You might be surprised

You might be surprised and maybe you won't be surprised.  I did a sunrise hike up Piestowa Peak last Saturday morning.  JoeTheHike and JimRon were to go with me but both wimped out.  JoeTheHike went bird watching with his wife and JimRon's big toes hurt him.  JimRon went running upin'em'er mountains a couple of weeks ago with me.  Now both of this big toes are black and he might loose both toe nails (i.e. ya gotta cut your toe nails JimRon).  And you think this retirement is easy!!!  It's hard to live life to the fullest if you sleep through half the day.  The roman poet Horace gave the same advice 2,000 years ago:  Carpe diem, which means "seize the day."  This is your wake-up call:  You snooze, you lose!    Yabut I'm retired!!!

Not surprising, retirees are mostly over 65 down here in Sun Valley.  I saw one of those retiriees' bumper sticker that said--Back off, I'm grumpy!  Let me tell ya, most aren't!  Those retirees have the newest and best golf equipment, neatest cars, fanciest cloths, neatest bikes, and a lot of time on their hands.  Retirees are hard on the grape vines let me tell ya and also on the hops.  They like their wine and beer while socializing.  And some of these folks are older than the Statue of Liberty.  They ain't normal folks let me tell ya (i.e. they have massive huge motors).  All likelihood is that an average person would be terrified by these animals.  I think many of these retirees say--Mission accomplished, lets circle the wagons and enjoy (i.e. take a break.--reevaluate--recalculate--redirect--rethink--reload).  The Ping Golf rep was at the course in our Fountain of the Sun recently.  I went and hit their new driver.  I liked it.  A good friend said--erv, when you return to the Valley next year, you'll probably have a driver as big as a suburban!  Ya never know now do ya.  The Ping representative said--erv, I can make it right for you!  All I needed to give him was my Visa card.  Such is life.

You might be surprised how you react when it happens to you. We never are sure now are we. Maybe a month ago we sat near some Northwestern College grads from IA. We haven't seen them for some 45 years. We still recognized each other. How about that. This last Sunday Arlene, I, JimRon, Karen, Bill and Jan went out for brunch after church. We really had a good time. Jan told us that she had ovarian cancer about 7 years ago. She seemed to have such a great attitude. This is what she said that really touched us: When I prayed I asked God either to show his supremacy and heal me or to be my sufficiency until he took me to heaven.  I think that sorta kinda tells us what Jan's ehtos is.  I think Jan believes in God (i.e. a strong faith).  My opinion is that Jan is very humble before God.  A friend gave me the book about John Wooden several years ago.  One of his sayings that I remember is is:  Talent is God-given.  Be humble.  Fame is man-given.  Be grateful.  Conceit is self-given.  Be careful.

One of my pickle ball partners this week was a nice gal who was petite.  She told me she use to weigh 10 less--soooooo what happened--I don't sleep very well soooooo I get up at about 3 and eat a bowl of chocolate ice cream.  Ouchy ouchy!  MissPerfect says--You might be surprised but what really matters in life is what happens in us, not what happens to us (i.e. our attitude).  Do we change? Do we grow? Do we improve?  About "dowegrow" here is how retirees grow let me tell ya--The most fattening thing that you can put into a double banana split...is a spoon at the DQ.  Now those banana splits will make a person grow.  Oh ya!  Yabut I like them!!!  I make it sound like retirees have no woes.  They do.  Everyone does but it's just nice maybe facing those woes in the Valley.  I don't know.  What do you think? I do know that many folks (i.e. maybe all folks) have woes and they just have to move forward and do the best they can.  It's not always easy but ya got to do it.  A gal from our home town came by the pickle ball court recently (i.e. they winter in the park that I play pickle ball in).  I talked to her as I played (i.e. multi tasked).  ANYWAY I asked her how her husband's back was doing--not good and now his stomach is bad; we are going home early.  Such is life.

You might be surprised that the yard trinkets are different here in the SW.  I really like the SW flavor.  Here are a few pictures I took of typical yard stuff with the SW flavor in our neighborhood in the Fountain of the Sun.  https://picasaweb.google.com/100992634446593487520/TheOldSWYardFlavor?authkey=Gv1sRgCMWb7KW0lJOXDw#

Well tomorrow morning early we are leaving the Valley @ 5 a.m. (i.e. bright-eyed and bushy-tailed).  We're heading to CO to stay with James, Heather, Erin and Easton for a few days and then back home to do income tax.  We will have no Internet connection until we get to CO so that's why the early It's Saturday.  Haven't seen them since Christmas.  Excited to see them.  Then we will probably stop in Waukee on the way home and see Chet, Jessica and little Charlie!  Looking for ward to seeing them too.  Skype is ok but you can touch and hug! 

