Understatement.  By definition, we know the understatement as this:  The presentation of something….. as being smaller… or worse, or less important …. than it actually is.

Yep. Trivialized. Reserved.

Today, it rained here.  UNDERSTATEMENT.

Holy pair of cows.  Where is that Noah fellow when you need him?  Yes, it rained here today.  And rained, and rained, and rained.

I don’t know how many inches we got today, but I can’t remember see our pond THAT high, and overflowing that rapidly.  Big water.

And that rain, gave me cause to write my first Country Western Song.
“I was out catching chickens in the rain.”

I know it will be a big hit.  That too, is an understatement.

People will ask me at the Country People’s Choice Awards…. “Polly!   How did you ever come up with the lyrics for “Catching Chickens in the Rain?”  And I will have to tell them the long drawn out story…..

Which I am about to subject you to.  Right here and now.

You see it was my big idea to fix our Orpington Chicken Area, into integrated condos.  The baby-er New Hampshires are still much too small to mix in with the Orps.  PLUS…. you have to do these things in stages.

So for the past couple of days, our friend Mike has been fixing the Kronenberger Chicken Ranch.  Yesterday…. in the later afternoon… it was ALL ready.  So bright and early, first thing…. I moved those four little New Hamps to their new abode…. from their confines of our garage Chicken Coopishness.

Oh… Happy Chickens.  They loved it.  They were scratching, and moonwalking all over the place.  Like chickens do.  Again.  Understatement.  Catching bugs and pecking the ground is Chicken Nirvana.

And then the rains came. And came.  And came.  At 5 p.m., I put on my rain slicker and walked out to assess the situation.

Oh… Unhappy Chickens.  Everything was five inches under water… … … okay… maybe 1 inch.  But nonetheless.  They couldn’t even sit down in their new confines.  (The Orpingtons had the nice wooden walled dry chicken coop)

So.  We switched horses midstream.  Literally.   As a result… I had to go out in the pouring down rain… and catch four little chickens, while the Orpingtons watched from the safety and shelter of their coop.   I moved the New Hampshires back to the garage, where Mike had quickly set up their old pen.  Soggy chickens… no more.  In fact… dry… Happy Chickens.

“And there you have it Taylor.  That is where I got the idea.. for the song… now #1 on the billboard for 15 straight weeks.  Who knew?”

As I am walking down the red carpet, while the flashes from the Paparazzi’s Cameras illuminate my skin, it will dawn on me….

1.  Thank GOD we didn’t have miniature donkeys.  Can you imagine me carrying four donkeys in the rain?   And….
2. Sometimes in life… you have to take a different course.

It is true.  There are times when you think you have a clearly defined path, or way, or purpose.  But then something unforeseen happens.  If you are lucky enough, smart enough, or aware enough, you realize that it might not be the right way.  And that it is time to adjust the sails…. on a rainy day like today….. and head in a different direction.

Oh, it is called by many different names, it is.  Sensitive. Over-sensitive.  Thin-skinned.  Delicate.  Easily hurt.

Which brings me to….. Like.

In my case, “the need to be liked.”  This is something very true about me.  I like to be liked.  Maybe that’s why I get along so well with dogs and little kids.   But, I can tell… pretty much right away…. when someone doesn’t like me.  In that way I am hypersensitive.  And then I let it bug the heck out of me.

I can tell by their body language, the look on their faces… or lack there of.  I can tell by the tone in their voices…. the sketchy eye contact.   I rarely get this one wrong.

Today… I ran into this a few times.  As I mentioned earlier, it affects me pretty deeply.

I have heard some people say that they don’t care one way of the other…  if someone likes them..  or NOT.  Whew.  I just don’t know how that could ever be possible for me.  It is completely out of my realm of understanding or capability.

Try as I may to NOT let it bother me… it has a way of bothering me.  Like a fly on a horses rump.

And in that analogy… I would be the horse’s ass.

