Room service

ROOM SERVICE:   I don't want to belabor the issue, but I guess I will, just a little.  In my last post I mentioned the traffic woes, or road work woes, of our recent trip to Utah.  This post is about that same trip, but it has to do with motel/hotel rooms.  Or the lack thereof.  Since we are getting a little long in the tooth, or old, as the younger generation will say, we don't make this trip in one day.  We break it up in two days, or even three days, each way.  With this in mind, a couple of weeks before we were going to leave, I called our favorite motel in Moab and ask to make a room reservation.  Nope, can't have a reservation, cause they are full.  Same thing with motel choice number two and three.  Finally was able to make a reservation at choice number 4.  For the return trip, we were staying in the Provo/Orem area, so I called our favorite motel in that area and was able to get a reservation for the night we wanted.  So called #1 in Moab again for a room on the return trip.  Again, no reservations available.  Lucked out with choice # 2 however.  Seems to me that gone are the days of just getting in the car, driving until you want to stop and get a room for the night.  Don't happen.  At least if you want to stay in a town and motel of your choice.  Gotta get reservations in advance.  Sometimes way in advance.  Makes me want to be an Indian.  They always have a Reservation.  And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.

DOES SPAGHETTI GIVE YOU INDIGESTION:  My loving wife and I recently returned from a trip to Ewwtah, and we did get a bit of indigestion while we were there.  And no, it was not from spaghetti. But from some one elses dinner plate. How is that, you ask?  You didn't ask.  Well, if you are still reading along, I will tell you any way.  As we traveled along, New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, and Utah, we constantly ran into road work.  Not road construction, mind you, but road work.  No matter what was being done, it was road work.  And we constantly saw signs that said, and I quote, "End of Road Work."  They were wrong, cause it never ended. Just took infrequent breaks.  Aww, he's digressing, you think.  Not really, cause this is just a preview to what this is all about.   In 1997, or some where thereabouts, a committee of important people in their own minds, announced that Utah in general, and Salt Lake City in particular, would hold the 2002 winter Olympics.  And with that announcement, the State of Utah went into a frenzy of road construction.  Uh, road work.  And it hasn't stopped.  Or even taken an infrequent break.  At least from the time you exit Provo canyon or what ever it is called, at Spanish Fork, and it continues until you reach Hill Air Force Base, or some where in that vicinity.  So where does the spaghetti come in.  Well, if you ever travel those roads, you will see.  These new roads twist and turn and exit across traffic, ( example: try to make a left turn to the Hampton Inn in Orem as you are heading west on University Parkway.)  Can't be done.  First, you have to traverse left into the oncoming lanes about three blocks before you actually get there.  Then when you get to where you can finally turn, you slant across more oncoming lanes.  You just hope the traffic lights never fail.  Or that there is never a power failure. And the streets down by the Inn, where you used to turn left to get there. Oh, they are still there, you just can't use them. Someone was definitely eating a plate of spaghetti when they were designing these roads.   And downtown Salt Lake City.  The have reintroduced street cars. Or trolley cars, if yoiu like.   Oh, they don't call them that, but that is what they are.  And they run with the traffic.  In between the lanes.  And they stop when the cars stop at red lights. Except when they have the right of way to turn across traffic to go somewhere.  Again, I hope the lights never fail, or if you are in the vacinity you will want to call your friends.  Cause they probably aint never seen a wreck like that ones going to be.  So, how do you avoid this mess.  Eat a steak and take the back roads.   And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK. 

WERE YOU EVER ACCUSED OF SOMETHING YOU DIDN'T DO?  And I would suppose that any one who has graced this earth with your presence for very many years, has been so accused at least once.  By a friend, an acquaintance, someone that you don't even really know.  Or even a family member.  A parent, a child or even a spouse.  Did it make you feel bad?  Angry? upset?  Maybe even aching for revenge.  How soon did you realize that they had made a mistake and you could overlook it?  How soon did they realize it and offer an apology.  And did you accept the apology and forgive.  These are all things for us to think about.  And while we are thinking about them I will tell you a story about a man I work with.  Wanting to pickup some donuts on his way to work, he stopped at the doughnut shop.  They weren't going to open for a few minutes, so he leaned back and shut his eyes, then drifted into a light sleep.  The next thing he knew, someone was tapping on his car window.  It was a local gendarme, or cop as we are used to saying.  And he was falsely accused, and given a citation.  For what?  Why for impersonating a law officer.  Sleeping in front of the donut shop.  So, watch what we do, and watch that we don't accuse others, at least until we know the whole story.  And That's The View From The Ditch Bank.

