way to much , a superfluous expectation of creative insanity.

Superfluous

     

            Being more than enough, excessive, and this included my pronunciation of super –flu –ous , as opposed to    sue perf-e- less , in fact when the word surfaced in my mind I actually referred to it by the first pronunciation and later corrected it in my mind to the second pronunciation although the spelling never changed, as I have had issues with this word before to an excessive amount. Hope you followed all that. Sorry folks these last couples of blogs haven’t been for you, instead for me as I grapple with some vocabulary issues here running rampant in my head.

         Conflagration was a word I had used before successfully, as no one actually said I used it wrong, and this was before the last blog, or readership was low and you just passed over it.  Or mostly I would like to believe you were trying to find out the real meaning of what I was trying to say. It was in an earlier blog and may have been in “Trip to Sequoia,” as Guy and Darla are driving through the firestorm in the Road Warrior. I just remember using it and checking it out through the dictionary and out of that encounter that I may have come up on it.

        Then out of the blue a conflagration of burning desire to come up with a new blog after my World Trade piece was set to mold forever in the confines of the digital palace which it now resides in, that it hit me as I was starting to write and conflagration came out of nowhere. I checked it out and sure enough wrote the blog conflagration.

      So yesterday I saw on an ad from a personal site of a woman who needed to be brusque about what she wanted.

      Now I had an idea of what brusque meant and when I heard it I needed to make sure of the pronunciation and to assure that my definition of brusque matched hers and it did,  as if all that matters to you as one superfluous or brusque  sounds like another superfluous and brusque, if you are reading it. But when you talk to yourself and pronounce these words you sure don’t want to sound like a frigging idiot, as it kind of lowers your self-esteem. So pronunciation is obviously an OCD- obsessive compulsive disorder, issue with me. Some people collect, cars, thimbles, cats, and I collect words and at scary times like this, I just climb down a dusty cobwebbed hallway in the back of my mind that is stacked to the ceiling with a multitude of verbs and adjectives and dust one off and bring it back out to the light and try and use it again in some superfluous way. Just the mere mention of brusque invoked in me a creative desire to possibly incorporate it into my blog also and hence yesterday’s blog about brusque.

     So out of conflagration of events that led to this brusque confession of how I write and what really drives me you will find not anything of it being purpose driven, as it is really no big thing. A superfluous chain of events built on chance and happenstance. I take a simple topic and build on it as if I actually might have planned a few of these blogs. There is no outline, just an idea. Sometimes it works, and then sometimes you never know.

        Today I promised to move on as my title suggests as this word association thing is getting a bit superfluous or is it superfluous at this point. Instead I started going there again in my mind and at one point I figured I would copy it on to a post it and then save it for a future blog. Much the same as I saved my World Trade blog. Truth is I can never find that stuff when I am looking for ideas to write and so I figured I would write a few lines and the next thing you know I am here , writing and telling you the reader all I have to say about these words and promise you to move on tomorrow to a new subject . So in some superfluous way I managed to explain, the why and how, now I need to sum up. The end.

or is it?

sometimes it doesn't pay to think to much

Brusque

     Had a lot of fun with my last word so I came across another one today, and that was brusque pronounced (broosk) , meaning short and discourteously to the point. Can’t say I have ever been that way but knew a boss who had very short patience for anything that wasn’t his idea. Chances are you would rather keep your mouth shut about things, rather than suggest or offer up some advice. Well my boss was a quick one with the comebacks and squarely put a truck driver in his place one day while on a job that was giving us our fair share of trouble.

    Now I am a class B commercial truck driver and have drove long wheel base tandem axle dumps, and I have a single axle dump truck at the farm here, and have spent my fair share of doing the roundy - rounds as we call it in trucking, when you drive from one place to another dump a load and return, doing it over and over again going the same route doing the same thing all day long. I still have my commercial license and just renewed them my last birthday and are good for four more years although I doubt I will use them much, just the principle of it. Anyhow this makes me an official truck driver and allows me to make fun of myself and others like me. Now at this point, don’t tell mom she still thinks I make all my money as a piano player in a whore house and finding out I am a truck driver might be the last straw. Since I have cleared the fact that I have the qualifications I can proceed on with my story without repercussions from the truck driving crowd.  

      Did you ever notice those signs on the back of dump trucks that say construction vehicle do not follow? Why, because they have no clue what is going on and if they are following another truck and drive over a cliff , chances are the one truck will follow the other one over the cliff. There will be one set of tracks as truckers know if the guy before me made it in those muddy tracks he can too, well it doesn’t work that way.
      As well as being a truck driver, I also spent time operating equipment and more than my fair share of time fixing roads so truckers could dump their loads. Believe me that is a hair pulling experience as one will get stuck and another will dump his load in front of that guy , and if you don’t watch out they would bury one of their own in the soil they are hauling in no time. Something happens to these guys stuck in dump trucks, maybe it’s the radio waves from the CB blasting or the ear bud, blue tooth connection that is messing with their mind. I figured out years ago I wasn’t cut out for this line of business as I found it boring, I guess since I didn’t have anyone to talk to and all I had to do was drive truck, and to say the least, and after you hauled your first 600 loads it was all pretty much the same, just a different day.

     I never was much of a CB person with a 10-4 here and there as needed only when I had to communicate with a driver , but for some reason these drivers are talking all day long to someone whoever might listen to them or they must be talking to themselves, because when they always pull up to unload a load they seem to be too busy talking,  to listen to what they needed to do as if the 60 dollars an hour we were renting their truck for  didn’t require them paying attention to what was going on,  as was the case with this driver. The job site was wet and the road was spongy and he had to back up a hill. If he had not been talking on his cell and trying to click the button on the mike of his CB and had his window down to hear what I called him as he about ran over me as I walked up to the truck to suggest he try a different place to dump, he may not have hung himself up so bad we had to dump the truck where it sat. Then we wouldn’t have to wait on a pull cable since I just snapped the last one trying to pull him out.  We had to wait for another to be brought out of the shop, and were basically dead in the water with ten trucks waiting to dump and the dollars piling up and getting nothing done.

    The driver finding mud up to the top step of his cab stepped out and took a leak on his tires adding a little more moisture to the situation shrugged his shoulders as he was still talking to his imaginary friend or therapist through his ear bud, sauntered over to my boss and my vantage point overlooking the big blue dump truck sitting in a pile of mud up to his axles costing us sixty dollars an hour to do nothing but burn fuel and he says to us. “A bit wet today.”

     My first thought was brilliant deduction Watson, wonder what else this clown is up to.

     I could see my boss ‘s neck hairs stand up , he turned and climbed back into his  Chevy Blazer and was just getting away from this guy as he was mad already . Things happen, people get stuck, and being set back when you are trying to accomplish something is all part of the job when it comes to trying to run a construction site. We tried to work despite the rain the night before, because we knew our workers and our drivers needed work so we pushed it and it bit us in the ass. If this guy wouldn’t have hung up we may have been able to keep moving.

    Well the truck driver trying to get serious, rips the ear bud out giving us his full attention and said, “Excuse me but I was wondering?”

