The other morning I was just muddling along on the net. One of the first things that I do when I start the day is go over the small news items. This one that I had in mind was one of them. Strange really how so many times you see something and it jogs your mind. It had been plaguing me about what to write for the next blog, and there it was!
Quite a bit this last few months I have been more than a little disgruntled at what is shown on the TV nowadays, under the guise of entertainment.
They faithfully take your money each month for your cable hookup and then feed you all this junk and umpteenth time around programming.
If you get really lucky on a given weekend in particular; you will get a channel that reruns the same movie over and over, all day and night. Then in case you missed out that day, you might just be lucky enough to let them catch you again the following day.
My take on that is all they are using are tapes and they possibly don’t even employ anyone to work the weekends. God help if the tapes ran into trouble, and I believe a few years ago I saw one that did just that! Zonk!!
Does ‘Dinner & a movie!’ give you any clues? I have never seen anything so useless and stupid as D&M. Imagine if you will, getting comfortably settled into a movie when suddenly they switch, POOF! GONE!
To a bunch of nincompoops sitting around a kitchen table, who babble on for an indeterminate length of time about nothing intelligible.
Thus virtually and effectively wiping out any dregs of what the original movie was about, that your mind may have been lucky enough to retain.
I think you get the idea; who knows, you may even be unfortunate enough to have run that gambit before too.
Yep! Great entertainment I must say. Right.
This last Friday night we sat down to watch a little idiot box, when I noticed a movie coming up at 8pm. It wasn’t one of those big bonanza epics either.
This particular movie was “Witness for the prosecution” made in 1957 with Charles Loughton, Marlene Dietrich and Tyrone Power. That was a marvelous movie, a classic in my mind. Good old black & white movies.
Then I started remembering so many other classic movies over the years. Such as ‘Casablanca’ starring Humphrey Bogart, Ingrid Bergman and a whole list of stars. Oliver Twist, Tom Sawyer, Christmas Carol, with Alistair Sim Just to name a couple or so.
Then of course there were all those great musicals, Sound of Music, King & I, Westside Story, Carousel and on and on. You rarely see films of that nature these days. Those are what I call true classics. So many great stars of old; so where are such upcoming stars today? All I see most days are a bunch of generics playing a part with the odd name brand person thrown in.
My wife so far does not agree with me so I concede a little ground here.
So after the classics I guess you could find many a bunch that could be called pretty good movies. Epics kind of comes to mind, but even then, still not a true classic as in the term. Ten commandments, Robe, Ben Hur, I would even put the Magnificent Seven up there and who could ever forget the ‘Spaghetti westerns,’ Clint Eastwood.
I really have to look long and hard to find stars today who one would deem ‘Notable’, there could of course be the odd exception. Anthony Hopkins comes to mind with a few other honorable mentions.
Let me ask you, how many movies have you seen in recent years that you would give the label “A Classic”? One or two reasonable movies maybe, but a classic? Go ahead surprise me.
Now the TV entertainment, now there’s a nice title. Sitcoms, yuk what a word. I’m not going to delve too much into that area for obvious reasons, my time is too valuable to waste on the junk they call comedy.
Gone are the days of Carol Burnet, Bob Hope, Red Buttons, Jackie Gleason and good old Lucille Ball, now those were good shows with real comedians.
I now much prefer to watch the Brit shows these days, far superior programs. The nearest equivalent that I could concede here would of course be Seinfeld, maybe the odd Leno Show.
I will also pass on sports, too much has been messed up there already, you don’t really want my thoughts on that.
Nope I don’t have a great opinion of the entertainment stuff today. I get more entertainment when I go on the computer and write this junk! LOL
Tea’s up! C’ya
Monday, January 29, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
A Silhouette of Speculation?
Some dark and dreary night, a thunderstorm rages outdoors. The room is suddenly illuminated by the occasional flash of lightening, and an ominous clap of thunder almost jolts the little old lady out of her chair. The storm after raging for an hour, slowly moves on as it fades into the distant night. Things start to settle down again, slowly you start to drift off and your eyes heavy finally close. You wake with a start, it is pretty dark in the room now with the storm having gone.
The air is cool and clammy as the fire has long since died. ~
A pretty scary thought really. I wonder how many older people are out there on their own, maybe having experienced such a night scene. There no one near to help if they get into trouble of a medical kind.
Does anyone think about those kind of things? What about life after death?
I often think about what comes after life, what really does happen. Do we move on to another plateau or just remain here a pile of dust. There are many many people out there who steadfastly believe in a hereafter, I am one of them.
Having said that I sometimes sit and just speculate on what is going on in the World today and the obvious direction we all seem to be headed. Will there really be a doomsday, an Armageddon, will God allow such a thing to finally happen? I speculated, will somebody from outer space, another planet step in and bring us all to our senses before it is too late? ~
Recently I received an email showing just that. The correlation of the planets in the Universe. That once again set my mind to work thinking, not only about our galaxy but the universe as a whole. The result was nothing short of breathtaking. It showed images of our Solar System and the beyond right out into the universe proper. Initially we got to see the earth being the bigger of all the nine planets at that time, in our system, Then the nine compared to our Sun, followed by Sirius, Pollux then Arcturus. The earth at this scale was now invisible (of the map) because it was so small by comparison. The journey continues on for another four bodies out there, the biggest being Antares after Betelgeuse the second largest.
Arcturus, by now in comparison was down to the size of an orange pit.
