What Else I Might Have Been

(A Special Post for Sunday Scribblings)

Where does a thought like "what else I might have been" take you?

Does it take you into regret? "If only I had done that.....that would have made the difference in my life"

Does it take you into guilt? "If only I hadn't done that...that would have made the difference in my life."
Initially, this was a tough topic for me. My philosophy is that I did what I did at the time with the best information that I had and, unless there is something that I can change now, there isn't much point of going back. You can learn from the past to effect the future but what's done is done. I don't have the above two emotions to feed off of.
I scanned through the things that I thought I would be growing up as a child......race car driver, sports announcer, songwriter, writer, professional golfer, etc. Maybe the answer to this assignment would come from there. It seems that it would have been forced, however.

Then it hit me...

What Else I Might Have Been...............a Father.

Back when I was married, this actually almost happened- It wasn't planned but we were "with child" before the life was taken in a first tri-mester miscarriage. Upon hearing the initial news that I would become a parent, honestly, "thrilled" would not be the best description to describe my emotions.
Yet, with a little bit of time, I began to accept - this new found responsibility. I moved through "accept"rather quickly to "looking forward to." Hey, another life was coming along. I was half the cause of it. It was now time to figure out what I was going to do to live up to my responsibility and maximize this wonderful opportunity that had drifted into my life.
It was about this time - that the opportunity was taken away from us. Yes, there was sadness. There was not an overabundance of grief. God didn't want this to happen. He always knows what is best even when we can't figure it out and it goes against our wishes.
Noah Nutter would have been about 15 or 16 right now - I probably wouldn't be blogging this moment. I'd probably be white knuckling it in the passenger seat as I taught him to drive a stick shift automobile. (Yes......children should be taught on a manual transmission!!! Let me count the reasons why.....)
Yes, life would have been much different - Noah's mother and I may not have divorced....we may have anyway. If we still had, the divorce would have looked a lot different than it did. I can't believe it would have been as civil and as pleasant as our dissolution was and has been.
Would life have been better? - Heck no!!! Not automatically! It would have been different. I would probably be feeling much the same way that I do now.....I'd just have different distractions.
"But parenthood really changes you..."- and, I suppose that is true. I can't speak to that. You, as a parent, can't speak to how you would have changed without children. Do you think time that is not forced serving the needs of one's child doesn't change you too? It's just a different kind of change.
No, we never got back onboard the train to create the next super-race - and I won't experience the joys of fatherhood or of grandfatherhood. I'm OK with that. Will I regret this when I am 60 or 70 or 80? I'll let you know when I get there. I'm not regretting it 15 years later. I'm not celebrating that I didn't have the child either.
Things are as they are - if you don't like them, change them. Because this philosophy has been a part of me for so long, I have no reason to think that this one won't still be there as I age. (Well....I guess if Alzheimer's creeps in, my philosophy leaks out....but then so does thinking about what might have been)
"But, Nutster, who is going to take care of you when you are old? Who is going to visit you?" - well, you may have a point. I can only offer this. Kids may have better things to do than take care of their own elders. Perhaps I should live a life where people other than my own children should want to take care of me should I be unable to do so. Perhaps I should earn this degree of respect in the world rather than just within the family. Also, I have a late-brother that didn't complete the trip into my parent's old age. Obviously, he's not much help in that department to my aging father. Life offers no guarantees. Having children does increase your odds for some old age companionship but look around. How much time do we spend with our aged? It appears that, as a whole, the East does a better job of this. The concept of extended family living in the West is almost non-existent. I am blessed that my surviving brother and his wife take such good care of my father in their home.
I'm glad I took a moment today - to think about "what else I might have been." I might have been different.....yet, I think, much the same.

HappyUP!!!....DecideItUP!!!

I stumbled across this quote the other day on the net:

The best way to waste your life....is by taking notes. The easiest way to avoid living is to
just watch. Look for details. Report. Don't participate.

Now, on face value, you could see how this could quickly make it up on to someone's refridgerator. This is classic "Go For It" thinking and, especially here in the West, we have made it a mantra. It sounds pretty good, right?


.... not so fast!

Let's do a bit of analyzing:

"The best way to waste your life" - well, right off the bat, the author has said, "Nutster, whenever you read this, I am going to try to get you to stop reading this right before the first set of dot..dot...dots." Who is anyone that walks this earth to tell anyone how to waste their life...let alone the very best way to do it.

Yet, being of open mind, I pressed on in my reading:

"is by taking notes" - OK, not only has this person told me the best way for me to waste my life but he is now hitting on one of my favorite things to do. I love to take notes. They aren't meticulous. Sometimes they are doodles. Sometimes they are multi-colored. Sometimes they are notes of my own mind dribbling down through my arm, to my fingeres, into the ink well and out the nib. I glean nuggets and pearls from my notes and throw out the vast majority of the rest. Without notes, how could you journal? Journaling is nothing but notes. If you blog, you are writing notes.....and you may have taken the notes you wrote, rearranged them, to create the notes you deliver to someone else.

Yet, I take few things personally. Onward:

"The easiest way to avoid living is to just watch" - OK....now, I am starting to get it. This guy is from the adrenalin school. It may not be Xtreme sports adeno rush variety but it runs along the same lines. He is now mandating people to "do." There is nothing wrong with that. Is it for everybody, however? You tell me. People probably ought to make sure that they have given that a try before they make some decisions for themselves.

And then, the author brings out the everyone's favorite: Sarcasm

"Look for details. Report. Don't Participate" - personally, sarcasm is not my favorite tool of persuasion. Sure, I'll throw it out there to be funny on occasion. Everytime I do, however, I know that I run the risk of alienating someone. Sarcasm is a dangerous explosive and should be handled with care. Looking beyond the sarcasm, details contain fascination for some. Most of our medical advances surround looking into the most minute of details. OK...so you aren't a nuclear physicist or research scientist...can you get value out of details? Yes. Look closer to the details of the world around you.....artists are known for their free thinking but much of their free thinking is that they are more sentient of the details that surround them. Can you get bogged down and draw rubbish out of worthless details, too? Of course.

The key - discernment.

The point of the post - mindlessly follow no advice whether it be the quote listed above...or the advice I have listed in this sentence. Think....discern...act (or don't)

John Lennon had it right - "whatever gets YOU through the night, is alright...it's alright."

What is it that "gets you through the night"?- What does "getting you through the night" mean to you? Does it mean literally just waking up the next day? Does it mean waking up with a smile? Does it mean getting up and jumping out of bed and jumping for joy to help others in the world? Does it mean exploring things that aren't part of your life now that may make you feel like you are upgrading or is you feeling that you are optimally living according to your standards? Do you have standards? Do you know what they are? Do they need to be changed? Are your standards so low that you don't feel they challenge you? Are some of your standards so high that they hold you back because they aren't your standards...they belong to someone else?

("Wow......did Nutster just say that it was OK to think about actually "downgrading" my standards? That's some crazy thinking.")

It's all good - you decide...whether you make the conscious decision or not. I love the word, "Decide". It literally means to "cut off all other possibilities." Decide to watch...decide to report...decide to actually be part of the game....decide to play a mix of the three. Decide whatever you want

Just don't not decide - and let me hear you complain about how life is working in a different way than you want or that it should if you never made a decision in the first place.

Think about it.....answer those questions I posed...decide - whatever gets you through the night, is alright...it's alright.

HappyUP!!!...WordUP!!!

In the spirit of Tom Peters who had the greatest line that I have ever heard regarding words: "Words ensnare me."

Sentient

Sentient, pronounced Sen-tee-unt, has been following me around like a puppy dog lately. I have tripped across it in at least three different books that I am reading. Let's check out the definition to see if it is something that we should be working into our daily lives.