    My boss obviously irritated and ready to leave was discussing with me what we were going to do when we got bozo out of his hole and on the road again, and was obviously upset when the truck driver butted into our conversation and offered up a suggestion. So my boss said to him, “What is it you were wondering?”

      Well the truck driver had the floor and he said.”I was just thinking.”

       And right then before he heard another word came out of his mouth my boss almost shouted, “See that’s the problem , you started thinking,  he says you are truck driver thinking is not what I hired you for, I hired you to drive truck , if I had wanted a thinker I am sure I would look some place besides a truck seat. If you had been thinking you may have been able to get your truck to dump where it was supposed to. I watched as you about ran over my operator ignored what was going on and ended up shutting us down. Instead you had three different things going on and weren’t watching what you were doing, and now I am thinking I really don’t need your damn truck when I get it out of here or ever again. Now do you have anything else you want to think about?”

      The driver understanding the brusque manner he was just disposed by, slunk back to his truck and sat and waited patiently for the cable to come, and to be pulled out with the dozer. The driver still worked but never offered up any more suggestions or failed to pay attention when he landed on our site to work.

   

a firestorm of events preceded by my ignorance to detail

Conflagration of Bull Crap

     I will save everyone a trip to the dictionary and I am sure will hardly impress you with my vocabulary, but conflagration usually refers to wild fire where there is violence or destruction. I am so sure you knew all that but was a word I heard one time and believe I have used in my blog and I just love the way it rolls off my tongue in an undulating four syllable drool,  that really sounds like you know what you are talking about . It just seems like this word so clearly illustrates my day, but still it wasn’t too bad. Worked last night on a piece about World trade that I put off editing and was planning on posting it today,  but after I read last night’s ramblings , I just couldn’t bore you with another,  and Kev says. Further agonizing reappraisal of the World trade blog realizes in me that you the reader , really didn’t need something to put you to sleep,  so I shelved it till who knows when,  if ever, or may end up page one of my lost memoirs.

     A conflagration of events or a fiery storm of events which resulted in violence and destruction, pretty well sums up my day. I try to plan what I am going to do when I have help here so that I can take care of priority items requiring extra labor. James and I are good friends and he has helped me a lot. Still anytime you have someone in employ, you try and mentor them by setting an example of how you should do something especially when it’s costing me. I get so frustrated sometimes as I feel I am always in a hurry and know I need to slow down , but it is kind of the way I work or should I say I used to. sure doesn’t happen like it used to , but then again I am not running a dozer fine grading with a laborer and cutting to grade final base for concrete.  When you run heavy equipment it seems as if you are always in hurry, I was told to always keep the blade full and they (bosses) will be happy. And they were, now whether I was on grade then I doubt it but the blade was full. I always ran dozer as fast as I could and could grade with the best of them, I also ran other heavy equipment such as excavators from the small mini hoe doing utilities to large excavators. They paid well and bosses wanted production and I was also a member of the Operating Engineers Local 18 and worked for several contractors including Beaver excavation. At one point I was Division Manager of Kurtz Bros., Commercial Division, Cleveland Oh., managing and supervising construction crews in developing industrial properties in Cleveland area. Time is always money and when you are talking heavy equipment it doesn’t take long to add up the dollars.

       I have had days when you would get off the dozer and before your foot hit the ground, a foreman would ask you why you were stopping. When you told him to visit the little boys room and then I would ask if he wanted to go along and hold my hand, sometimes you would get a scowl and others would say no and laugh. It’s the ones that scowls that I worry about. So when it gets to the point you can’t take a leak you know your time is worth something. So back to my firestorm of events. I picked up a couple of workbenches today that was gave to me and then was soon  home as I ended up here at the house. That part of my day went as it was supposed to.

      First it was the Ohio spits. It’s those big gobs of water firing at you from out of the sky in no certain direction from gray clouds that may or may not be rain. Leaving you with the uncertainty of knowing if you are going to get soaked or just irritated. They are big and aim for your face as its icy water slides down your face trying to persuade you to go inside and avoid being frozen from being soaked. I planned on working outside and with help here it was continue on, and when we need to, we can head to greenhouse. I couldn’t find my charger for the cordless drill and it was surely something I couldn’t do without, as It also had my spare battery. Without it I ended up having to find another variable speed drill I could use. I added an electric cord but it was to short, and was soon grabbing a longer one as the first came up five feet short so I had to go from a 25 -50 foot electric cord. Finally I get everything set up and it starts raining. I head to the greenhouse where I had James looking for bolts for a clamp we were going to use. We worked on front door of greenhouse and managed to get it opening the way it should as wind had worked on the door frame and loosened it. Of course through this all, we must have had 3 trips between greenhouse and house to get tools. I have one set of tools spread out between three places and it gets kind of frustrating remembering which place I left a particular tool in, as in the case of the charger and it isn’t small or easily overlooked or is it?

         We were able to fix the door and then  I potted up about 25 yews James and I started from cuttings a couple of years ago and are now in the 6-12 inch range and getting fuller with several off shoots. I also noticed I have 10 forsythia bushes started in same size range that are blooming already. So after watering I finally gave up on trying to find the charger, so I watched a movie called Great Expectations based on the book by the same name but not in period times, instead more up to date modern version. It starred Gwyneth Paltrow who played the young girl when the boy first visited Miss Haversham. I liked the movie and remember how that book set my imaginations spinning as one thing the book talked about was the clocks that stopped at the exact time she was supposed to get married and wedding cake decorated and dried out and slumped to one side with cobwebs tracing lines between wine goblets on a dusty linen tablecloth. The movie didn’t go to such detail, instead set a stage that at the same time had its merits. A must see, and one could call it easily a chic flic, with a little romance thrown in for good measure. Isn’t Gwyneth the one that recently consciously uncoupled with another actor?

       The fire of doubt and wonder of where my charger was continued to consume me and it was tearing me up not knowing. My help left and the day was shot but still I managed to get a lot done, but that charger was giving me fits and I didn’t want to spend another 90 -120 dollars to buy a new one. The drill was ok but it just isn’t my trusty Dewalt screwdriver. I looked systematically in all the places,  I even went down to Mom’s basement and then she asks me after I trudged back up the steps , and  after I wasted half day looking for that damn charger if I looked up on the corner of the freezer in the back room. Well then I remembered that when the power went off last time I had to drill a hole to fish an extension cord down through from the generator to the furnace. By the time I was ready to hook it up the power came back on. I left the charger plugged in on a lower freezer and mom moved it up and placed it high on the corner of the freezer next to it,  and I just look passed it, in fact we both, james and I walked past it five times as that is how many times we looked in there.  

     A conflagration of events precipitated my final discovery of where my sources of irritation lie; it is deep seated in the bowels of me. The terror and violence rained down on me is by my own doing, the violence of my frustration is seated in me and my conscience. I refuse to let it destruct me. Lest I never be able to use the word conflagration again. Now you will be saying this word all day long and have me to thank for it.  