Check this out, see what I mean.
http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_jul2006/AstronomyPerspective.htm
So now my question is, if God created so many wonders and there are some scientific types who will argue that point and perfectly so. Would he really let one of the Jewels (Earth) perish?
Well you might ask with so many Jewels in the universe, who would even miss one so small as Earth compared to all the giants! I guess that is an answer we will never know. My next statement then is pretty obvious, with no apparent answer to the question.
Don’t you feel then, that we should start to try to do something about saving our own World while we still may? If it isn’t too late already.
Nobody said it was easy or it could be done without sacrifice. Remove the need to have an answer to that original question.
Of course we most certainly have Global warming to contend with. It is here already and what are we, Nay what can we do about it? From what one sees today, too many people are busy counting their shekels to even care. They are so blind to all the possibilities, they just don’t get it! Come on! Wake up!
When will they realize that all the money in the World will do them no good if the World as we know it is a goner! Poof! Gone! Just like that and it can happen.
Yes most definitely, I worry and wonder about just where all this will end up.
One thing is ironic though. When one looks back through history at this wonderful World of ours, it makes me scratch my head. I see a World that has survived countless millions of years, having survived all kinds of disasters in that time. That’s if all we read is to be believed, and I see no reason not to.
Mankind as we know it today has really done a number on this planet in such a very short time, approximately 250 years. Technology? Progress? Poppycock is what I say, greed and avarice seem to be the driving force, like a runaway train. We now have to find the way to derail it! ~
The old lady picked up the cat, come on girl lets get ourselves to a nice bed.
A faint mew from the cat as off they went up the stairs. In the background there was still a faint but audible rumble as the storm went further on its way. ~
C'ya
The air is cool and clammy as the fire has long since died. ~
A pretty scary thought really. I wonder how many older people are out there on their own, maybe having experienced such a night scene. There no one near to help if they get into trouble of a medical kind.
Does anyone think about those kind of things? What about life after death?
I often think about what comes after life, what really does happen. Do we move on to another plateau or just remain here a pile of dust. There are many many people out there who steadfastly believe in a hereafter, I am one of them.
Having said that I sometimes sit and just speculate on what is going on in the World today and the obvious direction we all seem to be headed. Will there really be a doomsday, an Armageddon, will God allow such a thing to finally happen? I speculated, will somebody from outer space, another planet step in and bring us all to our senses before it is too late? ~
Recently I received an email showing just that. The correlation of the planets in the Universe. That once again set my mind to work thinking, not only about our galaxy but the universe as a whole. The result was nothing short of breathtaking. It showed images of our Solar System and the beyond right out into the universe proper. Initially we got to see the earth being the bigger of all the nine planets at that time, in our system, Then the nine compared to our Sun, followed by Sirius, Pollux then Arcturus. The earth at this scale was now invisible (of the map) because it was so small by comparison. The journey continues on for another four bodies out there, the biggest being Antares after Betelgeuse the second largest.
Arcturus, by now in comparison was down to the size of an orange pit.
Check this out, see what I mean.
http://www.joe-ks.com/archives_jul2006/AstronomyPerspective.htm
So now my question is, if God created so many wonders and there are some scientific types who will argue that point and perfectly so. Would he really let one of the Jewels (Earth) perish?
Well you might ask with so many Jewels in the universe, who would even miss one so small as Earth compared to all the giants! I guess that is an answer we will never know. My next statement then is pretty obvious, with no apparent answer to the question.
Don’t you feel then, that we should start to try to do something about saving our own World while we still may? If it isn’t too late already.
Nobody said it was easy or it could be done without sacrifice. Remove the need to have an answer to that original question.
Of course we most certainly have Global warming to contend with. It is here already and what are we, Nay what can we do about it? From what one sees today, too many people are busy counting their shekels to even care. They are so blind to all the possibilities, they just don’t get it! Come on! Wake up!
When will they realize that all the money in the World will do them no good if the World as we know it is a goner! Poof! Gone! Just like that and it can happen.
Yes most definitely, I worry and wonder about just where all this will end up.
One thing is ironic though. When one looks back through history at this wonderful World of ours, it makes me scratch my head. I see a World that has survived countless millions of years, having survived all kinds of disasters in that time. That’s if all we read is to be believed, and I see no reason not to.
Mankind as we know it today has really done a number on this planet in such a very short time, approximately 250 years. Technology? Progress? Poppycock is what I say, greed and avarice seem to be the driving force, like a runaway train. We now have to find the way to derail it! ~
The old lady picked up the cat, come on girl lets get ourselves to a nice bed.
A faint mew from the cat as off they went up the stairs. In the background there was still a faint but audible rumble as the storm went further on its way. ~
C'ya
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
SNOOPY
I don’t know what it was, that brought the thoughts to mind. The wife and I were just sitting around talking, and I was suddenly reminded of my three boys when they were so young. It started I’m sure when I had a little chuckle to myself out loud; the thought had come into my head and all of a sudden I burst out laughing. Of course Elizabeth asked what I was laughing at and I told her this true story.
It goes back to the time when my boys were quite young and of course, like all kids at that age they had just started into hockey. My boys were about a year and a half difference in ages; so that meant that they were involved in hockey in three different leagues. On top of that they also played at three different arenas.
Oh boy the traveling in those days. Sometimes they would all play on a Saturday, but at times two would play Saturday and one on a Sunday morning.
This particular Sunday morning my youngest was playing. To make matters worse, on Saturday night I had been to a party and wasn’t really in much of a state let alone a frame of mind for hockey.
