The Emerald Rose

Perhaps a bit cynical,….but the reality of life has a way of slapping you HARD on your cheek when it happens! In today’s world we simply sigh and say something asinine like,”…..guess that’s life too bad, I guess.” (Grammatical note: the period at the end of the sentence should be an exclamation mark, but there is such a thing as “indicative punctuation”,….unless todays mores have eliminated that as well.

A man in upstate Washington, (on the left coast) called the Sherrif and indicated he was going to commit suicide, he was 77 and his wife was 76. He told the Sherrif it was because he and his wife could not afford their medical bills, and there was no other apparent way out!

Police ere dispatched, cordoned off the house, set up thier perimeter and began their standard tactics,….alas no response! They finally made their way up to the house and gained entry.

Inside they found the couple both dead, (cause of death later when it is reported). In addition they found several notes indicating the couple could apparently see no way to pay their medical bills, and go on,…..so murder suicide was their only option!!!

End of news report.

THAT NEWS REPORT HAS NO NEED TO HAPPEN IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA!!!

And the Southern border of our country has almost a million people trying to gain admittance to OUR country! For them it means they will be supported with medical ,dental and vision care, overall FREE insurance, wage subsistence, living costs, etc! I’ll bet when I follow up on this, it will take more digging than it takes to build a new septic system!!

The question is WHY? Because it’s not worth much to a newspaper except an obituary notice, and since they don’t have the money to pay for it, (I’m assuming they have relatives who will be asked to pay. And whatever we have today as a “Potters Field” will be their final resting place, ( or whatever Washington State has a a stipend for this entirely “FREE funeral, burial, cremation.)

While I never met either one of them, I can relate on a number of levels. I’m 75, my wife is 73,……we only have Medicare, and a supplemental Medicare policy. I’m nor working a) because I can’t find a job , I’ve had open heart surgery, and a full hip replacement,…..and there ain’t nothing else wrong with me (that I know of), my wife is working a full time job at a “Home Owners Management Company as the Office manager”.

So why can’t I get a job? (My wife says it’s partially my attitude,…in her defense,at 13 years old I was “rounding up shopping carts” in a Supermarket,….and unless we really run up against a wall I’ll be damned if that will be my last job, in this life!! My wife says “get over yourself,…money is money!

I have been a licensed Florida Community Association Manager for over fifteen years, had my own company for 12 years, owned a Country Western Dance Club that sat 1000 customers, and Irish Pub with LIVE REAL Irish music and “seissuns”, a sort of “jam session” by volunteers who play “Irish Music” (It’s not that difficult as there are only two rythems, and tempos, “Jigs, or Reels”. I’ve also owned and run an Industrial medical supply Company for 10 years, and “grabbed a “ring” of American opportunity,

My problem was I never knew OR learned how to “make my money, make money for ME”,other than what I could do personally with it! Hence my retirement is Social Security!

We bought a townhouse in Florida in 2000, but we’ve had to remortgage a few times and now only have equity of about $70,000 left in it!! Plus what my wife makes.

BELIEVE me, I can understand how they felt!! Life is opportunity, and as the old Frank Sinatra song says , “That’s Life!”

I’ll update this as soon as anything else is published.

We’re all proud, we all want to pull our own weight, but since the Government, and their policies and the “fifth column” is a behemoth who doesn’t really care what do you do? Well,….again it’s what Frank (Sinatra),…had to say,…..”That’s Life,….you’re riding high in April,…then you’re shot down in May.”

Donald Trump withstanding!! He does’nt need more money, more success, or “ego-boosters”,…..(Gee maybe I’ll write another Podcast and Chat with you about what REAL sacrifice is about and simply ask you “WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ORIGINAL SIGNERS OF THE DECLARATION OF INDEPENDANCE? (Also a GREAT information packet. If nothing else it shows us all WHAT THEY THOUGHT OF THE AMERICA WE LIVE IN TODAY.,…..and whaat it cost the 54 original signers for that belief!!

Or maybe more simply,….”Do you feel as though you have more FREEDOM in todays environment “,….or is that just an illusion?

Just saying!

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August 29, 2019

Amongst the biggest “trivial” items at this time for me is the rulings and directives on “CREMATION” of the human body after death. The Church says it is “ok” to do today,, (but not before the “ruling and directives issued in 2016,……wonder whatever happened to those “Roman Catholics” who opted to be cremated before then?,….just asking of course. Are they damned forever, or have they been “reassigned to “Purgatory” (a Catholic “waiting room” pending a degree of the no longer existent “time” for those in waiting!)

