Miscellania And More Of The Same

” I got nominated for another award! Actually in the last few days I had been nominated for a couple of awards “.

-Miscellania And More Of The Same –
Google images

So ain’t that just the bee’s knees? I told everyone how I had started a couple of different blogs, way back in the olden days. No one went there and checked out my brand of drivel, back in 2011. I have learned so much since then.

Unless you are willing to walk up to every web site and kick the door in, personally announcing yourself, nobody is even going to know you exist! I know, that’s sad, but sometimes the truth is a sad thing.

So, thanks to great people, such as OM ( Jason Cushman @ Harsh Reality ) for helping us to get our compasses pointed in the right directions, we have been noticed! It’s just too bad that means we are also noticed by all of the three letter spy agencies. Yes, they hang out on WordPress, just waiting for us to screw up.

Some of those ” Grammar Nazi’s ” are from those un-named super secret agencies, and they are watching us! A lighter note about that, is they can’t spell, as they are always writing in a new made up language. That cryptic language is called ” Acronymicry “, and it hasn’t been working out too well for them, as too many translations are possible from a single acronym.

Anyway, back to the subject at hand. I was nominated for the coveted and much treasured ” Liebster Award ” again. It really sucked that, that happened again, as the nomination came from a very dear friend.

The saddest part of that was, I was described so nicely, and with such great respect for my being. I was almost ashamed of myself, reading such great things, about me! I am not vain! Shucks, I wish I could proclaim myself, as some of you sweet friends do.

Another something: Use the toolbar toggle in the WordPress editor, it helps a little, although, that damn editor still does exactly whatever it wants. Do your formatting, preview your work, save the draft, reformat your work again, adding spacing and the like. If you are saving a draft, just save it, but preview it before you publish.

Usually after I save a draft, so it doesn’t just disappear, I will reformat it, and publish without re saving. The editor will change it every time you hit save.

And Another Something: You will only get views and comments if you are willing to go out there and instigate the actions you desire. Yes, I am advocating you being an Instigator. Of course non-violence is best, but you may have to kick up a stink, to get some people to respond to you. Crying in your favorite beverage doesn’t work.

And Another other thing: When you want to give an award to someone, and don’t know if they have it already or not, I figured out how to find out, without personally asking!  Go to their search bar and type in the thing you want to find out about.  If it’s there, or a related topic, suggesting they don’t want such things will magically appear.  If the site doesn’t have that thing you were wondering about, a notice will appear, saying  ” No article found “.  That way you can keep it a secret, until the blogger looks at their stats, and sees you looked for that information!

In leaving comments, my advice, and you know what that’s worth, is be bold! Timid remarks go un-noticed. Be the instigator, make what you say stand out. If you yell the loudest, someone will come by, look at your work and probably tell you to shut the f*** up, but, there you go. You just scored another link on your site, made an impression and were finally noticed! The squeaky wheel thing….

There is so much more I wish to impart on you, but alas, I have real time issues, and real world things to attend. Please take all of this to heart, as it may be Gospel, at least WordPress Gospel, and of course have fun with this blogging thing. If you make it out to be a chore, and get all worried about how some posts aren’t keeping to your usual topics, you will probably create a fairly dull site.

All of the people out there, cruising the web, are looking for neat, new innovative and creative sites, they can enjoy. So make it fun and remember, Don’t Forget!

BTW…You may use this thread to post a comment and your link, and links to other great blogs.  Please feel free to tell others where to go, and what to do with their posts!

The Internet Affair

Am I cheating, by liking someone, and flirting on the Internet? If I have found a soul, that readily engages me, and seems to be another person I might want to know more fully, is this cheating? Some of the few regrets I have in my life, are from not following through with possible relationships.

I have nearly met a few women, that were so interesting to me, that when our eyes locked, my heart rate actually rose. We even smiled at each other, and knew there was a connection of some kind. I didn’t pursue many of those possible meetings, mostly out of fear. Fear I might not measure up to another’s expectations, based on a look.