So it was that at 5am Sunday morning I found myself being tugged out of bed by my young offspring, hockey bag at the ready! Dad! Dad! Come on get up!! We’ll be late for my game! He yelled in my ear, well I can tell you, I bit hard on my tongue! In that moment I was wishing he had taken up ‘Checkers" instead of hockey!
My groans fell on deaf ears as I got dressed and went downstairs mumbling something inaudible, looking out the window I groaned. It was snowing and blowing a real storm out there, but I knew we had to go, more groans.
Thank goodness I drove a big car in those days, for I knew we would need it to get through the snow and drifts. First I had to clear the driveway a bit, but after a while already frozen with the wind, we were loaded up and on our way. It was about 5 miles to the arena, and all being well I thought, we should make it in time.
After much cursing under my breath with the driving, for a couple of times we went into a wobble but straightened up avoiding the ditch. Finally we arrived at the arena and I delivered my son to his coach, phew! Now I could get a very much needed, cup of hot coffee!
At that age the kids being so small, they had to play their games on half - ice. This made it interesting, for under the league rules the coach or his manager had to be on the ice with the kids.
While I was waiting for my son’s game to start I found a seat and watched the game in progress, for there was still about 15 minutes to go in that game. Also, I was curious why there seemed to be so much noise and enthusiasm with the crowd at that particular game.
That’s when I saw him! The crowd were chanting ‘Snoopy!’.
Both the teams playing were made up of first year kids and many were very small kids, one in particular.
The minute I saw this kid I just cracked right up, in a nice way of course. This boy was so small, you couldn’t see his skates for his jersey came right down to the ice!
His stick had been cut down in size so that he could handle it. On top of that, he didn’t skate for he just walked across the ice and with great difficulty at that! So what happened when they had a face-off, the puck was dropped and then the coach would push the little kid up the ice and park him in front of the goal crease of the opposing team.
His instructions I found out later were ‘ Stay here and when the puck comes along, you hit it with your stick into the net!’ Pretty simple eh? Haha No!
The kid stood in front of that net for what seemed like forever I’m sure. Finally the puck did arrive right to the little kids stick!! Well, I tell you he got so excited, first he wobbled, then he fell over missing the puck altogether. That was when I saw he was actually wearing skates as his jersey flew up to his pants. The goalkeeper though got just as flustered and fell down as well, putting the puck into his own goal!
Well ‘Snoopy’, for that is what the crowd had christened him, went wild. Jumping up on his skates, he ran down the ice (not skated) yelling I scored, I scored! That was when he tripped over his jersey, and fell face down! Ha ha ha.
I don’t think he even knew he had fallen again, for he was so happy!
I swear I never saw anything so funny in my life, so you can see why ‘Snoopy’ was such a real crowd favorite.
Forgotten was that fact I had had to get out of bed so early and brave the weather, for I wouldn’t have missed that game for the world!
C'ya
It goes back to the time when my boys were quite young and of course, like all kids at that age they had just started into hockey. My boys were about a year and a half difference in ages; so that meant that they were involved in hockey in three different leagues. On top of that they also played at three different arenas.
Oh boy the traveling in those days. Sometimes they would all play on a Saturday, but at times two would play Saturday and one on a Sunday morning.
This particular Sunday morning my youngest was playing. To make matters worse, on Saturday night I had been to a party and wasn’t really in much of a state let alone a frame of mind for hockey.
So it was that at 5am Sunday morning I found myself being tugged out of bed by my young offspring, hockey bag at the ready! Dad! Dad! Come on get up!! We’ll be late for my game! He yelled in my ear, well I can tell you, I bit hard on my tongue! In that moment I was wishing he had taken up ‘Checkers" instead of hockey!
My groans fell on deaf ears as I got dressed and went downstairs mumbling something inaudible, looking out the window I groaned. It was snowing and blowing a real storm out there, but I knew we had to go, more groans.
Thank goodness I drove a big car in those days, for I knew we would need it to get through the snow and drifts. First I had to clear the driveway a bit, but after a while already frozen with the wind, we were loaded up and on our way. It was about 5 miles to the arena, and all being well I thought, we should make it in time.
After much cursing under my breath with the driving, for a couple of times we went into a wobble but straightened up avoiding the ditch. Finally we arrived at the arena and I delivered my son to his coach, phew! Now I could get a very much needed, cup of hot coffee!
At that age the kids being so small, they had to play their games on half - ice. This made it interesting, for under the league rules the coach or his manager had to be on the ice with the kids.
While I was waiting for my son’s game to start I found a seat and watched the game in progress, for there was still about 15 minutes to go in that game. Also, I was curious why there seemed to be so much noise and enthusiasm with the crowd at that particular game.
That’s when I saw him! The crowd were chanting ‘Snoopy!’.
Both the teams playing were made up of first year kids and many were very small kids, one in particular.
The minute I saw this kid I just cracked right up, in a nice way of course. This boy was so small, you couldn’t see his skates for his jersey came right down to the ice!
His stick had been cut down in size so that he could handle it. On top of that, he didn’t skate for he just walked across the ice and with great difficulty at that! So what happened when they had a face-off, the puck was dropped and then the coach would push the little kid up the ice and park him in front of the goal crease of the opposing team.
His instructions I found out later were ‘ Stay here and when the puck comes along, you hit it with your stick into the net!’ Pretty simple eh? Haha No!