     Although i used conflagration, i didnt use it correctly as it is a noun instead of a verb. i think it would do much better as verb as a noun limits its impact, when in reality a firestorm is a coming together of events leading to total destruction or violence as defined by the dictionary. To me this shows action . and that would be the definition of a verb. Now all you critical ocd-ers out there jump on this,and define for me as it seems this also may start a conflagration of events i doubt if i am totally prepared for but bring it on. 

things are heating up in the greenhouse

Inventory of trees and shrubs on hand ready to plant

       Yesterday I did inventory on the trees and shrubs I have ready to plant in pots. These trees and cuttings were either bought in the last couple of years with most of the trees being bought last year as bare-rooted saplings and are now established in pots ready to plant in your yard. Yes you could do the same thing as I do and even plant them direct into your soil and eliminate me , but I know my trees will grow as I have them started well and are firmly rooted .

     For years I would be handed a pack of Arbor Day trees and I would plant them and forget them as most of you may have done. Well they would die or I would forget where I planted them and the next thing I knew I was weed whacking them off and the trees served no purpose as they ever grew to any size or were buried in weeds that would soon overtake them. Now I can plant the same trees and get 90 percent survival rate, and this is a lot better than I had before.

      Last year I purchased trees from the extension office as well as those from Arbor Day foundation  and also from another supplier. The pines I had suffered from the heat until I moved them to a shady area , by then I had lost almost fifty percent of the trees I planted , but in those pots seeds from the river birch came down and seeded themselves in the same tree pots as the pines and I ended up with over 600 river birch seedlings , way too small to sell this year but hope to have available next year. As well there will be a bunch more pots in the same area to catch a lot more seed. Just something I learned by accident. I am sure more new ideas will come my way as I go along.

       I have already sold out most of my pines except blue spruce and this is something I had trouble growing the year before. I am thinking the secret to successfully growing out these seedlings ids to plant as quick as you receive them. In fact as soon as you receive in mail, you should be planting as quickly as possible. I also bought most of the pine from the extension office and I question how quick the freezer to sale time is when dealing with the public like they do. It is sometimes as if the seedlings sit too long before planting as evidenced by mold on the roots. Also when I get the pines in I have almost 400 trees to plant and this does take some time. Need to be more diligent when the pines arrive to plant as soon as possible.

    Anyhow by starting all my trees in pots I reduce the mortality rate and increase the survivability rate, for you, while offering you a product already established with soil around the roots to give it that initial boost to help it get its roots firmly established at your residence. So here is my list of trees and I will update weekly through my website. Kevscarvings .com will also have all available shrubs perennials and trees I have available for sale this year.

38- rose of Sharon                                         7 sugar maple                     3 black gum

5 white dogwood                                          4 river birch                          forsythia shrubs?

7 American plum                                           10 red bud trees

3 persimmon                                                  5 red oak

4 American ash                                               5 white oak

100 blue spruce                                            4 wild black cherry

 4 spice bush                                                 3 shag bark hickory

100 -1 ft. arbor vitae                                    7 northern pecan

20 -3 ft. arbor vitae                                       4 tulip poplar

           I will also have blue fescue and pampas grass available in sizeable clumps this year. I am also working on increasing the amount of perennial flowers and herbs available this year. Some I have planted and are hard to start. But will keep working on it till I get it. If you’re interested in any of these trees above they are available for 7 / tree and are guaranteed. Discounts are available if you buy more than 20 of all varieties and I will knock off 2 dollars per tree or it will cost you 5 dollars per tree.  The large arbor vitae is the only thing I have for any additional cost as they cost me more when I bought them and will sell for 10 dollars per tree, with a quantity discount of 7 dollars per large arbor vitae when you buy 5 .  I will also have hanging baskets and vegetable plants in limited quantities.

        I also will plan on having an open house on May 11th of this year, or Mother’s day. Will try and have some food available this year as I was wore out by that day last year. A hay ride and chainsaw carving will occur, I also plan on giving away a free bear carving as I did last year, to only those who attend the open house. No names will be allowed from anyone who isn’t there.  You will only be allowed to enter once, and I will get the oldest person to draw the winning ticket for the drawing.  I may or may not have the carving available that day , if I don’t I will get it to you. A free 6 pack of tomatoes will be available to all who attend.

      As we get closer to the day I will ask and see how many will attend so I can get an idea of what I will need and will update you as I go along here on my blog of my plans. Thanks for showing up last year and I hope my second annual open house will go as well or better than last year. Come and visit and enjoy. 

mom's new wheels

Time to Escape

      Mom and I took off in the new to us, used Ford Escape. Not new by any means but moderately priced and in great shape as evidenced by a lack of rust. Traditional white and a gravel dusty lane will lead to more washing to keep it in that shape but it runs well, and we both have the comfort we need to take long and short trips.

     This is a more fuel efficient vehicle than the Ford Expedition we had , and although it was the first one we seriously looked at , I feel we were steered in  good direction as only time will tell. Having been neighbors with Larry Bowling for years of Bowling’s Used Car lots in North Industry, Ohio, he treated us with the respect that a neighbor should, as we remembered old times and past cars we have traded to him or he had provided to us. Larry and his family have always been great neighbors to us.

    He has personally helped me at times when I needed a vehicle and I was stressed to find a way to afford it. It seemed as if he was there with something, and it was usually at the least, good sound transportation if he picked it out.

     Anyhow Mom and myself liked the Ford Escape and I believe we will do well saving a lot of gas allowing us a chance to see more and explore more as it is also easier for her to get in and out the vehicle. This is one of the reasons I chose this vehicle is its ease of entry for a disabled person. Mom is able to sit right onto the seat and pivot and swing her legs in allowing her to enter the vehicle much easier than the Expedition. We had to use a small step ladder of which we had to find two step ladders that would work. The first I forgot one time after having eaten some chicken and in a hurry to head home i left in a parking lot as I just drove away not noticing what I had done for at least a couple of days.  

      Sometimes I need to park in the fire zone directly in front of a place to unload Mom as I try to make access to some these places easier for her. Most new restaurants have handicapped parking directly in front of the building, but at some I have seen it placed a good distance from the entry door making handicapped accessible, a little bit of a trial to make it work. In those cases I drive to the front door and just block everything till she is unloaded. And then go and park elsewhere. Also it seems as if everyone has a handicapped parking permit these days and still at some places only two handicapped parking spaces, what is up with that? Again I have to block traffic as I unload. Heck I figure if UPS can stop in the middle of the street, and unload Publisher Clearinghouse Packages for people and never bother trying to pull off to the side, and make people go around them, then it should surely be no problem for me to stop and let my Mom out in front of a business that apparently doesn’t share my views on handicapped accessible.

        By law they are supposed to make all restaurants and public places handicapped accessible but it seems as if no one is really enforcing the issue. Apparently the local zoning boards have granted waivers when people are applying for building permits, to avoid compliance with the handicapped restrictions. Otherwise we would see better compliance and better facilities, as even public restrooms are not what they should be on a statewide basis. I have seen public buildings funded by taxpayer dollars, that surely could use a code update but for lack of funding will pass up retrofitting of their facilities.

