Turn Signals

I see it every….day. Every….day…someone in front of me doesn’t use their turn signals. I have a real displeasure towards people that don’t use their signals. There are several varieties of non-users that don’t meet my desired expectations. 

First are those that flat out don’t use them. I don’t get it. Turn signals have been a part of the automobile for 60 years. I can think of no reason for someone to NOT use them. They are either poor drivers or simply feel entitled, too important to stoop to the level of being kind and considerate of others. As a side note, and I have no evidence to prove this, but I’d almost bet when someone does this same thing to the inconsiderate jerks, there is all kinds of horn honking and cursing spewed out at those 'other' idiot drivers. 

Next on my list are those who use their signals only at the last minute…just soon enough that they can say they used them…but not soon enough to be of benefit to the vehicle behind or ahead of them. You know...the guy that needs to come over into your lane in front of you and uses his signal only after his car is already half way into your lane causing you to hit your brakes. Yeah, that guy. He’s also the guy that uses his signal at the last second as he turns at the intersection, just late enough that the guy who was wanting to pull out from that intersection now can’t because the jerk didn’t give him enough notice. 

In my younger years I probably responded to these non-users and delayed users with a flip of the finger. Then I progressed to giving them the 3 finger salute (index, middle, ring finger) and suggest to them that they read between the lines. Now I just shake my head…hoping they’ll see my disgust and feel bad about their actions and repent to never do it again. (I realize the unlikelihood of this, but maybe once in a while someone feels it). 

The final category of turn signal users…is the guy who DOES use his signal...but forgets to turn it off. Unfortunately, I caught myself being 'that guy' this summer. 

Twice a week, I play softball with about 15-20 other senior guys on the northwest side of town. It’s about a 10 mile drive from the field to my house and includes driving through town. Within a mile of the field, there is a slight right turn at one intersection. It’s the kind where the turn isn’t hard enough that it automatically turns the signal off as you spin the steering wheel back to center…so you have to physically turn your signal off. Well one day…I made the turn…and forgot to turn my signal off…and drove through town and almost home before I finally saw my signal was still blinking. I try real hard to NOT be the guys in the first categories, but for this one day, I was the old man who forgot he had his signal on. 

Turn signals. USE THEM! (Just make sure they turn off after you do).  

REMEMBER:

Maturity begins to grow when you can sense your concern for others out-weighing your concern for yourself.

Be talkin' to ya.

Dan

Be an Athletic Supporter

When Cindy and I were in high school, going to the football and basketball games was ‘the thing’ to do on a Friday and Saturday night. On fall Friday nights, the Inman Field bleachers at Lincoln High School were filled with football fans, and those who couldn’t find a seat were standing at the fence surrounding the field. As winter approached and basketball season started, Adams Coliseum, with more than 4000 seats, was often packed to the rafters with parents and fans rooting for their kids, grandkids, brothers, cousins and the neighborhood boys they had watched growing up. Some terrific athletes and competitors came through our high school in the years we attended. In ’68 and ’69 the boys’ basketball team made it to the state finals. The football teams were some of the best in the area and our friends and classmates from our graduating team of ’72 finished ranked #9 in the state. It was pretty easy to pack the stands and cheer on our team when we had great athletes playing in great games. The excitement was heart pounding at times. 

My how times have changed.

The team we root for these days is where our girls and oldest granddaughter have graduated and our grandson now attends...Lafayette Jefferson High School. The football team has lost 1 game in the last 3 regular seasons with many of the players going on to attend college on football scholarships. Their football stadium is a state-of-the-art facility that draws a good crowd, but not a sellout like we were used to. The basketball team, that our grandson is a member, has won the county holiday tournament the last four years, have been the conference champions the last 2 years, has been ranked in the top 10 in the state, and again have had multiple seniors awarded scholarships to play at the college level. 

The basketball arena has a capacity to seat over 7000 fans and is the 9^th largest high school arena in the world. Let me say that again…in the world. But fan attendance at basketball games is different from our day. In the years that Cindy and I have attended games, rarely do 1000 fans show up to support the athletes there. Of course this year, with the pandemic and the limitations it has placed on the school, (they are allowing only 2 tickets per athlete, coach, and cheerleader), there’s maybe 100-150 in attendance. In a 7000 seat arena, the ‘lack’ of crowd noise is what is deafening. 

