Discarded PC Gadgets

I heard the story about an old Navajo Indian that was telling his two grandsons about there being to wolves in his belly and they were constantly fighting.  One wolf was evil, mean, vicious and unkind to everyone.  The other wolf was good, kind, considerate, and generous to a fault.  “But Grandpaâ€, says one kid,†which wolf wins?†   The wise old Indian replied softly:  “the one I feed.† There are days when I feed the mean wolf.  I dunno why. I don’t like him.

This past week has been really hot.  I had to trim some branches out of a few trees with an extension saw that I have.  It will reach about 15 feet up a tree and if I stand on a latter I can reach about 20 feet.  The problem I encountered was that I was sawing without safety glasses and the sawdust floated down and instead of landing on the ground, found its way into my eyes.  Normally, tears will wash stuff out of my eyes, but that did not happen this time.  The next day my eyes were bloodshot and very sensitive to sunlight.  Jerilyn boiled some water and mixed in some boric acid and has this small glass that fits over an eye.  I poured the glass about half full, placed the glass over my eye, tilted my head back and looked thru the bottom of the glass, rolling my eye to different positions.  After 3 days things were much improved.  Fortunately, we had an appointment with our eye doctor on Thursday and everything checked out fine and there was no eye damage.  I guess that is why Jerilyn is known in these parts as “Doctor Momâ€.

I booted my PC the other morning when I got up and, lo & behold, the small utility program I use to remind me of things only contained 3 of 35 reminders.   I don’t panic easily, but I do panic, and those occasions normally arise when something is wrong with my PC.  I had other plans for the day, but they were immediately put on hold until this problem was resolved.  I have been lax in doing my weekly saves and it seems I was about to pay a heavy cost for my lack of concern.  After looking for a copy of the data file for 2 hours, I decided to select a “Restore Point†created by my system and see if that would work.  In about 10 minutes, my PC reboots itself and to my amazement, there, intact, was my program with all its reminders in place and ready to guide me thru this life telling me when to turn right, turn left and go straight ahead.    I don’t think my life is complicated; I just make it that way.  I have friends who never read a newspaper, magazine or book.  They do not own a PC.  They are very sociable, get their news from their TV and seem to enjoy life every bit as much as I do.

I have several large boxes of discarded PC gadget stored upstairs and I refuse to throw them out.  As I peruse them it is almost like looking at a scrapbook, remembering when I used this or that thing and what was going on in my life at the time.   It is also a reminder of how much I have enjoyed my PC.   My day always starts with making coffee and looking at my e-mail.  It is always good to hear from old friends and close relatives.  Like all of you, I get a links, jokes, some newsletters, junk mail and a lot of just interesting stuff.   What I really enjoy though, are the e-mails that are personal communication.   I have some friends that can write the most interesting things and as I read their observations I am thinking to myself, “This person sure knows how to communicate their thoughts to othersâ€.  My son sent an e-mail to his family a few months ago about the state of his mother’s health.  It was a superb communication, containing a wealth of information about her health and a few personal observations.  I only wish I could communicate that well.  My daughter, on the other hand, only does e-mail at work and so most of our contact is an occasional phone call.

Jerilyn and I went to the local “rock†company yesterday and picked up two that she had previously selected.  Together, their weight was 1200 lbs.  They charge $120 to deliver, so we decided to bring it home ourselves.  I have a trailer that carries 1500 lbs, but the tires were rated to carry 560 lbs. at 60 psi.  Needless to say, I was concerned.  Fortunately, we arrived home without incident, used the ramps I made a month ago (you may remember them from a previous WOW), and pulled into the yard.  The next chore was to transfer the trailer from the truck to my lawn tractor and head for the back yard and the location down by the canal that Jerilyn has chosen to place them.  I knew this would be the most dangerous part of our adventure.  Our trailer will dump, so the next chore was to use a hydraulic jack and tilt the bed so the rocks would slide with a little assistance from us.  Within an hour, the rocks were in place and the job was complete.  Not quite Stonehenge, but an engaging task for us.  I’m just glad it was accomplished safely.

This past Saturday night Jerilyn and I were returning home (with friends Don & Louise) from a country music show about an hour’s trip away in a rural area.  It was approaching midnight and we were in the left lane of a dual highway with several cars from the show in our vicinity.  Just as we rounded a curve, Don noticed a car coming our way, in our lane, obviously going the wrong way.  Don immediately moved over to the left lane (fortunately, no one was there) and flashed his lights at the car as it passed us and the others in our group.  We knew there were many people from the show behind us.  We thought about calling 911, but that far out in the country, whatever was going to happen would happen before police arrived.  Somehow, the person driving that car must have realized they were going the wrong way and stopped for I have not read or heard of any accident in that area.  I do know that if we had met that car just 30 seconds earlier in the curve, none of us would have survived for we were traveling 60 mph and the other car’s speed was about the same.  Repeat after me: “God is good, all the timeâ€.  Amen!

I hope you’re enjoying your summer, or whatever season it is in your part of the world.  For me, I’m just thankful

to be able to send this letter to you.  Until next time.

Tommy

“What a wonderful life I’ve had! I only wish I’d realized it sooner.”

Collette