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I love this photo... it says .......Pondering....... all over it.
Photographer is Ralph Rankin.
Met him at the art festival last weekend.
He also does some wonderful work in pottery.
Maybe we should have a caption contest? Huh? Yeah?
Leave your ideas in the comments. Somehow we or I
will pick a winner. I'll even give a prize to the winner.
Let's do it!
UPDATE: Get all your captions in by 10 pm Tuesday.
I'll figure out some voting thing so a winner can be
picked.
Sparrow will be tallying the votes in her haiku
contest at 10 pm tonight.
my entry:
Still here, still breathing.
Awake enough to know how
blessed my life is still.
The winner gets a care package sent, in their name,
to one of our soldiers serving in harm's way.
Sgt. Hook has posted... he is on his way home,
after fifteen months in Iraq! Wish him well.
Sparrow's haiku topic for the week is:
THANKSGIVING. Let her know what the
day means to you. Deadline 10 pm tonight.
Today, I give special thanks for all of my
family and friends, my life thus far and the
confidence that our beautiful country will
find the good path so that we all may continue
to be blessed with a life unlike any other
on the planet.
Thank you all for blessing me with your
friendship and love.
Happy Thanksgiving!
Sunday morning I headed west to meet a
friend at an outdoor art festival.
Around here, it's a good idea to stay alert for
critters that might wander from the woods to
the edge of the road. Deer, gators, bears and such.
The only deer I saw was a small white-tail lying
dead in the weeds. Poor thing.
The deep ditch was about half full of water but I
saw no signs of gators. This time.
I did see a wild turkey strutting his stuff but he was
heading back to the woods, so no worries there.
About a quarter mile past the turkey I spotted something.
It was an upside-down turtle, about the size of a big
salad bowl, and his stubby legs were spinning
like propellers.
He was trying to right himself but he had nothing to
brace against and all he was succeeding in doing was
miring himself deeper into the sand. He couldn't even
get a good rocking motion going to roll over.
That turtle was going to be stuck there, upside down
forever, unless someone flipped him over.
I hit my turn signal, eased off the pavement and stopped.
I'd had no prior dealings with big turtles. Well, except
for the time one dug under the fence and made a hole
about three feet deep in the front yard...but, that's another
story for another time, perhaps.
So... I got out of the car and walked slowly toward the
panicky reptilian critter... while keeping alert for snakes.
I hate snakes.
The turtle's head was pointed toward the edge of the road,
so I'm thinking that I should spin him around before I
roll him over so he doesn't trot onto the asphalt and
get splattered by the traffic zipping by at 60 mph.
That would suck. Especially for him.
How did I know the turtle was a him?
I was about six feet away when I saw his head and
all four feet disappear......ssshhhhwoooooppp.
Sucked 'em right into his shell. Gone.
And then, I saw it.
His skinny, pink penis was protruding from, well,
where most pink penises are expected to be
protruding from. (Looka dat. Did I manage to get a
dangling participle and a preposition on the end of
that sentence? Whatever. Could it be I just invented
the 'dangling penis-ciple' ?)
Now I am in a bit of a conundrum you see, because I
have nothing to touch him with. How am I going to
move him?
I'm not going to put my foot where his head can pop
out and clamp on my toe. That leaves the other end.
The dangling penis-ciple end.
OK, I think to myself, do it quickly.
Boomp! Spin. Dammit. Not enough.
Again. Boomp! Spin. Success!
Only now, the little pink penis is flapping back and
forth like a metronome. Flap Flap Flap Flap.
The bugger is waving at me.
I put my foot on the side of his shell and push to get
him rocking a bit. He's surprisingly heavy.
Rock Rock Rock, Push! Foomppp. It's done. Yay.
He just lays there on his belly. No head, no legs.
I wait.
I back up.
I back up farther.
Finally, the head and appendages begin to protrude.
He stands up, looks around a bit, and I cannot help
but notice... the penis-ciple is still dangling.
Dragging in the sand. He stops.
He stretches his hind legs to raise his back end and
the skinny pink penis slowwwwwwwly returns to its
hiding place. Then he ambles so very casually toward
the ditch.
That's it, fella. You are on your own.
I get back in my car and make my way to the art show.
It was a great art show.
Not one penis on display, however.
Sometimes, I ponder too much and scare myself.
I spent a few hours catching up on my blog reading.
I'd been kinda feeling a little sorry for my stupid self.
Not so much now.
Just in my small corner of our blogosphere, I am
reminded that way too many good people are dealing
with nasty medical treatments, disabling diseases,
post-surgical recovery, surgeries in their future,
family and friends away from home facing dangers
while serving in the military, financial crises, jobs
in danger, currently unemployed... on and on and on.
Do you ever think that we are one big mistake?
I mean all of us, homo sapiens, in general.
Could we be rejects from another galaxy?
The trash of the universe and beyond?
What would this planet be like without us?
We are basically greedy and destructive.
What have we done to make our home better?
No, I am not a tree-hugging hippy.
I simply do not understand the huge amount of misery
that continues to grow exponentially, with no
end in sight.
