LITTLE BROTHERS

         Everybody needs a little brother.

   

       So my little brother is on the left. The little old guy with white hair is me!

      So little brothers are good for playing, pushing, shoving and generally being a nuisance with the assistance of their older brother. 

      They also kept you warm at night. When we were little we had a very small two bedroom house. All the kids slept in one bed. Did I say the house was could? Yes , so we slept in one pile and kept each other warm. 

      We had lots of good fights with rhubarb stalks. We would each find the biggest rhubarb stalk we could find and then we'd start wailing on each other. Usually the soft leafy part would breakoff and then we just had the heavy stalk to beat one another. 

     Now you look at the difference in size and you may be wondering about the little brother stuff. No, we weren't adopted. We always said our Mom was 4 ft. nothing even though she was about 5 ft. . Our dad was over 6 ft tall. Two of us were tall and two of us were small. 

     Just for the record I was the biggest until we hit puberty. I quit growing  and my brother had a growth spurt. 

     Now we are 82 and 83. We don't do these things anymore but I look back at the fun we had growing up. 

MY TV DILEMMA

         I recently spent a week sorting out a TV problem that wasn't mine. 

          The Micro Manager and I were downstairs trying to find out what was wrong with our phone. All of a sudden we noticed that the TV went off.

          We phoned our provider but the phone was upstairs and the TV downstairs. So for a while we went upstairs and downstairs doing what the tech on the phone was telling us. Well after an hour we gave up. We had 4 more of these advice sessions. By this time we had the phone fixed in the basement.  All the techs told us the same thing and they were wrong. They thought we had a certain system but we didn't.

        So we started shopping for a TV. Now our TV is from 2005 so things are a little different now. So we finally bought a nice TV and brought it home to set up. We made arrangements for a tech to come and hook up the new TV.

       First , the tech had to look at our old TV to see if it was really dead. In 15 seconds the tech who came to the house had the old TV back to life. So much for all the clowns we wasted our time with . 

      Then we had to repack the new TV and return it to the store. 

       So we spent 7 days puzzling our brains when we didn't have to. If the clowns giving us advice on the phone knew what they were talking about we would have had none of the problems. 

      

I SHOULDN'T TELL YOU THIS

       Sometimes there are things that you should keep to yourself. Blab and you leave yourself open to criticism.

        Jennifer from Cottage Country reflections says, "You just had to tell somebody."

       I've told you before about a new store that recently opened by giving the first 100 customers $20.00. I told you how hard it was for two old people to keep track of the money on the cards.

      Well, there was a good broom advertised in their flier. Everybody needs a good corn broom around the place. They come in handy to sweep up snow or any other debris. We bought a broom a couple of months ago and it was like waving  piece of tissue paper at the dirt.

     So we bought an industrial grade corn broom.

     So when I got home I promptly took my new purchase to the storage shed. What did I find in the shed? Why the exact same broom had been purchased a year ago! It was still wrapped. I had forgotten that I had purchased a broom before.

     So what happened. A year ago the Micro Manager had declared that we needed a new broom. Again she found a broom on sale and bought it. I still liked my old broom and it was still usable. So in using the old broom I forgot I had a new one. 

     Well, now we each have a broom. 

ANOTHER EMBARRASSMENT

      As you know, I recently had cataract surgery. This procedure has changed my eyesight for the better. I had to wear glasses for distance before. Now my old glasses for distance are a nuisance. I do not have to wear glasses for driving anymore. My near sight has also improved. I still need reading glasses but can see everything except the really small print.

     I have been to my optometrist and have a new prescription which I hope to get in a few days.

     As a result some of my routine has been interrupted. As I've aged routine is a great helper. Throw me off my routine and I'm in trouble. So I'm back to carrying glasses in a pocket to use when I need them for reading. They are a nuisance to wear all the time.

     Well, on Monday I went to the pharmacy to get my flu shot. I was carrying my glasses in my hand. The micro Manager insisted that I sanitize my hands. I put my glasses down to use the sanitizer. Now I have two places to put my glasses  in the car when I'm driving. When I got home , I looked for my glasses so that I could take them in the house. The glasses weren't in either place! I said to the Micro Manager , I left my glasses at the drug store. She looked at me and said I better go back. Actually, I don't think she looked at me. 

     I beat it back to the drug store. The glasses were not at the sanitizer station. I asked a clerk and they didn't think any glasses had been turned in. Just then I touched my face and what did I feel? My glasses. My glasses were on my head.

    What an embarrassment and I did it to myself. 

AN EMBARRASSING MOMENT.

        Last June a new Peavey Mart store opened here. There was a lot of promotion for the opening. For those not familiar with Peavey Mart it caters to farm products. However, it does have things that are more than farm related such as supplies for bird feeding. They also have  excellent gardening supplies.

       Well, for the opening, the first so many people were given  $20.00 cash coupons. So guess who was there early enough for $20.00? That day the Micro Manager bought a broom and I bought some bird fat with our $20.00 coupons. 

