a wife. The audience’s laughter became nervous at that remark, so Cavett, trying to redirect the topic, asked if he wanted to change the “billing order” of the remark, and he shrugged it off by replying that his wife was the “most beautiful animal I own.”

  To coin a phrase, Lily Tomlin’s flabbers were totally gasted at this, and she replied, “You own?” She stood immediately, adding simply, “I have to leave,” and she promptly walked off the stage, to some applause. The conversation, having turned awkward, then went back and forth between Cavett and Everett as to whether she would return. She did not. Everett even made a jabbing remark about Tomlin’s own interpersonal preferences during the segment, as if to call her out for her own marital status.

  The two celebrities never met or spoke again.

  Chad Everett died in 2012 at age 75. He was still married to his wife Shelby Grant for over four decades when she predeceased him in 2011. Medical Center went off the air in 1976.

  Lily Tomlin is still touring with her comedy shows, and occasionally she does publicity related to her hit movie role in 9 to 5 with her good friends Jane Fonda and Dolly Parton. She continues to advocate for women and putting an end to workplace harassment (a big topic of that film). She has a wife whom she married in 2013. She has a cat and past animal friends, but never a husband.

  The terms “joined” and “unite” when referring to matrimony are there for a reason. Don’t make your spouse a possession. They are your partner. For life. When the horses and dogs are gone, they will be there for you. And that is beautiful.

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• In the Most August Dread

  Posted at 3:09 pm by kayewer, on August 15, 2026

  This month has proven so far to be one of chaos. Everybody I know has had some sort of upheaval or obstacle in the way of their everyday lives, and I include myself in this grouping. For a month without any official holidays, August sure has made us wish we could conjure up at least one to get a break from the onslaught of negativity.

  I lost somebody I know to lung disease, and I know of a second who is also dealing with respiratory issues (they lost parts of their lungs) whom I have not heard from for a while. A relative of a friend of mine was severely injured in a tractor trailer collision and is in the hospital. After nearly two weeks of uncertainty about my own health, I went to my primary doctor (having been subjected to near nothing in terms of answers at urgent care) and now need to modify my lifestyle and get some tests done to find out what my body is trying to get away with. It’s one of the perils of aging, I suppose. Meanwhile, another friend has family dealing with a beloved pet who is not feeling well, and the said relative had sent their own pet across the Rainbow Bridge just before the accident. It’s seems to be National Lousy Health Month. Now there is a holiday nobody wants.

  After some finagling and drama, another friend finally has good answers about downsizing their home. They will be relocating temporarily while seeking a new place. I don’t look forward to the prospect of shrinking my world, and with today’s prices I’m worried that I would ultimately pay more expenses living any place else, which is part of the reason I stay put. Of course, the property tax bill finally arrived (late as usual every August), and as karma does sometimes, that expense took away every cent I deposited not days earlier.

  The issue with keeping daylight saving or switching to permanent standard time (I am pro the latter) is still a hot topic, because the Senate doesn’t reconvene until September 14 and they did not vote on the issue before they adjourned. Meanwhile, the sun is rising and setting as it normally does, except that the clocks say it’s an hour later than it is in reality. Just look at the time and take back one hour, and you can see what nature does on its own without us lying to ourselves by adjusting our watches or phones.

  The news has also been filled with negativity, from various people of all ages being taken away from this world in horrible ways to prison executions of convicted felons who may have taken out their victims decades ago. There were as many as three prisoners put to lethal injection in one day this past week.

  What more can this month throw at us? There are sixteen days left to find out, but I recommend taking a step back and breathing before tackling anything, at least until we get past Labor Day. September may have the most letters in it of any month in the calendar year, but it only has 30 days in which to stir up more trouble. Let’s hope things improve by then.

