Politically correct...or not

This seems to be another idea that kind of snowballed,it may have started out with the right intentions but it ran amok from there. I have heard over and over people complaining about the new and improved words that are applied to them and I can't say I much blame them, some of it is down right silly at best. One can apply here the adage,"If it ain't broke don't fix it". Which brings me to the question, who is deciding what is right or wrong when it comes to how we can refer to our fellow humans? And how did they get the reins in the first place? Some folks are afraid of opening their mouths for fear of offending someone,so once again another of our basic right are being trampled upon,where will it stop? In the beginning our rights were fairly simple and bright,shiny and vibrant but as time goes on it seems like most of them are fading to the palest of pastels,totally washed out from the original ideas.

Surprised

I have to admit I was a little surprised at the positive responses from yesterdays post,I had been thinking on it for several days and was wondering what kind of a can of worms I would be opening. As it turns out I am one in a multitude that feel the same way,so how did it get so turned around like it is now? It is more or less our kids that are doing the parenting these days,or did I mentally miss a generation in between? Here I was thinking that I would be getting boos and hisses,but not really caring, I wrote it anyway...goes to show what I know!
Been busy as a one armed paper hanger today so not much more to offer for today,but I will try to come up with something worth your while for tomorrow.

Balancing act

Life is pretty much a balancing act or if you prefer you could think of yourself as a juggler trying to keep the balls in the air,but what about kids? It has been brought to my attention that kids in these times we live in are being over scheduled to the point of having no free time. I understand the logic that has brought it to this point,in keeping them busy they have no time to get into trouble,and exposing them to several different things will hopefully make them into a well rounded adult,but every minute of every day? What about time to just be a kid,and play? What about just having a little down time to use their imagination? They surely won't have time for much of that once they are adults and with any luck join the work force. This also makes me question if this is why kids don't seem to strike out on their own like they used too,people say it is because it is so much more expensive these days,but with considering COLA raises the same apply to wages so I don't think this is necessarily true. Maybe with all the over exposure to choices they can't narrow it down and figure out what they want to be when they grow up,or maybe they are so dependent on the parents by the time they reach adulthood they are afraid to take the plunge. I am not talking about just having a kid play a sport but the push for them to do everything that comes down the pike,dance,music,extra classes and clubs the lists I am hearing are endless and make me tired just thinking about it. Is this good parenting or avoiding being a parent? It seems to me the only free time the kids that are over scheduled would have they would need to be spend sleeping,so when does time with the parents come into play? I may be way off base here...we all know it wouldn't be the first time,but it sure leaves me wondering.

Satisfaction!

At last a product that works as promised! Uma got the acid test today,not only was it raining but there were several good gusts,and just like her warranty had suggested she defied the wind and the interesting thing is how she resisted inversion...she inverts when confronted with a gust but when it lets up she pops herself back out to the regular umbrella configuration. Needless to say I was impressed! I only hope I am not speaking words of praise too soon for fear of jinxing the whole operation,but with any luck my superstitions will not come into play this time,and we will have a long and mostly dry time in the months to come. All I need to figure out now is how to keep the water from wicking up my pants legs...ah,back to the drawing board.

Breaking the Law 101

I can't help but notice when I am making my daily rounds the people teaching their children how to jaywalk...what do they say to them? It's all right to break the law as long as you don't get caught? Then years later they are the same ones wringing their hands and wondering how their child could have gone bad.
That brings out that soapbox person again on a similar topic,bikes and skateboards on the sidewalks. Do those people not read? There are signs that say no bicycles or skateboards...and never mind the very name sidewalk suggests its intended use,otherwise they could have called it a sideride.  I worry about the elderly getting mowed down by the ones that insist on riding on the sidewalks and expressed my concerns at city hall,but of course was told they don't have money in the budget for anyone to do anything about it. I suggested that perhaps the parking Nazi could at least say something to them when he saw them,and they said he was pretty busy with marking tires and writing tickets and there was no revenue in bicyclists, I was a little peeved at this point and told them,"well if you started confiscating the bikes and they had to pay to get them back it would be a big step to solving the problem." I was told to come to a city council meeting if I wanted to bring it up...so it was all just another waste of my time trying to save the elderly from bodily harm.  Then there are the ones that actually use the bicycle lanes,but have such a sense of entitlement that they don't think they need to stop for traffic signs or signals...HELLO! Did they not notice that there is no steel wrapped around them and they will be the certain loser in any run in with a motorized vehicle.

