Friday, June 19, 2015

I am human...

Hey y'all, this isn't really a rant, but it is my view on several things going on in the world.  I love to read. I started out reading Dick and Jane in the first grade, then quickly was able to actually read the back of the cereal box, instead of just looking at the graphics.  I was always in the library and when I wasn't playing with my Barbies, I always asked for something to read. I had comics books with characters like Little Dot, Little Lotta and Baby Huey. I not only loved to read, but I loved to hear someone read out loud. I was read to as a child, which created a bonding experience for all involved and for just for fun, even as adults, my mother, sister and I read out loud to each other. (My brother was somewhere being...himself, but that's another column for another day). Anyway, before I digress completely, I wanted to let you know how much I love to read.

These days I not only read the newspaper, (yes the actual paper one), I read novels and magazines and "how-to-books".  When I'm not creating something in my art studio, I enjoy reading or writing.  I belong to an awesome online community, some folks that I know, some I will surely meet one day.  We communicate back and forth with text messages and private messages and even in comments on our favorite FB pages.  FB stands for Facebook , which, as most of you now know, is one of the remaining social media sites that lots of us are a part of.

There are so many places online that people leave comments. Comments...news stories, social media such as FB, Instagram and Twitter are all places where people can voice their opinions. Some of these sites are personal pages and some are public and some are even private or secret.  With all these websites out there, I can see where some folks may forget that their comments are being read by humans.  There are people that comment that are very young and have little life experience and some that are well more experienced and want you to know how knowledgeable they are.  There are some people that comment that are just plain mean and hateful.  There are so many commenters our there.  Some aren't even who they say they are, but for their own reasons they want you to think they are your friend, or a friend of your cause, or just like-minded.

I am giving you all this background simply to share with you something I knew, but was reminded of yesterday.  I read what I considered an unsolicited lengthy comment on someone's page and it kind of ticked me off.  I even went to bed thinking about it.

This morning I was feeling differently about it.  The person, someone I know, didn't mean anything by it, they just wanted to be part of the conversation.  Maybe they were feeling neglected that day, or maybe they were remembering some time from their past when their opinion wasn't taken seriously, but whatever the reason they were trying to educate others.  I learned from this. I learned to remember that there are real people behind those comments. I was reminded that long unsolicited comments don't have a place on someone else's page, they are for your own page.  I was reminded that the things that bug me about people are the things I do not want to do.  Maybe I'm turning it all back around to be about me, but it's what I need to do to keep from throwing my arms in the air and screaming "what the hell is wrong with you?"

I want to be kind and thoughtful and insightful.  If your life is different from mine, sometimes I want to know what it's like to be you. Unless you are a mean, crazy bitch...then you know what, I don't want to be anything like that.

I am human and I certainly hope that all of you are also.  Be reminded... when someone says something hateful,  be reminded, "I don't want to be like that".  Be reminded when someone tells you something that you should do, but don't do themselves,  be reminded, "I don't want people to see me the way they see you, when you act like that".  Take the opportunity to use the negative comments and the unsolicited advice, and the requests for pity and money and who knows what else...take these as an opportunity to be selfish...use what you see out there, not to get mad about it, but to make yourself a better person.  A better human.

You'll feel better in the morning, I know I always do.

So commenters, give it your best shot. Bitch and moan, tell me lies and beg for money, post pictures that aren't real, give out your unsolicited and boring opinions. Bring it on, because you know what???  I'm a better person for it. Bet you didn't count on that, did you?

Monday, June 15, 2015

And a good time was had by all...

I was chatting with a few friends about the adventure I had this weekend and they said I should blog about it.  I have several friends that have a place "over on the creek".  In the past, this place has consisted of a campsite that included tents and a "bucket shower". Well, you can be sure that is not my cup of tea, so I have graciously declined numerous invitations over the past several years. This year, they acquired a camper, and while it is not the most expensive trailer out there, it serves the purpose...

That purpose being, the fact that it has three (what they call) beds in it.  I suppose compared to sleeping in a tent or a car on air mattresses, these so called beds are the height of luxury.

While the camper does have a fridge and stove and even a terr-let...they cook outside on the grill, use a cooler and have a portapotty. nuff said.

It really is a nice area, especially if you like doing nothing...