     Unfortunately we are coming of the age where this is going to become more important to our age group as we go along. I know numerous individuals my age who are disabled or have handicaps restricting their ability to do something as easy as open doors.  A recent visit to a Doctor’s office in North Canton revealed a handicap accessible door that was disabled and a bear to open for myself. The reason it was disabled as because the nurses were cold and the doctor was losing too much heat to the outside. This is one type of a door that is accessible by the handicap pad you hit and it opens the door. It doesn’t open for everyone. What good is installing handicap equipment if they are only going to disable because of their personal comfort or efficiency of heating. If you are in the business of dealing with handicapped and expect to have those patients in your business, then I feel a Dr.s office of all places should have working handicap equipment.  I imagine everyone was using the pad and the door was used to frequently as I have seen people do at other places. Double sets of doors stop that as you have to enter one set of doors and they close behind you before entering a second set. This adds to the initial cost of construction, and may depending on how many people or the traffic you receive be quite expensive to install.  But again if you are dealing with the handicapped and expect them to enter your business then this is all part of doing business in the real world.

       We took a nice long trip and ended up at Atwood boat launch where I took these pics of mom and her new vehicle. It was a nice day for a ride to nowhere in particular and ending up there. A chance to escape  

get out of here- unless you like nature

Trespassing

      This is something I am pretty passionate about as I like my space as it is and not trampled on as some people who feel they have a right to do, often do and without regard to anyone else’s objections. As if they have a right to invade your space.

     Yes, yes , you are going to go back to some previous blog where I said we all shared the resources of this big beautiful blue planet,  and why when our family has so much and others little isn’t it right to take what you need. We have paid for the privilege of owning land by purchasing and paying taxes and taking our hard work and time to make it work for us. You were not there to help or share in the pain and sorrow owning something that ultimately helps do in your family members, by trying to hold on to what our family has .

    I  paid with the sweat on my brow as most of my family members had as  I stood along with them  in hot hayfields loading hay on a hay wagon, hoping you finish before that big storm coming over the hill drenches you and ruins your days’ worth of work. Working harder and sweating harder. , I don’t remember seeing you on the hay wagon asking to help out. This is how I paid for the right to say it is ours and keep your feet off. Unless you ask.

      Now if you ask I may still tell you no . No mushroom hunting, no hunting on this property, and no spraying, or GMO seed that I am aware of, all that of course is something I would hope no one ever does. Now if you want to just come and sit under a tree in the shade and admire the beauty of the earth and all it has provided for us here on earth in our little piece of Ohio and how much more it could mean to us all in the future if we just let it be.  I know that when I am gone I have little to say about anything, but while I am alive and have the ability to make the decisions I vote in favor of nature.

   i will sic my dog and her stick on you

         I have done damage to the environment as boys will play with toys and earth is my sandbox. Thinking dozers and big earth moving equipment was the answer to feeding the masses. Plowing those fields and raping nature was a necessary action to take to fold and bend the rest of the environment into what we as humans’ think is best. Me with grandiose dreams of how farming will be in the future as we need to meet the need to feed millions and billions more, 7 billion and counting. We don’t. We let nature take care of it. Why raise kids when you know they are going to die? Fundamental questions we must ask ourselves someday? So you need to understand not every piece of land can be devoted to feeding humans without the consequence of killing off nature, and upsetting the food chain. I am sure before we get that far, we will be eating each other.  Solyent green. Seems as if I just said that in a previous blog. So if I save a piece and leave it better than when I found it, then I have done my job as farmer and caretaker of the land. I do it by letting nature do as it should and just be there without anyone interfering, and that means trespassers included as I could care less if a four wheeler is I growing out your ass and is your only form of enjoying nature or getting exercise. .

    I don’t mind if someone asks me to sit under a shade tree, feel the sun on their face, smell the fresh cut hay. Watch the bees swarm around the hive. These are all things we all should be enjoying as we take time to smell the roses. Our time is not to hurry about but instead understand our place in nature by getting back to it. Heck yes it’s hot out there but you slap on a straw hat with flappy sides and transform yourself into a hick and just enjoy yourself with that straw stuck out of the side of your mouth. Come and enjoy. I have no problem with that. The mushrooms and the deer are resources we have, and one may never know, but may need to feed us, and who knows neighbors and friends in the future if we really need it. If we take it now when we don’t really need it what will be there in the future?

      How can you tell when you are trespassing? Very simple folks. If you didn’t ask stay the heck out. Number 2; is if you didn’t pay for it with cash or the sweat off your brow or with family member’s hard work before you stay the heck out. Number 3;  if when you look at your feet and know in your mind you have never been there before and are quite sure you have never contacted anyone or tried to figure out if you have a right to tread there, then hesitate and turn your butt around. As in my situation, as someone who really doesn’t want you there,   and I am sure most people would agree with me, that you really don’t need to be going there. So get the hell out.

some lessons are earned the hard way , this surely must be one

What lessons have flight MH-370 has taught us?

       The first lesson is that you can trust no one or anything as doubt lingers everywhere and I have no intention pointing blame but instead make remarks and observations of the technical aspect of the recovery investigation of flight MH-370.i will also lend an alternative theory, and will warn you it is only a guess at best but is as plausible as others.  

     My thoughts are with the families of the passengers of the ill-fated flight. I would assume as the rest of the world, that if they are looking in the middle of the Indian Ocean, that the plane and all aboard will be lost after this time. I imagine the black boxes will be recovered as the world wants to know what happened and the black boxes will tell the story. I imagine all countries will need to know as it affects us all, and if the question of whether it was terrorism or just what it was that brought the plane down.i like everyone have become glued to the internet hoping for some report or explanation.

     From the very first reports I was amazed at how much information was being assembled from so many different sources, with information and new developments occurring daily along with slips of inside information regarding the investigation and how it has precipitated into the recovery effort we see now. Information of where the plane originated from and the technical part regarding the last known inspection as well as the safety record of the plane being a Boeing 777 and being produced in the USA and having an almost spotless safety record but that here in the U.S., the plane was under a recommended inspection of long usage passenger liners for micro cracking of fuselage. Supposedly from air pressurization and depressurization, occurring with changes in elevation.

       Statistics regarding an apparent failure of one Boeing777 plane that was grounded when they found a 16 inch gaping hole in the fuselage after an inspection located close to the external satellite and radio antennae affixed to the exterior ceiling of the airliner.  Consequences of rapid depressurization and theories of possibly falling from the sky in a spectacular blowup of the plane began to emerge as expert after expert climbed on the bandwagon while the public and the waiting loved ones had to endure one theory after another  with nothing positive.  As of 9 o’clock this evening. Nothing new except another piece of wreckage they assume was discovered by a Chinese satellite in an area that may be down current from where the Australian satellite observed pieces in the lower arc that is purported to be the most likely area to search.also they appear to be moving more ships into the area where the search is concentrated now showing that there must be something to the reports of plane pieces in the water or a strong suggestion that this must be the plane. 

