Old New Year.

In a few days a New Year. My old year memories are kind of few. My daughter had a son so a new grandson for me. I went swimming at the YMCA and a little kid dropped a floater or two in the pool and it had to be closed. My friends dog got really hyper and ended up on puppy Prozac. I got a new radiator for my car. Had some great rides on my motorcycle and kept up my little blog for another year. All my friends remained healthy and so did my family. So it was a pretty good year. How was your year? If you have any interesting comments or stories feel free to leave them. Have a good and safe New Year and thanks for stopping by. What the heck, have a hug too!

Tis the Season!

There are a lot of holidays this time of year. I am a Christmas guy. What holiday are you? Just be sure to have a safe and happy one!!!!

How a pet chooses you.

I noticed a few people talking about getting a pet for Christmas. I was just wondering do we choose pets or do they choose us? A friend of mine was in her yard in the country. She noticed a bird that was near her. They made friends with each other and now the bird goes for drives with her in her car. Another friend of mine went outside one day and found a cat on her porch. Now the cat comes by every day and sometimes goes into her house checks it out. The cat stays until it gets bored goes back out and comes back around when it feels like. Sure many people go to pet stores and browse around until they find the pet that fancies them. I just wonder who sees who first and just what is it about the pet that makes the bond. I hear many stories that the pet does something that attracts the pet seekers attention and then bam, instant love and the pet is on the way to a new home. Do you have any pet stories?

Just wondering.

Why do you think what you think when you think it? I was lying in bed and my mind was like a rock skipping on the water of a pond. I kept switching from thought to thought and had no real reason why or how. I was just random thinking and letting my mind go freely where it wanted. I thought of my grandchildren, about a friend I just emailed, about animals and pets I encountered. I had ambient music playing while I was resting. I wonder if that had anything to do with it. My mind did feel like it was flowing with the music. Yet. I was very relaxed. Then at the height of my mental channel switching, I had an urge to relieve myself of some water that had gathered in my body and needed to be voided. I am getting older and that need to pee can get very irksome and frequent. So I had to stop my free flowing thoughts and let flow a body function. I then decided to turn on my computer, check my emails, surf a little and ended up writing this stuff down. I am looking forward to thinking of thinking what I was thinking and think about it some more. Have you ever had an enjoyable thought wandering experience?

Deck the Porch with burned out light bulbs.

I was hand picked to help my neighbor put up his Christmas lights. That wonderful idea that someone thought up years ago. We did all the traditional light hanging things. We had the traditional cursing of the tangled lights. The plugging in of the numerous extension cords. We had the falling out of decorations from the old box they were packed in. His wife participated in the, "It still looks crooked to me." chant." His dog was full of the, "lets chew on and drag around whatever I can get my teeth into festivities". It was fun playing the replacing the burned out light bulb game and the removing of old tape and tinsel tradition. The end result was, after the swapping of the bitch and bastard arguments, some heart warming gushing aaahhhhs and oooohhhs, and some hot chocolate and coffee. Plus the warmth of the Christmas spirit beginning to take shape. Do you get to enjoy this wonderful yearly event?

New Beginnings Again!

My daughter was looking for something to do on Saturday Nov. 22. so she decided to have a 9 lb. plus baby boy and name him Alexander. His two sisters and one brother were happy about the birth and so was the new dad. I also got an email from my sister stating that everyone was well and that, "Jane, not her real name, was in the shower and everything was A-OK down there". I thought that was some strange information and still cannot figure exactly what it is she was trying to say. It is important to recheck what you write in those emails before you hit that send button. Did you ever send an email and wish you had rechecked it first?

Its been awhile.

I have not been blogging for awhile. I have been a little lazy and was involved in the Presidential election. Now that it is over I can hopefully go back to a little blog once or so a week. I have had a little winter writers bock, to tell the truth. What has gotten my attention is that new babies are being born and are being named Barack or Obama or Barack Obama. Not too many went for the Hussane, Hussine, Hussyaine, Hussaine, or however you spell it part. I also learned that some women in their sixties, my sister, have gone and have had their hair done to look like Hillary Clinton. The Sarah Palin glasses are still big I hear and the Joe Biden hair plugs are big but not as big as I had originally thought. Nobody is mimicking McCain at all but that seems to be no surprise. It is amazing how things and people effect our country after an election. Has the election effected you at all?

Happy Halloween

This has been a bummer year in my neighborhood for Halloween. I talked to a few of my neighbors and they said that they only got one or two trick or treaters. Myself I got one knock on my door. It was a drunk person looking for the guy next door. He was so out of it he thought I was visiting his friend. There was not one trick played on my block. No toilet paper was strung and that was OK, but a little sad. The most action I saw were the grocery store guys collecting all the grocery baskets, that were stolen from the store, that were used by the older people to bring home their groceries. Is it because people are afraid to go to houses? I noticed a lot of parties on the local news where kids went. It just seems that this trick or treat thing is losing popularity. How about your area did you have a lot of little visitors in strange costumes?

