Something to Think About, by George Carlin
(God Bless him, his wife recently died...)

Isn't it amazing that George Carlin - Gross and foul mouthed comedian of the 70's and 8O's, could write something so very eloquent... A wonderful message by a smart man that not too many people really know.

The paradox of our time in history is that we have taller buildings but shorter tempers, wider freeways, but narrower viewpoints. We spend more, but have less, we buy more, but enjoy less. We have bigger houses and smaller families, more conveniences, but less time. We have more degrees but less sense, more knowledge, but less judgment, more experts, yet more problems, more medicine, but less wellness.

We drink too much, smoke too much, spend too recklessly, laugh too little, drive too fast, get too angry, stay up too late, get up too tired, read too little, watch TV too much, and pray too seldom. We have multiplied our possessions, but reduced our values. We talk too much, love too seldom, and hate too often.
We've learned how to make a living, but not a life. We've added years to life not life to years. We've been all the way to the moon and back, but have trouble crossing the street to meet a new neighbor. We conquered outer space but not inner space. We've done larger things, but not better things.

We've cleaned up the air, but polluted the soul. We've conquered the atom, but not our prejudice. We write more, but learn less. We plan more, but accomplish less. We've learned to rush, but not to wait. We build more computers to hold more information, to produce more copies than ever, but we communicate less and less.

These are the times of fast foods and slow digestion, big men and small character, steep profits and shallow relationships. These are the days of two incomes but more divorce, fancier houses, but broken homes. These are days of quick trips, disposable diapers, throwaway morality, one night stands, overweight bodies, and pills that do everything from cheer, to quiet, to kill. It is a time when there is much In the showroom window and nothing in the stockroom. A time when technology can bring this letter to you, and a time when you can choose either to share this insight, or to just hit delete.

Remember, to spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Remember, to say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that little person soon will grow up and leave your side.
Remember, to give a warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn't cost a cent.
Remember, to say, “I love you" to your partner and your loved ones, but most of all mean it. A kiss and an embrace will mend hurt when it comes from deep inside of you.
Remember, to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again, give time to love, give time to speak, and give time to share the precious thoughts In your mind.

Ready For The Pasture ?

I can hardly explain how I’ve felt lately, I’ll just say it has not been very good. I’ve seen way too many doctors and that does not look like it will be ending anytime soon. I have an appointment with a heart specialist for a SSDI evaluation in Tulsa on Wednesday and then I will be admitted into the Indian Hospital in Tahlequah on Thursday at 1:00 PM. I spent 7 hours at the Hospital yesterday, they wanted to keep me but I had things that needed taking care of first. So I had to promise to come back on Thursday. My blood sugar is out of control, the insulin is just not working, my B/P was 180 over 100, I’m carrying about 70 lbs of excess fluid weight which means my heart and lungs are surrounded by fluid, the swelling in my legs has not gone down in over a year and I have a couple of diabetic ulcers on my left leg that have not healed in as long, and they are constantly draining (gross, huh?) So I get to stay in the hospital for a week or two, I don’t know for sure how long. They will be trying to adjust my medications, take off some of the fluid, and get me on a diet that will keep me going a while longer. They usually find a few more things to do to me while I’m there also.
Now here’s the odd part, I have decided that I really don’t want to die. I have thought that I was ready for this, almost looking forward to this for the last couple of years. If it were not for my kid I would probably already have gone. 41 years may not seem like a long time to be on earth but I always figured it was the mileage rather than the years that wear you down, and my odometer has turned over a few times already. I’m just tired and I’ve had a pretty good life, not many regrets other than I wish I had treated people and animals better. But now for some reason I’d like to stick around a while longer and live a little better, not just to merely exist but actually live life fuller. Get outside, go camping and fishing, ride horses (I use to own a few), maybe slap a fat chick on the ass now and then. Eating right, losing weight, controlling my sugars is a big step in getting better, I may not get rid of the pain but I should be able to get some of the use of my legs back. I haven’t been able to walk more than a few feet at a time for quite a while now, I even rented a wheelchair yesterday, notice I said “rented” because I’m either not going to be in it forever or I’m not going to need it for long, the second being the grimmer of the two. I’ve had chances before to improve my situation but I guess I just didn’t take it seriously enough. So this time when I get home I’m going to stick to the diet, exercise, and take the lasix like I’m supposed to and try to keep the swelling and fluid retention down. So don’t count me out or try and put me to pasture just yet, I may have a hunt or two left in me.
Now for the main reason for this post, I’ve been neglecting my Blog lately, mainly because of being ill and having some anxiety issues but I’ve missed my friends a butt-load and I hope you all will not forget me and continue to check back with me. Like I said I should be in the hospital for a week or two and I know when I get out I’ll be getting back to my computer ASAP. I have a list of people I try and visit everyday and you all are a big part of my life (Babs, Xmichra, Wysteria, Di, Montanus, Whatalotofffun, Mary Blackchurch, Korero, Whozfan, Nyasha, Tnchick, and my most favorite commenter, Arizona Country Girl) there are others too, I'm sure I'm forgetting someone, along with a lot of visitors that don’t leave comments but I appreciate you all for stopping by and reading my rambles and chatting back and forth. Please don’t give up on me and I’ll be back in the saddle before long and posting like I used to. Thanks for keeping me going these last few months. I wish that they would let me take my dog "Tigg" with me, I could tell them that he is a trained service dog, he keeps me calm and from harming people. I may get in another post or two before I leave Thursday. I hope to see you all soon. Peace.