In our days at Adams Coliseum, it was so loud at times, you could hardly talk to the person sitting next to you. Now, I could yell at someone on the other side of the arena and hear what they had to say back to me. Maybe todays’ students and adults have too many other options to choose from to take a few hours to cheer on their fellow students, family and neighbor kids. Ticket prices to a football or basketball game is less than a ticket to a movie. The monthly household TV bill will be the same at the end of the month whether watching a movie that’s been seen before, can be recorded for viewing at another time...or going to a basketball game. 

Why not take a couple of hours and go support the local high school kids? And now days, it’s not just the boys playing the sports…the girls have fantastic teams too. Grab some friends and go. Don’t have any friends...go to the game and find some. 

But that’s not what happens. 

I’m sad by that…sad that our grandson and his teammates can’t hear the ROAR of a packed crowd cheering for them and feel the adrenalin in their system come alive as they revel in the support. 

Everyone is losing in ‘this game’. The fan support for High School sports has changed…and not for the better.

REMEMBER:

The 8 rules George Washington Carver lived by:

1. Be clean both inside and out. 

2. Neither look up to the rich nor down to the poor. 

3. Lose, if need be, without squealing. 

4. Win without bragging. 

5. Always be considerate of women, children and older people. 

6. Be too brave to lie. 

7. Be too generous to cheat. 

8. Take your share of the world and let others take theirs.

Be talkin’ to ya.

Dan

That FIRST Snow

We had our first snow of the year yesterday. It was only a 2-inch snow but it made things pretty...for a short while. Bruno loves the snow….loves to run in it….loves to lay in it….loves to eat it, so his tracks are all over the deck and back yard. Granddaughter Ruby is out of school today and she came over for a few hours and wanted to play in it too. 

Of course her buddy Bruno was right there with her as she covered him with snow, which he loved. She and I threw snowballs and she made a snow angel. She asked if I wanted to make a snow angel too but I told her I was afraid if I laid down...I couldn’t get back up. 

My very first memory of my life involves snow. It is only a 5-second snippet of my life that I can see in my mind...as if taken by a video camera in the hands of an unseen third person. I would guess I am 3 years old and my mother has put me and my chubby little cheeks and red hair in a snow suit and is helping me off the back porch to step into the snow. 

That’s it…the movie starts and ends right there…but that is my first recall of my life. So each year when that first snow falls...that memory seems to pop up in my head. 

Sorta ironic that my first memory would include my momma. I had a way-too-short life with her. I'm glad I can recall all of those memories of her and I that I can.

Do you have an early memory? Like...the very first one? Let me know yours. 

REMEMBER:

If we all do one random act of kindness daily, we just might set the world in the right direction.

Be talkin' to ya.

Dan

BRUNO. He's a pain...but it's a good pain.

We’ve had some wonderful dogs over the last 25+ years…Layla our 1st black lab, Zoe a golden retriever, Sam a black lab and our current guy Bruno. Like all dogs, each had traits that we loved and traits that drove us crazy. Bruno is no different. 

Bruno has many loves, but his main one seems to be eating. We laugh almost daily about his timing. We’re pretty sure he has a clock in his stomach that goes off to let him know it’s feeding time and he lets ‘us’ know that the alarm has sounded. He has 2 feeding times, morning and afternoon. Usually by 4:30 in the morning, he is stirring and if Cindy or I turn over in bed around that time, he assumes we are awake and we should be happy to get up and feed him. If we don’t respond he then looks to see if one of us has an arm hanging over or near the edge of the bed, and if so, it is greeted with a cold nose and a head to be patted. We try to hold him off until 6am but some mornings it’s just easier to give in so you can go back to bed. His afternoon feeding is about 3:00, which means his clock goes off about 1:30-2:00, and he’s trailing us around the house or sitting in front of us giving us ‘the stare’ treatment until we feed him. 

After food, Bruno’s other love…is people in general. Anyone coming to the door…he assumes…has come to see him and he’s happy to race to the door to welcome them. We’ve never had anyone panic or think he’s about to eat them…I guess because he just has that look about him…and the wagging tail…that tells them he’s safe to be around. It drives Cindy crazy when he barges in front of us and is a solid 80 pounds of muscle to try to move out of the way. 