Norman Rockwell what have you done?

I was watching the "Daily Show" and found out that if you are from a small town then that is the only way you can be considered American. "Real America" is a Norman Rockwell painting and larger cities like NY, Los Angeles or even Philadelphia are too big to be considered American. Which is pretty sad because most of these larger cities have baseball and football teams that I enjoy watching. Philadelphia for example will even be in the World Series which may now be considered as a Communist thing. Things change. Before this presidential election we had Republicans and Democrats. Now our country is divided into American and Un-American parts. Maybe we should not have these elections if it tears the country so apart. I think we should just have the Republicans have a president for four years then the Democrats have their four years the next term. Keep doing that and everybody should be happy. Of course there are the other political parties and to make it fairer they could be the vice-presidents. I just do not like all this negative stuff that goes on during these elections. What about you? Any ideas?

Just another day

It was my birthday on the 11th. I could not get excited on becoming 56. I like the every ten year birthdays. My friends and family remembered and I got cards and presents and stuff. It just was not an exciting day. What was special was having coffee with my friends and having a visit and sharing some laughs. That was the best present. My daughter lives in NC so having her so far away way was kind of sad but she is expecting a baby in November and that has me pretty excited. Grandchild number 4. That is something to celebrate. My favorite College football team, Penn State won their game on my birthday. That was pretty neat. I like it when my grandchildren and daughter have their birthdays. I seem to enjoy that more. It must have something to do with age. Becoming 18 then 21 was something to celebrate. As I become older I still enjoy the cake and ice cream but the actual aging just is not as much fun. What birthdays do you look forward to?

Spinning Pennies.

When I was young I use to spin pennies. I liked they way they moved around and looked orb and planet like when they spun. Sometimes they would stay in one place and other times they would travel away and make erratic journeys as they spun. Today pennies are not worth much but still spin pretty good. Rich people spin bigger things like quarters, half dollars, dollars, stocks and bonds and now billions and billions of dollars all at once. Trouble is when they stop spinning and fall down, they fall down pretty hard. I don't mind spinning my own pennies but I am a little skeptical when other people spin my money. How about you?

No Trespassing without permission.

Sometimes things are not what they seem and what they seem is far from what they really are. I am reading a book on how to improve my thinking. It is called. "The Feeling Good Handbook," by David D. Burns MD. The book kind of reminds me of a Rodney Dangerfield story. Rodney went to a psychiatrist and told him, "Doc everybody hates me." The doctor in turn told Rodney that that was impossible because not everybody had met Rodney. What I am learning is that I have a lot of those all or nothing thoughts too. I also found out that I procrastinate because I put things off. The book says to write down why you put things off and write down specific examples like, cleaning my apartment. So I did. My apartment is still not clean but I have a great list written down why it isn't. Changing one's thinking from negative to positive thoughts is harder than it sounds. I once was a positive person but as I am older I became more negative. This book did help and I do feel better and my bad moods do not last as long. It amazes me that with a little common sense life can be good. How is your thinking? How has it changed as you became older and what experiences changed it?

Books for all!

My friends granddaughter came home from school and was very excited. She went to the library for the first time in her life and was all happy that she got "free" books to take home. My friend tried to explain to her that she would have to "return" the books after she read them. "But they just gave them to me for free," she insisted. "They came up in a big bus and we got on it and got to pick out these free books," she explained. I like the way children think sometimes. Why can't we keep books from the library? Why do we have to have money at all? Why aren't things just free? How come Santa Clause and the Easter Bunny give out free stuff? What is wrong with those Librarians that they can't? That is all I got. It is just one of those precious moments that I experienced which brought a little smile and wonderment into my life. If you have children I am sure you have many stories like this. Feel free to share if you have them.

Oh that day again.

It's the end of the world as we know it. Rain upon my window pane. The little white cloud that cried. The beat goes on. It's a small world. Where have all the flowers gone. Sometimes there are those days that come around that remind me of sadness. Reaching out my arms and pulling in great hugs help. Listening to the Grateful Dead and remembering there really is still lots of love in the world. Breathing my next breath slowly. Letting breezes softly caress me then pass me by. It is all there still living. Music. Laughing. Some people swim in tears. I was not going to write about this day again. I did. Ghosts of dead relatives, friends and strangers swirl about and linger for awhile. They do not stay as long as they once did. I lost no one but died with many. Some days skipping rocks on the water can be soothing. What do you do on these sad days?

Up Up to the Sky

My friend is learning to fly and she asked me if I wanted to come along for the ride. I said sure. We went to the airport and before we took off I noticed an airplane I saw on the news the day before. This plane had crashed and was sitting there all bent; looking crashed and next to the plane we were to fly in. I kept looking at it as we passed it when we were taking off. We flew around for an hour and it seemed fine to me. I found out later there was a headset I was suppose to wear but I did not put it on. I did notice that she was talking quite a bit to the co-pilot on the headsets they were wearing but did not think much of it. We landed and on the way home she turned to me and said, "Boy did you see how close we came to that mountain?" I drank a lot of coffee when I got home which is a bad thing to do to try to calm oneself down. So now I am sitting here drinking a big milkshake. I feel better and am not shaking as much.