Sentient: responsive to or conscious of sense impressions. AWARE. Finely sensitive in perception and thought.

"I resolve to be more sentient in my travels today"

Hmmm.....this is a good one. I'll definitely be more sentient in a few minutes as it pertains to my body. I am heading off to the gym after a tough workout yesterday. My body will make me plenty sentient as to what I put it through yesterday!!!

HappyUP!!!

(Wow....did you see that? Nutter's Notes has now gravitated into teaching us more about words!!! It's more than that "word a day" stuff too. I should be here everyday!!! What will he come up with next?")

PS: I just got back from the gym. I decided to do some sprints over at the basketball court. I am extremely sentient that I have been building muscles in my thighs by cycling and not building flexibility in them through running...........OUCH!!!

HappyUP!!!....BlessItUP!!!

How does a guy like me get so lucky? - I ask that question a lot.

I went out harvesting last night - and filled up about four bags of tomatoes and peppers to "drop and run" on some friends doorsteps.

I go back out tonight - and look how much more there is!!!

Friends - I am not sitting on a huge parcel of land. It's a regular city lot. I don't own a green thumb. I tilled, I put the things in some potting soil, I staked them for support, and I watered them. Look at how much I have been blessed with!!!! HE sure is a good father and provider for us.

....and this is after I have had to toss a ton of tomatoes - which I am attributing to not being totally "on it" during the two weeks of 100-110 temps that we got blasted with here in Sacratomatoe.

"But I live in an apartment" - hey, if you have some sun, get a 5 gallon bucket. I have heard of people that do it. Virtually weed free and probably a lot easier way to go.....no tilling!!!

It's exciting - this was my first shot at a full size garden. I remember watching the first little flowers and buds and wondering if I would get much output.....

.....oh brother!!! - output????

I don't have kids - but, if I did, I think this would be a wonderful thing to share with them. The vegetables and the growing cycle is a microcosm of child rearing. You plant, you nourish, you protect the best that you can, ................and then you eat them????? Stop that!!!! Go wash your mouth out. No....you release them.

I'd even have my kid be the neighborhood tomatoe guy - I'd go to some neighbors and give them some dough to barter with little Noah Nutter as he peddled the wares that he was out there growing right alongside me. Yup.....he'd even have his own plants.

Hey....I might not even need to set the neighbors up - how much would you pay for that sinkful of homegrown, organic, fresh from the garden veges!!!

Hey....now that I think of it - maybe I shouldn't be giving these things away. This was a money makin deal and I let it slide right by.

Oh well - there's always next year for capitalism. Then again, I think the joy that I saw in one couple's face last night when they caught me making a drop on their doorstep. They were beside themselves. They used to grow tomotoes themselves and they said, "these are the first fresh vegetables we have gotten all year." We went inside and sat a spell and enjoyed each other's company for awhile....

.hmmmmmm....maybe I made something on this deal after all.

HappyUP!!!....Eat It UP!!!

Just when you loyal readers were saying - "hey, isn't it about time for some of those tomatoes to be poppin out of Nutter's garden?"

Yes, the cherry tomatoes were here for Fourth of July - and now the Beefsteaks are coming in by the TON!!! (OK...that's a stretch....but they are come in by multiple pounds)).

Here's a great summer idea - should you be lucky enough to have an abundance of homegrown tomatoes. If you don't, find a neighbor that has been growing them. Every tomatoe gardener always has way too many for himself.

Just slice those bad boys up nice and thick - and throw them on the grill. If you happen to have a nice marinade laying around to sautee them in, get that marinade going nice and hot. As soon as you throw the tomatoes on, give them a nice generous sprinkling of your favorite cheese. Tonight, I chose Romano and Parmesean.....they hold up to the heat a little better. Anyway, this is a no brainer for when you are tired of eating those tomatoes raw.

"Hey, what's that parked in front of the tomaters, Nutter?" - why it is a couple of nice, wild Mahi Mahi filets!!! Talk about easy....just get the fish, stick it in a ziplock with some olive oil, garlic, pepper, red pepper flakes, and a bit of lemon juice and you are good to go!

Good eatin - always a HappyUP!!! (Especially when it's easy......and pretty cheap. The Mahi Mahi you see above cost about $6. It would easily feed two.....probably three....maybe four if you loaded everyone up on those free tomatoes that you got from your neighbor!!!)

My Two Cents

(A Special Post for Sunday Scribblings)

Some Say That I Am Cheap

I live on common ground
Though could afford to dwell among the elite
vacations in modest quarters
Yet could enjoy extravagant villas
Some say that I am cheap

The finest cars can grace my garage
Wines of the finest vintage could tumble across lips
Young women beyond number
could pass before my threshold
All these things I am told that I should desire
Am I cheap or is it that I can't hear

Things pass
Decaying hubris to soil
Hands wither in search of lotion
Unnecessarily exposed to winter's harsh touch

I spend my money to purchase time
Time to spend alone
To conjure upon snails and window pots
The next time we meet
You will find out what they have told me
What value do you bring to me
Tell me now who is cheap

The Greatest Thief of All Time

(A Special Post for SundayScribblings)



I watched the evidence of his work again on Friday

I actually saw the remains of his evil hand.

I was giving my HappyUP!!! workshop to a group in my company - and, for the third time, I took the risk and inserted the most dangerous piece of the program.

HappyUP is all about helping people improve their emotional states - notice that I didn't say, "help cure people from depression." The key word that I used was IMPROVE. This means that if someone is depressed, we work towards neutral. If they are neutral, we work towards glad. If they are glad, let's take it to downright giddy about living this life that we lead. If they are giddy...hmmm....well.....let's go into the uncharted waters of the positive relm.

HappyUP is about handing people the tools to do so - I learned long ago that I can't tell someone what to think. It doesn't work and I don't have the right. Do I still take a stab at it anyway from time to time? Sure. We all do. What I do have the right to do is to be a model for higher planed behavior and hand people the tools with the hope that they become an even better model than myself. I sincerely hope they double, triple, or thousandile my efforts (if you understood what thousandile meant in that sequence, yes, it just became a word).

The tool that I used - laughter. I stopped in the middle of the workshop and asked people to observe me. I took my serious face and I slowly transformed in front of them. I went from serious to neutral to grinning to chuckling to hysterically, gut busting, it really hurts laughter and continued to laugh on that level for about 10 seconds.

As I was slowing down the laugh to continue - I noticed the looks on their faces. It's the same one I have gotten every time and it is where I know the thief had come into them at some time in their lives and ransacked their dwelling.

While I was returning to "normal" - (boy, I even hated typing that preface about normal), I had to do the requisite, "....and it is at this point that you think, 'this boy has lost his marbles' " sequeway. I then go on to tell them that people will reach for many things for a momentary dose of happiness. They will spend money they don't have and/or wreak havoc to their bodies with various different attempts to bring momentary happiness (what is better termed "fun") into their lives while ignoring the most precious gift that has been given to them for free.

I go on to describe - the euphoria that I felt while my stomach was busting up and how that feeling, though now diminished post-hysterics, is still working in my body. It's a better feeling than any cocktail I ever drank.....and the hangover is a lot more pleasant.

"I laugh when something is funny" - is the comment that I get at this point in the talk. To that, all I can say is, "Wow." I just pulled out my owner's manual. It doesn't say a thing about needing an outside stimulus to actually use the laugh button. Really! It doesn't!!! Have you checked yours lately? Ever? Really, go pull your owner's manual out.....it's located right between your ears.

I want you to stop right now - and take a couple of seconds and actually start laughing. Start slow....you don't want to overburden your system. You have to warm up. Just start to giggle and then kick it up to guffaw and continue doing it OUT LOUD for about 10 to 15 seconds.

