Just Wandering

Christ knows I’m sick to death of fixing and repairing shit and due to the latest hurricane it’s quite apparent that no one is going to come and do my fascia soffit or drywall in any form of a timely manner . As we drove along yesterday I was grumbling to the wife about the obvious need that I do it myself when suddenly the “Oil Change Due” light flashed on my dash board . An inconvenience for sure but still something I usually take care of myself even when not in the mood …. like now .

Within a mile or two of the oil change warning and coincidental or not the radio died . Any American male married to a Latin woman knows that driving in a vehicle that she can’t listen to her tunes in is nothing short of hell on earth thus forcing an in depth google search for Ford F 150 radio replacements the very moment we got home . I quickly found out that as I don’t have a first born to offer and I’m unwilling to part with an arm and a leg it’s unlikely Ford is ever going to replace my radio . Same may be said for other local after market radio repair shops but the search did find some interesting You Tube videos .

There’s a few videos on You Tube about how to dismantle the dash board of your Ford F 150 pick up truck and take out the radio in order to remove the mother board from it . This is a preamble to then baking that radios motherboard in the oven at 375 degrees for 8 minutes in the hope it remelts the old solder connections and bringing it back to life .

With a raised eyebrow the wife not only questioned if I was serious about this but wanted to know …

” Do you know how to do do this ? ”

” No… not yet. ”   I had to sheepishly admit

Oil was changed early this morning and then I spent two hours dismantling my dashboard and baking a radio in the oven . And I’ll be dipped in shit  …… it works . And I’m now if only for a brief moment … a hero to the music listening passenger of my vehicle .

I watched a local news broadcast on TV the other day and the reporter was interviewing two women who had come down to Fort Myers from up North three weeks after Hurricane Ian. They had just left a recently re opened restaurant and told the camera how surprised they were at how quickly it all got cleaned up …….

” Just like nothing happened ” said the bubblier one of the two

Well I’m sorry but I’m just going to have to call bullshit on that one as I know a man with a seeing eye dog and the both of them can readily observe that things aren’t quite at the “just like nothing happened ” stage as of yet. Of course the seeing eye dog doesn’t really give a shit about attracting a tourist dollar at this point .

Local kids around here used to call me MacGyver and after I lashed my twelve foot pole with home made plumbing parts hook to a mail box post in order it raise an internet cable high enough to allow traffic to pass the adults do too . But we witnessed the inevitable yesterday when a large debris removal vehicle barreled around the corner to snag that cable . This successfully launched my home made telephone pole down the street like a Zulu spear chased by a mailbox . It was no small miracle that my internet remained up and running but the poor people on the next street that had just got their internet back did not fare so well

It was actually quite coincidental as the owner of the mail box informed me with righteous pride that after three weeks of attempting he had successfully managed to speak with a human at the cable company . And they told him they’d be coming that very day so I needn’t re perform my MacGyver act ….and they did in fact come to repair . Later as we drove home we noticed immediately that the cable was higher but the bright warning flags we had attached were still in place .

That’s when we noticed that the “pro’s” had come and raised the cable with a twelve foot 2 x 4 and a home made hook . Obviously not trusting the reinstalled mail box post the 2×4 was lashed to the nearest palm tree …… and still not high enough for the garbage truck .

” Just like nothing happened ” said the bubblier one of the two

Christmas comes around early here it seems …. or maybe it comes really late. It was the third week in September when I first noticed the Christmas tree’s on display at Walmart and Halloween candy hadn’t even been put out yet and Thanksgivings horrible pumpkin beer seems gratefully a long way off. I’m confused …..

Had a couple of surgeries four years ago and the best medical insurance policy I could afford had a co pay requirement of $8500.00 per annum . The surgeon required $1200 up front before starting work and though I was a pretty week math student in school it seemed pretty obvious to me that meant I went over my annual out of pocket by that exact amount.

Insurance company claimed they were never billed the $1200 by the surgeon who in turn claimed he can’t bill it until the insurance company provides the appropriate billing code forcing the argument to rage for nearly two years . Ultimately the insurance company relented and paid me one half of what was mine. My logic that if they owe me half they owe me all fell upon deaf or ignoring ears until I just had more important things to do and gave up.

Went out to the mail box yesterday and retrieved some correspondence from the old insurance company and in the envelope and without fanfare or explanation was a check for $ 600 . Four years and three months to straighten out a simple glitch and we’re still boasting about how computers have increased productivity …..