Ice Creamed

It is the end of summer and my favorite ice cream places are closing for the season. I love getting on my motorcycle and going riding with my friends. What we always end up doing is going to get some ice cream before the ride ends. As I was sitting here I began to think, "If I were an ice cream flavor what flavor would I be?" That opened a lot of doors for me because I love a lot of flavors. I decided that I would be a berry ice cream because I like strawberry, rasberry or any kind of berry ice cream. If I went with my personality I would make sure there would be lots and lots of nuts with my ice cream because people say that I am a little nuts in real life. What flavor ice cream would you be?

Big Stuff

I belong to Sam's Club. What that means is I can buy large quantities of food stuff all in one shopping trip. I live alone and this is not a good thing for me to do because I have been watching my waistline. Grow. I was going to the YMCA to swim, but the day before a little child decided to potty in the pool. I have not been able to bring myself to get back into the pool. So, off I went to Sam's. I think I did pretty good. I bought a bunch of steaks and took them home and wrapped the 24 of them up individually and put them in the freezer. The 3 for one pizza, not so good; because it added up to a dozen. The cookies, well 12 out of 36 of them were oatmeal and I think oatmeal is good. The Hot Pockets should be good for breakfast from now until October. Then I ended this little shopping spree by getting Gatorade. That was OK but it was a little tight putting all 52 bottles in my refrigerator. Do you belong to one of those wholesale food clubs? I guess they are good for a large family but for me, well I may have to rethink my membership.

Insight to incite

How much insight is one suppose to have? I know if a woman has a handsome man in her sights or a man has a beautiful woman in his sight sex can happen. Or take a hunter for instance. He is out hunting and gets an animal in his sights. Death can be pretty insightful for the unlucky animal or the lucky hunter. Then there is the insight that can incite. An athlete has a gold medal in his or her sight and this could incite a race that breaks a record. A politician or just any Ole person has an idea and incites the people with that insight and a law is made or a riot can occur. Now if you are reading this and you sit back and say to yourself, " Oh! I see". That is some kind of insight that incited your imagination, brain, synapses or just gave you a headache. Science has a lot of insight and changes occur. An artist has an insight and a picture or an artsy thing is birthed. Religion has insight and we usually end up with prayer or a war. Insight to incite or incite to insight what is it? So here I sit at the insight crossroad. Do I keep on thinking or do I have an alcoholic beverage and just call it a day? Have you had any insightful insights that incited you lately?

Onward memories!

Where do memories go after one dies? I guess they go to the living. When someone dies we remember them and the things they did when they were alive. I guess the deceased have memories because ghosts are reported being all over the place doing all kind of dead things. History is a bunch of memories that people remember and write down. Blogs and stuff on the Internet are written down and if someone reads them they become memories and add to the history of the Internet. Then there are the memories we just cannot get rid of. Like the time I walked into my 80 year old aunts house and she was standing in the kitchen topless with nothing on but her apron. I got sick on the tree outside her home. That memory still haunts me in a different historical way. That is one memory that can die with me, no problem. I am watching the Olympics on television. I was enjoying it until that memory of my aunt popped up. So I decided to write this blog but that did not help either. Ever have a haunting historical memory in your life?

Old Song Memories

What is in a song? Words, music, a beat. Memories also come to mind. Do you have a favorite song? I seem to have many of them. Love songs that remind me of past relationships. Songs that remind me of certain events in my life like a graduation, or a friendship song or just a tune that mellows me and brings good memories of past stuff. Sometimes I make up songs and sing them to myself. They will never be top ten hits or make the charts but; I have fun singing them. Do you ever make up songs and sing to yourself or is this just a Chumly thing? If you are a song writer then I can understand that. Just to be a person walking around singing to yourself and being happy that is something different. Now if you are on medication and do this what kind of medication are you on and can I buy some? Then there are those songs that remain in my head for days and I keep singing them over and over. We all have music in us it seems. It is a good thing I think. Life is good with music in it. What do you think?

Friendship

I think friendships are a little different when they are between men, then friendships that are between women. Men tend to make fun of or "bust" each other. Like today I am a wuss. My friends wanted me to go motorcycling with them but I had to refuse. I had a few reasons; all of which were not good enough but I did not go for the ride with my friends. Well, they went and it rained on them. So now I am a wuss. A dry wuss, but a wuss nevertheless because I did not go and get rained on. It is taken in a comical light and we all are having a good laugh at my expense. Now women on the other hand, I do not know how they "bust" each other or if they make fun of each other at all. I hear women are "catty" and I am not sure what exactly that means. I have 5 older sisters and I can not really recall how they made fun of each other or if they did at all. So they question is do women make fun of each other and poke fun at each other at certain times? Let me know. That way if I do make fun of a woman I will do it correctly and not get punched, which come to think of it, my sisters did punch me from time to time when I tried to be funny.

