Month: November 2013

As I walked on the porch this morning I felt the cold stinging air, which reminded me on how reality hits me. And that happened on my trip to Shreveport Louisiana while sitting in a steakhouse at the casino.

My wife and I went to do a little gambling this Thanksgiving holiday, at a casino in Shreveport Louisiana. As I mentioned in an earlier blog, the casino was full of people and all seem to be in a good mood. After a hard day of gambling, my wife and I decided to have a steak dinner at the very plush and beautiful steakhouse at the casino. The casino is located off the Red River and in the middle of Bossier City Louisiana. We were seated at a table near the windows that looked out upon the river which showed the reflection of the light from the other casino along the river front. The inside of the restaurant was plush and quiet. After the waiter had introduced himself and we were served some bread. While we were waited for our meal, I sat at the table looking out of the river and started to reflect about some of things that happen in my life. While doing so, I would speak to my wife and, during one of my sentences, I mispronounce a word. My wife noticed that and quickly, without malice, corrected my error. This caused me to think of a time in my life when I was often corrected about my speech. I thought of several occasions as a young teen when my speech was corrected by others. One of which was my pronunciation of the word wash, I originally would say the word “Worsh”. I was constantly being corrected both at school and at home on how to say the word wash. I was corrected once in front of the class which caused me a great deal of embarrassment, even as I think of it today. So in this quiet atmosphere of the steakhouse I began to relay the story to my wife. During this time our meal was brought to our table. I do not often open up about personal feelings to anyone, except to my wife. So as I was telling the story after the meal was brought to our table. My wife continued to look at me and she reached over and held my hand. As I was speaking I thought about how nice it was that she is trying to console me about this memory. It wasn’t until I was done telling the story that she stated “let’s pray”. So after the prayer I realized that she wasn’t trying to console me, but was waiting for me to stop telling my story so that we could pray. That is when I started to smile and realized that it is not always about me.

My wife was just being kind and waiting for me to stop talking so that she could start to prayer. I did not say anything to her after that was done as she had no malice towards me or my story. And it reminded me of the many times that I’ve been speaking to someone and in my mind talking about me. When in reality the subject was not about me at all and it usually led to some confusion when the person I was talking to responded. Usually, I picked up on the fact that there was a miscommunication about the focus of my comment, and I continued the conversation on the right subject. I believe I’m not the only one that this happens to and I imagine if you look back into some your conversations and you are speaking about personal issue to someone else, you experienced an awakening that they were not on the same page as you. I’m not saying that’s a bad thing to talk about yourself to other people, just be aware that the other person may not be on the same page and even think you’re talking about them.

A note to my followers:  I’m trying a new speech recognition program called Dragon. I hope this will result in better spelling and better grammar. It will take some time to work with the new system until I can speak fluently without any interruption to correct a word or punctuation mark made by the recognition program.

Pops

 

As I walked out onto the porch this morning, with my hot coffee in hand, I saw the beautiful sunshine breaking through the trees and bouncing off the leaves on the ground.  What a beautiful site.  Tomorrow is the holiday, Thanksgiving.

Thanksgiving is one of those holidays that bring family together, if you’re lucky enough to have a family to bring together.  This Thanksgiving will be a lot different from the many I have experienced in my Life.  In the past, my wife and I would enjoy the traditional picture of Thanksgiving by hosting the event at our house.  Like many senior adults, we had to find a way to have enough seats and tables for all to enjoy the turkey dinner.  The protocol was usually, adults at the big table and children at the little tables.  As the children grew into adult size bodies there was a protocol established on who would take the empty seat should it become available if one of the adults could not be there.

As time went on I had to buy bigger dining room tables to be able to accommodate all the family.  At one point, the table had a representative from all the families seated.  There was my wife and I, our moms and dads, our grandparents, aunts. uncles and the occasional  close friend who is unable to be at their family’s Thanksgiving.  As our children grew into adults, the number of attendees started to diminish until it was just my wife and I and maybe one of our children and one of our surviving parents.  In all those events I would sit at the head of the table and have the honor of cutting the turkey.

