Daily Archives: October 30, 2012

10.30.12
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Nuthin Ever Stays The Same

Funny how things change and you do not notice.

There is an old fable that says that if you drop a frog in a pan of boiling water, he will immediately jump out of the pan.  But take the same frog and drop him in cold water, then apply heat to the pan very slowly and he will stay in there until he eventually dies.

Why?

His world changed “a little at a time” and he did not notice.

Used to be you would post a link for someone on your site and they of course would come looking to see what was going on  (ping-backs) and then they would drop a nice “thanks for linking me or hey, I appreciated that, thanks a lot.”  These days you run a link for someone, give them the notice that they so richly deserve, possibly giving them a boost in blog traffic and they don’t say a dog-gone thing.  This week for the first time, I ran across a site that specifically asked people NOT to re-blog their stuff unless they acquired permission.  This is a new one on me, I am not all that sure I agree with that philosophy.

I suppose change has come upon me again, and I just did not notice.

Not long ago we were in a Mall in the Dallas area and I noted that there were few white people in the mall at the time.  Most were Indian, Pakistani, Middle Eastern, Asian, Black, Mexican.  White folks seemed to be missing from the mix almost entirely and that struck me as odd.  The country has changed, it kind of did it when I was not looking and I was somewhat shocked to say the least.  It is not often you wake up and find yourself a stranger in your own country, but it happened to me, it can happen to you.

This past week has been tough, and at times, it has pained my spirit so much it was to the point of being almost unbearable.  But we always seem to make it through the mess of life, some of it is easy and some of it is hard.  One thing that has helped me is Steve McCurry’s wordpress blog.  I go over there and I look at the pictures this guy has put up, and it reminds me how lucky I truly am in life, that I have a life worth living and that there are far more people in the world less fortunate than myself.

If you missed it, here is the link … It is well worth the trip believe me.

GOING HOME 

Today a new person showed up and hit the like button, and all that was there was the gravatar.  Often that will drive me crazy, someone interesting clicks the like button on one of my posts, and it doesn’t say where that person might be this day, where is the link to their site, why I cannot visit their world and see what they are up to.  Almost not fair in some respects, it happened today, and again, I am wondering, sitting here with my feet planed firmly on the ground … and one eye on heaven … but I don’t quite know where to stick a pin in the map.

So that is it.  Things change and you have to change with them I suppose.

Makes you wonder if posting a link is worth it?  Some folks even think that re-blogging a post is not right and is the lazy man’s way to write a blog (and for good reason, I am sure there are some people who do just that) but I am not all that convinced it is a bad thing.  For the most part, I am kind of stuck between the two.

Leaves me kind of wondering or at a loss as to why people are so busy they do not have time to just say “thanks” for the link.  Too busy to leave a comment and tell someone else, what a minute of their day.  All I know for sure, here in my little world is this:  “It is a good day to  be above ground and I am going to relish it, savor the moment and try my best to make it count for something.”  You can re-blog that all day long, I won’t mind it a bit.

Thank You For Stoppin By.

OOO

10.30.12
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Blown Away

Back in ’87 or ’88, I remember going to the State Fair, and someone absconded with my automobile, now that, was somewhat traumatic. We walked up to this empty space in the middle of this huge parking lot, and the wife sez …. “Where’s the car?” and I point to the empty hole (that at one time had contained my automobile that I just owed four more payments on) and I said … “Right there.”

Then she says … “There isn’t anything there Don.” That was one of those …. My barn having burned down I can clearly now see the moon kind of life moments … I guess you had to be there to understand.

So many questions in today’s world, and not enough time.

Hopefully, this will be a letter perfect day for me, which I have to be totally candid about, are far and few between.  Things seldom work out the way you have them planned. I had always thought upon my retirement that I would buy a motorhome and go to California, live on a river in the gold bearing areas of the state, and during the daylight and summer hours, dredge the bottom of some river or creek bed for gold.

The San Joaquin, Tuolumne Rivers would work, in the foothills of the Sierra’s. In the cool of the afternoon, we might find me sitting around thinking about profitable gold dredging techniques and untold riches stored in a Once A Day Vitamin jar.

No cell phone, pager, Email, just me an the miss’es, that old dog, a big fuel sucking Motorhome with “Driving Miss Lazy” lettered on the back and lots of chrome. Every testosterone loving sons’ American Dream.

It just naturally appealed to me, the adventure factor being there, the life and the time available to do what it is that you wanted to do. Thoughts of the Golden State of California, exciting, interesting things to do, and where to do it. Unfortunately, things did not work out, and it is just a careless fantasy now, but it was at one time, a surefire-bonafied for real dream.

Which in reality is a real bummer, because once you lose your dreams, well, there just isn’t much left.

OOO