I am not particularly handsome, or buff and only of average height at 6 feet tall. I know all of my physical flaws, and am certain many are only too obvious, upon seeing me. I don’t dress to look stunning, or to impress anyone. I dress to protect my body from all of the dangers of every day living, cuts, scrapes, bruising etc.

The fact is I have spent the better part of 40 years cultivating a scary look, to keep others at a distance, so I might remain unknown and apart from others. This strategy has worked fairly well over the years, allowing me to remain aloof and not having to be in the company of too many others. I have held on to my own self imposed privacy until recently.

I like the Internet, probably for many of the same reasons others do. The anonymity is great, as we don’t have that face to face thing, getting in the way of various interactions. We have the ability to hide what we don’t want others to see, so I am not just plain ugly here. If we are ugly or nasty in other ways, it soon becomes apparent over time, through our posts.

If I like the way you are, or at least seem to be, I will probably leave a comment on your site. I don’t try to be rude, although I do try to be interesting, so you will feel compelled to get to know who I am. I don’t lie, cheat or steal, as those things are the ultimate wrongs, but if I like you, I may flirt.

That doesn’t mean I want to be with you in any sexual, or even physical way. It means you inspire me to be more open and engaging. Is this cheating? I won’t say things to arouse you, as that isn’t cool, but I will be open and honest, and if I have any feelings toward you, I will say so. If that scares you, I am sorry.

The best part of The Internet affair, is we can be as open or shut off as we deem necessary, and we don’t have to have physical contact, allowing for a continued anonymity for everyone. Is this fair to you? Are you threatened or being misled by these statements? Can we be friends in this manner?

I invite a discussion on these questions, and hope you will be willing to answer some of them. Tell me if I have overstepped your boundaries, and I will back off.

Can You Read This Now? A Rant Rebuttal

Recently I read a post from a fellow blogger, that gave 25 reasons why he wouldn’t read some blogs. There were too many problems with a number of sites, the least of which was a black site with white writing. That was probably meant for me, as my site was that way for a long time.

Mostly it was a bitch session, but I took it to heart and thought maybe my readers were tired of straining their eyes at my place. So I rolled out the white walls, and totally ruined my widgetry. Now you can read what’s there but can’t find ” whatever you’re looking for “.

I understand if you are putting up a thousand word post, it works better for people to have it broken up into short paragraphs. Three or four sentences, maybe five if they are relatively short. That goes for all reading. You don’t want to lose someone among all those words in there, so I try to write short paragraphs.

What about this stupid font design I pulled up? Can you read me now? I am sure it won’t matter in the least, as the Word press editor will probably change this format, to something I wasn’t looking for. It always does that, you know? This font is not all that readable, but it is bold!

I never got comments remarking on the readability of the site before I changed the theme, and I suppose it’s easier for people to read when it’s black writing on a white background, but a lot of that is from our upbringing. If paper had been black when it was first manufactured, instead of tan, or gray ( papyrus, bamboo, birch bark, parchment ) people would be used to it. Then it would be normal to see white letters on a black surface.

Straying just a little, paper yellows with age and becomes brittle. Old books are falling apart due to their age. Fortunately we are in the digital age now, and digital information won’t rot, although some of the digital information is rotten!

Anyway, that fellow blogger was moaning about spelling, and I guess he had a point there, as a spell-checker could fix that. The rant about grammar was a little far reaching, when one considers many bloggers are not from America, Australia or England where English is the main written and spoken language. But then again, the Queens provinces write a different English than do us Americans.

I don’t believe translations were taken into account either, and many languages don’t translate nicely into other languages. I expect one day in the future, humanity will manage to speak and write in a universal language. Every few hundred years the contemporary languages change. Greek was the big thing for a while, and then Latin, as scholars learned the languages of the sciences.

Off topic again, I liked ” FIREFLY “, where in a future, humanity lives in another Solar System, and the language has fragmented into the two main powers of that time period. Chinese, and English. That was a great idea!

Colors, banner ads, and other distractions. That blogger said he wouldn’t read a blog if there were two many bright colors, or there were large banners, and ads all over the site. Maybe I’ll have to get some of those. I suspect he wouldn’t like the GIF’s out there either, although he didn’t really specify.

