“There is a tide in the affairs of man that taken at the crest leads on to greatness”. This quote is one of my favorites. As a metaphor it speaks to much of what we are facing now.
When the current occupant of the White House began his regime in January of 2008, he had the opportunity for greatness. His choice was to focus on his ideology rather than listening to the people and applying common sense to his agenda items. In other words, what we now have is a “tsunami of idiocy” eminating from the White House and rubber stamped by a moronic liberal congress.
The major cuprits are of course Obama, Reid and Pelosi, or ORP. Orp puts me in mind of someone throwing up, and that’s what I feel like doing whenever I hear whatever they have to say. To remind you of some memorable sound bites from the wicked witch of the west, I can’t help but think of her now famous quote prior to the healthcare bill passing. She said, I kid you not, “we have to pass healthcare for you to know what’s in it.” Can you believe it? These people represent us! Believe me I would rather represent myself. I certainly have said some stupid things in my life, but I don’t think I’ve ever come close to this outrageous comment.
There are thirty mosques in New York City. I have no problem with having thirty one. I do have a problem with it sitting on the graves of thousands of victims of 9/11. I really believe the guy (eman) who is spearheading this mosque is “flipping off “ the U.S.A. Of course Obama endorsed this mosque prior to denying he had endorsed the wisdom of its location. Why did he have to get involved. This is a NYC issue. The White House should have remained silent. Why didn’t he? Cause he loves to talk. And, whenever he speaks without a teleprompter he puts his foot in his mouth. Of course I could site some examples of ‘foot in mouth’ even with a teleprompter. What’s with his apologizing for the U.S. Has he ever said what he is proud of about the U.S.? NO. When it comes to leadership this guy doesn’t have a clue.
Obama is “managing” the United States, rather than behaving as a leader. There is a great quote that says, “managers play checkers, leaders play chess”. Obama is playing Chutes and Ladders with our future. God knows what he’ll do before we can get a leader in the White House. He has more than two years left. Getting rid of his “rubber stamps” in congress is our only hope for surviving the next couple years.
God bless the U.S.A.
jim
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Thursday, August 19, 2010
The Reign of Audacity Continues
This has been the busiest summer I can remember. We’ve been soooo busy de-trashing the house. Yes, we’re still at it. It’s endless. On the positive side, we’re making progress. The family room and kitchen have been painted. We’re having a new front door installed and the house power washed. Coming up shortly we’re planning to have a ‘tag sale’. We’d like to have the house on the market by mid September. We have decided on our apartment. It’s not at the location I originally said. Not that it really matters to any of you. But, I’ll tell you anyway. It’s called the Highlands. It’s owned and managed by the same company that manages Arbor Lakes. This one is almost identical, but in a better location. Closer to Wal Mart!!
With all the house stuff going on, we’ve managed to squeeze in three trips to Ohio. With Mary Ellen’s sister having a stroke in the Phillipines, my sister moving from her home to a wonderful retirement community with lots of activities, and our house of course, there hasn’t been a lot of time for anything else. Carol is recovering nicely. My sister has started to feel better about her decision. She had a little trouble leaving her home of 50 years, but now she loves where she is.
With all that, we’ve managed to have a couple months of camping. The month of June and again in August we had our camper at Spaulding Lake in Niles, MI. It’s only 20 miles from home and we’ve spent a lot of time commuting. At least it seems like a “summer home” that we can escape to, but we probably shouldn’t have booked the month of August with everything that’s going on.
I’ve told you all of the above as an excuse (to myself) for not doing any writing this summer. But I can no longer remain silent.
What is happening? The United States isn’t what it was just two years ago, and it’s getting worse by the hour. Did you hear about the young people who were told they could not sing the ‘national anthem’ on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial? If that’s not enough, how about another group who were told they could not say the Lord’s Prayer on the steps of the Supreme Court.
We have a resident at 1600 Pensylvania Ave. who couldn’t attend the national prayer breakfast in Washington. I can’t remember any previous president who has opted out of this. Yet, he did have time to attend a Ramadan Dinner!! What’s up with that? During that dinner he made time to express his support of building a Mosque at the site of a radical Islamic attack in September of 2001. Of course when this president didn’t have his Islamic audience giving him a standing O, he started to backtrack on his previous statement. This guy is a disaster.
