Yippee-yi-ay, yippee-yi-o
By Chuck Wiser, I write the words to share what my eyes see and my heart feels
As I began this issue of my Wramblings and was affixing the title, I wrote “Ghost Writers” even though that’s not applicable to this writing. However, when I wrote that, my mind heard the term “Ghost Riders” and the song “Ghost Riders in the Sky” popped into my head and now I can’t get it out.
The song “(Ghost) Riders in the Sky” was written by Stan Jones but has been sung by numerous artists, most famously by Johnny Cash, Vaughn Monroe, and Burl Ives. While Stan Jones wrote and recorded the original version in the late 1940s, Vaughn Monroe’s 1949 recording reached No. 1 on the Billboard charts, and Johnny Cash’s 1979 version is also one of the most popular.
The artist who sang it when it caught my attention was Johnny Cash, one of my all-time favorite singers. I often, when singing a song, will emulate his voicing (poorly) and sing the song in that resounding bass voice.
The term Ghost Reader came to me as a masked identity of a reader who scared the “bejesus” out of me the other day. As this person told me how much they liked and appreciated my Wramblings, I asked for permission to mention them. I was allowed in no way to identify this person in my writing. This person startled me the other day when I was on an unnamed sidewalk, in an unnamed city looking at unnamed objects, totally concentrating on them. As the person passed behind me, they said hello, which is what startled me out of the reverie of something beside the sidewalk that I was reading.
The word or term “bejesus” is an alteration of the oath “by Jesus” and is used as an interjection to express surprise, anger, or other strong emotions. It first appeared as a single word around 1905–1910, but the phrase “by Jesus” in a similar dialectical form existed as far back as 1825.
Any time I use a word like “bejesus,” as I did above, I am a little leery that I am being, or have used a term that is, offensive to devoted Christian readers. The term is a colloquialism often used, most likely only by “old farts” like me. Therefore, if I have offended your devout beliefs, then I apologize.
My grammar groan offering is my misinterpretation of the word alteration used in the “paragraphical” definition above, substituting it in my “mind’s eye” as the word alliteration. An alliteration is the occurrence of the same letter or sound at the beginning of adjacent or closely connected words. The “Funken-Wagnell” (my warped dictionary source) definition of the definition uses the example of an alliteration of “sweet birds sang.” My favorite example is “Let us Pray.” It’s hard to enunciate carefully enough to avoid it sounding like you are saying “set us spray.” I hear this one most often as it is commonly used in a church service and I chuckle internally every time I hear it.
I am beginning to “despise” a recently trending update to an early 70’s development that is overtaking us, in a computerization now more commonly known than when I first encountered it, and actually taught it, in its infancy.
Artificial Intelligence, as powerful and helpful as it can be, is now scaring the hell out of me. “Auto-defect” is my word for “auto-correct” used in word document generation. Perhaps more troublesome is “auto suggest.” This includes suggestions, and sometimes automatically inserted suggestions of words that might follow or replace those that I have used. If you just watch the keyboard instead of the screen as you type, changes can be, and sometimes are, made to your intended writing. I need to scrutinize my Wrambling writing’s more carefully as spellings, words, or terms, are often changed to something other than what I write. The changes often now occur not as a suggested correction but rather are just an interpretation of what it thought I meant to say. I am an assassin of the English language, which is something that I dearly love, and Autodefect, and auto-suggest can’t seem to keep up with the intentionally modified or substituted word or phrase. I have now corrected some of those modifications already in this writing.
Suggested alternatives and corrections are usually high-lited by a “red underlining” or “blue underlining” as suggestions.
A person who I would like to name, and can do so, is Kathy Parmentier,Ticket Office Manager & Stewardship Coordinator, at Saint Bonaventure. (Bonnies) I encountered her upon entrance to a previous Bonnies game when I was asking around about giving a shout out to the Bonnies. Having given her my email address, she emailed me the information that I needed. More recently I read about an upcoming basketball game honoring Service Members, and which happens to be playing tonight. When I advised my desire to attend the game she promptly offered to send, and then followed up by sending, a ticket to tonight’s game.
St. Bonaventure University will hold its Salute to Service Night for the men’s basketball team on Thursday, November 20, 2025, against Robert Morris at 6:00 PM. The event will honor military personnel, first responders, and healthcare workers with free admission. The first 100 service members will receive a free T-shirt.
