I have High Hopes for humans.

But then sometimes… we fall short… even to the smallest of tasks.  Follow me here for a moment.

There are some amazing, amazing things in this world of ours.  Most of them, we completely overlook.  Some, we try to do away with. Unfortunately.

So.  When was the last time you bought a can or RAID to get rid of that pesky ant problem in the kitchen?  Well, here is the thing.  Faux Pas, dang it, faux pas.  You should never shake a baby.  And never burn an ant under a magnifying glass.

Here is the deal, people-friends.  In many ways, ants can do WAY more than we humans could ever hope to.  They can outwit and outlast us, for sure.

They have complex and cooperative  societies… which enable them to survive and thrive in conditions that we humans may not be to task for.    Imagine that for a minute.  If HUMANS had complex and COOPERATIVE societies.   Okay, wake me up.  I’m dreaming.

Back at it. Those little dudes are amazing.  I don’t care if they are making off with your food.

I recently read a study on a breed called….(Paratrechina longicornis) … otherwise known as Longhorn Crazy Ants.  Seriously.  They got the “crazy” nomenclature, from the way they move.  Erratically.  But smart as whips, I will tell you.

Anyway, the study showed them cooperating, in large groups, to move things like Cherios, and Catfood.  The videos are truly something to see. And when the “group” gets off course… other crazy ants come running in… to put them back on the right path.  This was “must-see-TV”!

Here are just a few other things.  Ants are capable of carrying objects 50 times their own body weight with their mandibles.  Their little muscles are thicker than those of great big animals….  or even humans.  (Relatively, to their size, that is.)   Now.  If WE had muscles in the proportions of ants….. we’d be able to heave a Toyota over our heads!  You asked for it.  You got it.  Toyota.

Guess what else.  Ants started farming long before humans.
Yep.  There is such a thing as Fungus-Farming-Ants.  They began their agricultural workings about 50 million years before humans.

If that weren’t enough, here is what else they did to help their little crops grow…..  These little ants used sophisticated secreted chemicals with antibiotic properties to inhibit mold growth.  And, like our modern-day farmers (down the road from us)… they devised fertilization methods using manure.

One more.  Some ants form Super-Colonies.   There are massive communities of ants that can stretch for thousands of miles.
And…. each ant colony has a distinctive chemical profile.  This is like a hall pass.  It enables members of the group to recognize each other, and alerts the colony to the presence of strangers.

This is just one little iota of information about our insect friends.  I have spent hours watching them at the Cincinnati Zoo.  They are… well…. Crazy.  But cool.

I think we could learn a lot from ants.  But the biggest thing is cooperation.  Some days, I grow really weary from all our human groups arguing about the world… with other human groups.  And the thing of it is.. in 5 million years… it isn’t going to make one bit of difference.

In 5 million years, our sun will turn in to something called a “Red Giant” and it will begin to burn up the closest planets… one by one.  First Mercury, then Venus… and then.. whoopsie… there goes Earth.  Ants and all.

As the old song goes…

Whoops….There goes another Rubber Tree Plant.

“Just what makes that little old ant
Think he’ll move that rubber tree plant
Anyone knows an ant, can’t
Move a rubber tree plant” — High Hopes Song Lyrics

Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.  —  Mother Teresa

In case you were wondering about this and that… I am here to tell you a thing or two…. this evening.

Now.  If you missed it…. you missed it.  But May 29th  is officially “Put a Pillow on Your Fridge Day“.  So until then… keep your dang pillow off of the refrigerator.  Or pay the consequences.

So then.  What will you do for fun?  Nip it.  Be afraid.  Cherophobia is the fear of fun.

Speaking of fun.  Summer brings lot of fun things to do.  You can be outdoors and enjoy the world a little.  Like Frisbee.  I love playing Frisbee.  BUT…. did you know?  The person who invented the Frisbee was cremated and made into frisbees after he died!  I hope I didn’t buy one.

And.  On those really hot summer days, when you think you can’t take another moment of the heat… remember this.  Human saliva has a boiling point three times that of regular water. You are fine.

In fact… you are making saliva like crazy.  During your lifetime, you will produce enough saliva to fill two swimming pools.  You are gross.