The title today, you might be surprised, came about per what a cousin said to me about our children.  Soooooo you older folks, are you ever surprised by your adult children?  You younger parents, are you ever surprised by your younger children.  How are you surprised?  I wonder if my parents, Chester and Anna, if they would be alive, (i.e. both died at age 56) would be surprised with me and my sisters.  I wonder.  I wonder if they had certain expectations of us.  I wonder, if they had expectations of us, if we exceeded them, met them or did not meet them.  Maybe they expected me to be a butcher, a bakery or a candle stick maker!  Sooooo do I have expectations of our children, their mates and our grand children?  Am I ever surprised how they act and react?  Do they exceed my expectations if I have any at all?  Should I have any expectations?  Like my cousin said--erv, you might be surprised how your children will act some day after you are dead.  You will probably never know.  You might just be amazed!  I said--They are good kids sooooooooo they will do well. 

Pope John XXIII said--See everything, overlook a great deal, correct a little.  Joesixpack says--We might be surprised how much easier life would be if we would do that.  I wonder sometimes if seeing everything is a good deal.  If I don't see something (i.e. know about it) then it doesn't affect my life (i.e. no outside stimuli).  Isn't that the reason monks go into monasteries?  Media of any kind can stimulate our thoughts and actions (i.e. and we have a lot of stuff that stimulates our thoughts and actions and our modern stimuli is very fast tooooooooyet).  Much of this is called marketing!  Oh ya!  And it works.  Andcorrectlittle--It's a lot easier to get along with our kids (i.e. smart, very capable adults) if I don't correct them and don't even give them suggestions.  Most folks don't like correction but I read somewhere that the fools are the one who don't accept correction.  You believe that?  Ok overlookagreatdeal--It's hard to do that, especially when we think we are always right or a fixer or a bossy person or the big daddy or a type A personality like SusieQ!

You might be surprised about this.  When we were in the Palm Springs area, I was told that there are 150 golf courses (i.e. all very nice).  I was also told that 75% of play on these 150 very nice courses are from Canadians.  Wow!  I wish we could buy our oil from those folks.  Maybe we could trade green fees and country club membership for oil.  Hey, it's all about the money.  I played my last round of golf downhereintheoldSW Wednesday with my regular guys.  Well, one of them wasn't there but TheThurnderBayGuy's son was here so he played with us.  He works putting up metal buildings in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan at the potash mines.  Soooooo I asked him--Isn't it cold in the winter working up there--ya, but we dress for it; we work until it's 35 degrees below then we have to quite--35 degrees below; are you crazy or something!--na, it's not bad.  You must have to be a Canadian to understand 50 degrees below and winds that make it feel like 80 below--it pays well!!!  His dad then said--once it gets to 35 below, it doesn't fell much difference if its 50 below--ya right!  Such is life.

Coming home from golf the other day, one of my golf buddy's said--My wife says to me--You have a big mouth sooooo just shut up when you get excited.  You just get yourself in trouble with your big mouth!  You might be surprised what ItchieBitchie is thinking!  He is very poised and keeps his mouth shut.  Abraham Lincoln once said--"Better to keep your mouth closed and be thought a fool than to open it and remove all doubt"?  Have you every said to yourself--Seriously, why did I say that anyway!  Why didn't I just keep my mouth shut.  In all likelihood, we will not keep our mouth shut when we should again in the future.  It's sorta kinda like what BigPete teaches me in pickle ball--First thing you gotta get the ball over the net and in play (i.e. you can't win if you don't).  Make calculated shots that make it more difficult for your opponent to return the shot easily (i.e. sets up your next shot).  Let your opponent make the mistakes.  Sooooooo when a guy keeps his mouth shut, he sorta kinda lets his opponent make the mistake maybe or at least sets up your next shot.  What do you think?  OneSmartGuy says--Great folks keep their mouth shut when they have an opportunity to say something bad about someone else to make themselves look better (i.e. hurt someone).  I think that's maturity and greatness.  When you have the power to hurt someone and decide not too!  Ya that's maturity and greatness, I'm sure of that!  That's my view from press row.  Here is some more view from press row--LuckieEddie is a successful person.  His secret for success is:  aim low!  Soooo was LuckieEddie always that way?  No he wasn't --  he wasn't that way before his parents brought him home from the maternity ward!   Sooooooo...!  It's your turn to speak!!!!  Are you surprised what GeorgeTheCrook says here--We normally become what the person closest to us thinks we will become.  Who is closest to you and what do they think you are or will be?  Who are you closest to and what do you think they will be?

Have a FUN day my friends unless you have other plans.  (-:

erv

MyFriendJean says--A moments' insight is sometimes worth a lifetime of experiences.