Fifty Five Years As Our State Bird

The Scissor-tailed Flycatcher - Tyrannus Forticatus - Oklahoma’s State Bird Since May of 1951.
Few birds equal the subtle beauty and graceful elegance of the Scissor-tailed Flycatcher. Its upper body parts are pale, pearl gray, while its whitish under parts are flushed with salmon pink. The wings are dark and the long, scissor-shaped tail feathers are white with black tips. They have black bills and black feet. Adult Scissor-tails are approximately 13 inches in length, the male's tail being longer than the female's. They typically lay 4 to 6 whitish eggs mottled with brown, violet or gray. The nest is a grass-lined cup of twigs and weed stems in a tree or bush.
The Scissor-tail ranges from southern Nebraska to southern Texas, migrating southward in the fall to Mexico and Central America and then returning in the Spring.
A member of the Tyrannidae Family, these "Tyrant" flycatchers are aptly named as they rigorously rule their territories, never hesitating to chase off a passing crow or hawk. Swooping repeatedly amidst a tirade of shrill, bickering notes or harsh keck or kew calls, the Scissor-tail pecks at the less mobile subject of its wrath until the harried target is only too happy to escape.
As a child all I would have to do to see one was to look at a barbed wire fence or a high line wire for a moment and one was surely to appear. When I would go on trips with my family my Mother would try and keep us kids quiet in the car by making a game of seeing who could count the most Scissor-tails from their side of the car. Whenever I think of my childhood Summers it involves dry weather, blue skies, white clouds, tall grass, and Scissor-tails. It’s a good memory to dwell on sometimes

AN IMAGE OF THE CHINESE SYMBOL FOR "LAUGHTER" WOULD BE INSERTED HERE, BUT ONCE AGAIN BLOGGER WOULD NOT ACCEPT IT ! (it's a shame too, because it was mighty pleasing to the eye)

IDIOTS IN THE NEIGHBORHOOD:
I live in a semi-rural area. We recently had a new neighbor call the local township administrative office to request the removal of the Deer Crossing sign on our road. The reason: "Too many deer were being hit by cars and he didn't want them to cross there anymore."

This one was from Kingman, KS.
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IDIOTS IN FOOD SERVICE:
My daughter went to a local Taco Bell and ordered a taco. She asked the person behind the counter for "minimal lettuce." He said he was sorry, but they only had iceberg.

