Sunset

A Great Blue Heron crossed the wide expanse of sky.  Its long legs trailed behind while its neck, folded ever so eloquently, rested neatly on its back.  She watched its uninterrupted flight until it was out of sight.  She had always marveled at the heron, pondering if it was a distant relative of a pterodactyl.

She had come to this place to watch the sun set.  Something she had not seen in a long time.  She was not to see it this time either as a large bank of clouds rose up in the far western sky.  There were no other clouds in the sky, just those and they were in the way.  It did not matter, the sound of absolutely nothing surrounded her and there was much solace to find in that quietness.

She decided to watch the sunset anyway.  It was a wise choice.  Although the giant glowing ball of gas could not be seen, it began to paint a picture on the back of the canvas of clouds and the colors started to bleed through the mist.  For the most part, the cloud bank throbbed with a dull shade of orange.  But, as the earth turned away from the sun, the orange began to brighten.  As this happened, the edges of the clouds seemed to come alive.  They shimmered with nearly the white light of electricity.  It looked as though molten silver was flowing around each cloud.  It may not have had all the colors she had hoped for, but the pulsing silver lining had her full attention.  It was almost mesmerizing.  Perhaps a cloud with a silver lining was what she was meant to see.  

The sun continued its descent and the orange hues and silver lining were no longer visible.  Just a big cloud bank in the western sky.  She scanned the rest of the empty sky to see if any stars or planets were visible.  None that she could see.  Just lots of open endless sky.  She knew if she sat there long enough, she would see them, but there was something so comforting about that huge sky.  It seemed to speak to her.  Her.  One tiny person in the vastness of the universe was made to feel like she belonged.  She belonged to something that perhaps she could not see right now, but it was big and it was powerful and it was full of love.  It was full of hope and full of promise and it seemed to endow these things to her.  But, the message she received told her she already had all these things and more, she had simply forgotten about them.  The things of the world had been in the way, trying to turn her into one of its wanton slaves.  That made sense to her.  She had not touched her phone in days, nor did she miss it and it felt as if a heavy burden had been lifted without it.  

She stood up and walked back down the path she had taken to reach this natural seat in natures' amphitheater.  A new found confidence followed closely behind.  

Happy Autumn

Cobwebs that sparkle with morning sun dew drops.

Yellow, red, gold leaves are falling on roof tops.

Locust that spin upside down, round and round.

Grasshoppers hopping all over the ground.

Acorns are falling and gathered by squirrels.

Combines in fields, corn leaves ride high on wind swirls.

Sweatshirts in the morning, shorts after midday,

Bright orange pumpkins and bales of hay.

The sun bids Earth farewell, the shadows grow longer.

The mercury dips and the winds become stronger.

Festivals, football, bonfires at night.

Hill sides of trees that glow with morning's light.

Bounty and harvest, fresh apple cider,

Crickets that chirp a welcome to the spiders.

Blue jeans and boots that have gathered some dust, 

Hot bowls of chili and fresh baked pie crust.

Summer blows kisses to her lover, in hot pursuit.

Even though she knows that his chase is but moot.

Purple, red, golden sunsets that color the sky,

All of these things prove that Autumn is nigh.

 For those who remember, the words can be put to the tune of "My Favorite Things".  You're welcome and Happy Autumn!

Why We Like Them

What makes us fall for them?  Is it because we are bored and looking for some excitement?  Do they take our minds off of other day to day worries and the grind?  Maybe we think, if only they are true, there is surely light at the end of the tunnel.  Conspiracy Theories, from here on referred to as CT.

Let's take a look at some past CT's that turned out to be true.  Did you know the CIA had a heart attack gun?  The CT had been circulating, but allegations had been denied.  Then in 1975, the truth came out.  The CIA did indeed have such a weapon.  The gun fired a small dart at the intended victim.  It could go through multiple layers of clothing and left nothing but a small red dot behind.  It felt like a mosquito bite.  The dart disintegrated on impact but not before injecting the drug, that would in turn, cause a fatal heart attack.  The drug dissipated, leaving no trace to be found during an autopsy.  