In November we all have a chance to rid the country of ‘his’ rubber stamps in congress. Throw them all out. I pray that California and Nevada have the votes to get rid of those two morons, Pelosi and Reid. I’m not totally confident since I have no control over this. However, I do have some say in Indiana. Donnely won’t hold on to his seat if my vote counts for anything.
Let’s get involved and turn things around. I really don’t believe we can tolerate the spending and taxation that’s only going to get worse for us, our kids, and our grandkids.
More to come....I’ve only just begun.
jim
With all the house stuff going on, we’ve managed to squeeze in three trips to Ohio. With Mary Ellen’s sister having a stroke in the Phillipines, my sister moving from her home to a wonderful retirement community with lots of activities, and our house of course, there hasn’t been a lot of time for anything else. Carol is recovering nicely. My sister has started to feel better about her decision. She had a little trouble leaving her home of 50 years, but now she loves where she is.
With all that, we’ve managed to have a couple months of camping. The month of June and again in August we had our camper at Spaulding Lake in Niles, MI. It’s only 20 miles from home and we’ve spent a lot of time commuting. At least it seems like a “summer home” that we can escape to, but we probably shouldn’t have booked the month of August with everything that’s going on.
I’ve told you all of the above as an excuse (to myself) for not doing any writing this summer. But I can no longer remain silent.
What is happening? The United States isn’t what it was just two years ago, and it’s getting worse by the hour. Did you hear about the young people who were told they could not sing the ‘national anthem’ on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial? If that’s not enough, how about another group who were told they could not say the Lord’s Prayer on the steps of the Supreme Court.
We have a resident at 1600 Pensylvania Ave. who couldn’t attend the national prayer breakfast in Washington. I can’t remember any previous president who has opted out of this. Yet, he did have time to attend a Ramadan Dinner!! What’s up with that? During that dinner he made time to express his support of building a Mosque at the site of a radical Islamic attack in September of 2001. Of course when this president didn’t have his Islamic audience giving him a standing O, he started to backtrack on his previous statement. This guy is a disaster.
In November we all have a chance to rid the country of ‘his’ rubber stamps in congress. Throw them all out. I pray that California and Nevada have the votes to get rid of those two morons, Pelosi and Reid. I’m not totally confident since I have no control over this. However, I do have some say in Indiana. Donnely won’t hold on to his seat if my vote counts for anything.
Let’s get involved and turn things around. I really don’t believe we can tolerate the spending and taxation that’s only going to get worse for us, our kids, and our grandkids.
More to come....I’ve only just begun.
jim
Thursday, July 15, 2010
CAROL
July has been an incredibly busy month thus far. So busy I haven’t even thought about blogging. And then I thought how sad all of you must be. Today I decided to change all that by sitting down at the old laptop and cranking out another blog.
We finished up our June/July camping expedition at Spaulding Lake. We really enjoyed our month there, even though we had a few tornado warnings and one real nasty storm that managed to miss our camper. We plan to return for another month probably for the month of August.
Even though I think we know where our apartment will be, we did check out several other possibilities. Mary Ellen always tells me that we have to ‘shop’. She has accused me (unfairly) that I don’t ‘shop’, I ‘buy’. This may be the case, but it’s interesting that we seem to end up buying whatever I originally wanted to buy. However, I have to admit we did find another apartment complex that we liked as much as Arbor Lakes. It’s called the Highlands. The Highlands is in NW Elkhart, Arbor Lakes is in SE Elkhart. They are both managed by the same company, so the apartments are very similar. They both are well shaded. The grounds are manicured. They both have security and full time maintenance. We are slowly getting the house ready to put on the market. The next step is to have some repairs and painting done. We’re gradually de-cluttering. It seems I mention de-cluttering every time I write. Some day I hope to write that it’s DE-CLUTTERED.