       I was amazed as one international search partner after another offered up new information as to satellite coverage and personnel in the area that needed searched. Also I was amazed at the lack of cooperation between the Malaysian government and Vietnam as to the radar coverage. They seem to let politics decide the immediate outcome of information that was used to initiate a search in the wrong area. The coverage of satellites and military personnel that was dispatched as well the U.S. presence and the technology and support we offered the Malaysian government from the onset was to be admired as if in some way we needed the answer as to why and we do need the answer as to why the plane went down .

      At one point I even joined the search as there was this website you could go to that was posting satellite photos of the wrong search area you could view.  If you found something you would notify the company and get some credit for helping. After looking through several frames and not finding nothing but water I gave up my search as apparently others did as we were just looking in the wrong place.

     Of course now there was frustration, as now we heard about the Vietnamese radar tracking the airliner back over Malaysia and the accounts of the transponder being manually turned off and a a final salute from the pilot just before veering off course in what they are calling planned maneuvers. And again we enter a kind of forensic evaluation of the character of the pilot and crew as well as the forged passports of two of those aboard emerged and terrorism was suspected. I could just imagine the computers searching each and every passenger as well as crew member for any alliances with any terrorist organization trying to find the tie that binds someone to something that happened to the airliner. Theories were bounding as the media began to pick over each bit and piece of information pointing fingers here and there. In the end have no better idea of what happened to the airliner than we did almost two weeks ago.

       Now we are we are running out of leads as this had happened before as we lost 93 rangers on a plane out of Vietnam in 1962, and have never found a trace of the plane. It was figured at the time that the plane went down in the ocean and no trace of it has ever been found to this day. So even with the black boxes and the last known coordinates again we may never find this plane as it could have easily been torn apart and carried hundreds or thousands of miles in the current that exists in this remote part of the world.  It may take time and lots of it before we ever figure out what happened, if ever

      I would like to believe it was a terrorist hijacking and that the plane eluded radar of several countries and is setting on the ground at a hangar somewhere and that someday the plane will be used in hopefully a foiled bombing  similar to 9-11. After which the passengers will suddenly appear from nowhere in a foreign land.

      I watch and read of the pilot and his fascination with flying and his going so far as to have a simulator in his house where he practiced maneuvers and eventually deleted a block of information from his computer and how the FBI  is trying to restore it. They say the pilot or whoever was maneuvering the plane was experienced enough to know certain things only an experienced pilot would have to know regarding flying the Boeing 777 in the fashion it was observed at its last sighting on radar by the Vietnamese army . My question is as it passed over the Malaysian mainland is it possible the plane was low enough for a successful parachute out of the plane by whoever was piloting letting autopilot take the plane and all its mystery to the depths of the Indian Ocean in a J.B. Cooper fashion. I don’t even know if it is possible to parachute out of a jetliner as they design them today.

      So in the event we never find the plane and how do we avoid this happening again. Maybe visual confirmation of the pilot and copilot at different undetermined intervals allowing us a sneak peek into the cockpit might be one way. Surely the technology is there if we have wireless communication on a plane we could just as easily have the pilot take a short real time video of his counterpart with his smart phone and upload it to the planes communication system as well as location data . I am sure the pilot’s union will have a field day and claim invasion of privacy but it is in the best interest of everyone aboard to assure that the pilot is in command at any given time. Having an idea of last known coordinates is another thing. Redundancy tracking of engines proved to be a major turning point in the search criteria as it narrowed the search area to certain coordinates. This and other systems need to be developed especially in a scenario such as on 9-11 where airliners were hijacked and although tracking was still working, we had a situation as in this case where someone turned off the transponder. Should a second transponder be located elsewhere in an inaccessible location that would pick up and start transmitting upon not receiving a signal from the primary transponder?

     If we never find the black boxes and if we don’t ever find a trace of the plane, we may forever wonder what caused it to disappear off the face of the earth. It is time that airline safety take another step and up its security , to further scrutinize those in charge and subject them to psychological evaluation on a regular basis , to assure they are beyond reproach and above professional suspicion when it comes to piloting a plane and being in charge of hundreds of passengers lives .  We should never rule out mechanical error even without proof that may have been a contributing factor to losing the plane and all its passengers. An aging airliner exploding at 30000 feet is always a possibility even partial decompression due to a large rupture of the fuselage would create the same conditions to a degree as those observed by the Vietnamese army. Partial loss of hydraulics and inability to turn the plane may have left no other option but to ditch it in the sea. Unfortunately due to the location it ended up over the Indian Ocean. Having lived through the decompression they would only see their fate sealed as there was no safe alternative but a sea landing.

      As compared to the earlier crash of the U.S. Army flight 739 in which 93 Army Rangers and 3 South Vietnamese personnel disappeared and no trace of wreckage was ever found. Look at the differences in technology as in 1962 when the Lockheed Continental disappeared, there was no transponder and no idea where to search for the plane, yet here we are in 2014 and now we have an airliner in the same circumstance and although we have a lot of informationand technology available to us,we still have very few concrete answers and only more reasons to make planes safer. Still as all know what goes up must come down , it’s not so much going up, but the coming down that usually has us asking questions, when it comes to planes.

Flying Tiger flight 739-Flying Tiger Line Flight 739 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

is there room for profit in commercial agriculture?

American food supply –Are we safe and is it efficient?

       I was reading a NPR –National Public Radio article regarding the loss of millions of pounds of fish annually that is thrown overboard because it wasn’t the species desired and was caught up in the nets. It seems as if no one part of the United States fishery is any less to blame and some are more than others. Also our government oversight has to be held accountable as more efficient methods of harvesting fish are available but we lack the oversight abilities to force the fisheries to comply.

      Now we also have fish farms spread all across the United States that may operate out of swimming pools in barns, to netted sections of bays, to desert salt ponds that I have heard about where they  grow shrimp and catfish as well tilapia in controlled environments .  Now there is talk of introducing a GMO salmon to make up for the lack of native salmon in our natural streams. As opposed to the natural fishing, these units of raising fish and shrimp are highly efficient and are taking hold and increasing tonnage annually as they take over a larger share of the offshore market of commercially available fish. But the problem with this, is when you concentrate numbers of any species in a small space you can expect disease and contamination of the water they depend on to live and breathe through , causing a whole host of new problems.  Are we going to be able to provide quality healthy fish and maintain ecofriendly populations to the extent that we can see our oceans fishery populations return to our pre industrial expectations? I doubt it as the damage is already done to some fishes such as the natural salmon as well their habitat is constantly threatened by our ever expanding population.

       The meat industry meaning pork chicken and beef that makes up a majority of the meat industry is  no better than the fish industry , although we have reduced the waste to the point our meat packers have found a way to include everything but the burp and the hair of a cow in your hot dog.  As well the heads and feet of chickens are all that is wasted in processing animals today. Blood is cooked and fed back to animals in the form of dry feed in dog food and also in cattle feed or chicken feed. And it wasn’t till we had the mad cow disease that we were eating in a secondary fashion, animals brains fed to the cattle we eat, as profit decides what an acceptable practice in the meat industry is. Pork is no different as very little is wasted in that business as evidenced by the pickled pigs feet often seen behind bars across the country. In a sense if we grow it then we should by all means try to utilize it 100 percent.