Any way, the check … it was like … well it felt like Christmas before Halloween …..

It’s been a little over three weeks now and finally to the wife’s delight we got our television service back yesterday . Coincidentally the first thing that came on was a local Florida station with some unusually good news for a change. The 6000 residents of Sanibel Island can now access their injured properties as the damaged causeway has been temporarily repaired in an impressive three weeks . It’s taken over two years to redo one residential block of street locally and still not done and that impresses me as well.

Seemingly easy to impress I will admit I’m even more impressed by the fact that it took those same three weeks to get the rotted garbage hauled away from our street along with the buzzards and maggots . It had to be done with difficulty as the heavy drooping cable hoisted up in the air on my makeshift telephone pole these past three weeks still wasn’t high enough to get a garbage truck through and still no one has arrived to repair it . Emails and phone calls begging a response to these problems go without response so perhaps there is a need to resort to good old fashioned letters in the mail .

Actually the local Post Office made a rather favorable impression as they were out delivering mail in our neighborhood only two days after the storm . I’ll concede it might have been an easier task for them as half the mailboxes on the street were missing . Some will say that government agency’s are never as efficient as the private sector but there they were like the Pony Express, bringing us our unwanted bills while Amazon was busy losing my long awaited package .

Other government agencies are just as efficient I would think . Like the Army’s Battalion of Combat Engineer’s for instance. Prior to WWII a hobbyist bridge designer , one Donald Bailey designed the famous Bailey Bridge . In 1944 forty men using only hand tools erected a Bailey bridge one thousand feet long in 24 hours that was strong enough to carry a battalion of armored tanks across the river . The original Bailey proto type “temporary” bridge was built in 1940 and is still used as a functioning bridge to this day .

I’m impressed …

Normally things just never seem to go normally for me and any whining over that fact will normally bring swift and unforgiving admonishment from the wife . I’m thinking men would normally have more sympathetic wives but perhaps we should take this in another direction . Like the present “normal” .

It’s likely I’ll never be lottery winning lucky but the wife is right in that sometimes I do have a bit of good fortune . There is a giant blue tarp over the roof for instance that is successfully keeping out the rain while the lights and air conditioner are on . Internet is up and running as well and I’ve just been told it’s safe to make coffee with tap water though I know many who still do not have any of the above luxuries …… but I just need to whine again and so I’ll do it here where she can’t hear . .

One of the civilized worlds most treasured luxuries go’s unheralded until times like this and that is the weekly Thursday morning routine of trash pick up . Does’t take long to notice when normal routine is disrupted and buzzards are perched on your garbage barrel attracted by the pungent aroma …. and that normal routine has now been disrupted for quite some time on my street .

A large box truck made a delivery across the street last week to replace the wet and ceiling stained furniture that will now sit street side for God knows how long . When the truck left it nudged a heavy cable that crossed the road causing it to loosen a connection and hang low enough to prevent a pick up truck from passing . It’s an internet cable and I feared someone would drive through and knock out internet again . That turned out to be but a secondary problem made obvious by the joyous sounds of the garbage truck coming from the next street before emitting it’s loud back up warning to tell us all he wasn’t coming .

I’ve erected a twelve foot pole with a home made hook and lashed it to someone’s mailbox to successfully raise the offensive cable high enough to drive a garbage truck under . But still they don’t come …. and the wife is about to whine… and that just ain’t normal

She was sitting outside the building just staring and I’ll always regret not stopping for just a moment even though she had long been a pain in my ass . It’s doubtful I’ll have the opportunity again .

I was driving through a neighborhood the other day when suddenly everything seemed almost normal as the houses appeared untouched . The illusion that all was as it was before the hurricane was quickly shattered by the sight of a 32 ft motor home home rubber side up in a canal 30 ft. from the road. Then it was instantly back to the normal endless piles of roadside debris reminiscent of winter snow banks up north .

The sights are unpleasant and everywhere. Vegetation and destroyed fences and car ports , parts of homes and peoples possessions all heaped up in readiness of the very long wait to be hauled to the dump . At one street corner a large child’s doll sat headless on a three legged lawn chair and on the next block a dolls head was mounted to a broomstick upright on a lawn . I’ve often been grateful to have had opportunity in my life to see wonderful things most other men never will , but then again the pendulum always swings the other way and I’ve seen ugliness that most won’t either as have all my neighbors.