Another CT was that vaccines caused cancer.  Back in the 1950's and 60's, a virus was found in a monkey.  The virus ended up in a vaccine that was given to 98 million people before it was discovered and eliminated from the vaccine.  The virus was later found in many cancers.  Did the virus cause the cancer?  As far as the information goes, no one can, or will, say for sure.  But, the CDC, Center for Disease Control, admitted that this actually did happen.  Then, mysteriously in 2013, the CDC removed the fact sheet on this subject from there public information.  Something smells of population control on this one, but that is fodder for another day.


Another newer CT is the one about Q or Qanon.  The story behind Q is that Q is either a person or a group of people who work closely with our President.   Q posts cryptic messages on a site called 8Chan.  8Chan is an online message board that allows anyone to post just about anything they want, good or bad.  It's kind of like free speech without the politically correct correctiveness.  Q's message to all patriots is one of a fight between good and evil.  That there is a shadow government, that has been in place for many years and they are involved with child trafficking, drugs, and a plan to keep the masses as dumbed down as possible.  Q tells its followers to stay the plan, for in the end, the good guys are going to win and it will be a great awakening for all the people of Earth.  Q has hundreds of thousands of followers, worldwide.  Sounds crazy, huh?  Well, it gets even weirder.  Recently there was a shooter in a Texas Wal Mart.  This guy has some serious mental issues and they did not just occur during this present White House administration.  His mother had, weeks before the tragic event, contacted police because she was afraid of his behavior and the fact that he had purchased the gun online from China.     He wrote a rambling manifesto that even stated that if the media blamed Trump for his actions, they were lying.  Then he posted the manifesto on 8Chan.

Except he didn't.  He posted it on Instagram, someone else posted it to 8Chan.  8Chan was shut down because of this, stating it was a place to incite hate, violence, racism, etc.  The owner of 8Chan recently testified, behind closed doors.....so much for transparency, to members of our government that the shooter did not post the manifesto on this message board.  And Instagram?  Oh yeah, it's still up and running.  The end results of this one are going to be epic.

So, why do we like these crazy Conspiracy Theories?  Because some times, truth really is stranger than fiction and seriously, you just can't make this stuff up.

A Path In Time

Having recently crossed the point in time that I started my journey around the sun, I have been reflecting over the past decades.  A lot has changed.  To try to list all the technical advances that have taken place would take most of today and maybe part of tomorrow.  To sum it up, I can attest, with great truthfulness, that I was once the remote control for the folks' TV, even if I was in another room minding my own business.

I've watched the automobile go from being a block long, heavy sled to a compact unit that will fit in the most smallest of parking spaces.  The age of muscle cars and hot rods came and went, then suddenly some have been re-born, the Camaro, Challenger and Mustang.  Proving that no matter how much they try to spin the idea of everyone owning and electric vehicle, the human hot rod spirit cannot be crushed.  I envision, one day in the future, an underground society of muscle car militia.  They will need to be careful though, it will be hard to hide with all those loud pipes rattling.  

Hem lines have gone up, down, completely disappeared and back again during my time.  Probably the most favorite of all apparel, for me anyway, was the bell bottom blue jeans.  I was fortunate enough to live through the era of the bell starting at the knee and being just long enough, and wide enough to cover, but not completely hide, a pair of platform sole shoes.  Just the other day I saw a picture of a tiny little girl in bell bottom jeans. I said to myself, oh, be still my heart.

I remember when my best friend's phone number was 8 and I had to tell an operator that number in order to talk to her.  Those talks started out at a small little table with an attached seat.  Back then, the phone cords were only a few inches long, just long enough to get the receiver to the ear.  Then, someone, with a stroke of genius, made the cord longer.  Long enough that one could lay on the floor, go nearly from one room to the other and depending on the original placement of the phone, it could be possible to grab a snack out of the refrigerator.  Next, the cordless phone hit the market place and even though they were big, bulky and had an antennae, it sure was cool to sit outside and yap.  Now, I can stand on one side of the country, type in a message, hit send and reach a friend in another country, in less than five seconds. 