And he was a Kansas City cook!
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IDIOT SIGHTING:
I was at the airport, checking in at the gate when an airport employee asked, "Has anyone put anything in your baggage without your knowledge? To which I replied, "If it was without my knowledge, how would I know? He smiled knowingly and nodded, "That's why we ask."

Happened in Birmingham, Ala.
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IDIOT SIGHTING:
The stoplight on the corner buzzes when it's safe to cross the street. I was crossing with an intellectually challenged coworker of mine when she asked if I knew what the buzzer was for. I explained that it signals blind people when the light is red. Appalled, she responded, "What on earth are blind people doing driving?!"

She was a probation officer in Wichita, KS
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IDIOT SIGHTING:
At a good-bye luncheon for an old and dear coworker who was leaving the company due to "down sizing," our manager commented cheerfully, "this is fun. We should do this more often." Not a word was spoken. We all just looked at each other with that deer-in-the-headlights stare.

This was at Texas Instruments.
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IDIOT SIGHTING:
I work with an individual who plugged her power strip back into itself and for the life of her couldn't understand why her system would not turn on.

Deputy with the Dallas County Sheriff's office no less.
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IDIOT SIGHTING:
When my husband and I arrived at an automobile dealership to pick up our car, we were told the keys had been locked in it. We went to the service department and found a mechanic working feverishly to unlock the driver's side door. As I watched from the passenger side, I instinctively tried the door handle and discovered that it was unlocked. "Hey," I announced to the technician, "its open!" To which he replied, "I know - I already got that side."

This was at the Ford dealership in Canton, Mississippi! They walk among us . and reproduce.
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Doesn't it seem that more and more physicians are running their practices like an assembly line? Here's what happened to Buford:
Buford walked into a doctor's office and the receptionist asked him what he had. Buford said, Shingles. So she wrote down his name, address, medical insurance number and told him to have a seat. Fifteen minutes later a nurse's aide came out and asked Buford what he had. Buford said, Shingles. So she wrote down his height, weight, a complete medical history and told Buford to wait in the examining room. A half hour later a nurse came in and asked Buford what he had. Buford said, Shingles. So the nurse gave Buford blood test, a blood pressure test, an electrocardiogram, and told Buford to take off all his clothes and wait for the doctor.An hour later the doctor came in and asked Buford what he had. Buford said, Shingles. The doctor asked, Where? Buford said, Outside on the truck. Where do you want them?
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Roses Buds & Hanging Baskets:
A teenage granddaughter comes downstairs for her date with a see-through blouse on and no bra. Her grandmother just pitched a fit, telling her not to dare go out like that! The teenager tells her "Loosen up Grams. These are modern times. You gotta let your rose buds show!" And out she goes.
The next day the teenager comes down stairs, and the grandmother is sitting there with no top on. The teenager wants to die. She explains to her grandmother that she has friends coming over and that it is just not appropriate... The grandmother says, "Loosen up Sweetie, if you can show off your rose buds, then I can display my hanging baskets."

Have A Good Day.

Now Somebody Please, Fix Me A Turkey Pot Pie...

Every time I tried to post something this week, Blogger decided to take a crap. Mostly it would not let me upload images or would not let me space my script the way I wanted to. I’ve gotten to where I can’t hardly stand to post something without a picture (esthetic quality is important to me) so I would continue to try. Sometimes I would have to save three posts and then put them together to publish one. I would be motivated to write and then it would not work and I would just wait until later, come back and it still wouldn’t work. I’m sure you know if you use Blogger it’s frustrating as Hell. Everyone says, “But what do you expect for free ?” The same as I would Give for free, 100 %. If something is worth doing then someone (Blogger Dudes) need to put out Max-effort to see that their product is the best that it can be for free or not. It shouldn‘t take two hours to do something that normally only takes twenty minutes. And when you’re wasting my time it’s not free anymore. I couldn’t even leave comments on other people’s blogs, I would wait five minutes for it to load and then 80 % it would just say, “Page Cannot Be Displayed” I hope people did not think that I was ignoring them, I really missed not commenting back and forth. The big kicker was if it did let me leave a comment and I left a lengthy one it would disappear when I tried to publish it. So when I could I just left short ones.
I don’t know anything about web design or servers, I couldn’t even begin to go independent like some ( Xmichra, Tnchick, and others ) who, by the way worked well all week long, Xmichra left for vacation last week and I’ve been posting some things on her site and have had no problems at all (go check it out if you have the time) Anyway, I really like my site and when it’s working correctly it’s great. I would even pay for it, but then it would really have to work or I'd spaz out for sure. I would hate to lose it (one time this week it disappeared for a couple of hours and I was in a huge panic, all that came up was a black screen that said “Done” at the bottom) I’m not thinking of going anywhere but it would be nice to have a little more faith in it. So please keep stopping by, check out my archives, my friend’s sites, and other links, and happy blogging to all and Have a Good Day.