Of course all those “lost at sea in actuality”,who have gone on to become the “fish food” in an elementary feeding chain.

I am of the understanding that certain “common common practices” are also under the “mandates” of the church as well. For example, our youngest son, Jay, died of massive heart failure as a complication of Bacterial Spinal Meheningitis, it was the decision of his wife based on comments he had made when he was alive to opt for his cremation.

My wife and I had no problems with that, the only two requests we made were for 1) a Roman Catholic Priest be contacted before they declared him “legally dead”, in order that he might at least receive the Sacraments of the Dead, (old school Catholics read as “Extreme Unction”, a legitimate sacrament of the Catholic Church created to impart final blessings of the deceased. It is usually administered with in an imminent window of death, and that has been lessened to any impending surgery or illness whose outcome is in doubt.)

2) the second request was for some of his ashes be given to us, his Mother and Father, as a remembrance which we would totally cherish as the reminder that no one lives forever (and a reminder to us every day that all that he was was still with us) We subsequently created a “Family Wall” in our home with pictures of both his Mother and I, and each one of three children and their wives and children. That too,( giving any part of the ashes to anyone for whatever reason) the ashes must be “interred in Blessed land”. (Suitably “Blessed” by the Church!

There is another option called a “Columbarium”, which is a structure,( much like the Post Office boxes at the Post Office!!)

For a mere couple of Thousand dollars you ashes get to be placed in a “Prepaid for Eternity”, Post Office Box, with your name and birth year and death year on a plaque on the door instead of a usual “box number”

Tell me it’s not about the $$$ money$$$!!!

Guess I’m just a little confused! The United States Navy, ” will ‘Bury me at sea, another benefit of my 6 year “pay it forward investment so my family and all the” so my family and all those who followed would be protected) .

I intend to most likely do that. But I also intend to bring up both that and the “Columbarium” issues with my own Pastor and Church!

Unless Jesus Christ left a letter or papyrus with specific ORDERS and signed it, well we’ll either have lengthy and loud discussions or be looking for a more reasonable religion!!

I wrote a similar,”blog”in 2009, after my Triple Bypass surgery. (I’ll go back and re-read it myself after I write this entry), which will not only be a “blog” entry at “guinness222.com”, The Emerald Rose, but on my new “Podcast” called “The Emerald Rose Pub sessiuns.”

My blog is on “WordPress.com, and the access to “podcasts” is through “stitcher”,(app available through the AppStore at no cost.)

But according to my previous habit, and “concessions”, “I digress”!

On May 13, 2019, I checked in to our local Hospital at 7:00am for a “Total Left Hip replacement”. (Already did the other “trivia”, ie, blood tests, (other Physicians I go to for to, “giving ‘permission for Surgery and anesthesia and other ” Mandatory Prerequisites”, and THEN all I had to do was show them my Medicare card, and my “Supplemental Insurance card”, (THE MOST IMPORTANT STEP A HOSPITAL MUST TAKE,…HOW ARE WE GOING TO GET PAID??, get one of their silly (and uncomfortable) wrist bracelets) and led off to “Pre-surgical Prep,

(Just a quick aside,….if we can “implant” a microchip in a dog or cat, is it not ‘possible’ to implant a microchip in US once we sign up for MEDICARE? Forget all the “biitching”, just hold out your arm,…..even if you are DOA, UNK {no ID unknown), you are “chipped” and your life, medical history and, of course your INSURANCE and MEDICARE info is “readily available, FOR ALL PEOPLE WHO NEED TO KNOW.

I’m an American who believes you SHOULD be screened for drugs EVERY month if you are on the “Public dole” for food stamps and welfare, SOCIAL SE CURITY, AND MEDICARE, being exempt( it is not as “scary” as it sounds, and if our “idiot congress”simply , “man’s up” (guess that makes me a “sexist misogynist, BUT, it’s not the same as having the Warden and two guards take you down the hall to the “plain, unmarked door” that will not be your last memory!!

When you , groggily” come round afterwards, you are in a “Post-Op” enclosure. It’s very sterile, very plain, no Davinci, or Raphael’s on the walls,….but who cares! You’re on this earth,….and you are alive!!

