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A metaphor for my take on life and how it affects me. |
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| I thought I was starting over when I paid my overdue dues! This morning when I looked at my blog, I was surprised to see that my previous post were still in the system. Now I need to re-acquaint myself with how to move around in writing.com. At one point I was somewhat involved, but not overtly. Now I would like to take advantage of all this site has to offer. I guess I should look at What Should I do First and go from there. It's funny how the mind works. I spent part of the evening thinking about what my next post would be and coming up with ideas. Then when you set down and start typing it all changes. Heres a little something about myself I'm a Baby Boomer, Vietnam Vet, Prostate Cancer survivor, Triple Bypass recipient, awarded a pace maker to keep the heart running. What this tells you is I'm OLD. I continue watching the years fly by, and know somewhere in the future it will come to an end. My Mother is 95 and I know I will never reach that age. It's not in the cards, and the way I feel each morning when I wake, I'm not sorry I won't see the 90's. There are NO Golden Years! As the years pass some are good and some are bad - just like each day is good or bad. You learn to roll with the punches and move on. What does the remainder of the year hold for us? I’d look into my crystal ball if I had one, but no such luck. The Delta Variant the medical people keep talking about is concerning. There are a lot of people who haven’t gotten or refuse to get the shots, and the majority of those people live in the southern part of our country. There are those who think the virus is like to flu and not anything to worry about. Others refuse to get the shot and I’ve no idea why. Again rolling with the punches! As I mentioned yesterday, California has reopened the economy, no more restrictions on what people can and cannot due. We can dine inside and the restaurants can seat as many people as the room allows. The unemployment is down, but not back to pre pandemic levels. I know one problem left over is the housing shortage, both for rentals and ownership. Part of the problem is the government wouldn’t allow people who own their home to evict tenants who are behind on rent, so that has the rental market all messed up. It will probably take several years before we get out of this mess. Oh well that will be another story! Life is Good God Bless |
| I'm back for the second or third time. I want to continue this blog and talk about how life has been during this tumultuous time of Covid 19 and quarantine. I don't know about anyone else but it has been one hell of a year! Now were starting to come out of it and I'm glad like everyone else. Lets see, we had Covid in Feb and it progressed into one bad situation, with the death toll rising, in the United States we have lost over 600,000 people. That so hard to believe, and there are still more countries going through the same thing. A vaccination was invented in a short period of time (which made some people think it would not work). BUT it did work and things are looking better. California has opened its economy up and things are getting back to normal somewhat! Some us still wear masks even though we've had both shots. There is still a strain out there they keep talking about that is more contagious and deadlier. The shots work against it but so many people still haven't had their shots and who knows it may start all over again. Keeping my fingers crossed. The other big event that happened during the time period was the election for the President of the United States. I don't want to go down the political rabbit hole, so I'll say that the Democrats won and Joe Biden was elected President. It was a very continuous election and not everyone thought the outcome was correct. There were many election fraud cases brought infront of the courts and they were all thrown out. Many State legislators (Republican) have changed the voting rules in there states, so the next election it will be harder for colored people to vote. It makes you stop and wonder what this country is coming too. Our federal government can't get anything done because of the animosity between the two parties. Nobody considers themselves Americans they are only Republican or Democrat. I don't think that catches me up but it a little headway into the past year. Right now were in a heat wave, in the high desert. It's a 107 outside and our swamp cooler is going full blast. The temp inside is around 82 or 84 which is not bad. The western Region of the United States in going through a drastic drought. We haven't had rain in a long time and our lakes and reservoirs are drying up. I would expect water rationing is in our future. That's a problem with the swamp cooler, it keeps releasing water to keep it fresh, and I'm not sure how many gallons are released. We did invest in a solar system with 18 panels on the roof. We also purchased a Tesla power supply (battery) and we have been off grid since the battery went on line. That won't be the case if we start running the air conditioner. Dammed if you Do Dammed if you don't! since this is the first blog please forgive any spelling and grammatical errors. I just want to put it out there. |
| Death and Resurrection both subjects that gives one pause to think about. We don't usually talk about death, except to family members when we've lost a love one. Today the death report of people dying in the United States is daily and unimaginable. The Corona Virus is decimating a big part of our population, and we're not meeting the needs of everyone involved. Resurrection is another word that is not spoken to frequently except in the Christian community. If you're a believer it's easy to understand and it's the reason we celebrate Easter. I'm a believer and I take my beliefs very personally. I'm not a evangelist, you won't find me on a street corner trying to talk you into something you don't want. If in the course of a conversation with someone and religion comes up I will express my beliefs if asked and give the reason for them. I went to a psychologist when I was working and dealing with issues. Once he found out I was a Christian, he related all of his advise using Jesus as his model. It was very enlightening and helped me along my path. Giving is an important part of being a Christian, and for non believers also. My wife gives without any thought when she sees problems that need to be addressed. I've had a harder time learning to let go and give to those who need it more than I do. We're not wealthy but we certainly have enough to share. I equate myself to the young man who came to Jesus and asked what he needed to do too enter the Kingdom of Heaven he said "You know the commandments: you shall not murder, you shall not commit adultery, you shall not steal, you shall not give false testimony, you shall not defraud, honor your father and mother." The young man said "Teacher all these I have kept since I was a boy." Jesus said "Go and sell everything you have and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven then come follow me." The boy left sad for he had many things. I did not leave and have learned to give and look forward to finding the treasure in Heaven. Life Is Good - God Bless |
