Simple Things

     See!  I found this little fellow just sitting around in the Photobucket files, so I borrowed him to show you that there are real dragons.  If I found a picture, it just has to be true, right?  Sure, and I found a private island in the middle of Alabama that I’ll sell you, too.

     We’ve all got to believe in something!  I believe that (as Ann Landers once said) “There are really only three types of people: those who make things happen, those who watch things happen and those who say “What happened?”

     I was a “what happened” person for years. Busy with a job, children and paying the bills, I let most of the world go by and didn’t try to get involved in anything other than a good book. Of course, my world was a little different in those days; I had a job that I loved, lots of energy, and most of my life ahead of me. 

     Geez, do things change!  I no longer have a job (by choice~ since I have someone who makes a living for me), my children are all grown up (and I managed to turn both of them into pretty good people ~ using the old fashioned “spanking” method).  I no longer have any energy (must have used it all up beating on my children!), but I’ve got quality time for myself ~ hopefully another 20 years or so.

     I’ve decided to use my quality time to: 1) Take care of my grandchildren when I’m needed.  2) Take care of myself by staying as active as I can (on the couch, off the couch, on the couch, off the couch, etc.)    3) Share my opinions, thoughts, imaginations, insights, hind-sights, quips, quotes, stories and just plain nonsense, with anyone who cares to read.

     I’m trying to be a “writer”. Wow! That word sounds so important!  Actually, I’ve been a writer all my life, just never tried to organize it into a form that might be worth publishing. Starting this blog was a step toward getting myself in the mood to write everyday, and I can truly say, it worked.  There are days when I can’t spend time at the keyboard (baby-sitting days) or days when the weather is bad and my “Wild Blue” has gone ~ well, into the wild blue.  Other than that, I sit down every morning, place my hands on the keyboard and say, “Okay, now what?”  Something usually comes to mind, and most of the time it’s legal to talk about.

     There are days when I rattle on, like the last nut in the nut house, and today must be one of those days.  If it were not raining (still) I would go out and look for another of the things I think still exist ~ fairies (the tiny ones with wings ~not sure what you were thinkin’).  That’s a story for another time!

         I’m not a big fan of tea.  Although I live in the south where tea is a staple of life and you learn to drink it by the age of 2, I have never been able to sugar it, lemon it, or add enough extra ingredients to make it palatable for myself. I’ve had to make tea for others in my family, and after years of doing it by “sight” instead of by taste, I got it down to a perfect recipe ~ I buy Milos.

     This week many Americans are encouraged to send just one tea bag to Washington, D.C.  I don’t remember much of my American History, but I do remember that there was a “Boston Tea Party” and that the activity got it’s point across. True, our efforts will most likely only result in a large amount of trash for the White House garbage, but it’s the thought that counts, and if you’re not thinking that something is wrong on Pennsylvania Avenue, you’d better use that space between your ears and start thinking.

     It’s not just the governments fault! It’s not just the fault of the CEO’s at all the major companies.  It’s OUR fault!  We have allowed this crap to happen, and until we put our collective feet down and say a resounding NO!, it’s gonna keep on happening.

     I had to go out and buy a box of tea, just so I could participate in this event. I thought about sending a whole jug of Milo’s but the postage was a little prohibitive, plus I had a mental picture of my tea jug getting squashed while going through one of those machines at the post office, and I didn’t want to ruin everybody else’s mail.

     Come on, what else have you got to lose!  Get a little old tea bag and mail it tomorrow to 1600 Pennsylvania Ave, Washington, D.C. 20500.  There’s no need to send a message, they should get the point.  It’s a darn shame the British weren’t taxing us on beer!  Now THAT would have made a great protest! 

      “If more of us valued food and cheer and song above hoarded gold, it would be a merrier world.” (J.R.R. Tolkien)

     Anybody else out there believe in dragons? I’ve always heard it said that any legend is based on truth, and though most would say that dragons were a myth based upon the dinosaurs, I disagree.

     The Chinese have used a dragon symbol for most of their existance, and have many stories based upon the fiery beasts. I see no reason to think that they could not have existed. I’ve never seen one, but then I’ve never seen Jesus either, and I believe he was here.

     What made me think of dragons today? There’s a movie on the Sci-Fi Channel (the only one worth watching these days ~ well that and Chiller).  It’s about dragons! Waaaay cool!