Now, to the “meat n’ potatoes” of this blog! It is not rocket science folks to use common sense today,…it’s the same as it was a “hundred years ago”. Suck it up buttercup, it’s 2019, NOT some mythical year three hundred years from now!!

LIFE LESSON #1 – “God does not make junk!!”, Next time you take a shower, look down, if there is a penis hanging between your legs, regardless of it’s length, or girth,….you are a MALE, “guy, ….stud, …..dude” whatever the accepted nomenclature happens to be at that time you are in shower! If there is no penis there,…you are a FEMALE, get used to it folks!

OK, so you feel cheated, and “deep down inside” you feel as though you are the “wrong” gender!!

No, it’s not your parents fault, and if you have the “balls” to believe GOD screwed up,….well THAT is patently ridiculous, for religious beliefs or not, How in the name of everything that he created, the Grand Canyon, and the sunrises and sunsets, and everyone who has been here before you,….can you even think that?

OK, raise Hitler, Pol Pot, and every other “evil” person you heard of or know. He allows creation to be a decision and biological fact executed by mankind. Do you think either Hitler’s Mother or Father would have regretted his birth? Or the folks who massacred people in the last ten years in school, places of worship, or other “incidents of ‘domestic terrorism’ and their relatives, would they have regretted their progeny or spouse, from their having been alive

Life happens, as the old expression goes, “you deal with the hand you’re dealt,…and do the best you can with it!

Sure you may THINK you are the next “Actress of the year”, or “the next Rambo”,…..but all you really are is YOU!!!

I am not a discriminatory person,….UNLESS you want to flaunt it and repeatedly throw your, “it’s not my fault” in my face. You are what you are live with it!!

If you are a really good RAP singer or other highly successful person, buy all the fur coats you want, all the jewelry you can possibly afford, the biggest mansion you can muster up,……but REMEMBER,……the last time I looked there were NO hearses entering the cemetery with “U-HAUL” It trucks or trailers behind it. Only you in that box and and your daily sunlight is gone forever.

For folks opting for cremation, you are as the good book says, “Dust thou art,,,,and to dust thou shalt return.”

Just a thought, plus simply,…. why should I and hundreds of thousands of other hard working folks, AND our “Duly elected” government spend the money!

They are all going to the same “Cemetery” you are, (or Crematorium)

You’ll have to wait for the Resurrection,….like the rest of us,….no one cuts in line and no-one gets special privileges because they “thought” they were “different!

Life can be cruel sometimes.,,,,,,,but it’s something we all have in common!

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August 2, 2019

So why is it that we, as born and bred Americans don’t get it???

So why is it that we, as born and bred Americans don’t get it???

As a “Roman Catholic”for my entire life n this earth, (baptized within the first month of my birth, raised in a Catholic family, received all the “Sacraments of the Church” available to me, including 50+ years of marriage to the same woman without even a single event of infidelity, I am concerned.

My wife, who is also a fervent Roman Catholic from birth, and myself are GRAVELY concerned about the 2016 and, other ancillary “directives ” relative to “Cremation and Disposal” of the body left behind after the ‘Official/ Medical, Death” of the person, …..not the “Soul”!

Overall, Religion has become very “watered down” in our current society, and our particular Country, The United States of America, over the past 70 years of my, and my wife’s, lifetime! While I do NOT agree with a majority of the “changes ” in a “flexible” society allowing, some things are CLEARLY beyond the “reasonable” interpretation and “enforcement” of the hierarchy of that Church. Particularly for which other, more critical and REALLY valid practices and “allowances” are not as ardently “policed” or otherwise “ardently” supported and “monitored”!

Let me just raise a few and I openly invite any of the “hierarchy” of MY church to please step up and defend, (lest I com e to the “conclusion” that the Roman Catholic Church from ROME, and the VATICAN is simply, as we say here in the South “just a good old boys club” with a “stranglehold” on Roman Catholics and the ability of their power and misuse of the “Papal Infallibility” , as a “because I said so” tenant.

My understanding of The issue of “Papal Infallibility”, is simply “when the POPE speaks on matters of faith and dogma, FROM THE THRONE OF ST PETER” (the first POPE after the resurrection and ascension Of Jesus Christ into heaven, which is the PRIMARY Throne upon which a Pope sits when he openly talks on a particular subject TO the “faithful”.