| It's light outside and the clouds are still around but there is blue sky that can be seen. Five days of dark clouds full of water that came down in a steady stream. It wasn't 24/7 but if felt like it. We received 2 1/3 inches - not bad for the high desert. Looking forward to getting out with the dog this morning on our walk. We get a lot of puddles (no sidewalks) so I'll have to watch out. Our chances of getting sprayed are less account people are home and not out driving around. I watched my churches Good Friday service on YouTube last night. It was presented very well and the hymns played were good to hear. I'll be watching the Easter Service on Sunday. I miss our Sunday school class that I lead. We use the Cokesbury pamphlet called Life, Spring 2020. There are only Five of us but we talk about what we've read and give our personal opinion about what it means. These pamphlets are written by ministers and use some personal experiences along with passages from the Bible that the lesson is about. For me it adds some color to the Bible when I read it, and helps me understand some of the passages. I've continued to read through the weekly lessons and it makes me feel good. Looking outside my window I'm seeing more and more blue sky. What can I say, it brings a smile to my face, and my feet are starting to tap. Oh boy it's going to a Beautiful Day the Lord Has Made! Life Is Good - God Bless |
| Five days straight, it's not a record but it sure feels like it. I can't imagine what Noah felt when the rain came! "Supposedly" it's gonna quit later tonight and we should see some sun tomorrow. Hurrah! My wife ran back to the store to pick up a ham. I told her a pork chop would be good for our Easter Sunday meal but she wants ham. Who am I to argue? Happy WIFE Happy LIFE! While Lou was napping yesterday, I decided to walk around the house. I walked for 31 min and walked 1.25 miles. I will try to replicate that again today. The bike is still in the bedroom gathering dust, I have not used it once since the rain started. Must be a mental block. I was thinking about my progression with computers. My first desk computer was a Commodore, followed by a Gateway, then a self built (by someone else) computer. I went to a laptop made by Acer, MacBookPro then back to iMac. I also have iPads and iPhone. On all of these magnificent peaces of equipment, I've used maybe 1/1000 of their computing power. That's what happens when you start in mid life. The fear of breaking or getting stuck and not knowing how to unstick it! I don't play with computers to see what they can do or look into places I've never been. As the years progress I do less and less and it's a complete wast of these machines. There aren't to many times I wish I was young again but when it comes to computers, I do! I guess that's what cabin fever does to you, makes you become reflective and I don't want to go there. Have a great day and weekend! Life Is Good - God Bless |
| Here I sit wondering what do I really have to write about today. A friend once wrote about this dilemma, she posted that "once you start writing the words will flow". or something along that line. I'm not seeing any rivers passing through at the moment, maybe there is a beaver dam up river. The soggy weather continues and looks like it will last through tomorrow. The weatherman says we'll have sunshine this weekend. There's something to look forward too! We sprung a leak yesterday, not much of one but we did put a bucket underneath. It doesn't begin until we start having a strong downpour. I had our handyman come over after the last rain and he went onto the roof and put O Henrys around the air vents, He did not go into the attic and I believe that will be required this time. At 72 it's not something I should do, so I will need to call our guy back. In January we had a problem with our ice machine on the refrigerator and called a company out to repair it. He came out and changed out the ice making unit, and ever since we've had a leak. The gasket that meets up with the drop box when the door is closed does not seal properly. The air from the inside refrigerator is getting into the ice machine causing the ice up front to melt. He was the first person we've had in our house since the isolation order came out, he has to come back when the part he ordered comes in. Hopefully we'll remain Covid free! The wife has gone to the store to pick up a few items. Not much milk, bread, and few other essentials. This should make us good for another week or two. We had 4 packages arrive yesterday from orders placed last month. UPS, FedEx and USPS were the carriers. They arrived between 1 pm and 8:30 pm, quite a spread. I only have 2 more items left that are delayed account of Covid-19. I did receive a email this morning that one of those items have shipped. There is talk of opening things up again sometime in May or June, but I don't see how that can be done when they say the vaccine for this virus won't be ready for 18 months. We're talking a year and a half, I'm not looking forward to spending that much time in self imposed isolation. Someone will have to come up with something in less time than 18 months or we're all going to go crazy! Evidently the damm broke and the words flowed for me at least Life Is Good - God Bless |