Sometimes

Did you ever want to go left and end up going right? Sometimes I go straight or forward and end up going backward. Then there are the times I have to make a decision and make the wrong one. Once in awhile I do get it right and go left when I am suppose to; and go forward to win. Life is funny like that.

I am sitting here trying to write something profound but all I keep doing is getting into the dance music I am listening to. I want to dance. Why do I think I should write something of importance anyway? Who the heck do I think I am? I guess I am looking for attention and a few comments on my blog here. But why?

Maybe I am going right when I should be going left right now. Who really cares where I end up anyway? Sometimes I care and sometimes I do not. I guess we are all like that once in awhile. Sometimes we want to be profound and sometimes we just want to dance. How about you? Do you feel profound or would you be better off profoundly dancing? Whatever! Have a hug and a twirl.

Laundry

At one time in my life I looked forward to doing my laundry. I was married and would try to help my wife do the laundry. She did not like the way I did it. Something about separating special clothes for special washing. After my daughter graduated high school my wife went South and I stayed North. I got my own home and my own washer and drier. I was in heaven. I liked using those machines that were previously banned to me. Now I am older and because of my health I had to get a small efficiency apartment that is not efficient in the laundry department. My apartment is too small for laundry facilities. I forgot how spoiled I was with my own stuff. Going out to do laundry really sucks. When I was in the military I was on a ship and we put all our laundry in these bags and hoped we got them back with all the same clothes we sent out to be cleaned. That was interesting and made me appreciate my own cleaning machines. My friends just got a new washer and drier and made a special room for them and call it a "laundry room". I was at their home when they did their first laundry tryout. They have the Whirlpool Duet ones and they are big, really run quiet and are just awesome.

I am just laundry rambling now. It is true you do not know what you got until it's gone. In this case it is called laundry facilities. So if you hate doing laundry give me a call I'll be happy to help. Heck, I'll even bring coffee or refreshments while we wait for the drier to do its thing.

Holiday

Just what is a holiday? Why do humans need them? Why don't squirrels or dogs or cats or any other animals have holidays? What makes a holiday? Is there pressure for people to have the perfect BBQ or party on a holiday? What happens when it rains, or the fireworks fizzle or your husband or wife is acting grumpy? Does you family get together and have fun or is there a holiday fight that occurs? America has the 4Th of July, Canada has the 1st of July and all countries have their holiday day. I like holidays. I get the day off. Not all people get the holiday off. Which is kind of unfair. Then again not all people celebrate holidays and just see these days as just another day. Yet! For some reason we humans have to have them. Holidays happen in Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. Some are more popular than others and some are more important than others. It depends on your holiday mood, I guess. That is all I have. I hope you have at least one holiday a year you enjoy. What is your favorite one and what one could you do without? Do we have enough or could we use more? What do you think?

Roominations or Ruminations

I was just sitting here listening to some really really really mellow music and just thinking. I was thinking that being special isn't so bad. Then I thought about being in a special classroom; full of special students is kind of something especially different. Yet. We, most of us, want to be special. Loved and respected. I like sitting next to a certain special child in church. He has Downs Syndrome but sings great and has a great smile when we come to the, "offer each other a sign of peace," moment in church. So being special is special in a special sort of way, I guess. Being special is especially strange when someone is special in a crowd of normal people that want to be special in a different way. Of course if you get caught driving drunk and the policeman tells you that drinking and driving will bring you a special trip to a special cell. That is one special experience you may not desire. Then there is special stuff like, special food, special feelings, special gifts, and special days. Which makes me wonder. What is special to you?

Hot Pockets

I have become addicted to Hot Pockets. They are these little food treats you throw into the micro wave and feast on. It was an accident. I went into the grocery store one day and when I was leaving I got a coupon for Hot Pockets with my receipt.
So the next time I went to the grocery store I used my coupon and got the Hot Pockets. When I got my next receipt, low and behold, I got another Hot Pocket coupon. Then again on my next grocery trip I got some more Hot Pockets and believe it or not, another Hot Pocket coupon. This has happened over 6 times now. I buy the Hot Pockets and wonder if it will happen again and I wonder, "Will I get that coupon". Will I continue to eat Hot Pockets or will I have to join Hot Pockets Anonymous to wean myself off of them. I anxiously wait for the receipt and beads of sweat appear on my forehead. Will I get another Hot Pocket coupon? Yessss! My Hot Pocket luck continues.

Well that is my Hot Pocket story. Do you use coupons? What is your favorite one?

