state of the union

 I listened to the state of the union address tonight

    No, this is not a political rant.  Almost all of you know how I feel and who I support, so there is no need to further explain that part of my life.

    It just strikes me as strange that a man in my age group is running for president.  Actually, 2 of them.  

    Now I have nothing against old people,  because I am an old person.  And so  are several of you.

    I am just confused about how I got old.

    Just yesterday my kids were going off to college.  I was able to ride my bike more than 3 miles before tiring.

    Staying up late did not involve bathroom runs or worrying about the little pain in my chest/let/head/arm.

    I was able to read books with normal sized print. 

    I remembered to use turn signals and that a speed limit of 55 meant I should be going 62.

    I never used to complain about the grocery cart not going in a straight line.  

    There was a time in my life when I could use the phone without having to find it.  It was always on the wall, not still in the car or buried in my coat pocket on mute.

    I used to have a hop and skip in my step, now it's a slow shuffle with loose fitting slippers that could cause me to fall and break a hip at any moment, which is another reason I worry at night.

    I once actually was able to read the Tribune without logging in.  But then, I also used the paper to wrap presents, train the dog, line the bird cage and even for toilet paper when times were rough.  Well, actually never toilet paper, but my mother always lined the bird cage with the Tribune.

    Somebody told me the other day that the 70s were now the new 60s.  That is bullshit.  70 is 70.  Sure,  my mind might be fairly sharp but physically I am not in the shape  I was when I was 60.  Not that I was in great shape then, but I could go up the stairs without breathing hard or having my legs and hips hurt.

    I am old enough to remember when the president, no matter who he was, was granted respect during the state of the union. 

    Honestly, I am not comfortable having someone older than me be president.  I know I forget things.   I don't understand stuff as well as I used to.  Technology puzzles me sometimes.  And I am younger than the 2 older guys running.

    I sometimes wish there was a way to reverse aging, but I know that would be catastrophic for the world and the environment.

    But I also know I hate getting old although it does  beat the alternative.

Peace and Love

Hello, Ciao, Bon Jour

 Just some weird things to share tonight

    During the life of this blog, which now seems endless, there have been over 300,000 page views.

    I know, that is over 65 years, but still, 300,000 is a lot.  I don't have that many pennies in my pocket,  teeth in thy mouth, or calories consumed in a day.  Well, I am not sure about the calories lately.

    The most common browser used is Chrome.  According to the stats page, the most common device is an I phone.  I would not have guessed that.

    I am always amazed by where people are from who click on the page.

    Of course, the most page views come from the gold Old US, long may it be free and independent.  What surprised me is the second most views are from people in France.  I would have thought Switzerland, because I know more people there and Julia lived there for 20 years, but the Swiss are third.

    And Vlady must like what I don't write about him because Russia comes up with the fourth most, Portugal is fifth, and Germany sixth.

    That is over the life of the blog.

    I don't know anyone in Portugal but strangely there is a young girl, maybe 11 or 12 years old, named Julia Dickow who lives in Portugal and has a Facebook page!  I once thought of contacting her, but then realized how darn creepy that would be.

    And Germany kind of makes sense because there are Dickows in Germany.

    I would guess people sometimes just Google search the Dickow name and stumble upon my blog.

    Other countries with views are the Netherlands, Finland, Slovakia, Sweden, Czechia,  Ireland, Brazil, Ukraine, Bulgaria, the UK, South Korea, and Canada. Then there are others with too small an audience to individually list in the stats section.

    I am an author with an international audience.  

    I sometimes wish people in other parts of the world would leave a message, or a thumbs up, and tell me their location.  I always loved those "Flat Alberts" or whatever they were that teachers sent out.  My blog could be a "Flat Albert" of sorts.

    If I could communicate with those people I would say two words:  Peace.  Love.

    The world needs more of it.  Especially now.

Peace and Love

musings

 I have been thinking a lot about stuff

    Like the expression what goes up must come down.  Well, Newton might have turned that into a law of physics, or a cookie, or an apple pie.  But it does not apply to my weight.  It is going up.  Again.  I have lost control of my appetite.  Again.

    Paper cuts.  They may not be deep, but hey hurt like hell!  You never imagine that innocent sheaf of paper can hold a razor sharp edge just waiting to inflict great bodily pain on a finger.

    Dreams.  I had the nicest dream last night, but I could not remember one bit of it after I woke up.  All I know is it made my sleep happy.