The argument of “the Resurrection” of those who believe in the resurrection”, is not a “restrictive” action, for example if a sailing ship goes down crossing the Atlantic Ocean, (like the TITANIC, or every other ship that has ever been sunk with it’s crew or passengers) it is an ABSOLUTE scientific fact that their bodies will be quickly decomposed, and serve as “food for the fish”! That means they don’t just float around I the water submerged and drowned, and as the “food chain” requires they are eaten for the survival of the rest of the species, PERIOD!!!

We’re all those Catholics and Christians who were not able to complete their voyage , were they “heathens”, or worse “non-believers”,…..the crabs, and the fish do not differentiate between them,….they were simply and ecologically,…food!

Bit I digress,……

The basic question is “WHY? and “WHO SAID SO?,and the more birthdays I have the more that is unacceptable! “My Dad passed away in 1972,…..and I am NOT fond of the answer to any question posed to me being, “Because I said so,…that’s it!”

That was his privilege as my father to reply with !!!!

PART 2 Next time!!

If this struck. Chord with you let me know at “ag2guinness@gmail.com”.

July 26, 2019

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As you get older there ARE certain distinct advantages open to you. No, I’m not talking about “Senior Specials”, (“2FER’S” (a/k/a “two for the price of one”), or “buy one get one free” BOGO’s). What I’m talking about is something you don’t even know you have until, (hopefully!), you realize it when you get older.

I’m talking about the value and TYPES of friendships you have during your entire life, and particularly as we must “age out”. The term “age out”, I first time I heard it, was when I was a teenager, and was involved in Drum & Bugle Corps.

There were “maximum age” requirements in being a member of a local Drum & Bugle Corps, (we worked very hard at it, using less, and built an “Esprit de Corps” even the Marine Corps would be jealous of today. BUT there it meant that after you hit that particular age, which in the sixties was 21 years old, you could no longer participate in competitions and compete in uniform as a “member” of the Corps. And,as the pastime became more popular the entire sequence took on a different meaning to you,….a deeper more of a “rite of passage” tone, and inner feeling. You knew you would never again be on the field of competition with the 65-80 other “kids”, competing to be a “perfect example”, of what you and your “compadres” were working together to provide the “folks in the stands”for entertainment and precision both in the mechanics of playing a drum, or a single piston bugle, ….oh, while “marching” to an elaborately choreographed 11-13 minute precision program.

Life has an “aging out” option as well,…..it’s called death and the dying process. An just like the “aging out” process of being in a Drum & Bugle Corps, it is a totally inevitable thing you can’t stop, you can’t delay, and you can’t “avoid”it,….it’s LIFE!!

As a “kid” I was always being perceptive of those around me at a very early age, perhaps 7 or 8 years old. I knew all our neighbors, as it was a pretty compact inner city neighborhood. I could not help but notice “things” around me, and some of it was very upsetting! The man across the street, whose grandchildren came over a lot and we used to play together, cards, old maid, whist, “go Fish”, etc. He worked for the Boston Gas Company as long as I can remember,….then he started just being home all the time sitting on the porch or in the living room in his chair with a newspaper. His grandson, Drew” I believe was his name, when I inquired why he was home all the time, then told me he was “retired”. Well,it didn’t escape my notice that what seemed about six months later was that he passed away. Of nothing in particular, just worn out and used up I thought.

That said from the time you are born, you are “meeting and greeting” other people, some you like, some you don’t, some you “connect with”, others you don’t,…some you want to avoid, and others you want to embrace, and still others, you just want to shake hands and say some socially innocuous thing like, “nice to meet you, we’ll have to get together later”.

But “later” never comes because , you don’t really want it to come, …..you don’t care if it comes,…..or you just never make the effort to make it become a reality!

I started classifying those folks I met over sixty or seventy years ago, (ok call it “judging”, but you are wrong! It was my youthful effort to become organized so I could go into business when I grew up and be GOOD at it.

Some folks you meet, well you take an immediate liking too, others, not so much, and still others, time to change the phone number, the address, and anything else you may have said at the time you met them.

Let me run through the SIX major categories of people I’ve always used, and hope it it helps you to either “upgrade your game” or in the future recognize the “potholes” of life and some friendships.

