slide was found at my granddaughter’s house and is in temporary confinement to be shown off to friends. He’s called Slide because he slides down the glass cage. I told them to give him his freedom so he could visit his mom and dad again….good luck slide
Author Archives: seriouslyscorpio
GUNS……JUST WONDER’IN
Ever wonder how the ‘founding fathers’ would look at the presence of AK-47s in our homes? I’m sure they would look at the proud owners and ask quizzically, “why?” Now before you fly into a rage and demand your rights….let’s just look at this little scenario and wonder why ourselves.
How many people on our block have the same equipment? How many times have they used it in the last week, or month? Is it kept locked up for the safety of others in the home? How quickly can one get to this machine, if the need arises?….1 minute, 5 minutes, 20 minutes? How much longer does it take if it is 4AM?
Did all your neighbors start with guns and musket balls, as was the norm when the ‘fathers’ created our ‘rights’? Did the right to bear arms include cannons and flaming oil shot from catapults? Hey.don’t get upset, I’m just ask’in……
If we need to hunt for a living or for sport, do we do so with a revolver, and a gun using hundreds of rounds a minute? If we use pelts and skins for beauty and survival, do we like them with bunches of holes?
Well, these questions and answers can call for good discussions in many households as well as government buildings.
Defense, yes.But, of course, it is my right….but to what extent. The ‘founding fathers’ did not fathom 47s…..they did not imagine clips that allowed killing indefinitely. They really had no idea what type of weapons the future would hold, and to what end their rules would be expanded.
So here we are…way past the point of no return. California is expected to sell 100,000 rifles this year. Can’t imagine how many more of what, both on the legal and illegal market. Remember too, there are different rules for different states and even cities. Paperwork by the ton to try to keep records of all who apply and are back-ground checked. And yet, we die, we maim, we hurt the innocent,by mistake….and yes, it is our right to have the equipment to do so. I’m sure if 99% of those shot in the US were guilty of something where they NEEDED to be shot,we wouldn’t having this discussion however that is not the case.
I’m just asking for a fair playing field…..when it comes to guns and pain in America. How about let’s go back to the musket ball. It’s killed plenty of people, so no one can deny it isn’t a weapon. Our country became our country ….. and let’s see, isn’t that the reason we were allowed to carry arms in the first place. Seemed to have worked to help a bunch of mismatched men and women come together to be the USA!
So let’s just go with the gun/musket ball plan. Good guys and bad guys alike. Hunting for sport will be more fair to the animals. One shot, reload, one shot, reload…..in fact, I think it would help one really think about the situation he was in, as he was in the reloading part. Maybe, when thinking it over, it would be better if everyone were to just quit, go home, and solve the problem in a more sensible and humane manner.
Dueling would be good too…..again, planning the time and place and thinking over the problem vs the pain could deter some snot nosed idiots to go on to duel another day. That would also make it safe for those not involved, thereby solving other problems.
I cringe when listening to the 6 o’clock news… I am sad people cannot solve problems without shooting one another. No, in this day and age, I am appalled! Does it sound more stupid to have a place to go kill one another, than the way it is now? People don’t allow the death penalty in their state, but it sure seems to be fine to kill one another in the street. The people we are killing are not enemies of the state….they are us. Sure there are countries making plans for another 9/11, however, today we have watchdogs in place to make it very difficult to do so. I know, we can argue all night about how good the defense is, but not now Other countries survive without the daily bloodshed we have here……you wouldn’t hear a word from me, if those who had guns, used them in only a matter of defense of their home. It is an argument heard time and time again…to defend my home and family. However, how many of us shoot intruders on our street, in our town….weekly…..monthly…..yearly?
Just say’in…..just talk’in…..just think’in….just wonder’in. why……
MIMI AND GRANDDAUGHTER ON THE PHONE
“mimi, my tooth is loose!” I say “very cool, which one is it”. “Mimi, it’s right next to the other one that came out.”
NEW NEIGHBORS
I saw you today…..a new couple in the neighborhood…very nicely feathered, very comfortable together. They didn’t cause too much of a fuss with the older residents. I think they plan to share this California address permanantly. The finches and I welcome you…Mr/Mrs Crow…remember share and share alike.
REVOLVING THE ANNIVERSARY GIFT
My brother and sister/law’s anniversary is in 5 days….They gave us a wonderful certificate to one of Ft. Myers’ best restaurants for Christmas…..time was right and we haven’t used it….nothing better than to return the gift card so they can have fun…on their dime and my stamp.
SUNSHINE MEDICINE
“You may have a medical problem”……runs shivers up and down your spine. Even in the movies, those words make us tremble. We are all act brave, showing that ‘devil may care’ attitude, but deep inside our gut is churning and the sunny day goes to turbulent winds with the threat of rain.