The kid stood in front of that net for what seemed like forever I’m sure. Finally the puck did arrive right to the little kids stick!! Well, I tell you he got so excited, first he wobbled, then he fell over missing the puck altogether. That was when I saw he was actually wearing skates as his jersey flew up to his pants. The goalkeeper though got just as flustered and fell down as well, putting the puck into his own goal!
Well ‘Snoopy’, for that is what the crowd had christened him, went wild. Jumping up on his skates, he ran down the ice (not skated) yelling I scored, I scored! That was when he tripped over his jersey, and fell face down! Ha ha ha.
I don’t think he even knew he had fallen again, for he was so happy!
I swear I never saw anything so funny in my life, so you can see why ‘Snoopy’ was such a real crowd favorite.
Forgotten was that fact I had had to get out of bed so early and brave the weather, for I wouldn’t have missed that game for the world!
C'ya
Monday, January 22, 2007
Our Answering machine is Drunk!
Just a few weeks ago there was a sale at the local hardware store. This news itself is not a unique item however; in this case I really didn’t care about a sale at all, it was the wife.
You see they had these digital answering machines on at a good price!
The wife’s words.
Well it just so happens we already have two machines so I didn’t really see the need. Of course the wife had some convincing argument’s in her favor. The first being well the new one is digital and doesn’t need tapes, big smile of triumph on her face that stopped just short of a smirk, Ahem!
Well darling, didn’t we just buy a pile of tapes recently?
Well came the counter, we have nothing but trouble with that thing anyway and the messages always get lost.
Only Mother and my son are the messages we seem to get with any level of frequency and half the time he never even phones! A smile on my face this time, I am putting a good argument for the status quo, I lost that one.
The wife all eager said she’d even drive down and get it, oh well hanging my head to hide my grin. When a woman persists so strongly, you know that you lost the argument before you even start!
We end up with this new toy and she gets it all set up.
Two days go by no phone calls, so we improvise by going out and phoning in ourselves!
This part I really like, the little woman goes in to check the machine and the phone voice said “Ysou slhave sno mensiges. Silence reigns supreme as we both look at each other, dumbfounded, then not knowing whether to laugh or cry, I waiting for a clue from her, broke up laughing. My God its Drunk!!
After much discussion, we have decided to keep the machine, after all, how many people can boast a tipsy machine and not a drop passed its digit!
C’ya
You see they had these digital answering machines on at a good price!
The wife’s words.
Well it just so happens we already have two machines so I didn’t really see the need. Of course the wife had some convincing argument’s in her favor. The first being well the new one is digital and doesn’t need tapes, big smile of triumph on her face that stopped just short of a smirk, Ahem!
Well darling, didn’t we just buy a pile of tapes recently?
Well came the counter, we have nothing but trouble with that thing anyway and the messages always get lost.
Only Mother and my son are the messages we seem to get with any level of frequency and half the time he never even phones! A smile on my face this time, I am putting a good argument for the status quo, I lost that one.
The wife all eager said she’d even drive down and get it, oh well hanging my head to hide my grin. When a woman persists so strongly, you know that you lost the argument before you even start!
We end up with this new toy and she gets it all set up.
Two days go by no phone calls, so we improvise by going out and phoning in ourselves!
This part I really like, the little woman goes in to check the machine and the phone voice said “Ysou slhave sno mensiges. Silence reigns supreme as we both look at each other, dumbfounded, then not knowing whether to laugh or cry, I waiting for a clue from her, broke up laughing. My God its Drunk!!
After much discussion, we have decided to keep the machine, after all, how many people can boast a tipsy machine and not a drop passed its digit!
C’ya
Sunday, January 21, 2007
Little Willie
I was surfing yesterday when I came across a picture that jogged my memory. The picture in question was that of what they termed a one man tank. It looked more like a metal bubble that had bicycle training wheels attached to it. If the old guys could have seen that it would have raised a real chuckle.
Let me proceed by first saying the picture above is of a Regimental Military Cap badge representative of the British Army ‘Royal Armoured Corps‘, and worn by all soldiers of the RTR. (Royal Tank Regiment’s) The Tank in the badge is called ‘Willie’ and below you see a life size picture of the real tank as used in the 1st World War. 1914 - 1918
They can be seen at a Tank museum and that is where I had the opportunity to go inside a ‘Willie’ as well as many other old Tanks. Surely a site to see.
This also, are two ‘Willie’ tanks in action with the 10th Hussars. WW1 1917
This link gives you more tanks and information over the following years.
http://www.geocities.com/pentagon/quarters/1975/wwi_tank.htm
As the years went by, it was a realization that the tank was here to stay and would play a prominent part in any future conflicts. So it was that the move was on to improve on what they already had right up to today/s most modern armored equipment . Would you believe that in modern warfare, the forecast life of a tank in action was only 10 seconds beyond that you were deemed lucky to survive it seems.
I myself spent a number of years in the army and served in the Tank corp. The modern ‘baby’ that I had in those days was known as the ‘Centurion’ a very good tank of the day which was used for a number of years, only to be replaced at a later date by the ‘Chieftain’ .
Even in peacetime, training was always very extensive with ongoing maneuvers in mock battle warfare, sometimes for eight weeks at a time. Believe me on those occasions you didn’t get too much respite. Some of these maneuvers were conducted with N.A.T.O. and those were really like war games. Every kind of situations were applied including the air force jets, so you really had to keep your head down and under camouflage so as not to have your tank detected from the air. The planes would use flour-bag’s to represent a bomb; of course if you were hit, that was the end of you for that days encounter. I can say that in the years I took part in the War Games I only ever got plonked once, and we were under camouflage netting at the time.