1) LOVED ONES – In this category are family member, regardless of the “teeth gritting”, smile and polite conversation of even a five minute meeting, and on to the level of an entire day or special “family Occasion” ie. Christmas, Thanksgiving, an impromptu barbecue , or the like. you LOVE them , regardless of things you or they have done or said, but it is a “loving tolerability”, some times it’s a justified “bummer” because you happen to have let them down, or can not honor a commitment you made to them. But the fact is they are “blood” or “blood in law” those are sacred conditions and exceptions.

But the fact is if they needed a kidney, a liver, or whatever else that “ONLY you could give,….well there is no doubt you WOULD step up and donate without a second thought, and actually do it!!

FAMILY IS EVERYTHING, regardless of all else!

And other loved ones, Aunt’s, Uncles, best friends cousins, nieces and nephews, and that’s where I’ll leave it! Suffice it to say , ….”if it feels like ‘family’,…it is!!”. Remember, “God gave you your family,….but you can, and have to, choose your friends.”

2) DEAR FRIENDS- This is the hardest section to write, it is actually, the most individually different, in terms of the “who” and “why”, and also perhaps the MOST misunderstood, but I’ll give it a shot,, and remember your opinion counts as well, (you just have to tell me what it is!!!, e-mail it to “ag2guinness@gmail.com”, and I WILL respond.

First of Course is my wife Barbara, without exception!! We have literally been from the “pits to the Ritz”,……and back again, as the world cycled by us for the past 53 years. That should, and must be your PRIMARY focus in your life, it is the first “long lasting” choice you will make that has an impact on you for the rest of your days on earth!

As an example, sometimes “Dear Friends” come from our childhood, other times “just last week”! A “dear friend ” is a “connection”, sometimes they are simply an instant connection, like someone who makes a comment which you feel really drawn to, or believe it or not, someone you have NEVER actually formally met or been introduced to. (That sort of widens the requirements, but you know in your heart who is a “Dear Friend” and not just a friend! (Think about your’s for a minute or two.)

My “dear friends” probably don’t. (Or didn’t know they were in that category, because I am a kind of “standoff” type of guy and NOT the openly emotional guy. My first “dear Friend was my best man, and childhood friend whom we shall call Barry. We both lived in the same neighborhood, grew up together to a degree, became buddies when we both went to the same private High School and did silly stuff like “open heart surgery on a Frog as a sophomore year science fair project, (almost overwhelming his Mom with the amount of ether we used). My second “Dear Friend” was a girl named Noreen, we were both in the Drum and Bugle Corps together, and a couple of us (my friend Paul and I) used to hang out at her house, watching TV and just enjoying life together, with Barry her brother, Gary, another local fried and tenor drummer in “the Corps”.

My third “dear friend” was a lady who just passed away, Ms. Neill, while perhaps my shortest “dear friend” we used to “kibitz” and chat almost every day as we had a drink at our local “PUB” . She and I could chat for hours about anything, except Pro football teams, she was a “Rabid” New Orleans Saints” fan and I , of course a New England Patriots fan,….but other than that, be it politics, religion, business or just life, we used to loved to chat at our favorite “Pub” here in Destin. It was only a year and a half that I knew her, but as I said somewhere up above, (or not) it was an instant and open acceptance of each other and our beliefs. People used to come over and were welcome to sit with us and chat about whatever was the “topic” of the day!! Many a good day was spent solving the world’s problems! My wife and I even went out to dinner with her about two months before her final “aging out” process began.

3)GOOD FRIENDS- There is very little difference between a “Dear Friend” and a “Good Friend”. As a matter of fact there is only a single one that I can find,……that is the depth of that singular “undefinable ” “connection” that will last a lifetime, through thick or thin, and is the pure friendship we all wish for and hope to have in our lives, particularly as we “age out” of life, ourselves.

4) FRIENDS AND ACQUAINTANCES– This is pretty much anyone, and everyone you meet during the entirety of you life. Be it Church friends, business friends, like minded hobbyists, you name it. They are the “nice scenery” you see on a drive through the mountains, valleys, hamlets, villages towns and Cities of your life. Sometimes there a some mutual connections, obligations, or commitments, they usually never enter the realm of “Dear Friends”, or even “Good Friends”. Again this is simply a piece to illustrate how we as human beings grow, develop, and become a part of the life we live and others around us.

The bottom line is that we are all going to “age out” of this life, to some you’ll just be a “footnote”, to others you’ll have become one of the above classifications,…..I would be willing to bet, it will make a big difference when it’s time for us to “age out” and the best we can ever hope to be is a future memory and on someone else’s list of “LOVED ONES”, “DEAR FRIENDS”, “GOOD FRIENDS”, OR simply a “FRIEND or ACQUAINTANCE”,…….