Go ahead. Stop. DO IT!

OK.....I know that you didn't do it - because the greatest thief of all has invaded your life. The greatest thief of all is our EGO. It worries about what other people think

(Reality Check Time: others are too busy thinking of themselves. If you ever actually gain the courage to do this excercise, get caught, queried on what you were doing, and the person says, "that's a great idea," you might want to hold on to that person).

Is this excercise to delude ourselves into thinking that we can cure our troubles just by laughing? - heck no. You would be drifting into a state of denial. It does change the emotional state that you are in at the moment. That state could be anywhere from depressed to feeling good. By doing this excercise, you trump all of those for a few seconds. This should put you into a better position to deal with whatever it is that is your next opportunity.

Will you do the exercise now? - or will you remain VICTIM to the Greatest Thief of All? (I really dislike the term "hate" but I do hate the Thief and the only person that I hate worse than the Thief is the person who REMAINS the VICTIM to him). The thief only came in once. Whatever the item was that he stole is inconsequential. It is the imprint that he leaves upon you.....the fear that he could come again...that is his biggest crime.

The Greatest Thief of All is worrying about what others think - which prevents you from becoming the biggest, best you that you were created to be. As my good friend McNair Wilson likes to say, "If you don't do you, you doesn't get done and Creation is incomplete."

It's a Sunday - and another great day to HappyUP!!!

HappyUP!!!...Man Heading on Vacation?

So I'm getting ready to leave my house the other day - and this elderly man rides by on his old bike. Keep in mind....we are blowing past 100 degrees every day in Sacramento for about 10 days in a row. You ride a bike either early or because you have to.

"I gotta get a picture of this" - because of the trailer that he is pulling. Of course, I wanted to be discreet (I guess I wouldn't make for a very good papparazzi). I caught up with him at the stop sign and gave it my best shot.

The interesting thing - is what he is pulling in the trailer.

An old suitcase - he had the look of being impoverished. Was he just getting to work the only way that he could and there were tools in the trailer? Was he heading off on vacation? Was I looking at all the possessions that a person owned?

These are all questions that will never be answered - but it makes me a bit ....a big bit more appreciative for the life that I have.

Of course - he may have looked at me........and be appreciative for the things he doesn't have that tie him down.

HappyUP!!.....The Essence of Genius

"The essence of genius is to know what to overlook" -William James


James is widely acknowledged as the father of American psychology- What could he be referring to in the above?

Here is my take - he is referring to the minutae that we attach far too emotion to. This is the kind of stuff that really doesn't mean much at the end of the day. Does it mean that we should be like the ostrich with our head in the sand? No. I don't think overlook and ignore are the same words or Mr James, an impeccable wordsmith, would have chosen to say "ignore."

Words are words....situations are situations - it is the emotion that we attach to these things as individuals that determine how much these will rule our lives. Yes, we do create our own realities.

We only have x amount of time and emotion to spend - and, if we waste it on things that will bring little long term value to our lives, we will spend little or no time/emotion investing in the things that bring long term gain. In essence, we burn up our tanks of gas by peeling tires back and forth down to the corner. We never have enough gas to make the trip to wise old grandpa or grandma's house.

Look at where your energy is invested today - look at the items where you raise your voice, get upset, gossip about, talk to workmates about, talk to spouses about, etc. Is it interesting or is it just passing time or, worse, is it wasting precious gas?

And know this - you have the ability to change this at any second that you decide to. Remember, in every change, there is a second that it is made. Sure, there may be a process involved but, during that process, there is a tipping point where you go off into the other direction. Many times, we wander off in a less than desirable direction without even knowing that we are doing it. We aren't conscious.

HappyUP!!! - look for where you are spending your emotion today. Write it down in a journal or notepad. Start building your better tomorrow by having a higher quality today.

This Just In!!!!......

Last night, as I was enjoying my evening - I looked over into the park and I saw two peanuts walking peacefully in the park. The bliss was quickly interrupted when I saw that one was a-salted!

(OK.....after you let out the easy to predict "groan"....go out and HappyUP!!!)

100....for 10 Days in a Row

OK....I am going to use the blog for something positive - complaining about the weather. I am going to do it right here, right now, one time and then I am going to be done with it.

Here in the big SacRahTomatoe - (that's Sacramento, CA for my international readership), today was the second day in a row with the temperature over 100 degrees. I just made a trip over to weather.com and saw that the next 10 days are supposed to be over 100....

And that's just too many in a row for my liking - people start to get a bit crabby here in the Sacramento Valley when you start encroaching on two weeks of straight triple digits. Let's see, what else will happen...

Oh, I know - the "news" stations will start running the polution/air quality index stories all the time. This begs the question: is it news if we already know that it is going to happen? Instead of calling it "The Six O'Clock News Report" perhaps they should call it "The Six O'Clock Duh Report."

"But, Nut, they are performing a public service for all of the people with breathing conditions"- hold it....stop the presses right there. IF you have figured out tht you have some kind of condition that effects your oxygen intake and you haven't figured out that when it's hot you should stay inside, perhaps you are taking up too much of everyone's air anyway!!!!

Oooooh! That last sentence wasn't very nice, was it? - no, it probably wasn't. It was pretty funny so the editor told me to leave it in. Besides, I'm making fun of the weather people.

PLUS...this is my one time that I am going to complain for two weeks so - I am entitled.

Let's see...what else will be on the news- oh, I know. "Don't leave your pets or children unattended in the car during the heat wave." LIKE YOUR SUPPOSED TO LEAVE YOUR CHILDREN UNATTENDED IN THE CAR ANY OTHER TIME!!!....and our PITA pals probably wouldn't be too hep on animals ever being left in the car either.

....oh, I know - the news will cut to a local university/hospital. They'll get some doctor to tell you what to make sure you do during these times. I wonder what his suggestion will be. Hmmmm...after all of those years of education....study....interning. What will this sage medicine man suggest? I can't wait.... my survival during this temperature torture chamber might rely on his very words. Perhaps he/she will say "DRINK LOTS OF WATER and WEAR SUNSCREEN"!!! Thanks for that cutting edge advice.

Hey, wait a minute- Perhaps I should call up the TV station right now and tell them I am available to come down for an interview. I'll save them the dough of having to send out the remote team that has to be on some doctor's time schedule. I can then tell all of the viewership to get more of my secrets at NuttersNotes.blogspot.com

Onward we will move to my friends who have to have black cars with black leather interior - "dang my black car...it's burning up!" Hey...Einstein.....you live in Sacramento. Are you too cool and chic to drive a white car???!!! How long have you lived here? Months that have names like JULY and AUGUST mean that there is a better than average chance of roasting! You were already a bit underbrained when you bought the car.......and now you validate it by complaining which indicates that you might not have figured out the black/heat correlation when you purchased the chariot.

How much longer should I go on - hey, I have to get it all out. From here on in, I have to replace "hotter than heck" with, "my what a very sunny day it is" for almost a fortnight.

Well...I think that's enough - and, if it's not, it may be time for a hastily planned vacation. Is it nice where you live right now?

And one more thing about how hot it is here - it's over 100 degrees a lot of days for our troops in God forsaken parts of the world......as people are trying to kill them. When you think about that, I think I, and everybody else that is lucky enough not to be taking that kind of heat, should drink a nice cool can of Shut-the-Heck-Up. I just stocked up on that beverage....

Cheers! Bottoms Up!!! - and a toast to those who are the heroes that really should be complaining. I don't hear them crying.