All in all, it has been a pretty interesting ride so far.  There have been times of bounty and times of deep despair.  But, no matter ones' placement in time or society, I believe all people experience these things.  I'm hoping there are many more adventures waiting in the isles of my future, but there is one thing I have discovered on my path.  I tried to impart this particular piece of wisdom to my oldest grandson, during a heart to heart conversation, which, again in all truthfulness, was me talking and him listening.  He nodded, but I knew he did not fully understand, but some day he will, after all, he's only 17.  Just the other day, I shared it with a young woman who had just turned 40.  Her eyes lit up and I could tell she was just beginning to stumble upon the truth.  What I shared is this, no matter how old a person gets, the way they "feel" when they are about 18 years of age, will be the way they "feel" for the rest of their life.  Yes, we will change our minds, beliefs, likes and dislikes over the years but, what makes us, "US", will never change.  We are a soul, taking a ride in a body.  A body that will sometimes let us down and will eventually run out of battery life,  but the soul is the spark.  The spark, that started eons ago and has been waiting to experience this thing we call life on Earth.  Enjoy your path, and when necessary, just avoid mirrors.

From The Desk of The Dog

My Last Summer Vacation

Hello everyone!  It's Runtly, the ever so entertaining Jack Russell Terrier, JRT for short!  Mom and Dad have drug me all over God's green earth this summer!  They seem to forget that I do not really like to ride in the car!  But, this last trip, I tricked them and learned something new!  Bear with me.  Mom says wrong bear, what does she know, she's afraid of bears!

Anyway, I have been in the car for over 4000 miles this summer.  I don't know why we had to go so much.  The last trip, though, I figured out a new plan.  We left really early in the morning.  I sure wasn't done sleepin' when Mom woke me up and told me we were going to go see my Mama......again!  It was dark when we left and they put me in my crate and strapped me down in the back seat.  See, they thought that if I could not see where I was going, I would ride better that way.......NOT!  We didn't get too far down the road and I let them know I needed to get out.

I did this as many times as possible and it worked each time.  Then we stopped to see some peeps we had not seen in a long time.  They live in Kentucky, whatever and wherever that is.  I don't forget anybody I get to smell.  As soon as I got a whiff of them, I was happy to see them too.  

Mom says we visited with those people for almost an hour.  I don't know what that is either.  That is probably the funniest thing about my human peeps, they are always talkin' 'bout time.  Too bad they don't know that the only time there really is, is right now.  Anywho, we had no more got back out on the road and I let them know I needed to get out again.  Mom finally figured it out.

I didn't need to go potty again.  Good grief, I had pottied 20 times already, with no drink!  Sometimes Mom and Dad are just slow learners.  Mom reached in the back seat and wallerd , Mom says that's wrong too, wish I had an eye roll emoji.  She wallerd around and got my crate undone and let me out.  BINGO!

I spent the rest of the trip to see my Mama and the entire trip back home in Mom's lap!  There was a time or two that I got really scared though.  Usually when Dad had to make smoke.  He always opens the window and lets the loud air rush in and the loud sounds from the road rush in too.  He finally just made smoke when we went through the slow spaces.  Mom says they were construction zones....whatever.  Dad just needs to quit makin' smoke.  I did kinda pay him back, it took him a whole day to get all my dog hair out of the car.  Wish I had a smiley emoji.

At least I didn't get sick this time.....but Mom did.  She laid on the bathroom floor for a really long time and I tried to help.  I licked her eyes, ears and face but she said it didn't help.  So, I just sat on the bed and watched her barf.  Mom says I'm done now.  Woof!

Summer Camp

Google, an American multinational company that specializes in internet services and products, recently held their Summer Camp.  This is not the kind of summer camp most of us can recall.  Those hot summer days filled with poison ivy, mosquitoes, campfires, s'mores and bunk houses with no air conditioning.  Singing Kum Ba Yah, swimming in a lake or learning how to pitch a tent.

No, this Summer Camp is supposed to be quite secretive.  Only the creme de la creme, the very best, the super elite are invited to attend.  It was held in Riber, Sicily, Italy at the beautiful Verdura Resort.  This place boasts two golf courses, spas and rooms that start at $903 a night.  

