Saturday, February 27, 2016

HOW LITTLE HAS CHANGED...............

500 or 1000 or 10000 years ago, a man, not much different from me, stood on the hill that rises behind my house, as I did tonight.  He felt the earth cool beneath his bare feet.  He saw the same honey colored half moon rise slowly from behind the same ridge line.  He looked up at the constellation that we now call Orion, as it made it's way slowly westward in the black sky.

He heard a distant coyote, an owl screech, and felt the slight February breeze that stirred the scrub oak leaves, as did I.

     I looked out over the valley tonight, and realized that, as I stood there, the only thing that has REALLY changed in this vista are the man-generated lights and the structures.   This place was much the same 100000 years ago, and will be the same in another 100000 years.  We come, and we go.  That distant mesa on the horizon will remain. The wispy cirrus clouds will still float by. Cities and forests rise and fall, and, eventually the Earth reclaims.

It is so easy to get caught up in our daily trivia, which, although important to us as we lead our lives, is incredibly insignificant in the scheme of things.  Nature endures.  That moon keeps cycling through its phases, Orion continues his march across the sky, and the pointer stars of Ursa Major continue to circle Polaris, eon after eon.  We need to maintain perspective on our place, and give this Earth the respect that it deserves.  We are but temporary visitors here. 

Wednesday, February 10, 2016

DO YOUR JOB, PARENTS

Kids learn by example, perhaps more than anything.  Unfortunately, in today's tech society, there are many life skills that children used to learn by watching, that are no longer done, for the most part.

There are certain basic life preserving skills that, we all hope, our children will never need.  Those are the skills that are most important to teach.  To survive, a human needs (in addition to oxygen), water, food, clothing, shelter, and a source of heat.   Kids (boys AND girls) need to learn, early on in their lives, how to create or obtain those things.  God forbid that our children ever are caught in a situation where they MUST have those to survive.  But........you never know.  Earthquakes, fires, natural and man-made disasters can put you into that situation in an instant.  If you have DONE YOUR JOB and taught, (or had someone else teach) your child those basic skills, their chance of surviving goes up dramatically.  They need to know how to make a fire without matches, lighters, etc.  They need to know how to get water.  How to get food.  How to find and identify things that are edible.  How to catch a fish, a rabbit, etc.  How to find or create a shelter.  How to find their way to safety. How to hide. When to run.  When to hide.  When to fight, and how. How to swim.  How to get warm.  How to stay cool. How to take care of injuries and/or illness.  Basic first aid.  How to sharpen a knife.

This is disturbing stuff, isn't it?  Our job, as parents, though, is to continue our species, if you get to the basics.  Teaching your kids essential survival skills gives them a better chance.  Figure it out.  Teach them if you are capable.  Get someone to teach them if you aren't.  Do it TODAY.  You don't know what they may face tomorrow.......

Sunday, February 7, 2016

More reviews coming

Not yet at liberty to say what, which company, etc.  But watch for more reviews coming in the near future!

ARE YOU DONE?

Ok,  we had Halloween behind us, and all the candy was gone, but then here came Thanksgiving!  You just CAN'T turn down a giant meal, followed by a week of leftovers.

Once that was in the can (literally), we had Christmas staring us in the face.  Cookies in every workplace, office parties, extra meals and parties with family and friends. (Cookies for Santa, of course).  Whew! then....

Hey, it was NEW YEARS!  More parties, food, drink, food, food, food...

Today, there were Superbowl Parties!!!  Nachos, beer, soft drinks, chips, you name it.

Get the picture? That's October, November, December, January and February.  At some point, you gotta get a handle on the caloric intake.  Our traditions are killing us.  Almost everyone gains weight "over the holidays".  Hey, that ain't "the holidays".  That's five months of binging. You can't undo that in a couple of weeks of being sensible.  If we are to get a hold of our burgeoning girths, you can only do it..............TODAY. Tomorrow is another today in the wings.  You can't undo last week or last month.  You can start...............now.