I think he mentioned the different colored texts for every other word, so look out, as he won’t read your blog either. That fellow blogger forgot to mention the sites where you need a magnifying glass to see the text. The Word press editor seems to defeat me on that score. I will write in large bold fonts only to hit publish and have the post come out in calibri 11, and spaced at 1.15, so I don’t know how to deal with that.

Wow, guess what? ( sorta off topic ) I just discovered the ” toolbar toggle ” and I’ll bet if I use that, I can get my words big enough, for you see them from another state! I am going to try that, in a few minutes if I decide this is worth the effort to post.

I think the rest of that rant was about boring, or revamped same old posts, he had seen everywhere. I guess not all that many people are very original. Everything is built up, from a lesser model, or rearranged from a model already out there. Very few ideas are truly original. If they were, the one’s with that original idea are now rich, and certainly not blogging.

I do have to admit, that fellow blogger did make a few points that even I can agree with. I won’t read a blog that spouts a bunch of racist crap, or uses profanity to the extreme, with every other word describing in the foulest manner their views or deeds, I won’t stick around to read hatred, or even just plain nasty ranting.

Sometimes you have to spice a post up a bit, by calling a spade a spade, but a person doesn’t have to get so carried away with it, they drive people away. Even nice people use profanity sometimes. There is a time and a place for that, but it’s another thing to just go on and on.

That blogger didn’t like the one sentence posts either. I guess when you go to all of that effort of pushing a button, you want to satisfy yourself, and recharge with a medium length, interesting post. Now we all have to figure out what is Interesting, and define medium length. I didn’t realize blogging could be full of so many challenges.

Oh yeah, we are not supposed to moan about all of our problems either. That blogger pointed out, we all have our problems, and we should just leave them at home. No body wants to read our dirty laundry out here on the web. Actually he stated we should just sign in to Facebook, if that was all we were going to post. I hate Facebook, so I guess I’ll just have to quit blogging.

We were also reminded to not post our tweets, as that was usually so much drivel, so now I don’t know what to do, where to go, or how to do it. I bet if I asked that blogger, he would tell me in no uncertain terms. I am glad I have friends like that here on the Internet, to guide me and insure my presence is noticed and appreciated.

I Have A CREATIVE BLOGGER AWARD!

creative blogger award

Once again, someone had the audacity to nominate me for an award! As though I deserve it, and I am not so sure I want such honors. I don’t consider myself a Creative Blogger, as for the most part I have been posting others work.

I try to give some interesting posts, with valuable information. Or I try to put up something that will teach others things they probably didn’t realize they would like. Mostly I am a radical looking for an outlet to scream my many causes.

My interests are so varied, I never really know what to offer. What turns me on, usually doesn’t interest anyone else. I am still amazed there are over a hundred people following my site. I was never this interesting in the actual world. I guess the digital world is different.

I am supposed to present everyone with 5 random facts about me, and here I am at a loss. I have been disclosing who I am, the real me, through long-winded stories. I have been trying to categorize them as personal / worms…

That’s another can of worms. I’ve said so much, and yet so little about who I really am, and I can’t even think of 5 random facts.

Here are the rules:

1. Contact all of your nominees and notify them of their award. You can pick as many blogs as you like, but five is the minimum.
CREATIVE BLOGGER AWARD
2. Give a shout-out to the blogger that nominated you and post a link to their website.
https://butchcountry67.wordpress.com/2015/03/22/hey-now-i-just-received-another-blog-award/
Butchcountry67, you know payback is a bitch, and I know an awful lot about you now, thanks to your randoms, so remember to look over your shoulder whenever you go out. I am not bothered by going under houses, or crawling around in tight spaces, as I’ve had to do that for 30 years working all phases of construction. And I am not bothered by spiders and snakes.

Just kidding! Thanks Butch, for giving me one more opportunity to show off all my skills at being amusing and Creative! I love ya.

3. Share five random facts about yourself.

4. Display the Creative Blogger Award image above your post.

5. Pass along these rules to the nominees.

So hey you nominees, you are the lucky picks for today and I hope you are excited! You all have interesting blogs and I know you are deserving of the honor of putting a CREATIVE BLOGGER AWARD on your site. Sorry if this makes more work for you, with all of the other stuff have to deal with in your lives, but hey, you are creative and you will find a way!