Google invites the very rich and powerful to attend so they can talk about how to make the world a better place.  They discuss things like human rights, education and other global issues.  This year though, they focused mainly on climate change.  Some of the attendees were the former president of the USA, Barack Obama,  Leonardo DiCaprio.....actor, Katy Perry.....singer (recently accused of sexual abuse by two people), Tom Cruise.....good actor....weird person, Prince Harry....has he ever worked?,  Mark Zuckerberg, Bradley Cooper, fashion designers and many other millionaires and billionaires, which may be the reason many journalists refer to it as "The Billionaires Club".

The 'campers' arrived in 114 private jets, guess no one thought to jet-pool to reduce the carbon footprint, and over a billion dollars worth of diesel burning luxury yachts.  When not discussing the grueling emergency of the state of the climate, they were seen scurrying around in Maseratis and gas slurping ATVs.  The campers did have to pay their own way to get to the resort, but after that, Google picked up the tab.  To the tune of somewhere around 20 million dollars.  

Does anyone else see the hypocrisy in this situation?  Were there any of the Inuit Elders invited to the camp?  The ones who talked to NASA about how the stars have changed position because the Earth has tilted, something it has done for eons.  Were there any conversations about the thousands of everyday people who have reported the sun rise is in a totally different area of the horizon?  Yes, the sun rise does move throughout the year, but the changes that are being reported around the globe are not the subtle changes that occur in the yearly trip around the sun. 

This seems like an experiment in totalitarianism, where only a few make the rules and those rules are not to be questioned.  It also seems like a blatant flaunt of wealth over the rest of the populace.  Perhaps a closer look needs to be taken at Google itself.  After all, should we trust and American company who helped a communist country develop a program to censor and spy on their own people?

From Sea to Shining Sea

Having never seen the Pacific Ocean, it was definitely one of the items on the bucket list.  I flew into Phoenix, Arizona and then traveled by automobile to the west coast.  The scenery in the southern part of the South West is mesmerizing.  The desert, in all its vastness, is an amazing thing to see.  Palm trees in the distance are a signal that humans occupy a spot in the otherwise arid landscape.  Outcroppings of jagged rocky mountains break up the monotony of the flatness of this place.  The heat is searing.  One small town has the sea level marked on their water tower.  We were well below it, leaving one to wonder if, at sometime, eons ago, this too was once an ocean floor.  

One thing about traveling from east to west is how very quickly the scenery can change.  It is almost as fast as walking from one room in a house to another.  This very thing happened as we approached the California border.  Suddenly, the flat desert turned into sand.  We were driving through the Imperial Sand Dunes.  Never had I seen so much sand in my life.  It looked exactly like something out of a movie seen and I thought surely, a camel would appear over the top of one of the dunes at any moment.  The dunes are created by the wind and the sand is said to be from an ancient lake.  All this sand stretches for nearly forty miles in a south east to north west direction, but is only about 5 miles across at its widest points.  I was left in awe to have been able to witness such a massive force of nature.

Then, the terrain began to rise.  We climbed higher and higher through mountains strewn with megalithic boulders.  Hundreds of thousands of huge stones that looked as though they had been dropped there, for some good reason and then forgotten.  The energy of this place was magnificent and could be felt even as we drove with a throng of other drivers all in a hurry to reach their destination. 

As the altitude changed, so did the temperature and the 115 degrees of the desert was replaced with mid 70's and a cool breeze.  As we drove closer to the coast, the scenery changed again, the landscape dropped off on our left, to reveal the blue water of the Pacific Ocean.  

I had been warned that the Pacific was much harsher than the Atlantic.  Its water was shockingly cold and the waves were indeed strong and fast.  They not only washed up shards of shells that had been tossed to and fro for a millennia, but rocks as well.  Not just small rocks, rocks as big as soft balls, polished smooth by the constant motion of water and sand.  One of those rocks, looking like a spotted walrus, sits silently on my desk, ever listening, but gives no advice, nor tells no tales of its hidden, but surely, exciting past.

Fast forward five weeks and I find myself standing quietly, looking at the Atlantic Ocean.  I whisper to her, "Hello, my old friend." She answers me by tossing her foam capped grey green waves my direction, gently touching the tips of my toes.  Her water is inviting and warm.  I stare out across her hidden depths, I gaze down the shoreline to a point far in the distance.  I wonder, again in awe, the stories the earth could tell.  Maybe it is telling me now.  Telling me how blessed I am to go from sea to shining sea.