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• Moving the Sun

  Posted at 3:36 pm by kayewer, on August 8, 2026

  As a regular magazine reader (I blame the Boomer in me), I recall an anecdote from a long time ago about a couple on vacation who were having their photo taken aboard a romantic boat ride. The couple took a look at the sunset in the distance and asked the boat operator if it could be moved closer for a more dramatic effect.

  Now that social media cranks out massive quantities of stories, the number of short-sighted and downright ridiculous vacation stories has multiplied. What amazes me is that people are so uneducated about the world around them.

  For example, the “great outdoors” is the planet’s largest open-access place for mammals, birds, fish and insects. Some people, however, think that anyplace outside their homestead is curated like a zoo. A woman sitting on an outdoor patio to dine al fresco asked a server to “put the birds away” as their presence disturbed her meal.

  A recent story about entitled vacationers mentioned a place where monkeys roamed the area at will. A complaint left on a review site admonished the staff at an attraction for failing to notify the primates of proper behavior around the tourists.

  I can’t tell you how many stories I’ve read containing complaints about the weather, especially when a destination meant to be a sunny place occasionally experiences rain. How can any human being, with enough brain cells to perform basic functions, not have a grasp of how the natural forces on Earth work? With today’s radar technology, it’s easy to see that precipitation forms and travels naturally, and nobody can curtail or control it.

  Going back to the concept of permanent daylight saving time, this enactment would mean that one entire hour would not exist in America, all for the convenience of pleasure-seekers who want to extend summer golf tee times and hold back sunset.

  Again, the sun seems to be at the center of quite a few of these crazy ideas.

  Unfortunately, the big sphere which provides our light and keeps us warm rises and sets on a schedule, as should we. It can’t be moved, and its orbit can’t be changed. We cannot and should not try to change it either. And we shouldn’t complain about it, but be grateful that it is, for without it, we wouldn’t exist.

  Some people just can’t find pleasure in the basics of life. Imagine complaining about a galaxy of visible stars at night being too boring? Or the surf near a resort being too loud all night (as if it could be turned off)?

  And to wrap things up before this becomes a strain on the nerves, it seems that travelers don’t understand that in foreign countries, they may not hear their native language. Americans can be particularly sensitive to not hearing English spoken in other destinations. If you’re in Spain, everybody will likely speak Spanish.

  Vacations make us all outsiders in some way. The best way to have a good time is to simply enjoy the change in environment. If you take the time to look and listen, you will discover some new things, or you may find that ordinary life, like exchanges in local shops or in restaurants, is not so different from what one finds at home.

  And the sun operates just the same everywhere.

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• I Like to Move It

  Posted at 3:36 pm by kayewer, on August 1, 2026

  To start, let’s make it clear that cheating is not, ever, the way to reach a goal. Depriving yourself of the entire experience of acquiring knowledge or ability also decreases that thing’s relevance as you have taken the cowardly way out of improving yourself and sharing your improved self with others.

  A college professor found out the extent of passive cheating when he presented the midterm exam to a class. Dr. Jason Gibson, the history professor at Alcorn State University in Lorman, Mississippi, was able to use a failsafe of his own design to catch 32 out of 35 students using AI to prepare their papers.

  He used white text on the white background most commonly used in word processing, so it would not be seen by the students. The simple sentence instructed any possible AI program to include the term Madagascar in the finished product, even if it made no logical sense. This meant that students who input the entire document into an AI program unknowingly instructed the bot to include the word Madagascar. Worse, none of them bothered to read through the final paper before turning it in.

  A fourth student (not one of the three in the class who actually did the work and did not receive a failing grade) had opted to use dark mode/black background with white text to do papers, so they saw the white text and, possibly believing it was a worth a bonus point, prepared their own sentence using Madagascar, and so was not penalized as their entry was original.

  So these are the future of our world; students stepping out of their caps and gowns without having actually received the gift of knowledge for which their parents paid hefty tuitions (not to mention which the job markets desperately need to continue to function).

