Grandma Might Have Been Right

It was always with plentiful grains of doubt with which I listened to some of the things that rolled off my grandma's tongue.  Those things about how you'll get a cold in your neck if a breeze through an open window in the car should blow against it.  How garbage juice and muck stuck to the bottom of a garbage can turned into maggots.  How she could tell it was going to rain by the aches and pains in her body.

It's that last one that she might have been right about.  My "bad knee" has been aching like a rotten tooth since yesterday when our weather took a decided turn for the worse with on and off rain that's supposed to be continuing through the next four days.  Although I have a handicap license plate on my scooter, there are days like today when even the walk from a designated parking space to the entrance of a store is a new exercise in pain.  That's when I tend to park like this right beside the building itself.  Although I see lots of riders doing the same thing, particularly the crotch rocket guys, I still tend to think of it as a jackass move and don't do it too often.

I suppose I didn't really need to go out this morning, but with a brief stop in the rain and my hankering for a bowl of chili for lunch I checked the local radar forecast and headed to the supermarket that I thought stocked my favorite brand.  I entered the store around aisle 1 and was directed to aisle 12 at the other end of the seeming mile long front end to find the canned chili. (Yes, I can make a great pot from scratch, but I didn't have the time to do that to satisfy my immediate taste for some of the stuff.)  I settled on their house brand to save twenty cents on the can, quickly completed my purchase and headed out to beat the return of the raindrops while I still could.

Paul, this photo's for you.  One of my former students got me this magnetic bumper sticker that I've had on the crate on the back of the scooter for a few years now.  Although I'm sure there's not always a Christian behind me when I'm out riding, I'm sure everybody gets the point to leave a little room.

If you really looked at the junk in the crate in the picture above, you'll have seen my red cane sticking out on either side of it.  I've taken to carrying it with me when I go out, most of the time.  On a day like today, though, I parked right behind the rows of shopping carts near the entrance so I was only a few steps away from grabbing one to use as a walker on wheels.

As I rode out of the lot with my chili, in the distance I could hear the plaintive wail of the horns atop the Luzerne and Susquehanna train engine that often works through the valley making numbers of short stops to drop off freight and pick up empty cars.  From experience I had a good guess as to where the engine might have been and rode off in that direction.  When I got to the parking lot adjacent to the tracks, it was waiting before crossing the right of way and I was just in time to get the camera out of its case on my belt.

 

 If this attempt at uploading the video works, here's the train crossing Butler St. in Wilkes-Barre, PA.

The sky was getting ever darker since I'd left the house so after watching the short train make it through the at grade crossing I thought it best to head back home.

I got the chili into the microwave, grabbed a magazine and the box of crackers, and then headed to the deck just as soon as the chili was sufficiently warmed.  I'd eaten only a few bites before I felt the first plops of rain arriving in time to warn me that many more were coming; back into the house I went.

I didn't allow the tiny disappointment of not being able to finish my lunch outdoors get to me, but instead I counted my blessings.  In spite of the ache in my knee and the bad weather I was able to get in a nice ride and to see a train.  All in all, not a bad high spot at all to a gray, otherwise ordinary day!

The Attention Span of a Dog

I discovered some time ago that my attention span isn't what it used to be, especially when it comes to reading non-fiction.  While Facebook links to many news articles, when I follow such a link it seems that these days I'm expecting a summary of something rather than a full length article that drones on and on with details.  I find myself with growing impatience closing out of half-read web links when they extend past what I consider a reasonable ending, much as I tune out a homily on a Sunday when the priest seems to be enjoying the sound of his own voice long past what could and should have been a good ending point only to repeat in different words something that he already hammered home a half dozen times.  At such times I'm glad to be seated beside close relatives who will give me a well placed elbow to the ribs should they hear a snore coming out of me.

While reading used to be something I loved to do,
I'm more of a book-end these days than a book worm.

Much to my horror I've discovered that I am much more in tune with Facebook memes and single declarative sentences than I am with full news articles.  It seems that we are being bombarded with news articles as of late that are more or less reiterations of the same old topics with which the liberal media choose to assail us.  As such, I'm just sick and tired of flipping the same coin over and over in hopes that one of the sides will miraculously be different if I give it just one more flip.  It's just not happening, and with presidential election campaigns already in full swing in some circles it's only going to get worse.  I'm already not listening to what Donald Trump and the great Hillary are saying at all because I'm just tired of them or because they're saying things I don't want to hear.

I remember English 101 in college all too well considering that I'm almost 40 years beyond it, but Mrs. Kerr drilled it into me that a good composition makes a thesis statement and then seeks to convince the reader in subsequent sections that the thesis is a sound one.

To be certain, many good writers follow just that formula when writing for news publications and the web.  Perhaps I've just grown tired of that same old format, or maybe it's that I've become sufficiently jaded so as to judge the merit of an article based on whether I already agree or disagree with its thesis.

 

One of the reasons I started this blog was because I learned over time that when I write I tend to think differently and thus make my own thoughts clearer for myself.  The ending of what I wrote above this last picture, I think, sums it all up for me.  I'm not at a point in life where I'm looking to have my beliefs challenged or wrestled with and if one is seeking to drag me from my comfort zone, I'm not going to continue reading what he writes.