Marinated people

Not to worry,I am not turning cannibalistic on you. I am talking about people that take your breath away from the overuse of colognes and aftershave,and not in a good way. I think it is a bit much when I am walking outside and that happens,I can well imagine what it must be like to be in close contact with those same people all day long. The very worst of all though is in restaurants where the smell becomes part of the meal and ruins it,this is not usually from the employees as most have enough sense to not wear something that is going to make the meal less than enjoyable,but from the other patrons. Okay,done with the soapbox for today.
I thought I saw someone wearing the same tie-dyed shirt as I had on today until I realized it was my reflection in a window...but in my defense it is a building with windows on both sides so you look through to the opposite corner, so I thought in a few more steps I would come face to face with the person dressed like me until that little light bulb that sometimes dims in my brain came back to full wattage.

Favorite things

Don't worry I am not going to burst into song I would never abuse my audience that way,even if you couldn't hear me it would still be bad!
What I am talking about it my favorite magazine came in the mail yesterday,actually it is the only magazine I get as most of the rest leave me somewhat flat. It is called "Mental Floss" and I have been getting it for a couple of years now,it is truly a treat. One of the small things about it is at the top of the first several pages above the actual articles is little one-liners called Scatterbrained. The first one in this issue was During the 1960's the U.S. Coast Guard received about two dozen real pleas from concerned citizens to rescue the castaways on "Gilligan's Island". You can well imagine from that small sample what the rest of the magazine is like. I have to say though I liked Scatterbrained better when it was belows the articles and called The Bottom Line,but that is just me and no real reason for it. They also have a part after the Mail Bonding section called Mental Flaws where they correct any errors from previous issues. Don't be confused by Mental Flaws,it is in no way related to mental pause, which is when your brain just shuts down temporarily usually right when you are in the middle of something. I used to think that mental pause only affected people once they reached a certain age,but have discovered even people in their 30's can experience the phenomena,though not as often or severe.

Time is on your side?

When I think about all the songs there are about time I realize I am not the only one that obsesses about it. Time is a very slippery or elastic, if you will concept. When you are young time goes so slowly and for some reason you are always wanting it to go faster instead of savoring the very things that are special about youth. As you age time speeds up,sometimes to the point that you feel like you are going to spin right off the face of the planet...but then you reach a point to where it either goes into retrograde or wavers between going fast and going slow. Before I retired I never had enough time and knew once I was retired that would no longer be an issue,I am here to tell you I was all wet! The thing is it can't seem to settle on how to pace itself so I am left at its mercy,or sometimes lack of mercy. Some days it is like I am regressing and time is going slowly,then the next day comes around and I am so busy I barely have time to think which tends to make a person greedy with their time which is okay I guess since it is indeed your time to use as you see fit but at those times it leaves me feeling incredibly silly. 

Unique,like everyone else?

I have trouble with the experts claiming that other than fingerprints and DNA,humans are all pretty much the same. Are they saying that snowflakes have more variety than people? My thoughts on this are way off that beaten track. I got to thinking about this when I was just doing some ordinary things around the house and started wondering how I ended up doing things the way I do? Was I taught at some point? Or did I see someone do something similar,or did I simply find a way to do things in my own way,a signature if you please. It seems to me that each individual has an infinite number of choices each and every day and the very way a person chooses reflects their differences. Some days it seems like the choices are between which is the lesser evil,or the best of a bad lot and how you deal with days like that reveals the vast uniqueness in

people,not the sameness,especially on the bad days as opposed to those rare good ones where everything goes so well you become paranoid by the end of the day just waiting for the other shoe to drop...Then again maybe that is just me!

