Idle thoughts

 Idle thoughts - and I am pretty much idle.

BUMBLE BEES:  our bee situation has stayed the same (see below).  A company is coming tomorrow to remove the bees from under our small storage shed.  The bees like living under our shed.  The company vacuums them up, digs under the shed, and removes the entire bee nest.  Bumblebees don't do the honey thing.  So they remove the entire nest including the queen and babies - yes babies - and capture as many adult bees as possible.

Then, they take them out to a certain ranch, dig a hole, plant the nest, & release the bees back into the wild.  Everyone is happy except me, who has to pay for this service, and the bees that are left behind.  My daughter is our environmentalist.  She wants to save the bees.  I am a jerk.  If left alone, I probably would have sprayed the nest with poison and moved on.  I do suppose this is the right thing to do.   I should open one of those 'help me" accounts on Facebook to pay for this.

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I started making a list of things that I want and do around the house.  I only got to four.  These are things I believe are necessary.  They make life easier around my house.

1.  In the kitchen, put a pair of "Scissors in Every Drawer."  These are the big honkin' scissors that will cut through most anything.

2.  "A pair of reading glasses in Every Room - and garage."  After my cadillac (cataract) surgery, I have to put on reading glasses for anything up close.  If I carry one pair around, invariably I break them in my pocket - and back to Walmart for another pair.  Now, I have a pair:  in the kitchen, on the dining table, hanging in the garage, beside my big comfy TV chair, by this computer, in the "water closet" for when I have a major event and need something to read while I wait it out, and beside my bed.  Eventually, I'm going to put a pair in the car...eventually.   I suggest this strongly to others who are infected with my desease.

3.  "A Box of cheap Kleenex in Every Room."   I know, I know.  I should have written "tissue" instead of "Kleenex."  My wife constantly seems to want to have a running nose.  There must be a tissue available in all household locations - sometimes 2 boxes in the same room.  She has a small trash can beside her comfy girly chair to collect them.  This can must be emptied every night before bedtime, or Bella - the tissue seeking dog - will rip them to shreds overnight and carpet the floor with same.  Is it so hard to empty a trash can nightly?  Apparently.

4.  For now the 4th thing I have learned to do in my aging youth:  "Always check my wife's jean's pockets" for spent KLEENIX before putting them in the washer.  How many times have I messed this up since I began handling the wash?    Tissue paper lining the inside of the washer & maybe the dryer.  I need a vacation from retirement.

5.  I'm sure there will be a number 5.  You can add your own to the comment list if you'd like.  It would be nice to get a bit of help with this.    How about this one.  If you turn the water on in the kitchen sink AND there is one spoon in the sink - the water will always hit the spoon and splash your shirt.  Enough.

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I had one more little thought.  It has been sorta nice that my grandgirls have grown up knowing my wife and me.  Maybe we have left them some memory which they will share with their own children, my great-grands, someday.  Of course, I have noted that the grand girls seem uninterested in me telling them about my grandparents - on both sides.  Perhaps, I will live long enough for one of them to be interested.  Perhaps.  Probably not.  I had good grandparents.  Never knew my grandmother on my father's side.  She died when he was still a young boy.  My grandfather did remarry to a lady who had a daughter my age.  That's a story all to itself for a later time.

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Final thought:  I've enjoyed watching a BBC mystery drama about George Gently - a Scotland Yard detective - policeman.  It is based on a series of books written by Alan Hunter.  I've bought a couple of the books and have enjoyed reading them.  The show is 2 hours long.  It is mostly talking type stuff with little real action...like today's action police shows.  If you can find them, give em a try.  You might enjoy.

Later - I'll be back....Mtz3

bzzzzz bzzzzz

 I know, I know.   I am posting too much.

My house has a big metal shed about 20 x 40 or so.  I don't know.  We keep a bunch of junk in it WHICH  I am always planning to sort through.  Been going to do that for about 4 years.

Behind the big shed I have a smaller storage shed which holds my mower and other garden stuff.  I keep the Christmas stuff out there.  Nobody wants to steal that stuff.

So these are located on the west side of my property - about 6 to 7 feet from the 6' wood fence.  We keep this blocked off from the dogs mainly to protect the neighbors from the bark fest.  