  Now that the “Madagascar Trick” is out in the open, other methods of finding cheaters are still practiced, including identifying file creation and modification timelines. A file which took twenty minutes to prepare is suspect when a paper should take several hours of research and entry. Other programs can indicate how many keystrokes a student logged, providing physical proof of work done.

  That we must account for every dishonesty in our academic world is a sad fact of life. Nobody wants to spend the time pursuing the goal in a social atmosphere which promises instant gratification. Nobody waits for anything anymore. People trample each other with events offering open stadium seating and no assigned seats. People who have no handicapped placard or signs of pregnancy or offspring with them pull their vehicles into designated parking with impunity. It starts with cutting in line in elementary school and ends in the self-checkout with items smuggled out of the store unpaid for.

  Even the subject of daylight standard time contains an element of cheating (see my post from earlier this month). An entire hour out of the 24-hour clock which defines our days on Earth would simply disappear if saving time were made permanent, meaning we cheat ourselves out of how a true day and season should function. We can’t change basics of life to suit ourselves. This includes how time works and how academia is experienced.

  But then I could go into a tangent about how youngsters now “graduate” from preschool, Kindergarten, elementary and middle school. The completion of twelve years of education is one goal met, and college graduation is a bonus to be cherished and honorably earned. The process has been in place for ages, and within a few years it has become a lesser achievement because the students have gone through two or three faux milestones already. Why should they care about how they get to the next step if it isn’t as important?

  My biggest college final exam earned me a B, but I feel proud of it because I originated it, researched it, created it and worried over it. The best part of that experience was going to a museum to do the research for the paper and seeing ancient artwork and manuscripts. That opportunity never came around again, so I’m grateful for the challenge and the growth it brought to my life.

  I didn’t even need to go to Madagascar.

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• It’s the Little Things

  Posted at 7:25 pm by kayewer, on July 25, 2026

  I took a chance this week and went to McDonald’s because they came out with a new snack wrap. Since an outbreak of a foodborne parasite has put a damper on any fast-food place that uses lettuce (thought to be the culprit), I questioned myself about how smart this decision was. The final determination of who was responsible for not keeping food free of contamination had reached a dead end after a suspected farm’s produce was tested and resulted in a false positive, so anything could still be the cause of the issue. However, I am a late generation Boomer who still has faith in the common sense of the CEOs in legacy restaurant chains such as McDonald’s, and I figured they would not be conducting business if their food was resulting in more illnesses, nor would they be dumb enough to not swap out their supplier if they were not sure of the cleanliness of the products.

  Since it was the first day with the new food item, naturally I was sent two windows forward to the “other” pick-up point. This is the midway point between driving away with your food and having to park to the side in a numbered spot to receive it from a server tasked with backorder running.

  I was waiting for the cooks to catch up and make sure they had the order right. They did and even designated the new item with a sticker (I wrote about the paper label issue once before). While I was in park by that dull window which offered a view of the staff’s safety gear hung on the far wall (another issue I brought up in a prior post), a woman exited the side door to run an order to a parked vehicle off to my right.

  The runner noted to the driver, as she handed over the order, that his gas cap was hanging and the hatch cover open. She then walked back and replaced the cap and closed the cover with the efficiency of an experienced service station attendant. Heck, maybe she did pump gas at some point in her life, this being New Jersey where self-service is forbidden, but women can run gas stations.

  The point is, that type of extra attention to detail is what makes this country run better. It may never be perfect, but that moment taken to secure a gas cap probably saved the driver a lot of wasted gas fumes disappearing into the atmosphere. Also, he got his food delivered fresh and hot.

  My food arrived shortly after that. And no, it did not cause me any health issues. The new wrap was, in fact, quite delightful.

  Now about that third drive-thru window.. . .