Intellectually, I get this.  It shouldn’t matter.  Just treat people kindly, and it is up to them how it is received.  Yep.  I’ve read the Self-Help Jargon on all of this.  But.  That is like telling a jar of cream puff marshmallow topping… not to be sticky.  It is sticky.  No way around it.

I guess I can garner one positive aspect of this.  That affliction of sensitivity is a part of my personality.  Perhaps, though, it is a quality.  There are times, I think, when we need to be sensitive, and delicate….. and even vulnerable.  It is a piece of being human.   Just like marshmallow topping needs to be sticky.  And like Donald Trump needs that Furby on his head.

That sensitivity may lend itself to compassion.  And in that way.. it is a positive attribute.  We should try to find grace in our ability to act with love, tolerance, kindness, and tenderness.  (Okay… so I slipped with the Donald Trump comment.)

So.  I will try to work on being compassionate…..  with those who don’t like me.  I just wish my feelings didn’t get hurt so easily.  I wish things didn’t stick to me like marshmallow goo.

“Wherever there is a human in need, there is an opportunity for kindness and to make a difference.” —Kevin Heath

“What wisdom can you find that is greater than kindness?”—Jean Jacques Rousseau

My busy brain.

I am glad to have a busy brain. No.  Ecstatic.  There is so much to understand about our existence as human beings. On this planet.  In this universe.  I used to say…. “If only I could understand it all.”

On revisiting that statement, I respond,  “What the heck was I thinking?  NO way.  NO how do I want  to understand it all.”  Holy smokes.   You want to talk about a busy brain?   It would be absolutely overwhelming to have an assimilation of the deal.   I’d be like one of those cartoon characters, where there head starts turning round and round, and steam comes out of their ears an nostrils.

I think it is much better that I get little fleeting glimpses of how I think it works.

Okay.  Here is a little for instance.  I think the Human Race is evolving.  But at the same time, I think we are rapidly declining.  In some ways, we are getting too complicated.   My example is this.  Years ago, from time to time…. we would get “antsy.”  You know, that figety, jittery feeling… like you “had ants in your pants.”  Commonly, you would hear someone say… “I just feel a little antsy.”  And that was that.

Today… oh today… we have named it a hundred different things, from “Restless Leg Syndrome” better know as RLS…. to ADHD.  Or perhaps it is just your run of the mill Generalized Anxiety Disorder.  Nonetheless.   The game is the same, but the names has changed.

I know, that scientific advances have allowed us to discover the physical, emotion, mental & psychological causes for these “conditions.”  But that is the thing.  We have adopted these conditions as a common practice.    When sometimes, the truth of the matter is… people simple get restless, fidgety, edgy.

It seems every few weeks, there is brand new poster-child-disorder…. that becomes a societal norm.

The runaway train.

Now I’ve got my Wheaties soaked through and soggy.  I need to take all of this down a notch.

My point started out to be this…. there is a LOT to think about in the infinite universe.  Like… how do the Smurfs keep their little boots so white?  Or…. Was it live, or was it Memorex?  And how about this… Just because I can’t believe it is NOT butter… is it truly NOT butter?

Around ever corner of the day, there is something new to consider.  Why pink erasers on the ends of yellow pencils?  WHY?

Life’s mysteries continue to abound.  And our brains stay oh so very busy.  Trying to figure all of this out.  But ….. just maybe….. it isn’t OURS to figure out.  As I mentioned… a least not the whole ball of wax.

Maybe it is better for us… to learn one little lesson at a time.  And become better people with each little lesson we learn.  One little busy-brain-thought at a time.

“What is wanted is not the will to believe, but the will to find out, which is the exact opposite.”
― Bertrand Russell

“You meet a new person, you go with him and suddenly you get a whole new city…you go down new streets, you see houses you never saw before, pass places you didn’t even know were there. Everything changes.”
― Samuel R. Delany, Dhalgren

“Some beautiful paths can’t be discovered without getting lost.”
― Erol Ozan

“Discovery consists of looking at the same thing as everyone else and thinking something different.”
― Albert Szent-Györgyi

Hi everybody.