I remember a refugee woman with two children sitting outside a mud and tin building after having walked for many days to escape a war in Afghanistan . There was no doubt of the uncertainty of their future on her blank face and years later I saw that same face on another refugee in South America . Many indigenous tribes in isolated areas were displaced by violence and there she sat on the sidewalk of a Colombian city with her children and that same uncertainty on her face …

Wife and I drove past a condominium five days after Hurricane Ian completely devastated it . It’s roof was gone no electricity and parts of other buildings were heaped around it while an elderly woman sat outside it alone . Her home destroyed she faced the inevitable need to leave with no place to go . From the distance of the road I once again recognized the blank and uncertain face of a refugee but this time it was right here in America . Hurricane Ian , like similar storms , has given us our own problem of countless displaced people ….. I hope we aren’t as heartless to our own as we seem to be to others .

Maybe we should offer our own refugees free flights to Martha’s Vineyard ….

Good bye Edith , I wish you well

For the second time I’ve seen my little town devastated by hurricane force winds but that ugliness is over powered by beautiful people . Like the young enlistees of the National Guard who’ve left family and homes to come here and help or members of the Red Cross who’ve done likewise . Or the lady cooking breakfast in front of a condo for those that don’t have the means . All help is good help …. and I thank them all .

The other day we watched a group of ” immigrants” arrive at the house across the street to temporarily repair the hurricane damaged roof . They didn’t saunter , they walked like men with a purpose and quickly carried heavy roofing materials up the ladders and got the job done . And I swear to Christ some of them were wearing Martha’s Vineyard T shirts .

Now it may be true I have some prejudice towards people from Martha’s Vineyard but I’m willing to turn a blind eye at a time like this . The wife is an “immigrant” who may well have been eligible to have been invited to visit Martha’s Vineyard at one time and she coincidentally happens to be married to an immigrant , so it’s possible we both have a blinder eye than most .

My wife arrived here in 1988 and yesterday after all these years she finally collected her very first social benefit from the American tax payers . After waiting in a long line she received a tarp to cover her damaged roof along with a case of purified water and a chicken salad sandwich .

She deemed it pretty good pay after contributing to America for 34 years .

An awful lot of discussion is heard lately about how the United States is a nation founded on the principals of Christianity . There are some who would even push it further and say that our founding fathers didn’t mean it when they laid out the rules of separation of Church and State. These people want the United states to be deemed a Christian nation . I’m not sure we can change peoples minds after they’ve been dead for over 200 years but we can all use some ” Christian Principals ”

Experience has taught us something , at least the wife and I any way . It’s taught us to not be the ones . Another hurricane is coming our way and at the first hint that we were in it’s projected path we took our usual steps and made sure we were ready . That means we weren’t the ones to find no bottled water or toilet paper for sale at Walmart. We weren’t the ones to wait in long lines for gasoline to run a generator . We weren’t the one’s

We made sure that generator was operational and the window covers were at hand and ready to be hung if needed. All of this is done with out panic but anyone who isn’t nervous during those days leading up to a hurricane just hasn’t been through a catastrophic storm before .  It’s that period just before the storm when everyone unites in faith of some kind

…. that’s the time when our true Christian principals come to the fore and every man woman and child for miles around prays silently to Jesus Christ, or someone like him . I personally don’t care if those doing the praying are praying to Jesus , Allah or Buddha as we’re all asking the same thing as the faithful . To grant our wish that we not be the one …..

and send the storm further north to slam into some other poor son of a bitch instead of us .

Amen

Some old friends just reconnected by email and I was delighted by something they slipped into the story line . With well deserved pride it was mentioned their Grandson has recently graduated High School and gone off to college … but not before making the hard earned rank of Eagle Scout . That mention reminded me happily of some people I know .

I grew up friends with four brothers who had a Father with the foresight to successfully push each of them to obtain that status of Eagle Scout . There was an article in the local newspaper about them recognizing the very rare occasion of four in the same family obtaining it . Should you ever meet these four brothers all these many years later you’ll easily note that the lessons they learned from from it were worthy of learning .