| It's Wednesday - Trash day and it's still raining. The weatherman says it will rain tomorrow also. Who said "It never rains in Southern California"? It's was a dry January and February, and most people were concerned that we were headed into a drought situation. The rain we have received in March and now April brings us up too and a little over our average. It looks like another TV and Book day. We get tired of the TV and turn it off so we can have peace and quiet. It is nice to listen to rain falling on the roof. We have a gas fireplace and that is what we have used this winter instead of the overhead unit. The cost has been a little less than last year. Change of Subject! My Mother lives in a board and care facility approximately 60 miles from where I live. She is 94 turning 95 in October. She had been doing very well until she fell last Friday. Evidently she landed on her hand because it has swollen and the pain has been bad. She does not remember the fall. My Mother was concerned before the fall about coughing and feeling tired. She thought she had Covid-19 and wanted to go to the hospital. The owner called the Doctor and was told that she should not come in and to keep secluded and keep and eye on her. All is well The pain from the fall has been excruciating for her but the facility has put off taking her in. They called the Doctors office again and was told to wrap her wrist and see if it gets better. They were told to call back in a week. At her age going in and being around other people could cause her to be infected. There's not much you can say over the phone to help lesson the pain. It's been 3 weeks since I last saw my mom and it's hard to take. All we can do is pray and hope things get better for all of us. Each of us has a situation we are dealing with in this crisis. Times are trying but we must hang in there. I want to see how it all works out! Life Is Good -God Bless |
| It's Tuesday and it's gonna be a lot like Monday WET! Stay inside kind of day, and that makes for cabin fever. It doesn't bother me so much but my wife is having a hard time handling it. She doesn't like to sit for prolonged periods of time, and if she does she prefers to sit outside. She is the architect of our yard and enjoys spending time working on pruning, fertilizing, weeding and mowing. We live in the High Desert, operative word is Desert. Due to Southern Californias on and off again drought situation, we are required to watch our water usage. Several years ago we had to ration our water. Our front yard is dirt with various plants strategically placed along the perimeter of the house and wall that forms a patio. We have 3 medium sized pine trees out front. We've also place 3 of my yard art creations that are circular saw blades made into birds. On the south side of our driveway we had an additional driveway poured to make it a somewhat Circular drive. South of that is crushed rock and along the border 4 twisted junipers. Our back yard has mostly crushed rock except for 9 cypress that are placed along the back fence. We have 1 large fruitless mulberry tree and a circular patch of grass that is 34 feet in diameter. We have a picnic table and 4 benches I made with left over steel from our previous home. On our covered patio we have two 2x2 tables and 4 2 foot benches (that I made), along with store bought patio chairs. We also have a plethora of yard art, some I made and some bought. I like to give my wife a bad time by telling her a I want a sit down mower to cut the grass. She just smiles and says "in your dreams"! I have seven water valves to cover all of the plants. In my younger years I put in all of our irrigation needs when we moved (with the help of my wife). When you get older you can't do what you did before, so I paid to have it done. He did a good job and at least my wife isn't trying to water all this by hand. We just need sunshine and comfortable temps to enjoy our Shangri La Life Is Good - God Bless |
| Family Thursday, November 6, 2014 3:42 AM Family is the commodity you can’t change. With friends and acquaintances if you disagree or are hurt by them you can turn your back and let them go. With family you cannot, you are connected weather you like it or not. We can distance ourselves from the offending person or persons but we are connected by a umbilical cord, we share the blood that flows through our veins. Is blood thicker than water? When you grow up in a close family that does things together you don’t think about differences. We are peas from the same pod but each pea is evolving differently. Sometime those differences don’t come to life until we get older. What once was a cohesive family can become split and shattered. Each pea has developed differently from the others, and when you loose the person who kept the pod together you begin to see and feel those differences. You never give any thought about how someone will react. A simple act of kindness given in time of need may be seen by the others as a means of getting one up on the other. Feelings and emotions that have been festering for years come out. Words spoken and written cannot be taken back and the anger and vile thoughts expressed are like bombs going off. Each word cuts at that umbilical cord until the separation is complete. Forgiveness can be given, but if you feel that someone you have nurtured and helped over the years can come to that conclusion, then you wonder if staying connected is worth it. This is one scenario of a family gone wrong. There are so many more with children and parents. How do we make amends? What can be done to take away the hurt and bad feelings? Is there a simple answer or is this a lost cause? Family love um and hate um, but they are what made us. Staying connected is the best scenario but it doesn’t always work out. |
| The start of a new week, are we ready? I checked my calendar and it's clear. I'm free all week so if something unexpected pops up I can deal with it! The Surgeon General has said this week is our Pearl Harbor and 911 moment. I would agree for New York, Louisiana and Detroit. So far in California High Desert we haven't experienced that moment yet. At this moment in time I don't know anyone who has the virus or passed. I'm sure our Time is coming, but it hasn't arrived yet. Watching TV has brought home how fortunate we are. The people living in apartments have nowhere to go. I look around and we have a comfortable home to move around in and a front and back yard. We set outside in the mornings and watch the sun come up and enjoy being outside. My wife has made our yard look beautiful. Rain is predicted for us today but we never know. Our portion of the High Desert is located on the back side of the San Bernardino Mountains. It is not unusual for the rain coming off the coast to stop when it gets to the mountains. It is frustrating to watch the projected storm track on TV and the Station logo is placed in our area. Sometimes it splits and moves around us, Weather.com showed us 90% chance of rain last night yet none showed up. Did I say it was Monday, Cleaning day at our home, so the swifter is calling my name. Guess I should get moving and get this day underway. Life Is Good - God Bless |
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