Normally, I might mow this area about once every week or so.  Normally.  Well, it has been over a month since it was mowed.  Part of it is about 2 ft tall.  Good grass - few tall weeds - 

Today, I mowed the yard.  It is Tuesday.  The yard needed it - To start, I moved the barricade  and drove the mower down through that strip of land.    All of a sudden there was this big ole honkin' black and gold bumblebee.  25 ft along I made the U turn to go back over the area.  

WOW!!  The whole area beside the little shed was covered with flying bees.  Easily there were 100 bees flying around.  One bee found me and zoomed over my head.  I shooed it away.  I was stuck behind the sheds.  There was only one way out of the area at that time - right through the middle of those swarming bees - big bees - big fluffy vicious bees.

My daughter is home today.  I finally got through to her with my cell and explained the problem just as she rounded the edge of the shed and quickly backed up.  Yes, she found the key to the fence gate - I was able to drive out another way & the bees were still swarming.

Didja know that certain bumblebees nest in the ground?  The whole hive is below ground with an entrance hole.  They don't do the honey thing.  Every year they'll move to a new location.  There is a bee keeper who will come collect the bees with a sorta vacuum cleaner that doesn't kill - then, he digs up the big nest and relocates the bees to another area.   We read that on Google.

So, I mowed the entire yard - no problem other than heat.  I parked my mower back into the shed and was attempting to close the door when some bees found me.  I ran  into the house but not until I was stung behind my left ear and on the underside of my right forearm.  Those stings hurt and grow in pain as time passes.  

As quickly as possible, I took a Benadryl and sat down in my big chair to wait for the pain to diminish.  I learned a couple of things today.   First of all, keep all the grass mowed down and look for the bees in the grass.  2nd if you rile up a nest, leave the area and don't return for a few hours.   3rd carry a machine gun when you do decide to return.  I understand that a water hose will knock them down for a while.

Now, I have to decide.  Do I mow that part of the yard anytime soon?  Do I call someone to relocate the bees.  How much money am I willing to spend to protect these bees from my can of poison spray.

There must be other questions.   Moving on.  I am well now.  I do not have an allergy to bee stings at this time.  Y'all take care out there even when you think you are doing a safe activity.   Wear a mask, hoodie, long pants, gloves, etc.

I need a vacation from retirement.             G'night.   M3

short landline report

 as stated previously, I have been unplugging my landline for 24 hours or so.   This has cut into my spam calls and so forth.   It  seems to be working except for:

New Medicare scams.  They always have a new approach.  You can't change Medicare till the end of the year - so these folks must be looking for something else - like getting your Social Security Number -  they have a need to verify your number for the govt.  

Interesting {to me) is that my wife and I have almost identical SS numbers.  Raised in Levelland across town apparently our parents saw that we got our cards close to the same time.  I don't remember getting it at all.   Our numbers are 29 digits apart.  That may not be exciting to others who are raised in the same small town - but, still, at my age most things are exciting.

The word "Interesting" above -- I had to type that word 4 times before my fingers worked.  I kept getting extra lettteerrss.   go figure.

I was a whiz in typing class in high school.  I believe it is because I play musical instruments and had already taught my fingers to communicate.   Others, who had only taught their fingers to eat finger foods or pick their nose, they had to adjust.  I thought I was quite good of course.  However, when it came time for the typing teacher to select participants in the UIL typing contest - held in Canyon, TX - I was overlooked.  Sad, really.   On the other hand, my future wife was selected to compete in the short hand competition.  She won the Regional event.  The medal is still in her collection of prized objects.

I remember when she returned - they had a banquet up there to announce winners - she was dressed in a very fancy dress you might wear to a prom - she ran up to me and was just beaming.  I don't think she was that excited when we finalized getting married.  Of course marriage had always been a projection - nothing as a surprise.  I  was quite happy for her - but, she, in all her modest ways, she was - how do you spell estatic?

I had a job in h.s.  I was the night janitor for the h.s. band and choir rooms.  Every night, I would sweep, empty trash, arrange the chairs for the next day.   Sometimes I would even make an effort to clean the rest room.  I had my own key to the H.S.  Got paid minimum wage.   That was what I was doing when she returned from Canyon.

Having a key, I could practice in the band room  - or bring in other jazzers and have a little band rehearsal of my own.  It really was quite powerful for a H.S. kid to have a key to the entire building.  It was a good treat for a h.s. kid.  My brother JIM did it for 2 years before I did.  We had a lot of great jam sessions back then.

