Whatever...........soap opera?

[dustnchips]

I have and old flip phone. It makes calls and takes voice messages. It will do a lot of other things including text, but I just want a phone and nothing else, and it is small and rugged. When I call people up and ask them just what the *%@$ they think they are doing sending me a text they get the idea that I don't text.

[berettabone]

People my age managed to get through childhood and life without a phone attached to our hand. If we had trouble, we found a way to take care of it without a phone. Problem solving skills are learned. Granted, these days, folks aren't as friendly/safe as they were back then, but I continue to get through life without one. Everyone else looks to their phone to solve their problems.............................which is why todays youth have no problem solving skills..........JMHO, and no offense to the millennials.

[Bawanna]

True on all counts. I remember the days of my youth in Missouri where if you saw a vehicle with a flat tire or broke down on the side of the road there would be half a dozen pickups pulled off behind it helping the person.
You see that now days, they are stripping it for parts.

I also clearly recall one of my last visits when my grandparents were still alive. I was using his car to visit and get around and he got no less than 6 phone calls wanting to know if his car had been stolen. He wasn't driving, my grandmother didn't drive a car (and I didn't look nothing like her either) so they did the math.
He explained I was his grandson visiting from Washington and of course they knew my dad. I think they all visited before I got out of town too.

Everybody knew everything it seems like but also took care of each other.

Just like that little button (every senior citizen should have Life Alert) every derelict should have a cell phone. I get stuck on the mower, in the power chair, got my mom in the van just before Christmas and couldn't get her out parked outside my house. Texted the wife and had her come help.

[knkali]

I have a love hate relationship with my cell phone. A little more hate than love but it has saved my *** a few times. Kinda like run flat tires

[berettabone]

CRAZY WEATHER!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! came back from up nort yesterday. Took us an hour and a half longer than usual because of the rain/ice mix. We left just in time, because later on, it was bad. Everything was like a friggen ice rink. A guy at the gas station said it rained like heck last Tues. and Wed., and then the temp dropped like 20 degrees in what seemed like minutes. My driveway was solid ice. Luckily it's flat, so no real issues. Harder walking then driving. I don't like ice dams on roofs, makes me nervous, but there wasn't anything you could have done. Everyone was doing the teaberry shuffle getting around. If you ever have a roof done, and they want to charge you extra for the roof damn protector that they put down underneath the shingles, tell them to go fly an old kite. When it's freezing rain, they don't do a thing. Come to think of it, they don't do anything for snow either................................. Once again, the bald eagles were a plenty, fishing the rivers that are all open. You can tell the youngsters, because they aren't black and white yet, kind of a mottled brown. There are also a lot of deer kills, so the hawks and ravens are on the same carcasses feeding. Counted 21 eagles in 4 days, which is quite a few. We could tell that a lot of our sightings were not the same birds, by the color and size. They sure raise them large up there, When they get down to the lower elevations, you can see the size of their wingspans, and they are quite unbelievably large. Also saw a huge gray owl sitting in a tree, looking out over a field. The wife and I are not bird watchers per se, but it's hard to ignore up nort, when the shear numbers and size of the birds are hard to ignore............................no neighborhood dog issues, which was good. Lots of handgun shooting in the distance on Sat. from all directions. It was a relatively warm day, and I could tell that they were handguns. We checked out some tracks that we had never seen before in our yard, and around the house. We tracked them from the road, up our driveway, across the front of the pole barn, and straight over to the well house. Then around the well house in a circle, then next to the house and back down the driveway. The prints were a bit melted, so we decided that it was either the neighbors dog, or it was a coyote, who knows that mice hang around the well house all of the time because of the heat. The total way the tracks looked, the size, and how they looked very efficient, no messing around, in and out, I'm going with the coyote. Everyone hunts them up there, and they pay you for them.............................................. ...............We may be getting closer to getting a dog. We went to a local shelter, and checked out some dogs for adoption. Most of them were not for us, except what I thought was a blue heeler. border collie mix. On the smaller side, very nice and calm in his cage. Paid attention well. The guy that we were talking to said he was from Kentucky. He had been there at this shelter for a while, and just got back from 2 weeks with a friend who wanted to test him out for agility training. He said that the facilities for animals in Kentucky are horrendous, so whenever they get a chance, they rescue them. They know that many that they rescue, will never be adopted, and will become permanent residents. It was a very nice, clean, warm facility. He was just about to go play ball with the dog we were looking at, so we took his place. That's where the goodness ended. This dog is so ball possessed, that when outside, nothing else matters. The psychological damage that has been inflicted on this poor dog would be near impossible to fix, unless you were an expert in dog care, or had lots and lots(years) of time on your hands. It makes me so angry, that so many people get dogs, and then just mess them up, thinking that they are doing the right thing. Then, when they have them messed up, they blame the dog, get rid of it, and do it again to some other dog. People are the main cause for so many of these animals. They want to treat the dogs like they are humans, and when they don't learn, they cast them off. Makes me sick. We will continue to look. We're trying to key more towards older versus younger dogs. We're not sure if we want the puppy thing. Been there. Not that I don't like puppies. The wife always has to start pulling on my sleeve to get me to leave places. If we can find a young(year or two old) dog, it's a start. We understand the work that will be needed to make a dog comfortable and trusting after other human idiots got done with it. Not all of them are the extreme cases like we witnessed. I've never seen a dog so fixated on one thing. Doesn't recognize any commands, name, anything a normal dog would know. That dog will probably be one of the permanent residents. The search continues............until next time.............................................. ....................

[dustnchips]

Instead of messing my dog up I just let her train me. The system worked so well that she never tries to dash out the door or run off. People are amazed, but I know she just doesn't want to start over training someone else.