We’ve been to Stow, OH a couple times in the past few weeks. My sister, Pat, fell and got a few bruises; nothing broken. However, she has complained the last few months about weakness in her legs. This is obviously why she fell. She now is at a rehab facility getting some physical therapy. Hopefully this will allow her to get around much better.
While we were in Stow last weekend, we got another shock. This time it was my sister-in-law, Carol. Some of you know Carol. She spent a couple weeks with us at Emerald Beach the last two years. Anyhow, she has been in Manila the last few weeks. Her husband, Larry, died 11 years ago. He was from the Philippines. Carol has been back there several times. This time her daughter Mary and her husband, Doctor Marty invited her to go with them. Both of Mary’s kids also made the trip. Elizabeth is 16 and her brother, Daniel, 14. Last Saturday, Marty returned to the U.S. He could only stay for two weeks. On Sunday, Mary Ellen got a call from Marty saying that her sister had a stroke. Needless to say we were very upset by the news. When Marty called he didn’t know any medical details. All we knew was the Carol’s speech was slurred and she had some weakness on the right side. They began running all sorts of tests as you can imagine. They all were normal. The only test they hadn’t done was probably the most diagnostic, the MRI. The reason for not doing the MRI immediately was that this particular hospital doesn’t have an MRI machine. They would have to schedule it at another hospital. Carol’s speech and movement improved. She no longer has any symptoms of a CVA. This hospital sounds like something we’ll have here when “Obamacare” takes over. Cash up front. They won’t see you in the ER until you’ve paid. Mary got Carol a deluxe room. A deluxe room provides you with a cup and two other minor items. Mary had to bring a towel and soap from the Hotel!! The MRI was scheduled for last Wednesday, but didn’t come to pass. Manila was under a typhoon warning! It turned out to be a tropical storm, but sounds like it was a nasty one. Forty million people had no power. Roads were flooded and trees were down. Phone service was dead. Needless to say the MRI could not be done as scheduled. The hospital and hotel were without power or phones for a short period of time. NO AIR CONDITIONING! Manila is a tropical island. Can you say HOT? The latest communication (yesterday) sounded very promising. The MRI has been done, but no results as yet. This will determine when Carol will be discharged and how soon she can fly. You can imagine how anxious she is to get back to Stow, OH. She feels fine, and wants to get out of the hospital. Better yet she wants to get on Delta and get home. The kids are headed home. Mary flew with them to Hong Kong and put them on a plane for home. Mary is now headed back to be with her Mom. I can hardly wait for the stories Carol will tell. None of us ever know when something like this can happen. My advice is not to be in Manila when it does. Being sick while being away from home is never good, but being out of the country is a whole different ballgame. We’re all hoping to see her soon in Stow, OH.
jim
We finished up our June/July camping expedition at Spaulding Lake. We really enjoyed our month there, even though we had a few tornado warnings and one real nasty storm that managed to miss our camper. We plan to return for another month probably for the month of August.
Even though I think we know where our apartment will be, we did check out several other possibilities. Mary Ellen always tells me that we have to ‘shop’. She has accused me (unfairly) that I don’t ‘shop’, I ‘buy’. This may be the case, but it’s interesting that we seem to end up buying whatever I originally wanted to buy. However, I have to admit we did find another apartment complex that we liked as much as Arbor Lakes. It’s called the Highlands. The Highlands is in NW Elkhart, Arbor Lakes is in SE Elkhart. They are both managed by the same company, so the apartments are very similar. They both are well shaded. The grounds are manicured. They both have security and full time maintenance. We are slowly getting the house ready to put on the market. The next step is to have some repairs and painting done. We’re gradually de-cluttering. It seems I mention de-cluttering every time I write. Some day I hope to write that it’s DE-CLUTTERED.
We’ve been to Stow, OH a couple times in the past few weeks. My sister, Pat, fell and got a few bruises; nothing broken. However, she has complained the last few months about weakness in her legs. This is obviously why she fell. She now is at a rehab facility getting some physical therapy. Hopefully this will allow her to get around much better.
