NO, I DON'T KNOW

I did not major in English is High School.  I didn't even minor in it.  Still, I do know a little about what is proper and what is not.  Not a lot, but a little.  And I just have to wonder, as I listen to people talk, in person and on TV shows, if what little I did learn is going by the way side. My wife and I don't like or watch most of the popular shows on TV.  We do keep up with a few.  Even a couple or three of the reality shows.  The one we have been watching, that ended last night, is "The Biggest Loser".  And so often those on the show, like the trainers, start nearly every sentence with the words   "I mean".  Since they haven't said any thing yet, why start by saying "I mean".  They don't have to explain what they mean, until they have said something first.  You know.  Or You know what I mean. No, I don't know.  If I did, you wouldn't have to tell me.  How many conversations do you participate in that has those words said ever so often.  You know.  Better than cuss words, I guess, but still, I'm sure any of my former English teachers would cringe at the current vernacular being used by so many of the masses.  Like.  How many times do you hear this in a conversation.  I often think,  " Well, it's not the real thing, just something like the real thing.  Like, you know, I mean, I think maybe the English Language needs to be made a mandatory course of study in school. I mean, You know, like, in Elementary and High School and College's and Universities.  And I have to wonder.  Are other languages suffering from the same malady?  And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK  

YOU LIGHT UP MY LIFE

NO, I AM NOT TALKING ABOUT DEBBIE BOONE. I am talking about all those things around us that seem to have a light 24/7. Like what? you say.  Well, if you have a computer is has a light.  Even if you turn it off and shut it down, it has a light on, unless you disconnect it from from the wall socket.  And the light is still there until the battery runs down. A microwave, yep a 24/7 light. And if you live in a city, or even a small town, there are more than likely street lights that come on at dusk and stay on all night long. Do you have a cell phone?  Do you charge it?  Yep, even while you sleep, it will have a light of some kind. Do you, like me, have a rechargeable electric razor or some other kind of health and body devise? More than likely, unless you charge it during the day and unplug it at night, you will have a light on during the night. All of this has nothing to do with voluntary lights, like self installed night lights, or lights left on at night cause you like to sleep with a light on.  Does any one sleep in a naturally dark room any more.  Probably not, unless they have exceptionally heavy drapes that block out all light.  Including the moon and star light.  Could you sleep in a room that was totally dark, and quiet.  I like the quiet, but enjoy the window open and the moon or star light provided by nature.  It is all the unnatural lights that gets to me at times.  I have got to the point where I will unplug a lot of those aforementioned lights.  But some, like the micro wave and the computer are just, well, inconvenient to unplug. So, can we take back the night.  Not likely, unless you move to a cave, with no electrical power, and that's well, not practical.  Oh Heck! whose practical.  See you there . In the cave.  And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK 