That is what we all strive to be,………remembered for our goodness!

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July 22, 2019

Last weekend my Grand Daughter posted a garish “pop-art” depiction of Donald Trump on her Facebook account. Along with it a comment to “Stop the Hate Speech!”

Well, if President Trump is doing “Hate Speech”,….please tell me what that is, and what did he say, that was “hateful”?

A) What is REAL hate speech?

B) Need a copy of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence? I ALWAYS carry a half a dozen of them in my briefcase and computer bag. Ask me for a booklet, it’s simple clear, less than 4″ x 3 1/2″ and less than FIFTY (50) pages long. READ IT AGAIN, ………even attention deficit disorder, ignorance, or stupidity can’t excuse YOU!!! YOU ARE AN AMERICAN,……don’t you think YOU should know what those documents ACTUALLY SAY, and what they actually mean?

C) ‘Cause if someone has a different “opinion” than YOU that does not qualify it as “hate speech”!

D) “D” is for DUMB,……How long did you believe in Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, and the Tooth Fairy? Was that all brought to your attention by people spewing “HATE SPEECH”?

E) Is for “EDUCATION” , something that has no longer any need to be taught as “it just doesn’t matter!” Those who are now teaching are as biased and far more likely to be abusing “HATE SPEECH” with “revisionist history”.

F) Is for Funny, as 95% of those who dislike “hate speech” , don’t know what it is, can’t define it and most certainly in NO WAY can defend their position with anyone that has at least a six grade education!!

G) is for Grand Parents who cared and sacrificed when it was needed, in WWI, WWII, the Korean Conflict, The Vietnam NamWar (Which I donated SIX years of my life to my country, and no promises,…. and the fiasco know as the “Middle East”, (an area based on creation by “HATE SPEECH” and lack of intolerance of any sense of values,…..but $$$$$$! PLEASE spend some time with them and ASK THEM what HATE SPEECH is, and what it costs. Oh and as “food for thought”, could you make any where near those same sacrifices to day if they are needed or demanded f you,…….or will you just pretend “it ain’t happening, people just don’t understand!”

R) is for realization that it just doesn’t matter to you,….that you live by a herd mentality, (I.e. you don’t think or rationalize anymore,….you simply “follow the herd” no matter where it goes because you are AFRAID to think! Rene’ Descartes as 16th century philosopher totally defined life in only FIVE words,…..”I think therefore I am!”. DO YOU THINK ABOUT MORE THAN MTV AND THE MEDIA PABLUM CALLED THE ‘CONSENSUS”??

EXAMPLES OF HATE SPEECH:

1) I hate vegetables (there goes a lot of dinner invitations!)

2) “YOU ARE STUPID! EITHER PROVE ME WRONG, OR DON”T BE AFRAID TO PROPERLY DEFEND YOURSELF! ( and not with the typical lame comments of “You just don’t understand”, or “times are different today”. IF YOU KNOW TEACH ME, PLEASE!!

3) Some races aren’t ready to assume “equality”,…they are too stupid, they need to learn a lot more to be close to “equal”!

4) “Women don’t know Jack,…I don’t know why we let them even vote! ”

That a few basics to fire you up?

Life is about passion, it’s about “the love of life” and it’s about the acceptance that DIFFERENCE is what makes us free and that difference is available for us to learn! Thank God for what you have, strive to be better and make more of yourself, for the future generations that are depending on you to make sure that there is no such thing as “Hate Speech”!

Last note, re-watch the movie “Forrest Gump” and remember “STUPID AS AS STUPID DOES.”

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July 19, 2019

OK, as you know I’m 74.5 years young,…..but the volume on that clock is most definitely getting louder.

First let me take umbrage with that statement that “only the good die young”, These days when we hear about a “famous” or “notable” person dying young the vast percentage of the question “WHY???” Ends up being drugs, or stupidity. That said there are people who do die a way lot younger than they should that legitimately die before “their time”.

But this article is not about them, it’s about those who DON’t die young and go on to spend their entire life trying to “contribute” to this country, and all they want is the inner sense of personal pride that they were able to make a difference in their country, and the lives of it’s people, or the people of the world!

