IT COULD ONLY HAPPEN TO RED !

      I've written about being fortunate in finding a new family doc.  Now don't worry. I still go to the guy and every time I visit him I'm more impressed. He's at a walk in clinic and sometimes there's a long wait. However, he told me I could make appointments. There are 4 to 7 physicians in the clinic.

     Sometimes the wait at the walk in clinic was two hours. I noticed that many of the patients were pregnant women. I also noticed that there were many women checking in with brand new babies. I didn't think anything about the people I saw in the waiting room.

    Then I noticed that the pregnant women and infants were all going to my doctor.

    Still nothing twigged.

     Then one day I noticed that some of the  letters behind my doc's name were an indication that he had some extra training in obstetrics!

     Wow! How did I become this guy's patient?

     My doc practises as a general physician first. I think he must be very good at obstetrics and so has many patients. He's also very good at looking after an elderly man. He's bright, knows his stuff and is a good communicator.

     However, I did wonder for a little while how I got to have a doc with training in obstetrics.

    Well, I guess this situation could only happen to me. Okay, he has  other men for patients!

EXTREME LUCK

     Sometimes you get lucky and sometimes you get extremely lucky. I got extremely lucky a week ago Sunday but didn't realize it until Saturday. No I didn't win the lottery.

     I had gone out to a viewing deck looking out over a small shallow oxbow lake. It was late afternoon. I was facing south and the bright sun was causing a big problem with trying to see things. Mainly the problem was to focus my camera. I couldn't see much on my camera. I accidentally clicked the shutter as I was trying to see what was in the viewfinder. I deleted the shot. I fussed around some more. About 300 meters out I saw white birds and was sure they were gulls. I tried to get a good look at them with the zoom but gave up.

    So Saturday I had more pictures and downloaded them. What's this? A picture of the lake? How did that happen? So I guess I accidentally hit the shutter again. This time I got a good shot of the lake ...or at least I think it's a good shot. I didn't see this in my camera and didn't see it as I was looking for some birds on the lake.

    I was on the second floor of the viewing deck. It makes me feel as if I'm coming in for a landing on a float plane. I have very calm water for a landing.

DO YOU SAY HELLO TO PEOPLE YOU DON'T KNOW?

    Saying hello to people you don't know brings all kinds of questions, but does it have a purpose in our  society?

    Saying hello to strangers is regulated to some degree by cultural customs. Some cultures have hard and fast rules about when and how you greet a stranger. Here we have different customs depending on what part of North America we live in. It also depends on whether you live in a large urban area or smaller cities and rural areas. The location and situation you are in also dictates whether you greet strangers. 

    In larger cities people stare ahead and try to get where they're going as fast as possible. They behave as if you weren't on the street. In some areas safety is an issue. We don't know if someone will take offense to our greeting. Some people seem want to be protected in their own space.

    When I ride my bike on the trails I say hello to everybody I meet. Most people return my greeting. The odd one ignores my greeting. When I'm in the mall or a large store I don't greet anybody. Today I took nine birders on a 5 km (3 mi) trail. There were many other walkers. All of us greeted one another and quite a few conversations took place. It was pleasant to talk to strangers. Some were interested in what we were doing.

    Now I happen to think there is value in greeting one another. It affirms our existence. It must be difficult to go about your daily business and be ignored by people. We have to have some confidence to greet strangers. It's a pleasure to get a positive response.

    My father loved to talk to strangers. He had many stories to tell about the interesting people he met. Being a farmer in the country he talked to anybody who was around.

    I had a strange encounter that I'll not forget for a long time. A young fellow was sitting on a bench beside the trail staring out across the small valley. I stopped because I wondered what he was looking at. I greeted him but got no reaction whatsoever. I waited. I started to wonder about the wisdom of talking to this guy. Finally he replied. I responded and it was a long time before I got a reply. I was about ready to get out of there when he offered a comment that wasn't a response. He told me that he had lived in the area as a child and knew the area well as he'd played in these woods.

. Now my ears pricked up. If you were a kid in that area , I probably taught you. The conversation now quickened, I had taught this guy about 25 years ago and knew his folks well. Why was he so sluggish in his reply. He had obviously found some very good weed and had just finished a smoke.

    So there is some risk in approaching people.

    So what do you do? Do you greet strangers? Do you talk to strangers?

    

KIDS, CELL PHONES AND SCHOOL

      Cell phones have become a huge problem in schools!

      I finished teaching in 1997. The big problem was kids wearing baseball caps in school. One of our administrators insisted kids didn't wear their caps in class. So I did my duty and made sure kids didn't wear baseball caps in class. Most kids followed the rule. If kids were wearing a cap, a discreet hand signal got the cap off. There were few protests or defiant students. Once in awhile somebody's cap returned to a head and then the cap had to be placed in a special drawer in the filing cabinet. The honor system was used and the kid picked his cap up on the way out. Many caps were forgotten so over the year I accumulated a few caps. Now there was no way to make baseball caps into a learning situation. Caps were completely a style statement.