It was a bit buggy so they kept a fire going for smoke all day. 95 degrees and two fires going all day, but I digress.  One of the guys, Bless His Heart, only has a handful of teeth left and keeps a cigarette in his mouth most of the time. This, to me, makes him a bit hard to understand. I mention his teeth not to be mean, but to justify my not being able to understand him. Soooo, while he messing around in the weeds looking for wood, I thought, honestly I did, that he said he had "found us a cobra".  I do have to admit, I was partaking of an adult beverage (or two) and I'm the one that started yelling "cobra, he's found a cobra".  Well, what he had actually said was he had found us a "smoker", meaning a large gnarly stump of wood that would smoke the bugs away when placed oh-so-gently (not) into the fire pit.  So that was pretty funny.  The fact that no one ran to help him deal with the cobra was telling, I suppose. The day continued in this vein.

Chelsie and I had already been laying in the sun for several hours...

 I was completely unable to get out of this chair without help
plus it whacked me in the head when I sat in it...


I eventually moved to the covered area to observe the baby, while watching, what must be their usual routine while "over on the creek".  The baby was good. She did what newborns do. They had a nice covered area and a fan blowing on her and everyone was having a very nice time...


There were five barking dogs...the three small black dogs, Bubba, Maddy Girl and Baby
Girl...the blond German shepherd named Boscoe and now added to the mix, a husky named Dakota. Boscoe almost knocked me down with the rope to which he was tied, as he bolted when Dakota first showed up. Bruised leg, first injury.

 Dakota

So they got all the dogs either tied up, or put in a pen or placed in a truck with the a/c running.

Folks fished and threw back their catches and fished some more.  I took pictures of the baby and sang to the Kid Rock music that we had blaring at top volume.

They fished some more. Chelsie wears rubber boots to get in the creek as it's cold and has critters in it. We saw a snake. Yikes...

Chelsie put Dakota on a lead and tried to introduce him to the water, but he wasn't having it...


Dakota and Chelsie

Speaking of getting introduced to the water.  After sitting for several hours and being hot and needing to pee, they finally convinced me that the water would feel good.   "All you have to do is wade out in it".  I had hiking sandals on and thought it would be a breeze.  It was not.  I somehow ended up falling in the water, floundering around, looking like a giant turtle that was flipped over and couldn't get up.  I could hear them laughing at me, but I still couldn't figure out how to get up.  This seems to be a recurring problem for me.  Remember that time I got stuck in the tub at Williamsburg?  Well, it was much like that.

I finally got someone to come get me up and help me out into the creek and back to the bank. Enough creek for me.

Well, of course now I have to pee. I made it to the portapotty and got my wet spandex short down far enough to do my thang, and of course, I could hardly get them back up.  It was a bit frustrating, but made for laughter back down at the fire pit.

Hot dogs were cooked and since I had eaten fried chicken a while before I chose not to eat at hot dog at that time.  After what I certainly thought was a long time, I went to the grill to pick up what I was sure would be a cool hot dog.  It was not. It was blazing hot and it burned the finger and thumb on my right hand, so instead of dropping it...I transferred it to my left hand and burned finger and thumb of that hand.  By this time, I cut myself off from any more alcohol. Damn hot dog was too burned to eat after all.

Finally, we had real food. Chicken cooked on the grill along with potatoes. We only had one dull knife so I  sliced using a tiny knife on a Leatherman type tool. Oh for pity's sake. Chelsie wrapped the potatoes in  foil and put them in the campfire.  Same with a foil pack of onions. They were done after about 20 minutes and the onions would have been great if one of the dudes hadn't torn the foil digging them out of the fire, causing him to burn his hand and lose most of the onions. 2nd burn of the day.

We went inside the trailer to make our plates,sharing space with the little black dogs, finally got our food and went back outside.  Gradually after eating, people began to leave.  All the families with kids packed up and went on to other things. Derrik and Dakota took off and the host, apparently had to hit the bed in the trailer.  I was not the only one that had more than one beer.

Chelsie and Jordan cleaned up, making it easier for them to leave early in the morning, and me, I decided that I would be miserable trying to get any sleep there.  So I came home.

All in all, it was a very interesting day.  I'm just not very outdoorsy, but I think I had fun.  I might do it again. Maybe.

So that is my adventure from over on the creek. Hope you enjoyed hearing about it. Next time something fun happens, I'll tell you all about it. Until then, stay cool and let those you care about know just how much you do care.