Baggage

(A special post for SundayScribblings)

The items we use for carrying our oh so precious stuff - for goodness sakes, we can't leave without this...or this here...oh, wait a minute...I need to take along that as well....just in case.
My first baggage that I can remember - was made of wire. It sat right between the handlebars of my Schwinn Stingray bike. Of course, it wasn't to cool to throw that accessory on the Stingray so as soon as I got home from school and ditched the school tomes, the basket came off too. That was handy. I actually had a removable piece of baggage.
It was during this time - around fifth grade that my parents subjected me to taking music at school. I love music now but hauling the saxophone to school via my pedal-and-chain-mobile taught me my first lesson in baggage handling. Bunjee chords were brand new back then 30+ years ago. I had my trusty basket between the bars and then to the front or on top of the basket, I strapped on another piece of baggage...the saxaphone case. Baggage on baggage. This was tricky and, as I am sure you can imagine, none to cool. Any chance of coolness was dispelled as most things that look awkward usually are and the entire load was often tossed to the dirt road that I travelled on. Oh the trauma of my childhood.
On to high school - where were backpacks in those days!!??!!! The baggage used there were my two appendages. This was a highly inefficient system when carrying multiple books, a lunch, and anything else.
College - brought along the introduction of the small backpace. This was cutting edge utilitarianism.
After graduating from business college - the logical career path was taken and I became a carpenter. Not a very good carpenter but a carpenter nonetheless. I still remember the 100 degree days. No sunscreen. A pair of gymshorts, redwing boots and my next piece of baggage....my toolbelt. I still have that toolbelt out in my garage. I tried to put it on the other day. Leather must not keep very well. After 20 years, it's shrunk...must have shrunk because it didn't come very close to fitting around my waist.
Then, the baggage gets serious - and you enter the world of work. You move up to a briefcase. Important people carry briefcases. Beginning loan officer...to senior loan officer...to manager.....to bigger manager. I have been through the old briefcases to more stylish ones to catalog cases to...
Laptop cases - the classic styling of a man's briefcase forever ruined by the need to carefully pack around the slave to which we have become. How many generic laptop cases have I been through? I can't even imagine.
You see corporate America drones packing around "the brain" in different sizes and configurations....but you don't really see the difference, do you? They are pretty much all black, nylon zippers, "that material" (you know...that nylon mesh stuff) and just wider and taller than laptop within.
Not mine! - I finally found something that is becoming a friend. He's my bag. Sometimes I insult him by making him bear the weight of my laptop and such silly contraptions like PDA's and laser pointers. Many times, I allow him to enjoy the heavier weight of the myriad of books that I want to read, pads to scribble on, and the variety of pens I carry. You can't have too many pens, right? Cell phone, keys, camera...it doesn't matter. My friend has a big mouth but he never tells. He just consumes. He begs me to travel heavier because he can take it. Many times, I give in to his desires and then it is my shoulder that tells me who really is in charge.
Old metal zippers - you don't see those anymore, do you? Yes, they have their misery but they bring a reminder of another time. It was a time that you didn't throw away and buy new. You went to the shoe repair shop and had it replaced or restitched. I guess there wasn't as much room in the landfills back in those days. We made things last even if what we had wasn't as good as the latest new thing. Why does the sentence I just wrote make me think of marriage?
I could scribble forever on this topic - but, alas, I have a meeting to go to. Let's see....what will I need at the meeting? What might I need if there is time to kill?...if I get bored? ...if I decide to go somewhere else when the meeting is done? I may not know what I am taking....but I know where I am putting it.
Time to start packing - maybe I will throw some underwear in my briefcase today. It will be the first time the name of the item accurately depics the object that it is describing.

Hotels

(A special post for SundayScribblings)
I find the topic of Hotels to be most provocative - and as I went about my travels today, I ventured by one of "those" hotels. Are you familiar? Do you want to be?
"Those" hotels are the ones - where an unknowing family on a budget could decide to stay for the night. It's close to the freeway. Perhaps it is not a hotel but a motel. This one, however, is not just for those on their way to Disneyland or Grandma's house. This particular place of hospitality also attracts "business" people. The type that are there for cheap and short term transactions where business casual means skin.
Yes, that is what I was going to write about this week - and delve into the side of lonliness, desperation, cheap thrills.....
I even took the picture - as I drove by.
And then I slapped myself and said - "Nutter, who deemed you the next Pulitzer Prize winner!!!"
Besides, if I followed that story, I would then have to - ahem...uh....well....."do the research" which didn't seem like a particularly savory investment of my time or money.
So, we head right back to my wheelhouse - the funny story!!! I arrived the night before a speaking engagement in a town just outside of San Francisco. I could have made the drive the following morning but I wanted to catch dinner with a friend of mine down near The City.
Upon checking in, there was a nice note from the management -
"For your safety, we will perform water maintenance on our water system Monday, April 17th. The entire water system will be shut down in the hotel from 12 noon until 3 pm. We sincerely apologize for any inconvenience you may encounter."
If you haven't figured it out by now - I am pretty easy going. Not much really gets to me. I don't think this did either. Yet, how could I ponder anything else as I checked in that Monday night but,

"I wonder if it worked!"

Let's go back and visit the note above- was it really necessary to begin the letter with "For your safety"? Perhaps I am a bit naive. When I go to a hotel in a developed country and especially near the city of San Francisco, I am pretty much not thinking that the water is going to be involved as a threat to my well being. Mugged? Sure. Panhandled? Expected. An occassional parasite because you aren't used to the local water supply? That's a given
"Hey, if they didn't need 'for your safety' they wouldn't have said, 'for your safety' now would they" - is the only thing that went through my head.
After being greeted with this letter - I wondered if, with all the hotels in America to pick, had Al-Qaeda picked this particular lodging location to carry out the next part of their plan?
So, here I am - in a strange city confronted by a dangerous challenge to my existence by the wettest villian of them all......the Water.
I stood in the face of that danger - I didn't ask if the testing had gone OK. Bravely, I wetted my toothbrush that night and shined my chompers as if the water had come out of a pristine spring. I showered zestily...rubbing the possible tainted aqua in total disregard that there could be caustic chemicals in them that would seer the epidermis from my body.
I then used the toilet with no.....- well....wait. I guess that, even if the water was contaminated there really wouldn't be any valor in using the head. OK...we'll skip that.
I only know this - when faced with the danger of a water supply that could have ended my days here, I stood up and let the world know that I would not be intimidated!!!

..................all while drinking the bottle of Evian that I had brought along.

Now that's some eatin!!!.....

Allright...what goes through your mind when someone says - Eggplant lasagna...or Zucchini Lasagna? If you are like me, it might be something like this, "hey, if I am going to pack on the carbs with that kind of pasta, I am going to throw in some real food!...meat...sausage..."

Here is the thing that I didn't know - and, while I may not be the brightest bulb in the lamp, I know there is someone out there amongst my massive readership that didn't know this either...

You replace the pasta....not the meat!!! - "what? Huh? Nutter, you nutter, what the heck are you talking about?"

Wow...you guys are a bit blunt but I like your spunk! - I was kicking around this weekend and somehow I come across The Victory Garden on the tube. Here is this Chef Boy-ar-dee fellow hanging outside with Gardner Green Jeans. They are picking vegetables and herbs. Now, this has my interest because, as all of you faithful readers know, I have this big garden going on this year for the first time in my life.

Chef Boy-ar-dee decides he is going to take eggplant and make eggplant lasagna - and I start going, "oh boy, when is he going to start throwing in the tofu as well?" But, because a mind is like a parachute....it works best when it is open....I decide to check it out.

The chef then takes the eggplant - and cuts it in long wide strips!!! He's not replacing the meat...he's replacing the noodles. All of a sudden, Einstein that I am, say, "hey, if he does this with eggplant, I can do this with a few of those 3 pound zucchinis that are taking over my backyard."