S.R.G.

A Prince, by Character of Heart Not by Birth

They say a friend will bail you out of jail, a really good friend will be setting there next to you. The first time I went to jail as a young dumb kid, I was 16 and didn’t have my license yet. A buddy and me worked on his car one Saturday, trying to get it ready to go cruising town that night. We put a used Holley 780 cfm carburetor on his Red ‘75 Pontiac Formula Firebird (the picture is a '76). It was an older model carb and did not have the correct vacuum line hook up for the “Power Brakes”, I told my buddy we could just block it off and worry about it later. He said, “but it’s the brakes, you know… the stopping kind!” I assured him that all we needed now was “Go” we could worry about “Stop” later. We got the car running and it ran pretty good and it would stop as long as you weren’t going too fast. So we got cleaned up and headed up town to cruise. Somewhere along the way we picked up another friend and the three of us drove around town acting like idiots, stopping and talking to friends, girls, and so on. I talked my buddy into letting me drive, he knew I didn’t have my license yet but he also knew I’d continue to pester him until he let me. To make a long story short, at one point I was doing 85 or 90 mph in a 35 mph zone when we passed a cop. I hit the brakes and I swear the car speeded up a little. So this shows you a little bit of the mentality of the way my mind functions. If you are in this predicament and can not stop, go faster. So I punched it and we left the cop far behind and went through the middle of town at world record speed. After a while of cruising around back roads, we (probably more I than we) figured it was safe enough to go back up town and find a place to just sit and park. So we did and 20 minutes later the three of us were sitting in jail in Muskogee Oklahoma and I was calling my Dad to come get us, not a good moment at all. We were lucky enough that my older brother and a friend drove by and saw us being “Cuffed and Stuffed” and the cop was cool and let them take the car home to save it from being impounded. So I’m setting in jail with my buddy and I don’t believe he looked at me and said, “Man that was cool” it was more like, “You’re a Friggin’ Idiot!” If I recall correctly.

Anyway my buddy (SRG) of over 26 years, who I’ve drank a butt-load of Jack Daniels with, hunted with, camped with, cried with, been at way to many funerals with, and have spent the best times of my life with. He came by yesterday on his lunch break and gave me enough cash to pay my bills and get by for a couple of months. And he did it without shaming me at all, he shook my hand, said, “Don’t I owe you some money?” I tied to say “no“, but he just dropped the money on the table shook my hand again, and said he had to get back to work. I didn’t even think he knew how bad off things were getting. I have a sneaky suspicion that he reads my blog.

His character does not surprise me at all, I’ve always known what a Prince among men he is, I hope he knows that I love him and I wish I had treated him half as good over the years. He truly is my Best Friend.

The Medicine Wheel
(part V)

The East - Kalvgv

The east is of course where the sun rises, and associated with fire, represented by red. It represents the spiritual aspect of our circular path. (And I always love to point out that this is also the direction that Jesus said He would return to the Earth.) However, this is not to be confused with the "Sacred Fire" that I will get to later. The east actually refers to our "spirit" and the growth of our personal spirit. It is believed to be the direction from which our spirit first enters into this world to be joined with our fleshly bodies.