It is checkup time…..an ultrasound for me and a colonoscopy for him. Been there more than once and yet it still creeps into our daily living, like the fog from the Pacific. Warm winds of serenity touching the cool winds of change…..cause us to become solitary, even though there is no prediction of doom.
So the bootstraps are pulled up…..as we become nonchalant in the face of our inner fearfulness.
We then begin to rationalize, and examine…..what are the odds…I take good care of myself….it doesn’t run in my family, and on and on. We do begin to feel better, and our sleep goes undisturbed.
The day comes for our tests…..and the phone rings for each of us…..”sure, we’ve done everything, we’ll be there, no problem”. The medical facility is warm, and friendly, and we are ushered to our rooms. We look into the eyes of the staff, watching as they take pictures, in hopes of finding reassuring glances that all is well. The procedures are over almost as quickly as they begin and we welcome the lifting of the haze of marking time.
The phones ring the next afternoon….and with certitude, we answer. “Just calling to say your test was negative and all is well”…..”We’ll see you next year”. The phone rings again. “The results of your procedure are negative”. We’ll see you in 5 years”. And the sun shines once more.
Nannner Nano
Ipod…..a simple item to carry my music…not the new Nano, but the older one…but who really cares, cause when it don’t work, it don’t work!
Last year it froze….didn’t know it could freeze. No one told me it could freeze…used to be called ‘stopped working’…..now it is ‘freeze’…..Just like phones…used to be called ‘answer’….now it’s called ‘send’. Help me here!
Anyhow…..when I ask around, I got this blank stare….’guess you need to go to the Apple store’….. After 20 miles in bumper to bumper traffic.. I got to stand in line for an appointment and then hang out (somewhere of my choosing) til it was time….to ‘thaw’…no ‘unfreeze’.
The guy was nice….and very capable (of course, anyone age 2 and up is more capable with “I” anything, than me,however that is another story). In essence he just passed is hand over the Nano….said it happens all the time, and I was back to grooving with the 80’s.
Now, in the current year of our Lord….who I hope was not listening when the Nano ‘broke’ again……I found that I could not download music I had purchased from Itunes. I had the right questions, I had the right answers, I plugged in with the right cable, etc, etc….and nothing happened. If course, there was the manual I could turn to, but…..no, no there wasn’t. Apple doesn’t believe in those things…except on line. Not to mention the manual has to be the size of the Obamacare measure, to cover everything that could ever happen to a Nano. But I digress.
My PC was good at telling me what I couldn’t do, but not what I could, or should. I shouted “uncle’….took the Toshiba laptop belonging to hubby, my baby Nano, and off we went to see Mr. or Mrs. Apple head….now now, don’t get huffy…potato head, apple head, no difference, especially in my state of mind.
Mr. Apple reminded me when I walked in that this was not a Toshiba store….as in ‘ha ha ha’, (in my state of mind). I turned the computer around and ask for an appointment….The earliest was 1 hour 45 min..oh goody. Too short to go home and come back, and too long to just sit there. I was safe to shop cause I’d been to Kohl’s and got my ‘fix’ earlier in the day.
I came back early….checked in, and the nice man was nice to the old lady. (okay nice boy, okay young married man). He told me to remember that a Nano likes only one computer and will always refuse to ‘mess around’ with another computer…very monogomous, these Apples. So, with a few screens here and a few screens there, topped off with a ‘next’, a ‘finish’, a yes’ and a no, I was back in business. Why Itunes and Apple does not want their products to mess around (interface) with other Apples is beyond me. I.D. is I.D. and money is money. (I’m still digressing aren’t I)
So I left. Nano and Toshiba and me (or I, who cares). We came home and downloaded some new stuff from Maroon 5 and Bill Withers……(yes, I’m old, but not that old). (Aerosmith, Justin Timberlake, Lady Gaga, Genesis, the Owl guy, etc, etc…love’m all)(there I go again). So now we’re all happy, except my plug’in (that’s ‘dock’ in your language), speakers don’t work anymore and I’ll be damned if I’m going to spend $100 for another one. It’s a shame they don’t have a ‘ Mr. MrsMemorex’ store next to the Mr. Mrs Apple head store.
later….
60 seconds with a 5 year old
my hairis long,the sky is high, wait for papa to help, get the tape, my hair never stops growing, don’t touch anything, I swim, don’t touch me,I’ll tell, no, go check where papa is,
tell me,I’m sitting on yur chair to keep it warm, big, medium, large, smaller, smaller smaller, smallest, we’re not going to paint yet, ‘Ill eat you up unless you eat me, Bri…nah, nah-uh, robots eat you, der, der, der, der, hand is locked, can’t get it, nah, nah,nah, I didn’t have it, whoooooooo, whoooooo,that was me saying a ghost thing, B ri, stop it, we don’t need it, take it off, Bri did it, la, la, la,hey, I told you, don’t use those. You are in my place Bri, you are in my place, play a dog, orpainting, find some other stuff, Bri you are in my place, where I’m standing, um, go to the other floor, ugggg,click the stars and we’ll play a game,which one, that one, that one, that one, face the problem
s…sh….makes shhhhhh…..shhhhhhh, I mean the road, the road, ch…chhhhhhhh, which one on broken road, th…..thhhhhh.