And I would say that within one hour - I went from couch potatoe to stuffing my gullet with the outcome that you see pictured above. I didn't even right down any instructions. Here is what you do:

Get yourself:
-some eggplant or huge zucchini (no, those little ones that look like a pickles brother won't work).
-sea salt
-pepper
-2 lbs of mozzarella (you won't use it all but you don't want to run short)
-a couple of jars of your favorite spag sauce (or make your own if you dig your own mix)
-a handful of fresh basil
-fresh parmesean

Slice the eggplant/zucchini into thin (but not razor or paper thin...they have to hold up) wide strips
Paint them with olive oil and dust them with pepper and sea salt
Grill them in a frying pan (a grill pan would be optimal...I don't own one...yet...I used a griddle)
Line the bottom of your casserole dish with your "noodles" (no need to oil the dish......the water in the plants
will keep them from sticking)
By this time, you will have been heating your spag sauce WITH the freshly cut,chopped basil leaves
Spread the spag sauce all over the "noodles"
Throw on a layer of mozzarella
(I did meatless but, if you wanted meat, you probably would have browned it and thrown it into your spag sauce by now)
Put on another layer of those grilled "noodles"
Do the spag sauce again
Do the mozzarella again
Once satisfied with your "layers" , throw some parmesean over the top
Stick it into the oven for about 15 to 20 minutes (it doesn't take long because everything is already hot)

Wait for your friends to come into the kitchen so you can pull out your bubbling masterpiece
Let it cool so it sets.......don't eat too much.......it gets even better as a leftover!!!!

I know...it sounds complicated - but.....shhhhh...I'll let you on to a little secret....promise not to tell?

I AM NOT A COOK

As said...shhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh - I don't want to get the word out. You just have to put together a few signature dishes that look and taste impressive. This little baby qualifies. And, by taking out the pasta, you really cut down on that carb factor. This one is a winner!!!!!

One Young Couple + One Very Sick Baby= HELP!

If there was ever a post that I didn't want to write - this one would have to rank up there as the all time winner. This is a sad drama involving my girlfriend's niece and her newly born great-nephew.

Imagine a couple married for a couple three years - he is a young guy in the Navy and she is a young bride away from all of her family. He is working on a boat in harbor in San Diego. He has no threat to be sent to active war but military is military. If you aren't doing the fighting, you are supporting those that do.

It's time to have your baby - the anticipation of your first child. Maddox is born. You are making the adjustments that new parents have to make. At one and a half months, baby acne develops. You make 6 trips back and forth to the doctor to rectify the condition. While irritating and less than optimal, babies get "stuff" as they acclimate to this new world that they have entered. At 4 months, your happy little baby wakes up with a goopy little eye and a slight fever too. While not what anyone wants, it's another normal annoyance your little one has to endure. As a mother, you sense it may be a little bit more than that so you make another trip to the pediatrician. Within a day, you are told.....

That your precious newborn who seems perfectly normal except for a skin condition - will most likely die in the next few months.

He's admitted to the hospital - on the spot. The baby is isolated which you are told is mandatory for his condition. You make a visit to his room. As is normal, a transfer to another room soon becomes in order.

When you arrive at the new room - you find another baby there. "Wait...isn't my baby supposed to be isolated?" you quickly ask.

"Ooops, that was a mistake. We got caught in a shift change" - it's not what you want to hear but you thank God that you were there.

Flash forward a couple of days later - the nurse comes in and says, "by the looks of this chart, this is a 9 month old, 6 pound baby." You say, "no, he is 4 months old and weighs 15 pounds." The nurse reminds you that she is right until you have her look at the child....

"Well....that is what it said in the chart" - and after letting the nurse know that the chart is wrong, you now know that you have to keep the vigil at that hospital bed no matter what the outcome ends up being. You probably would have anyway but with two obvious oversights in the first week, you trust you and you alone.


The baby soon must be transferred to another hospital 2-3 hours away - the father has to keep working. You have to quit your minimum wage job and leave home to stay with the baby.


Every hour you have to leave the room - so you can be rescrubbed and put on new sanitary skivvies just so you can be able to reach out and touch your flesh and blood with your gloved hands.

The baby is happy, googly, and flirting with the staff - like good babies do...but you know that a bone marrow transplant is the only way that this baby has a chance. You aren't even sure what is wrong with the child. Their is a suspicion that it is Omenn's Syndrome. If it isn't that, it's some sort of SCID (Severe Combined Immunio Deficiency).

Please pray for Baby Maddox - and for his mother, Amanda, and her husband Jason. Remember, Amanda isn't working. She has to stay at cheap hotels by the hospital. Right now, she is able to stay at the Ronald McDonald house. While grateful for that, it still has a $14 a night charge. It's $14 that is tough to come by when you weren't exactly living life to the hilt before leaving your minimum wage job.

This ordeal could last for 4....8...12 months - so, besides your prayers, if you can find anything in your pocket to spare it would be deeply and gratefully appreciated. Donations can be made here:

BabyMaddoxFundRaiser


If you want to know more about the story, you can click here:

BabyMaddoxStoryBoard


Trust me - there's no internet scam involved here. Just a young couple in a very dire situation where the best you have to hope for is a successful bone marrow transplant and a bunch of financial strain. While a bit helpless regarding the former, a little from a lot of people can help take care of the latter.

Two Peas in a Pod

(A special post for SundayScribblings)



After 14 years of living in my last house - I finally made a move a bit over a year and a half back. At one time, the old homestead probably had 6, 7, or 8 cats hanging around. I can't really how the collection came to be. They just started showing up. My ex had a bigger heart for the felines than I did.

Well, when the time came for the unmarriage to happen - I ended up being left with all of the children. While it didn't happen immediately, it was time for....

The Cat Eradication Program (CEP) to begin - don't call PITA or the SPCA!!! A few were placed, natural causes, disappearances, etc began to happen along with a vigilance to be on guard for no other cats to be allowed on premises....

Lest they end up getting a name - and, hence, a setback to the CEP! By the time of the move, there were only two mammals making the trek to the new space...

...Yours Truly and Stogie - my stout 8 year old black cat featured prominently in the picture. But....wait.....if there was only one cat, what is that hanging around in the back of the picture????

It's another black cat!!!! - meet Shadow, the little girl kitty that "showed up" not more than a few weeks after moving in. Stogie is a pretty social fellow. The old neighbors actually hated to see him go. Well, he drew this new, young chick in and, well, with the CEP already declared successful and done, this old curmudgeon decided that the two of us boys could stand having a little female accompaniement in our new living space.

Ever since that day - those two black cats have been inseperable. Hence, how she got the name Shadow. As for Stogie and how we derived his nom de plume? Back in my cigar smoking days, I would sit outside and draw on a big fat robusto. Stogie seemed to enjoy jumping up on my lap and savor the aroma of the smoke being blown into his face (OK....maybe you can call the SPCA now for subjecting my cat to second hand smoke...I'll call my attorney and meet them in court).

Stogie and Shadow - two peas in a pod

What Do You Want to Make of This?

So, here I was - taking a walk in lovely one night on a recent business trip to........

New York?

San Francisco?

Los Angeles?

.....no to all of the above. Come on, you knew San Francisco was out. Not much Jesus promoting going on in that town!!! (Pardon my little joke for all you Bible carriers down in the City by the Bay....I know you are trying....just outnumbered).

Actually, I was in Des Moines, Iowa - more specifically, WEST Des Moines, Iowa, which is NOT to be confused with Des Moines, Iowa. Well, you could confuse the two and I don't actually think anyone would care a whole bunch. If you are outside of Des Moines, no one notices and if you are in Des Moines proper or Des Moines West, their probably just happy to have you mention Des Moines for anything.