This has been a pretty “bad” timeframe, in terms of those kind of folks, drawing their final breath. I think it’s worth the time, ink and voice to pay the proper respect to them. AND none of them died of “drug overdoses”, and did indeed contribute to the world at large, our society, and the future of the world!

But what about “The ordinary folk”? They are the ones who simply wake up, take their shower, shave, (or not) and get on with their life, doing whatever it is that they do,wherever they do it, and however they do it, until the end of the day! Sometimes they stop for a “decompression beer” on the way home, others just come home, and reflexively hit the pop top, then decompress. Still others pour a nice chilled Chardonnay, or a smoky red, or a Scotch on the rocks, or whatever their “drink of choice is at the time or relative to the conditions of that instant in time where they find themselves.

Is life really that simple? Or are we being drawn into that “big sucking hole” we call life? In. My 20’s it seemed very simple, one foot ahead of the other, and just keep working hard, and moving forward at a goal, either for yourself or your family.

In your 30’s there are rays of daylight within your vision, the marriage is going good, taxes are still as outrageous as they were when your parents were around, the kids are growing, and sometimes you might even have been able to afford to send them to private, or BETTER schools! (Maybe another day I’lll talk about the “Education” in this country,….and it ain’t good!! For example just this morning some School Board in San Francisco “in their wisdom” voted to spend $600,000 to paint over 16 murals of Times in the life of George Washington that have been on the walls of “George Washington High School” since 1934 when the school was built!! Why you ask? Well silly because it is “offensive” because it depicts “SLAVES” working on his plantation and he was a “slave owner”. My God folks, get over it. That was a normal custom, and as YOU AND I became more enlightened it changed! That is called PROGRESS!!!

Anyway, on to out 40’s The kids aren’t kids anymore, they’re going on to college, going in the military services, OR “living in our basement” with two degrees and no job, no money, and not a clue what to do about it. The wife and I tend to sleep a lot more, and continue to support the kids and try and encourage them to do SOMETHING!!

In our 50’s we become terribly aware we can’t keep on keeping on this way. We saved, but it’s dwindled, we invested, but it too dwindled, but we can still pay our bills,….but what about “retirement”? It ain’t gonna work for most of us! When the “gold watch”, the mahogany stained plaque, and the first retirement check , and Social Security check come,…..well we are more stressed than our kids, and trying to bandaid a retirement together. We (the wife and I) don’t need a five bedroom, four bath home with a big in ground pool a lovely garden, and a pool house for overflow guests, (But it should pretty much be paid off by now right? After two degrees per kid, all three of them, (and now one is a Barrister at Starbucks, the other is a part-time real estate agent, and the third one is a “e-bay mogul” for “Pokémon” toys. We gotta sell the house, in the next five years and tell the kids to go find their own place to live!!

Then there is the 60’s, the gold watch comes, the mahogany stained plaque, and your first day of “RETIREMENT” arrives. You get up, you shower, get dressed, iron a shirt, and grab breakfast and heard for the local Supermarket! Not to buy some food, but to follow up on an ad you read that they were looking for part time employees.

Forget the 70’s. 80’s and God help you, the 90’s. Between trying to hold down a 30 hour a week part-time job, all the Doctor visits, the miscellaneous surgeries, and recoveries, and the monthly yard sales to try and sell off the remaining stuff from the “big house” which you finally sold and made only $50,000 profit after taxes, the new septic system and the $80,000 “updates” it took to make it marketable, in “todays market”!!!

Sound facetious, you bet it is ,…..but the good news is you are positioned to live another 10 years in your two bedroom, one bath , 1/3 acre lot ranch in “Happy Trails, a 55+ community.

That is if you don’t have a serious medical “pop up” for either one of you. And by the way There is only one way out of here,…….End of Life!!

Sorry partner,….that’s life! Even the rich get sick, but they will “blow” every penny trying to beat the system,…….but it ain’t ever going to happen,….maybe for a year or two,….but the “Grim Reaper” is the best bet in the House to win,….hand’s down!

Sorry,…..but that’s life!

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July 11,2019

Remember eons ago when that was a statement you always heard from your Mother. “Always wear clean underwear in case you have to go to the Doctor or the Hospital.” One of those many pearls of wisdom from the old days,……but it is sound advice for today as well,……but it’s changing!

