Don's favorite vacation

At Tuesday night's writing group, we were given a prompt & had 6 minutes to write something on it. As I mentioned in yesterday's entry, Don spent almost half of his time looking through the journal jar, trying to find something he wanted to write on. He chose "My favorite vacation."

Today, when I was emptying the garbage can next to his computer, I found a piece of paper that had some writing on it, some numbers actually. It was the only piece of paper in there, the other stuff was pop cans & a bag from Big J's (fast food). I pulled the paper out to see if the numbers had any relevance. I opened it & it was Don's writing from Tuesday night.

Car trips have been a way of life for my vacations. Growing up we always went to new and different places, starting with Yellowstone/Tetons. Later I recall Seattle Worlds Fair, Disneyland, national parks, always a new spot. So I don't have one.

When my sister Wanda passed away & we were going through her stuff, I found my writing in her drawer. I had started writing a novel as a teenager & I threw it away. Wanda had dug it out of the garbage & put it in her drawer. I threw it away again.

I don't know that Don has written his life story. If so, I don't know where to find it. Now that I have "saved" this little scrap of Don's memories, I'll throw the paper away.

Editing

Last night Don & I went to the writing group. We are supposed to take something we have written to share, with copies for members of the group to follow along & critique. I took yesterday's blog entry. I had planned to make copies at the Citizen on the way through town, but we were a few minutes late & I did not do it.

I read my entry & was a little disappointed with the feedback, or maybe it was the lack of feedback. I realize they didn't have a hard copy to follow along. And the play on words is really from capitalization & the spelling of the words, which don't come through in reading it aloud. I thought about it off & on today. I made the corrections highlighted in lavender.

In the Weston Rural Route News this week (in the Preston Citizen), Bevy (Hart) wrote that Jay Schvaneveldt reported, "Three Gray Wolves were recently cited in the Pass of the Standing Rock."

I had read this (at least twice) and let it go. Why? I don't know. I printed the page out for the editors final approval & this sentence slammed into my consciousness. It was like I had never read it. First I thought, "Who is Three Gray Wolves? (Gray Wolves is capitalized, must be a name.) Are they a group? (Maybe like the new religion the 3Es & their leader BuggaBugga?) An Indian?" My next thought was, "What were they cited for? I don't remember hearing anything about something happening in Weston.

I told Nick about this today & he said his first thought was a music group, like Three Dog Night. We got a chuckle out of it.

We also had a writers prompt last night. We were given 6 minutes to write on a subject & then share it. Don took half of his time trying to pick out a subject to write on.

More bloopers

In the Weston Rural Route News this week (in the Preston Citizen), Bevy (Hart) wrote that Jay Schavaneveldt reported, "Three Gray Wolves were recently cited in the Pass of the Standing Rock."

I had read this (at least twice) and let it go. Why? I don't know. I printed the page out for the editors final approval & this sentence slammed into my consciousness. It was like I had never read it. First I thought, "Who is Three Gray Wolves? Are they a group? (Maybe like the new religion the 3Es & BuggaBugga?) An Indian?" My next thought was, "What were they cited for? I don't remember hearing anything about something happening in Weston.

"Val Sparrow was in here yesterday about the shooting at police officers & he didn't say anything. Ah, but he's the city chief of police, he wouldn't have said anything about something happening in the county."

I read the sentence again, "Three gray wolves cited …" Ahhh - I'll bet they were sighted. He SAW 3 gray wolves!!!

Having to share it, I walked into the editors office to tell them. Rod immediately says, "Cool. Where was this?" I told him.

And tried to tell him why I was telling them. He interrupted me, "Who wrote it?"

I told him & then he said, "We ought to do a story on that, don't you think?"

I'm thinking, "What's so cool about my misunderstanding the sentence of 'Three Gray Wolves being cited?' Why would we want to do a story on that?" I still was not assimilating THREE … GRAY … WOLVES were sighted in Weston. Wolves, predators, those evil animals that prey on other animals like sheep, cattle …  domestic livestock … deer, elk & other wild animals.

Then Rod said, "Maybe I'll call him." meaning Jay.

"That's a good idea," I responded. And suddenly, I had an ah-ha moment. I came out of my absorption of the fact I had misunderstood the sentence & almost let it go. We have wolves in the area! Wolves!

I wonder how many others would have caught it.

Proofreading a dying art?

I got this email from a friend. And it made me laugh. I can definitely relate to these funny headlines. I work for the local newspaper as a proofreader. Every week I come home complaining about headlines. It would have been faster to type it & then add my own formatting. Instead, I copied & pasted & then worked hard to get it to look the way I wanted it to.

Man Kills Self Before Shooting Wife and Daughter  This one I caught in the SGV Tribune the other day and called the Editorial Room and asked who wrote this.  It took two or three readings before the editor realized that what he was reading was impossible!!!  They put in a correction the next day.       Something Went Wrong in Jet Crash, Expert Says No crap, really? Ya think? Police Begin Campaign to Run Down Jaywalkers Now that's taking things a bit far! Panda Mating Fails; Veterinarian Takes Over     What a guy!      Miners Refuse to Work after Death     No-good-for-nothin' lazy so-and-so's!    Juvenile Court to Try Shooting Defendant   See if that works any better than a fair trial!    War Dims Hope for Peace    I can see where it might have that effect!     If Strike Isn't Settled Quickly, It May Last Awhile    Ya think?!  Cold Wave Linked to Temperatures     Who would have thought!    Enfield ( London ) Couple Slain; Police Suspect Homicide     They may be on to something!  Red Tape Holds Up New Bridges   You mean there's something stronger than duct tape?       Man Struck By Lightning: Faces Battery Charge      He probably IS the battery charge!    New Study of Obesity Looks for Larger Test Group     Weren't they fat enough?!   Astronaut Takes Blame for Gas in Spacecraft     That's what he gets for eating those beans!      Kids Make Nutritious Snacks      Do they taste like chicken?    Local  High School Dropouts Cut in Half      Chainsaw Massacre all over again! That'll teach'm to be dropouts!  Hospitals are Sued by 7 Foot Doctors      Boy, are they tall! Typhoon Rips Through Cemetery; Hundreds Dead      Did I read that right?

Some of our own bloopers are a house with a wooden dick instead of deck, LOTOJA peddles though town - bicyclists pedal, not peddle; through not though.

More sunshine

We had a day of sunshine. It wasn't a very warm day, but hey, there was sunshine.

One more birthday & we'll be through with our April birthdays. Don's mother started out our April birthdays on April 10, she would have been 82 this year. Mother's is on April 14, & she turned 85. I went into the bank that day to withdraw some money. I was filling out the withdrawal slip & wrote 4/14 & started writing '26. I stopped & had to specifically think what year it is.

Don's birthday was yesterday, April 18. I didn't have any trouble writing 4/18/11, but then I don't fill out forms & stuff for him, like I do Mother. Nick will be 24 on April 22. I may have trouble with the year that day. It's hard to believe my sons are in their mid-20s.

Things I Talk About

On my Quoghts to Ponder blog I have every label showing, which makes it really handy when I want to search for a quote by name or date, since those are really the only labels I use. So, it kind of bothered me that I could never find all the labels on this blog. I decided to do some research.

The guys had gone to Logan without me & I was a little upset. I need to go to Logan, but didn't want to run down for my two little errands. I can't justify spending the money for gas & wear & tear on my car. They, however, didn't want to take me & go out of their way to run my errands.

What has the guys going to Logan without me have to do with researching labels? It's MY thing. I can sit here at the computer & do this without being interrupted. It's soothing & I'm using this to gain control of my hurt.

I discovered I had a different gadget to keep track of labels on this blog than I do on Quoghts. I like the one on Quoghts better, so I deleted this one & added the other one. I discovered I have almost 700 labels for this blog, 700!!! I went through & chose what labels I would show. I thought I would show all labels that appeared at least twice. Still too many. I went back in & chose every label that appeared 3 times or more. Still a lot of labels. I also discovered I'm not consistent when I label my posts. I break them down too much. I have both pro-time & INR, basically the same thing. I have BratFactor & Brat Factor or whatever that website was. One with a space, one without. I think they've changed the name of it now anyway.

If I could start over, knowing what I know now, I would be more general when labeling an entry. I wouldn't label it Sunday dinner, Sunday School, Sunday paper, Sunday ride, work on Sunday. It would be either Sunday, church or work & Sunday.

Oh, well, today is the first day of the rest of my life & I'm glad the sun is shining.

The hand of the Lord

This is too good not to share. Yesterday, Thursday, Nick drove to Logan to pick up his money from the credit union. His SSI check is direct deposited & so he gets it the day before the first of the month. He told me he was going & I thought, since he was going to Logan, he would take the '09 Impala. No, he took the '92 Camaro, ( not sure on either of those years, but it's close enough on both of them ). He called me telling me he was stranded in Logan & would I come & get him. I figured there was enough time to go get him & be back in time to take Mother to get her hair done.

I was not dressed & I had not taken my pills. I hurriedly got dressed, took my meds & ran to the Conoco to wash the windshield of all the bird poop &, of course, to grab a refill of Mt. Dew. He called to see where I was when I was at the Conoco. He told me he was bored. I told him I'd be there as fast as I could.

I drove past ComputerWise & thought Nick had probably planned to go there. As I was driving along, I thought, "If it were me, I would start walking." Actually, I thought, "If it were me, I'd take the bus." But, I also knew Nick wouldn't be comfortable taking the bus. It is just not something he would do. So, I saw someone walking & looked over & there was Nick. He was about 2 miles from Wal-Mart & the credit union. I got over into the next left turn lane & made a legal U-turn & back on the highway. He had made it to the Logan Keller Tire driveway. I picked him up & took him to ComputerWise.

We went back & clocked his walk, 1.9 miles & it was .4 miles still to ComputerWise. I thanked the Lord that I had seen Nick. That He had put the thought in my mind that Nick might be walking & I would need to watch for him.

We came home. Nick said he was going to try to start the car before he & his dad would try starting it by pushing it & popping the clutch. Since it's a standard transmission, we figured that would work. Reminded me of an experience Nick & I had with my little blue Toyota Corolla up Mink Creek back in the late '90s, but that's a whole other story. It also made me think of the movie Little Miss Sunshine, where the family had to push their hippie van & pop the clutch with the whole family running along & jumping in.

So, we had this all planned out. Nick & I would go back to Logan & meet Don at the credit union when he got off work. Nick & Don would push the car & I was going to be the designated driver & pop the clutch at just the right moment. Don met us & Nick decided we would push the car toward the Kohl's parking lot, not toward the street. He told me to get in. At least I wouldn't have to run along & jump in. I really didn't know what I was going to do, besides pop the clutch.

I said a quick, simple prayer & reminded Nick he was going to try starting it before we did any pushing. He got in, turned the key & the little car just purred to life. "Oh, thank You Lord." Nick got in & roared off. The last I saw, Nick was turning onto the Wal-Mart street toward HWY 91. He hurried home & didn't hit one red light!! Don & I were each in our own car following behind. I kept watching for a little red Camaro alongside the road.

Tonight he was telling Zach (Kent) that a bolt had fallen out of the starter on Wednesday. It's amazing the car even started.