where are you

Soooo where are you?  I heard a guy ask that to someone he was talking to over his smart phone. The person must of answered--I don't have a clue as he then asked more questions. Soooo folks where are you (i.e. Car 54 where are  you?--Any of you folks remember that show)?  

Soooo I guess we just don't know where we really are sometimes. The average life expectancy in Iowa is 79.5 years.  That means that some folks have to die before that age and some live longer.  Soooo where are you?  In business we would do an "feasablility study" to try to find out or hire a "strategist" to help us.  I still think death and putting are tooooo final; it should be the best 2 out of three!  Joesixpack says--Our casket could already be in town! Maybe it's time to install the rapid strike approach!  LuckieEddie says--Life doesn't last for ever, like a soccer game!

I'm going to steal some of his thunder!  And you guys think we just rah-rah-rah, blab, blab, blab when we play golf.  A golf buddy and I talk about many good things (i.e. actually golf is just a conduit for our interaction maybe). Could be and maybe not!  He was asked to speak in his church last fall for this summer.  He said he would but had no idea what he was going to talk about.  Then in FL last winter, he was waiting on the first tee and over heard a guy telling his friends about his schedule--pickle ball, softball, botchie ball, golf....  His friend said--No way he could do all that.  Then he said--I have worked hard for 37 years and "now" is my time!  Bingo--there was his topic for his talk (i.e. happenstance, na, I don't think so).  The Bible story he is going to use is Haggai's.  My buddy is going to mention Ravi Zacharias' 3 principles for choosing our pleasures. Principle #1 "Anything that refreshes you without distracting from, diminishing or destroying your ultimate goal is a legitimate pleasure." #2 "Any pleasure that jeopardizes the sacred right of another is an illicit pleasure." #3 "Any pleasure, however good, if not kept in balance will distort reality and destroy appetite making it an illicit pleasure."  "The primary use of our homes and our lives is to reflect and to distribute the love of Christ.”  Not all of you might agree or want to hear my golf buddy's ideas.  We are pretty self-centered at times and can be pretty selfish.  I know I can.  How about you? This struggle will probably continue--'Til who laid the rail!  Where are you on all of this?

Saturday question--Where are you as far as what you think and do?  SusieQ a.k.a. the lady with all the bells and whistles says--One of the greatest presents we can give is time -- to our children, to our spouse, to our church, to friends, and sometimes to strangers on the street or neighbors in need. It's the most hospitable kind of hospitality. AverageJoe says--Happiness doesn't result from what we get, but from what we give. A golf buddy told me this week that his sister is on her 4th marriage.  What's the deal I asked him.  It seems she's never happy!  Huh, interesting.

Where have you been? I went for a walk on the other morning. It was a cloudy, cool day with a moderate wind. It reminded me of some days we spend "up north" at friends' cabin on Lake Pokakama. Yes, we had some cool, cloudy days up there at times. They toooo were great in their own way. Then I started thinking about Arlene telling me that she ate a lot of spam as a kid (i.e. why I thought about this, I have no idea). Sooo I went to see if they still sell it. Of course they do! And it's cheap! Spam--glorious spam it says on the can. I fried some up for lunch. She didn't like it as well as she remembered it as a kid back home at Wichert, IL (i.e. 60 miles south of Chicago). I had it occasionally back home as a kid but not like her I don't think. Her Mom, Cora, worked very hard in the gladiola fields every day and didn't have time to make lunch soooo they had pre-cooked spam out of the can. It worked. But, I felt like I was eating the yucky part of some fat sow! We probably have had enough of spam for the rest of our lives. We are not there anymore I guess! I have no idea what place we are at though but not in the spam world I guess! "There is no place like this place any where near....  ...this place, soooo this must be the place for us right now."   Soooo that is where we are right now!  Where are you?  Such is life.