    Prescriptions.   I always check when I go to Walmart.  And whenever I get in the car and get almost home I always get a text that we have some ready.  Why don't I get those texts when I am at the store?

    When I say I can't find something, why does someone always ask where I put the item?.  If I knew where I put it  I wouldn't be looking.  Strangely, I do the same thing even though it makes no sense.

    How do I always end up with an odd number of socks when I do laundry?

    And yes, I remember my childhood phone number but not passwords on my computer.  The mind is a fickle   feature of humans.

    How did I miss commenting on  the only day of the year that gives a command?  

    When I see a penny on the ground, I pick it up.  If I saved all the pennies I have picked up in my life I would probably have $1.49.  Somedays it is the only exercise I get.

    My dog won't come near me tonight.  Even with a treat, she is avoiding me.  Do I smell?

   I guess I should check the gas gauge when I am near a gas station and not when I get home and find I am almost on empty.

    Bread doesn't mold until I want to use it.

    I have noticed lately that Lena, Stockton, Mt Carroll and that general area get a lot of severe weather, much more than us.  Why is that?

    Why don't I read directions correctly?  Or at all?

    I have put off a plan to end my procrastination.

    Why do people read this?

    I thank you for reading  it and torturing your selves.  I do appreciate it.

Peace and Love

Hy-Vee

I remember the first time I went into a Hy-Vee store

    Hy-Vee is an Iowa based food store chain.  They do have a store in Sycamore now, but mainly they are in Iowa.

    Nice store, but lately I notice they have a lot more house labels and not as many name brands to choose from.

    But I digress.

    I thought of that tonight when the sky turned black and the weather alarm toned...again. And again. 

    But, I still digress.

    Emily was attending Drake in DesMoines.  Jackie, Julia  and I had gone out to visit her.  

    It was hot.  I remember that.  We had gone out to dinner or shopping when all hell started to break loose.

    Thunder, lightning, traffic lights out and the radio was blaring " TORNADO WARNING.  SEEK SHELTER NOW"

    The wind was picking up and we were in a car.  I had no idea where to go.  We pulled into a parking lot of a building that was some kind of shelter, but no one seemed to be there.  On the next corner there was a Hy-Vee.

    I parked, and we ran into the store.  The girls went to use a bathroom but came out because a lady was on her knees loudly praying to God to spare us all from doom, death, and destruction.  

     Inside the store they were making everyone go to the back and into their giant cooler, which served as a storm shelter.

    I don't know how long we stayed in there.  It could have been 5 minutes or 50 minutes.

    After a while we left and took Emily back to her apartment.  It was not night, but it was very dark.

    We were shaken, but safe.  Traffic was a bit weird as there were no working stop and go lights.

    When we drove home the later, we could not stop at any of the rest areas because there were downed trees and no power.  The storms seemed to follow 80 across Iowa.

    We had a radio on and the DesMoines station was announcing potential tornadoes behind us, and the uprooted trees we saw told us there were tornadoes ahead of us.

    I don't like storms.  Typical thunderstorms are ok, but the potential for tornado storms always send me into panic mode.

    These days the storms seem stronger.  When Emily lost her house several years ago, it was  destroyed by an EF 4 tornado, one of the  strongest storms. 

    That's why when that alert sounds, I get a little ... make that a lot.... nervous.  

    Mother Nature can be a fickle being sometimes.

Peace and Love

Before the storm

Blue sky!!

    

    

memories and maybes

 I love looking at my memories on Facebook

    In 2 of the memories for this date, snow was on the way!  One forecast was 6-9 inches.  I don't remember how much we got .

    Another memory was about the ice storm we had and weather school was open or not.  (Notice the clever way I used weather instead of wether.......pretty punny, eh?). School was on, just starting later.

    Another memory for this date was a severe storm system approaching, with Jackie and me practicing hiding during a tornado.

    Some memories are just plain bittersweet.  I did a post in 2013 and my cousin Sally from Alaska commented on it.  Sally and husband Warren. visited us in 2014, shortly after she was diagnosed with brain cancer.  She was here in May, and we had snow the week before they got here.  She died in September.  A lifelong Cubs fan, she never got the chance to watch a World Series win.  I still miss her.

    Wow....that got serious fast, didn't it?

    You may remember me complaining that my printer could not connect to the computer.  Julia tried connecting.  Emily tried connecting. Nothing.

