Recent Comments

1. 2 days ago on Drabble

   Nicely done…. :-)

2. 10 days ago on Monty

   Bacon and eggs….a day’s work for the chicken, a lifetime commitment for the pig….

3. 10 days ago on The Born Loser

   “But you know, only boring people get bored. They have to prod themselves continually in order to feel alive.”― Charles Bukowski

   I’m well into my seventh decade and I can honestly say that I have never in my life been bored, at least not for want of something to do (I’ve found some tasks pretty boring; piling lumber at the sawmill in my youth comes to mind, as does vacuuming now)…like so many others, growing up in a rural area on a farm we learned very early that even a suggestion of boredom within Mum’s earshot was quickly remedied with more chores…we spent summers outside and roaming the fields and forests with our little single-shot Sears .22, playing in the creeks or lakes…had to do morning chores, had to be home for dinner (lunch was optional) and do evening chores, but the rest of the time we were left to our own devices, which worked out so very well, at least most of the time. I reckon my parents rue the day a well meaning science teacher taught us how to make gunpowder…

   And now, retired for almost a decade, I still have yet to be bored…the ‘to do’ lists, both fun and chores, keeps getting longer and longer despite our best efforts. I reckon I’d have to live another forty years to get caught up.

   One sad of sign of boredom I see in some others around me…I’ll be the first to say that I had a great career (actually two of them) and loved every minute I was at work, even if sometimes it was sad and tragic…for the most part I got to be an eight-year-old every day. But when it was time to go, it was time to go, and I never looked back…but so many lads and lasses I worked with, and other folks in other jobs as well, it seems that all they can talk about is the ‘good ole days’ when they were working, reliving and re-telling their adventures…t seems, sadly, that the high point in their lives, the time when they felt the most alive and important and valued, was when they were working and by extension, they find retired life…boring.

4. 15 days ago on B.C.

   Leading to those famous (sometimes) last words….“well, hell, that didn’t work out how I planned….”

5. 17 days ago on Red and Rover

   I am with the “don’t ever stand behind an elephant under any circumstances. Ever” crowd

   I just got back from a truly grand adventure, spent many days bouncing around in the back of an elderly Landcruiser learning about the critters that call The Great Plain home, with one of the major players being…elephants

   I grew up on a farm, so piles of various types of dung are not foreign to me, but it did take me a beat to suss out what those wheelbarrow sized lumps were dotting the landscape.

   I mean, iI had never previously given it much thought, but it makes sense…elephants are really big, so what they leave behind should be equal to the task. Add in that elephants do not have especially efficient digestive systems – they ‘waste’ something like 40% of what they eat, which in turn supports a score of other critters, part of that vital interconnected ecosystem – and I am back to my assertion that the back end of any pachyderm is probably not its most desirable feature…

6. 17 days ago on Red and Rover

   I too lament the loss of courtesy and respect when we deal with others…I grew up in the same era as some of the other folks with significant life experience and teachers were “Sir” or “Ma’am”, as were most adults, especially police officers, members of the clergy, the cashier at Safeway et al, anyone who was who was helping you…

   Different world today, alas…

   And my TV science education came from Lost in Space, Land of the Giants and, of course, Star Trek

7. 17 days ago on Red and Rover

   Oy, there is one I can relate to…The Brady Bunch hit the screen about the same time as my adolescent hormones hit the roof and Marcia Brady was far cuter than any girl at school….

8. 17 days ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   Yup, you are spot on…Calvin and Hobbes is a whole lot like real life as a kid.

   Kids ARE mean sometimes, parents make mistakes, fantasy and play are healthy…and tender moments like this are just as real.

   Catching up on last week’s arc with the runaway car….that was, uh, me. I had been watching my Da drive his elderly VW station wagen for years, had actually ‘driven’ myself (we lived in a rural area, it was the 60’s, and I’d sit on his lap and steer once we got off the highway) and knew how to release the park brake and take it out of gear. I thought our driveway had a bit of a slope, but when the car didn’t immediately accelerate to the desired 40 mph I abandoned my quest…and neglected to put it back in gear.

   I was relatively lucky. No ravine, just the neighbour’s drive across the gravel road, and physics were on my side…the car stopped perfectly, looked like it had been parked there intentionally. I rather hoped that my Da would think he had a brain fart and parked it there, but, alas, no such luck. When I got married some decades later Dad used this adventure – as one of several – to warn my new wife what she was up against…glad he had a sense of humour; her as well.

   And Hobbes’ friendship…I didn’t have a tiger, I had a stuffed monkey, an ugly brute crafted in the 50’s that would give Stephen King pause, but I loved him dearly and he was my partner in crime…he was wiser, cuz he was a couple years older than I was (inherited from a neighbour whose kids had outgrown him). And more than six decades later, I still have him. We still chat sometimes, but only when my wife isn’t around…pretty sure she wouldn’t understand.

9. 17 days ago on Calvin and Hobbes

   I’m pretty sure there was an argument just like this in Ottawa after our last election…

10. 18 days ago on B.C.

    ….take one look at The Great White North to see that this is true….sigh.