Lynn k Scott
http://pinkherald.wordpress.com

andreathompson2
http://theaccidentaltexangal.wordpress.com

Victoria Iskak
http://victoriaiskak.wordpress.com

Sabrina
http://sabrinaanblog.wordpress.com

sunnysleevez
http://sunnysleevez.wordpress.com

Carole Migalka
http://carolemigalka.wordpress.com

annepm2015
http://annermurray.wordpress.com

Opher
http://opherworld.wordpress.com
5 Randoms…..
1) I am not a food person. I don’t care if I eat or not. I only eat because I have to, and if I could get nourishment from the air I would. Why you ask? I would think that was fairly obvious, but if you insist I will tell you. I think ” having to crap is disgusting “. Yes everyone has to, so we are all in the same boat!

2 ) I don’t drive other people’s cars. I am an excellent driver, with only one accident, when I was 16 years old, and that was someone else passing me. The classic example… The sun was close to setting behind me, while I was making a left turn off of a highway. My turn signal was on, and a VW came whipping past me, while I was already turning. Their rear bumper hooked my front bumper, and it pulled the tail end off of the VW. The judge said that was impossible, and the other driver was a pretty woman ( even dressed my best, I am not pretty ), so I took a fall for that. I don’t drive other’s cars because Murphy always is looking for an excuse to visit me!

3 ) I don’t borrow. Not a thing. Every time I borrow something, it turns into some nightmare or other. The lender suddenly needs it back, or are so worried their junk will get stolen, or some such. Then there is the problem, the thing I would borrow is a piece of shit, and it will break, and I have to replace it! If I could afford to buy something, I would, but since I can’t afford to buy something, I usually go without.

4 ) I have a tendency to trust people, even though I’ve been around a long time, and know too many people aren’t to be trusted. I want to believe humanity is generally good, and I don’t want to just assume everybody is really only looking out for themselves, and don’t care about me, even though I keep being proven wrong on that score.

5 ) I was single until I was 35 years old! I decided not to marry my childhood sweety. I had to prove to myself I could take care of me, before I took on the responsibilities of having a family. On May 5th 2015, I will be celebrating my 25th anniversary! My wife let me know a long time ago, this would be a permanent arrangement, as I was too hard to train!

So that was my five randoms, and I hope it made everyone’s day.

 

Dear WordPress Support

I don’t know what exactly is going on with OM’s blog or the troubles he’s having, but I had thought I was following people, and they were following me as well, only to find I had to re-follow. I will send Jason an email and see what is going on. I recommend everyone re-blog this as a protest, or at least to make a point , and act as a statement! I know that may seem like biting the hand that feeds us, but sometimes speaking up is more important, than the consequences they bring.

Men on the Bus, vol. 1

http://www.dailymail.co.uk

 

For everyone that missed this, here is a special treat. The writing on this post is fantastic. I was going to re-blog this when I first read it, but I figured I would let rest for a few days. Some of you may have seen this already, but I’m sure many of you are ready for a truly good read.

The Car part 2

 

1995 Geo Metro

” Bill just gave my keys to someone I don’t know! I thought we were
getting along just fine. That’s always the way of things though. I
treated Bill and the family right, didn’t break, unless it was absolutely
necessary, and then it was only a small thing. I wasn’t really broken,
just had a couple of loose connections”.

Bill was always able to figure out what I needed, but today he up and
gave me away! I don’t understand these people sometimes. The
worst part of this whole deal is this new guy, who now has my keys,
also has dogs! Not the little cute, fit in a pocket type dogs, but huge
hundred pounders. Maybe one might be tolerable, two would be
stretching things, but three?”.

Three huge dogs that take up all of the room in my back seat. They are so big, they can’t even lay down at the same time. And the extra weight! I’m sure the combined weight is about 350 pounds, and I’m not used to any of this. I have been known to allow a dog a ride on occasion, but this new guy takes those huge, furry, slobbering animals everywhere! I really do hate dogs. Nasty beasts, always licking their crotches, and shedding fur constantly!”.