Uma Earns her Salt

Uma was once again unsheathed today and made to perform,I was thinking as we walked in the rain, I wonder if there is an umbrella union? If so what can and cannot I expect of Uma? I will have to check into this further and see if I can get a copy of their contract if there is one. Being a retired Teamster I really should have thought of this long before now,I can only hope that any fines I may have accrued are not to steep. Since my left sinus has been giving me hell all day I was also wondering if it would be permissible to shove her in my nose and hit the button to open her,and if so would it feel better or worse? No need to answer that one...joke man,joke!

Elastic

Elastic may refer to:

• Elastic, a colloquial noun for certain kinds of elastomers and stretchable fabrics
• Elastic collision, a term describing collisions in which kinetic energy is conserved
• Elastic deformation, a reversible deformation of a material
• Elasticity (physics), the physical property of a material that returns to its original shape
• Elasticity (economics), a term used to describe the responsiveness of demand or supply
• Elastic, an alternative name for the skipping game Chinese jump rope
• Elastic (album), an album by jazz saxophonist Joshua Redman
• A Rubber band
• Elastic Superheroes (ex, Mr. Incredible, Elastigirl, etc.)

I have been thinking about the word elastic for a couple of days and all the ways it could be used as and adjective,and of course a noun too. There can be elastic rules/laws,step/gait (stride),temperament,mind set,or thought process and so many I could go on for pages but I think you get the idea,the odd part is you don't hear it used that much. I considered it to be a fairly recent addition to the language,but oddly enough it dates from 1645-55 Neo latin. Synonyms would be resilient,pliant and I am sure if I took some more time there would no doubt be more to that list as well.
Ok,here is where it might get a little crazy for you...I have wondered for years why automobiles aren't made out of a material similar to a Super Ball?? You could still choose a color to your liking and no more collision repairs,once an engine wore out you would replace that instead of the entire rig. The only drawback I can figure is maybe the whiplash would be killer,but hey,why sweat the small stuff?

The Vortex

I debated whether to write about the predicament I found myself in yesterday and decided that since I had no intention of naming names it was something I wanted to bring attention to in hope of saving someone in the future from the same dilema. It may be a lofty goal as it is a huge problem and grows every day. The problem I am speaking of is prescription drug addiction,and more precisely how to not let yourself be fooled by it. It seems like the way it happens so easily is because the abusers tell themselves that it is perfectly legal and a "doctor" wants them to take it...from there it is all downhill.
First of all do NOT let yourself be intimidated by the drug abuser,if you notice something that sends up a red flag try to do something then as it is not going to get any better,and remember some of the most likely to abuse prescription drugs are nurses and drug counselors,again don't be intimidated use your good sense when you know something is wrong. Make as many people aware of the suspected problem as you can,sometimes imediate family really would rather look the other way and some continue to do so even when the realize there is a problem. Bring it to the attention of the health care providers when possible often the abuser is so good at hiding the problem that the people you think should be the first to notice don't notice at all,and of course they do see many people every day which allows things like this to escape their notice. If I have helped one person from this post today it will make my whole attempt at blogging worthwhile. Thank you for your time and interest.

Nothing today

I got sucked into a vortex of crazy this morning and that has pretty much taken up the better part of my day. Uma and I did get a walk in but just barely. Hoping for a better day tomorrow.

Indian summer

I was always taught that Indian summer was a patch of warm weather after the first frost,which is one meaning of the term. In some areas in the Southwestern US it is used to describe the hottest time of the year,late July or August. The term is also used to refer to the late blooming of something in the sense of revival.
The reason my thoughts have been on this for the past several "Umaless" days is I have been expecting to hear someone refer to this as Indian summer. Not that I am complaining as I will take the nice weather as long as I can,but the odd thing this year is so far only the ornamental trees are changing color and the rest aren't showing any changes yet,or not enough to be noticeable to yours truly.