While we were in Stow last weekend, we got another shock. This time it was my sister-in-law, Carol. Some of you know Carol. She spent a couple weeks with us at Emerald Beach the last two years. Anyhow, she has been in Manila the last few weeks. Her husband, Larry, died 11 years ago. He was from the Philippines. Carol has been back there several times. This time her daughter Mary and her husband, Doctor Marty invited her to go with them. Both of Mary’s kids also made the trip. Elizabeth is 16 and her brother, Daniel, 14. Last Saturday, Marty returned to the U.S. He could only stay for two weeks. On Sunday, Mary Ellen got a call from Marty saying that her sister had a stroke. Needless to say we were very upset by the news. When Marty called he didn’t know any medical details. All we knew was the Carol’s speech was slurred and she had some weakness on the right side. They began running all sorts of tests as you can imagine. They all were normal. The only test they hadn’t done was probably the most diagnostic, the MRI. The reason for not doing the MRI immediately was that this particular hospital doesn’t have an MRI machine. They would have to schedule it at another hospital. Carol’s speech and movement improved. She no longer has any symptoms of a CVA. This hospital sounds like something we’ll have here when “Obamacare” takes over. Cash up front. They won’t see you in the ER until you’ve paid. Mary got Carol a deluxe room. A deluxe room provides you with a cup and two other minor items. Mary had to bring a towel and soap from the Hotel!! The MRI was scheduled for last Wednesday, but didn’t come to pass. Manila was under a typhoon warning! It turned out to be a tropical storm, but sounds like it was a nasty one. Forty million people had no power. Roads were flooded and trees were down. Phone service was dead. Needless to say the MRI could not be done as scheduled. The hospital and hotel were without power or phones for a short period of time. NO AIR CONDITIONING! Manila is a tropical island. Can you say HOT? The latest communication (yesterday) sounded very promising. The MRI has been done, but no results as yet. This will determine when Carol will be discharged and how soon she can fly. You can imagine how anxious she is to get back to Stow, OH. She feels fine, and wants to get out of the hospital. Better yet she wants to get on Delta and get home. The kids are headed home. Mary flew with them to Hong Kong and put them on a plane for home. Mary is now headed back to be with her Mom. I can hardly wait for the stories Carol will tell. None of us ever know when something like this can happen. My advice is not to be in Manila when it does. Being sick while being away from home is never good, but being out of the country is a whole different ballgame. We’re all hoping to see her soon in Stow, OH.
jim
Sunday, June 27, 2010
CREEPING CHANGE WITHOUT MUCH HOPE
It’s Sunday, and it’s raining again. Any time there’s a thunderstorm, there’s a good chance of it being SEVERE! At least that has been the case of late. This has been the wettest June ever in Indiana. It wouldn’t be so bad if it wasn’t for the nasty humidity and high temps. Well enough of my complaining about the weather and onward to complaining about something more important.
Does anyone else feel there is far more commercial time and far less program time on both TV and Radio? It wouldn’t be bad if the same commercials weren’t repeated at each break. On average, there are 5 minutes of commercials for every 10 minutes of programming. It’s making Tivo more and more attractive. There is no Tivo for radio. Damn! It may reach a point where no one is seeing or hearing what these advertisers have to say. Is it possible the radio and TV stations are getting a bit greedy and overselling commercial time. They wouldn't do that! If they keep this up, there will be 24 hour a day infomercials. Oh I forgot. Some stations already have back to back to back infomercials!!
I saw some good news on Face Book. I follow the Navarre Beach comments. Today they showed pictures of Navarre Beach from yesterday. They show a large number of people in the water and on the beach. No sign of oil or tar balls. I’m a little confused. I’ve heard there is oil on the beaches of Pensacola and Destin. Since Navarre Beach is right between Pensacola and Destin I’m curious how Navarre was skipped? What am I missing here?
Most of the news of the oil spill is not good. If any of you have seen MSNBC’s comparison of the oil spill off Mexico in 1979 and this year’s oil spill off the coast of Florida, you should check it out on You Tube. It’s fascinating. The exact same attempts to stop the oil and clean the beaches are being used today. Was nothing learned? Silly question. Obviously not. The technology for digging deeper has improved dramatically. The technology for dealing with an oil spill is the same as it was in 1979. Pretty sad, but not surprising. When do we ever learn from history. Another silly question. Perhaps it has something to do with the re-writing of history?
