I would like to think that everyone wants to evolve to become a more conscious living being.  That is what I would like to think.

But honest to goodness… I’m not sure a lot of people give consciousness a second thought.

I don’t mean to sound down trodden in any way.  I DO believe a WHOLE BIG BUNCH of people care about gaining knowledge and becoming more sensitive to our surroundings.  There are a lot of good souls working to make the Big Blue Ball… better and bouncier.

Yet. It just seems like I bump into quite a few of the general population who are content to throw their McDonald’s garbage out of the car window…. just after washing down that Big Mac, and other delights… with a big old Super-sized Mountain Dew.  A few miles down the road…. they flip someone off for driving too slow.

Here is the thing.  I make mistakes all the time.  Anyone who reads this know what a Schleprock I can be.  But it is my daily Mantra to try to make the world a better place.   Somewhere, somehow.  I  dislike it… SO very much… when my actions show otherwise.

Yes.  I truly do what to evolve into a higher level of consciousness.  I know a lot of people who are quite successful at it.  Yet many of us find it difficult to do so. But…. there are more than enough ways to expand your consciousness and become a …. snappier YOU.  Like… “front of the Wheaties-Box” Awesome.  (In fact… I read an article a couple of months ago… which listed like 50 different ways to improve.)

Here are some of the suggestions, as I recall.
Get in touch with nature.
Tell the truth.
Take time to meditate.
Keep an open mind.
Don’t pee in the pool. ( Just wanted to see if you were paying attention)…..
Express gratitude.
Speak compassionately.
Listen more than you speak.

With that said…   I better quit talking.

I can hear you now.

There is just one life for each of us: our own.  –  Euripides

It’s wonderful when you can bring sparkle into people’s lives without fading away from your own true color. Keep the hue in you.   –  Dodinsky

The closest to being in control we will ever be is in that moment that we realize we’re not.   –   Brian Kessler

Things just aren’t the way they used to be.   This is a truth.  We are in a world filled with constant change.  Oh this is serious…. like garbage disposal serious.

The fact that things change can be good… or bad.  It all depends, doesn’t it?

Do you ever say to yourself…. “This shouldn’t be so dang hard?”….. when you are trying to get something accomplished?

Point in case.  Our freezer went out.  Two weeks ago.  I have been trying to get a new refrigerator/freezer in its stead.    I am no closer today then I was two weeks ago.  Operator error?  I guess it could be.  But gall dang it.    It just shouldn’t be THIS HARD.

What every happened to the day when the Maytag guy would just come to your door and fix it?  With his gimpy little grin, his funny little hat… his bowl-of-jelly-belly.  Kind of like Santa Claus… with a wrench.  The Maytag guy is extinct.  Like a Dinosaur.

Now growing up, we never had to call the Maytag guy…. NO Sirrrreeeee.

That is because we had EVERYTHING Frigidaire.  And back in the day… Frigidaire was KING.  That’s where my Dad worked after all.  He was a Design Engineer.  He had lots of Patents.  When I was a kid… I thought this meant that he wore Girly Shoes when he went to work.  Like Shirley Temple Patent Leathers.

Ah. But I digress.

I long for the days….. when you went to buy something, or  attempted to get some kind of service, and it actually happened.   But these times are no more.   In the world of digital mania, and major technological advances, it appears that we have run ourselves right out of the pan… and into the fire.

I miss our freezer.  And the days when Frigidaire… really meant… frigid air.  Now we are at Subzero.  Literally.

Maytag Man.  From the Ice Age.  Oh for the good old days.

“Quality is not an act, it is a habit.”  –   Aristotle

“Quality means doing it right when no one is looking.”  –   Henry Ford

Three woodpeckers at the same time.  A Red-Headed, a Red-Bellied, and a Downy.  I couldn’t get the Downy in the same frame.

When I was a little girl… maybe 4 or 5 years old… I was at Stumps Grocery Store with my Mom.  It was on Main Street, in Dayton, Ohio.  We used to shop their on occasion.. but not frequently.  It was smaller than Liberals.  Which is where Mom really liked to go.

At any rate, it was just my Mom and I.  She was somewhere.  And I remember looking at the rack which was set up by the Wonder Bread guy.  All the bread on that stand was marked down.  Day old bread.  Stale.

Just about them, some woman grabbed my arm.  She jerked it hard and started leading me past the cash registers and to the front door.  She was really moving me along.

I started screaming.  Like Godzilla when the laser rocket hits him in the neck.  I kept screaming.  She let go of my arm.  I didn’t see where she went because I was crying so hard.  One of the clerks came running over to me, and then Mom.

I was scared.

This story came to mind today.  I wonder where I would be or what my life would have been like… If I hadn’t started screaming.  I wonder where she would have taken me… And what I would be like now.  Who knows.  I can’t imagine the outcome would have been good.

But for whatever reason, the events up to that point, and ever since then have come to this exact moment.  When I type… once again…. those ever-familiar….dot, dot, dots.

Which then brings me to this.  Maybe I thought of the story, because I am getting so stale here.  It seems like this writing has lost its snap, its crackle and its pop.  I am on the Wonder Bread Rack.