Shotgun houses/shacks

It is amazing the things a person can learn in the course of reading fiction. I had come across the term shotgun house numerous times but apparently was never near my computer so today was my first chance to look it up.

Shotgun houses are a narrow,usually no more than 12 feet wide rectangular residence with doors at each end. Found mainly in the Southern US they are also found in other states IL. and CA. included. These houses consist of 3-5 rooms in a row with no hallways. There are a couple of thoughts on how they got their name,the most popular being you could fire a shotgun through the front door and the pellets would fly cleanly out the back door,another thought is the name was taken from African heritage word to-gun which means place of assembly.

Language usage and misusage

Todays post isn't really about the title...well not much about it anyway. I just recently discovered in the back of one of my dictionarys a section for words that are commonly misused,and all the years I thought I was the only one! You can imagine my relief. The words that I can't get the meaning to stick for me not matter how many times I look them up and try to commit them to memory are affect and effect. I just looked them up again yesterday and I can honestly say if I had to explain the difference today it would not be a pretty picture. The first example I found in the dictionary was accept and except,I thought well those two are easy why would they be a problem? Then I remembered my own dilema and mentally said,never mind.
Something I have been noticing alot lately is I will think I see something out of the corner of my eye but when I move my eyes to see what it is nothing is there. Is this a glimpse into another dimension?or have I  slipped that final cog that was all the was holding me to reality? As I was thinking this over I remembered a book I had read,Dean Koontz "From the Corner of His Eye" and looked for it but didn't find it so I wonder where it is off to?
For those wondering about Uma she hasn't had any work the last couple of days as it has been clear. I would also like to add that to view my other posts scroll down and then to your right side of the screen there will be a list and you can click on ones you may have missed. Thank you for your support!

The raccoons are back...

This morning before it was light I was on my front porch and noticed little hand like prints on my stairs,of which there are 15 then a concrete landing and 4 more to reach street level. Apparently the raccoons were back and had made a night of it playing tag or perhaps running relays up and down my stairs,as it got light I also saw my freshly washed steps were now a muddy mess. I knew the prints to be those of raccoons which until a couple of years back we were nearly overun with because of people feeding them they over bred,the result being domestic pets were'nt safe from them and as in cases where a species over breeds nature eventually caught up to the problem and wiped out most all of them with an epidemic of distemper. Before that you couldn't keep track of all the raccoons you would see in the course of a day. I have nothing against raccoons but as with any wild animals they have to be left to their own devices when it comes to foraging or they become a problem. I woke up one night to my cats carrying on and a weird thumping sound and got up to investigate and a raccoon was busily ripping a hole in my screen door to get in and have the cats food,obviously it had to have been fed cat food at some point to recognize the smell as something for it to eat. Did I mention they have NO fear?

Benjamin Franklin

The error yesterday on "Who Wants to be a Millionaire got me to thinking of the show a few days back when a question indicated that Ben Franklin's famous Kite experiment had been faked,not wanting a dead man that can no longer defend himself to be maligned I decided I would do a little checking on that to see what I could find. I found absolutely nothing that in any way suggested it had been faked in fact I found detailed despriptions of how it was done,and since he was big on honesty I am going to site Millionaire with another error. Speaking of millionaire Ben Franklin was America's 1st millionaire,he was truly an incredible man in many ways. He was an inventor,journalist,printer,diplomat,statesmen and also started Poor Richard's Almanac which is still printed every year. Franklin was also one of our founding fathers,many people believe he was also one of our presidents though he never was. He was greatly disappointed when the bald eagle was chosen as representative of the USA as he thought it was a bird of bad moral character,he instead preferred the turkey because it was a more respectable bird.