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• Saving (the Wrong) Time

  Posted at 6:40 pm by kayewer, on July 18, 2026

  Those of you who have followed my posts know that I am a proponent of Daylight Standard Time instead of Daylight Saving Time (note there is actually no plural). Recently a bill was introduced–H.R. 139, the Sunshine Protection Act–which has made its way to the Senate floor for passage and signing by the president (who is in favor of the idea). If passed, the United States would reject a full hour on the normal 24-hour clock and remain at Daylight Saving Time hours permanently. The House passed the bill by a wide enough margin to warrant notice. The next step is for the Senate to approve it for presidential endorsement.

  On the other side of the issue is the move to revert permanently to Daylight Standard Time. The Sunshine for Our Kids Act (H.R. 9638) is a challenge enacted on July 8 to call attention to the flaws in the saving time bill.

  There is an abundance of information available about the disadvantages of keeping our clocks ahead by one hour. Rather than go into a long list of them, I invite you to look for yourself and be a little question-asker. Inquire in your favorite search engine or AI partner what effect keeping saving time will do to our health and environment. Read some information about the failed experiment of 1974 which tried to keep saving time in place but failed without lasting a year.

  A table available online which I will draw attention to provides some insight into what your new normal day will be like under permanent saving time. If you live on the East Coast, your sunrises will occur as early as 6:00 AM in June, but in December your sun would come up at almost 9:00 AM. Sunsets would be as early as 6:00 PM in December but as late as 9:00 PM in late June/early July. Under standard time, you would see sunlight between 5:00 AM and about 7:50 AM all year, and sunsets will vary from 5:00 PM until 8:00 PM. This means that the risk to school children of setting off from home in the dark (which did cause a problem during the 1974 experiment) would not be an issue. Waiting until after 9:00 for total darkness to view fireworks? Not a problem, because they can start sooner.

  The arguments seem to come from people who want to do more in the evenings with more daylight, but since when has sunset had a negative effect on evening activities before now? Schedules would not need to change for keeping standard time.

  However, the airlines have chimed in, because a permanent leap into skipping a whole hour will be permanently disruptive to pilots, staff and passengers. And to be brief, health-wise the change in circadian rhythms is detrimental to your health. There is an entire practice devoted to this aspect of human wellbeing known as chronobiology. Our bodies function on a 24-hour clock, because our planet runs on a 24-hour clock. This has been a fact since ancient times when great minds studied the heavens and recorded what they saw, turning their findings into what our daily lives depend upon for optimal living.

  The number of heart attacks and strokes which rise during the spring ahead/fall back weekends will decline. So will accidents related to the sudden one-hour difference in drivetime light or night.

  All of the evidence points to a simple logic. We are given 24 hours in a day, so we should use it as is. Our time zones make it easy to follow, and our bodies will sync naturally and forever if we keep to what nature intended.

  The best way to promote the new bill is to drop a quick email to your state senator. You can be brief: just say you want permanent daylight standard time. We have no better opportunity in our modern history to set things to the way they should have always been.

  It’s time to no longer mess with time.

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• Justice in the Karen Era

  Posted at 2:17 pm by kayewer, on July 11, 2026

  Apparently Karens–those annoying folks nobody wants to be forced to deal with because of their unusual philosophies and sense of entitlement–have been around in some form or other for ages.

  I just read an article about the legacy department store Marshall Field, which was a major shopping destination when they began business in 1852 and ceased in 2006. They had experiences with disgruntled customers as well, but they had a method of handling them that is truly empowerment at its best. Since they also coined the popular phrase, “The customer is always right” in an age when people were wary of trickery in consumerism, we should pay attention.

  They actually hired what they called “fired men.” These were employees paid to be the scapegoat when somebody complained about poor results. Apparently, the manager would upbraid the person, designate them as responsible for the mess and terminate their employment in the presence of the customer. Satisfaction obtained, the angry customer would smugly go about their day and so would the gentleman who would still be picking up a paycheck at the end of the week.

  The general purpose of a Karen’s outrage is a sense of having no control over their lives at a given moment. The truth is that none of us are really controlling anything, but these individuals are emotionally crippled without feeling as if they can pilot somebody else’s ship even if it is to the detriment of others.