A few years later in the ‘real thing’ in Korea, I was fortunate & stayed safe.
The British Centurion Tank, used in the 1950’s for a number of years. (my baby)
http://www.tankmuseum.co.uk/collection.html
http://michiganhistorymagazine.com/extra/tanks/developing_the_tank.html
Well folks let us hope it works this time. C'ya
Saturday, January 20, 2007
Dilemma
I have another entry all ready to go, however; I can't get into my own Blog, through my computer! I am working on it and hopefully the glitch will be sorted out by tomorrow. In the meantime, I am making this entry from my wife's computer which is on the same link as mine.
Differences are in the security system, mine has the current system by Nortons which insists on throwing out a risk cookie and blocking my signing in to this site. The other computer has an older version of Nortons that does not block my signing in. I am looking for a way to get my 'puter to allow my entry to this site. Any suggestions would be helpful, meantime I will transfer all the material over here, if all else fails.
Suggestions of how to get rich quick could also solve the problem! LOL . C'ya
Differences are in the security system, mine has the current system by Nortons which insists on throwing out a risk cookie and blocking my signing in to this site. The other computer has an older version of Nortons that does not block my signing in. I am looking for a way to get my 'puter to allow my entry to this site. Any suggestions would be helpful, meantime I will transfer all the material over here, if all else fails.
Suggestions of how to get rich quick could also solve the problem! LOL . C'ya
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Escapades
Today I would like to tell you a somewhat amusing story of the mother in law. This little old lady is quite prominent in our lives, and is in fact a holy terror just waiting to get loose! To top it all she is now 81yrs young and there is still no holding her down.
Mother is 5 foot nothing in stocking feet, slim and weighs in at 100lbs wet, a color of hair that changes like the weather and is just as unpredictable. She also appears like most little old ladies, as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. A sheer picture of innocence if you will, don’t let that fool you though. She is also as free as a bird, being a widow now for some little time. One of the things that really amazes me and I still have difficulty believing it, is where does she get all this get up and go. She has so much energy she can put most people half her age to shame.
Like a lot of women, she loves to go shopping and also likes to eat at the local fish & chip shop once in a while, especially if we are with her.
Don’t get me wrong though, for mother really does like her food and especially when she eats out. One of her favorite pastimes is restaurant hopping and good food with a glass of a reputable wine, she likes a dessert at times. However; she has this uncanny habit of being able to alienate everyone by complaining about the slightest thing I.E. Maybe she saw a spot on the flatware or table cloth, food not hot enough, you get the general idea.
We finally get to the point that when our food arrives we all end up, viewing it with suspicion. (Think about it!) This happens frequently and yet she seems nonplussed by it all, now we much prefer to eat at home! She also has this other insatiable appetite for men! No man is safe around her, heck one time we took her to ER for a dislocated finger and she put the hit on the doctor!
Another time we were out at a restaurant and Mother had this guy with her who she had dated for a little while. The problem with this trip was, they both are hard of hearing and yet they both have hearing aids and refuse to turn them up.
As a consequence all us are screaming at each other so as to be heard. So not only did we make a spectacle of ourselves, mom complained yet once again. As a result a sudden deathly silence descended, as the food arrived, for we were too scared to even look at it.
Let me tell you about her other favorite pastime. Mother is always on the lookout for a man and not just any man at that. This man must wine and dine her, take her to theatres, also on trips and most importantly know his way around the bedroom!
SHE’S 81!
It comes as no surprise that she nearly always scares the poor guys away before the romance even gets started. One of her first questions to the guy is, "do you need Viagra?" Or even at times sending them to the doctor to get a prescription for the Juicer! LOL
I almost fell off my chair the first time I heard that, and the expression on a guys face SHEER Panic! Take to the hills!! So then it’s on to the next guy. Once in a while we hear she has snared one and then, a few days later as he bites the dust, we get the call do we know any men on the internet? (please don’t email me!)
Then there was the time that she lost her drivers license. She had been in an accident and clipped a van before crashing through a grocery store plate glass window, then ended up in the eight items or less express checkout! Quite promptly the fire dept and police arrived, the fireman who was lifting her out of the car looked at her and said Aunt Vi !is that you? She said Clifford! And grinned like it was a family reunion. Wouldn’t you know it, she was unscathed.
It turns out that the van after being clipped, then hit a man pushing a shopping cart, who happened to have a heart condition, he was this only one to end up in the hospital.
The very next day, this sweet little old lady who wouldn’t even burn your toast showed up at the hospital, bearing flowers and get well gifts for fear it seems of being sued! He was not a happy camper!
One week later she was back at the grocery store IN DISGUISE would you believe, because she really liked that particular grocery store. The manager however; recognized her and gave her a bunch of 8X10 colour glossy photos that he had taken of the accident. She smiled demurely, accepting the evidence.
Later she would show them off as her “press clippings” along with the newspaper write up. Undaunted, she proceeded to try for her license again.
Get This! In seven different towns no less, until she was finally successful. Fortunately for the rest of the grocery stores and their patrons, the resulting hike in the insurance kept her from driving again.
Go get em Mother! We love ya! ……. C’ya
Mother is 5 foot nothing in stocking feet, slim and weighs in at 100lbs wet, a color of hair that changes like the weather and is just as unpredictable. She also appears like most little old ladies, as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth. A sheer picture of innocence if you will, don’t let that fool you though. She is also as free as a bird, being a widow now for some little time. One of the things that really amazes me and I still have difficulty believing it, is where does she get all this get up and go. She has so much energy she can put most people half her age to shame.