So as a faithful rig (that’s what the guy calls me, a rig ) I keep myself in control, and pretend dogs are alright, even though I would rather have normal passengers like people. The worst part about having to accept the dog thing is I don’t get any say, not one word as to what my preferences are. It’s like my feelings don’t matter. The guy acts like me hauling, big, hairy,crotch licking, overweight dogs is my driving ambition”.

” At least there is one thing I don’t mind about this whole new guy affair, and that is the country. This guy and his wife and the God awful, overweight dogs, live somewhere outside of the city, in the mountains. Even though I’m not big powerful car, with a super powerful V8 engine, I really do love the country. I don’t have to fight with all of those newer cars all vying for position on the roadways”.

” Another thing I like, even though I would never admit it to the guy, is he only drives me into big town about once a month, and to the little town, every couple of weeks. That allows me to rest somewhat. It’s not that I hate going places, but this guy lives way up a mountain, and it’s uphill all of the way. And, it’s a crappy dirt and rock trail he drives me up. Not like the perfect gravel I was so at home on”.

” I will have to admit, the guy with those damn dogs drives me nicely. He has a way of letting me feel like I have control rolling down the roads and trails he uses. He must look way out in front of me when he’s driving, because I hardly ever have to come to a stop so fast that it hurts my soft parts. It’s like he watches out for me, and that is kinda nice”.

” I still don’t understand why Bill gave me away. It’s frustrating, you know? A car gets in the habit of being with a particular driver, knowing what is expected, and knowing the way to go. This new guy doesn’t treat me wrong or anything, but I was with Bill for 18 years, and that is like a lifetime! But, now I’ve been here with giant, fat, crotch licking dogs guy, for about 2 years, and even though I can tell he respects me, I miss my comfortable gravel and Bill”.

” Another thing that bothers me about all of this is, I was just getting used to the guy, and even not really minding having the stupid dogs always jumping in me, and messing around with my seat covers. I was getting used to this life, and was even resigned to this as my life, and then one day, the guy did the same thing Bill did! What are people’s problems that they just give their friends away? At least, I thought we were friends. I was there for him, and those frigging dogs, and he up and gave me to some girl!”.

” A girl! Can you believe that? I was always a guy’s car, and then all of a sudden, without any warning, I am suddenly a girl’s car! People are truly strange, you know what I mean? I was getting along with the guy, and the dogs, and the nasty trail the guy pretends is a road, and he gives me away to a girl! Now I’ll have to try to get along with her, and she doesn’t know diddly squat about cars, let alone me and my quirks. How could she? Girls don’t know about stuff like that!”.

” I realize I have to accept these things, and can’t pout or act up, because I know other cars have been scrapped for doing stuff like that. But it just ain’t fair, not one little bit. I did overhear a conversation about this change of circumstance for me. I don’t know if I agree with the reasoning, but, apparently the guy and dogs, only used me on occasion, like I said earlier, and this girl ( I don’t think I like them very much ) needed me for a 50 mile each way commute”.

” This would happen on a daily basis! No more, once a month to the big town, every two weeks to the little town stuff. Now I was going to have to move down the road every day. At least this would be on a paved surface. I don’t miss the dirt and rock trail, not one bit. It still bothers me that the girl is my driver though. I’m just not that kind of rig. See? I still think I’m that guy’s rig, and am not thinking right, any more. I just don’t know what is to become of me. Maybe someday I’ll figure all of this out. At least I hope I do, I don’t like all of this suspension!”.

Ghost dad LOL

Here is another great post I came across. World meet Very Bangled, using the dark side of the force….

Very Bangled

Alanna from White Girls Be Like posted a challenge, a competition! She’s hosting a Funny Blog Friday which sounds pretty alright. Since I’m competitive, and I like to think I’m funny despite my total inability to remember punchlines, I raised my hand.

But then I started re-reading my blogs. Turns out grief, bracelets, and infertility don’t make for a rollicking good time. So here’s a collection of my worst, darkest, least funny, most painful, absolutely terrible thoughts recently. Let me welcome you to rock bottom.