Isn't our government in a multi-gazillion dollar deficit?
How can they keep writing checks for grossly huge
amounts of money to give to the already grossly rich
and why do those checks not bounce?
Where does the money for those checks come from?
They can't be getting it from my account. Trust me.
Besides, if I wrote a check from my account when it
was in a deficit state, I would then be charged more
money as a punishment for daring to do such.
Am I stupid? (Don't answer that too harshly, please.)
I have a friend who is an owner/partner in a
manufacturing company. 40% of their business is
supplying to the U.S. automotive industry.
My friend's business was the low bid on a recent
contract for a much-touted new vehicle.
They did not get the contract because that particular
U.S. auto-maker is taking a chunk of bail-out money
to Korea for production. Out. Of. The. Country.
One of my brothers works for Dana Corp.
They are another huge supplier for the automotive
industry. My brother told me that his facility has
been laying off production workers every week for the
past six weeks. He is, not surprisingly, concerned
about his own job and his family's future.
Hundreds of teachers in Florida got laid off this year.
A friend in Kingston, N.Y. (retired from the Postal Service
after 33 years) said the Postal Service is looking at
laying off 16,000 employees. First time in its history.
And, answer me this... WHY do so many people
act like the economic sonovabitch crisis just
started happening YESTERGODDAMNDAY???
Anyone who has been reading my sorry excuse
of a blog for more than a year (wonders never cease),
know that the manufacturing company I work for
has been going through turmoil for a long time.
Last November 30th was the first lay-off in the current
economic downslide. Then, again, in early February
of this year. Then... we all worked 32 hour weeks this
summer.
We went back to forty hours a week in September.
Our biggest customer is a major manufacturer in the
...wait for it... COMPUTER CHIP INDUSTRY.
My department welds for the aerospace and oil industries.
Not enough to make up for the other dickwad department
or our company's owners who have wet dreams about
sending even more of our work to their lovely facility in
SINGAPORE. Where our biggest customer (the computer chip
dickwads) are opening their very own NEW FACILITY.
Out. Of. The. Country.
My employer has never ever ever announced ahead
of time their decision to lay off more employees.
Until this week.
First, they are extending the Thanksgiving holiday,
meaning a short paycheck unless we want to borrow
from vacation time accrued for next year. No thanks.
Same thing for Christmas. Happy New Year.
The lay-off will be sometime before December 22.
Because, ya know, we need to get LOTS of work done
for them before they can excise anyone from the
payroll. Office staff will be affected, also.
Just a little top-heavy there. Something like two or
three office people for everyone of us blue-collar schmoes.
All employees who might still be working here will
be back on the 32-hour work schedule for at least the
first quarter of the year and more than likely through
the first half. With a strong nod to another lay-off if
things don't pick up quickly next year.
Get right on that, ok?
I forgot to ask if this means the owners and investors
will forgo their usual quarterly and annual bonuses.
Yeah, right.
You are probably getting really tired of reading about
the instability of my work environment for the past
year and a half. I'm tired of writing it.
I have no idea if it will hit me this time or next or
not at all. They refused to give numbers.
I did tell one of the managers that, if it gets me, I will
take some sadistic pleasure in knowing that they will
be left with some of the laziest, sorriest, cheatingest
poorest excuse of employees in the hemisphere.
He almost chuckled.
Was that mean of me?
Small bumps on the front
of my sweater mean it's time
to turn up the heat.
I almost forgot Sparrow's contest this week!
Deadline 10 pm Wednesday.
Then go see Dr. Zeus and add a lymeric about SNOW.
UPDATE: vote for the best haiku at Sparrow's.
Deadline is 10 pm Thursday.
and made a wish.
If I tell, will it jinx it?
*
It is time, once again, to crank the ol' brain gears
for one of the best peeps on the planet.
Sparrow has chosen a most timely topic for this
week's Haiku Contest:
......MONEY............
Deadline to submit your brilliance is 10 pm Thursday.
Go forth and make change! (sarcasm, folks, sarcasm)
my entry:
Invest in yourself.
Take care of your life and loves.
Returns that sustain.
ATTENTION! ...go back to Sparrow's place to vote
for your favorite haiku for the week. Please.
...it's either walk OR chew gum.
My brain feels like a pinball machine.
Ya know...Ding!Ding!Ding!Ding!Ding!
Dozens of ideas bouncing around at the same
time and nothing reaching completion.
The new venture is progressing at a pace that
would frustrate a friggin' snail.
Supplier issues and errors mean I will probably
miss the benefit of my products being available
for this holiday season.
The venture products?
Coffee mugs, t-shirts and what I am calling 'Frame-ables'.
The details involved to get this organized and working
are what have kept me occupied. More like overwhelmed.
However, I am determined to do it and do it right.
Just wanted to touch base with those of you who keep
checking in here. I have not forgotten any of you.
I hope to have something worth posting very soon.
Breathing together
in coordinated rhythm.
Making room
without thinking.
Seeing through
each others' eyes.
Standing alone
together.
Sharing your pain.
Living your joy.