The main people he loves to love…are our two little granddaughters, especially little Ruby our 6 year old. The two of them are like peas in a pod…where there is one…there is the other. He follows Ruby everywhere and she loves playing fetch and running with him. If she’s outside in the back yard, he goes with her. If she’s on the sofa, he’s nearby keeping an eye on her. If she walks into another room, he follows her to make sure she’s okay. He has served as her foot cushion and her pillow, depending which end is closer…and he is quite satisfied with that treatment. 

When the kids aren’t here, he’s near Cindy or me. There is no TV watching that he isn’t on the sofa beside Cindy…there are no trips to the bathroom without his supervision…there are no showers when he isn’t the bathmat that you have to step over when getting out. Our master bath is pretty small, but the 3 of us fit because that’s the way he demands it. If you’re at the refrigerator getting an ice cube, be prepared to share…he loves them. He’s not a beggar for food at the dinner table, but he does lie underneath it so if anything falls to the floor, he’ll take care of it for us. He likes to carry objects into the living room for us. Each morning we’re likely to find a shoe or sock on the floor. He doesn’t tear it up, he just relocates it for us. When we leave the house we’re likely to find a bathroom towel or kitchen towel in the TV room upon our return. Not sure what he’s trying to tell us, but we get a daily message from him. 

He’s 80 pounds of pain in the butt and 80 pounds of love…he drives us crazy…he makes us laugh…and he’s a member of the family that we wouldn’t know what to do without. I’ll bet if you have a dog…or have had one…some of this sounds very familiar. Right? 

P.S. Our friend Sara has lab pups…and Cindy wants one. Now SHE’S driving me crazy too!! 

REMEMBER: 

Pay attention to how a person treats the people that they don’t have to be nice to, because that is probably who they really are.

Be talkin' to ya.

Dan

The Soap Sliver

Are you guys a ‘bar’ soap user…or have you joined that group that uses liquid bath soap out of the bottle? I’m a bar soap guy, always have been and just can’t find the desire to change. If you’re a bar soap user, what do you do when you’re down to that last little slice, the one that you’re thinking, with the next good scrub, it’s going to break into little pieces?

Every time I’m in the shower and the soap is at that point, I tell myself to “get a new bar of soap when you’re out of the shower”. But, too often, by the time I’m out, dried, shaved, groomed and dressed…I’ve forgotten. And I don’t think about it again…until the next time I’ve stepped in the shower, gotten wet, reached for the soap and….dammit!

I remember as a little kid, my dad seemed to save every little sliver of soap. When I saw a new bar at the sink, that little sliver of the previous bar was sticking to the side of the new one. Dad was of the ‘Depression’ generation…you didn’t waste anything.

I don’t seem to have the ability to get that little sliver to stick to the new bar like dad did. I don’t know if he had a trick or the soap bars today are different than those from 60 years ago. Anyway, I usually end up tossing that little sliver in the wastebasket…and I think of dad…and I feel a little guilty.

For those of you who are saying…there are people who still use bar soap? The earliest recorded evidence of the production of soap-like materials dates back to around 2800 BC in ancient Babylon. Liquid soap was not invented until the nineteenth century, in 1865, when William Shepphard patented a liquid version of soap. In 1898, B.J. Johnson developed a soap derived from palm and olive oils; his company, the B.J. Johnson Soap Company, introduced Palmolive brand soap that same year. This new brand of soap became popular rapidly, and to such a degree that B.J. Johnson Soap Company changed its name to Palmolive.

Liquid soaps are for dishes…and laundry…and the floors! Not for bathing. So do I still use bar soap? Yes, yes I do. I’m keeping a 5000 year tradition alive. Get over it.
 
REMEMBER:

If you expect the world to be fair with you because you are fair, you’re fooling yourself. That’s like expecting the lion not to eat you because you didn’t eat him.

Be talkin' to ya.

Dan
 

The Little Green Leaf

Cindy and I have about 15 trees on our property, many of them soft maples. Each spring we estimate about 100 million of those little helicopter things spin around as they fall out of those maples filling our roof, our gutters and our yard as summer approaches. Equally, in the fall we rake up about 6 semi-truck loads of leaves.