Eventually, we moved away from California to retire in Texas.  Our grandparents, many of  our parents aunts and uncles had passed on.  Our children had grown to adults with their own children and they started their own tradition of Thanksgiving.  We moved again last year to another location in Texas.  Leaving behind all the family who also lived near our old home  in Texas.  We have, on other holidays, tried to connect with our families in Texas and California.  But this year many of the different family’s had decided to hold Thanksgiving in many different locations.  Usually at one of their children’s homes that is in another part of our country.  While we were invited to several Thanksgiving dinners both inside and outside the family, we have decided to do something different.

We both enjoy a little gambling and so we’re going to a casino where we will spend Thanksgiving.  If you think that a place like a casino would have very few visitors you are wrong.  There is a good percentage of people who do not have a family to share the holiday.  Or, for any one of the number of reasons, cannot make it to a family Thanksgiving.  So they find a casino and enjoy the holiday.  We plan to enjoy our Thanksgiving and  on that day, call the family members, no matter where they are and wish them a happy Thanksgiving.

I called this piece, thanks for giving.  And whether you are part of a religious family or you do not believe in any religion Thanksgiving is in a day say, thanks for giving.  I am fortunate to have lived to be an old man and to have experienced all of the types of Thanksgiving that I can imagine.  And I thank all those living and passed for those Thanksgiving dinners.  I smiled and the memories of my parents who handed the tradition of Thanksgiving down to me.  I now enjoy the all the social media avenues where all the many pictures and videos of family and friends will be sent for all to share.  It makes the little bit of a sadness I feel pain of not  being with family on Thanksgiving, go away.  And I look forward to enjoying this Thanksgiving and making new memories.  I hope that you will enjoy this holiday by thinking of the positive past memories and making some new memories.  Thanksgiving is meant to be a positive and happy holiday.  So, go out and enjoy it.  I know I will.

Pops

As I walked out onto the porch this morning I couldn’t help but notice all of the leaves on the ground.  My house is surrounded by trees most of them have leaves but a few are pine trees.  The temperature outside was about 30° so I went back inside the house to my desk to talk to my computer and write my blog.  Next to my desk is a large window that looks out upon all the trees.

The weather lately has been cold and breezy.  Most of the trees who have leaves have lost them and they lay on the ground.  Looking out at the ground it looks like some bright and colorful carpet.  Of course during the fall, the spectacle of color is brought by the changing season and is a beautiful site.  I find it as amazing with the leaves on the trees and off the trees.

During the last week as the wind was blowing I enjoyed the many pin oak tree leaves.  They are a small  leaf and when they fall in numbers you feel like you are in a ticker tape parade.  When a good wind comes along the whole area is covered in a shower of small yellow leaves this looks like the ticker tape parades without the bands and floats.  The leaves are small and so they do not cover much ground.  It is the other trees job to cover the ground.  I watch the many oaks such as a red oak and the many sweet gum trees deliver thousands upon thousands of leaves on the ground in many colors.  I’m just amazed how the forest floor looks more alive and colorful due to a simple leaf.  But I am sure this is like a “stop and smell the roses” moment.  Earlier in life as soon as the leaves fell. I would rake up the leaves to see the grass.   I even went so far as to buy a machine to mulch the leaves.  I did not realize then how beautiful they are.  Besides helping the tree grow during the spring and summer the leaf when it falls creates a beautiful scene and then while on the ground it slowly decays to enrich the soil.

This may seem a little hokie but I thought it was worth talking about.  Enjoy the simple leaf as it comes and goes each year it provides nourishment and beauty to our country sides.  I hope you live in an area that has enough trees to enjoy the different seasons in which the simple leaf can be seen.  If not find a way to get out amongst the trees and the leaves, it will be worth your time and effort.

Pops

 

As I walked out onto my porch this morning an icy cold wind hit me and I turned around and went back into the house.  I have had a bad cough for the last few days and did not want to chance it turning into a bad cold.  So I went to my desk and started speaking to my computer.  The voice recognition program that comes with windows is not the most advanced program.

