Piece by piece

Terry Dickow
Posted 1/11/20

Have you ever bought furniture from IKEA?

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Piece by piece

Posted

Have you ever bought furniture from IKEA?
You assemble it yourself. They give a diagram and some tools, and if you follow the directions you can assemble a nice hutch or dresser.
I think of that when I pass by the rec center under construction. All the parts laid out and the cranes lifting massive concrete sections into place and they all look like they fit.
It’s quite amazing.
The engineering, design and all the knowledge that went into manufacturing the parts, and the expertise of the workers installing the parts is pretty impressive to me.
Workers have certainly been blessed with a mild winter. Aside from a couple of snowy days in October and November, we have not had much, or any, snow, to shovel. That has to be hard on the small army of people who plow driveways and parking lots as winter jobs
That may be ending as you read this. Seems there is a winter mix heading our way this weekend, but the temps go back up next week.

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Scenes from the fires in Australia are heart breaking. Watching the koalas and kangaroos embracing rescuers tells me these animals have a heart and soul.
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Our fire department seems to have been busy lately with two mobile home fires and a chimney fire in the past week or so. I feel sorry for the people who have lost their homes and possessions but I am thankful there were few serious injuries reported.
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I read an article about telephone wait times. Researchers said that the average American spends 13 hours a year waiting for a customer service representative. The report further suggests that is intentional on the companies’ part because they want people to give up.
I’m one of those stubborn types. I spent 20 minutes on hold the other day dealing with an insurance issue. Sadly, it is not the first time I have dealt with this issue and I doubt it will be the last.  
Cable service? Long wait times. I used to think they needed to hire more people, but maybe this is a tactic to get us to stop calling.
Not me. I will keep holding until they pry the phone from my cold fingers.
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Every winter I think of a book I read in elementary school: Hans Brinker and the Silver Skates. I always thought it would be neat if people skated on Kyte River, but I don’t think it ever freezes enough for skating.

Terry Dickow is a retired elementary school teacher with lots of opinions, some you will like, some you won’t. He can be contacted at terrydickow@gmail.com.