Yesterday, I noticed one of the other trees (not a soft maple) has a single green leaf still hanging on like it’s mid-summer. All the other trees, and even this tree, are completely devoid of leaves…except for this one valiant leaf, defying the odds, not giving in to the notion that winter is coming. 

        

It’s like…“the little engine that could”…except I would call it “the little leaf that won’t”.

Given the year we've had....let's all act like the little green leaf.....and keep hangin' in there.

REMEMBER:

When going through difficult times remember, you are here for a reason. God has a plan for your life. You are a child of God and you are loved. You can’t always see the plan or feel the love but you can trust in the One who created you for a purpose.

Be talkin' to ya.

Dan

Christmas Songs

We’ve got a radio playing much of the time at our house, mostly listening to the ‘oldies’ that we grew up with in school. One of our local stations is dedicated to playing those great songs so my car radio and our kitchen radio is set to that station.

Every year, starting the Friday morning after Thanksgiving, that station switches to playing Christmas music, playing it 24/7 until December 26^th. So when I flipped the radio on the Friday after Thanksgiving, there it was…Christmas song after Christmas song…to get us in the mood for the upcoming holiday.

But by that Friday night, I realized there was one major problem…I’m pretty sure there are only about 62 or 63 Christmas songs…and by that night I think I had heard almost all of them, some I even heard different versions. Frosty the Snowman, Jingle Bells, Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree, Santa Baby, I’m Gettin’ Nuttin’ for Christmas, Rudolf the Red Nose Reindeer, I Saw Mommy Kissin’ Santa Clause….what artist hasn’t made some version of these?

And then I have to figure out who is that singing this time? Is that Andy Williams or Perry Como singing “Happy Holidays”? They sound a lot alike. When I ask Cindy, “Is that Andy Williams or Perry Como?” she says “no, it’s Michael Buble”. Then another one comes on, “is that Mariah, Whitney, Amy Grant or Karen Carpenter?” or “is that Nat King Cole or Johnny Mathis?”

And are you telling me Elvis wanted to record Christmas songs? I’m guessing it was the Colonel TELLING him “you ARE making a Christmas album because I said so.

And Dean Martin? Christmas songs? Here’s how I’m guessing that conversation went:  

Manager - “Dean, you need to do a Christmas album.” 

Dean - “(Hic) I’m not doing no d**m Christmas album...(hic).

Manager -“But people love ‘em, it’ll make you a million bucks, easy.

Dean -“UH…when do we start?!”

My favorite? Bing Crosby singing I’ll Be Home for Christmas. I find the words very touching. That song was written in the 40s when hundreds of thousands of men were overseas fighting in World War II, many of them gone for years before coming back home…if they got home. And those final lyrics…”I’ll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams”. I can only imagine the moms and dads at home around the radio, listening to that song with tears in their eyes, thinking of their son far away, imagining him singing that to them, hoping he was safe and indeed coming home soon.

My least favorite? And this is hard for me to say as many of you know I’m a long-time Beatles fan…but I really dislike Paul McCartney singing “Simply Having a Wonderful Christmas Time”. Yuck!

Well, by that Saturday evening, I’m pretty sure I’d heard all 63 songs and the 7 versions of some of them…so I found another oldies station. 

Ahhhhh! Sometimes, too much of a good thing…isn’t a good thing.

REMEMBER:

A rich life has nothing to do with money.

Be talkin’ to ya.

Dan

Forgetting names...Remembering faces

I sometimes…well, maybe many times…forget the name of someone I run into out in the world. It’s a little embarrassing when I realize they recall my name, but I can’t do the same for them. I almost always remember the face, but dang it if I can connect a name to it. Are you guys like that too? Forgetful with recalling names?

Long, long ago, Cindy and I were married by the minister at First Baptist Church in Vincennes, Indiana. I had attended that church since grade school so when it was time to select the church for our wedding, we chose it. The pastor knew me...probably more as one of the troublemakers in the balcony with my school buddies (Don, Mark, Jimi, George and others)...than for much else. But when Cindy and I asked him if he’d perform our wedding he was happy to do so. He met with Cindy and me multiple times as we planned the wedding and for counseling as we planned our life as a married couple. By the time of the wedding…he pretty well knew who we were. We had a wonderful wedding and Cindy and I were off to start our new life.