Stop and Think

Sometimes I just stop and think. I started thinking about all my friends that had died due to heart attacks or cancer. I recently heard of a friend that was going to the doctors and felt sick to her stomach. She told her husband she was tired of feeling sick and decided to lay down and cancel the doctor's appointment. She died later that night. We recently saw on he news that Tim Russert passed away due to a heart attack. I guess we just never really know when our number will be up. I knew a person who was a millionaire. He owned his own factory, flew an airplane, loved his family and had lots of friends. Then after a lot of nagging he finally went to his doctor for checkup. He was always too busy for doctors and even though he was feeling not so good, he kept putting the doctors visit off. Well, unfortunately, he had cancer. If he had gone to see the doctor earlier he could have been saved. He died within six months. I am 55 now and it seems this is the beginning of the end of some of my friends, and one day me. I am reflecting on how much I aged and how closer I have come to that grim reaper.

Then I am shaken out of my thoughts. The number 73 has been called from the person behind the deli counter. I acknowledge I have that number and order my cold cuts, then continue shopping. My mind now is thinking about something else as I go on my way.

What do you think about when you are waiting for your number to be called while you are standing in the deli line?

OK

I was given this to read and I thought it was OK.

If you can accept that you are not OKAY.

Then, maybe, you can stop trying to prove that you are O.K.

If you can stop trying to prove that you are OKAY. Then,

you can get that it is O.K.,

Not to be OK.

If you can get that it is OKAY not to be O.K. Then,

You can get that you are OK just the way you are.

So you are OKAY. O.K.!

OK.

Just another day

It was a day to reach out, spread my arms and give the day a hug. I had a couple of chili hot dogs with a cool root beer ice cream soda. I got to help my friend rip out a wall and build a space to put in a washer and dryer for his wife. I climbed on my motorcycle and drove all the back country roads I could find. I waved to the cows and they swished their tails in reply. I heard a wonderful song on the INTERNET Jason Mraz-I'm Yours and played it a few times because it was so good. I got to write a email to my daughter just to tell her she was special and the grandchildren too. What the heck even her husband got a email hug. Yep! It has been one of those days. Ever have one? I hope you have bouquets of them.

Proud Parent

My daughter lives in NC and I live in Pennsylvania. She is an Art Teacher and was voted Teacher of the Year where she is at. I am a pretty proud parent. She has 3 children with a 4th on the way. To celebrate her award she is taking her kids and going for ice cream. That is the problem with living so far away. I do not get to go for those celebratory ice cream trips. With the way the economy is a lot of parents and their children have to put up with being long distance families. With the gas prices the way they are it will be difficult for travel also. I usually do a 2 week summer trip and she and her family come in for Christmas. It will be difficult to do this year. Still, there are those great phone calls and thank goodness for email. What I am thinking is that we enjoy family time when we can and we try always to be supportive no matter how many miles are between us. So love your family as much and as long as you can. Maybe I can't go for that ice cream trip but I can have a milkshake and toast her award just where I am. If you have any proud parent stories let me know I would love to hear them.

Depression

I met a man today that was a former Minister and he said he was depressed because his son was serving a life time sentence in Prison. I thought that was a good reason to be a little depressed. Then I thought about depression in general. Usually depression is something to be avoided but it does rear its ugly head from time to time. So I thought about things that make me depressed. I'd like to tell you what they are but it is depressing and why should I ruin your day. That is the one aspect of life I wish we could all avoid but there it is. How do we deal with it? Some people say to not dwell on the depression and try to turn your negative thoughts into positive ones. That is hard to do sometimes, unless ice cream is involved. Death and depression seem to be inter-related too. Not too many people say, "I heard that Jim just died, isn't that great. I feel so happy!" Usually it is a sad thing that happened to Jim. Depression depends on how severe the bad news is I guess. A little sad depression is like a bump in life. A really bad depression could be sort of a really deep cliff. Hopefully your depression periods are not so bad. If they are I have a hug for you. How do you deal with those depressive times in your life?

May I?

I noticed it was May today. I have not been watching the calender and I have not been blogging, as a matter of fact I have not been doing much but enjoying these beautiful May days. The sunshine has drawn me out and I have been riding my motorcycle, despite those bugs, and the little ice cream shops have reopened. This year I like coffee flavored ice cream for some reason. There is a great iced coffee with a swirl of vanilla ice cream that stands in the middle of this liquid delight. I am on my second buy 10 get one free card. It is nice to stand in line in the sunshine and meet other people that crave the ice cream cone. There were two little children at one spot that also enjoyed the outside coin operated kiddy rides. I smiled because they seemed to enjoy the motorcycle the most and I had arrived riding my little Harley. So what flavor ice cream do you like on these fine May days? Do you like the cones or do you like the milk shakes or sundaes or just any ice cream treat that happens to be your moment of ice cream dream.

Gnat-sty or Nasty

Went for a ride on my motorcycle with my friends today. There must have been a bug hatch or something because we filled our windshields, hair, faces, pants and any other exposed part of our bikes and bodies with gnats. Little black ones. Then the adult bugs started to attach themselves to our windshields too. I noticed other cars using their windshield washers/wipers and it was a clean sunny day with no rain. I wonder what they were cleaning off their windshields? Such are the simple pleasures of spring time Sunday rides.