Anyway, I am out on my walk and I come across this sign - sitting smack dab in front of a mega-church. Right out there in good midwest, strong values America. I didn't really know what to make of it.....and I still don't. There is a part of me that wants to say, "it's all for a good cause...it's just for fun.....lighten up." There is another part of me that remembers Jesus throwing money changers out of the temple and, if there was ever a game that was purely about money, it has to be monopoly.

Then.....you have that whole not taking the Lord's name in vain and we shouldn't blasphemize thing - to contend with as well.

Nope....I still don't know what to think - and I figure, at this point, it really isn't for me to judge one way or the other. I don't even think that I will throw an opinion out at it. It just seems like a further progression of the mainstream church following society rather than society following the mainstream church....

....which may not be a bad thing at all - as neither mainstream society or mainstream church have done much to hold my interest for quite some time.

I still, however, love that Jesus guy!

HappyUPdate

I have been doing a bit of travelling lately - mostly on business. The travel process can be quite draining and stressful...even to some of us with a pretty steady constitution. I have to share the HappyUPs I had jotted down in my journal from last Monday. I had to arise by 3:30 a.m. to catch a flight from Northern to Southern California. It's only an hour's flight but, post 9/11, a simple flight is a rare commodity.

Beat the 3:30 alarm clock - by waking up at 3:15. I am so thankful that I have this talent of being able to tell myself when I want to wake up...and then having it work. I still don't trust it enough to not have the alarm as a backup. I just like waking up on my call rather than the alarm's.

Remembered to think "HappyUP" - as I got out of bed and headed to bathroom. Started the day with gratitude on my mind with no mnemonic tricks needed. This is not the way most of us wake up....and definitely not how I used to. When I do, I notice it and thank God for continuing to work on me.....He knows...I need it.

Found my nice shorts - in the pre-dawn mental haze, I gave up on finding the nice shorts that would be appropriate for the function I was going to. As I was heading out the door, I saw them on the dryer.

Remembered to go back in to store and pay for coffee - in my focus to get to the airport, I self served and brain faded. I walked straight back to my truck. As I was opening the door to my vehicle, I realized I hadn't paid. I went back in and did so. I would have felt like a thief. I also would have had to go out of my way as I came back from my trip to settle up....well, that is if the police weren't waiting for me as I got off the plane coming home to arrest me for caffiene lifting.

No traffic on the way to airport - sure, it was 4:50 a.m. so the odds were good for me. But, have you ever ran into unexpected traffic when you couldn't afford to. Take nothing for granted.

Great parking spot at airport - level 2 in the 6 story garage and right by the elevator

Not stressing in line 1 - because I got to the airport 2 hours before my flight. The guy next to me is sending out a tremendously negative vibe. I am not even talking to him nor is he saying much. I can just feel the heat radiating from him.

I got my bag checked out of turn - to my advantage. One clerk was servicing 4 self check in kiosks for people that had a bag to check. The other people had been in front of me in line. She looked at me. I smiled. It was a smile telling her that I knew she was harried. She checked my stuff first. I giggled to myself, "hey, that was kind of like taking 'cuts' in line without anyone knowing it."

Not stressing in the long line 2 - this is the security line and it was loooooong. Once again, I had arrived way ahead of time. Bad mojo was emanating from all over that que. Not from me. This allowed me to....

Notice the young couple next to me - and we engaged in a nice conversation. I don't always talk to people in line. Both the man and the woman had shaved heads. I didn't ask but I have the feeling that she may have been going through a cancer situation. Yes, I might have been stereotyping but I just had this feeling. If true, he had gone along and shaved his head in support. She looked lovely and I was glad I noticed.

Breezed through the metal detector - no hassle, no wanding, I'm FREEEEEEE!

Got first seat in my line for plane - let's me sneak in 40 minutes of e-mail. An unplanned bonus

Wireless is working great - even with all of the communication around the airport

Brought a great book - to read on the flight

Blood pressure - I just remembered stopping at the blood pressure machine yesterday. It was the lowest it has ever been. While I don't have high blood pressure, it doesn't mean that it couldn't be even better.

Looking forward - to seeing my friends which is why I am flying

The beautiful haze of LA - OK...it's smog but I think it is beautiful because I don't live in it

Anticipating a smooth landing

Having a smooth landing - always tell that pilot, "you layed that one down nicely." Of course, you could just walk by the pilot like you expected the good landing as your only thought is, "where the heck is baggage claim."

My bag is the third one off of the plane - this allows me to slip right out the door (be honest....how often do you sit and go, "why is my bag always the last one off the plane," when, in reality, your bag probably came out in the 50th to 80th percentile of bags off the plane. Not only do we ignore the good and notice the bad....we like to exaggerate the bad)

And the shuttle bus driver sees me - and reopens his doors to let me be the last passenger in just as he was getting ready to pull away

My pen is intact - sometimes, my favorite brand of pens explode on planes.

.....................and on and on it goes - we have so many things that we think are supposed to "just happen" for us every day. The only time we notice them is when they go wrong. It is trite for us to say, "we take things for granted." Yes....we do.

What are YOU going to DO about it? - how about starting to notice...to be present?

It's easy to do - and even easier NOT to do.

1. Just make a mental note of the things that go right
2. Stop on occasion during the day and make a brief journal note
3. Review all of the items in the evening before bed
4. Pick your top 3....write why you thought they happened and what was it about the event that made you happy

Seven days......just give me seven stinking little days - at the same time this week, you will be done with the project.....if you want to be. Here's the hook. After 7 days, you may not write the three things down at night every night but you will be effected by what you start noticing every day.

Music

(A posting for SundayScribblings



When you say music - you are really saying one word....guitars!

There is old lore that says there is only one reason that a young man straps a guitar around his neck - and there is probably a bit of truth to that statement. It doesn't matter what the style of guitar is...the Delta Blues of Lowell Fulson, breakneck speed of Eddie Van Halen, Wild Windmill Strumming while Spread Eagle Jumps of Pete Townshend, country magic of Chet Atkins, classical refrains from Andre Segovia.....talented guitar players are cool! That coolness and what it attracts drives many a young man to adorn himself with those 6 pieces of metal hung over a piece of wood.

My motivation to buy a guitar never fell along those lines - it was about building up the courage to do something that I had been told as a young boy that I had no talent for....to play a musical instrument.

Now, truth be told - I actually don't have much talent in the musical realm. At times, a tinge of guilt washes over me for owning so many guitars but not really knowing how to make any one of them sing. Funny how we can be our own worst critics.

But I quickly quiet that voice - I strum for my own enjoyment. I tell myself that someday I'll get serious about it...then remind myself that I really don't need to be serious about anything as long as I enjoy it.

There are few things like pressing those hard wires - into that fretboard. The pain that came with developing the calluses on the tips that make playing possible. I have heard stories of good players super gluing the calluses that ripped off back on to their fingers. I have never approached that extreme...nor have I played until my fingers bled. Maybe I'm not serious.

I often thought - wouldn't it be nice to have a few friends over and just strum while we all sung...not worrying about being a choir or a vocal group. Just relaxing and enjoying each other's company. Free from anyone judging us. But, no, no one does that anymore. That is for Andy of Mayberry or some young people dreaming to be a folk group.

Then one day, I was asked - to start playing for our house church. I said, "no problem." I was just thinking that I was helping out. After doing it for a few times, it dawned on me, "hey, that little thought...that little thing about sitting around and playing and singing.....does that count as a dream that I had? If it does, cross another dream come true off of my list."

Yes, one day I will get serious about playing that guitar.........or not

It's Zukezilla!!!!