Now the Cherokee start their prayers of a morning facing east, in this way acknowledging our spiritual direction and the “Morning Star” from where could be gathered wisdom. But if the prayer time is more in depth than the morning prayer of thanks, then they would turn and face each direction praying for whatever guidance/strength they need. There are traditions that include immersing one’s self in water (many times on a daily basis), but I will not get into detail here. When the Cherokee’s prayed, they felt they needed to rid themselves of uncleanness that could keep the Creator from hearing them or working with them and this is the importance of water. Even though the “answer” might be right there in front of them, their eyes could be blinded to the fact. Now water was used as a representation of getting rid of filth, just like the baptism ritual today. And all this is backed up with scriptures in the Bible.

Things Should Be Way Different !

Tuesdays I usually post another part of the much acclaimed original blog series “The Medicine Wheel”, but much to mine and everyone else’s chagrin, that will not be posted on this day. (Not that anyone reads this Crap anyway)
Instead I will be posting this piece of canine excrement about how my life just went into the crapper.
I have not worked since November 22nd, of 2005. That’s five and a half months longer than I’ve ever gone without a job since puberty. I started filing for Disability on December 15th, 2005. I’ve spent about thirty five man hours filling out forms, I’ve spent a butt-load of hours on the phone, many, many hours on-line, many hours reading literature that I do not understand, numerous Doctor visits and six months of waiting. I have exhausted my life’s savings (which believe me, was not much) I had it in my positive-glass-half-full kind of outlook that I would be hearing from them any day now. In a way I was correct, I did hear from them, Monday I received another letter stating that they still do not have enough medical information on me. So now I have three more Doctor’s appointments ahead of me. Three appointments with three different specialists in three different cities in five days. June, 17th, 19th, and the 21st. And then even if I get approved (which at this point I highly doubt it), it could be another two or three months before I would receive my first check. July first I will be three months behind on my house payments (foreclosure city) not to mention everything being turned off, my kid having to go back and live with her Mom, at least she’ll be taken care of… sort of. Me and my dog Tigg will be staying in the woods living on spam, sardines, rats and whatever else I can shoot, steal , beg, or borrow. I don’t want to go get on anymore F**king assistance or fill out anymore paperwork for HUD to make a house payment or two, or to get my gas bill paid (who needs gas when you don’t have water or electricity) I don’t want Welfare or Food Stamps. I just want what they said was due me to F**king begin with. The lady on the phone at the Social Security Administration Office asked me how was I going to get by without any money… SHE NEEDS A SIGN AROUND HER NECK SAYING, “STUPID F**KING FEDERAL EMPLOYEE OF THE MONTH!!” I never wanted to slap anybody so badly in my whole life. I know God will look after me and I’ll get by somehow, but I won’t like it and it will be Hell on earth before it gets any better and I can smile again. Someone owes me about $1,000, if they would come through with that and I guess I could sell my truck and get by a little longer. What I don‘t wind up selling or losing I‘ll probably have taken from me sooner or later. If I’m lucky I’ll get to shoot some Yankees before they take me out. I’ll tell you one thing, the Government can officially kiss my slightly red Southern Ass!