I got home and washed and debugged my hair and stuff and now I am wallowing in that nice after bath/shower feeling. What did you do today?

Decades Past

I have lived thru a few decades. I was born in the 50's and the music was Elvis and Rock and Roll. Then I experienced the 60's as a teenager and the world was Beatles, and Death of American Hero's. I drifted thru the 70's and marched to military music and danced a few disco nights away. The 80's was my party decade and the 90's my hangover and recovery years. Then the decades became lost and drifted away from me. I watched terrorism seed itself then creep past me. I crossed the universe of my life and worried about how hair spray was good for my hair but troubling in the atmosphere. My life was always underlined by those damn wars. World War I and especially the World of War II. My parents faced a world of destruction and I faced a rebirth of ideas and what shall we do with the freedom just won? Today I enjoy a daughter and grandchildren and wonder how their decades will define them. Some children died in past decades, Vietnam, Korea, Desert Storm and we are still left in shock and awe. Now Hillary the hippie, McCain the veteran and segregated Obama have risen up with me in these past decades. They represent my past in three different ways leading to one present road. So then, how did the decades shape you?

Visiting

Sometimes I like to sit down with a nice tea or coffee drink, maybe even a juice or something else. Anyway, I put on some music and just visit other blogs. I like the ones with pictures of nature and those family blogs with funny pictures of children in loving blogger families. I get frustrated when I hit a blog written in another language. I wish I could speak all languages. I seem to get most of them because of that strange universal language which I cannot explain but sometimes understand. What I mean is the pictures always tell a story no matter what the language. I also get opinions and learn a great deal about what people are doing, especially in the art world when pictures and crafts are displayed. So if you get a strange comment from someone named Chumly. It is just me visiting and saying hello.

Dancing

Dancing is a nice thing to do. Holding someone in a snuggly waltz. Prancing around in a Polka or fancy step dance. Even the funny dances they do at weddings can be a parcel of fun. I am not a dancing with the stars watcher. I just like to get out once in awhile and have fun with my feet. I am not the best, nor worst dancer in the world. I will get up and enjoy the moment, the music and the high I get from tripping the light fantastic. I can do other dances too. Like the dance I dance when trying to get out of a bid situation or the bathroom dance when the time and feeling hits. Sometimes my mind is full of dancing thoughts that jitterbug, fox trot and sometimes disco in my thinking self. Ah! The joy of twirling on the dance floor is the cloud nine I enjoy from time to time. Some people are self conscious and will not dance. I think that is a pity. Don't waste the waist of a dancing partner, I say. Sometimes I don't even need a partner and just dance by myself when the mood hits. When was the last time you danced?

Honestly!

What if the world was as honest as our children? What if adults crossed over to adulthood with the inability to be dishonest?

My friends very young granddaughter came to visit him and entered the house by telling us that her armpits smelled. Maybe it was a little too much information for us, but to her it was a very honest and straightforward statement; which was of great concern to her.

As adults we always tell children to be honest and tell the truth, so how could we respond to her honesty? Well, we laughed and acknowledged her concern by giving her comfort that she was still loved, smelly armpits and all.

When did adults stop acknowledging that their armpits were smelly? When does the truth become so dangerous that lying has become a more acceptable port in lifes storms? Politicians lie and we accept it. The ads on TV are so bizarre and fabricated we know they are mostly lies. Yet! We buy the products. Lovers lie about their affairs so much we amuse ourselves by watching soap operas.

I am not trying to change the world just acknowledge that from time to time my armpits smell too! How about yours?

Lotta stuff!

There is so much to write about and I know where to begin. I went out Easter shopping today. I have 3 grandchildren and three other little friends that are grandchildren of my friends. I was going to buy them candy. I went to the candy stores that make homemade candies and had a ball getting all those chocolate rabbits and eggs. When I got home with them I decided that maybe candy was not a good way to go. So I decided to do the right thing and keep the candy. I then went out and got them books and my grandson a game for his Nintendo DS. That was better and healthier. I know I will have to eat that candy myself but I love my grandchildren and don't want them getting bad teeth or getting sick by eating too much candy. It is one of those small sacrifices that grandparents have to make now and then.

When it comes to Easter, if you celebrate it, do you get your children candy or some other gifts in addition to the love and hugs they get around the holidays? If you don't celebrate Easter what spring holiday do you celebrate?

PS: If you need good leather stuff at a pretty good price try motorcycleleather.biz I don't usually write about merchandise but this business went out of it's way to make sure I got good bags for my bike. Thanks Bob

Alien type people from outer space.

I was watching a show on the History Channel about alien people that live in outer space. These people, called "Greys", like to visit us now and then and have a tendency to abduct earthy type people; experiment on them, then give them a tour of their space ship. I guess after a few experiments the least they could do is give a tour of the ship.