I've been reading fictional stories about the Amish at times over the course of the past few months, and the profundity of their simplicity astounds me.  They simply do certain things as they do them because the means whereby they accomplish what needs to be accomplished is all laid out in their belief system.  They don't need to reinvent the wheel every time they need to raise a barn.  There's a way to do it, and anybody who has a pen and an opinion doesn't need to come along to tell them that there's a better or a different way to do it.

Maybe that's where I am in my own life.  I know what I want to know - what I need to know.  Isn't there a time when one becomes sufficiently old so as to be respected for one's wisdom?  Doesn't each of us get to a point in time when he doesn't need to consider other opinions because he just knows that his are right for him?  Pragmatic, to be certain, but I don't want to go to my grave considering varying thoughts about EVERYTHING rather than to enjoy my time attending to the things that are important to me.

I'm digging in my heels to a degree by doing what I want to do and turning a deaf ear to those who would try to even suggest that I think about this or ponder that.  Pig headed?  Maybe.  Closed minded?  To be sure.  But I've had enough of others' two cents especially when I'm not holding out my hand for it.

And so, if I don't finish reading articles in the news or on the web simply because I don't like what their authors are saying or grow bored with their saying it, so be it. 

Yes, here I am "assailing" you with my opinion in spite of all I've said.  If you made it to this sentence, thanks for reading!

Snack Time

Scooter riding can be pretty hard work (said no scooter rider ever) so when one rides hard, one needs a most excellent snack to keep his scootering skills sharp and focused.  This particular scooterist has found, through much trial and error, that perfect pick-me-up for when he finds himself nodding off at the handlebars on one of his epic rides around the block or maybe a little farther.  Okay, end of the annoying third person...

If you're lucky enough to be on the east coast or thereabouts, you might know about the Tasty Baking Company, more commonly known as Tastykake.  Their line of pies, cakes, and other sweet baked type snacks are the cream of the crop to me, and their Tasty-Klair is THE definitive most wonderful and delicious single baked product not only coming from their bakery, but from any other bakery anywhere.

 

So when I'm on one of those long, long tours (of my neighborhood) and need that extra kick in the ass to keep on moving instead of just riding back to park the scooter under the deck, it's off to a Turkey Hill convenience store or perhaps a supermarket if it's closer to where I am, to score a Tasty-Klair and a pint of chocolate milk.  The milk I'm not so picky about and will drink about anything that's come out of a cow's teat and has a little chocolate syrup stirred into it.

Another great thing about this simple snack is that it can be enjoyed just about anywhere, although I prefer to have it in style, by a table if there's one handy, or at least in a comfy chair if one can be found.  (More on that in a minute.)

Unfortunately, comfy is a relative thing.  While some skinny teen girl might find the accommodations by this table at Sheetz to be amply spacious, my belly found it to be an unusually tight fit and I fear that the day might come when the consumption of one more Tasty-Klair might make the difference between fitting here and being out of luck.

God bless the good folks at Weis's supermarket in Duryea, PA for providing this outdoor snack time furniture in the summer.  Notice there's even a coffee table there by my left knee to hold the Tasty-Klair between bites, and a parking spot right by the curb so I don't have to wander far from the scooter to plop myself into a chair that Goldilocks would call, "Just right!"

There I was this afternoon with a little time to kill when the urge for the mid afternoon Tasty-Klair and chocolate milk hit me like a ton of bricks.  While I got them both at Sheetz, I wasn't going to sit by their hot aluminum furniture that makes me have to suck in my gut to fit.  I thought for a minute about where might be a good place to find a nice chair in which to enjoy my well deserved snack.  And then it hit me...

When I was a kid the local convent had a long front porch with a rocking chair for each of the nuns who lived there, some of whom had been my teachers in elementary school.  While riding by on my bike in the evenings I'd often see and wave to the good 'sters who were rocking away as if each back and forth motion got yet another poor soul out of purgatory.  While the convent and most of the nuns are long gone, there is a place, a magical place, a most comfortable space with that same line-up of rocking chairs that the good sisters once enjoyed.  Cracker Barrel!

Okay, maybe I didn't buy my Tasty-Klair and milk there, but I didn't think anyone was going to mind me stopping by to enjoy my time with my snack on their spacious front porch, in one of their many rocking chairs.  I was right.  Not a single Cracker Barrel representative came out to ask me to kindly move myself elsewhere.  It was a very enjoyable time that I spent there without a care in the world except to make the most of the experience.  It was a delight for the senses with the various scents of the food being made on the premises, the sights and sounds of people and traffic going by, and the most delicious tastes of my snack items!

The next time you're out riding and riding all day and finding the need for something to eat and drink coming on like there might be no tomorrow, just do this.  Grab a Tasty-Klair, a little jug of chocolate milk, and head for the closest Cracker Barrel porch.  Your whole body will thank you for it.  Well, thank me, maybe, for this sage advice.