A Bob's Life: Monday Musings - October 12, 2026

Monday, October 12, 2026

Monday Musings - October 12, 2026

1. Happy Columbus Day, Indigenous People's Day, or whatever it is called now. It is the second Monday of October! Wow. The month is cruising along and there are only 11 Mondays remaining in the year.

Osprey outside the Window
Tequesta, FL
October 11, 2026

2. The bird outside our window. Yesterday during a drenching thunderstorm, Chris and I went to the veranda to check on the storm and were startled to see an osprey sitting in a tree very close to our condo. We enjoy seeing ospreys when we are at the beach or boating, but have never seen one perch on the treeling behind the condo. It was easy to assess that the bird was seeking cover during the storm. It remained for a while before flying away.

3. Family NFL Results. It was a another less than satisfying weekend for most of the family teams. The teams went 2-2-1 for the weekend and now post a 14-14-1 record for the season.

Ravens (4-1) soared over Falcons (2-3), 30-23
Steelers (3-2) trample Colts (2-3), 34-22
Commanders (1-3-1) snatched a tie from the jaws of victory against the Giants (3-1-1), 27-27

Cowboys (2-3) were outgunned by Buccaneers (1-4), 16-24

Dolphins (0-5) lost again to Bengals (3-2), 24-31
Chiefs (4-0) BYE

4. Revered or Reviled? Apparently, our President is more concerned about putting his name on everything he can than with how history will remember him. His temper tantrum for not winning the Nobel Prize was classic. I know that I am looking forward to the day when governmental business is no longer conducted via social media. His quest for accolades and awards reminded me of something General Patton is quoted as saying:

“For over a thousand years Roman conquerors returning from the wars enjoyed the honor of triumph, a tumultuous parade. In the procession came trumpeteers, musicians and strange animals from conquered territories, together with carts laden with treasure and captured armaments. The conquerors rode in a triumphal chariot, the dazed prisoners walking in chains before him. Sometimes his children robed in white stood with him in the chariot or rode the trace horses. A slave stood behind the conqueror holding a golden crown and whispering in his ear a warning: that all glory is fleeting.” (Highlighting mine)

5. Today in History. After sailing across the Atlantic Ocean, Italian explorer Christopher Columbus sights a Bahamian island on October 12, 1492, believing he has reached East Asia. His expedition went ashore the same day and claimed the land for Isabella and Ferdinand of Spain, who sponsored his attempt to find a western ocean route to China, India, and the fabled gold and spice islands of Asia.

Columbus was born in Genoa, Italy, in 1451. Little is known of his early life, but he worked as a seaman and then a maritime entrepreneur. He became obsessed with the possibility of pioneering a western sea route to Cathay (China), India, and the gold and spice islands of Asia. At the time, Europeans knew no direct sea route to southern Asia, and the route via Egypt and the Red Sea was closed to Europeans by the Ottoman Empire, as were many land routes.