[berettabone]

Went up nort this past weekend. All is quiet on the home front. Just the way I like it. Talked to my neighbor down the road. He just got done having shoulder surgery a while ago, and he was showing me how well his shoulder was working. I was amazed, because it's only been about 6 weeks of healing. He's a real go getter, and I told him in a nice way last year, that since he was older than me, he should probably take it down a notch, because he was going to hurt himself. I told him that I had to do the same after double hernia surgery. It's not easy because you get used to doing things, so slowing it down is difficult. I thought that he may have taken my comments to heart, after having hernia surgery himself last summer. Apparently not, hence the shoulder surgery.............................We have no snow in the city, it's been melted off for a couple weeks now. Not so lucky up nort......still a lot of snow on the ground, although the coming weather should have a good effect. We saw some tracks around the house that looked like coyote tracks. Our dog was having a sniffing smorgasbord. It seems to me the way she uses her sniffer, she may have some type of hound in her. She is very sight and nose oriented.................They are showing 50's for the coming week, so I'm hoping all of the snow disappears. I managed to get the snow off of the decks, that had been frozen on there real good. It would be nice to just transition right in to spring, when the snow is gone, but I'm being optimistic I'm sure. I haven't seen the neighbors since early fall.......kind of curious to hear about the property issues and the garage planning..................until next time.

[berettabone]

Went up nort Thurs. for a 4 day stay, got back today. There was about 5" of snow on the ground, after being totally melted the last time I was up. After the temps we had over the weekend, it all melted again. The river that flows through the nearest town was 4 ft. above flood stage, and people on a flood plain got wet again............................................I got out in my woods for the first time since Dec. I get to the end of my property, and what? A survey co. had done surveying at the edge of my property, and put up metal posts with pink flags, and also tied pink streamers on some of the tree branches. I was standing at one corner of my lot, and at that spot, I have a tan spray painted metal post, with a 6" by 12" no trespassing sign attached. Nothing cheap, it looked good. Now, I have pink streamers on it, and a pink flag in the ground next to it. I started walking down my property line, and saw a metal post with a pink streamer on it, about 25 paces up the line, with a few streamers on the trees. They continued with this down the line, in kind of a random fashion. It went down past other peoples properties in the same fashion. I get to the opposite corner of my property, and there, was an exact replica of my other no trespassing sign. There was also the neighbors post and sign, right next to mine, where their surveyor for their property put it. It also looked good. These signs also were used as property markers by both my neighbor and myself. They're not there any more!..... Now in the general vicinity, is a green metal post with pink streamers, and a small flag that was my neighbors surveyors flag, and the surveyors stick in the ground flag, and anything that resembled my stuff is gone. SSSSSOOOOOO, neither me, nor my neighbor knows where our original markers were STUCK IN THE DIRT..... We both had surveys done on our properties, me when I purchased, and my neighbor, last year. They took my friggen sign, and they took my neighbors sign. Signs that have absolutely nothing to do with theirs, or anybody else's survey. They were multi use signs, property markers and stay off my property signs. I was going to bring one of their flags home, and give them a call, but in the packing the vehicle mode, I forgot. Old age too................................I called the sheriff, and had him come out, so I could have him at least make a report, since I can't prove diddly. I didn't find out just what this survey is for. Between my property, and property behind me, there's a sand road that divides our properties. This road runs along many properties. At one time, it was going to be a regular road, but it wasn't needed, so it became a walking path, a 4 wheeler trail, etc. No one abused this trail/road, and we have never had any problems. They didn't survey the opposite side. If this was originally going to be a road, one would think that they would already have a survey of some type.......... I said to the sheriff, that this was probably going to be one of those times where I have to bend over and grab my ankles. He laughed and said, " probably". I told him that it wasn't so much the money($20) but now the neighbor and I don't know where the property markers should be. I took time to make a nice sign, and someone just takes it. We were never notified that someone was going to be on our property. Our properties are posted. I told the sheriff that I usually tried to get permission before I went walking around on someone else's property. They have a lot of rifles up there. He agreed. He said if I signed something, he'd put the report in to the local crimestoppers. When I gave his pen back, I told him "nice pen". "I won't try to steal it". I said, " Was that a Parker?" He said, "Yeah, I've had it since my first day as a deputy, 21 years" I said, "Oh, that's your stay alive pen". " I'll make double sure that I give it back". He chuckled ...........................................regardl ess, I'm pissed off about it. I'm sure that If I call the idiot survey company, they'll just deny it anyway. My neighbors don't know about any of this yet. You never know, somehow, all of that pink stuff could just disappear. All the way down the line. Since I am not a permanent resident yet, I'm not up on all the comings and goings with the signs. I haven't decided on any type of plan...........yet.............. I am a big believer in revenge............................I have a new neighbor down the road. Talked to him for a minute, after he got lost trying to figure out where his lot lines were. He was WAY OFF......................I told him that he was kind of taking a chance walking around in other peoples woods. I told him that I could hear people talking in my woods, so I had to investigate. I told him that I was friendly, but others may not be. He said that he hears people talking in his woods too. That makes me nervous. He said we'd talk again...............until next time.............................................. ......

[Bawanna]

My first real career in life was working for a fence company. I could tell you boundary dispute stories that would make you throw up a little bit in your mouth.

People resorting to fisticuffs over 6" of property in a ravine that was not use to nobody.

I still chuckle about it from time to time.

My boss's favorite phrase was better 6" on your property that 1'' on theirs.

[berettabone]

We all(neighbors) understand that the only time it would make a difference, is if someone sold their property. Stranger things have happened. With me, it's the principle. You were on my property without permission. You took something that doesn't belong to you. You took something that didn't interfere in anything that you were doing. You took something that has time and money invested. It's like walking in to someone's open garage and taking something. You don't belong there. Boundary disputes are exactly one of the things I'm trying to avoid.