Recently the wife and I helped a couple liquidate all their possessions in order they might move into a smaller assisted living establishment . We held a couple of garage sales for them and frankly it was a bit sad to me to see them part with items that they held close for so many years . Pickers came seeking bargains for themselves or for resale profit and one stood right out… a collector of Boy Scout items .

Boy Scout manuals from 1948 and 1950 sat on a table and that collector of Boy Scout items was besides himself when he spotted them . Opening one he was delighted to see it was actually signed by its original owner in 1949 who ultimately made Eagle Scout in 1951 .

“Wow …. I wish this guy was still around ” he said

I mentioned he was in the house and that collector who purchased those books wouldn’t leave until the owner signed his name yet again under his original signature penned 73 years prior . And so he did and that book will hopefully forever have those signatures …..

J. Hensley … 1949

Dr. J Hensley ….. 2022 …. Eagle Scout

Concerns over porous borders are well founded and frankly the Democrats would be wise to listen up a bit on this . Republicans might want to take another look as well . No one is more aware of porous borders like someone who has lived in Florida for 20 plus years like I have and Florida doesn’t even have a southern border .

My little town in Florida has grown its population at the average Florida rate of 30 % since I arrived . Recently we’ve gone through a few years of people crossing our northern border to reside here at the rate of 1000 a day… every day … urged and enticed by people with large amounts of real estate to unload or investments to make . Legal US residents or not I’m having a hard time considering their seemingly endless arrivals to be a benefit to me . But I suppose I’m just being selfish and when I heard that Gov. Ron was shipping people north I got a little excited .

I think I was envisioning something in the order of sending people back to Wisconsin or Ohio or wherever they were from . I was dreaming less traffic and I could maybe buy a breakfast sandwich efficiently like I used to . But no that wasn’t the case .

In order to make a well received political statement , Gov. Ron spent Florida’s money to ship a group of fifty “wetbacks” up to Massachusetts on a chartered flight to the the tune of $615,000 U.S. dollars . Now considering that a commercial airline would have shipped those people for roughly $12,000 I’m having a hard time viewing him as fiscally conservative having spent so much on a political advertisement . But it gets worse for Floridians … much worse .

Those fifty people weren’t even in Florida … they were in Texas. I’m thinking Gov. Ron just didn’t have the political “nads” to ship fifty illegal Cubans that waded ashore in Key West  from their new home in Miami to Idaho to make his statement . I’m also thinking Tit for Tat and the Texas Governor needs show some political “nads” as well and pony up some dough and buy a flight and send some of our Cubans in Miami to someplace up north .

But there might be a better plan . Instead of sending fifty Venezuelans to Martha’s Vineyard for $615,000 we could have offered each of them $6,000 and be sent back to Venezuela . We’d have got off at half the price and they might have taken their three years pay and gone home to start a business …. every body wins .

Years ago I used to write letters home though likely not as often as I should have . It was a slow and tedious process explaining what I’d been up to in my life using long hand cursive and when finished I’d have to find a stamp … and then a mailbox to drop it in . Weeks or even months would then pass before being delighted by a response. Apart from occasional bad news the response was always pleasant as the sender had time to sit and think before putting pen to paper.

Now we have the internet and email , and texts and Twitter and the the response is immediate with no need of thought at all it seems . I like being able to communicate a thought when I have it and so am not criticizing the internet and do use it a great deal . Like right now .

I no longer write letters home to family or friends … I email or use this blog as a source of communications . I write to entertain myself with the slim hope it might entertain someone else and anyone who writes anything always hopes it might touch someone else.
I guess what I write does touch some people because I now get hate emails .

Who’d have ever thought ?  The latest being one that asked in part ….

” Why do you write such drivel ? ”

Well as good a question as that might be I wanted to immediately jump into the “whattaboutism” attitude and ask those particular people ….

” Why do you read it ? ”

But I know why … there is the hope that I might write something that will piss them off so they might then send me yet again… another email . So I offer the advice that those people stop wasting their time and just head on back to the all day news marathon which will only piss them off far more than I can …

P.S. in answer to the question of why do I write such drivel …..

it’s all I know how to write , keep reading

I’ve just come in from the mailbox and have been sitting here enjoying … or maybe not enjoying … what the mailman dropped in the box . It’s my St. Jude’ s Children’s Hospital Calendar for the upcoming year and each month is decorated with the beautiful art from past young patients or their siblings . Some of their stories have happy endings though not nearly enough of them  ….