Through babbling.   Might mention that I loved all the fireworks and celebrations yesterday.  Our neighborhood is not in the city limits.  We have no restrictions on fireworks.  They start shooting them about 5 or so - and it goes till midnight - every year - all the time.   Whiz Bang Boom!!!

see ya, Mike  

p.s. the reason I was not selected for typing competition was that - although fast - I was not always accurate.  Y'know, if you are in a wild west shootout, it is not always the fastest gun who wins.  You have to hit your target.

 

interview

 I take a magazine called  TRUE WEST.   It is published out of Arizona.  On the whole the magazine is fun to read.  It has a combination of stories about the old west - about old & recent movies - and what I like to call:  Travel Channel.

The stories about the old west are interesting.  They are usually well done and fun to read.   The mag does dwell quite a lot on Billy the Kid and Wyatt Earp & the OK Corral.  But, you get use to that.  This last issue had an article on Sitting Bull  and another about Jim Beckwourth:  Legendary mountain man.  I enjoyed those pretty much.

The letters to the editor and general writings by the editors are fun too.  One of my favorite pages is called  "Truth Be Known."  They print things that people have said.  Example:   Wernher von Braun said, "Research is what I'm doing when I don't know what I'm doing."   Old Vaquero says, "Three things tell the truth:  small children, drunks and yoga pants."     And there are others.  Go buy a copy if you like this sorta thing.   

The movie section this time was all about Gus McCrae and Lonesome Dove.  If you're a movie buff, you'll love that section of the magazine.  I might mention that the last issue devoted several pages on the Highway 66 and its restoration to the world.

Where am I headed with this?  Wait, I forgot.  Travel section.  they talk about all sorts of places to visit, what restaurant is good, which museum to see, the history of that part of the west and on and on.

Now, on the very last page is  called:  What History has taught me.  They pick some author, historian, editor, writer, whatever and devote a page to his thoughts.  They write the start to a sentence, and the guest writer completes the sentence.  This month was Stuart Rosebrook, who I don't know and will never meet.  The sentence starts with:

I grew up .... (and now YOU complete the sentence).  Rosebrook said:    "in North Hollywood, California, but spent part of every summer at the Quarter Circle V Bar Ranch near Mayer, Arizona."   I will complete the sentence this way:   .... being moved from town to town while my father worked for a oil exploration company - Standard of Indiana - until the 6th grade when we landed in Levelland, Texas, for the rest of my years.  I could have said:   playing music on my cornet, piano, and accordion.  Both of my parents were school band directors for my younger years and playing instruments was just part of our lifestyle.  So many possible answers to that.     "loving Halloween"    "eating pork chops and black eye peas"   "in high school driving my motor scooter across Levelland to see my future wife, Brenda Joy"   

You get the idea:  So without any preplanning here, I am going to take Rosebrook's questions and answer them myself.  If you want to play along, do the same.   If you want to see Rosebrook's answers, go buy a copy of the magazine.   READY, GO!

When I was growing up ...  the world was so innocent and different.  WWII had just ended and we were catching up on what was good....playing outside till dark....roaming the neighborhood without a parent hovering (even at age 5)....having to practice 30 minutes everyday....never eating out, only home cooked meals.   It was a good time.

When I was growing up ....   Oops! it looks like I already answered that one - let's try this:  when  we took vacations it was mainly to see relatives.  When we did travel, we slept alongside the road, never in a motel.  My father didn't appreciate roadside attractions.   Lunch came when my father could find a place selling burgers 5 for a $1.    Me thinks I could answer this one several more times.k

My parents taught me .... that I could work with my hands.  I don't.  But, I could.

I just figured out this is too involved for my mind.  So, no more answers.  If you are curious, here are a few of the remaining questions:   (There are 29 total questions - my attention span has weakened)

I will never miss;   My parents' station wagon, Country music; I was taught;  A teacher who changed my life was;   always stay;  If I could to back in Time;  I love...;  What history has taught me;  being a father;   riding a horse;  Most people don't know;   For my money, the best Western is;  The biggest break I ever got was;  The closest I ever got to..;  My next big challenge is;   

 That's enough.  I'll try to say something brilliant with my next post.  .   .   sure, that'll be the day

m