And… I don’t care if you did make enough saliva to fill two pools.  Here is the big rule… NO peeing in the pool.  But don’t tell that to our local goats.  Billy goats urinate on their own heads to smell more attractive to females.  You are not the only gross one around here.

Nearly three percent of the ice in Antarctic glaciers is penguin urine.  THEY peed in the pool.   And it froze.

Okay.  Enough of that .  Let’s talk culture.  I love music.  I am listening to it right now.  But it can be dangerous…. apparently.  You see… about 8,000 Americans are injured by musical instruments each year.  I can only imagine.

Maybe you should give up playing the drums.  Especially if you are dieting.  If you really want to keep a good beat…  consider this.   Banging your head against a wall burns 150 calories an hour.

Rat-a-tat-tat.

Rock on my friends.  Rock on.

My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.  —  Mitch Hedberg
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Drawing on my fine command of the English language, I said nothing.  —  Robert Benchley

For many a good reason … I use the “Talk-To-Text” feature quite often on my phone.  I think, for the most part, it is a real time-saver.  I just “say what I want to say” and it turns it into a text message, or an email, or a Google search… or whatever App I’ve designated.

In theory.

Sometimes, this goes horribly wrong.  Take tonight for instance.  I had to work at the Preble County Fair for the Art Association.  I knew the first Saturday Night would be busy, so I left my house an hour earlier than I would normally have to leave.

Yeah. Well.  Best laid plans of mice and men.  I sat in line, waiting to pull into the Fairgrounds, for more than an hour.  It was bad with a capital B.

At any rate, I texted ahead, to let them know the absurdity of the situation.  And of course, that I might be late.  So… I said… “This is ridiculous.”  I emphasized ridiculous… because I was not so happy about the situation.

I shot off the text, and looked down.  Well. Big Whoops on me.  It said… “This is Read Dick You List”  Great.  Read Dick You List.  Who the heck is Dick?  What list?  And oh… how about your English Polly?

And there you have it.

I did not say what I wanted to say.

Or maybe I said it wrong.

And then it hit me.  This happens in life sometimes too.  Have you ever had a situation where you wished you had told someone “something” and…. you did not say what you wanted to say?  Or… you said it wrong?

I know there are times in my life, when I wished I would have told someone how much they meant to me, or how special they were, or what a good job they were doing at something.  But… I let it slide.  And for whatever reason, that moment was forever lost.  I would never be able to tell them again.

And it made that pit…. that deep hollow pit…. show up in my stomach.

Yep.  I’ve missed a few times like that.  But I have sort of vowed…. never to let it happen again.

At this point in my life, I will tell you right to your face, how much I think of you.  Or what a special person you are.  Or how incredible your Pineapple Upside Down Cake is.  I sure will.

Normally, I pass on saying the bad things… if those ever come up.  I figure, I live in a glass house.  Throwing stones is against the rules for us folks in glass houses.

As far as the text-to-talk thing goes…. I’ll probably keep using it.  And say things like Carpe Diem.  But it will come out like Carp Eat Deep End.  That’s okay.  I’m begging for it.

And the other thing.  Well, tonight… I’ll start by telling YOU thanks.  Thanks for reading this, for listening to all my quirky thoughts… and for being here.  It means the world to me…. to be sharing all of this with you.

Reflections of life.  Or…. Reflex Shins Of Like.  Either way.  Thanks.

This is the power of gathering: it inspires us, delightfully, to be more hopeful, more joyful, more thoughtful: in a word, more alive.  —  Alice Waters
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I think we all do have a guardian angel. I believe they work through us all the time, when we are thoughtful and good and kind to each other.  —  Roma Downey

I love certain things about life.

There are so dang many things that seem just too good to be true.  Way beyond.

These big shiny, sparkly, crazy-good gifts of life.

Take Fruit.  I am so grateful for fruit.  Seriously.  Last night, I cut into a Honeydew Melon that was just like a gift from the Honeydew Goddess of GoodGolly, or something. It was SO delicious. Same thing with a recent Peach.  I just don’t know what to say sometimes.

Have you ever heard a song that makes you feel so grand?  The melody, or words, or both, give you the “Shiver-Me-Timbers” up and down your spine?  Yeah.  Big gift-o-rama.

