Yielding is NOT Optional

Good morning, everyone, and welcome to the 3rd edition of Tuesday Travel Tips with Tiffany! To read previous editions, you can find them here!

People travel by the millions each and every day through that wonderful invention known as the automobile. And did you know that you're exponentially more likely to die in an automobile crash than to ever suffer a mishap when traveling by air?

That's a cheerful thought, isn't it? But many automobile crashes - both fatal and less serious - are caused by stupidity and failing to have the situational awareness of what is going on around you.

To that end, my biggest pet peeve is the YIELD SIGN. Here in Texas, we have lots of those. I bet we got a large lot discount from Sam's, because with all of our access roads, we've got them by the boatloads.

But people invariably ignore these nice little red and white signs, and place themselves and their fellow drivers in peril. So I thought I'd take today's edition of Tuesday Travel to explain the use of the yield sign, as some of the less smart among us may be having trouble grasping the concept.

When there is a yield sign, it means that more than one stream of traffic will be vying for a limited amount of space. If the yield sign is facing YOUR stream of traffic, it means that you absolutely, positively do NOT have the right-of-way unless the other stream of traffic is clear.

Here's what a yield sign does NOT mean you should do:

• Speed up to get in front of cars who do have the right-of-way.
• Slam on your brakes. Especially if there is no oncoming traffic. You feel that probing up your rear end? That's me, getting whiplash, because you stopped for no reason.
• Blithely ignore the sign and cause the people who DO have the right-of-way to have to slam on their brakes.
• Graciously motion those WITH the right-of-way out of your way - where do you get off, buddy? It's already my turn. I don't need your permission!
• Apply your own vehicle to the rear bumper of the vehicle in front of you and continue moving forward so as to form a wall of blockage to those vehicles who would love to slam on their gas and plow through your stupid self but refrain from doing so because they know that stooping to your level of humanity will not solve anything.

Here's how to correctly approach a yield sign:

1. When one is coming up, begin to decrease your speed, glancing at the other stream of traffic to check on it's flow.
2. If there are no vehicles in that other stream, remain at a decrease speed until you pass the sign and then accelerate back to the speed limit - there is no need to stop if there is no opposing traffic.
3. If there ARE vehicles in the opposing stream of traffic, gauge whether it will be necessary to slow down further or stop entirely to allow those who have the right-of-way to proceed unimpeded.

See that? Easy stuff. Now off you go...and remember:
BE ALERT. BE PREPARED. BE SMART!
Until next time...
Safe travels!

O, Canada!

I make one little comment in a Manic Monday...hahaha! :-)

I referenced Canada as likely the next country we'll travel to, because of it's close proximity to where my mother-in-law lives.

For clarity (since Canada is, uh, rather large) for my Canadian bloggy friends, here's a better frame of reference of where we would be or visit:

1. My mother-in-law is in Port Hill, ID. The Canadian border city in this area is called Creston, which is in British Columbia. Cute little town.
2. My sister-in-law and niece and nephew are in Lethbridge, Alberta, which is south of Calgary, also getting pretty close to the U.S. border with Montana. My hubby was just up there visiting at the start of this month before bringing our niece for her July-long visit and will be back up there in August to take our nephew camping for a few days. This'll make the list for a visit, I'm sure, so we can show off New Baby when she gets here at some point. Yahoo for non-rev flying! :-)

Hubby also has cousins in Kelowna, B.C., on the other side of the family. I think that about covers our Canadian connections! :-)

Without having any actual plans, I would predict a trip to the Pacific northwest sometime late spring/early summer to introduce New Baby to the family/friends that are in Washington, Idaho, and potentially western Canada. We'll see!!! Hope that helps!! :-)

Manic Monday #18

Good morning!

It's just another Manic Monday, hosted by Lisa! Head over there and join in!

What's your favorite beach in the world?
I'd have to say Ocean City, New Jersey - spent every summer there from early childhood until college graduation and it's near and dear to my heart!

What's the next country you want to visit?
Well, I suspect the next country we'll go to is Canada, whenever we visit my husband's mom next, since she lives DIRECTLY on the board. (Not kidding. Her backyard is Canada.) For a vacation, I sure would love to go to Greece!

What one thing are you craving today?
Sleep. I had another sleepless night last night. WIDE awake by 4 AM. Very annoying.



Happy Monday, ya'll!

Jumping on Kangaroos

In Australia, the Associated Press reports that an elderly woman was nearly killed by a wild kangaroo before being saved by her pet dog. Consider the following article, from Yahoo! News:

Sat Jul 19, 4:07 AM ET

SYDNEY, Australia - An elderly woman was attacked by a large kangaroo on a farm in Australia and was lucky to be alive after a pet dog leapt to her aid, her son said Saturday.