The last page of the calendar has a paragraph entitled “Ariana’s Story” and I feel it’s a worthy read though it doesn’t have a happy ending . Ariana was a little girl who honestly wanted to help others and just didn’t have have enough time to do so  ….

Like most of us I know someone who might be considered by others to be a major pain in the ass . Truth be told there might have been a brief moment or two way back when that I thought the same as he not only wanted things … he demanded them . And demanding people can often become a bore , even when they are right or even while demanding things that are for the betterment of all . But demanding people get involved and sometimes involvement is what we all need .

The very first sentence in Ariana’s story on that last page of my wonderful calendar is

” To love and care for your neighbor as yourself ”

Sounds kind of corny , right ? Maybe it is now but it it didn’t used to be here in the United States.

Someone I know recently needed a helping hand and of all his choices he knew who he needed to ask for help . At genuine risk and inconvenience to themselves a couple answered that request and reached out to provide that help though many other neighbors wouldn’t have .

Thank you Charlie and Sylvia … for being good neighbors ,

and I  hope you have decades more time to accomplish more of the same.

Sadly , today the words of the British National Anthem have changed from  God Save the Queen  to  God Save the King as the inevitable happened with the passing of Queen Elizabeth . In mark of it I will ask you reread a recent post of mine  of her most recent milestone ….

{  So far …. all my life

A current house guest of mine quickly opened my eyes to a few facts I had never given much thought to in the past pertaining to the numerous similarities a 3 year old healthy Labrador might have with a Latina wife .

The house guest is a service dog owned by a friend admitted to the hospital today and so needs a place to crash for a while . But that’s not all he needs as has been made quite apparent in short order as just like a Latina wife he requires constant entertainment . Just like a Latina wife a book just ain’t cutting it as entertainment for the dog and since neither of them think in the English language communications with either can become quite a bore.

They are both equally demanding and neither of them shy about making their demands known . The dog is fond of grabbing his favorite squeeky ball in his mouth and aggressively slamming me in the nuts with it as a means of informing me it’s time to play . We need go no further on this comparison …

The favorite squeeky ball just suffered a puncture on a sharp tooth and so just like a Latina wife he’s just gone to bed pissed off about something ….. leaving me a blissful quiet moment to write this down

Friday and Saturday mornings are the busiest for the wife and I and so in order to save time we may frequent a local Micky D’s for a Sausage McMuffin … with egg . Last Friday we walked into the restaurant with tables still littered with food from the night before to present ourselves at the counter to place our order for take out sandwiches . The poor lady at the counter was obviously already stressed at 7:20 a.m. and so before I could open my mouth she barked …

” I got four orders ahead of ya so you’ll just have to wait ! ”

Well she was wrong as I didn’t see the need to wait and so we grasped hold of a Plan B which was walk out and head for a Taco Bell breakfast burrito down the road that we had tried once and enjoyed for it’s only redeeming point , that being how quickly we received it . Due to staffing shortages you can’t physically enter a Taco Bell prior to 10 a.m. so naturally we opted for the drive up where we waited before waiting some more until it just couldn’t be waited for any more….. no response , and no …

” Welcome to Taco Bell can I take your order ? ”

Soooo we drove around to the window to find an employee staring through it out at the never never and so I drove right on past in order to latch hold of another plan . While doing so I noticed a sign stating that Taco Bell in now open later with no indications as to whether that might be later in the morning or later in the evening . Didn’t matter

Plan C ….. which actually happens to be our favorite was Panerra Bread breakfast wraps and they were sounding pretty good by now as you may well imagine and we were very sorry we didn’t just go there first. That is until we walked in to be informed that the wonderful breakfast wraps we’ve enjoyed for so long have been pulled from the menu .

I realize by now you have have little interest in any plan D , and so did I ….

Making America Great Again …..  and a picture is worth a thousand words they say …..

there it is, the true answer to it all ….

I never knew it was recognized as a known physical condition , or even that I had it until long after I was presumably cured . I say cured but there remains every possibility that it is merely remission and that the infliction could come back at any time . As of late there are moments I secretly hope it does …

I recently purchased two books and through them I learned I had a few things in common with Michael Palin of Monty Pythons Flying Circus fame apart from a warped British sense of humor. Those wonderful books ” Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin ” and “Erebus” written by him pointed out some other similarities we share .

