TOO MUCH STUFF

A lot of us are pack rats. We keep stuff and never get rid of stuff. We collect more stuff as the years go by. I still have my Hot Wheels cars and the beginner's set of track. It's somewhere in our garage. I can remember my sister and I smacking each other with sections of the orange track as we chased each other through the house when we were kids.

Ya know, them things HURT when you get hit with them! I also still have a few toy guns that fire caps. Remember taking a whole roll of them and setting on the sidewalk with a rock and hitting or scraping the caps to get them to go off?

I also still have my skateboard from a Christmas long ago. I gave my sister my Ken doll years ago. When I got him as a gift, it was not to long before they came out with ACTION FIGURES! G.I. Joe, Captain Action, and others. Me and my friends went bonkers over them. I ended up with five or six of each one.

Of course, I found and still have several of my stuffed animals from when I was still in diapers. I might hang on to those for when I'm in the old folks home and back to wearing diapers!

I also found several of the plastic eggs that Silly Putty came in. One of them still had the putty from about four of them eggs. If you dropped it, it might break your toe. I"ve found numerous little green soldiers, tanks, jeeps and such. As I got older, the stuff changed.

In my teens, I had black light posters. I still have them. I'm afraid to try to unroll them. I have all of my albums. You know -- the good stuff: Three Dog Night, Steppenwolf, The Who, Santana, Deep Purple, Foghat, Led Zepplin, and many more. 'Course some are just a little warped. I also still have a few 8-track tapes and the 8-track player for them.

I found several car keys from cars I have had over the years, which I wish I still owned. 

I've have LOTS of camping stuff. I need to get out a few of my tents to see if they are still usable. At last count, I think there are at least five or more mess kits. I have enough fishing poles to open up a store. Stringers? I've got a bunch, but they are all tangled up. And that's not counting the poles and stringers and all the tackle boxes and such from my Dad. Yep. He was a pack rat, too. 

I don't know why, I've even still got some clothes from back in the day. Now, why in the world would I need a leisure suit? And those damn platform boots. I got them for doing DISCO!! And I hated disco. . . still do to this day. But the young lady I was chasing back then was into Disco and Barry Manilow. When she decided that we needed to take up Roller Disco, I had to put my foot down without falling in those platform boots.

She wanted matching everything for Roller Disco. The shorts she picked out were so tight on me that my voice went up several octaves and I could not sit down in them without being cut in two. They were so tight that if I farted, the sound would come out of the waist band instead of one of the leg holes. They were so tight, that after an hour of wearing them, my legs were swollen so big that I would have to be cut out of them to get them off.

Yep, fond memories come with some of the stuff we gather in our life times. Other things though? I started to have nightmares about the Disco shorts. Maybe it's time to let some of this stuff go.

Anybody need a pair of size 8 platform Disco boots?

Quote of the Week: 7/28/2014

“Every bride is beautiful. It’s like newborn babies or puppies. They can’t help it.”
--Emme Rollins, Author

I was busy giving away the bride while I was away for a week. She is my beautiful niece Victoria.

PARENT FAIL

We went out the other night for a bite to eat. We were seated in a booth by the window. We ordered our drinks. We were looking at the menus when we heard it. . . a mom, dad, and two little boys about four and five years of age.

They were seated several booths away. Mom and dad had their noses buried in their phones, texting. The kids were jumping up and down in the booth. One or the other parent would holler at the boys to quit, never taking their eyes off of their phones. This went on for the whole time that we were there. The boys never quit and the parents never noticed.

These "parents," when their food arrived, never sat their phones down. The kids were still jumping around and being loud and messing in the food. Every now and then, the mom or dad would shovel some food into their mouths, and holler at the kids again, never setting the phones down. I saw at least one couple seated near them get up and ask to be seated some place else.

The two little boys threw food at each other and onto the floor. They boys had somehow managed to eat some of their meals, though with the biggest part of it on their faces and in their hair. The "parents" were still texting on their phones. The dad got up and went into the men's room, still texting. He stayed for more than 20 minutes. The mom keep on with her phone also, and kept hollering at the kids to set down and eat.

When the dad came out of the bathroom, he went right on by his wife and kids, and out the door to the parking lot, with the phone stuck to his ear and talking a mile a minute. I noticed that when he left he had a chunk of lettuce on the back of his shirt and a little hand print of ketchup above the lettuce. His wife and two kids sat there, mom still texting, for at least another 20 minutes or so.

You could tell that others around us were a bit miffed about the whole thing. I'm sure that a lot of them did not really enjoy their meals. The waitress was not given a tip when the family left. The booth that they sat at looked like a bomb had gone off. There was food everywhere -- on the floor, under the booth, on the booth, on the table, on the edges of the table -- everywhere.