"Hey, did you hear about the zucchini that got too close to the steamroller? - ....squash!!!"

Yes, I will cop to it - that crappy pun came courtesy of my rancid brain. Hey, I had to come up with something to go with the picture.

If you run across a zucchini this big looking like this in a dark alley - run!!! ...or get out your food processor and muffin pans and make some cakes.....a LOT of cakes!!!

Bed

(A Special Post for SundayScribblings)

A bed is the last thing in your life that you need trouble from. You can create all kinds of trouble once you are on or in your bed but the physical item should just do it's job. Squeaks, lumps, and slants are the common troubles that we are aware of. Economic conditions during different times in our lives may force us to tolerate a plethora of maladies that can plague this one specific place where all of us spend the most time in our lives.

Why would anyone want to go out and buy trouble in this area?

What? "Nobody does that," you say.

Call me nobody. I've done it.....twice.

WATERBED

That one word says it all, doesn't it? At this moment, do I even need to even elaborate. Your own stories or ones that you have heard are erupting to the surface like weeds in spring. The least of which but the one that quickly sends you to the couch is when the heater/thermostat malfunctions.....drain, new heater, refill, wait to get warm......your campin' somewhere else for 3-4 days at minimum. Nope, a bed should be something you can count on to deliver!

Temperpedic Adjustable Bed with Remote Control

I went this route recently - it was expensive. Our brains are wonderful things. Our ability to rationalize is a treasure. I wanted this bed so I could more comfortably sit up and read in bed. On many nights, I like to read before putting my head away for the day. You can stack pillows. You can buy wedges. You can do a lot of things to get yourself into a comfortable position. I wanted to do what I do best....nothing. What do we all look to do when we want to do nothing? We look to push a button.

There was no need involved in this decision. This was pure want. I had a chat with the conservative ruler of my treasury (otherwise known as the left hemisphere of my noggin) and said, "hey, you spend 25 to 30% of your life in this place. It should be perfect. Quit being tight jeans!." Thank goodness for me to rationalize just about anything.

...and then the problems started. Faulty connections, faulty remotes, a bad motor..etc.

But that's all behind me now - nothing left but to enjoy the outcome and what I hope becomes years of trouble free slumber.



(PS Hey.....quick thought. Consider buying a split king next time you are in the market. This is how the adjustable bed comes so each partner can set the bed the way they want. It's really the same as putting two large twins right next to each other. If you buy twin top sheets and don't tuck them in down the middle where the two beds meet, you will end any battles that you have over sheet hogging. Tossin and turnin by one partner doesn't upset the other person as well. Yes, you will notice the split down the middle during the times of amour but, trust me, you'll work around that.)

First Harvest 2006

You've been waiting for this all weekend!!! - ever since I mentioned that there was one bell pepper ready for picking. Meet....

Bell!!! - listen, I have to look at enough of your baby pictures. I don't have any legged children so you can suffer through a few of these pics. Bell was the first out of the bunch this year...OK, I picked off a couple of strawbs that were early achievers first...he is my first edible vegetable of the year.

Eat my children - call me a cannibal. It broke my heart but I have already carved into Bell. Funny, he doesn't have that waxy taste that you get from the store. Hmmm....perhaps I'll find a candle and do a little dripping on the other half of him.

More to come - as the Lord continues to make His presence known. Hallelujah!!!

HappyUP!...Coming to a town near you soon!

Yep, were hitching up the HappyUP! wagon - and hittin the trail again. Just two weeks from yesterday.

Saturday, June 24 - the Nutster will be in Dixon, California (that's near you, right?). I am grabbing about 45 minutes of Randy Vice's 4 hour, "How to Have a Better Life," seminar and taking us all back through HappyUp.

In preparation - you'll see some daily postings on HappyUp. You all remember what the concept was:

1. Look for things that make you happy
2. Jot down a quick note through your day as you go
3. Choose your top three at the end of each day
4. Write those down and note WHY you thought they happened and WHAT was it about them that made you happy.

Gang, being happy (or happier...hey, you don't have to be sick to get better) - takes work. If you want to take your game from a 5 to a 7, you have to do something. What? You say that you are at a 10?

Wow!!!! - one question: why did you stop?

HappyUp every day...take 10 minutes to summarize every night - do it for 7 days. C'mon...you have the time. Do it for 7 days....better for 14 but I'll take 7.

It will change your life for the better - guaranteed!

(Hey, help me HappyUp a bit more. Did you notice how my picture was a little blurred? I have a Casio ExLim....do you have any idea how my close ups could be a bit clearer? Don't make me read the owner's manual. I think it came with one...but I'd have to find it.)

A Laid Back Sunday....Something To Think About

I believe that I have run across this little piece of wisdom before - I caught it again over at my friend's blog, Wes Roberts

life is not measured by the
number of breaths we take,
but by the number of moments
that take our breath away.

So, I ask you - what does it take to take your breath away? Is it so complex that it takes a special set of circumstances? Are you so busy chasing the wind that you haven't stopped to notice lately....for a long time....ever? Must you go to the sea or the mountains?

Like acres of diamonds - it sits around you. Go take a look and let me know how you do.

Click It or Ticket? Do I or Don't I?

The entire world has been after me on this one - but I'll give credit to my gym buddy, Gym-buddy, for goading me into bringing the ruling in on this issue. Gym-buddy and I have known each other for 33 years. I'd say that it is 50/50 on our agreement on subjects...

...this one, however, we are in line - here in California, some lawmaker got some job justification by writing this one into the books a couple of years back. The law is this....

Click it or Ticket - that's right. Fasten your seat belt or you are getting pulled over. I have been informed that the second offense is going to knock you back over $150. The interesting thing is all of the mindless people that have jumped on the bandwagon thinking this is a great thing.

I don't see it that way - I am all for keeping the roadways safe. When I fire up the Nutmobile, I want to know that law enforcement is out there making sure that the path to where I need to go is as free of law busters as possible.

At first, most police would not pull you over for this violation - it was more of a "rider to the bill" after they pulled you over for something else. California just went through a major campaign....advertising...marketing....the whole schmeer.

Now, I am no idiot - the gendarmes had to be getting rated during this campaign for how many tickets they wrote. The entire marketing was, "clickit or ticket," so if there is no ticket, there is no campaign. It only makes sense.

I have two problems with this - 1)the taxes that I pay to keep the roadways safe for my drive are being squandered. Sure, I guess the risk of a body flying into my convertible from an accident that just happened next to me was decreased. Quite frankly, I am willing to absorb that risk to keep our peace officers out there ticketing people who run red lights. 2)I am not a civil libertarian but we do have to keep an eye on our rights. If I want to increase the risk of damaging me and me alone, that is my call.

I know...I know - "what about the people that don't have insurance? We have to pay for them." First, in California, everyone is SUPPOSED to have insurance. Second, if we are heading down this slippery slope, when is someone going to start handing out tickets at McDonalds and Cold Stone to people that are killing themselves with what they are ingesting. We don't even have to talk about citations for people smoking. Sorry, this argument doesn't hold water.

People need to be responsible - and make their own decisions and suffer the consequences...particularly when their decision doesn't effect anyone else.

In the meantime - I'll be buckling up. I drive a convertible. I don't want you to be inconvenienced by my body flying into your car if I have a wreck with a guy that ran a red light. You know, the guy that would have been pulled over two streets back if the policeman wouldn't have been busy ticketing a guy that didn't have his seat belt on.

Wild, Crazy Thought....

...drawn from the post that follows this one.


Honestly, vegetable gardening does not take that much time - right now, I am sitting on 24 plants. The initial soil preperation, buying of plants, and planting them probably took me a day if you put all of the time together. Keep in mind, this year, my garden was grass so the soil preparation took longer.