Yesterday morning I got up at 4:30am to go be #1 on the hit parade! Oh that was the hit parade of daily Hip replacement Surgeries at our Local Hospital. Seems like my old body was wearing out. This time it was the hip. The Femur bone, that’s the one that “connect da’ knee bone to da’ thigh bone was the offending part! That’s the bone roughly depicted as the “club” in caveman movies and cartoons. It has a rather big rounded looking bulbous end at the “thigh” bone, and fits perfectly in a “socket” in the thigh bone or pelvis of our bodies.

Now when God designed this marvelous joint he added sort of a “shock absorber” between the bulbous or ball shaped end and the socket it fit into! (May be we should have had God design our cars and truck,…he’s really talented at that sort of thing!) The shock absorber, or cushion is made of a material we all call “collagen”, anyway like everything in this humble world it wears out and then the bones just rub together, or “grate against each other”, like grating your teeth together, and we all know what happened then the teeth eventually will become just “stubs” and will “hurt like hell”! Same thing with the hip, only we call the process “osteoarthritis” and refer to getting to be “stubs” as “end stage Osteoarthritis”.

Not to be facetious, but how much would you pay for someone to “get rid of the stubs”and replace them with like “false teeth” or dentures, then there would be no more gnashing,…but I digress. When a Doctor diagnoses an “degenerative, end stage Osteoarthritis of the pelvic and femoral area”,…..well you’re looking for some expensive surgery, and in the old days weeks, and weeks, or even months in painful recovery, and selecting a new nickname, like “gimpy”, “Hop-a-long”, or the “old guy down the block with the walk-in’ stick”, during recovery, well you get the idea it wasn’t a pleasant experience back then,……but not so much anymore says I because that’s what I did Monday.

Brief description of the operation, they shave you in the “private area” ( left or right side depending on which hip is “actin” up, make a THREE inch incision, and work through that little hole! (One of the reasons the recovery is so fast after surgery is that they don’t cut muscles and tendons, which attach the muscles to the bone, they simply Stretch” or pull them aside to work on you) I had a “Full Hip Replacement”, which consists of two separate “operations” in the one procedure. They usually cut off the rounded ball, on the end of the Femur bone, usually its not round ,like a ball any more, but sort of “squished” into more of a football shape and causing you a lot of pain. Essentially they take a specially made artificial femur than looks more like a tent peg with the rounded top, and literally “hammer” it down into the femur bone with a rubber mallet, leaving the rounded end sticking out. Then they use like a grinder to reshape the “receptacle area” in your pelvic bone to accept an artificial “socket” for the “tent peg” to fit perfectly into, (which is usually ceramic these days) and yet does not grind either one down during almost of the rest of your life, and yet allows the “full range of motion” that the original “God Made in heaven” one was designed to do! (In usual cases with six pages of “exceptions, exclusions, and warranty provisions”.) Odds on collecting are slim to none because the “warranty provisions” are written by “Attorneys”, not “regular folks”.

They gave me a little “MJ juice” Propopyl, the stuff Michael Jackson OD’d on, which worked immediately, once again reinforcing my opinion that I WILL NOT BECOME A DRUG ADDICT,…EVER!! Then a “spinal” which is for something else, I wasn’t there for the rest of the party.

Next thing I know I’m in recovery, can’t feel from the waist down, but NO more pain!!! Once my feeling came back, about an hour to an hour and a half,…off to my luxury accommodations upstairs, in the Hospital, in a private room, with all the usual tubes, leads and wires you see on TV. You hang out there the rest of the day and eventually the next day they send you home.

Then the “visiting nurses” start coming three times a week, and of course the “Occupational Therapist” and “Physiotherapists”,……

It’s kind of like a computer “app” you are ALWAYS going to need updating!!!

But hope you enjoyed this one as well.

May 15, 2019

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N.B. Almost forgot to tell you why the “Cleanliness is next to Godliness” comment.

But when I got to my final room, as I lay there in bed assessing the surroundings, I noticed that there was a Full Crucifix up on the wall. (It’s a Catholic Hospital so that’s understandable. Under the Spot the Cricifix was mounted was a 45″ Color TV with a bunch of channels, movies, news and weather stations, and immediately below that was the “clean up area”, a small hand sink, a wall mounted soap dispenser, the usual “Purcell” hand sanitizer dispenser, and paper towels, and a trash bin with a rack of four sizes of blue surgical gloves as well.

Ready for it? The axiom was wrong, it was totally wrong!! Cleanliness was not next to Godliness, the TV was,…..DUH!!!