This is a warning. It’s incremental! It’s a little bit more loss of freedom each day, week, month and year. Hopefully none of us wake up one day under a dictatorship. If we all keep saying, “oh well, it could be worse”, tyranny will slip in the back door. Those of you familiar with events leading up to the holocaust will know what I mean. The Germans told the Jews they could no longer have radios. The Jews said, “we can deal with that”. As we all know, that was only the beginning. Get involved. Make sure this doesn’t happen for the sake of our children and grandchildren. I won’t be around to witness this, but my kids will. Remember, I said it’s incremental.
jim
Does anyone else feel there is far more commercial time and far less program time on both TV and Radio? It wouldn’t be bad if the same commercials weren’t repeated at each break. On average, there are 5 minutes of commercials for every 10 minutes of programming. It’s making Tivo more and more attractive. There is no Tivo for radio. Damn! It may reach a point where no one is seeing or hearing what these advertisers have to say. Is it possible the radio and TV stations are getting a bit greedy and overselling commercial time. They wouldn't do that! If they keep this up, there will be 24 hour a day infomercials. Oh I forgot. Some stations already have back to back to back infomercials!!
I saw some good news on Face Book. I follow the Navarre Beach comments. Today they showed pictures of Navarre Beach from yesterday. They show a large number of people in the water and on the beach. No sign of oil or tar balls. I’m a little confused. I’ve heard there is oil on the beaches of Pensacola and Destin. Since Navarre Beach is right between Pensacola and Destin I’m curious how Navarre was skipped? What am I missing here?
Most of the news of the oil spill is not good. If any of you have seen MSNBC’s comparison of the oil spill off Mexico in 1979 and this year’s oil spill off the coast of Florida, you should check it out on You Tube. It’s fascinating. The exact same attempts to stop the oil and clean the beaches are being used today. Was nothing learned? Silly question. Obviously not. The technology for digging deeper has improved dramatically. The technology for dealing with an oil spill is the same as it was in 1979. Pretty sad, but not surprising. When do we ever learn from history. Another silly question. Perhaps it has something to do with the re-writing of history?
This is a warning. It’s incremental! It’s a little bit more loss of freedom each day, week, month and year. Hopefully none of us wake up one day under a dictatorship. If we all keep saying, “oh well, it could be worse”, tyranny will slip in the back door. Those of you familiar with events leading up to the holocaust will know what I mean. The Germans told the Jews they could no longer have radios. The Jews said, “we can deal with that”. As we all know, that was only the beginning. Get involved. Make sure this doesn’t happen for the sake of our children and grandchildren. I won’t be around to witness this, but my kids will. Remember, I said it’s incremental.
jim
Tuesday, June 22, 2010
POWER OUTAGE?
So much has happened since my last blog. Mary Ellen and I drove to Carlyle, IL for Diane & Jeff’s 25th anniversary party. We had a wonderful time meeting some of Diane and Jeff’s family and friends. We’ve heard so much about them while with Diane and Jeff in Navarre, FL. I got to meet Diane’s sister who is a nun. We’ve referred to her in FL as ‘sister-Sister’! I asked Jeff where she was in the crowded banquet hall. Jeff told me to look for someone who looked “nunly”. I found her!
Since Friday night the power has been out at the RV campground in Niles, MI. This is day 4! No one seems to know when the power will come on. I have a feeling I & M is somewhat disorganized. I heard from one of the campground workers that a crew that came in from OH had pulled out because they got no direction from I & M. The OH crew said they were ready and willing to help, but found no one who could or would tell them what to do. Another example of disorganization might have been what I witnessed this morning. There were SIX I & M trucks parked at one spot. None of the workers seemed to be doing anything. What’s that about?