-If my dad were still alive we’d probably go to the baseball game tonight.
-My dad was the only person to ask me how my day went.
-It’s getting darker earlier and soon I’ll be walking home from work in the dark. Because my dad used to be my ride home and now he is dead. And nobody asks me how my day went anymore.

View original post 311 more words

Why Am I Here?

part 1.
On October 12th of 2014, my eldest son, his wife and their two children were in a horrific car accident. My wife and I got word of that at 6:00 am. It was a Sunday morning. 3 days prior we had gone over the mountains to be in town, to visit with them.

We had a pleasant visit with all of the children. 4 of our kids live 60 miles north of Seattle Washington. (All of the kids are grown, and living their own lives). The youngest is 25 and the eldest is 38. The eldest has a family and lives in the Reno Nevada area.

6 am, bad news. The family is in a hospital in Redding California. We called around to see who could do whatever was needed, and Mrs. Squatch and I got the golden ticket. We live in the hills, basically retired. Since we didn’t have to worry about employer attitudes regarding absences, we packed what we thought we would need and headed for Redding. (More interesting tales, what to do about the place, the dogs, cat, garden, firewood, and more).

Where do I start? The obstacles? I live in a remote area. The big town, the county seat only has a population of 42,763, and it is 50 miles from my place. That’s where the Wal-Mart and McDonald’s is. The airport is one of those that can’t land anything very big,and the next closest bigger airport is 160 miles away. The North Cascade Highway was already closed that late in Oct., and the Seattle terminal was 250 miles away.

The Wenatchee airport does have a connecting flight to Seattle, where I could buy passage to Sacramento Ca. Options? I could drive to Wenatchee and catch a flight to seattle, but not on sunday. Option 2, we can Drive to Seattle and catch a flight to Sac., and rent a car, and drive 240 miles north to Redding.

We went with option 3 that I never mentioned. We decided that we could get there faster if we just drove. ( Here is where I tell you how we actually got outta the mountains, and all of the adventure a 60-year-old guy recognizes).

We arrived in Redding Monday morning, the accident had happened around 2 or 3 am, sunday. My son’s wife, and the youngest of the kids were hurt, but not needing admission to the hospital were discharged. The other two, my son and his daughter were severely injured. Broken and more, and in the I.C.U. ward.

We spent a week in Redding, and there will be tales in the telling on that. Sunday came, and our son was patched up enough to be sent home to heal. Our grand-daughter wouldn’t be released yet, and we wouldn’t be able to stay with her as ” politics”, seem to get in the way of that. ( Here’s where another adventure happens) I can’t stop it here, so I’ll answer the Question….there are too many ways of responding to why am I here.

WE, my wife and I are here in the Reno area helping family. That is one reason. I can’t even number the true answer to that. I guess you will find out more later….in the continuing saga of my journey.

350,000 Ideas And Counting

That is the approximate number of blog posts I think I might have access to. That is if I use the 35 article ideas I thought up, and write the spin-off posts that fall under sub-topics, and continue with the next generation of posts.

That next Generation would be varying perspectives, and takes of those posts. The differing perspectives might be, attitudes, politics, religious ramifications, psychological approaches, social pressures, family, friends, peer groups, national origins, and my own perspectives, like time travel.

That last is how I felt when, and how I feel now. My friend abyssbrain at https://mathemagicalsite.wordpress.com/
could probably work out just how many posts I could write, with 35 Ideas, and 10 takes on them, and 10 differing perspectives, and the ramifications, some of which I mentioned.

Anyway, it gets big fairly fast, and most of those posts won’t need me to hunt for material, except maybe pictures, music, history, and a handful of other fine points.

So with that being said ( or written ) I have a lot to tell you. Now I just hope I can keep you here to read ALL of them. I’m sure Abyssbrain could give me odds on that happening too.

So prepare yourselves for the next great journey through blogdom, and bring food and other supplies, as this might be a long ride ( or read ).

Sorry about the name-dropping, but I think that was one of the post ideas I had. That means if I don’t get sued for this post, I might mention you as well.

Thanks for putting up with my drivel, and y’all have a nice day.