     Wouldn’t it be nice to have your own personal dragon? I’ve read books by Anne McCafferey, and more recently, the ones by Christopher Paolini, regarding the bonding of dragons and people.  We could save on gas by riding them around, and they would make excellent guards for our property. Anyone unwelcome comes up and ~~~~~ blast ~~~ BBQ’d trespasser.

     No, I have not gone off my meds today ~ I’m just feeling a little crazy! I’m going to go find me a dragon egg ~ may have to settle for a chicken.   Catch ya later!

     Sorry ~ had to let one of my other personalities out for a day.  She’s a little weird but she’s the one with the imagination!

“It is said an eastern monarch once charged his wise men to invent a sentence, to be ever in view, and which should be true and appropriate in all times and situations. They presented him with the words, “And this, too, shall pass away.” How much it expresses! How chastening in the hour of pride! How consoling in the depths of affliction!” (Abraham Lincoln)

     I try in my blogging to keep things light and as humorous as I can, but there are times when the weight of the world rests upon us all, and there are no funny words left to make it better.

     Our blogs on this website are read by people all over the world. Some do not understand the anguish that Americans are feeling, because from all they see on television, we still have much more than they ever will. They don’t understand that all the values our country was founded on, and all the structure that we built upon, has been eroded ~ mostly from within, by people who were supposed to be looking out for our welfare.

      My ancestors were American Indians and German immigrants. I don’t know for sure how and when the Indians got here, but they had something really great going for them. A huge land just waiting for them to discover and enjoy.  Then people came from other lands, telling them they had to share.  I don’t blame them for being upset; and look at where they ended up: reservations ~ freedom gone.

     Then more people came from other countries, by the thousands, taking over the land, changing it forever. It was still a great place to be since the governing powers were small and new, and all of the people who came were willing to work for what they received. 

    The years pass and cities grow larger, more people pour in from other countries, seeking the freedom that we enjoy.  Our government gets larger and greedier, making more rules to benefit themselves.

     There was a time, in the 40’s & 50’s when people could leave their homes unlocked for hours or days at a time. Their children could walk down the streets without fear of being kidnapped.  There were plenty of jobs, and most everybody worked because they didn’t believe in getting anything they couldn’t pay for, and they certainly didn’t belive in taking government handouts as long as you were able to work, but things were beginning to change.

     Someone stopped looking at what was good for all the citizens ~ someone dropped the ball. All those good things that made us a great country have been pushed aside and forgotten. “One nation, under God, indivisible with liberty and justice for all.”   Do you think Abe had any idea that his “This too shall pass” would also signal the end of our great nation?

      Who decided that we (the United States of America) had the sole responsibility to take care of all the world’s problems?

     Who decided that we should be responsible for feeding the starving in other countries (when there are starving people here).

     Who decided that we should turn a blind eye to people illegally living here, bringing their drugs, their gangs, and their terrorist activities?

     NOBODY ASKED MY OPINION! Did they ask you?

     Oh well, “This too shall pass.”

     Yes, but will we still be here when it does, or do we get to go live on a reservation somewhere?

     If there existed a politician who would stand before the public and say “I’ll admit I screwed up ~ nobody but me ~ I take all the blame”, then actually DO BETTER, I would support that man no matter what color, religion, age, nationaltiy,  etc.   But that’s never gonna happen!!!

    Passing the buck has been the most popular method of dealing with a problem since Adam pointed to Eve and said “But she gave it to me, Lord”.   Nobody can own up to making a mistake.  

     I guess you could say my husband had a “Honda fit” this week.  He’s been hinting about wanting a new car for a while now, and over the weekend we just “happened” to go past a Honda dealership where there sat a whole row of  “Easter Egg” colored Fits.  He drove one ”just to see what it felt like”~ right ~ and I was born yesterday.  To make it a short story, the deal was done and yesterday we went to get our new “Fit”.  Actually it fits pretty well, and it’s cute ~ although I would have picked the red one instead of the baby blue one. 

     While waiting for the paperwork to be done (takes longer than buying a house) we were given a run-down on all the gizmos and gadgets and what-not that the car possesses. After the first 10 minutes, my eyes began to glaze over, and I lost all interest in the salesman’s speech.  As long as the thing has a key in it and four wheels on the ground, that’s all I care about. I do not know (nor care to know) about the finer points of anti-lock brakes, air bag design, and quad speakers.  If it starts, stops and runs in between, that’s good enough for me.

