By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
Writing today’s Wrambling’s will be like my wife putting together one of her puzzles from Bits and Pieces. Instead of a major theme I will revert to the “bits and pieces” as I often do. Years ago, and seemingly hundreds of puzzles ago, my wife took an interest in assembling puzzles. One of the first sources she discovered was the aforementioned company. Some will assemble the puzzle and then disassemble it and trade or share among other puzzle lovers. We coat the assembled puzzle with a gluey concoction called “Mod Podge.” To support her hobby I decided to get into the frame making business and now make frames for nearly all the puzzles. Our walls are adorned with many of the puzzles. Those not on the wall are stored beneath various pieces of furniture awaiting either a frame or a space on the wall to hang them.
The first “bit” (after that introduction) will mention area wildlife photographer Dan Jordan, who initially was introduced to the Wellsville Sun via his pictures adorning a couple of my poems, but now, is a regular, more frequent, contributor with his wildlife photographs. Dan’s primary focus is on his specialty Bald Eagles, but he does feature other feathered friends and wildlife. Dan has become somewhat of an expert on the Bald Eagles and travels nearly every day covering hundreds of miles scoping out Eagle habitat and likely locations for them. Dan hits a hot spot and then re-visits on a regular basis. Dan has made presentations featuring his owls to many local groups but is going to feature his work this week, today as a matter of fact, if you are reading this on my normal posting day, Thursday.
The Olean Public Library will be hosting an exhibit of his work for the entire month of March, and there will be a reception and “Meet The Artist” event Thursday, March 2nd from 4:30 until 6 PM. The event will be free to the public. Additional news and information on this event have been and are being published here in the Sun.
Pet Peeve #1,001. Threads in socks. I have large feet to start with and depending on shoe style I wear either a size 13 or 14. Nearly a third of the length of the foot is made up by my toes. I am not allowed to bare my feet in public lest women and children run off screaming. Most people probably don’t notice, but there are a-number-of threads that hide inside your sock just waiting for a wayward foot to find its way inside where it can entangle itself causing extreme discomfort like an itch you cannot reach. You can turn your sock inside out and cut the threads but I swear they grow back faster than nose hairs.
Computer skills are generational, or so it seems. Knowing the software isn’t really the problem, as even a duffer like me can figure out most programs, many of which aren’t as complex as some I used to use. The influx of “App World” relies on finger dexterity and a quick wit to figure out which “app” to use. For years I was proud of my typing skills having learned that in high school. Finger placement on a keyboard is no longer necessary and “Two Thumbing” a phone keypad can be done more quickly by the younger, more flexible fingers, or at least thumbs. One challenge for me has been trying to copy/paste/share one piece of information from one source on one computer to another program or destination. I can drag and drop using a split screen, but there are cases where I do have to open a second computer find the information, copy it, email it to myself and then open it in the second computer.
My latest challenge is winning an argument with the lady inside my Garmin GPS. If you do not have a rough idea of where you are going and what towns or routes you should be on the watch for you can end up in some pretty desolate (or actually dangerous) places. Mount Misery Road in New Jersey was just that.
Grammar Groans. “Used to be” versus “Used to be” is a phrase with two separate meanings but using the same words. This hammer is “used to be” able to drive a nail. This hammer “used to be” my favorite tool. You could read those sentences, or they could be read. Same word, different tense…and that makes me tense.
There was a scanner call the other day that, “I think” had to deal with a fire in a mail box. The “I think” comes about as I only heard something that sounded like that as I walked into the room where my scanner is. It might not have been exactly what I interpreted it to have been but the thought ran through my mind that there couldn’t be any more despicable vandalism than that.