How are you today?   I sure hope all is good your way.  I really don’t have too much to say.  It was just another typical day.  Another day at the races.

Nothing in particular happened.  I didn’t go anywhere or do anything out of the ordinary.  Just my normal routine.   I noticed a lot of different things.  But nothing of consequence.  At least nothing that anyone would care about.  This day was no different than any other in my life.  It was just…. there.

As the illustrious Beatles once said,  “Oh blah dee, Oh blah dah.  La, la, how the life goes on.”

Some days are like that.  No words of wisdom, or funny quips.  Today just felt a little bit like paste.  At best.

One of my favorite movies is Dead Poets Society with Robin Williams.  Everybody loves the line from that movie, where John Keating says… “Carpe diem. Seize the day, boys.
Make your lives extraordinary.”

Well…. dang it John.  Some days… there just seem that all that much to seize.

So.  There you have it.   Life goes gone.  Oh Blah Dee.

“Depending on the reality one must face, one may prefer to opt for illusion.”
― Judith Guest, Ordinary People

Yesterday marked the start of Summer.   I normally don’t miss such a monumental event.    I knew the Summer Solstice was yesterday.  But I forgot to write about it.   You see… it is by far… my very favorite of the seasonal phases.

A solstice happens twice each year…when the sun reaches its highest or lowest point in the sky at noon, marked by the longest and shortest days.

And an equinox also happens two times a year… the time or date  at which the sun crosses the celestial equator.  This means the day and night are of equal length (mostly).

I like the Summer Solstice the very, very most … because it means it will probably by hot.  And I love to be warm.  I also like the memories it awakens in my mind.

The Summer has a way of thrusting me back in time, hurtling my senses through past years…. and back to the sweet memories of youth.

Things like eating watermelon in the back yard, handed to us on cheap paper plates.  And then the seed-spitting contests which ensued.  It reminds me of playing “Pickle” in the middle of Bruce Avenue, until the street lights came on.

Things like swimming at the local pool, and having frozen candy bars for treats at the Concession Stand… when we had to sit out for those grueling 15 minutes of every hour… during the “Adult Swim.”

Summer reminds me of hots dogs roasted on our rickety-old backyard grill, with the old-school charcoal briquets.  Hot dogs with both ketchup and mustard, served on a Wonder Bun.  Always… smelling a bit like lighter fluid.

Laying in the cool grass, and watching the sky as elephants, and cotton candy, and fluffy bunnies rolled by in the clouds.

Oh, the times, they were.

Tonight, we sat out with our Orpington Chickens…. as good Farm Girls do.   We simply spent time with those chickens…and watched.   They sat on Mary’s lap, and I talked good Chicken-Speak with them.  Tommy ran after me as I was walking out… like he was sad to see me go.  We notice Chuck has feathers on his legs… like hairy legs. Funny Chuck.

And as they scratched about… and did their little versions of The Moon Walk… I sang the melody of The Chicken Dance.

And somehow… all of this propelled me back to my early youth… and finding little joys in the warmth of summer.    Sleuthing for four-leaf-clovers, slurping popsicles on the front porch steps,  sitting very still and listening to the sound of dusk.  The beauties of summer.  How I wish they were with me the whole year through.

Well.  Well, well.  That Johann Wolfgang Goethe was a wise fella…. and said some big things.  Like…“A person hears only what they understand.”  Oh how true.  I wonder how many people will hear this next one…. AGAIN?  Maybe you should grab some breakfast… before you did in to all of this.

First… here is something to chew on while you are enjoying a bowl of Rice Krispies this morning.  A group of international researchers claim that the Earth is entering a sixth mass extinction.  How’s that for snap, crackle and pop.

Okay.  Forget the Rice Krispies.  Have your English Muffin.  The research report goes on to say….that the demise of its species is about 100 times faster than the average rate of previous extinctions.  Whoops.  Toast.

Better put some butter on that toast… because that is what we are….