Tonight, the sunset was absolutely spectacular.  The colors were so perfectly put together.  The purples, and oranges, and yellows. Majestic.  Awe-inspiring.  I stood there, and stared… with the awe just spouting right out of me.

And then you look out across the meadow, and see two amazingly beautiful Does, approaching with two their small Fawns.  Yes, a family with two Moms, of all things.   And you sit quietly and watch them enjoy the corn and apples you had put out earlier in the day.  And it makes you cry because they are so exquisite and so very innocent.

More gifts came bounding our way this evening.   We spent time with our dear friends.  (As well as our Deer Friends).  But these dear friends are human.  So kind, and smart, and funny, and comfortable.  The kind of friends who insist you order pizza… to make everything simpler for the evening.  (And oh, how I LOVE pizza)   And you realize once more, that life is filled with the good.

In each day, I am given a big-plenty of this goodness.   I can only hope that I am doing enough in this Universe …. to give as much back …. or forward, whichever way it goes.  I want to give more than I get.  I think if we all do more good, than we take… it helps the bigger scheme of goodness in life.   Way beyond peaches and deer.

Way beyond.

Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.  —  Marcus Aurelius

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.  —  Soren Kierkegaard

Transformations.  They are everywhere.  All the time.  In so very many different manners.  You can count on it.

To define a transformation would take half a page.  But essentially it is a thorough change in form, appearance, or cycle.   Yes, a change. An alteration, conversion, overhaul.  Perhaps a reshaping, redoing, reorganization or rearrangement.  Oh it could go on and on.

Okay.  The big transformation in the news lately is Bruce Jenner, Olympic Decathlon Gold Medalist.  Now Caitlyn Jenner.  Caitlyn is an attractive woman, especially at 65 years of age.  Which brings me to this, gosh darn it.  Bruce, why oh why pick the name Caitlyn?  Caitlyn sounds like a 12 year old girl.  Not a 65 year old woman.  It should have been Brenda, Donna, Margaret, Patricia, Linda.  Something from 1949.  But… I digress.  She can pick whatever name and bra size she wants.  Free country, and all.

Here’s another example.  This one is so obvious.  Transformers.  The toys, the movie… you name it.  They are those vehicles which transform in a few flips of a hinge….. into a robot of magnanimous proportions.  Now THAT is a quick change artist for you.

Since we are on movies, and transformations, let’s talk about Harvey Dent.  I just thought about the first Batman Movie.  District Attorney Harvey Dent was portrayed by Billy Dee Williams.  Yes… a black man.  However, by the time Batman: The Dark Knight comes around,… Old Harvey is a white guy… played by Aaron Eckhart.  Now THAT really IS a transformation. Either that or a major casting error.

Caterpillars to Butterflies.  Grapes to Raisins.  Babies to Adults.  Ice to Water to Steam.  Sand to Pearls.  Tadpoles to Frogs.  All going through the change.

You, and I, are in a constant state of transformation.  Every little atom in our bodies is in motion, moving from one form to another.  Spinning and whirling, and producing all sorts of energy.

But what kind?  What kind of transformation are we?  What kind of energy do we make.  Are we always finding what is going wrong with life, or do we search for what is good?

Not only on the outside of us… in the world which surrounds us.  No.  What about that inner self?  Are we a work in progress.  A beautiful painting to be completed?  The verge of joy at our very next bring?   The dark to light?

What transformations do we have in us?  What are our possibilities?

We are amazing,  all of us.  I think the prospects are endless.  In fact… I am counting on it.

What would it be like if you lived each day, each breath, as a work of art in progress? Imagine that you are a masterpiece unfolding, every second of every day, a work of art taking form with every breath.  — Thomas Crum

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Goodness is about character – integrity, honesty, kindness, generosity, moral courage, and the like. More than anything else, it is about how we treat other people.  —  Dennis Prager

Every now and again, something happens in life… which is out of the clear blue.  And for no apparent reason.

That “something” may elicit an emotion, or a response, or even a memory.

Wouldn’t you know!  This happened to me to day.

I had just washed my car and was in the parking lot, all by myself… no one else around.  And as I was pulling out… a little purple ball bounced its way in front of my car.  Completely out of nowhere.

Of course I had to retrieve it and have a closer look.  It was just a cheap little hollow plastic purple ball.