For a start I don’t have his fame or money and no, I was never Knighted by the Queen but as children we both sought and devoured every sea story and books of adventure on ships we could get our hands on . We’ve both sought adventures around the globe and we both were inflicted with a condition now recognized as dromomania .

The word dromomania originates from Greek with dromos meaning to “run” and of course we all understand what mania is . Dromomania has a historical psychiatric diagnosis whose primary symptom is an irresistible urge to aimlessly wander, travel, or simply walk . Later descriptions point out that those affected compulsively travel sometimes at the cost of close relationships , simple friendships and even future security , financial or otherwise . I can certainly relate and affirm the truth in all of this .

In the introduction of one of those books Michael Palin claims to be pleased he is inflicted with this malady and I’m certain he speaks the truth having myself  happily quit dozens upon dozens of jobs in the past to take my pay and travel the globe. We witnessed another political argument between two people at a yard sale the other day and during it’s unhappiness I had the urge again …

If only I had a job to quit ….

If the school system here in Florida still permits it , or if it ever has , our youth may come to learn in their new and improved social study courses who was Nelson Mandela and perhaps be privy to his famous quote .

” Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world .”

So said Nelson Mandela years after serving 18 years for his anti apartheid beliefs in South Africa . That’s interesting to me as my country , the United States , is supposedly ranked # 1 in education throughout the world . Yet for all that education no other nation on earth seems to try as hard to regress , no other nation puts as much effort into becoming …  ignorant.

I’m baffled by the beliefs we’ve come to so easily and quickly accept as truth regardless of how far fetched they are, or how well educated we might be . A discussion with someone I know today just drove this home all the more. Wikipedia will give a list of hundreds of conspiracy theories with well over 100 fairly recent politically motivated ones alone. Let’s see…. here’s a fine example… avoid a vaccine as it might be a government tool to implant micro chips so they can keep tabs on us . It had had a quite few believers

Like most conspiracy theories this one just kept on snowballing until half of us believed Dr. Fauci tortures beagles ….

Q Anon is a particular favorite “theory” of mine and it’s right up there with the “peaceful” protest at the Capitol on January 6 that was obviously instigated by Antifa hoods and the FBI . In addition if they weren’t Antifa or FBI  then they were American tax payers who had every right to be there….  even if it required smashing doors an windows .

Q Anon originates from the “belief” that the Democrats were operating a Satan worshiping , cannibalistic child sex ring out of a pizza shop in DC …. and that one kept snowballing too like all these theories tend to do . Especially since we have elected members of government that buy into this and are educated enough to spread the word.

On Nov. 2, 2021 hundreds of people gathered in Dallas to witness the 12:29 p.m. arrival of John Kennedy Jr. even though he’d been dead 20 plus years . Seems there are those that don’t believe he ever died and he was going to come out of hiding to be made President after the big parade through Dealy Plaza . {General Mike Flynn was to become Vice President during this} After many hours of no show a woman was interviewed at the site and asked about his non appearance and she referenced …. faith … even if you couldn’t see it.

” No matter what, I think the majority of us know that something is happening. We can feel it!” she said ,

I’m thinking something was happening all right…. hundreds of people were duped into traveling long distances to stand for hours in the pouring rain to witness the arrival of a dead man so he could become President . And they were duped because they are stupid… and ignorant .

” Education is the most powerful weapon you can use to change the world .”

Mr. Mandela , Sir  you didn’t specify if it was to change the world for the better or the worse .

I will forever cling to a more simplistic attitude from back when America was great …

The man committed crimes… and the FBI did it’s job …  it really is that simple

What’s a memory worth to you is somewhat of an odd question I suppose but …. how much would you pay for one and what would you accept for one of yours ?

I’ve recently been told by someone I know that I let my memories go cheap after I told him what I’d just done …

” How could you sell that , have you no respect ? ” It was obvious he was slightly irritated and had no understanding that the new owner of my memory might be as thrilled to have it as I am to part with it .

For close to 49 years I owned a copy of the 1973 Cruise Book of the U.S.S. John F Kennedy CVA 67 . It’s a pictorial souvenir showing most of the crew and their life on an aircraft carrier along with all the places it visited half way round the globe . The book explained things pertaining to its mission that was permissible to explain and ignored things that weren’t and I suppose there are those that might find it an interesting perusal .