The major drivers of the sixth mass extinction are mainly triggered by human touch: land farming, logging and settlement, introduction of invasive species, increased carbon emissions and man-made toxins.

It appears we humans are a messy bunch, wouldn’t you say?

The Study was conducted by Paul Ehrlich, the Bing Professor of Population Studies in biology and a senior fellow at the Stanford  Woods Institute for the Environment… and colleagues, of course. I guess this is a pretty big environmental entity, founded by the Woods’ Family at Stanford.

I don’t know what the heck a Bing Professor is though.  The only Bings I know are Bing Cherry, Bing Crosby, and Bahda-Bing-Bahda-Boo.

ANYWAY.  According to Ehrilich and his gang of merry men….   to date, 41 percent of amphibian species and 26 percent of mammals are on the list of threatened and endangered species.   Pass the bacon.  And the frog legs.  That’s a lot.

Even if you combine the number of species lost from earlier mass extinctions, which includes up to 280 species, the current period is still way above that number. Earth lost 396 species between 1900 and 2010, according to the International Union of Conservation of Nature.

Again, I say.  That’s a lot.

I don’t really have an end point, or a story, about any of this.  I just keep thinking back to the profound words of wisdom given to us by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe…. in which he said…. “Let everyone sweep in front of his own door, and the whole world will be clean.”

Smart guy.  Extinct now.  But back in his day… I’ll tell you.  AND.. .he was RIGHT.  All we had to do… us humans….. is clean up after ourselves.

I can only hope we smarten up… and start doing this now.  Everyone.  Each and everyday.  I only hope it isn’t too late to start.   All I know is that it can’t hurt.

“What is not started today is never finished tomorrow.” -JWvG

“Nothing is more terrible than to see ignorance in action.” -JWvG

People hate a lot of things.  At least they say so.  They will get a paper cut, and say… “Oh, I hate paper cuts.”  Or along the same lines… with insects, or reptiles, or fuzzy creatures.  They might say… “I hate snakes.  I hate mice.  I hate flies.  I hate maggots.”

My guess is… they simply have a strong dislike or fear of “that something.”  Because “hate” to me seems pretty destructive and severe.

Hate.  A four-letter word if you ask me.  Of the worst kind.  Of course we have all been thinking about it lately, in some context or another.  Who can help it?  Nine people were killed in the city of Charleston, SC, as a result of it.

I think…. hate masks personal insecurities. Now… this is not true of all insecure people.  I am pretty darn insecure, and I can’t think of anything I truly hate.

But when insecurities ARE involved… the “hate” elevates the hater above the hated.  I really think that is what gets the ball rolling.  The other part is fear.  They fear what they don’t know…. or things which are different than they are.

And…. Haters rarely hate alone. It seems to me… they have a compulsion to get others on the bandwagon. They attempt to entreat others to hate as they do.

That sense of peer validation makes them feel more worthy, and a “part” of something.  Like they belong in the world.  It is a way of escaping the insecurities…. and feeling empowerment.

This is just my two-bit assessment.  But.  I have been thinking about it a lot lately.  I don’t understand how someone could feel so strongly as to do something violent towards someone else.

When I have gotten my angriest in life, I have slammed a door, or a drawer.  Or thrown a softball down hard in the dirt.  And I am ashamed of those times.

I just can’t understand how someone hates someone or something with such seething vehemence.  I am SO VERY THANKFUL I do not know this place of destructive emotion.  I am glad I don’t have it in me.

All I can do in when I hear of such atrocities, is to pray for peace.  To the Universe, the High Power, the God, or any one who will listen.

Our world has much goodness in it.  I believe our best action against hate… is love.  Do the good thing.  Show compassion.  Find patience.  Walk in peace.  Hold peace in our hearts, in our minds, and in our hearts.  Carry it in our back pockets, and cradle it in our arms.  Take care of love, and goodness, and peace.  And they will take care of us.

Today was full of a lot of things.  Like, really great moments.  And a lot of learning too.