     Okay I got of the topic. Today every kid has a cell phone. Not only do kids have cell phones but the policing of their use is a major hassle. Kids think that  every message is of crucial importance. Some parents want to be able to contact their kids at any time. Kids want to use their smart phones to look things up on the Internet. The whole issue boils down to a big headache.

     Some schools completely ban cell phones. Others let kids carry phones but are not allowed to use them. Some schools allow a certain time for cell phones.

     Then some schools use cell phones for instructional purposes. So learning activities are set up where the cell phone has to be used. 

    School policies on cell phones vary widely. Policies are vigorously defended. 

    Looking into the future doesn't give answers. We know the technology is changing rapidly.

     So for an old guy whose biggest problem was kids wearing caps to kids carrying and using cell phones is a great leap. 

    At the present time most schools don't know what to do. Technology is changing faster than most schools. Schools are going to have to make some rapid changes  to either take advantage of the technology or find some way to control cell phone use.

     What are your thoughts on cell phones in schools?

THERE'S ALWAYS A WAY TO GET RIPPED OFF !

     Now one way to get ripped off is when there is a specific plan to deliberately take advantage of you. There's always the guy who wants to make your computer run better. Just send him our pass word. There's a notice that says you won a prize and you will received it when you pay a $40.00 fee. The other way is when something is so poorly designed that it's not what it seems to be. The people have made a horrible mistake in the design.

     We  recently ran into something that was poorly designed. There was an ad in our paper for a Home Show. They advertised a coupon to get $2.00 off the admission charge. It looked like the coupon was in the ad. A careful look at the ad told you to go to a website and print off a coupon. Well, we went to the website but there was no place to copy and print a coupon. 

    So phone the beggars and ask them what's up. Where do I get my coupon for $2.00 off the admission. The micro manager talked to the person in charge of the offer. First the manager thought the coupon was in the ad. With one look she realized the coupon was not in the ad. Then she went to the website and looked and had to admit that there was no way you could copy a coupon.

    The person was very apologetic and sent two coupons to us by email.

    It's still not the end of the mess. We are seniors. The coupon was only $2.00 off for regular admission. Seniors didn't get anything off.

   Admission was $5.00 for adults and $4.00 for seniors. We're not talking about big bucks here. So the micro manager's power of deduction told her that it was a better deal to go as an adult and get the $2.00 off than to go as a senior for $4.00 admission.

    What a comedy of errors!

WEATHERED WOOD

      This is a different post for me. It's a little out of my comfort zone.

       Some of the blogs I follow participate in the fence meme. Fences make for great photography opportunities. 

       However, my favorite fences are old with weathered posts. They are also barbed wire and if possible rusty barbed wire.

       Where I was brought up the fencing on farms was barbed wire. They required a lot of maintenance. Oh how I hated "fixing fence". We'd replace rotted posts, re staple wire, join broken wires. It was hard work.

      Yesterday afternoon I was out looking for fall scenes,birds and anything else I could see. While waiting I noticed the old fence posts. I had spent much time in this location before and was aware of the old posts. Most of the wire had been picked up.

      All of a sudden I said, "Yes. Old weathered posts to photograph!"

      So here are some photos of old weathered fence posts. There are lichens of many colors in some places. One post contains a face in the wood.

HOW WELL DO YOU KNOW YOUR NEIGHBORS?

      I can predict what I will find in the comments for this post. My followers will know their neighbors well. 

      In urban areas there are places where neighbors do not know one another. People don't know the neighbor's names and some couldn't recognize a neighbor. 

     So why know your neighbors?  Neighbors are support. When we visit with people we discuss things that we share and validate what we think and who we are. We just feel more secure with a  little support.

     We need some quality social time. We are social beings and need contact with others. Networks develop and we are able to socialize with more people. 

     When neighbors know one another there is more physical security. We recognize who should be in the neighborhood and who does not belong. We cover each other's back. We know when neighbors are away and to keep an eye on their place.

     Across the street from me I know 10 out of 12 neighbors by name. One two of them are 30 plus years. The 87 year old is a feisty character and we always stop to visit.Two of them are former students. Two of them are dog walkers. So some of these people I know very well and some just to say hello to.

     On my side of the street I know 7 out of twelve neighbors.

     There's a close behind me and I know 20 of 21 of the people. I delivered papers in the close for 2 1/2 years and really got to know people well. I had many very good visits. 

     Now I don't know these people well enough that I go in their houses. I don't coffee with them. We visit on the street.

    I think it's important to know neighbors and to know more than just names. We have to share part of our lives and be willing to help those around us. This makes for a healthy neighborhood.