We finished up our meal, left a tip, paid our bill, and left. I feel sorry for the waitress and the busser who have to clean up after these people. We wondered what that family's home looks like.

I know that I was not the best behaved kid around. But we were never allowed to act like that when we went out. Our parents laid down the law. They paid attention to us, there were no distractions back then, like phones now.

It would be nice to be able to go out for a meal and not have to put up with stuff like this. Maybe a place that has a soundproof room for families with kids who can't or won't behave. Or rules about not texting while eating! (Hint, hint for one of my friends.) Maybe earplugs should be handed out with each meal. Or restaurants can change their hours of operation. Like, adults only from 7pm till 11pm. Families with kids could go from 4 p.m. to 7 p.m.

Or, just close down all of the restaurants and make it mandatory that everyone eats at home. Obummer could use his phone and pen and make it law in his favorite way -- executive action. And the Mrs. could tell us what nutritious foods we should eat. Just think how much money we could all save if we didn't go out to eat. And I bet our hearing would be better also.

I know my waistline could use a little less in the meantime.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: 7/21/2014

"Since we cannot know all that there is to be known about anything, we ought to know a little about everything."
-- Blaise Pascal, French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher 

Too much stuff to do

I've got some things to do and people to help, so I'll be busier than usual. So, I won't be blogging this week. I'll blog again the week of July 21st, so come back then? Thanks, all!

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know. . .
that The Beatles had the top five songs on the Billboard chart for a whole week in 1964?

GHOST OF THE FOREST

The ghosts of the forest have been coming home for quite a few years now. Their packs are spreading. And, if you are lucky and in the right area, you may get a glimpse of one or two of them. As they run silently through the pine needles, and trees.
(Wolf photo by http://howlingforjustice.wordpress.com/category/wolf-delisting-lawsuit/)

A lot of people do not want them back. And then there are those who say it is time. Time to bring back a part of America that has been absent for too many years. I've heard coyotes howl in the night on many a hunting or fishing trip. I've heard them on my way back from a long day in the saddle. It's a sound that, after you have heard it enough times, it kind of makes you feel kinda lonesome somehow.

But when you hear a wolf howl, it's like you not only hear it, but you feel it, also. Once you hear that ghostly howl, you will always know the difference between the howl of a coyote and the howl of a wolf. It seems that when a wolf howls, the forest goes quiet. Even the sound of your campfire goes quiet also.

Is the ghost of the forest here to stay? Or will we again try to make him disappear as we have so many other types of animals in this world. The last wild one I ever saw was in Canada, so many years ago. A fleeting glance as it drifted through the trees. It glanced my way just briefly, without breaking stride. Its eyes. . . its eyes had the look of a hunter. Free and confident.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK : 7/7/14

"Laughter is an instant vacation."
-- Milton Berle, comedian and actor

What to do for the 4th of July

Those of you who are regular readers will probably remember that Jim's favorite nephew was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

When that happened, we decided to adopt a soldier through Soldier's Angels. We have also supported the Green Beans Coffee's “Cup of Joe for a Joe” project in a small way over the past few years. It is a great way to say “thanks” to our deployed US troops by having a premium coffee delivered into the hands of a grateful service member overseas.

When the “Cup of Joe” project sent me information about collecting for a group donation, I had to say yes!

Sometimes, the troops who receive the coffee write a thank-you note in return. Here is one of the thank-you notes. 

I cannot explain how much the support from people like you back home means to us over here. These opportunities for coffee breaks really are a highlight to the deployment, a small reminder of home. If things go according to what is planned, I should redeploy and be able to spend the 4th of July in the USA! Almost there! Thanks again for your support and generosity. - CPT Jennifer

When we adopted soldiers, our commitment was to support them until their deployment was over. That was usually anywhere from 3 to 12 months. We have decided to support the Cup of Joe for a Joe project until the end of 2014 instead, for this year.

I hope that, as a group, we can provide at least 3,000 deployed troops with coffee by the end of the year. Will you please help us meet our goal of 3,000 cups of coffee?

Our group will be a little different than other groups in that we don’t work at the same place, we don’t worship at the same place, we don’t go to the same school, but are united for this common purpose.

Each cup is $2. Please contribute $2, $20, $100, $1,000 – whatever you feel you’d like to contribute to this project to help our service members know they are not forgotten and that we appreciate the sacrifices they make for us every day just for being there.

Thank you for supporting our troops in this way! Kathi (You can contribute through this link or donate button on the right. http://youcaring.com/coffeefortroops 

Dinesh D'Souza's "America"

We saw Dinesh D'Souza's movie America last night. It had great information and I learned things I didn't know before. I hope you get to see it.

Here's the trailer for the movie. I think you'll like it.

BEHIND

I'm behind in my blogging. Will try to catch up soon.

Have a good one.