I read two papers this AM with 3 cups of coffee…..let me say it again, I READ TWO NEWSPAPERS this morning with 3 cups of coffee. My kids tell me I’m really ‘out of mainline journalism’…..I’m in ‘mail-line journalism…and that is further out. I’m sad if it is the truth….that the days of newspapers are fading. Yes, the word ‘sad’ is appropriate.
The better part of my 68 years I’ve shared with a newspaper…..When I was learning to read….the newspaper was always in my home. Mother and Dad read, and then I read. Sure, at the age of 10 I wasn’t all that interested in the front page, but there were always the ‘funnies’. Kind of like learning to iron…..first you start with the hankies and then you move onward to more difficult pieces of clothing. That’s how the newspaper and I made friends.
Then, in high school, sometimes things in my small brain began to gel….I would read something in the paper and low and behold…we’d talk about it in government or history. Dang!
And now, after all these years, I’m more of an avid reader than ever. I learn every day…whether it is a joke, a piece of history, a sale, a divorce, a birth, a death, and on and on. LIFE is the newspaper and the newspaper is life. It tells me the weather, the high school basketball scores, the time of the July 4th parade, the mass at church, the sale at the local dress shop, the fishing report for the local lake, and the local police beat…often and thank goodness, more humorous than scary.
I would be foolish to say the Internet has not proved to be another great spot for the news….I know we can hear it all on local TV stations as well as CNN and FOX, but that’s not the news I long for….We all live in little areas..they may be inside large cities or on farms, distant from neighbors, however, we all desire to be close to one another….The local newspaper, whether it is weekly, bi weekly, in the morning or in the evening, binds our hearts, our lives, our dreams, and it extends the hand of friendship to all.
When traveling thru Tennessee, I read about the lives of folks in Nashville, Knoxville, and all the little towns in between. I look at their housing, their taxes, as well as their squabbles with local, county and state government. It truly does my heart good to see that we are pretty much the same, regardless of our proximity to one another. Soccer might be hot in So. California, but football is the game in Louisiana. High school football barely makes it in some western states, however, in Indiana, and the Ohio Valley, the homes are empty on Fri. night cause they are at the game. In the assisted care facilities…..everyone is in their room…..not cause they feel bad….but in season….it is basketball and football that keeps the lights on late into the night.
And last but not least…I love the ads…Where am I going to find so easily…..the for rent and for sale section, the used car section, the misc. for sale section, the legal announcement section, the inside ads for carpet, granite, hot dogs. 2 for 1, picking fresh blueberries, and the editorial section, including all the letters to the editor. So much entertainment, so much knowledge, so much life…..and all available in the paper.
So go ahead, read the Internet, learn that Tiger won his 74th, that the Supreme Court did or did not make the right decision, and the high in Las Vegas will be 104…..but for me, I’ll use it as backup only…..cause it is the paper…..I truly love.
On the road again……and I’ll be writing about all the things swirling around in my small brain. I know I should be doing this at night….when the thoughts are free and the past is present, but I’ve been on the road and away from a ‘writing machine’…..sure do miss those typewriters….I could really go fast on those babies, and the keys of the Selectric, were just in the right spot. Oh Well…
Been visiting wonderful friends, wonderful family, wonderful old towns that are well known in my heart. Have welcomed back memories of our family home, the high school I graduated from 50 years ago this year…..and wonderful country auctions,full of lifetimes treasures, awaiting new homes..
The corn is truly ‘higher than an elephant’s eye’ but the yards are crisp from lack of rain. Hostas outline beautiful neighborhood homes and the Dairy Queen is packed kids. Little League is in full swing, and the lights glow until at least 10 each evening.
The swimming pool is busy and the park is full of picnics and teens ‘polishing their cars’ under the shade of the oak, maple, and walnut.
Golfers tee off early….really really early……cause 9 holes before they get to work is just a wonderful way to start the day.
Joggers are jogging…..walkers are walking, and gentle hands covered with garden gloves tend the faded blooms of roses and petunias.
Vacation Bible School is commencing…..swimming lessons are in full swing….tennis, and basketball courts are full of one or ten.
Yes, I’m ‘on the road again’ and it is a refreshing journey to the present and of the past.
seriouslyscorpio 