I had tried to sell the book on Ebay twice in the past with no takers until a recent third attempt when someone deemed the “Buy it Now ” price of $150 a worthy exchange for a memory . It’s possible the buyer was a crew member way back then and I do so hope he finds good value in it’s pages . What could be disrespectful about that ?

I have memories that couldn’t be traded at any cost but this one is different you see as I’m thinking that with $150 I could easily buy a better one .

We have political leaders here in the United States who work on the premise that if a lie is repeated often enough the people will believe it. In fact if you take but a moment or two to peruse the internet you will find it to be a direct quote …. from someone.

Seems there are three camps now .There are believers and nonbelievers and there is even a large group who might not really believe but are happy to say they do …. and of course you know we’re talking about the now wearisome election fraud topic that has just hit the news yet again.

In Arizona for instance a recent “investigation” came up with 282 votes from dead people . Now the fact that 282 votes from the dead would not have changed the election results one whit is not what is important here . Seeking out cheaters is and so I deemed the find of 282 votes from the dead good work regardless . That is until yesterday when we heard the results of the investigation of the investigation …

It would seem that 281 of those 282 dead voters found in the initial investigation are in fact still alive and well . Personally I don’t think it should stop here as I believe every American needs to know the truth , they have that right and we need to find out …

…who that one dead son of a bitch actually voted for

We were admiring the sailboats from the bridge the other day as we crossed the harbor when suddenly that pleasure was interrupted by one of the conveniences of todays world . The sudden musical sound of Boop di li Boop and then a large LOW TIRE PRESSURE warning taking control of any other meaningful use for a dash board .

Prior to the convenience of this warning apparatus I’d just have had to sense a low tire before pulling into any gas station in the nation and find a fully operational air pump free for the use of . In today’s world of convenience we pulled in to the nearest facility to find the usual non working version of a pay to use pump that happily consumes quarters before refusing to provide air, or refund the stolen quarters . This then forced a drive home to use a compressor that was purchased due to numerous similar experiences in the past.

Well even with the tires pumped to the point of bouncing down the road on four over inflated basketballs the dreaded LOW TIRE PRESSURE and Boop di Li Boop would just not go away.

“Might be the spare I grumbled to the wife.”

Spare tires on pick up trucks are now hung under the bed by a chain that can be cranked down conveniently negating any need to crawl underneath . This first requires unlocking the anti spare tire theft portal in order to insert the crank to lower the tire down to the drive . As an added convenience this lock uses the ignition key in order that you will always have it on hand.

Well the ignition key refused to turn the lock and the lock in turn refused to release the key regardless of an abundance of efforts and an over abundance of blue collar foul language . Conveniently by this time I had accumulated a large stash of pent up rage and anger and and used it to remove the anti theft portal viciously from the bumper with a large screw driver and bigger hammer .

The spare tire was indeed the culprit and the low pressure warning has gone away . How convenient was all of that …. ?

I have more than my share of memories both good and bad that are often triggered by things both good and bad and recently in the bat of an eye I was transported back to a wonderful time and place.

Like most residents of the United States I’m just not as rich as appearance might imply and that means I shop at Walmart in an unsuccessful effort of locating prices I remember from long ago . Last Sunday I found something almost as good and if your year of birth starts with a 20 it’s unlikely we could share similar memories of how life used to be in America . At one time everything was well built , and worked as it should … things in my America past were simply ….. smooth.

Eight feet past the entrance to Walmart and I proclaimed to wife with glee ….

” This !… This is the America I remember ” and she wanted to know what the hell I was talking about …

“Listen to the shopping cart ” I hinted, and she said she didn’t hear anything …

And she was right .

She didn’t hear anything because that shopping cart held the secrets to a long dormant memory . It had perfectly round wheels , you see, that were installed properly and it did glide silently over the smooth floor like an Olympic skater going for the Gold . It was a true and unexpected treat and Walmart was smart for providing it as I wanted to spend another half hour just to push the cart around looking for something else to buy regardless of lower prices or not , or even need..

Seems we may now be able to purchase beer and soda at Walmart again as the violent vibrations they suffered in their past shopping carts will no longer cause a Vesuvius to erupt when we get home and open them . I think I’ll go back tomorrow just to buy beer …. and push a cart around for a while .

There seems some obvious comparisons between my home state of Florida and Texas as both states elected Govorner’s who backed leadership that promised fewer reg’s and less Government intrusion on our lives . That sounded pretty good but this past year alone however has found Texas passing over 600 new laws .