Then there was this other scientist that said that these earthy type people were not abducted after all but were suffering from a thing called sleep paralysis. I realized that I myself have had that sleep paralysis stuff happen to me. A few times I was drunk and the paralysis was of the alcohol inducement paralysis type. Then there was the waking up and feeling paralysis not necessarily after a night of drinking but on a real sober next day or middle of the night, feels like an alien is abducting me type of paralysis. This is a feeling like, "Hey, I am wide awake and cannot move, scary type of feeling. I instantly knew I was not being abducted though because after I was fully conscious I did not get a tour of a space ship. So not getting the tour is how I determine if I was abducted or not. How do you seperate your abductions from sleep paralysis?

Story Teller

She has a violin and plays the strings of ones heart to tell the stories involving lifes inhabitants. Animals come alive and brave warriors travel thru the forests while experiencing great adventures. Camp fires blaze away igniting the embers of imagination as wisps of smoke flit and dance thru sky and air.

I have been reading a little book full of American Indian tales. When I do my mind seems to enter this kind of space. This happens when I read. Sometimes the world just seems to melt away and cease to exist and surrender to the words and images my mind creates thanks to a creative author. It always amazes me how enthralled I can become and how time; space are condensed into the creation of a completely made up world thru words. It also amazes me that TV, the Internet, Ipods, radio, and other distractions for the young and old still take a back seat to reading. My grandchildren are always talking about their trips to the library and how much they enjoy discovering wonderful stories that fill the shelves in these buildings. Not only my grandchildren but I sit here and can think of dozens of other children that are experiencing the same feelings that reading can ignite in ones life.

Which leads me to ask you. Have you read any good books lately?

Winter day!

It is snowing. It is sleeting. The participating precipitation is pecking against my window pane. I am in pain. Winter blue pain. Get out the old guitar and strum the long dog winter blue blues. Or I can get a funny book, watch late night with those talk show hosts that spew funny stuff to tickle and make a smile. Then again I could write my little blog and hope to get a visitor with the winter blue blues and maybe I can cheer them up or not. I can just say hey! Hope you are OK, thanks for dropping by and Jesus loves you. Whatever, in case you are not religious, then Fred, Jane or Allen the Alien from Zipuptoplanet2 loves you too! Just kidding and writing nonsense to blow away the blues. What do you do? To turn away a winter day and make your day OK? Sing a song, dance to prance away those sadness days when it is snowing, and sleeting and you and you and you. Deal with those winter solstice blues.

Girl Scout Cookies

I believe that the Girl Scouts put something in those cookies that makes me want more. I bought a box the other day and now I am craving them at 1:00 AM.

I am also having a sleep problem. I could not sleep Sunday night so I went to the Drug Store and bought some sleep enhancers, to enhance my sleep, hence the word enhance and enhancer have enhanced my writings to date. I guess I am not making much sense. I took the pills and was wide awake until 7:00 AM Monday morning. Then I finally fell asleep and woke up 6:15 PM on Monday evening. Which makes me believe the pills worked after all, just a little too late. So now I am sitting here blogging away because I am wide awake and dare not take any more enhancers to enhance what I already enhanced and am back to square one.

My neighbor must have done the same thing. He was cleaning up his room because he enhanced himself with Red Bull, Coffee and a few beers. Then as he was taking out his garbage his cat escaped from his home. The cat was on catnip enhancers and enhanced herself all over the yard. She was finally entrapped and escorted back to her safe cat place in his home.

It was fun to watch. He was barefoot, with only pair of long pajama pants and it was snowing a little. The cold recharged him and I can still hear him cursing the cat and cleaning. Oh well!

What do you do when you cannot sleep?

Birthday stuff.

It was my friends birthday, so we went to dinner. My cousin opened up a good eats place called The Milestone Ranch. It is in Waverly, Pennsylvania and it turned out to be a great place. This cousin is the son of another cousin I have and it was the first time we met. Turns out one of my other friends that came was the cousin of my cousins mother. Man, cousins sprout up more than rabbits sometimes. Anyway. I treated, because these friends of mine stood by me during some bad storms in my life and also on good sunny days. This past summer they got me brand new pipes for my Harley and just gave them to me. No they did not steal them. Well, my friend Dave does tend to look like a homeless person, but believe me he is not. So it was kind of a friend appreciation dinner day for me. It is nice to have family and friends. Hope you do too! I liked this friend appreciation day. What do you think? Should we start a new holiday? I guess it was fun because the lousy winter weather was baiting us to get out and have a good time.

Bring it on!

The Super Bowl is over. My team was not in it, but it was a good game. During the game I thought that a Rugby Super bowl should also be played somewhere.