In the last 6 weeks - the only thing that I have done is water. Now, while I water, I do try to pull out a few weeds. Weeds steal the valuable water from your plants which is why you do it. Yes, you can do it for aesthetics but that really isn't what I am into.

In the future - I probably will put in a simple drip system. This will cut down the time...which I am not sure is a good thing. The garden is a wonderous place when you actually are out amongst life beginning to grow. I would be putting the sprinkling system in for some enhanced efficiency....

Hmmmmm...did you see the paragraph above - increased efficiency versus time being spent where I enjoy it. The irrigation system is going to be a little mental debate. I wouldn't want to succumb to just wanting the outcome without putting in the work (which all of a sudden reminds me that is how people can get themselves in credit card trouble). It is the time during the work that I enjoy. It's good quality time.



So, we have established that vegetable gardening isn't that difficult - it takes less water than lawns do. Lawn is a weed. Yes, even the beautiful green patch sitting out in front of your house is a weed. It may be a desirable weed but it is a weed nonetheless.

What if everyone in my neighborhood committed to less lawn - and less "stylistic" ground coverings and devoted more space to vegetables? Hold on...this is going to get mind blowing.

"Nutster...you be the tomatoe guy" - a neighbor might say. "Everyone in the neighborhood will know it. Grow them in your front yard too. Instead of looking at you as eccentric, we'll all be thankful that you donated your front yard to provide for us." What if the entire neighborhood shared what they grew with everyone? ...and shared their knowledge? ..and helped in each other's garden? The elderly lady may not be able to garden anymore....but she has an overgrown yard in the back that she can't afford to maintain. She would get some of the vegetables too!

We would probably all have to get to know our neighbors a bit better - imagine that. No, we could never do that. We like to complain about them too much. We like to pine about how places where more like community back in the good ol days. Perhaps they were more communal because we communicated more. Now, we pop the garage door opener and don't have the opportunity to run into someone as we go into our homes from the front door.

The above paragraph takes me down another rabbit trail - when you think of the word "commune", you think "weird"..."not something I want to be a part of", don't you? Yet, the root is the same as communication and community. These are things that many of us feel might cause our lives to be improved if we had a bit more of them in our lives.

Vegetable gardening - could create community in a neighborhood. It would use less water. The water that was used would be for sustenance rather than looks. It would probably be a bit more organic....any of us could use a little less cancer in our lives. One has to think that all of the chemicals that go into our food have to play a bit of a role in the higher level of disease that we have in the west. We might actually "live off the land" and eat the fruits and vegetables that we should.

I could go on and on - but, let's face it. We don't want to make any of the changes that this would entail, would we? We would rather isolate or busy ourselves with meaningless things that truly are "chasing the wind" as Solomon said in Ecclesiastes.

Still, it was a lovely thought to park on - for a few moments on this gorgeous June morning in Roseville (near Sacramento), California.

The Greatest Mystery of All

(A special post for SundayScribblings

It's a mystery to me - that on April 30th, my backyard looked like this. Well, an even bigger mystery was how I got my dad's old rototiller started to till up all of the old grass and even get it to this point. Add to that, I found the motivation to run a rototiller for the first time....and then rake out all of the clods and roots and debris. Where did that come from? But, beyond my total lack of knowledge about soil preperation and overcoming my laziness, on April 30th, this is where we were with the small patch of grass out behind the tool shed.

Let's now flash forward just 6 weeks or so to this morning



Yes "that" has become "this" - and I am not being self-deprecating about my lack of skill or knowledge. I, honestly, know absolutely nothing about gardening. I have never really done it before. I haven't read much. I didn't go down to Home Depot and take a class. I played around with a tiny patch last year and got some nice tomatoes out of the deal. Let's face it. Tomatoes are a weed. I think anyone reading this blog feels fairly confident that you could grow a weed.

Yet, here I am - just a few short week's from enjoying the mystery of how we can be provided with sustenance......and so grateful that this mystery exists. Nature's bounty.

Tomatoes - cherry, early girls, and beef steaks...6 plants in all. Way more than I will need. Every plant has reached the stage of bearing fruit. This is good. I have been told that sometimes you get nice plants but no fruit.

Bell Pepper - one fully developed bell pepper is showing. I know there will be more but, right now, there is only one and it is almost ready to eat. That's a mystery. It is almost as if His Divinity is saying, "here is one for you to eat today...see the little bud? You can eat that one later."

Cucumbers - the leaves are so big that you have to peel them back so you can peek inside and see the little babies that the plant is keeping shaded. It is almost like she keeps them in her secret pouch and is sheilding them from the elements.

Squash - HUGEMONGOUS plants with several fully formed and preparing themselves for my dinner table.

Watermelon - I don't see anything yet but a creepy crawly vine spreading it's tentacles about the garden. Will it bear a watermelon?....several of them? Who will I give the watermelons to because I don't really eat watermelon? Maybe I will eat watermelon this year...and lots of it. All mysteries.

Strawberries, basil, pepperoncini, jalapeno's, the "wonder pepper" (yes, that is what it was called when I bought it...so that's a mystery in itself)...all doing well.

Then we have the old growth around the yard - the orange tree, the lemon tree, the fig tree, and the grape vines. I just pruned back a lot of grapes to allow the grapes I left to have more sustenance so they will be bigger. Someone gave me this tip. If this makes them bigger, perhaps the seeds won't be so bothersome.

One gardening uneducated man.....one small suburban lot - sitting on so much abundance that he'll have nothing to do but share with his neighbors.

This is a story about the greatest mystery of all - God. He truly is a wonderful Father. This is a wonderful metaphor to show that He provides for His children much more than they need, without that much attention, and despite their actions.

I think it is time for me to sign off - and spend some time with Our Father to thank him for being so good to us all in so many ways.

Would I like to unlock the mysteries of God? - I only think that doing so would diminish Him. I think I'll be content with leaving things as is and enjoy His great mystery.

Confesssion of a Book Freak

OK...there you have it - I went out and said it. I'm a book freak!

It's a problem - I am in the midst of a terminal remodeling project. I moved into the old house about 1.5 years ago. I never have really gotten settled as there has been some much overthought of rehabbing to do.

The day has finally approached - to hit the living room and turn it into a real room. Might paint the floor...if I don't like it, I'll just glue a laminate over the old, worn wood floors like everyone else does these days (man, I hope the painting thing works...I'm not down with the thought of being like everyone else)

And I have to address "the issue" - how did I get so many books? Many read with a commitment to re-read. Others started. Others waiting. I'm sure more will get through the front door within the next two weeks.

But some have to go - but which ones. "I really might read this one again." "This one doesn't seem as interesting as when I bought it but, I started it so I should finish it."

Almost none jump out and scream - "this one has to go!!!" It is almost like they are children. That's just sick. For goodness sakes, they are just a bunch of paper bound together.

Decisions....decisions...decisions - I'll get back to you on which ones left. I think it may tell me something. But, once I decide for them to go....

Where will they go? - aaaahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!

Earliest Memory - A Long Walk

(a special post for SundayScribblings

A young boy. His two older brothers gone to school. Living in the country. His mother staying at home from work a little longer than originally planned to take care of "the little afterthought." A long way to the grocery store. I've gone back in adult life. While the original road is gone, I have it estimated at 4.5 miles. The mother loads him into his wagon. There is no second car. She pulls him along the long road. There are no sidewalks. She gets her groceries. She puts them in the wagon. They turn around and head back. The wagon full of groceries and a 4 year old boy trailing along.

I wonder if making a 4 year old walk 4 miles would be called child abuse today. I call it doing what you have to do.....and those things are usually good for you.