It's that time again,part 2

First of all before it slips my mind, if any of you are leaving comments I don't think I receive them unless you are a follower,as I have only received comments from my one registered follower but had someone mention that they had left one too. So if you want to put in your 2 cents worth that is how to do it.
I am a little late getting to this today as I was trying to figure out how to contact "Who Wants to be a Millionaire" as they had an error in an answer today and it just happened to be what I was planning on for my blog so I knew it was wrong. They were crediting William Willet with being the inventor of Daylight Saving Time (DST) which he was not. First of all I would like to point out there is no s on the end of Saving which I hadn't realized before. I had always thought that Ben Franklin was credited with inventing DST and he did have a similar idea in the 1700's and wrote an article in France about how they could save candles if they got up earlier in the day,goes hand in hand with the ever popular "early to bed early to rise saying". It was actually George Vernon Hudson that invented DST in 1865.
I had heard a rumor that the reason the time changes were later the last few years was that they were going to be phasing out DST,needless to say when I found out what the case really was I was bummed. In 2005 the Energy Policy Act was passed to be enacted in 2007 and they have no intention of freeing us from this archaic ritual even though it can't be proved that is is actually saving any energy at all. The whole idea is like cutting off one end of a blanket and sewing it onto the other end to make it longer,there are only so many hours of daylight,deal with it. And what about Alaska?? Why do they use DST? Talk about a special kind of stupid,not the people of Alaska so don't be offended,but why would the government think to apply DST there?
 At least I have an Atomic clock so I don't have to deal with that part of the deal,of course some days my clock doesn't communicate with the one in Boulder,CO. and instead gets tuned in with the microwave and the results leave me scratching my head.

It's that time again. Part 1

First of all for those friends of Uma's it was such a nice day she didn't even go with me ,so no news about her today.
I don't think I am alone on this but I get REALLY crabby about the amount of political mailings before elections,it has never seemed right to me that just because you are a registered voter you have to have your mailbox stuffed every time there is a vote coming up,and by the time the day actually arrives I don't even want to vote. It also seems like an incredible waste of resources. While I am on a rant about the whole voting process why can't the pamphlets that are the "offical(or maybe that should read officious?)" statements from the state be written in lay person terms instead of so much double talk that you feel like you need a lawyer to make sure you understand it correctly? Ok,here is the part where it all gets a little crazy...I can't help but think that the things I have mentioned in this post are in some way meant to deter people from voting...NO I AM NOT PARANOID,THEY REALLY ARE OUT TO GET ME!

Uma Blooms!!

Today was the day that Uma came out,it almost didn't happen as we were about 3/4 done with the walk when the rain started and truth be told I almost didn't test drive her but decided that was silly,what was I saving her for after all?
The logistics of taking her picture at that time however were not happening for us as the wind was gusting and she is a flighty sort,so we settled for waiting until we got home and got a shot of her in all her new found glory on the porch where she is currently drying.

Weather guessers rep still intact

So much for the wind and rain that was predicted for today,but I had a thought on that while Uma and I were out it sounds a little crazy now that I am ready to commit to it but that has never stopped me before! Maybe they predict wind ever Columbus day in honor of the Columbus day storm back in 1964,or maybe out of superstition? I don't think the images of the devastation in the days following that storm will ever leave me. Ok,that really did sound crazy and not only that but I got to thinking back and the old pictures in my mind are still just as vivid as they were then. I take back my jab at the weather guessers the wind and rain have started in the last 5 or 10 minutes and I didn't even notice until I noticed how dark it was so maybe the unfurling is not as far off as I had hoped for. Stay tuned to find out the day of Uma's debut.

And the winner is...

Thank you all for your help and suggestions for the name,oh wait that would be only 2 people to thank but thanks to them none the less,looks like I will be keeping the $100 prize for myself! Two of the names suggested I decided against since they referred to the 2nd blog and in theory she will not remain virginal forever,in fact if the weather guessers can be believed she may get a grand opening (pun intended) tomorrow as they are predicting rain and wind. The wind part is an interesting thing as according to her tag Uma is called a windjammer and is aerodynamically vented to defy wind and resist inversion,and is wind tunnel tested no less. Uma was designed in Oregon,the ultimate outdoor laboratory and has a lifetime warranty...they didn't mention if that would be the owners life or the umbrella but I have a feeling I might find out before winter is over as I doubt it will hold up to the gusts and high winds we have here. For those of you that weren't paying attention,or are too poor to pay attention the final choice was Uma,one of the main reasons is simplicity,I am big on simple.
As of today Uma's virtue is still intact in fact I almost didn't even bother to take her but a squall can come through pretty quickly this time of year and at this point without her I probably would have felt like I was forgetting something so it was just as easy to bring her along. Check in tomorrow to see if it is the day of the debut!