I love the Super Bowl parties. I was at my Friends house and he and his wife had one of those Hugh TV's that made me feel I was in a movie theater watching the game. We had pizza, iced coffee, and other snacks. Their pet dog ran around and kept jumping on and off our laps for a pet. But, now it is over. Tomorrow we can get back to watching crime on the daily news station. Get taxes ready for April 15th. Maybe do some laundry this week and clean around the house. I will work out at the YMCA and hopefully not get anything stolen while I work out. I leave my stuff in a locker. I lock it but they still stole my coat one year. I can get back to people yelling at me and giving me nasty looks because they do not like the way I drive. I probably will walk around for the rest of the Winter hoping I will not fall on the ice or snow. Lent is coming and I usually give up candy for the duration.

Not much to look forward to after a Super Bowl Game. Sure there is Easter and Spring, but that is not for awhile. Sad when football ends. Here I sit singing the football is over blues again. Sigh.

So what do you do for the rest of the Winter?

Hail Austria

I was bar hopping around the blogs looking for some inspiration and I came across a blog called, "My Everyday Glamor." This person, Chililady, had a little film about a prom and it brought me back about a 1,000 or so years ago when I went to mine. I know there are some out there that did not go to their prom and if you are one of them. Check out that film. I have a feeling the world will be hearing more from this prodigy. The worst thing about my prom was it was a one date thing. I never saw her again but for me I just wanted a night out. In fact I think she moved out of town shortly thereafter, changed her name and gender. Oh well. I tend to inspire my dates.

Open Door Policy

I just watched an independent film called "One Giant Leap." It was a multinational film with people talking about religion, death, sex, and life in general. I had my open door policy going on in my mind and I opened my doors to this film. I then realized that I open many doors in my open door policy thing. I open doors to my friends when they need me or I need them. I open my doors when I want to do new things or open old doors to spend some time with familiar safe things and thoughts I like to do and think. I realized I have a pretty good open door policy. I have to admit that at times I do have a closed door policy. If I am heading into a room with a person I feel uncomfortable with. Door closes. If a situation seems threatening to me. Door Closes. Sometimes though things happen before I can open or close that door. Like an accident on my motorcycle or an argument that takes me by surprise. Then it is like someone or something jams their foot in the door and the door cannot be closed or is forced opened. I like opening my door to hugs, kisses and romance and those nice things in life. I think most everyone does.

What is your open door policy like?

Working Out

Hello! I have been working out a lot of things in my life today. I was working out if I should work out at home or go to the YMCA today. I worked out at home. I got this video from the VA, Veterans Administration, and I finally reached the old old old peoples workout plateau. The Veterans were all over 70 and got to do workouts while sitting down in chairs. We did a lot of stretching and after that we did a lot more stretching. Finally we finished with some stretching exercises and then cooled down by stretching. I think I am a 1/4 of an inch longer since my arms and legs have stretched so.

Then I decided to work out being unable to work. I was thinking of getting an Agent to help me in my writing career, which is not really a career at all, or applying for a unpaid extra in movies and TV. I opted for the unpaid extra and applied at an agency. I want to get out of the house more. I don't know why but I described myself as 55, 280 lbs, with a full head of hair. I am sure that the acting parts will be flooding in.

Finally I worked out if I should have Yogurt or a steak for dinner. I had both.

So what have you been working out in your life?

Ah Children!

I remember that when I became 7 leaning toward 8, my memory and mind melded together like a Picasso painting. My memories were colorful and my life experiences were full of angles. Which reminds me of a story of a little girl, her friend and her brother.

This little girl loved her brother. One fine day her and her friend decided to do something special for him. He was a blabbering five year old amazed with the world and craving his sisters attention. She and her friend were in those Picasso years, I just alluded to, and full of experimentations. The young ladies decided that they would make the little brother handsome beyond his years and gathered together some scissors and brushes and sparkles. After some intense and professional grooming they turned the young lad into a prince of men. His hair was a palace of perfection. Unfortunately the mother of these children had a different interpretation of the finished hair saloon client. To the mother his hair and head resembled glittering mange that the pet horse had once had the misfortune of developing.

A quick emergency trip to the family barber solved the mange problem and the young man now had a proper military haircut. The young ladies reluctantly gave up the keys to their hair emporium and retired early to their rooms for a well deserved rest.

The love between a brother and sister is wondrous and mysterious at times. It is pure and full of good intentions but sometimes the sparkles flash a bit too much.

Have you a childhood memory to share? Feel free to pick those rose memories and breath in their fragrances.

Salute

A salute to a fallen friend that had Lou G. disease. He was a great guy named Tony. He was a biker, in a band, had great kids, and a wife that stood by him. He will be missed.

That is what a New Year is; full of beginnings and endings.

Well, time to take down the little red Christmas Tree and put away my Christmas Snow man. Maybe not. Sitting here looking at them I want to keep them up a few more days. After all there is a Russian Christmas, I think.

My neighbor got drunk and almost made it to his doorstep. He was a few feet away and decided to take a little nap before he got home. I remembered that New Year tradition of hitting a metal pot with a wooden spoon and I encouraged him to get into his home with the spoon and pot. He did not thank me for my help yet, but I am sure he will.

I like being a good neighbor how about you?