View From The Ditch Bank

STOUGH--RHYMES WITH ROUGH, AS IN STUFF. What, exactly, is stuff. And what is meant by the word, stuff? I've got stuff. OK, but what is stuff. Let's examine this a bit. MLWFAE and I were in a restaurant in Albuquerque this morning eating breakfast. ( Shoney's, if you were wondering. Actually, Shoney's even if you weren't wondering. ) At a nearby table there was a couple of couples, as in two men, two women, and they were having a conversation. Yes, "T" we also evesdrop. Easy to do when they are so close and not trying to keep their voices down. But they were talking, or conversing, about casino's, of which they seemed to have a very intimate working knowledge of same. They were also talking about a few other things. Like stuff. One of the women said she was going to go to a store and buy some stuff. Now, if you need eggs, you say, I am going to buy some eggs. Or maybe you say I need to go get some groceries. In the food department, you might say I need to get some stuff for meatloaf. Now, that is kinda specific, cause you have something definite in mind. Not just stuff, but stuff for meatloaf. You might also say I'm going to buy a couch, or maybe some shoes. But this lady said she was going to go but stuff. She was going to stores and look and buy stuff. Seems kinda expessive to go buy stuff, and not know what you are going to buy, but buying just cause you want stuff. If you don't know what you are going to buy, and you have no real need for anything, maybe you could save the stuff money and have more to lose at the casino. And that's the View From The Ditch Bank

View From The Ditch Bank

WORDSMITH: I mentioned that phrase in a previous blog. Although I am not one, I do try, from time to time, to string a few words together in a somewhat coherent manner. But being the uneducated soul that I am, you really don't expect me to always express myself in a manner coherent. However, it is expected of those who string words together, in a sentence, for a living. I quote, now, from a recent front page article in our little country newspaper. the headline; COMMISSION HEARS PRESENTATION ON DEER PROBLEM. Well, straight forward enough, I guess. But it could beg the question's Are the deer being a problem, or are they causing a problem, or do they have a problem? The article will explain. A representative from the state game and Fish Department said, and I quote " The deer population has Exploded in the past few years in populated area, but not in the forest. Uh! dynamite explodes. Fire Crackers explode. Bombs explode. But the deer increase explode? I think the deer population would explode in a populated area! I guess, but I, in my uneducated view, would have said it increased. This representative then presented goals AND objectives to reduce the population. Meeting these goals would include reducing deer complaints ( wonder what they are complaining about ) minimize vehicle collision ( with deer, or other vehicles ) Minimizing human safety concerns and disease ( What? is there deer flu now? ) and reducing the number of residents who feed wildlife ( how do they propose to do that? you may ask. We will get to that. And educate the people that it is against the law to feed wildlife. To create a balance of people and wildlife there is "Hunting and predator/prey relationship." The article also states this; "Wildlife complaints include devastation of gardens and trees, and aggressive deer behavior. Oh! now the wildlife are complaining? The game representative also said that due to the large population of deer in people populated areas, there is also an increase in predatory animals, like mountain lions. to decrease this threat, traps could be set for the deer. to remove them from the people. Then the lions would follow. He also said that they would focus on the deer social groups, so they stay together. GOSH Maybe I should be a deer, then I could have a social life. In addition to trapping, he also said that hunting was an approved method. Hunters could get on a population control list. Uh Huh! In a people populated area. Oh! I guess that is how they are going to reduce the number of residents that feed the deer. When ask who takes care of the deer that have been hit on the highways, he said the highway department does. A highway department employee stated, I have picked up two in front of an elementary school, a McDonalds and a funeral home. Well, guess the deer wanted an education, then after eating at McDonalds, had to go to the funeral home to be taken care of. Well, there was much more to the article, and while all the quotes are accurate as written in the paper, this blog is a little tongue in cheek fun poke at the way it was written. While the article, and the problems and the solutions were understood, it just struck me as humorous that so many different interpretations could be made to the statements. Hope you got a little chuckle from this View From The Ditch Bank.

What's in a Word?

Those of you who have read my previous posts are aware that I am retired. After growing up an a cattle ranch, and learning to do that kind of work, I moved on to other things, eventually, after 40 years, retiring from the mining industry. so, now that I am retired, what does that mean? Well, the other morning when I got up, MLWFAE ask, "What are you going to do today?" Nothing, I replied. "I thought you did that yesterday, she said. I replied, I did, but I didn't finish.