  The videos we’re subjected to on social media seem to follow a pattern. We often are coming into the action moments after the original dispute which set the Karen off. In a restaurant it’s often a problem with a takeout order, and in a public place an argument over personal space, privileges or restrictions, or misbehavior not conducive to everybody enjoying their good time.

  The first thing a Karen will normally do is raise their voice and vocalize a fraction of an octave higher. They may lean over a counter and yell at the other individual at uncomfortably close quarters. They may begin repeating short phrases of reprimand or include a few choice negative names for the other person and say it over and over as if the momentum of the speech validates its truth (in their mind). They sometimes clap their hands loudly in a violent manner to indicate that they really want to slap the person on whom they are directing their anger. They pound on the counter. They escalate to hurling furniture and accessories around. They leap over the counter to start a fistfight.

  All for a missed order of fries.

  What these actions tell us is that some people have graduated from high school without having learned patience, manners, or honor. They don’t wish to handle mishaps in a civil manner and prefer venting to a calm discussion which may produce a better feeling outcome. These overreacting public terrors have a tendency to exhibit poor health symptoms such as anxiety, high blood pressure and low anger management skills. They end up in the hospital (and sometimes their victims with them), and the behavior certainly carries over into their home and personal lives to the dismay of their families.

  The customer is not always right, but employees dealing with customers are just as human. As soon as these hotheads have the realization that their rage avails nothing of value, we will no longer need to deal with watching human tornadoes trashing the taco place. We should not need to offer “satisfaction” to such people. We don’t need “fired men” to play a role, nor is it helpful to say a person is infallible in a merchant driven world if they’re on the paying side of the counter. Whatever happened to “I don’t see my fries in the bag?” The worker can then say they’re sorry and produce the missing part. No harm on either side.

  It would make social media less interesting, but we’d all be healthier for it.

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• What a Hoser

  Posted at 6:12 pm by kayewer, on July 4, 2026

  Everybody has little quirks that can be annoyingly difficult or impossible to overcome. People can’t figure out how to peel hard boiled eggs without wrecking the surface (hint: get under the membrane by starting at the blunt end). Folks chronically forget to fill the gas tank until their vehicle sputters to a halt (and it’s usually on a holiday when prices are jacked up). Others misplace their car keys. We get it, and we sigh and muddle our way through such obstacles.

  Another such roadblock to a smooth life is inanimate objects, whether it’s never being able to flick a lighter to life, keep a shoelace tied, or getting your electronic pass read at the bridge or parking garage. Daily progress comes to a complete stop when something doesn’t work the way it should. Hollywood even wastes footage because of malfunctioning props, so we’re all subject to it.

  Lately I have been having a war of epic stature with garden hoses.

  The hoses my parents had did finally surrender to old age, and I needed to replace them, but luck is not on my side. I have gone through about a dozen of these outdoor must-have contraptions, and for the life of me I cannot get them to function.

  When I saw an ad for a convenient hose which weighed next to nothing and expanded and shrank on its own, I thought it must be the holy (or hosey) grail of water delivery devices. The legacy variety kinks up, never stores easily, handles in the most unwieldy fashion, picks up dirt and debris as it’s dragged from the faucet to whatever you will be watering, and is never the right size for the yard in which it’s being used.

  Something light in weight that wouldn’t kink seemed a godsend. So I bought one.

  Turns out the thing is really an elongated bladder wrapped by a woven cover. Sure, it carries easily and can drape around its holder in half the time of the stiff and stubborn original. However, while it’s expanding it can ruin your landscaping and mow down your shrubbery and flowers. It requires some finagling to figure out how many washers the female coupling needs inside the screw to avoid getting showered with water. No matter what I’ve done, they always leaked. I always got wet.