So I checked the mail and found a newer voice recognition program that my son had sent me.  I tried to load the new program into my computer, an older version computer.  It did not take long for the computer to tell me that I did not have enough ram to run the program.  So I began the search for a gigabyte of ram for my old computer.  My computer is a dell and so I went to the dell site to find a stick of ram to put into my computer.  My computer is so old that even dell did not have the part in stock.  So I searched the web and found what I needed.

Wouldn’t it be great if I could find a way to increase my memory?  It would be cool to be able to go to a store or shop online for a stick of memory to put inside me so I could increase my memory.  I believe that I, like many men, as I’ve gotten older my memory is less than when I was a young man.  In today’s world if you have a bad heart it is possible to get a new one.  Or if you need a kidney, a lung or new skin it is possible to find it.  Even if you have a brain injury it can be addressed so you can continue your life.  But to my knowledge there is no product that you can buy (other than a learning game) like a stick of ram to give you the ability for more memory.  For me, I can recall pastimes by either the use of a picture or by someone telling me a story to rekindle the memory of the event.

If I want to update to a new computer there is the initial cost of the computer and then the transfer of programs and files to the new computer.  Transferring files is easy but transferring a program many times is not possible so I may have to buy a newer version of the same program.  Like most retirees I am on a very limited budget and so I will try to make do with what I have.  As I mentioned in an earlier blog I am trying to get  better with my grammar and spelling.  And it is irritating when my current voice recognition program is unable to keep up with my speech. Many times I have to stop my thoughts to go back and correct the wrong word that the voice recognition program put on the page.

So it is time for more ram.  I want to be able to experience new ways to communicate and new programs that are constantly coming out.  But to do so I will have to buy a new part for my computer.  This worries me because, if this goes like fixing up an old car, I will buy one part only to find out that by putting that new part in my car it caused other old parts to break.  By the time I would get the car to finally work. I have almost spent the same amount of money as if I would have bought a new car. As I’ve heard it said before, I made the be between a rock and a hard spot.

Pops

As I was sitting on my porch this morning I was drinking Tea rather than coffee. I thought back on a conversation I had with a man in the store yesterday.  As I was checking out at the cashier stand I started a conversation with the young woman cashier. In the conversation I mentioned John Wayne.  She replied “who” Continue reading “John Wayne – who – John Wayne”

As I was sitting on the porch this morning drinking my coffee I realized it was time for a hair cut. During the last few years I had made major changes in what my hair looks like.  While I was working, for most my career, I got what was called a business cut.  During my years as an undercover narcotics detective I had long curly hair.  I was told I looked like the TV character Mr. Carter and the show Welcome Back Carter.  Continue reading “Dinosaur hair”

As I was sitting on my porch this morning I looked towards the driveway at my 2012 pickup truck.  Even though it is still 2013 my Truck is two years old.  If I watch the television I can see dealerships taking thousands of dollars off the price of a 2013 model.  The 2014 models have been out for several months.

It seems to me, as I have gotten older, that the next year models come out earlier each year.  So my question is how can you call it a 2014 model when it comes out a 2013.  Shouldn’t it be a 2013 1/2 model?  Continue reading “what year is the model?”

As I was sitting on my porch this morning drinking my coffee and looking at the color of the leaves as they were changing.  I though of the a news broadcast I had just watched on the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963.  Like most people I can remember exactly where I was on the day the president was assassinated.  Continue reading “I can’t believe I’m that old”

As I was sitting on my porch last night I could hear, in the distance, the sound of motorcycles driving on the nearby highway.  The throaty roar of the exhaust pipes made me think that the bikes were Harley Davidson.  It made me think of my Harley Davidson and the many Harleys that I owned my life.  With all the different Brands and styles of motorcycles I had to ask why Harley Davidson. Continue reading “Why Harley Davidson”

As I was standing on my porch today with both hands around a cup of coffee trying to stay warm I thought about a news story I saw earlier on the television talking about the dangerous job in places like Water world  and how the courts could rule to shut those companies down because of the danger to its employees. 

 

If the courts can rule to stop people from working in dangerous jobs there a lot of jobs stake.  For example, police work or fire fighters who are working dangerous jobs, Many people choosethis jobs as their professions. Will the courts shut them down?  Continue reading “Dangerous jobs”