CadillacJack is in his "hemanmentality"!  Like I don't need any directions!  I don't need any help!  I can do anything and everything myself.  I'm the man!  A friend of mine was this way once.  But then his wife died and he told me that he wasn't very tough at all; he changed into a meek guy.  He was always in charge but this really affected him.  He would cry with me.  He said, he never cried.  He was there but now he is here!  Crazy huh!  ItchieBitchie says--Looks can be deceiving.  A person can look pretty glitzy and showy but have a bad heart (e.g. an apple that looks ok on the outside, but when you cut it open it's black and full of worms).  Flipthepancake--A person can look pretty humble and meek and have a great heart.  MissPerfect says--Pictures can really be deceiving; you can dress anyone up to look good and then have a good picture taker touch up the pictures even more soooo the person looks perfect.  It appears you can make folks look anyway you want them to look BUT you can fake a heart!  ItchieBitchie says--Abnormal folks don't like other folks to know they're abnormal! Abnormal folks are easily flammoxed!  Soooo who is normal ItchieBitchie?  What's the bench mark for being normal?  I wonder if we aren't all a little abnormal, but just to different degrees.  What do you think?  CrazyMarvin says--We all have some crawling snakes in the back of our minds!  Yabut CrazyMarvin, when a person understands the snakes, he doesn't take the bait!

AndyTheSmuck says--I'm beyond those folks; I'm much higher on the food chain; much more important; live in a different neighborhood; have a lot more money; have a lake home; don't shop at Dollar General anymore; we have a big boat; I don't even need God anymore; I don't need grocery specials anymore: I have arrived; I'm here! Soooo you think AndyTheSmuck, sooooo you think! Just because you wear expensive underwear and sleep on expensive sheets, it doesn't make you who you are. Sooooo where really are you anyway?  Just maybe, you need to get your head out of your... and rescrew your head back on!  Just maybe!  Just maybe AndyTheSmuck, you just believe tooooo much of that "fantasyland crap"!  Ouchy ouchy!

On TV I hear the advertisement about "your #" meaning how much your net worth is or how much you think you will need for retirement.  I talked to a smart young man the other day and asked him about the age of the folks in his office.  He said--Some retire and some seem to work for ever.  Soooo why would some work for ever?  Well, if you have a certain standard of living they need to work.  Some were/are big spenders, some had a couple of divorces, some like lot of toys etc.  They just can't afford to retire.  They need the income to support their habits. Some aren't very forward thinkers.  Some are obscured by a cloud! Such is life.

Here is a good story of being here and going there as the story goes.  It’s about a true AZ 20th-century range war that took place near Globe. Actually, this doesn't seem to have been a range war as much as a feud between two families, the Armers and the Bacons, both of whom established or bought ranches in the Tonto Basin during the 19th century. In 1920, one of the Bacons bought the Dagger Ranch, which was the only non-Armer-owned property. This annoyed the Armers, who wouldn't let the Bacons drive herds across their land to the Globe road. The cattle had to swim across Roosevelt Lake to get to the train depot. The story involves charges and countercharges of rustling and hired gunmen and so on. The conflict went on for a few years until one day when the senior Armer rode to the senior Bacon's ranch and was invited in for a meal. Supposedly after dining, Armer said, "Damn, this is good beef." To which Bacon replied, "Oughta be. It's yours." They are said to have shaken hands, and the war was over.

I have arrived!  In about 1958 or soooo, my Daddy, Chester, said to me, erv, we have arrived.  We got the farm paid for, just bought a new big tractor, just bought 4-row equipment and I'm going to have a lot more time.  We are going to do a lot of fishing and hunting together.  Then he had a heart attack and struggled for a few years and died in the fall of 63 (i.e. I was 17).  He arrived all right, at his final destination.  Such is life.

Does WonderWoman always have the answers? Soooo WonderWoman, how many times have you thought you have arrived only to find out you need to go around another bend in the river, go up one more hill, go around one more corner, or slow down for one more speed bump in your life (i.e. life is trials and triumphs).  Then when you arrive, it ain't like you thought it was going to be.  That ever happen to you?  GeorgeTheCrook says--Expect the unexpected; then you won't be surprised!  ItchieBitchie says--Get a handle on yourself; Ya gotta have balance in your life.  Ya can't be just one dimensional.  Live life like it's unfinished.  As I'm writing this, I'm sitting in our sun porch seeing  a father and son walking down the street toward the golf course.  The boy is maybe 12 or soooo and he is pulling a golf cart with  his bag on it.  The father has no clubs.  They are walking slowly looking like they are engaged in a conversation. That is heart warming to me. WonderWoman can make a guy smile!  She has her ways!

I was looking through some old pictures etc this week.  It reminded me once again how fortune I have been.  Unbelievable!  And a lot of it "just fell in my lap"! Huh, interesting!

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

erv

MyFriendJean says--A friend is someone who is there for you when he'd rather be somewhere else.