Poaching

IS IT REALLY AGAINST THE LAW? I think I have mentioned in the past that I retired from mining early in 2009.  Two years later, I went to work for a mining contractor.  After a year or so, the job was finished, and we were all laid off.  After two months of being retired again, I went to work for the mining company that I had retired from. In a temporary job that will not affect my retirement income. And the ditch bank I write from, or about, is in a rural area.  An area that makes most rural areas look highly populated.  And there is a lot of wildlife there.  No, not the bar hopping kind of wildlife, but the actual real animal type of wildlife.  Specifically Elk. No, not the club but the animal variety.  And some of  the people I work with would like to hunt an Elk and have ask if I would give them a landowners permit and let them hunt on my property.  I told them I have no landowners permits and my land is just a few acres, even though there are Elk there.  So, in a joking manner, they decided they could come to my ditch bank and poach an Elk.  Then one of them mentioned that poaching was against the law.  As in illegal.  And not the sick bird type of illegal, but actually a crime.  So they decided that since poaching was against the law, they wouldn't do it.  And on that basis, I am here to tell you, that since poaching is against the law, remember that the next time you decide to eat a poached egg, don't do it, cause POACHING IS AGAINST THE LAW.  And That's The View From The Ditch Bank.

THE BEST JOBS IN THE WORLD

WHAT WOULD YOU SUPPOSE WOULD BE THE BEST JOB IN THE WORLD? I have a couple or three in mind. Well, maybe two, and I will lump sports jobs in to one of those. I am thinking of professional sports players. You know. Those that get paid unimaginable amounts of money to PLAY. A basketball player is paid to play basketball. He shoots the ball at a hoop, and it goes in 50% of the time, more or less, depending on the player and the day. Or they are paid to guard a player of the opposite team and keep him from putting the ball in the hoop, and they get it in any way. Since I am not a foot ball fan, I will only say that football players are paid to score points and keep the other team from scoring points. And they succeed some of the time. Yes, I know that if they are really bad, they will be fired, or traded or whatever they do to get rid of a player, but still; well I'll get into the still in a bit. And baseball. a baseball player who is considered a good hitter if he hits the ball and reaches base a third of the time, for a batting average of .333. If he is able to hit 400, he is considered great and paid a huge salary. But what does that mean. At a 333 average, that means he hits the ball and safely reaches base 333 times out of 1000 times at bat. 400 times out of 1000 times at bat. That means that he doesn't make it 777 times or 600 times at bat.
Now, how about a weather man, or woman. They never have to be right. They predict that something MAY happen. "There's a chance" it may rain or snow or blow. It may be a certain temperature today, or tonight. If it happens, then he says well, I said it could happen. If it don't, then he says, well I said it was a chance. Now, what does all this mean? Lets discuss this in a sentence or two.
When I was working for an airline, many decades ago, as a station agent, I figured weight and balance on the airplane before it left the airport. The balance had to be right every time. Not just 33% of the time, or just a chance that it is right. But every time. Thousands of airplanes leave the ground every day, commercial and private, with the balance figured in so it will fly correctly. Every time. When I was working in the mining industry, I ran a shovel, the one in the picture at the start of this blog. I had to load 200 tons of material on a huge haul truck about 200 times a day. And not tear up any equipment or hurt any one. And if I didn't, I heard about it. If I succeeded in doing this 33 to 40 % of the time, I wonder if I would be retired now, after working there for 40 years. I think not.
Of course I realize the weather predictions and the sporting teams are not really good examples of what I am saying, but it made a good blog, didn't it? And they are paid very high salaries for what they do, or don't do, compared to myself and millions of other people who have to be right every time, all the time. Can you imagine a Dr. being right just a a third of the time. His, or hers insurance would sky rocket, and they would lose their license in a short period of time, I think. And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.