Sauza Conmemorativo Tequila

While I was asleep last night, I awoke for a moment and thought of a good joke to post, I then fell back to sleep for a short spell and now the joke is gone forever. I tried and I tried to remember but it was no use. As I laid there thinking, something made me remember an experience I had several years ago. I had met this lady through work, she was more of an acquaintance than a friend but every so often we would bump into each other and we always got along real well, it was like we had known each other for a long time. As time went on and our job responsibilities would change, we saw a lot more of each other and eventually became pretty good friends. We would have lunch together from time to time and my office was downtown so sometimes when she was close by, she and some of the other ladies from her office would stop by and use our facilities, easy access I guess. She lived about forty five minutes south of here at the lake in Eufaula. One year she invited me to a party at her home, I had never been there but as a kid I had spent a lot of summer weekends on lake Eufaula with my family. It was in October and it was cooling down a bit and that’s a great time to be outside in Oklahoma. She said there would be about sixty people there, friends family, and some people from work. There would be drinking, barbeque, games, and a hay ride. Sounded like fun, besides there would be single women there and she was obsessed with fixing me up with someone (I was recently divorced). She said she had a place for me to stay so if I wanted to come down the night before. I could meet some of her family that would be coming down early, I could even make a whole weekend out of it. So on that Friday after work I drove down there. Like I said it was on the lake and I knew I could find it but I had no idea. It was on top of a hill in the middle of nowhere and surrounded by trees, you could not see another house or anything man made in any direction. It was a beautiful place and the home was something from my dreams. It was a two story cabin with a wrap around porch on three sides and the second story balcony wrapped around to match. It had seven bedrooms and four bathrooms along with four fire places. A reading room, a den, formal dinning room, a huge kitchen and I don’t remember what all. They were remolding after a fire and were only using half of the house, it was still bigger than three of mine. There were scattered pecan and oak trees though out the yard and several out buildings. The back patio was breath taking, it was native rock and done in a way that looked like an old fallen down adobe ruin, it was very South West looking and very comfortable. There was a volley ball court around to the side and a cooking area just off of the steps. As she was showing me around it was already starting to get dark, so she showed me where I would be sleeping. One of the out buildings that was a ways off from the house looked like a four car side by side garage, had an enclosed room on either end. I would be staying in one of those rooms, it was good sized, had heat, it’s own washroom, a full size bed, a table with a lamp, and a TV. It was just fine and I would enjoy the privacy. While we were talking about the place she asked me if I liked John Wayne? She had no clue who she was talking to. I love John Wayne, in almost a weird way. I told her that I did so big time and she said asked me to hold on a moment while she went to the house. She came back with some old black and white photos of John Wayne and he was standing in the same room we were sitting in, I about fell out and I seriously had a little trouble remembering to breathe. She told me quite a long story about the house and it’s history, I’ll try and break it down some. It was built in the thirties and had burned down (the first time). In the fifties, the home was bought by a Judge that was originally from California, and he fixed the place back up. He was known to entertain from time to time and have guests from out of town. John Wayne just happened to be one of his friends and he would visit sometimes and they would drink, fish, and just relax or whatever. The home was in the middle of no where so Mr. Wayne could have his privacy while he was down and he would stay in that very room. The room on the other end was occupied in those days by an old black man who was supposedly a prisoner at the McAlister State Prison that was some thirty miles away. The man was released in the Judge’s care as a favor to the Judge and the man did maintenance work around the place and drove the Judge around for years before he died. If it weren’t for the photos I’m not sure that I would have believed the story or not, but it was definitely that place and it was indeed John Wayne. We went up to the house and I met some of her family that had arrived and we ate and had a few drinks. Later that night she walked me back out to the room and said goodnight. I had brought a bottle of Wild Turkey with me so I got it out of my things and poured myself a nightcap turned out the light, opened the door and in the dim light, I had a smoke and a drink with John Wayne, at least in my mind I did. I went to bed that night with a tear in my eye. I’ve never told anyone this before. I wish I had one of those pictures today. It’s a pleasant memory of mine.

By the way, for many years, Sauza Conmemorativo Tequila was John Wayne’s favorite drink. After a lung surgery for cancer he couldn’t stand the smell of it anymore and stopped drinking.

Whitehouse Update:

Donald Rumsfeld briefed the President this morning. He told Bush that 3 Brazilian solders were killed in Iraq.

To everyone's amazement, all the color drained from Bush's face, then he collapsed onto his desk, head in hands, visibly shaken, almost in tears.

Finally, he composed himself and asked Rumsfeld,

"Just exactly how many is a brazilian?"

Well Everyone...

Exmichra's new web site is up and running and it looks and works great. She gives all of the credit to TNChick for the layout, she does great work and her site is topshelf also. If you haven't been there yet, go by and check them out.

If clicking on the links does not work they are:
http://xmichra.com
and
http://tnchick.com
Have A Good One.