And as  my dear old boy Webster puts it…

Stale is an adjective… With a few different meanings… But all up the same dang alley.

It means that a food source is no longer fresh and pleasant to eat; hard, musty, or dry;  OR… a topic is no longer new and interesting or exciting;  OR maybe even a person… is no longer able to perform well or creatively because of having done something for too long.

STALE. Like day old bread.  In Stumps.

So….maybe somebody needs to grab my arm and lead me out of here.  This time… perhaps for the good.  Who knows what might be ahead…  just on the other side of those grocery doors.

“Not every end is the goal. The end of a melody is not its goal, and yet if a melody has not reached its end, it has not reached its goal. A parable.”  –  Friedrich Nietzsche

“If you do not change direction, you may end up where you are heading.”  –   Lao Tzu

Do you have any secret ambitions?  Do you ever wake up one morning and think….. gosh….. I wish I could tap dance.

…. Or holy cow…. I wish I knew how to play the accordion. Or perhaps, it isn’t just one thing, but a combination of things.

Like,  you really would like to play the banjo and the accordion at the same time, while balancing on a flagpole.

I think a lot of us have things we would like to do.  But those interests are in areas that we never explored.   Or maybe skills we never mastered… Or EVEN learned.

Now my very, very, secret ambition…. which is no longer going to be my secret ambition because I’m telling all of you here right now….. is to be one of those test pilots.  Like the dangerous test fighter pilots.

Now a lot of times people will say….. you should just go for your dreams.  Everyone should live to fulfill their dreams.  Blah, blah, blah.

Well… I sorta’ thought this sounded like a good idea.

So low and behold… with the test pilot thing…  I decided to  call around a few places.

I tried the Air Force, Marines, Coast Guard, Army, NASA, Society for Explorative Pilots, Blue Angels, and a few others.

As it turns out, most of them don’t really want a 50-year-old scrawny woman with poor eyesight…..  and no flying experience.

So  besides playing on the Wii, I guess pilot thing is out.

Another one is to be a Boxer.  Oh… Let’s get this straight.  I don’t like to fight, and I certainly don’t want to get hit in the face.  Which would be my point as a boxer…. I would just run around the ring and try to make peace.  “C’mon buddy… Put those gloves down for crying out loud.  Why so serious?  Give Peace A CHANCE.”   And of course, I would ask if I could be the one to ring the bell (as I was running by) when the round was over.  AND.  I like Gatorade …  which really adds to the appeal of this.

I guess if you put my two aspirations together… I would be a Punch-Us-Pilot.  (Say it out loud.. And quickly.)  Yeah. That’s it.

Oh, but our dreams are fleeting things now aren’t they. That is what the poets say.  And….   Anyone who watches some of the schmucks on America’s Got Talent know how quickly those dreams fade away.

Perhaps you  already living yours?

Alright, so maybe I can not carve ice-sculptures with a chainsaw.  Or even make a rabbit disappear into a top hat.  But each morning, when I lift my head from the pillow, I can count a hundred different blessings on each hand and foot.  Not because I have that many fingers and toes… But because I have THAT many blessings.

Living my life with my soulmate.  A loving family, and friends.  Three great dogs. Health. Home. Food and Medicine. Community. Freedom. Yep, walking around wide awake…  is a pretty good deal after all.

Somebody pinch me… Cause I feel like I’m dreaming.

And pinching is okay… Just don’t wallop me in the boxing ring.

“Follow your dreams, for as you dream you shall become.” – Unknown

Tonight, I am simply feeling a little squirrely.  Or maybe I am just a little nuts.   Today, I met a very nice squirrel named Joan.  Joan was a boy squirrel.  His parents had been hoping for a girl.  They were huge fans of Joan Jett of Arc.  Or something like that. At any rate….   I don’t have much to say.  Other than I like squirrels.  And nuts.

I like some nuts more than others though.  A good salted peanut might be one of my favorites.  Pistachios and almonds are rocking too.  I know the cashew gets an awful lot of press… but I think I’d rather have a peanut.  Pistachios…. a big yes.

As far as I can remember…. I don’t think I’ve ever tried an acorn.   And walnuts are okay… but way down there.

Nuts and humans go hand in hand.  Well…  THAT goes without saying doesn’t it?  But we humans have been eating nuts since we first got up on two legs.  Yep.  Scientists did a caboodle of studies on early fossils of homo sapiens.   They determined we were nut and fruit eaters…. WAY back in the day.

Yeah, I imagined we probably ticked off a few saber-toothed squirrels in the early times of very hairy men in caves.

Since then, our relationship with squirrels has evolved.  There are plenty of nuts and berries to go ALL the way around.  Especially since these days….most of the very hairy men in caves stick to eating Cheetos, Hot Pockets, and Budweiser.

THAT will be one for future scientists to figure out.  Totally nuts.

“I never think of the future – it comes soon enough.” – Albert Einstein

Today… my little mood module… felt like a roller coaster.  Up one minute and down the next.