And all of a sudden, I was spun back to childhood.  Watching some children’s show, on something.  And they wanted us to sing along.  What did they say?  “Follow the bouncing purple ball.”

The words of the song magically appeared on the TV screen, along with the tune “Old McDonald”…. and out came the purple bouncing ball…. keeping in perfect time… ALL the words we were supposed to sing.

Eee – I – Eee – I – Ohhhhhh.  And on his farm he had pig.  Eee – I – Eee – I – Ohhhhhh.

Sing, I did.  Yes, I sang my little lungs out along with that purple ball.  It was all laid right out there for me.  Very simple.  Very clear.

So as I sat in the car wash parking lot…. purple ball sitting next to me in the passenger seat… the question begged.

“Why can’t all of life be spelled out so clearly, so simple?”  The purple ball did not answer.  Not a peep.  It just sat there on the seat next to me.

Yet.  Maybe it did answer in its own little way.  Maybe it was there to tell me that sometimes “things” happen in life for no apparent reason.  The little ball strays from the song… and hops right across your life…. when you least expect it.  It is keeping perfect time.

And what are we supposed to do?  Keep perfect time with it. Accept it for the moment.  Follow the little ball… as it rolls right with us.  Don’t try to put it back on the screen of the TV.  It came out for a reason…. after all.  It has a song to teach us…. and I’m going to sing along.

In order to carry a positive action we must develop here a positive vision.  —  Dalai Lama
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If in the twilight of memory we should meet once more, we shall speak again together and you shall sing to me a deeper song.  —  Khalil Gibran
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The way you see people is the way you treat them, and the way you treat them is what they become.  —  Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Here are some things that I believe to be true.  I think they might be some of the most important things in life.  Well, besides a good macaroni salad… and blue playdough.

Okay seriously.  I keep getting the message of “peace” lately.  Striving to find peace within ourselves..   AND…. finding a way to  live in peace with others.  I think, collectively, this is the most important thing we can do in our lives. I truly don’t think anything else comes close.

You see.  Peace equals happiness.  To live in peace is the fundamental wish of all people. Whether we all realize it or not. Because.  If we have peace, inner peace…. we have happiness.

The next thing is compassion.  It is the “link” that will truly connects all people.  Yes, I will say it again. Compassion.

We won’t always agree with everyone.  You can bet ME on that one!  But…. it  doesn’t mean we can’t get along with them. (See the earlier reference to peace.)  When we express compassion and understanding towards others (all beings)… all throughout our lives …. we have built a path of peace and cooperation.

We need to learn to live with compassion and understanding for others.  One of my biggest faults is when I want others to be on MY side of thinking.  This just can’t always be so.  So… acceptance of others and their views.

We are all different.  It’s through these very differences that we find ourselves. We are individuals. Unique…. in all our big world.  With all the other unique people.  Be understanding… we each have our own way.

And finally.  I believe we are all basically good

At the very heart of  each one of us…. is a goodness.  It can’t be disrupted if we don’t let it.  It is in our core.  Deep within us.  And… this basic goodness will never go away.  We may push it aside, or misplace it.  But it is always right there.  Right next to your belly button, but on  the inside.

I think when we really pay attention to our own inner peace…the direct result is that we live with compassion, love, and understanding towards others.   In this…. is the good within us.

The good within you.  And the good within me.

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Acceptance looks like a passive state, but in reality it brings something entirely new into this world. That peace, a subtle energy vibration, is consciousness.  —  Eckhart Tolle

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Better than a thousand hollow words, is one word that brings peace.  —  Buddha

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Peace cannot be kept by force; it can only be achieved by understanding.  —  Albert Einstein

The capability and potential of the human being is quite amazing.  Take into two simple considerations.  Human Memory.  Human Emotions.  Each, by their own right is incredible.  Our ability to recall certain events in our mind’s eye…. from different periods throughout our lives.

And emotions. Love, Joy, Surprise, Anger, Sadness, Fear, Envy, Relief, Longing, Anxiety.

But the two together, memory and emotions, are like peanut butter and jelly.  They go right along with one another.  Each one will spark the other.

Tonight, I was thinking back about 10 1/2 years ago.  It was a frigid cold November night.  Unseasonably so.  And our furnace went out.  And at 1:30 a.m., our newly adopted dog Frances, bumped my hand with her nose as I slept. She told me it was time.