     To a degree, I agree with that but me myself would prefer certain practices be abolished as being potentially harmful to humans, in particular feeding nerve tissue to cattle as feed where a disease could be transmitted to humans from undercooked consumption. The meat industry over the years has become more efficient at harvesting a greater percentage of the animals but still issues remain as to how healthy it is for our ecosystem to sustain long term use of say cattle for instance. Cattle are ruminants and although in principle same as a horse still produce carbon dioxide in significant amounts and when considered as a protein source are costing our environment dearly in terms of increasing the CO2 levels well beyond the normal limits if the species was to survive on its own . This contributes to greenhouse warming as well when combined with other food sources add additional impact on our environment. These are all factors we could easily reduce. And how we can reduce, I will get to later in my discussion.

     So we have a greenhouse warming occurring because of what we eat, and then there is the quality of what we eat. If we only added quality beef pork or chicken cuts in our food sources are we any better off?  No, not really as it is up to the farmer to raise the animals in a healthy environment. With the growth hormones and the GMO corn and wheat and soybeans comprising 90 percent of our food supply , we are no better off and are only feeding dollars to research more ways of screwing the consumer by supporting corporate farming as that is where most of the profit goes.  Corporate farming is what dictates to the farmer what practices are acceptable to raise the livestock. It is always the bottom line that predicts our eating resources and not quality . We have to change this.

      How do we change a system that is dependent on the consumer to buy their product because without it we won’t eat at all, and so they are dependent on the consumer, likewise at the same time. We need to slowly shift away from corporate farming for the most part. We need to return to our roots and keep our meat and produce local. We cannot subsidize a holistic approach to agriculture to keep prices in check on a national basis without supporting commercial agriculture. If you can’t grow it where you live then you need to move. The amount of fuel alone wasted trucking meat from Maine to California is ridiculous. Are we gaining anything taking substandard foods around the world to have it processed and brought back to our table? It may fill our stomach but it mostly fills other people’s pockets.

       The first step in securing a better food source is to buy it local. The second step is to support our local farmers as they struggle to make ends meet. At times I believe they should be subsidized to keep prices low and to encourage more to come in to the business providing on smaller acreages, fish farming and other cottage industries like beekeeping etc., that would provide the variety of products in a sustainable way we need to feed ourselves daily while reducing our dependence on hydrocarbons and increasing the global warming of our planet that we need to sustain ourselves. The more we produce locally the better off we are. This will result in spot shortages of food products as we eliminate the middle man. To this I say maybe we don’t need to live in those areas deemed inhospitable to even produce enough to eat. Let them pay to play. If you desire to live in the desert you are straining everyone’s resources, if you cannot provide enough to eat for yourself, or your family.

      We as a people need to rethink our own position as a species here on earth and learn to live within our means. Within our means is to avoid those things detrimental to the long term existence of man, Including our population. Who doesn’t love a baby or two but when you have a thousand of them screaming for something to eat which one will you save. This is the dilemma we face if the agricultural system was to break tomorrow. If suddenly our oil wells dried up and farmers could no longer get their GMO corn to market or we couldn’t milk the cows because we didn’t have coal for our power plants because we lacked the fuel to get it there. Panic and death would quickly become the norm as vigilante groups all preaching about Armageddon would suddenly roam the countryside and set about taking what they want to feed just their screaming baby.

      If we were buying locally we could avoid this. our farmer would already have be able to adjust and learn to produce even in adversity, enough to feed the masses locally, if we encourage them now to take up the load and avoid being specialized to the extreme we are now. We also need seed banks on a local basis where we share heritage seeds that could sustain us locally if we needed it. If you have extra seed then take the seed to the bank much like we do money to preserve it for future generations or need. We each need to have our own garden and reduce our dependence on transportation of feedstuffs we depend on a daily basis. Support those farmers locally who provide meats and grains we use daily, and encourage entrepreneurs to get into businesses that would provide those items we use like cereals for breakfast. Our Amish population is to be admired in our area as an example of self-reliance and being able to provide on a local basis all the items they need to sustain themselves. They do it well and live a healthy life. You don’t have to believe in their philosophy or religious doctrine to live like them, just admire and adopt those items you feel would be good for the society on a widespread basis.

     By reducing our dependence on corporate farming we will take out of their hands the ability to dictate how we eat and avoid the Solyent Green scenario. Where humans are ground up and fed to other humans. Also I hate to say this as it is controversial, but something the Chinese have already figured out and we as a world population need to as a way to cut healthcare costs and reduce our need to cover the earth with food plots to feed the masses, and decrease our CO2 levels, we have to look at birth control on all the people as a whole in this world and use whatever means is available to achieve a zero growth situation. Common sense is only coming to play as need to reduce our numbers and especially in those locations where food has to be trucked in to sustain life. Left to their own devices these same people would die if we did nothing, so why is it necessary for them to populate the earth when they can’t feed themselves. The same could be said for the rest of us. If you are dependent on someone else to raise all your food that you and your family eats, then why should you be allowed to raise more than 2 kids regardless of your religious affiliation. Even the bible says God helps those that help themselves . Before you sit back and throw stones at the messenger think about your response and how you are affecting the world as a whole and not just your individual belief. We are all in this together. I am not advocating going out and knocking every third male in the head, and doing him in. I am saying lets plan on a pregnancy and provide for your children much better than we have before.

     We still have an ability to change things and that besides taxes is something we can all believe in, and that is change. Things have changed a lot since I was a kid growing up on the farm, my attitude has changed in regards to a lot of things, and we as a people can affect change on a national basis if we just take time to consider where we are headed as a people, a race, or a species, regardless of our beliefs. Do I think the food we eat is safe? Hell no. But I eat it along with you and until we do something else this is what we have good or bad. Don’t take my word for ti. Thousands are screaming the same message, you just have to listen to what they say and change your lifestyle in a way that is better for you. Plant a garden thank a farmer , and live a little better knowing you are trying to make a difference as a human in this world.

mostly the bees

A little more about the Bees

 and a few birds

       I went into my plans about what I am going to do with the bees and why I am getting into it and today I will let you know how my bee buying went and the how and why of where I am going to place my hives here on the farm.

     The man I bought the bees off of lives just a few miles away and is president of the Tuscarawas County’s Beekeeping association, I found out after visiting with him at his place. He said he has about fifty hives and he was able to give me some pointers specifically how to introduce your bees to their new home. This I will go into after I get closer to the day when I actually receive the bees, which won’t be until May 9 when the truck arrives from Georgia as I believe is where it is coming from. He will have over 500 bee cages and said he could use some help unloading, if I can. I plan on being here to lend some support to him.

     I ordered enough bees for two hives I bought and that amounts to about 10000 bees / per hive as I understand 1 lb. of bees usually has about 3500 bees in it and timely placement of the bees in your hive is important as the less time you wait to introduce them to the hive, the sooner your bees will settle down and become less stressed resulting in less dead bees. Bee deaths appear to seem inevitable and even in the hive, bees are dying off and others are replacing them constantly. But in a bee box the stress of being moved can result in an abnormal amount of bee deaths quite quickly. I need to have my hives placed in their permanent position and ready to accept bees the day I get them and as soon as I can begin to place them in the hive.