I Just Don't Understand

I WOULDN'T DO IT.  WOULD YOU?  As a teenager growing up during the 50's,  that's the 1950's, movies were a thing we went to on a regular basis.  They were entertaining and filmed in the light.  And we listened to the radio on the way to the movie and back home.  Cause the closest movie theater was a minimum 20 minute drive away.  And that was when you were in a hurry. There were actors/actresses that I liked to see.  John Wayne, Glen Ford, Jimmy Stewart, Audie Murphy, Brian Keith, to  mention a few.  Oh! and Sophia Loren, Maureen O;Hara, Rhonda Fleming, Doris Day to mention just a few others.  There were others, male and female, but that isn't the point of  this post. But before I get to the point, I will mention a few other things. I said we listened to the radio. XELO out of Ft. Worth Texas, KOMA from Oklahoma City, KWKH from somewhere in Louisiana I think.  We listened to the Louisiana Hayride and the Grand Ol' Opry.  Country music was our favorite to listen to and to dance to.  I say we, as in the general populace of the area where I grew up. Southwest NM and Southeast AZ.  But I also liked a variety of music and still do. I liked the Strauss waltzes and I liked to listen to the sultry voice of Julie London, the big band music of Glen Miller and Billy Vaughn.  I like a few of the current singers like Adele.  I enjoy watching few of the current TV shows, but I do like NCIS and wonder what it would be like to visit with Abby. (Her show name).  I was not a fan of Marilyn Monroe even when she was alive and popular.  I didn't read the movie magazines of the period when I was growing up.  I didn't idealize the stars of the silver screen or those of the golden voice we heard on the radio. I like cowboy poetry and have been in attendance to two or three shows featuring Baxter Black. I, with my family have been in attendance at concerts listening to Bill Anderson and Don Williams, both favorite singers I like, along with several others.
Now to the point of this post.  I never camped out to get in to see any of these people perform.  I bought a ticket and went to the movie, or the concert and left when it was over, happy for the time spent listening or viewing the event.  And was happy for doing so.  Well, there was a movie I walked out on and would never go back to see, but that's another story. Now, there are people in New York City, to see Justin Timberlake in SNL. Well, I would not go see SNL in any case, but I sure would not camp out in the snow for days to get in to see it or him. Or any one. And I just don't understand why any one would want too. There is no one, and I mean no one, good enough to do that for. At least in the entertainment world.  Or sports world. This speaks of idle worship as well as idol worship to me.  I may have a simple and boring life, but I think I know where my affections lie, and they are not with some "star" who just has a talent that makes watching or listening to enjoyable for a short time of relaxation in what is other wise my life.  AND THAT IS THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.

Hide and Seek

THE TAX, THE WHOLE TAX, AND NOTHING BUT THE TAX. Did you ever play hide and seek as a child.  I did.  Do kids even do that any more? Do you think our politicians are playing this.  Or some other childish game. Do you have an opinion about the sequester?  Do you even know what the sequester is? Do you know the meaning of the word sequester? I had to look it up, cause I had no idea that it had anything to do with government spending. Or taxation.  If you don't know either, let me edakate you a bit.  Sequester---Verb---To isolate or hide away, something of someone.
Noun---A general cut in government spending.
Legal--  Sequestration---The seizure of property for creditors or the state. 
Science--Bile acid sequestrant---The bile acid sequestrants are a group of resins used to bind certain components of bile in the gastrointestinal tract. They disrupt the enterohepatic circulation of bile acids by combining with bile constituents and preventing their reabsorption from the gut. In general, they are classified as hypolipidemic agents, although they may be used for the purposes other than lowering cholesterol. They are used in the treatment of chronic diarrhea due to bile acid malabsorption. 
Now, having said all that, do you understand what is going on in Washington?  Yeah. Me too. So,  here is my opinion of all this.The government wants to hide away all the money they take in so it isn't visible ten they can ask for more. That's when they have a general cut in spending so they then have to seize more to pay for the cuts. All of which causes the most of us to have a bile attack thus needing to make use of a sequestrant resin to keep us from having gastrointestinal attacks which would cause us to reach the chronic state mentioned in the last sentence in green. Then the news comes on and the President says    we need more money and the speaker says   you got more money in January, now we need to cut spending.  Well, I agree with the speaker, but.  But what, you say?  Why, when they have these spending cuts, do they always target the old, the young, as in education, and the military.  There is enough mindless spending going on that cuts to that would cure the ills for a while.  
Example.  The 60 billion for the rebuilding after hurricane Sandy.  A lot of that didn't go to the victims of Sandy.  Congress people put a lot of that money in to pork items for their districts.  Places that had nothing to do with Sandy.  If the people elected to govern would actually govern, and think not what they can do for their own pocket books, if they would actually be concerned about the country and less about their selves, things would get done.  
Maybe we can just sequester the congress away, as in this definition   Jury sequestration. The isolation of a jury to avoid accidental or deliberate tainting. A judge may order a jury to be sequestered in order to prevent others from tampering with members of the jury through undue persuasion, threats, or bribes.
Then perhaps the nations budget could go from red to green. And what does that have to do with hide and seek.  If we had congress hid, maybe they would seek the best way to solve the budget problems.
And That's the VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK