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Showing posts from 2011

Civility

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We currently live in the most densely populated county in the state of Florida.  No, it isn't the Miami area, we live in the Tampa Bay metro area. We have lots of sun, warm weather and beaches. We also have more people per square mile than any other area in Florida.   It's the people I don't like. When the human race lives in this sort of chaos, the simple act of civility toward your fellow man seems to disappear . We get on each other's nerves. I see road rage on a daily basis, if the clerk at the 7-11 takes too much time checking us out, we get irritated beyond the norm of civil behavior. Those of us from the New York, New Jersey area are the worst. They have escaped from that hell of extreme population density to Florida. Upmost in their minds is to make Florida just like what they left, and complain about Florida at every chance. They are part of the problem. Here is the funny part. Those sun lovers who moved here, and spoiled the area, are now

The Stare.

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You know the one I am talking about. When they pull their cell phone out of their pocket and give it the stare. It could also be called a glare, it is intense. They just stared at their phone two minutes ago, but there they go again. What exactly are they waiting for? One would think they were praying to some cellular god that lives inside their phone. "Please god, have someone call or text me". I am so lonely. Cell phones, like computers, have empowered the meekest and weakest of us with a sense of power. Someone has texted me, therefore, I am important. If I were to miss a call......it would be the end of the world, as we know it. I spend a lot of time waiting in airports. I feel like Woody Allen, observing life on this planet. For the most part, everyone in the airport is looking at their cell phone. That L.E.D. light emitting from the phone shines on their face. Perhaps God is really talking to them from his enlightened throne. I am no exce

The Little Things......

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The Little Things Technically, we don't live in Palm Harbor, but a lot of our neighbors do. We live in Ozona and gladly pick up our mail each day at the tiny Ozona post office.  Our next door neighbors, like many others who live on the fringe, walk outside each day and get their mail from a street side mail box. They lead double lives. Their mailing address is Palm Harbor but they proudly profess being Ozona residents. They don't know what they are missing. I have often wondered if this area is some sort of secret witness protection haven. Garmin Tom-Tom, Mapquest, none of them can find Ozona. Handy, I suppose, if you are in hiding. One rural carrier took care of the whole town of Hoagland, Indiana when we lived there. I remember an incident in 1980, our daughter was about seven. Another child relative had sent her a birthday card from California. It was addressed; Lisa. Hoagland, Indiana. Lisa got the card. To this day I don't know if Lisa was the only Lisa

Reflections of my great grandmother, Rosina

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I spent my early years in a small house directly behind “Great Grandma” Neukom’s house on Penn Street in Decatur, Indiana. I lived there from from the age of 1 to 8 years of age. I remember Grandma Neukom had a huge garden that she seemed to tend daily while wearing either an old fashioned bonnet or straw hat.   She was a small feisty old woman to me and didn’t seem to show affection towards many people. My father (Charles) said he had helped build her house when Christian, her husband died. It was a small bungalow-type house with a small basement loaded with canned fruits and vegetables. It was always immaculate and Grandma Neukom was especially proud of her flowers and garden.  She allowed me to go down there occasionally.  All I remember is jar after jar of sauerkraut. It always seemed to me that she was mean-spirited towards my grandmother (her daughter, Edna). As a yound boy I didn’t realize she did this to perhaps make her blind daughter strong

Let me shock you.

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I sincerely believe the world is going mad. I see it every day. People do things that are meant to shock and awe. There is no limit to their actions or dress. Yesterday, a young girl pulled her pants down to show us all her new butt tattoo. There was not one shred of modesty in her, that I could see. She was proud and barely eighteen. I think this all started about twenty years ago when everyone my age started dressing like Willie Nelson. Don't get me wrong, I love Willie. I just don't want to look or act like him. He is not my idol. His stature as the "ultimate outlaw" started a trend. I wonder if he is proud of that fact. I have pretty much stopped watching any television. Movies and books are my source of recluse. I can escape the madness for a short time.

Our Tiny Seaside Town

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Our tiny seaside town. Technically, we live in Ozona, Florida.  It is a seaside town of about 300 souls.  When we moved here in 1982, most of the roads were crushed seashell and it was not uncommon to encounter dogs sleeping in the middle of the road. We have a tiny post office that seems to be threatened every year with abandonment from the Federal bureaucrats.  There are two employees, a post master and helper.  They do not deliver our mail to our house.  We have to go to the post office and pick it up.   I am fine with that. Ozona is changing.  People are buying perfectly good homes, tearing them down and building what I would call a McMansion.  We had one built right next to us.  After twenty years of a beautiful eastern view from our front yard......we now cannot see the sun come up in the morning. Ozona is still paradise.  It's just that everyone wants to live in paradise.   Then it slowly becomes something else.

Minimalist

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I am not a particularly religious person. I believe there is a God. I am just not sure he believes in me.  I have always tried to lead a Christian life. I think that is a good thing and I feel better for it.   The writings of Henry David Thoreau have had a profound effect on my thinking and actions. Probably not as much as Christian teachings, but definitely a factor in the way I think.  Linda and I are approaching a new adventure in our lives. We intend to leave Florida, after 30 years, in a few months. In preparation, we have been discarding all those "things" that we find unnecessary in our lives. At first, it was a chore. As we progressed, it became an obsession and especially for me, a necessity. As we threw away, sold or gave away "things", we frantically looked for more items to dispose of. It became a game. Here is the funny part. After a few weeks, we can't remember what we got rid of. Maybe that set of candles given to us as a present man