Also good for...

The umbrella remains in pristine condition,still unfurled. Since I am growing weary of using the word umbrella and the other options are equally cumbersome (bumpershoot,parasol) I am asking for help for naming said item. I have had 2 followers make suggestions as follows,Madonna,Virginia,and Francine,the first 2 of this list are in reference to yesterdays post and are being considered. I initially thought Effie for reasons I cannot explain without having clearance to post adult content...then a couple of others came to mind,Uma,Ella and Bella. If anyone else has thoughts or ideas for names please leave them in the comment box,or you can simply state your preference from the ones listed,remember it is all in fun and after nearly a week of making the rounds with me she at least deserves a name!
About todays title,I also walk with a device called Slot Radio which I have two tiny cards with thousands of songs,or I can tune it to the radio and it really helps keep the pace up when I am walking. Today I discovered that the umbrella was also good for playing air drums which I am really not very good at but enjoy playing none the less.
I don't know about everyone else but I find that when I am doing something familiar my mind takes off on other ventures and sometimes this involves really odd things coming to my attention. I would like to share one of those with you now,have you ever looked at a rainbow and wondered if there was such a thing as a snowbow? Needless to say I have so I thought I would share what I found out about that. First of all if you have seen a snowbow chances are it was really good drugs and not really a snowbow as they are extremely unlikely to happen,though not impossible. For the light to be bent to form a rainbow it has to be through liquid and if it did happen through snow it would be so less intense in color that it would be next to impossible to see. There you go! You probably learned something new today...all part of the service.

Still Virginal

The umbrella's virtue is still intact,but it is anyones guess how long that will remain a fact. It was only lightly misting and for only part of the walk which still didn't seem to warrant actually using the umbrella,I am carrying it for one of those occasions when the sky really lets it all loose,the torrential downpour as it were. Speaking of types of rain I have been wondering if having so many different terms for rain  is another Oregonianism. We have showers,scattered showers,light rain,rain and several other variations some involving wind and thunder and lightning. I have traveled to several parts of the world but never have bothered to read or watch a weather report knowing the way the weather guessers operate in this state leaves me little faith that it would be different elsewhere,what other job is there where you can be wrong 90% of the time and still get a paycheck?
Just FYI I was poking around yesterday to see how this area rated nationally as far as rainfall and was surprised to find in one site that it is rated 3rd for rainfall,I had thought that Seattle was ahead of us,but not according to that site,we ranged from 69.60 inches per year to 67,at least you know I am not imagining that part! The information is so overwhelming in this age of finding anything you want to know at the tips of your fingers,that it is hard to decide which facts are indeed THE facts and which are just what someone posted as fact.
 Stay tuned to see when the umbrella is unfurled!

Walking Cliche

Call me slow but it has only occurred to me today that I am a walking Oregon joke. You have all heard the ones about Oregonians and web feet,there are as many as you can imagine and mostly about the rain. I am nearly into my 6th decade and just last week bought my first umbrella,the reason for the purchase as I told myself at the time was so I could continue with daily walks as the weather turned from summer to fall. It has rained 2 days since I have had the brand new,and still never used umbrella,no I haven't forgotten to take it on those days I had it swinging from my wrist the whole time but told myself it wasn't raining hard enough to use it,that is when I realized that maybe I am the one all the jokes about Oregonians are about. It gets worse...I noticed other people out today using their umbrellas and wondered why they were bothering with them! Gee,let's see,maybe they didn't want to get wet!
Part of my purpose in starting this blog is to keep track of my Oregonian behavior and see if there is any chance of it changing,it may be an interesting ride and you are welcome to come along if you could use a laugh or 2.