The other day I saw an emergency vehicle approaching me from the opposite direction and I dutifully applied my brakes and pulled to the side of the road. As the emergency vehicle passed by me it was going, most likely, at the assigned road speed limit posted and it didn’t seem to be in an “urgent hurry”. The shoulder of the road I pulled over to was rather rough and didn’t do my tires any good. As the ambulance passed, not seemingly in an emergency situation, I wondered why they didn’t have (or use) an alternative to all lights flashing. Admittedly, they weren’t running with the siren on, but my observation has been that they normally don’t use the siren until approaching an intersection or other traffic. It seems reasonable to me that perhaps there could be a toned down version of lighting display that conveyed the message that the vehicle was on the way to a facility with a patient in need on board, but not of an urgent, “true emergency” nature. Update note to this: I took a break from writing to travel to URMC Rochester-Highland Orthopaedic Center for an appointment regarding a chronic knee replacement X3. On the return trip I crossed paths with an MTS vehicle travelling with its lights flashing. Less than a half mile down the road there was a car pulled off the road with its turn signal on. No one was in the car, but the windshield was smashed. I’m guessing Car/Deer.
Seems like it “tis the season” to once again, dump on the President. Recent events and the reaction from a large segment of the population is disturbing. Ukraine was invaded by Russia, and we responded with financial aid. “We shouldn’t have!” shout some. A “high altitude surveillance balloon” invades our air space, and we don’t immediately shoot it down, over inhabited territory, where it likely would crash to earth, with a high probability of smashing its equipment, and a lower possibility of causing damage or injury on the ground. Precautions were taken to thwart any intelligence or data gathering by the balloon. Our Military leaders recommended that we wait until the balloon was over the waters of the ocean before shooting it down. Our President agreed, followed their advice, and the result was the balloon coming down, off the coast, but in waters shallow enough for difficult, but manageable retrieval. People yelled their dislike and disagreement with how the President handled this situation.
The economy has been on an upswing. Job growth is on the upswing. Unemployment insurance payment requests tied to that are down; People have jobs and money to spend, so they are. The laws of supply and demand are in play and that is typically what fuels inflation. It’s a normal “action/reaction” event. Supply and Demand. The President did not, and does not, cause inflation, and cannot alone control it.
Our political parties are as bi-polar as you can get. I hate to imply “taking sides” but it seems to me that one party, not able to control the President’s actions, has been unusually aggressive, disrespectful, uncooperative to reach consensus, and looking for any, and every, excuse to diss him.
Regarding the Presidents age, I am of mixed feelings and opinions. I, and others around me, are nearly the same age. Is my memory perfect? Far from it. Do I have “older aged moments”? Yes, but my “much younger wife” straightens me out. Would the President, with a full staff around him to advise and guide him still be a very effective President? I think so. His mind is very active, lucid, and with good insight as to what will help to get us stronger. It would happen twice as fast with a little bi-partisan support. It’s not a Democrats win, or Republicans win situation. It is an American, “You and I” win situation. Put a viable, effective, opponent, who will serve “all of the people,” and work in a collaborative way, not just with their party but with both parties effectively up against him in 2024, and let the people decide.
On my way to Rochester today two worthy topics that I wanted to mention popped into my head. I desperately searched for something to write on knowing that I wouldn’t remember them. I couldn’t find even a scrap of paper so I repeated the two items in my head several times thinking they might imbed in my recall so I can include them.
Didn’t happen! As soon as we go to press, I’m sure the ideas will pop right back into my head. If they do, I will add them to my list for next week.
Seeing a Facebook post from a local Church group inviting attendance this past week brought to mind the “beliefs” and exercising those beliefs in many ways. Some of these differences revolve around the Bible writings extolling worship on the “Sabbath.” By definition “Sabbath” is “A day of religious observance and abstinence from work, kept by Jewish people from Friday evening to Saturday evening, and by most Christians observe it on Sunday.” By modern convention Sunday is recognized as the first day of the week. The Sabbath is recognized as the seventh day of the week. Which translates to Saturday, and thus the exercised practice on Saturday by the Seventh Day Adventists.
I’m not advocating, just pointing out a couple of things I wondered about, and as that is my mission here, I have fulfilled that and so might as well leave it at that. If you have comments, concerns, suggestions for me (as long as they are anatomically possible) please pass them along to the editor and/or me at ChuckWiser@roadrunner.com