     So, we are now the proud owners of a 2009 Honda Fit.  It’s cute and economical, and everyone should buy one. (Keep my husband in a job, and those paychecks coming.)  Yes, he works for Honda, so we thought it would be helpful to drive one.  That’s the way I explained it to the Toyota Scion that we were leaving behind in the parking lot of the dealership.  I patted her on the hood and told her to be a good girl for the next people who drive her. 

     I could have sworn she waved her windshield wipers as we drove away into the sunset!

Now that I’ve joined the ranks of  “Senior Citizens”, the following are things that I could do without hearing ever again:

 1. (from the Doctor) “Well you know, as we get older~~~~~”

 2. (from a sales clerk) “I wish I could help you, but ~~~~~~”

 3. (on a recorded message) “Press 1 for English”

 4. (from the Insurance company) “We’ve reviewed your claim  and find that amount is not covered, as described in Section 11, Clause B, paragraph 3 ~~~~~~~~~”

 5. (from the Doctor) “Step on the scales please”

 6. (from my husband) “Remember that money we invested in that stock last year, well~~~~~~~~~”

 7. (from the Stock Broker) “The number you are calling is no longer in service.”

 8. (from the Doctor) “Does it hurt when I press here?”

 9. (from the airline - when you are on vacation - in a foreign country) “Your luggage seems to be missing ~ we’ll call you when we find it.”

10. (from the auto mechanic) “The cost of the part is only $7.25, but in order to put it on, it will take $300 in labor.”

     No, not that Doctor Who ~ (I love the show - hope it comes back on soon).  I’m talking about the ones we have to go to occasionally when we get the creeping crud or some nasty little virus. 

     After an interminable wait in the waiting room where you have been coughed on, sneezed at, and touched repeatedly by someone else’s snotty little kid, you get to go back to the exam rooms where you can sit on the table with the sticky paper and wait for another 30 minutes. While you wait, you hear the sounds in the hallway ~ some kid screaming, the office girls discussing where to get lunch, and the doctor on the phone making a golf date.

     When the man finally comes into the room, what’s the first dumb thing he says? “How are WE today?”  Well, I don’t know how you are, Doc, but if I was in great shape I wouldn’t be here, now would I?

     “What kind of complaints do we have today?”

     Same kind I always have ~ the bitchy, cynical kind. Your magazine collection sucks; it would be nice if the TV set had on something cheerful instead of CNN; and could you teach your office staff that smiling now and then won’t crack their makeup. Other than that, I dragged myself over here, feeling like crap, so you can write me some prescriptions that I can’t afford to get filled, plus I want to make sure you can afford your Porsche payment this month. (Bless their hearts, ya gotta love ‘em ~ most of them worked hard to get to the point where they could afford their own clinic.)

     The following items actually came from real Doctor’s notes on real patients’ charts:

     1) On the second day the knee was better, and on the 3rd day it disappeared completely.

     2)   The patient has been depressed ever since she started seeing me in 1993.

     3)  The patient has no past history of suicides.

     4)  While in the ER, she was examined, x-rated and sent home.

     5)  Patient stated that she had been constipated for most of her life, until she got a divorce.

     6) Patient has two teen-aged children, but no other abnormalities.

     7) Patient had no shaking chills, but her husband said she was hot in bed last night.

     In all seriousness, many Doctors get blamed for things they have no control over. They are, after all, human ~ and humans must be regulated by some governmental forces ~ otherwise, they would just continue to do logical things for humanitary reasons and even resort to using tried-and-true remedies from the olden days, instead of being encouraged to push drugs for all the pharmaceutical companies. 

     Have you ever wondered what it would be like if real-life physicians were like Dr. House, or the bed-hopping bunch on Grey’s Anatomy?  How about that scalpel-happy plastic surgeon on Nip Tuck ?  

     For the time being, most of us still get to choose what doctor we want to see, but that may not last much longer either.    So, how are WE feeling today?

     Who decided that dogs want to eat vegetables? Dogs have been meat-eaters since time began, but in the past few years some dog food makers have decided that dogs like vegetables. I want to know how they came to that conclusion ~ did a “Dog Whisperer” discover that idea from some spaced-out poodle.  They durn sure didn’t ask any of my dogs.  You lay a piece of broccoli or a carrot in front of my german shepard and he’ll look at you like you crawled out from under the chicken house.  In dog words ~ Thanks for Nothin’.