It was reminiscent to the feeling you get before biting into an Esther Price chocolate.  You don’t know what the filling is… but you are extremely excited for the prospect of a Vanilla Butter Cream.  And in an instant… you realize you have landed the Chocolate Covered Brazil Nut.  And your heart sinks like the Holy Submarine.

I was trying hard not to be irritable today. But it Mr. Irascible kept knocking at my forehead door.

And you know… all things told… today was quite fun.  All along the way… I felt loved and blessed.

We did lots of great nature watching….  visited a friend up in the north… picked up a really cool old camera…. fixed lots of delicious food… worked around the house… and had one heck of a cookout tonight with the family.  But Peevish Polly kept trying to sneak out… and play.

Tonight when it was all said and done, I still felt a case of the Crankies coming on.
Holy Smokes I hope it isn’t hormonal.

But then……  THEN there was the sky.  An hour earlier… the sky was gray and solid.  It looked sad too.  But the heavens opened up.  The rain fell like tears from a Soap Opera Diva.  It poured.  It splashed.  It washed away.

And when it stopped, the sky became filled with the colors a the spectrum….  like a big bag of Skittles.  It was filled with light and beauty.

Oh yes.  There is something about looking up into the vastness, and the power of the sky… the infinite… the unending possibilities that await us.   The majesty in that color.

Oh… to breathe deep and let it all just be… exactly as it should be.

That is where the peace is… I think.  That is where those ups and downs…. seem to even out.  When we let ourselves just be.  In this place, and time… exactly as it should.

Sure enough.  The peace was with me.  And it felt good.  Except …. of course…. for the fact that I had a powerful craving for a bag of Skittles.

“Enlightenment is not a goal to be attained, it is a state-of-being to be regained.”  ― Kim Chestney,

“Peace of mind comes from not wanting to change others.”  ― Gerald G. Jampolsky,

Fool me once…. shame on you.  Fool me twice… shame on me.

Tonight I was putting chemicals in the pool.  I looked down and saw a Honey Bee struggling near the surface of the water.  So, I reached in and flipped the little guy out.

A couple of seconds later… that little drunken sailor ambled his way back to the edge of the pool and fell in again.

Dag nab it.  I reached in again, and this time scooped him out… a little bit further from water’s edge.  The next thing I know… old bumble-head is back struggling in the water.

Third time’s a charm.  I put aside my apprehension of being stung…. and picked up that little Honey Bee.  I carried him several feet from the pool, placing him near the mulched area.

A little while later,  I walked back that way.  He was not where I had place him.  No bee.  That made me happy.  Perhaps he dried off his little winged body and flew back to the hive.

Wouldn’t you know?  That dude was meandering back toward the sweet smell of chlorine and muriatic acid.  I decided not to intervene… he was on his own.  I mean… this could go on all night.  Or perhaps…. he was simply wanting to do a few laps.

Yet….  I imagine tomorrow morning I will find him in the skimmer.  And I’ll feel terrible.  But I have to remember that opening phrase.

Or as George W. Bush once put it… back in 2002….  when he was visiting Nashville, TN.  He so aptly obscured …. “There’s an old saying in Tennessee — I know it’s in Texas, probably in Tennessee — that says, fool me once, shame on — shame on you. Fool me — you can’t get fooled again.”

Which brings me to this.  We all get fooled in life.  In a variety of different ways…. places… or circumstances…

I guess the important thing is to learn from our mistakes…. and to try not getting stung in the process.  Most of us can do this quietly, and in our own awareness.  But not me…. I have to let the world know what a schmuck I am… and share it here on the The Big Can Do.

Yep.  That’s a Big Can Do.

A fool and his money are soon elected.  – Will Rogers

See Spot.  See Spot Run.

Well… I will tell you this much right now.  There is a WHOLE lot more to Spot than just that.

We have three dogs.  No cats.  Every evening around here… it is a Three Dog Night.

Anyway.  Among other things… our dogs are good old friends.

Our dogs are smart.   As whips.  They figure things out.  They have memories.  They have habits.  We are trying to get Maxie to quit smoking… but habits are habits.

Joking.  Max doesn’t smoke.  Unless of course, you consider the smoke which comes out of her ears when she gets mad about something.  Terrier mad.

Now Frances… her big habit is herding.  She likes to gather up her humans.  So no matter where we are… she does the big loopy circle around our backs… and ushers us from any room… or area… and then right out the door.  Herder.

And Ollie.  Our dear spastic Ollie.  She is full of habits.  One of them is TV watching.  Our other two dogs don’t even act like they can see an image in the TV.  But Ollie watches.  Fanatically.  Anything from Wheel of Fortune to Meet the Press.

Enough about habits.  Dogs have qualities.  Good ones.

Our dogs are….  in short… very good friends to us. And they have been for a long time.  We like to hang out with one another.  Most of the times… we communicate pretty well.  They bring us joy…. and they show us kindness.

I am really lucky to have such good human friends in my life.  But I am also blessed to have dog friends… who love us dearly too.

Yet….. It is a darn good thing our “good old human” friends don’t pee on our living room carpet… like our “good old dog” friends do.  Like I said…..   …. See Spot.

“A friend is someone who knows the song in your heart and can sing it back to you when you have forgotten the words.” – Unknown