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Take for instance the fact that Maxie just wanted on my lap, just as I sat down to write.  So I obliged.  And she composed the line just above this paragraph.  Good dog.  Smart dog.  I am not sure what she wanted to say exactly.  You see… it is hard for her to type with those little paws.

Earlier in the day, I found out that a lot of people in the early 1900s, broke their arms when they would try to start their cars.  I guess those hand-crank starters could really kick back and hurt you.  So that very young Charles Kettering invented the self-starter for the automobile.  He, and a few others.  They did in a barn… the Deed’s Barn.

How do I know?  We took the grand boys  to Carrillon Park this morning… and afternoon.  What a great day, and what an incredible place.  It had been a lot of years since I had been there.  There is so much there to see and do and learn.

We saw tons of old, and very amazing cash registers.
We rode the carousel.
We found a secret door in one of the buildings.
And… we also discovered the last refrigerator produced at Frigidaire.  It was covered with signatures.  My Dad’s X is somewhere on that fridge.  But we couldn’t find it….as two sides could not be seen.

Then… we had a frightening moment. We saw the early Dayton Setters….. George and Mary Newcomb.  They were not the prettiest of people.  Nor was their daughter Jane. But perhaps they were quite smart people.  But they looked a little on the scary side.

We ate at Spaghetti Warehouse, where all little spaghetti and meatball lovers… like to go.  And we picked up plants of all sorts… at Stockslager’s Nursery.

There were some down turns to the day too.  A couple of bumps in the road.  Like… one of my tamest fish.. Mary Josephine,… was dead in the Koi Pond when we got home.   And Frances’ boy… Dashe… has a malignant tumor in his head.  He is my sister’s dog.  I love that boy.

Sometimes it is hard to balance my mood when there are good things going on, and bad things going on…. at the very same time.  It is like getting all those great presents on Christmas Morning… your G.I.Joe with the Kung Fu Grip… and everything.  But at the same time, you know there are children starving in Africa.  Your parents told you so when you didn’t want to finish your Pinto Beans three nights ago.  So you are torn between feeling happy and sad.

This is true for me… a lot of days of my life.  I am torn between the happy and the sad.  Maybe we are supposed to walk the line, like Johnny Cash said.  I just don’t know.

But I do know, that most days, life is very good to me.  And for that, I am eternally grateful.  So very thankful for all the blessings in my life, and there are many.  Starting right off… with the three people who were sharing my day today.

“Believe and act as if it were impossible to fail.”  —      Charles F. Kettering quote

Do you ever want to be somebody else?  Not someone specifically… so to say.  But.  Do you every want YOU…. yourself …. to be doing something…. else?

Okay… here is a for instance.  Have you ever heard a really cool song… and at just the craziest moment in the song… somebody rings a cowbell.  And it sounds perfect.  Right in the middle of the off-beat, you hear that “clang.”  I want to be the person who rings that bell.

Or.  The race car driver who gets to drive really fast, and take it hard into the turns.  You spin out… smoke squealing from your tires… and suddenly you right yourself.  You punch the clutch, take it back up a notch, and speed into the straightaway.   And the crowd goes crazy as the checkered flag swirls.

Maybe…. you are a ball boy for the Cleveland Indians, or the Pittsburgh Pirates.  On on a crowded Sunday afternoon game, a foul ball dribbles your way.  You pick it up… turn around… and chuck it into the stands to some little kid with one of those really big Number One Signs on her little hand.

I think a lot of people want to be doing something that they aren’t currently doing in life.  We want to do “some other thing” than whatever THIS is.

We may think it might be great to have a different job, or live in another location.  Or to have a list of amazing things we want to try, and cross them all off that list.  These things are all perfectly wonderful.

But perhaps… just maybe…. what we really want to do isn’t halfway across the world.  Nope.  I think it is probably right inside of each one of us.

Our true meaning in life.