Like a lot of women, she loves to go shopping and also likes to eat at the local fish & chip shop once in a while, especially if we are with her.
Don’t get me wrong though, for mother really does like her food and especially when she eats out. One of her favorite pastimes is restaurant hopping and good food with a glass of a reputable wine, she likes a dessert at times. However; she has this uncanny habit of being able to alienate everyone by complaining about the slightest thing I.E. Maybe she saw a spot on the flatware or table cloth, food not hot enough, you get the general idea.
We finally get to the point that when our food arrives we all end up, viewing it with suspicion. (Think about it!) This happens frequently and yet she seems nonplussed by it all, now we much prefer to eat at home! She also has this other insatiable appetite for men! No man is safe around her, heck one time we took her to ER for a dislocated finger and she put the hit on the doctor!
Another time we were out at a restaurant and Mother had this guy with her who she had dated for a little while. The problem with this trip was, they both are hard of hearing and yet they both have hearing aids and refuse to turn them up.
As a consequence all us are screaming at each other so as to be heard. So not only did we make a spectacle of ourselves, mom complained yet once again. As a result a sudden deathly silence descended, as the food arrived, for we were too scared to even look at it.
Let me tell you about her other favorite pastime. Mother is always on the lookout for a man and not just any man at that. This man must wine and dine her, take her to theatres, also on trips and most importantly know his way around the bedroom!
SHE’S 81!
It comes as no surprise that she nearly always scares the poor guys away before the romance even gets started. One of her first questions to the guy is, "do you need Viagra?" Or even at times sending them to the doctor to get a prescription for the Juicer! LOL
I almost fell off my chair the first time I heard that, and the expression on a guys face SHEER Panic! Take to the hills!! So then it’s on to the next guy. Once in a while we hear she has snared one and then, a few days later as he bites the dust, we get the call do we know any men on the internet? (please don’t email me!)
Then there was the time that she lost her drivers license. She had been in an accident and clipped a van before crashing through a grocery store plate glass window, then ended up in the eight items or less express checkout! Quite promptly the fire dept and police arrived, the fireman who was lifting her out of the car looked at her and said Aunt Vi !is that you? She said Clifford! And grinned like it was a family reunion. Wouldn’t you know it, she was unscathed.
It turns out that the van after being clipped, then hit a man pushing a shopping cart, who happened to have a heart condition, he was this only one to end up in the hospital.
The very next day, this sweet little old lady who wouldn’t even burn your toast showed up at the hospital, bearing flowers and get well gifts for fear it seems of being sued! He was not a happy camper!
One week later she was back at the grocery store IN DISGUISE would you believe, because she really liked that particular grocery store. The manager however; recognized her and gave her a bunch of 8X10 colour glossy photos that he had taken of the accident. She smiled demurely, accepting the evidence.
Later she would show them off as her “press clippings” along with the newspaper write up. Undaunted, she proceeded to try for her license again.
Get This! In seven different towns no less, until she was finally successful. Fortunately for the rest of the grocery stores and their patrons, the resulting hike in the insurance kept her from driving again.
Go get em Mother! We love ya! ……. C’ya
Tuesday, January 16, 2007
Scattered Chatterlings
I don’t know where you live but here in snow and ice bound Canada, (most places) there are times when the weather really stinks. (can’t you tell I don’t like winter weather, getting older can do that to you.) Yesterday we were supposed to get out for some appointments but the ice and snow thing kept us in the house once again. Long before the day was out there were reports of all kinds of traffic accident situations, including a liquid oxygen truck which had overturned.~ Speaking of oxygen in my quest for oxygen, I have learned that the air we breathe only contains 21% of pure oxygen/02, whereas 10,000 years ago that number was at 38%. The rest of the air is nitrogen/N2.~
~The good part of being home, was that the wife made some very delicious muffins, even Tim Horton’s don’t bake them this good, take my word for it.
The wife can at times be a little devious; in the respect that she has a hard time getting me to eat any fruit and resorts to all kinds of tricks to have me ingest fruit of any kind. Whenever I bite into one of her muffins, it can get to be a quite an adventure, for I can rest assured that I will always find fruit of some kind or another. Today she used bananas and chopped up apple along with raisins, it actually tasted very good.~
Maybe today’s the day I get to make a pot of chili. ……. I do make good chili so don’t laugh.~
~Just when you thought you had got away from yesterday’s topic, here I am again with a bit of a follow up to COPD. The term COPD by the way is also an umbrella term for a variety of lung related respiratory ailments, among which are emphysema, bronchitis and asthma to name a couple of the more obvious ones.