The 6-foot-5-inch kangaroo lunged without warning at 65-year-old Rosemary Neal as she went to check on some horses in a paddock on the property near Mudgee, 160 miles northwest of Sydney on Friday, son Darren Neal said.

The kangaroo "just jumped up and launched straight at her," Darren Neal said. "He hit her once and she just dropped and rolled. My dog heard her screaming and bolted down and chased him off.

"It wasn't for the dog she'd probably be dead."

Rosemary Neal was hospitalized for for deep cuts to her face, hands and back and a concussion, he said.

Kangaroos are widespread across Australia and there are dozens of species in the family, ranging from tiny, 17-ounce potoroos to Red Kangaroos, the world's largest marsupial that can grow past 6 feet tall and weigh more than 200 pounds.

Most species are not considered aggressive toward humans, and attacks are extremely rare. But males fight each other for mates, rearing up on their tails to scratch at the soft belly flesh of their rivals with the powerful legs they more commenly use for their trademark leaps.

Darren Neal said mobs of kangaroos had become common on their farm and his mother thought nothing of walking through them in the paddock. Usually, they just jump away.

"My mum is 65 years old and about five-and-a-half foot," he said. "Her whole body is sore where she has dropped to the ground."

Problems I have with this article:

1. The AP misspelled the word "commonly" - did you catch that?
   
2. A 65-year-old woman is not elderly. My mother, quickly approaching 66 this year, would shoot you where you stand if you even suggested such a thing.
3. Facial scratches and a concussion are not life threatening.
4. The kangaroo "just jumped up and launched straight at her," Darren Neal said. Well, which is it? Did the kangaroo jump up, or launch straight? That's two different directions.
   
5. The article notes that attacks are extremely rare and gives only as an example the idea of multiple males fighting one another. That was clearly not the case in this instance. Sounds like Ms. Elderly got too close to a wild animal and freaked it out. Any repercussion to her and her family's casual regard for approaching wild animals is likely deserved. They may be cute, but they're wild animals.
   
6. What does being "five-and-a-half foot" tall have to do with the price of tea in China? That's about my height. It's not exactly qualification for midget status. In fact, that only puts the woman at a foot shorter than the kangaroo supposedly was.
7. Rah rah for Lassie. From the description of the woman's activities and where she was on the farm, the dog would have had a bit of a run to catch up with Ms. Elderly. So bully for him that he managed to "chase off" a kangaroo that was likely already hopping off. Because if Lassie had any distance at all to cover, and if the kangaroo was seriously attacking Ms. Elderly, she'd have suffered more than just a facial scratch and concussion...which injuries are more likely from her falling over than being attacked in the first place!
8. "Mobs" of kangaroos? Picture me laughing. Do they have guns and stocking caps? Ski masks? Are they demanding equal rights?
9. Maybe it's the "mob" that managed to file the requisite paperwork to trademark their leaps? I'm relieved to hear that their leaps are not "patent pending." Trademarked sound much more settled and official.
   
10. "It wasn't for the dog she'd probably be dead." Oh, get a grip. You are apparently as prone to hysteria as your mother. Grab a Fosters ("Australian for beer") and sit down before you incite the "mob" to further action.

Sometimes, I just have to poke fun at the overblown "human interest" stories produced by the media. What say you?

Friday Fill In #4

Wow - I'm actually getting this up at a decent time this week! Janet, are you proud of me? To participate, head over to Friday Fill Ins and jump right in!

1. If I could be a fly on the wall I would have a lot of places I'd like to visit to get good scoops!
2. Jealousy is irrational.
3. When I see a shooting star my wish would be that my baby is born healthy.
4. I'd rather be at the beach than anywhere else any day!
5. Certain songs when I hear them make me wanna dance.
6. If time were in a bottle it'd be quite pricey to sell.
7. And as for the weekend, tonight I’m looking forward to finishing upstairs closet organization and designing my new bathroom floor and cutting my husband's hair, tomorrow my plans include a visit from Patti, potentially starting work on my new bathroom floor and other items from my insane to-do list, and Sunday, I want to go to church, relax, and evaluate the status of remaining projects!

How about you, dear readers? What say you?

Have a fabulous weekend! Remember to get your baby updates over at the baby blog, where planned posts for this weekend include the much-awaited for tummy pictures page and a look at my insane 100+ item pre-baby to-do list. Also, an update is coming for the book blog - I'm like 15 books behind at this point, but I'm going to chain myself to the laptop to get caught up so that I can get my books reshelved as a part of my library/office organization project!