     In the meantime I plan on refreshing myself and trying to remember back to the days when I was able to work with bees. The first encounter I had working with bees was when I was visiting a friend of mine years ago in 1977 when I was going to college at ATI , Agricultural Technical Institute , in Wooster. At the time I was visiting Malabar farms where Louis Bromfield a novelist had this farm where movie stars like Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall would come and visit. And Louis although dead had written of beekeeping and it was a part of his overall agricultural practice to keep and maintain hives. My friend was the care taker there when it first started up and his girlfriend Bonnie was the beekeeper that invited me to check on the hives one day while I was there visiting. She dressed me up with a veil and found some gloves that about half fit and warned me that if a bee lands on you don’t swat it in fact try to remain calm and as she will remove them off when she is done. And if stung try to resist swatting them. I was never stung anytime I ever worked with bees and at times had thousands on me.

      She smoked the hive and it creates a calming effect on the hive, it seems as if it takes longer to get the smoker going than to actually get in the hive and observe. It wasn’t long till she had pried the top of the hive off and was separating and viewing the inside trying to show me the queen. At this point I had accumulated quite a few bees and I was amazed as the shirt I had on was to short and my arms though exposed was vulnerable to bee stings but the bees were not stinging , just curious I guess as they clung to my skin in droves now. In fact my arms and were soon covered in a blanket of bees as she reassured me that it must be something about me that was making them come to me like they were. She told me she always knew I was a sweet guy. After finding the queen and showing me certain things she simply told me to lightly brush the bees back into the hive, and although my arms and upper body was covered in seconds they were back in the hive with a little help from the smoker. We closed the hive and soon opened another with the same response. I always thought what a symbiosis that occurs here with man and a beneficial insect that we have learned from them and gave them a home and in return they pollinate our crops and provide us with the fruits of their labor. They do all the work we are not capable of doing and yet have found a way to get along.

     Again I had a similar experience a couple of years later as I met a girl whose dad was a research engineer with Goodyear Aerospace who just happened to be into bees himself and owned several hives and was willing to show me a few things. We did view the hives and many times without anything but a veil and a hive tool , but he also showed me how to harvest the honey using an extractor and a bee capping knife to remove the top of the comb and then place the comb into the extractor and filter the honey into jars. There is no special processing you have to do and the honey, once processed and placed in clean jars will last for years. My time with Mr. Chisnell was unforgettable as he was quite a brilliant man, and we seemed to hit it off as friends. I guess he figured if I was going to hang with his daughter I might as well know something and he never hesitated to explain the bees and other facets of life including engineering to me.

      Beekeepers are a little more in touch with nature and understand the importance the bees have in our society. To say these people are a little out there is a misconception as in some ways I feel they are more grounded than the most of us. I guess if the bottom drops out of everything it might not be a bad idea to have a beekeeper as friend. We all could all use a little sweetening now and then.

     Although I do have limited experience and you have read the extent of it, I feel with the books I have and a couple of hives I am off into a new adventure that hopefully will yield me honey and a better understanding of life in general. if nothing else will hone my survival skills as if I will ever need them in my lifetime. Who knows? 

getting the buzz on

Bought a couple of hummers

    Well actually did that a while ago and will soon buy what it takes to make them go. And the surprising thing about my hummers is that if they do well then I will maybe make some money off them. What a concept. Also I will be doing well for the environment and at the same time increase the pollination of plants in my area while trying to replace a valuable commodity as it relates to food production due to chemical poisoning from neonicotinoids in pesticide sprays. This and all from a hummer.

     Well the hummers I bought hardly cost anything close to what you are thinking about unless you are thinking about bee hives. I bought mine used and have about 100 in each and I have all the equipment I need to start into production. What I need to do now is to get the hives set up , and get bees started in them and feed them for about a month, or until the hive can survive on its own.

       So I have brought you up to date on what I know. I can tell you the costs and will share all the important information I can as well will share with you my experience to this date working with bees. It is pretty limited, having done this only a couple of times and have to rely on memory to make this work. I guess we are already in trouble.

     So I have been reading a lot on CCD colony collapse disorder and how it is affecting honeybees in the wild and also tamer hives as bees forage on blooms sprayed with pesticides and inadvertently bring the pollen back to the hive and it becomes part of comb and honey, then slowly poisoning the hive and reducing the number of bees to pollinate our food sources.

     The sad part of the whole thing is that neonicotinoids made by Bayer of Bayer aspirin is one of the primary agents causing this die off here in the United States as well as in Europe but was banned by the European union to use anywhere on any of their fields in all of Europe. In fact they are not allowed to use it even in Germany where the maker, Bayer Corporation is from and where it was designed. So it’s alright to kill our bees off and at same time save theirs. Sounds like a plan for them. They have had many besides developing the aspirin.  They were involved with the S.S. Division of the Nazi’s in their use of developing the gas combination and supplying it in the death camps of Auschwitz, and others. The CEO at the time of the end of World War 2 was tried in the Nuremburg trial as an accessory and was prisoned but managed to serve his time and upon his release from prison returned to his job at the rebranded new Bayer as CEO once again and lasted to his death. I believe.

    I figure the way to keep bees around is to locate them away from fields I know that are sprayed with pesticides for sure. The problem is that with the new form of agriculture which includes no till farming we have pesticides and herbicides as part of that recipe of toxic sprays that ultimately are sprayed on the crops and kill the bees almost everywhere you go in this state for sure.  Bees will go long distances to forage and pollinate if the conditions are good , then they will tell their buddies and the next thing you know your bees are frolicking in your neighbors corn field unbeknownst to you. Soaking up the poison and eventually dragging their bad seed back to your hive or hummer and spoiling the queen, and the next thing you know you have no noise at all coming from under the hood of the hummer. Houston we have a problem.

     We really do have a problem as big oil and those long hydrocarbon rings we need to make pesticides and herbicides are made out of the petroleum and coal under refinery and distillation procedures  they manufacture out of their waste a product that will basically brown out a field so that nothing but the corn or soybeans survive, thereby eliminating pollen from any other plant or weed and interfering with the feeding habits of the common honeybee and exposing the bee to a source of poison.

     The EPA has issued a warning for beekeepers to hive their bees and feed them when noticing spraying in close proximity to your hives or move them. It is not the responsibility of the person spraying to notify the hive owner that spraying will commence on said dates.

    So with all that said I would have to be crazy to go into something where the insect I try to save could potentially cause me harm and after maybe 50 -60 stings could cause death, if not treated promptly. Also where the bee is in the process of being systematically killed off affecting the world food supply as now the pesticides will soon be adopted and used in third world countries where there are no regulations, and will soon be coming to a table near you at the same time affecting not only bees but also other insects beneficial or a pest in our ecological system, the affect we are not sure of. And why would I buy into something that seems to be dying out, or is that the reason we need to be doing it also. To make the consumer of food which we eat daily aware of how important our bees are to our food supply. Every piece of fruit and vegetable has a honey bee to thank for being here. The apple you eat, the peach you sup on is because of the honey bee. We need to help the bees and find new places for them to pollinate. I refuse to use herbicides and have followed a natural route when deciding the purpose of the farm.