  They are also sensitive and prone to bursting internally, which effectively ends their lifespan. One lasted eight months, and the other about three. I moved to a new-fangled flat product still guaranteed not to kink, but it didn’t make it through two seasons. So, back to the permanently curled old standby for my next attempt.

  I managed to hook up the hose (righty loosey, lefty tighty), turned it on, and got a free shower.

  Dragged the curly little darling out of the leaking firing line, along the length of the driveway to straighten it out, then moved toward my target for the morning: the birdbath, to give the poor avian world some fresh cool water during a heatwave with temperatures over 100 degrees. I turned on the nozzle and got nothing.

  The gosh-darned thing had kinked (and I didn’t actually say gosh-darned).

  Went back to unkink the hose, which usually looks something like that rope exercise one does in the gym to strengthen the upper arms and turn them into biceps which could feed a family of four zombies. Only this model of hose doesn’t undulate at all. I had to unwind it like an anaconda fresh out of the permafrost.

  Finally, I managed to turn on the nozzle and get a genuine jet of water to wash out the birdbath and fill it with fresh water. Mission accomplished. Sort of. Still needed to put the hose back to someplace it had never been before.

  A fifty-foot hose with the attitude of a snake is a son of a gun to wrestle into any semblance of order. My hose caddy is an F-shaped device on which one supposedly can wind the entire length of hose around and have the end result look like it did when purchased from the hardware store. Truth is it looks more like the cat got to the anaconda. Each coil is a different size, but when you’ve had this experience with hoses you know, like Kenny Rogers said, when to fold. The thing is on one place, and that’s that.

  This may be my cross to bear for a few years, having bought the gold standard of a product which has “always worked” just the way it is. Or rather we have grown to accept its flaws and go into battle knowing the outcome won’t be pretty.

  Just pretty wet.

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• Diplomacy Kicks Butt

  Posted at 6:35 pm by kayewer, on June 27, 2026

  With international soccer now having their elimination rounds being played here in the United States, on the brink of our 250th birthday on July 4th, many questions are being answered that we didn’t expect.

  First, visitors from a variety of countries are finding that Americans make great hosts. We are conversationalists when some countries don’t normally engage in casual talk with strangers. We have national parks filled with trees, navigable roadways also surrounded by trees, canyons and mountains and vast oceans. We have Buc-ees and Targets and Walmarts. Footballers from Ecuador visited the Rocky Statue, and the Scottish were so happy in New England at our bars that beer supplies ran out (apparently, they happily guzzled it like water at a 5K), and for the non-alcohol crowd, 7-Eleven’s Big Gulp drinks are also famous (not to mention free beverage refills).

  The biggest thing visitors have discovered in America?

  Ranch dressing.

  The Holy Grail of toppings for veggies and a dip for anything on which you want to experiment (please, no ice cream or adding it to Everclear or something) is not available overseas, so Kraft set to work and is supplying 3.4-ounce TSA compliant kits so visitors can take the experience home. Whether they will set up permanent manufacturing in some overseas destinations is still an unanswered question, but they would be foolish not to cash in. If they don’t, Hidden Valley will likely jump on this opportunity.

  The overall experience has been positive. Visitors are discovering that America is not just the tourist attractions in photos. The Grand Canyon, Times Square and other destinations are being given a new appreciation by soccer fans. They’re enjoying our roads and roadside stops, our grocers and specialty shops (one visitor to The Container Store was amazed that such a concept exists). They had the chance to see our yellow school busses, and in extreme heat they relaxed in air conditioning.

  Once they leave after the July 19 finals, all the hullaballoo pre- and post-Independence Day may well go with them, but they will take with them memories more valuable than any expensive ticket event. They will see that America is a collection of places and people grown over 250 years to be what they have seen in us. We should continue to see those positive aspects of ourselves as we move into year 251 and beyond. We’re part of a big and wonderful world, and it doesn’t take much to bring us together.

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  	Eden on A Good Rabbit Hole
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