Time for her puppies to be born.  Boy oh boy.   We were ready too.  We had a whelping box we’d been training her with, in another room in the house.  But Frances plopped right down there, on the floor in the bedroom, and started cranking out the kids.

When six little puppies had made their way out… I turned to Mary and said… “She’s not getting any smaller yet.”  And those puppies needed heat.  Mary was the better maternity nurse.  So off I headed to Walmart, at 4 in the morning, to buy heating pads.

Snow was falling.  It was so still and quiet in that parking lot at Walmart.   I felt completely alone there…yet at the same time… very surrounded by everything.  It was very surreal.

Upon returning home, two more puppies had arrived.  Oh… But we had a few to go.  Thirteen in all.  Yet despite the large number and difficulty….. Frances gave birth in the same manner she does everything.  With compliance, and grace, and peace.

Tonight.  My sister told me that one of those Incredible 13….  her boy Dashe….  had died.  You see, of the 13 puppies, Dashe was the last of the brood to find a home.  Well, he and Eleanor.  Nobody wanted him, for some reason.  But my sister did.  And away he moved to Columbus, with his new family.  He turned out to be a completely amazing dog.  Like mother, like son.

He was charming, and funny.  Smart and well-mannered.  Handsome and athletic.  He was dashing.  He was Dashe.

And now that bright, bright spirit, has left his little dog body.  My sister is crushed. I am so sad.  And I am remembering his first weeks here, on Planet Earth.  In to the world he came, and now into the world he goes.  In a different time and a different space.

He goes elsewhere…. from us humans with our amazing capabilities.

Physically, he leaves.  But he stays here now… forever in our memories, and emotions.  In our hearts.   And we ache because he is gone.  And we long for more…  … ..

Certain things surprise me.

Surprise CAN be good.  Sometimes not.  And then there are the ones which simply make you go… . Hmmmmmm.

Like I saw this little empty nut shell on the ground today.  I can’t image who might have eaten it.  You see, our squirrels are so fat from eating the corn we put out in our deer trough, they can scarcely move.

It must be an old nut.
I am an old nut.  This part does not surprise.

Pine cones seem like they should only be on the trees in the winter time to me.  But today, I saw a lot of pine cones, on a lot of our trees.

It just seemed wrong somehow.  Like they were in the wrong place at the wrong time.
I am frequently in the wrong place…. at the wrong time.

Here’s another thing that surprises me.  I am… mostly every day… finding a new song that I really like.  Or one which I have never heard before.  There are a lot of talented people out there creating good music.  I am listening to Yellow Ostrich right now and…. I am starting to get a little crazy about them.

I get a little crazy about a lot of things.

So there you have it.  The story of my life.
I am an old nut… who is frequently in the wrong place at the wrong time…. and I am starting to get a little crazy.

But something tell me I am in good company.

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Very little is needed to make a happy life; it is all within yourself, in your way of thinking.  —  Marcus Aurelius

Life is not a problem to be solved, but a reality to be experienced.  —  Soren Kierkegaard

I was thinking today about how different my life is from 30 years ago.  How different I am.

It is sort of amazing to me, really.  I was so young then, didn’t concern myself with too much of anything.  No community involvement, or political involvement.  Certainly nothing in the way of healthy living.  No environmental concerns.

I woke. I worked.  I smoked and drank. I partied and played. I slept.   And did it all over again the next day.  And the next.

Tonight, as I sat in the Chicken Yard, with some of the people I love the very most in this world, and as we talked and laughed, and sat…. and watched chickens….. I saw the Universe showering me with these tremendous blessings.  Like a bunch of shooting stars flying through the night sky.

Indeed.  A beautiful summer night.  A campfire roaring on the hill by the tent… and us in the chicken yard.  Feeding chickens.

Sometimes…. just like all those T-Shirts say… life really is good.

Tonight I gave thanks for this.  From the bottom my heart, all the way to the top.  And back again.

I hope to do it all over again the next day.  And the next.

Take the attitude of a student, never be too big to ask questions, never know too much to learn something new.  —  Og Mandino

Your living is determined not so much by what life brings to you as by the attitude you bring to life; not so much by what happens to you as by the way your mind looks at what happens.  —  Khalil Gibran