Florida on the other hand is much closer to keeping her promise as on July 1st only a paltry yearly increase of 145 new laws were signed into effect . One new item that peaks my interest is the new Elections Security Force to be led by Mr. Antanacci . It is important to remember the decades of voting day fiasco’s that took place here in “Hang Tag Florida” .

Florida did improve however and we’ve been loudly boasting of the most secure and efficient election processes in the country and Mr. DeSantis has every right to take a bow . I’m feeling even better now with the new election police force in place as the likelihood of some perp trying to hand me a bottle of water while in the voting line will be greatly diminished . That’s at least one fear off my mind .

But I’m rambling because I really came to mention something of importance and that would be how the Governor has invested his time to sign in SB1006 to officially make Strawberry Shortcake the Florida State Dessert .

I can only view this as another deliberate means of decisiveness on his part, just another way to separate and drive another wedge between two factions . Kind of like wearing masks or not during a pandemic we will now find Conservatives in every diner in the state gorging on strawberry shortcake …..

while Liberals cling stubbornly to their key lime pie .

It’s Independence day …. the 4th of July and the most American of all American days of celebration . Of all days I had actually chosen this one to write a critique of Americans , all of us and our penchant of contradiction . I was going to write about how we allow some the freedom to use or turn the Constitution as they see fit , or even trample it . But someone changed my mind .

The person responsible for my change of heart is a seven year old from Colombia . His father is a veterinarian recently granted a five year visa to further his studies in Florida as well as share his already advanced knowledge with interested horse breeders here. I think perhaps the kids father has hopes that one day they might be granted the right to permanent residence and whether that ever happens or not is a maybe , but one thing is already a certainty . In a very short period of time that seven year old has embraced America with all his might .

He came down from three hours away with his Mother to experience his very first 4th of July weekend in America with the wife and I . His interest in the traditional American way of slow cooking ribs over charcoal was evident and later suffered a scorched lip from his very first toasted marshmallow .

Wearing a baseball glove was another lifetime first and he was rewarded with a hard ball bounced off the nose before figuring out how to use it. The pain caused by the point of a fish hook while learning to cast a line into the Florida surf before catching the first fish of his life was likely as memorable as the scorched lip and chubby nose.

Learning the art of lazer beaming ants and paper goods with a magnifying glass proved to gratefully be a rather painless lesson . But when his Mother asked “who burned holes in these boxes ?”  I could only offer yet another lesson in true Americana ….

We stood together on the street in front of the house that evening to launch loud and colorful fireworks high into the night sky while tormenting all the neighbors and their pets because that’s what Americans do . And he loved every minute of that American weekend celebration just like millions of other  “American” kids did .

And the boxes ? well he got off scott free by simply following my advice  . He plead the fifth ….

I met a very interesting woman the other day and like many very interesting people she just plain bored me to tears .

” I’ve just retired” she said before continuing on with ….

” I worked for a large marketing company in New York City and was very fortunate to have worked with many very interesting people during my career . Some of them collected art and I’m here because one of my past co workers was a collector of indigenous African face masks and another collected paintings by C. Gordon Harris and I understand there are examples of both at this sale ….. but I’m sure you aren’t familiar .”… she droned

My mention that I was a past bricklayer and also had the good fortune to have worked with many very interesting people during that career brought a blank and uncomprehending glare …. I tried to spice it up with ” Some of them collected beer cans from all 50 states ” .

Well she was right on the mark about any familiarity I might have with African face masks , indigenous or otherwise, but she got caught off guard about C. Gordon Harris .

” C. Gordan Harris you say ? ….. the artist from Providence R. I. that painted endless farm scenes and oceanside wharves of New England ? , oh sure ”

I was then more than pleased to brag that I had recently sold a painting by C. Gordon Harris with a hole punched through it on Ebay for $280 bucks . This brought back the now familiar blank and uncomprehending glare.

I might actually admit how I understand that she would find an art collector interesting but I’d likely be lying . I spent my ” career ” surrounded by the Likes of Albert the Inupiat Eskimo who knew what seal meat tastes like . And three Texans named Tex , Kotex and Mex and Harry who’s daughter was once a Penthouse center fold . Now these were interesting people

I’m quite certain I just bored her to tears …