So, to get to the point of this post. In order to be retired, doesn't that require you being tired, first. You do something and get tired, then, when you do it again, you get retired. Or, when the tires on your car wear out, and you get new ones, then the car has been "Retired". I think the same thing could be said of any other item using tires, or wheels, to move about. Being a little bit of a wordsmith, I am always curious about words, and how they came about. Like the word, wordsmith. How did someone who writes become a wordsmith. Or some who works with iron and a bellows ( bellows, isn't that someone who talks very loud?) becomes a Blacksmith. Ah! words. They can say a lot. Or, like most of my posts, not much at all. Or like a Politician, nothing of any consequence, even though they spout them like steam from a hot teakettle. Sometimes I think we need to be very careful about the word we use, but I still wonder how Retired, means I get to do nothing, again. And that's the View From The Ditch Bank

View From The Ditch Bank

THEN AND NOW---Some of us are actually old enough to look back at the then and compare it with the now. And see the difference. And say, well then was better, or now is better. Back when I was a youth, after WW2, we didn't have a phone. If we wanted to talk to someone, we drove to their house. Said what we needed to say and then went on with business. Mostly. If you needed to talk to someone out of town, you wrote a letter, on paper, with a fountain pen, and put it in the mail. In the USPS. With a stamp. If we HAD to call someone out of town, we went to the general store and used their phone. With a hand crank. Two longs and a short or something like that. A party line, which means every one could listen in. And did. We didn't have television, telephone, or telegraph. One thing we did have in common with the rest of the world, though, was a telagossip. That usually worked, and things were often embellished for free. And cars. Yep, back then, you could look at a car and know who made it. Ford, Chrysler or General Motors. You knew what year it was, what model within that year, and probably what engine, and the transmission was a standard. With a clutch. And how fast it would go. Hot cars, Cool cars, Distinguishable cars. Some even had an AM radio. FM came later. And then came Eight Track Tape Decks. Pre Cassette. A heater, and 2-60 Air Conditioning. Oh! you wonder what 2-60 AC is. It was two windows rolled down and 60 miles an hour down the highway. Now if we want to communicate, we use cell phones, with the Internet in them, and cameras, still and video, in the camera, UH! phone. And e mail, and Face Book and Twitter. And sometimes others can listen in. And do. And the cars. They look like they all came from the same cookie cutter. Different sizes, somewhat, but not distinguishable from other models, no matter the company. And they are run with a computer, with CD players, and a satellite system to tell you where to go. ( People still tell me that, even without a GPS system ) And Air Conditioning controlled for each person, and heated seats, and surround sound for the Satellite Radio system. No personality. MLWFAE said the other day that cars now a days are just an Air Conditioned computer to get you from point A to Point B. While you talk on the cellphone, or even text. Lots of things in the now are better, but I long for the cars of then. With actual twin pipes, and glass packs. Too bad steel packs and Hemi's were outlawed back then. Oh wait. Hemi's are back. Wonder if Steel Packs will make a comeback. Naw! probably not. And That's The view From The Ditch Bank.

View From The Ditch Bank

RANDOM THOUGHTS---Or not. This may turn into a long post. And the second half will be somewhat different from the first. So hang in there, or log off as you please. Any of you that have been with this blog from the first may remember my blog about Tiger Wood. Any of you that are new, if there are such, and have not scrolled back, may want to do so to the Tiger post. In any case, if you have been watching the news even a little, you have heard about Tiger and his peccadillo's and have your own opinion on it. I am not going to rehash them. I will mention that he reentered the world of golf this weekend in Augusta, Ga. predicting he would win. He did not. He did miss some easy shots, and then lost his temper, which he had said he would not do. On the today show this morning, they could hardly talk about Phil Mickelson winning for talking about Tiger and him losing. They also showed the comments, (of all things )of two Women. One said, Golf is just not exciting if Tiger isn't playing. Uh! Golf is exciting? To watch on TV? Oh Well, that's another post, sometime, maybe. The other woman said, Maybe Tiger should take a lesson from Phil. In case you missed it, Elin wasn't there. Phil's wife, who is battling Breast Cancer, was.
Now, In my profile, I stated that I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ Of Latter Day Saints. More commonly known as Mormon. I am an active member of the Church. The church also builds temples where only those who qualify are allowed to enter. But when a new temple is built, it is open to the public to tour for a period of time before it is closed, except to those previously mentioned. The Church has just built a new Temple in The Gila Valley, AKA the Safford/ Thatcher Arizona area. It will be open for public tours soon. Before it is Dedicated, the youth of the temple district will perform a cultural celebration. This is also a standard procedure. There are about 100 youth in our Stake who will perform. Along with several hundred from other Stakes. Some of them will not get to, though, as there are all kinds of activities that vie for their attention. One of the local High Schools graduation is the night of the performance, impacting 6 students. Another High School graduation is the night before, impacting 3 students for the dress rehearsal. But this post is about two young women who had to make a choice. Neither are Seniors in High School. One loves music. Is involved in music, immersed in music. She plays in the band that is playing for the graduation on the night of the performance. She intends to go to college to become a band teacher. She chose to skip the graduation, and the playing in the band, to perform in the Cultural celebration. The other young woman is a track star at her high school. The State track meet is the weekend of the performance. Incurring the anger of her coach and her teammates, she has chosen to perform in the celebration and skip the track meet. With commitment like these, as well as many others that I won't mention, or am not aware of, we can only applaud and say, Yes, there are young people with high values. And high morals. And they will lead in the coming years. Yes, Tiger, you could take a lesson from Phil. But you, and all of us, perhaps, could also take a lesson from these young women and the approximately 1000 other young men and women that will be involved in this Cultural Celebration, and the righteous choices they have chosen to make. And that's the View From The Ditch Bank