       So five months later a flier came out advertising a couple of things we wanted. A bag of bird seed for $27.00. I could use my cash coupon! 

      So the birdseed I wanted was not on display. A kid went to the back and finally came out with a bag of bird seed. At this time we thought our coupons were for $40.00 each. However , we checked and couldn't think why there was so little left on the cards. The micro manager also wanted a snow shovel. Sadly we  discovered that the coupons were worth $20.. each rather than $40.00 each. 

      So with less than half our money left we had to decide what we really needed. We were discussing this just before the check out line. We were talking about small amounts of money. All of a sudden a kind lady approached and said I'll buy that for you! We were astounded. She had obviously overheard us and thought that we were poor and had very little money. 

     So we were embarrassed that we were identified as needy. 

     I guess the moral of the story is to do your discussion away from the check out line. 

     Have you had an embarrassing situation where you were taken as needing help?

MORE FLASHLIGHTS

       Over my 37 years of teaching I had many different and interesting assignments. One of those assignments was to teach outdoor Ed. I had been going along with other Outdoor ed. teachers when they went on field trips. So I was given a couple of classes to teach. 

      We had in class instruction and then went on field trips to apply what the kids learned. We hiked, cross country skied and snowshoed. All field trips were over nighters. The kids were given a list of equipment they needed. For most overnights we stayed in youth hostels. The huts were small so kids slept on the floor.

     For one or two field trips a  year we tented. One field trip in November we tented under winter conditions. 

     Now when you take 35 kids on a 2 or 3 day field trip, the kids just don't go home at 3:30 PM to their home. We had those kids until it was bed time. Something had to be done to keep them occupied. We just didn't turn on the TV. 

    So I'm finally getting to the flashlight. One of the things they were to bring was a flashlight. Yes the flashlight was used in the tent. However, there were many games of tag or whatever they did using the flashlights. They hid from the light. They played tag. They ran all over the place.  They kept themselves occupied for an hour or two. 

     So , I'll bet the only kids playing with a flashlight were my Outdoor ed. classes. 

A GOOD PRICE

              Weaver of Grass was reminding us about an upcoming birthday. She had already been given two presents. Two torches (flashlights ) were given to her by friends. 

             The torches were to be used for emergencies. One of the handiest things I ever found was a very strong flashlight. I use it around the house all the time. I use it to connect things to my computer tower which is black. I have difficulty seeing things that are black.

             I was also reminded of how I got my handy dandy flashlight.

             I was out with my bird group and I thought I saw a lanyard in the snow. I kicked at it a bit and a flashlight came out of the snow. I had never seen such a flashlight as it was very powerful. 

           Now the flashlight was very likely dropped by a homeless person as there are many homeless in the Bower Woods. The homeless wander around in this dark area at night all night.

            So I got thinking about this poor guy/gal's loss and was about to feel sorry for them. Knowing lots of homeless people , I thought they probably got it for a very good price. Yes, it was probably shop lifted. 

            So I got a free flashlight out of the snow and I don't think I have to feel badly about the guy/gal losing it.

             

SKUNKED!

       I make an effort to do as much walking as possible. Out of the last 21 nights I've walked on 20 of them. The weather has been very pleasant so the walking is easy.

      I find that if I have a regular routine, I don't miss very many days.

      Right now I walk around the outskirts of my neighborhood. It's around 3600 steps.

      I usually start around 8:00 PM. Yes ,it's dark by then. This year has been better as there are many more walkers out at that time. 

     Now what really makes my walk is the number of deer I see. One night I saw  8 deer...4 bucks, 2 does and 2 fawns. Most of the deer we have are mule deer. They are a little bigger than white tailed deer .

     Well last night I didn't see one deer! I was skunked. 

     It's 7:27 PM so I'm going to get ready to walk. Will I see deer tonight?

      This fellow was in my neighbor's yard towards the end of July. 

FINE FALL WEATHER

      Today was one of those fine fall days that makes fall so pleasant. 

      My job today was to dig my garden. Yes, I grow a vegetable garden and yes , I dig every bit of it by hand! Now my garden plot isn't very large ... maybe 20 x 30 feet. But for an elderly person , it's a lot of digging. 

      The temperature was about 20 C . The sun was bright. Not a cloud in the sky. No wind. It was dry. It was a beautiful day to be outside. 

     We have had very little precipitation since the end of June. Everything is dry. However, it seems like a good fall day has to be dry. Farmers want dry weather to harvest their crops. 

    This would have been a great day to just sit on your deck or patio. 

    Here's one of those pleasant fall days when we were out birding. 

A PLEASANT FALL MORNING

       I finally got to go out with the birding group this morning. I can't take bird photos but I can get some scenery. There's much more color than a couple of weeks ago. 

      We also saw lots of birds. we saw 32 species. The yellow rumped warbler we saw should be out of here. There were many robins.