    Julia ordered a cord to connect printer to computer.  Should solve the problem.

    Cord comes.  Julia goes to hook it up.  Before she does she hits print, and the printer works.  Wireless.  Works fine.

    Go figure.

    We had a surprise today.  My niece stopped on her way back from Peoria.  Her daughter (my grand niece?  second  cousin?  I don't know!) is working there and we are about half way from there to her home up by McHenry.

    It was a nice visit.  I cooked brats on the grill, did not burn them, and we got all caught up on her family.

    We also facer timed Jackie's brother and sister in law in Florida, Bob and Anita, and had a nice video visit with them.

    I even got a dog walk in with Beth! Beautiful weather, except for the gale force winds.

    I am going to check the forecast for this week to see if it calls for snow, ice, tornadoes, torrential rains or locust invasions.

Peace and Love

busy beavers

 We have had a busy 3 days

    Play Thursday night for me, friends over last night, and today a matinee performance with our little friend Sam.

    She was in Beauty and the Beast in Rockford.  I have never seen the Disney movie and really had no concept of the show except the beauty falls in love with the beast.

    I know!!  75 and never have seen a production, movie, cartoon, or storybook of Beauty and the Beast!  My parents and the American education system failed me!!!  I oughta sue.

    Anyway, I told Jackie we were going to Rock Valley College to see the play.  She double checked the time and discovered it was at Rockford University.  I would have gone to the wrong place and we probably ly would have missed the show!

    We parked in a faculty lot, and I put the wheelchair  out for Jackie to move to......but I forgot to set the brake and the chair took off, downhill, into a bush.  It did not go far, but the bush prevented it from going down a hill.

    We sat in the top row, because the theater is sloped and the only handicap seats are at the back and bottom.  

    I could pick out Sam until I could not pick out Sam.  I had planned to bring my field glasses, but I forgot them.  They would have helped a lot.

    And there were 170 kids in the show.  I can't imagine directing something that big.  The theater was full, must have been 500 or more people.  They did a show last night, 2 today, one tomorrow and then shows next weekend with different people in supporting roles.

    Here's a digression.

    I was talking to a friend, we'll call him. Ted.  He is not from the United States but from an African nation.

    We got on the subject of names and he said, "Do you know why they call me Ted?"  I guessed a family name but I was wrong.  

    "All the boys born on Saturday in my country are named Ted.  Girls born on a Saturday are named Sally."

    So in a classroom there could be 6 or 7 Teds and a number of Sallys.  

    I asked how they call on one specific Ted.  He said A Ted born in May would be called Ted May, in July Ted July.  Same with the girls.  Two Ted Mays would have a third descriptor added.  Reminded me of George Foreman and his sons, all called George.

    I admit, that system would make it easier for me, because I would only have to remember 7 boy's names and 7 girl's names.

    But I did not ask if the same names were used year after year or if they had new names for a new year.

    Next time I see them I will try to remember to ask.

    I just thought that was interesting.

Peace and Love

Flying high

 I went to see the musical Billy Elliot last night

    Emily took me to this production at the Paramount theater in Aurora.

    It's a great place to see a show.  Nice acoustics, good sight  lines, comfortable seats with cup holders....nicely done.

    I had seen Billy Elliot years ago.  I don't remember much of it, just the gist.  The Paramount show was pretty darn good.

    I thought there were a couple of lapses.  2 characters were not in place when the lights went on in one scene, and young Billy seemed to stare off in space for no reason a couple of times.  But,  on the whole it was a dang good show.

    The 2 main youngsters were the performers playing Billy and Michael.  They were in the 11-12 year old range, but have vast stage experience all over the country.

    They were great!  The person playing Michael had some very funny bits and the person playing Billy was a fantastic dancer.  Hard to believe they were that young.

    At one point, Michael shows Billy a Barbie doll and Billy grabs it.  The head came off!  The youngsters ad libbed a couple of lines, but it was obvious they were surprised.  Eventually they began giggling, which is contagious on stage.  But they pulled it together.

    The show started at 7 and ended a little over 10....maybe close to 10:30.  Made or a long night.

    We ran into a couple of other Rochellians, well, former Rochellians, and had a nice chat with them.

    Tonight Bart and Laurie came over and brought Chinese food.  It was nice to sit and visit and catch up with each other.  Sometimes life get away from us a little, but we caught up tonight.

Peace and Love