Keep in mind that anything I write is my perspective. I don’t expect all of you to agree with me. I apologize in advance if I offend any of you., but do you sense that the White House is somewhat lacking in leadership. This is especially evident in their handling (or lack thereof) of this oil spill in the Gulf. The criticism of the president is now coming primarily from those who supported him. People like Oberman, Carville, Matthews and many others on the Left. If this doesn’t wake up the White House I believe the situation is hopeless. Gallup conducted a poll asking people to rate the handling of Katrina and the oil spill. Fifty one percent of the people said Bush handled Katrina better than the current administration handled the oil spill. Thirty one percent said the oil spill was handled better than Katrina. The other 18 percent were too dumb to have an opinion. Either that or they hadn’t heard about either one! I could go on with other examples of incompetence, but I’m sure you’ve heard them all by now. When Bush was in office he waved the Jones Act so that foreign ships could help with the rescue of people. With this administration the Jones Act is being used as an excuse for not allowing foreign tankers to assist with the skimming of oil from the waters of the Gulf. The Dutch were one of the first to offer help. This came a couple days after the spill. Unbelievable! If anyone can give me an example of ONE THING that has been handled well during the spill, please let me know. I think the more serious ‘power outage’ has occurred at the White House.
jim
Since Friday night the power has been out at the RV campground in Niles, MI. This is day 4! No one seems to know when the power will come on. I have a feeling I & M is somewhat disorganized. I heard from one of the campground workers that a crew that came in from OH had pulled out because they got no direction from I & M. The OH crew said they were ready and willing to help, but found no one who could or would tell them what to do. Another example of disorganization might have been what I witnessed this morning. There were SIX I & M trucks parked at one spot. None of the workers seemed to be doing anything. What’s that about?
Keep in mind that anything I write is my perspective. I don’t expect all of you to agree with me. I apologize in advance if I offend any of you., but do you sense that the White House is somewhat lacking in leadership. This is especially evident in their handling (or lack thereof) of this oil spill in the Gulf. The criticism of the president is now coming primarily from those who supported him. People like Oberman, Carville, Matthews and many others on the Left. If this doesn’t wake up the White House I believe the situation is hopeless. Gallup conducted a poll asking people to rate the handling of Katrina and the oil spill. Fifty one percent of the people said Bush handled Katrina better than the current administration handled the oil spill. Thirty one percent said the oil spill was handled better than Katrina. The other 18 percent were too dumb to have an opinion. Either that or they hadn’t heard about either one! I could go on with other examples of incompetence, but I’m sure you’ve heard them all by now. When Bush was in office he waved the Jones Act so that foreign ships could help with the rescue of people. With this administration the Jones Act is being used as an excuse for not allowing foreign tankers to assist with the skimming of oil from the waters of the Gulf. The Dutch were one of the first to offer help. This came a couple days after the spill. Unbelievable! If anyone can give me an example of ONE THING that has been handled well during the spill, please let me know. I think the more serious ‘power outage’ has occurred at the White House.
jim
Wednesday, June 9, 2010
What's Happening?
It has been awhile since last I blogged. I’ve been on a two month sabbatical. Sabbatical sounds so much more professional than ‘I’ve been too lazy to write’. So anyway I got the urge today. It helps that we’re at a campground in Niles, MI and it’s raining. In fact it’s cold and raining. It won’t reach 70 degrees today. This is following a week or more of temps in the 80’s.
Since we returned from FL in April we’ve been ‘decluttering’ the house. We’d like to have it ready to put it on the market in August. As many of you know, this is a lot of work. After living in the same house for 34 years you tend to accumulate so many things that you no longer need. In fact we probably didn’t need them whenever it was we purchased them. Now it’s a question of 3 piles—trash, goodwill, store or move. Yeah, I know that’s 4 piles. It’s worse than I thought!
We had our annual family gathering for the Indy 500 on May 30th. All 4 sons and 9 grandkids! We gather at my son Dan’s house in Westfield, IN. His wife Jill is a great hostess. Food and drink were in abundance from Friday till Monday. This is the first year in about 30 years that Mary Ellen and I didn’t go to the race. I’m getting too old to do all that walking and climbing the bleachers, not to mention driving that 500 miles! We were really glad since the temperature reached 90 degrees at the track!! If I had gone I’d probably be on a permanent sabbatical! We actually had a job to do since we didn’t go to the race. We stayed home with our youngest grand daughter, Ally. She was much better than the race.