Note 1: I was tempted to leave the time off the above notice so as to allow me the opportunity to be one of the first 100 Attendees 😉. Note 2: I entered this event as a copy/paste but oddly, when I found it via Google Search it was written in past tense despite not yet having occurred. I apologize ahead of time if I missed a past versus present tense editing. Note 3: AI changed the word “event”, 3 lines up, to “even” without my knowledge or permission. I changed it back.
I received several emails and Facebook “shout outs” regarding last week’s Wrambling wherein I mentioned the County Route South (and North) Bridge Out notification. I wasn’t the only person confused or misled by the awkward (to say the least) signage. More recently, the other day as I turned right off County route 9 (Knights Creek Road) onto what is officially, or technically County Route 31West, I noticed a sign that proclaimed that there was a Bridge closing 8 miles ahead. All well and dandy but, the Back River Road, where I live, was also straight ahead of the “Bridge Out” notice sign, within mere yards of the sign. No distinction as to which route it meant.
Another Grammar Groan. A couple of paragraphs above, I used the conversational term “so as to.” Apparently, this is a faux pas as I always get warned that it should say “must” instead of my choice of words. This isn’t a business document so standard language terminology should rule.
Word processing language choices should include one called “Colloquial Conversational Language” so that friendly, informal, article writing like my Wramblings would get a pass on those strict language correction suggestions.
Today is what some would refer to as a “Two-Fer.” That designation now refers to the fact that today I will have the pleasure of witnessing two separate sporting activities, both of which I share an affection. Oddly enough, as I believe I mentioned last week, both of these “Favorites” have roughly the same starting point in my involvement, that being 1960. My love for the Bonnies, and love-hate relationship with the Buffalo Bills goes back to that year. At 6 PM This evening the Bonnies will play “Robert Morris University, from Pittsburgh, PA and the Buffalo Bills will take on the Houston Texans at 8:15. I hope I have enough time to get home from Olean/Allegany in time to catch the whole Bills game. I have some Walmart and Staples shopping to do today so I will go early and probably have time to kill before the Bonnies game.
At this point I had not even looked at my “Intended Topics” notebook for this Wrambling. I guess I’d better do that. This may turn into a 5 page document if the items on the list are “hot topics” that need immediate mention. Well, I just checked and I had nothing entered. Time to flip back and see what got left behind in previous weeks. I often do that…leave behind, and look back.
One item includes a slight rant at those who share the roadway and drive in such as way as to, at the least, cause small panic and head scratching. Often, as I’m driving down a straight stretch of road with a connecting side road, a car will come down that side road which has a stop sign. The invading motorists often will not stop behind the sign, but rather will slow almost to a stop, but “crepe” out into the road intended to turn on. Never 100% sure that the entering driver is aware of an approaching vehicle, I apply my brakes anticipating what might be problem. These cars don’t stop behind the sign but actually begin their turn onto your road, usually before stopping. I say “usually” as they often will try to beat you, or are in so much of a hurry that they literally “crowd in,” ahead of you. To a lesser extent, sidewalk walkers will often sneak out into a crosswalk at a “lighted intersection” despite you having the green light and you aren’t sure if they are going to stop.
One driving habit, more likely practiced by “elderly” drivers, will be to stop at the green light to allow walkers to cross at the cross walk. They in their own right are more dangerous. I won’t even get into the “much loved” (or hated) Roundabouts where drivers in the circle, with the right of way, will stop to allow a vehicles entrance coming from an intersecting street.
I am finally approaching the conclusion and accompanying sanity that will prevail after I finally get all of my financial problems fixed. Recent checking accounts hacking, and getting the attached “rectification” straightened out has taxed my patience, and ease of mind.
I believe I was remiss in failing to mention this year’s Veterans Day. At the end of this Wrambling I will share a poem I wrote several years ago thanking those who supported us in our service. Sure, we served, but there were many left at home that loved us, cared for us, and supported us no matter at what time, or how much involved our service career was. We all did our duty, and you, who were behind us, did your duty as well.
I have reached the end of this Wrambling so If you have any comments, questions or concerns please reach out to me, as many have done recently and to whom I am most grateful, and send me an email at IM.Wiserdad@gmail.com