A few years later we heard that he had left the church in Vincennes to accept the leadership at another church elsewhere in the state. A number of years after that, through word-of-mouth or an article in the paper, (I don’t remember which), we found that he was going to be the guest speaker at a church south of Indianapolis. Cindy and I thought it would be fun to hear him speak and then meet with him afterwards to let him know we were doing well and what we were up to since he’d last seen us.

So on that Sunday we drove to the church, listened to the sermon and then stayed after, waiting in line as he greeted other folks who stayed after too. When we finally got up to him we shook his hand and asked him if he knew who we were and he apolologetically said he couldn’t place us. When we introduced ourselves and reminded him he had married us at his church in Vincennes years ago, I could tell he was drawing a blank. He faked it, but I knew he couldn’t place us. We wished him well, said our goodbyes and headed home.

Initially I didn’t know how to take what just happened. I was a little shocked that a guy who knew me since I was a pre-teen, had baptized me, had baptized Cindy, had married Cindy and me, would forget us. But the more I thought about it, I realized a person in that position with many years of experience must have performed multiple weddings, baptisms, funerals, hospital visits, and sermons. They must try hard to focus on the current church members he serves, probably hundreds of members that he needs to remember…the husbands, the wives, the children…so they feel a connection with him when they meet. And in the process of recalling those hundreds of current names, he has to push the hundreds from prior churches to the back of his mind.

Maybe that’s my issue too. In trying to remember the names of folks I see frequently…I push the names of old friends and acquaintances a little further back in my memory bank. So, next time we run into each other, if I don’t seem to remember your name, don’t be offended. I’ll bet I remember the face….it’s just my brain is too full to recall the name that goes with it.  

REMEMBER:

Stay hopeful. You never know what tomorrow may bring.

Be talkin’ to ya.

Dan 

The RING. Lost.....and Found

On my anniversary of working 35 years at St. Elizabeth Hospital, I got a ring as a gift from the Sisters. (For working 42 ½ years, I got retirement….but I digress).

I wore this new ring on my little finger because my knuckles were too big and arthritic to wear on any other finger. I don’t think I had worn it more than a few months when one morning at work, while drying my hands I noticed it wasn’t on my finger. In the hospital setting, you wash your hands before, during and after having touched about anything, a patient, equipment, supplies…you wash them a lot. I immediately thought it had come off in the paper towels I was using to dry my hands but after searching through them it wasn’t there. I put on some gloves and went through the nearby trash can and opened every rolled up, wet paper towel to see if it had been thrown in there during one of the other times I had washed. It wasn't. 

Our department had multiple rooms, so I went through every trash can in every room. No luck. Then I thought maybe it had gotten rolled up in the linen used on the imaging camera beds so I got out all the linen from the laundry hampers and looked through them. No. When it wasn’t there I began to backtrack to where I had been that day. I had been down the hall to the CT scanner to help earlier, but didn’t find it there. I checked in Ultrasound next door, nope. Back in the department I looked under every imaging table, on work spaces, under work tables, in the corners of the room, in the wheel chairs…it was nowhere to be found. 

I asked myself when did I last remember having it on? Did I even leave home wearing it? I couldn’t be sure. 

I contacted lost and found and asked them to notify me if someone turned it in. When I got to my car after work, I searched through it. When I got home I looked everywhere...twice. Days went by, weeks went by and no luck. I eventually figured it had gone to the trash compactor and destroyed at work or someone found it and said, “hey look, a ring” and put it in their pocket. I was angry with myself for a long time for having been so careless to lose it. I eventually went for long periods of time having forgotten about it and then something would remind me and I’d curse myself again for losing it.

Fast forward about 9 years. 

A month or so ago, we had a nasty wind storm blow through. It was so strong that it blew a TV antenna down in our neighborhood, a couple houses away from ours. When the antenna fell over onto nearby power lines, the lights at our house flickered off and on a couple of times and then finally the power went out completely. After a few minutes, when I realized it wasn’t coming back on anytime soon, I called the local power company to report it and within an hour, several trucks were in the neighborhood with half-dozen workers trying to figure out how to get that antenna off the lines and fix the problem. Finally after 3 hours without power, the lights and electricity was back on and we were good to go.
 