      I really don’t like putting pesticides or herbicides on ground where the rain water filters through the soil and ends up in my water table to be drawn up into my tap for me to drink. With the greenhouse here and also growing plants for sale it seems as if it’s the only way to go. Also I will have a good clean natural source of honey to sell. Although I am not immune to commercial spraying as there are several fields that commercially farmed I feel I have enough other food sources available in the area that should be more desirable to the bees.  I may also plant food sources that are known to stimulate honey production such as buckwheat. Companion cropping in effect would be a symbiosis created where one hand feeds the other. Buck wheat can be ground to make good pancakes from what I have heard and sweetened with some honey syrup would sound a lot better than what I am having for breakfast myself.

     And hey after I sell the straw and the wheat as well as any surplus honey and save our agricultural system from total collapse, I also manage to eat a healthy breakfast. I can think of a lot of reasons we need to save the bees and hopefully I can make some cash at the same time. Sounds like a plan but need to get started and buying bees is the second step having already purchased the hives. Well enough for today and will update you as I go along. 

to anonymous , you know who you are

Feedback

  a cleverly constructed selfie  requiring quick skills of adaptation if i do say so myself 

     There will be no names and everyone is anonymous as any writer does to protect his sources. I am also not meaning to single any one person out but instead cover a multitude of helpful suggestions as to how to improve my performance as a writer. Again what about me shouldn’t be an open book, including criticisms of my personal life based on what I have written?  Apparently I have a tendency of putting a little too much of myself out there at least enough to be able to formulate an opinion on how desperate I am in my personal life , and why I am the way I am.

      Now if I wasn’t writing this I would at this point grab another cup of coffee and light up an illegal substance and sit back and enjoy a good read, but this is about me, and my writing and comes not only from one source over the years now ( 3 years since I have started my blog) , but from multiple sources, and oh yeah I am writing this so I need to keep my mind free and fingers moving as I recall all the events precipitating this blog today.

      I enjoy comment and don’t want to stifle anyone’s dreams of putting me in my place and telling me just like it is. To think your quoted words would suddenly appear on here is like dumping on you, because I can’t take criticism. Not about to do that. But instead will objectively try to interpret just how they were able to come to that conclusion and how it affects my writing. Need to try and understand in order to become a better writer to know just where I am going wrong.

     One of the biggest complaints I had was my atrocious spelling and grammatical errors including typo’s and capitalization, and comma usage, or lack of it as it may be. Granted those are all valid suggestions I have listened to and understand their significance as well I have learned to compromise in those areas and now do most of my writing and editing in my word program. It’s not perfect, has a loose nut behind the keyboard directing its actions , but overall you have to admit my writing makes a hell of a lot more sense than when I started. Could use an editor, but still I would be tasked with making it mine in the long run so since this is all free, I need to work conservatively and do it myself. This part is about as good as it gets for now. For your information when actually writing I type as fast as my mind moves to formulate the words and sometimes the mistakes are so bad I can hardly decipher myself when editing. But I just let it flow as I write and worry about the little stuff later.

    I always try to include a relevant pic or picture of topic of my discussion for the day. Some pics are the discussion meaning I choose to discuss the pic and why there was a story invoked by its presence. So far I have heard little about the pics or pictures that hasn’t been good or lacked relevance in some ways. In actuality I have included pics, specific to a person I knew who was reading this to incite a response , and sometimes it has worked giving more meaning to the stories I have wrote. Whether it had the same effect on all the readers is doubtful as they probably didn’t realize the significance of why I picked that certain pic. Over all I believe the pic kind of sets the tone for the story I am trying to tell to some degree. And takes me back to the early children’s stories and how the illustrations had a lot to do with developing my imagination. It still does when I see picture or an illustration I draw conclusions and formulate opinions on what it must be like sitting on a beach in Acapulco under a palm tree. I am there now pounding on my lap top as the warm summer breezes wash over me. Just as easily as sitting here I can run away to someplace exotic, why because I someone showed me a longtime ago just how to let go and imagine. I have been everywhere and nowhere, imagination, the poor man’s Expedia.com.

    This part of my writing (choosing the pic) I have no intention to change as it sets the mood for my stories and helps you understand what I am trying to tell you or show you. I would like to use more of my illustrations but find it hard to find the time to sit down and draw them out, then scan and it all has to be done fast as daily I have tried to write. So not only do I have to draw but write and edit the story. I still have a lot of stories to tell but trying to paint a mental image of what I experienced is hard to do on short notice. I should have been doing this all my life. My only regret is that I didn’t start writing earlier, but then again I wouldn’t have been living the stories I write sometimes. Kind of a catch 22. You can’t do both at the same time.  

    I try to include a piece of me in each story. Luckily I am six foot four and weigh more than is necessary and have plenty to share as apparently I have gone too far in this direction. In fact I have shared more than just on here as I am also on a personal site or was until today as I intend to change that also.

      I tell you my feelings like for guns, politicians, war, crime, and a variety of controversial subjects, all the while trying to understand people are entitled to their rights to not agree with me all the while. I accept this and I also understand this is my blog and I have a right to make it mine by carefully choosing what and when I share certain things to make it mine.

     To say the least anonymous is a fickle person , sometimes encouraging and at other times writing scathing mental reports as to my condition at the present time based on my writing , either on here or on my personal site or maybe it is from talking to them on a personal level they have come to know me better than myself . At times telling me they enjoy reading my blog daily and at other times being able to draw conclusions as to my moral character or even who I should be in a relationship with. Others are telling me to avoid relationships altogether as they say it will affect that raw edgy quality of my writing that I have.

     One of the conclusions I have heard is that I am a weak person and dependent on having a person in my life to make me whole, and that I scare women in particular. Wow is all I can say. Didn’t realize I was putting myself out there that much.

       To anonymous I have to say that is your opinion and I am glad I have influenced you enough to right all my wrongs in my life. I kinda have a different opinion why I share personal things with you the reader, sometimes it is to show I am human and have feelings.

    I guess my writing is important to people more so than I thought. Getting wrapped up in my personal life I am sure has eased the load on yours and like I said I have big shoulders and surely could take the load for you. I accept whole heartedly your interference in my life knowing at least you are reading me.                   

       Criticism is a double edged sword and I can take it to the heart and quit writing, or I can forge ahead as I am going to do. Letting my words pave the way for places I haven’t been. I have listened and I have heard all you say and every time I type a word I think of you the readers and of course trying to please anonymous, as if I ever could. Still I encourage you to criticize, to say the least, it all helps if nothing else but to tighten that loose nut behind the keyboard. Knowing what works and what scares the hell out of me allows parameters to be set in what I allow on here from now on.  Thank you anonymous for somehow sanitizing my blog.  I am going to persevere in my writing as well as in my artistic abilities if nothing else but to satisfy my own desire to understand myself as well. Unlike anonymous I still have a lot of conclusions about how this will all end. The only thing I know for sure is that it will.