View From The Ditch Bank

LIONS---The company I got tired of, um, retired from, has, or at least used to have, a thing called Zoo To You. It was just a kind of van or small truck that hauled small animals. I never saw it, just the propaganda pictures that the company published. It went around to area schools in a few Southwestern States so the kiddo's could see wild animals, like birds, and snakes, and rabbits or squirrels or whatever. We have a zoo in our back yard. We have birds; Blue Birds; Robbins; Jays; Quail; Doves; Wood Peckers; Finch's; Crows, a few others. We also have squirrels, and rabbits from time to time. It has been a year or so, but we have also had an occasional skunk. And a snake, or two. But this year, what we mostly have are Lions. Lots and Lots of Lions. If any one reading this blog would like one or more, let me know and I will ship you one, or two, or however many you want. No, they aren't African or Mountain Lions, but they are Dandy. Wishing you a good spring from the View From The Ditch Bank.

View From The Ditch Bank

SWEETS---No, I'm not talking about MLWFAE, although I could. I'm talking about candy. Or more specifically, candy making companies. What's up with them. Maybe I should back up a bit. When I was still working, I put in a 12 hour shift running mining equipment. There was usually some idle time, and my favorite snack was a Snickers candy bar, and a coke. Maybe a 20 oz. bottle of coke filled with salted peanuts AND a snickers bar. Some times I would eat a Butterfinger, or a Three Musketeers, or even something healthful like a Peanut Butter Cup. Then, some time before I retired, MLWFAE and I decided to eat more healthy. So, instead of the Snickers, or some other bar, I ate Celery, Bell Peppers, carrot sticks, and other veggies. But still the coke. I needed to stay awake for the times when I needed to be busy. But, sometimes, I still wanted a Snickers bar, so one day I bought one. And ate it. And it was all I could do to choke it down. Man, it was sweet. So I tried one of the other bars I used to eat. They were sweet also. To sweet to eat. So, now I don't eat them any more. Wonder why the candy makers decided to put so much sweetness in them. Did I miss that memo????? And cokes. I still like them. But when I retired, I quit drinking them. I went to bed at night and didn't have to get up at 4 in the a.m., and could take a mid day nap, if I wanted to,and why mess up a good nap with caffeine. When I travel, the norm was to buy a large coke, minimum 32 Oz. but more like a 44 oz. And drink it within a few miles. A while back, coming home from the northern part of the State I live in, ( an actual U.S. State, not the confusion one ) I bought a 32 oz coke to help stay awake. it didn't help. Why, you ask. Oh! you didn't ask. Well, I gonna tell you any way. Cause I didn't drink but about half of it. They are gettin like the candy. Coke is putting to much sugar or something in them. well, I still like peanuts. I think. Hope Planters still salts them, and didn't start puttin sugar in the bag like them candy companies. Guess I'll just stick to the veggies and peanut butter, with out the cup. And That's The View From The Ditch Bank.

View From The Ditch Bank

GORE---You all know what gore is, so I'm not going to get into the specifics of it. In any case, I'm talking about the Tic Al Gore. As in, just where is he today. It is April 2, 2010 and cold. What happened to Global Warming? Or would it be colder if Al Gore and associates weren't on this matter. With all the cold and snow in the East this winter, boy I bet they are glad that Mr. Gore kept it as warm as he did. Just think of the amount of snow and the freezing cold they would have had if not for Mr. Gore. Or is global warming just something else to spend money on for seminars in some far away place. Where it is warm. With no snow. did they meet some place like that? I think that a lot of this matter is just a lot of hot air. OH! maybe that's what is causing the globe to warm up. No, if that was the case, Washington Dee Cee and most State Capitols would be Tropical Paradises. With rain forests, and parrots. Oh well, what do I know. Not much, i suppose, I just like to ramble about things at times. Maybe we'll have a warm spring and a hot summer with the view from the ditch bank.