As I walked through the house resetting all the clocks, I got to the one on our gas stove and the control panel was black, I couldn’t set the clock, I couldn’t get it to do anything. (It’s a gas stove but it has electric ignition to light the burners and the oven). Everything else in the kitchen was on and working, just not the control panel on the stove. 

I went to the basement to check the circuit breaker box to reset it, but there was nothing to reset, they were all ON. We found that the gas burners could light on the cooktop, the electric igniters worked, there was just no main power to run the oven. We pulled the stove out about a foot and saw about 2 pounds of dog hair (we’ve had 2 black labs and a golden retriever since we re-did the kitchen) and dust back there along with some food crumbs. Cindy decided we couldn’t have a repairman come and see that mess so we got the sweeper out, leaned over the counter and sucked up the hair and crumbs to make it look presentable. 

The next day I stopped at Reese’s Maytag, the appliance store we have bought from and had service with for years and explained things to them. They said the control panel likely had burned out a power component. I asked if Rob or Mike were available since they had been to the house before to service other appliances. She said Rob had a recent surgery and was off for a few weeks. She then said Mike was their independent guy they used when Rob was busy and gave me his number to call. I called Mike and was told he was busy for a week or so but his son had joined the business and he could come by in a couple of days. Since the stove and microwave worked, we knew we could limp along for a few days until he came by so we said okay. 

Well the day came and we explained the situation and he too couldn’t get it to work and said the main board may have shorted out but he’d pull the stove out and give it a look and see what he could do. After pulling the stove all the way out, we found more dog hair, more dust, an ink pen a few cookies and more crumbs. I again got the sweeper and he started to clean up the mess. After a few seconds, the hose got plugged and wouldn’t pick anything else up. He turned the sweeper off and realized it was plugged with some hair and one of the cookies that he sucked up. He got a screw driver out of his work kit and poked it down the tube to break up the cookie and then turned the hose upside down so the cookie crumbs could fall out. Well they did….along with my ring that I thought I lost at work 9 years before.
 
After a few “I’ll be damned and son-of-a-guns” we all got a laugh as we realized the luck of the plugged up sweeper hose. If the cookie hadn’t blocked the hose, the ring would’ve been sucked into the sweeper bag and I would have dumped the bag in the trash and thrown it out, never knowing the ring was inside.
 
To make this story even more weird, he started checking the power boards and looking up the price and availability of each board to see what it might cost. As we discussed that it might be cheaper to buy a new stove, he decided to unplug the stove and plug it back in. 

You can guess what happened. Yep. Power came back on. After some more testing he said it may not last long, but it was working now. I then teased him saying we only had him come out so he could find my ring, to which he replied that he was happy he could help and and that’ll be $59.95 for the service call. We all had a good laugh. 

Well, a month or so later, the oven still works…and I’ve got my ring back. I’m happy.

 REMEMBER:

Today, you could be standing next to someone who is trying their best not to fall apart, so whatever you do today, do it with kindness in your heart.

Be talkin' to ya.

Dan

1917

There was a free movie weekend recently on our local TV station and for the 4^th time I watched the movie '1917'. I first saw the movie in January on vacation in Texas and found it fascinating and have enjoyed it each time I've watched it. 

If you haven’t seen it yet, I’d encourage you to rent it and watch it…in fact, watch it twice. 

The first time you will get an idea of what the soldiers of WW I endured in that early 20th century world war. You'll also learn the story of one day in the lives of two soldiers as they carry out an order from their commanding officers. 

The second time you can enjoy what I'm in awe of...the way it was filmed. Unlike any movie I’ve ever seen, it was made to appear as if the director used only one camera to film the entire movie. There’s no shot from this angle, then that angle, then back to the original angle. There’s no shifting from this scene with these actors to another scene with different actors. The movie starts with the camera on the main characters and it doesn’t leave them as they proceed to their destination. 

I don’t consider this a spoiler alert to what the movie is about and what happens in the movie, but rather knowledge to enjoy the way it was filmed. 

Let me know what you think.

 
REMEMBER:
 
Don’t ask God why he’s allowing something to happen. Ask Him what He wants you to learn and do in the midst of it.
 

Be talkin' to you.

Dan