     Who decided that it was OK to leave all that space junk floating around up there around the earth?  Apparently all the guys in charge of the space program were kids whose parents never made them pick up their toys.  Ya’ll seen all that junk floating up there?  I saw it the last time my alien friends came to give me a ride.  Dang near hit a CIA Satellite when we were up there cruisin’ the Milky Way.  That would have been a real kick in the pants ~ Uncle Sam would’ve lost his eye in the sky for a while.  Thanks for Nothin’.

     Who decided that the guy who wants to do everything “first” needed to be on television with Jay Leno on the Tonight Show?  Does he not have enough to do trying to keep the country out of hock?  Is he going to do his “promise” routine, or something a little funnier?  Thanks for Nothin’.

     Why is it not alright for homeless people to sleep in an airport or bus terminal late at night?  Those chairs aren’t being used for anything else, and if the poor folks can actually sleep there, where’s the problem?  Just ’cause some fancy pants businessman/woman leaving the airport might have to walk in front of a dirty person ~ oooohhhhhhh ~ ’scuse me for livin’. Thanks for Nothin’.

     And finally, who decided it was OK for those dimwits at AIG to spend all our money by giving it away.  It don’t matter that it was “only 1/10th of the total package”.  Do you know how many homeless people that little ole 1/10th would have fed?   And now that the cat-is-out-of-the-bag, who says they’re going to give any of it back.  Thanks for Nothin’.

     I had to let the other half of my split personality out for a while and she managed to get this whole blog done before I could stop her.  Please excuse any southern slang or hillbilly thinking that escaped while I was away.  I do agree, however, with all the ideas expressed ~ especially that one about the dog food!

      “I EAT THREE SERVINGS OF VEGETABLES A DAY: KETCHUP, KETCHUP, KETCHUP”

     In spite of the recession that we are or are not having; which may or may not last a while longer; we are told that we should eat healthier.  Now I am no nutritional genius, but I do know that until prices of fresh fruits and vegetables are lowered so that the average person can afford them, the nearest some people will get to a fresh fruit is the weirdo in the spandex suit, who’s standing on the street corner bugging pedestrians as they pass by.

      We still have an income at our house (which I am eternally thankful for), but knowing that it may not last, I have been stocking up on things that we could survive on if our income suddenly ceased.  I grew up on beans and ‘taters, so there’s no reason I couldn’t go back to that.  Each week, I try to buy dried beans and rice (things that will keep indefinintely), and some canned goods. But canned fruit or dried fruit is still costly, and not quite as good as the fresh stuff.  And with all our scientific knowledge, we still have created no way to keep things like lettuce eternally fresh.

      I suppose if we all owned one of those marvelous machines like they had on Star Trek Enterprise, we would all be just fine.  All you had to do was tell the machine what you wanted and —– poof!—- there it was.   The closest I’ve been to this kind of service is McDonalds.  You know, I think McDonalds gets a bum rap constantly from the news people. Think about it, where else (besides another fast food store) can you get bread, meat, vegetables (usually fresh), for about a dollar?  Yeah, sure, they might make you fat ~ but only if you eat 4 or  5 of them every day, complete with a gigantic super sized mega cup of Coke or sweet tea, and super-size fries. Do you know, I’d have to spend about ten times that much to buy all the items needed to make sandwiches at home? 

     Back to eating healthier, how do we ever know for sure if we’re eating or drinking the right thing (and whether or not it’s been poisoned this week). One day we’re told that caffiene is good for you ~ the next day it’s bad.  We need the protein from meat ~ but, no, red meat is bad for you.  I believe that my ancestors had it right.  God put all those chickens, cows, ducks, squirrels, pigs and deer here for our use (not as equal citizens with equal rights).  He gave us the ideas about planting seeds and growing things to eat, though most of us have no idea where to begin now.  If we could go back to the basics (without the aid of all the chemicals and additives) we would indeed be a healthy nation.

     Oh, who am I kidding!  I don’t have a green thumb either; I don’t even have a green pinkie, and all I can grow is mold in the refrigerator.   Hey, Big Mac ~ here I come!