We begin by developing purpose and intentions for our own lives..   For us to live complete, plentiful lives… in this crazy and complex world… is not always easy.  Finding what is truly in our hearts helps us figure our way through all of this.  What is in our very core.

I suspect it is vitally important to give our lives some sort of clear direction.  And we do this by exploring what means the most to us.
By developing a life purpose and life intentions.

The next part.  We have to choose to live our life intentions.  We do the next right thing.  We follow our purpose to the best of your ability every day.

It all sounds so very simple.  Yet.  For me, it is quite difficult. If I could only figure mine out.

I see people who are so great at this.  They… each day… change themselves from the inside out.  And it is constructive.  It sort of sends out inspiration and healing… to anyone around them.   Like ripples on water.  Or… like the clang of a bell… at just the right moment in a song.

It is beautiful.

Life is without meaning. You bring the meaning to it. The meaning of life is whatever you ascribe it to be. Being alive is the meaning.  —  Joseph Campbell
    

For the meaning of life differs from man to man, from day to day and from hour to hour. What matters, therefore, is not the meaning of life in general but rather the specific meaning of a person’s life at a given moment.  —  Viktor E. Frankl

I just thought of a funny little story which I don’t think I’ve ever told here.  It happened a few years back when we had a place in Charleston.  Here’s the deal.  I struck up a friendship with one of the cab driver’s down there.  He worked for Black Taxi Cabs… and our first interaction with that company was a bit of a fiasco.  But that is another story.

Anyway, my friend, the cab driver, I met at birthday party.  His name was Brian Prass (I hope he isn’t on FB… he’ll ring my neck).

So… to get back to it … one night… he had a late fare.  It was a nun.  She got into the cab and away they went.  Unfortunately…. Brian couldn’t quit staring at her.

Well. Apparently she couldn’t take it any more and she asked him why he kept staring.  To which Brian said….”I have a question to ask you but I don’t want to offend you.”

That old nun leaned forward and said “My dear son, you cannot offend me. When you’re as old as I am and have been a nun as long as I have, you get a chance to see and hear just about everything. I’m sure that there’s nothing you could say or ask that I would find offensive.”

So crazy Brian tells her…..”Well, I’ve always had a fantasy to have a nun kiss me.”

I guess she looked a little startled at first and then told him that she would give him a kiss if he met two stipulations.  He had to be single  AND he had to be Catholic.

Brian got a little flippy and smiley…. and said, “Yes, I am single and I’m Catholic too!”

Unbelievable.  The nun said… “OK, pull into the next alley.”

So Brian pulls his cab into the alley behind the Days Inn.  And… of all things… that old nun fulfills his fantasy.   Brian was beside himself.  Goofball.

So… they pull back onto Meeting Street.  But… here is the thing about Brian.  He is a huge goofball.  He started crying. “My dear child.” said the nun, “Why are you crying?”

“Forgive me sister, but I have sinned. I lied, I must confess, I’m married and a I’m a Baptist.”

The nun says, “That’s OK, I am on the way to a Halloween party, and my name is Kevin.”

Okay… silly story.  But there is a good lesson to be learned here.  Things aren’t always as they appear.  We may think we know what something is.. by how it looks on the outside.  But the truth is, we might not be able to tell much at all by outward appearances.

Until we get to know something, we can’t possibly know what it will be like.   And whatever that something is…. it may mean something entirely different to someone else.   This all goes for people too.

I can only hope that I act with openness and compassion whenever I encounter someone new, or someone I don’t understand.  There is no need to be cruel in life.  There is only a need to be kind.

Love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.  —  Dalai Lama

Kindness in words creates confidence. Kindness in thinking creates profoundness. Kindness in giving creates love.  —  Lao Tzu

++~+~+~+~+~+~+~+~++
A good friend of ours is having surgery tomorrow… which will be today by the time most of you read this.  Time warp.

At any rate… she may need a little cheering up.  Apparently she lost a hip somewhere along the lines.. so those doctors are going to replace it… or some such business.  So tomorrow…I may tell a joke or something.