It is only recently in this country at least, that the term COPD has started to be more in the news, this is a good thing. Different groups have been trying for so long now to draw more attention to this disease and the costs involved to treat it. It has been studied that if a patient will go through a rehab program, exercise, and also get some in class education it is most beneficial. This in most cases is followed up by a rehab drop in, whereby a patient can help themselves to retain the ground they have gained in rehab. In most cases this all interprets into fewer hospitalizations and or a lesser stay. Of course this in turn would reduce the burden of costs on the healthcare system. The government it appears, are just now coming round to this way of thinking and recognizing the benefits of such programs. Accordingly hopes are high for the future in the approach to the treatment of this disease.~
It is very important to note, that in spite of having gone through rehab and also attending the drop in once a week. The patient has to have a home routine in place and that includes lots of walking, plus exercise with a couple of small 3lb dumbbells and maybe a theraband or two for stretching exercises. So even though I woke up earlier this morning with all the usual COPD related things that have now become, a daily routine, I still had my program to follow later. Usually you wake up in the morning with a very dry mouth that tastes more like an old smoke filled railway tunnel that runs through a Lime Quarry. You are also very S.O.B. (No! not silly old birch!). S.O.B in COPD language means Short of breath, (very) a term that is heard a lot in COPD circles. This is also the biggest visible symptom of COPD.~
The usual routine each day is first to get some liquids inside of you, for me this is a good cup of hot strong tea. Then there is what feels like a never ending parade of pills and inhalers, all designed to open your airways so that you can breathe better with some degree of comfort. This whole process can take about an hour to finish, mostly it all depends on how quickly you can get the ‘Bellows’ working reasonably ok. Makes for a real exciting thing to look forward to I can tell you.~
Where we live, we have been very lucky to have a bit of a bird haven you might say. Last year was wonderful with so much activity going on and also a great variety of birds now pretty well resident here the year round. Of course we do feed them and make sure that they don’t go short of food through the winter months. What had been somewhat obvious lately were the absence of the Cardinals, Blue Jays and Woodpeckers.
Well all that changed this morning as they all showed up at differing times, accompanied by the ever present Chickadees and Sparrows.~
The winter this year is unlike any that I have ever seen, since I first came to this country forty one years ago. It has been so warm compared to the weather we normally get here, in the central part of the country.
So these species of birds being more the cooler weather types, just have not been around, while that warm spell was on.~
Today the weather outside today is quite cold, as winter seems to have finally arrived with a cold snap that is more indicative of the weather we expect each year.~
Well speaking of cold & warm~ Tea is up and it‘s time to start cooking!~ C’ya
~The good part of being home, was that the wife made some very delicious muffins, even Tim Horton’s don’t bake them this good, take my word for it.
The wife can at times be a little devious; in the respect that she has a hard time getting me to eat any fruit and resorts to all kinds of tricks to have me ingest fruit of any kind. Whenever I bite into one of her muffins, it can get to be a quite an adventure, for I can rest assured that I will always find fruit of some kind or another. Today she used bananas and chopped up apple along with raisins, it actually tasted very good.~
Maybe today’s the day I get to make a pot of chili. ……. I do make good chili so don’t laugh.~
~Just when you thought you had got away from yesterday’s topic, here I am again with a bit of a follow up to COPD. The term COPD by the way is also an umbrella term for a variety of lung related respiratory ailments, among which are emphysema, bronchitis and asthma to name a couple of the more obvious ones.
It is only recently in this country at least, that the term COPD has started to be more in the news, this is a good thing. Different groups have been trying for so long now to draw more attention to this disease and the costs involved to treat it. It has been studied that if a patient will go through a rehab program, exercise, and also get some in class education it is most beneficial. This in most cases is followed up by a rehab drop in, whereby a patient can help themselves to retain the ground they have gained in rehab. In most cases this all interprets into fewer hospitalizations and or a lesser stay. Of course this in turn would reduce the burden of costs on the healthcare system. The government it appears, are just now coming round to this way of thinking and recognizing the benefits of such programs. Accordingly hopes are high for the future in the approach to the treatment of this disease.~
It is very important to note, that in spite of having gone through rehab and also attending the drop in once a week. The patient has to have a home routine in place and that includes lots of walking, plus exercise with a couple of small 3lb dumbbells and maybe a theraband or two for stretching exercises. So even though I woke up earlier this morning with all the usual COPD related things that have now become, a daily routine, I still had my program to follow later. Usually you wake up in the morning with a very dry mouth that tastes more like an old smoke filled railway tunnel that runs through a Lime Quarry. You are also very S.O.B. (No! not silly old birch!). S.O.B in COPD language means Short of breath, (very) a term that is heard a lot in COPD circles. This is also the biggest visible symptom of COPD.~
The usual routine each day is first to get some liquids inside of you, for me this is a good cup of hot strong tea. Then there is what feels like a never ending parade of pills and inhalers, all designed to open your airways so that you can breathe better with some degree of comfort. This whole process can take about an hour to finish, mostly it all depends on how quickly you can get the ‘Bellows’ working reasonably ok. Makes for a real exciting thing to look forward to I can tell you.~
Where we live, we have been very lucky to have a bit of a bird haven you might say. Last year was wonderful with so much activity going on and also a great variety of birds now pretty well resident here the year round. Of course we do feed them and make sure that they don’t go short of food through the winter months. What had been somewhat obvious lately were the absence of the Cardinals, Blue Jays and Woodpeckers.
Well all that changed this morning as they all showed up at differing times, accompanied by the ever present Chickadees and Sparrows.~
The winter this year is unlike any that I have ever seen, since I first came to this country forty one years ago. It has been so warm compared to the weather we normally get here, in the central part of the country.
So these species of birds being more the cooler weather types, just have not been around, while that warm spell was on.~
Today the weather outside today is quite cold, as winter seems to have finally arrived with a cold snap that is more indicative of the weather we expect each year.~
Well speaking of cold & warm~ Tea is up and it‘s time to start cooking!~ C’ya
Monday, January 15, 2007
Breathe Easy
Today I decided that it is time to go the way of the times. That is try my hand at a little blogging? That sure is a funny term for anything however it seems it will suffice. So here we are with my opening words in this new venture for me.