IT'S ALL ABOUT THE MONEY

MONEY: We all want some. Some more than others. As in; some have more than others. Some want more than others. I was going to blog about the movie Hunger Games, and the money, as in millions spent for tickets to see a movie about teenagers killing each other, but have decided to take a little different tack. I have not read the books, nor seen the movie. I don't intend to do either. Not saying I won't, but I don't intend to. However, having talked to some who have done both, I will say this. the books are set in a future time, and it seems that there are a number of folks, teenagers, who are rebelling against the government and the dictatorial ways that have came about. There is also a lot of dialog in the mind of the female lead character about the process that is going on. This is in the book. A lot of that is eliminated in the movie. At least that is what I understand from what I have been told. I still don't want to read the books or see the movie. I'm old, and I just don't understand why otherwise sane people would want to stand in line for hours, paint up and dress up to fit the theme of the movie, and pay huge amounts of money to see this movie. To me, there are just so many better things to see and read and do. Still, I do understand, just a glimmer, the theme of the books. Perhaps not so much the movie.
On a little different note, people spent a huge amount of money buying a lottery ticket this past week. Well, maybe not so much on an individual basis, but collectively a huge amount of money. The view from the ditch bank is that if all the ticket money for the Hunger Games and all the money from the lottery ticket sales, were combined, and put in the proper hands, how much hunger in the world could be alleviated. Not all, by any means, but it would be a great start, and much more beneficial on the larger scheme of things. Just saying. And THAT'S THE VIEW FROM THE DITCH BANK.

ONE PERSON'S CHOICE

My wife and I were invited to attend the graduation of a grandson from a training program at Ft. Huachuca. Since we live only a few hours drive from that base, we said we would go. And then take him to the airport in Tucson, Arizona to catch a plane home. Since our drive from home to the base is just under 3 hours, we left 4 hours prior to the graduation time, and arrived at the base with 1 hour and 10 minutes to spare. But just short of the base entrance, the traffic, two lanes of it, came to a virtual halt. As we inched along, beside, behind or in front of, all those others going to the base, or to the city of Sierra Vista which is just past the base, we wondered why we were stalled. When we finally arrived at the base, not the main gate, but at a different gate that had been opened, we were told that a soldier had a car wreck at 4 a.m. and was killed and the highway was closed while the accident was being investigated. All traffic was routed through the base, with police at every intersection to direct traffic. It was now 9 a.m. and the accident was 5 hours old. We were finally able to arrive at the graduation site at 9:30, just in time to see our grandson leaving the graduation exercise. We did make contact, take pictures, and take him to Tucson. All as planned. Well, almost. As we left the base, we were again detoured around the accident, which is now 8 hours old, and sent to Sierra Vista, then to Tombstone and then to St. David and then to Benson, where we caught the interstate to Tucson. That was the first time we had ever been to Tombstone, and that wasn't intentional. But we arrived at the airport in time for his flight, and we arrived back home in time to go to bed at our normal time. Were we upset? NO. Was he upset? NO. Did we have an enjoyable day? YES. An excellent adventure. Did we know the soldier who was killed? No. Did our grandson know him, or her? no. he didn't even know any thing about the accident or why we were delayed until we told him, after the graduation. We have no clue why the soldier had the accident, except we were told it was a roll over. We were detoured around the site, so didn't see the accident or the site. Who it was, or why it happened, we have no clue. So, why this blog? you ask. Oh!, you didn't ask. Well, here is the purpose. One person, and only one, as far as we know, made a choice to do something that caused a ripple effect on hundreds of people for many hours. Whether the one person was the individual who had the wreck, or someone else who caused the individual to wreck, we know not. But someone made a decision to do something, that caused the accident. Because of the length of the road closure, and the investigation, our grandson mentioned that there was probably something going on rather than just a simple car accident. What, we don't know. Whether the soldier was drinking, on drugs or involved with something illegal, or sleepy and chose to drive without enough sleep, was an MP on patrol, or whatever the scene was, one person made a choice that impacted many. How many others missed the graduation ceremony, as did we. How many going to Sierra Vista were late for work, or missed an appointment, or were running late to do some necessary shopping, or some unnecessary shopping, so making them late for other things later in the day, or made others late who were waiting for them. Our adventure turned out OK. Maybe others did not. We will never know. But we all should think before we do something rash or make an unusual decision; Or even make a remark without knowing the situation. As I did with this blog. How will this affect others? And That's The View From The Ditch Bank.