The rest of our time has been spent with doctor appointments. It’s pretty disgusting, but I guess it’s necessary.
This morning we met our friends, Joe & Julie Lee at Next Door Neighbor. It’s a neighborhood bakery/cafe with a small but delicious menu. We had a good time as usual. Some of the time was spent discussing medical issues, but only about 10% of the time. That’s not bad since doctor appointments have occupied 90% of our time over the past few days. Joe burned 3 CD’s for me. I’ve only listened to part of the Celtic Women CD. The other two we’ll listen to on our way to Quincy, IL. We’re attending the 25th anniversary party for a couple of our good friends from Navarre Beach . Sure beats doctor appointments.
Today has been a beautiful day at the Spaulding Lake RV Park. I’m sitting outside right now overlooking one of the three spring fed lakes. Mary Ellen had to go back home tonite because she has pre-op blood work tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. We’re only 45 minutes from home, so it makes going back and forth as needed rather easy. Since I’m 'baching' it tonite, it’s almost time for me to microwave something. I’m hungry.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment on the oil spill in the Gulf. For those of us who winter on the Gulf this disaster is especially depressing. But, (tongue firmly planted in my cheek) it’s good to know the White House has been on top of this since day one!!! Now doesn’t that make all of us feel so much better?
Jim
Since we returned from FL in April we’ve been ‘decluttering’ the house. We’d like to have it ready to put it on the market in August. As many of you know, this is a lot of work. After living in the same house for 34 years you tend to accumulate so many things that you no longer need. In fact we probably didn’t need them whenever it was we purchased them. Now it’s a question of 3 piles—trash, goodwill, store or move. Yeah, I know that’s 4 piles. It’s worse than I thought!
We had our annual family gathering for the Indy 500 on May 30th. All 4 sons and 9 grandkids! We gather at my son Dan’s house in Westfield, IN. His wife Jill is a great hostess. Food and drink were in abundance from Friday till Monday. This is the first year in about 30 years that Mary Ellen and I didn’t go to the race. I’m getting too old to do all that walking and climbing the bleachers, not to mention driving that 500 miles! We were really glad since the temperature reached 90 degrees at the track!! If I had gone I’d probably be on a permanent sabbatical! We actually had a job to do since we didn’t go to the race. We stayed home with our youngest grand daughter, Ally. She was much better than the race.
The rest of our time has been spent with doctor appointments. It’s pretty disgusting, but I guess it’s necessary.
This morning we met our friends, Joe & Julie Lee at Next Door Neighbor. It’s a neighborhood bakery/cafe with a small but delicious menu. We had a good time as usual. Some of the time was spent discussing medical issues, but only about 10% of the time. That’s not bad since doctor appointments have occupied 90% of our time over the past few days. Joe burned 3 CD’s for me. I’ve only listened to part of the Celtic Women CD. The other two we’ll listen to on our way to Quincy, IL. We’re attending the 25th anniversary party for a couple of our good friends from Navarre Beach . Sure beats doctor appointments.
Today has been a beautiful day at the Spaulding Lake RV Park. I’m sitting outside right now overlooking one of the three spring fed lakes. Mary Ellen had to go back home tonite because she has pre-op blood work tomorrow morning at 8 a.m. We’re only 45 minutes from home, so it makes going back and forth as needed rather easy. Since I’m 'baching' it tonite, it’s almost time for me to microwave something. I’m hungry.
I’d be remiss if I didn’t comment on the oil spill in the Gulf. For those of us who winter on the Gulf this disaster is especially depressing. But, (tongue firmly planted in my cheek) it’s good to know the White House has been on top of this since day one!!! Now doesn’t that make all of us feel so much better?
Jim
Friday, April 23, 2010
Pause and Stare
As I grow older I have noticed that I make more ‘mistakes’. It seems to be an exponential rate of speed and frequency. These mistakes are not the errors I made on quizzes or tests in a previous life, though I’m fairly certain those mistakes have increased as well. No, these mistakes would more accurately fall into the category of slip ups, blunders and oversights. Perhaps an example would help.
When I have driven my truck to a particular destination and intend to ‘detruck’; if we can ‘deplane’, should we not be able to ‘detruck’? But I digress. Since I normally want my truck to be locked while I enter a store, I generally hop out (that’s a misnomer,since I no longer ‘hop’), flip the switch on the door and proceed into the retailer of my choice. It is at this point in the past where my ‘heart would skip a beat’ fearing I had locked my keys in the truck. A couple times in the past few years my greatest fear became a reality.
I’ve asked myself why does this occur more frequently than in the past. I have come up with a couple reasons for the uptick in frequency:
1. It’s to easy to do
2. I’m older with fewer brain cells
3. For some unknown reason I’m in a hurry
But, as you might expect, I have a solution. It’s not a brilliant solution, which no doubt surprises some of you with even fewer brain cells. No, it is not brilliant, but rather extremely simple. Most superlative solutions are simple in nature. The solution I have been using is ‘slow down’. This is rather simple for us “elderly” people. As a demonstration of how slowing down works, I’ll refer back to my ‘detrucking’. I remove the keys from the ignition, open my door, step out of the truck, and just before I push the lock button I stop, stare at the keys in my hand, push the button, and proceed to my destination. The secret is the ‘pause & stare’ prior to hitting the button. In order to become proficient you must practice.
The technique also works if you decide to go from your kitchen to your den to retrieve something from the den that really belongs in the kitchen. It happens! Before taking your first step from the kitchen to the den, that’s right, ‘pause and stare’. In this case you will have nothing to actually stare at! However, you must ‘pause and stare’ at the mental image of that which you wish to retrieve. I never said this was easy.
I’m sure while reading this you’ve thought about opportunities for using this technique. However, by the time you’ve finished reading you have forgotten what these were. Correct? What should you have done when the use of this brilliant technique popped into your mind. ‘Pause and Stare’...I do think you’ve got it.
jim
4/23/2010
When I have driven my truck to a particular destination and intend to ‘detruck’; if we can ‘deplane’, should we not be able to ‘detruck’? But I digress. Since I normally want my truck to be locked while I enter a store, I generally hop out (that’s a misnomer,since I no longer ‘hop’), flip the switch on the door and proceed into the retailer of my choice. It is at this point in the past where my ‘heart would skip a beat’ fearing I had locked my keys in the truck. A couple times in the past few years my greatest fear became a reality.
I’ve asked myself why does this occur more frequently than in the past. I have come up with a couple reasons for the uptick in frequency:
1. It’s to easy to do
2. I’m older with fewer brain cells
3. For some unknown reason I’m in a hurry
But, as you might expect, I have a solution. It’s not a brilliant solution, which no doubt surprises some of you with even fewer brain cells. No, it is not brilliant, but rather extremely simple. Most superlative solutions are simple in nature. The solution I have been using is ‘slow down’. This is rather simple for us “elderly” people. As a demonstration of how slowing down works, I’ll refer back to my ‘detrucking’. I remove the keys from the ignition, open my door, step out of the truck, and just before I push the lock button I stop, stare at the keys in my hand, push the button, and proceed to my destination. The secret is the ‘pause & stare’ prior to hitting the button. In order to become proficient you must practice.
The technique also works if you decide to go from your kitchen to your den to retrieve something from the den that really belongs in the kitchen. It happens! Before taking your first step from the kitchen to the den, that’s right, ‘pause and stare’. In this case you will have nothing to actually stare at! However, you must ‘pause and stare’ at the mental image of that which you wish to retrieve. I never said this was easy.
I’m sure while reading this you’ve thought about opportunities for using this technique. However, by the time you’ve finished reading you have forgotten what these were. Correct? What should you have done when the use of this brilliant technique popped into your mind. ‘Pause and Stare’...I do think you’ve got it.
jim
4/23/2010
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