When my wife first mentioned blogging to me I thought and said so, what the heck would I ever find to write about? But always the wise one she replied, you always find something to write and you are good at it. Well that remains to be seen when I eventually get around to reading whatever it is I end up writing.
What I usually do with my time because believe me all of it is spare. I usually spend most of the day sitting at the computer and going round the few threads/forums that I visit each day. Of course along the way I do my share of posts etc and the occasional bit of writing. In between times the wife keeps me amply supplied with tea and a variety of food to eat, I should weigh 300lbs, but thank goodness I don't!
I admit I am getting to like writing more and more and I need all the practice I can get, just don't check my punctuation it Suks! Most of my time in the past I have done some letter writing of which I have been told I excel again the jury is out on that one, I also like to try my hand at a little poetry, but I won't be showing that here. :)
I wonder how many of you folks have ever heard of COPD let alone know what it stands for? Well believe me you don't really want to go there unless it's in your cards that that's where you will end up.
COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
Statistics will tell you that it's all because of smoking and that you deserve what you get, at least there are some people that will say that. Of course thank goodness not all people are that way inclined. COPD can also be caused by industrial disease, pollution and all kinds of things that are alien to your natural bodily functions.Why am I talking about this subject right now? Well it is something to write about and it's about time someone did.
Most others are too busy sticking their head in the sand just in case this thing is going to cost them some money. Those kind of folks are usually the different levels of government and politicians, business's and even insurance companies I would dare say, in fact anyone who would have to foot the medical bills in order to treat this disease.
I talk this way because I am one of those people who has COPD and right now I am struggling as do others, to get some government help so I can get on oxygen that I along with many others need on an hourly basis in order to sustain a reasonable level of living.
You see this disease can be lived with. It is not, contrary to what some would have you think, a death sentence. In order to manage this monster the rules are fairly simple, eat properly, take your meds as instructed and most of all Exercise! If you follow what seems like simple steps then it is possible that you can extend your life a lot longer than you first expected you would when the Doc originally told you the sad news.
I recently had a good friend who also has this disease, experience what was almost his last exacerbation. This guy is just too good and talented to go just like that, thank goodness someone up there smiled on him…….. This time.
Statistics will also show that despite all the smokers in the world an amazing number of people don’t even know this killer is about. It turns out that now, today, COPD is the #4 killer disease in the world, does that surprise you at all?
Left unattended there is no doubt that this will progress to the point that we won’t have to worry too much about global warming, for diseases such as this will do the job anyway. More people need to be aware and more educated to the danger of ignoring what is going on around us, not only with COPD, for I just picked that one out today but there are a multitude of super bugs out there.
They may be small but one of these days they’re gonna gitcha! Now I need more tea! C’ya.
When my wife first mentioned blogging to me I thought and said so, what the heck would I ever find to write about? But always the wise one she replied, you always find something to write and you are good at it. Well that remains to be seen when I eventually get around to reading whatever it is I end up writing.
What I usually do with my time because believe me all of it is spare. I usually spend most of the day sitting at the computer and going round the few threads/forums that I visit each day. Of course along the way I do my share of posts etc and the occasional bit of writing. In between times the wife keeps me amply supplied with tea and a variety of food to eat, I should weigh 300lbs, but thank goodness I don't!
I admit I am getting to like writing more and more and I need all the practice I can get, just don't check my punctuation it Suks! Most of my time in the past I have done some letter writing of which I have been told I excel again the jury is out on that one, I also like to try my hand at a little poetry, but I won't be showing that here. :)
I wonder how many of you folks have ever heard of COPD let alone know what it stands for? Well believe me you don't really want to go there unless it's in your cards that that's where you will end up.
COPD stands for Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease.
Statistics will tell you that it's all because of smoking and that you deserve what you get, at least there are some people that will say that. Of course thank goodness not all people are that way inclined. COPD can also be caused by industrial disease, pollution and all kinds of things that are alien to your natural bodily functions.Why am I talking about this subject right now? Well it is something to write about and it's about time someone did.
Most others are too busy sticking their head in the sand just in case this thing is going to cost them some money. Those kind of folks are usually the different levels of government and politicians, business's and even insurance companies I would dare say, in fact anyone who would have to foot the medical bills in order to treat this disease.
I talk this way because I am one of those people who has COPD and right now I am struggling as do others, to get some government help so I can get on oxygen that I along with many others need on an hourly basis in order to sustain a reasonable level of living.
You see this disease can be lived with. It is not, contrary to what some would have you think, a death sentence. In order to manage this monster the rules are fairly simple, eat properly, take your meds as instructed and most of all Exercise! If you follow what seems like simple steps then it is possible that you can extend your life a lot longer than you first expected you would when the Doc originally told you the sad news.
I recently had a good friend who also has this disease, experience what was almost his last exacerbation. This guy is just too good and talented to go just like that, thank goodness someone up there smiled on him…….. This time.
Statistics will also show that despite all the smokers in the world an amazing number of people don’t even know this killer is about. It turns out that now, today, COPD is the #4 killer disease in the world, does that surprise you at all?
Left unattended there is no doubt that this will progress to the point that we won’t have to worry too much about global warming, for diseases such as this will do the job anyway. More people need to be aware and more educated to the danger of ignoring what is going on around us, not only with COPD, for I just picked that one out today but there are a multitude of super bugs out there.
They may be small but one of these days they’re gonna gitcha! Now I need more tea! C’ya.
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