Walk the Dinosaur...

I just read an e mail from a friend.  You know, one of those "If you believe it pass it on" but without the 7 years of good luck or immediate fortune upon forwarding to 7 people.  This one was so true it hurt.

There s a group of us born somewhere between the 40's and the 70's who are true survivors.  Not that our lives were ever really truly in danger, but compared to today's beliefs, we all should be dead.  See if this doesn't hit somewhere close to home.

In the summer, we would leave the house and be gone all day and no one really missed us.  We didn't have a cell phone to check in with, we had to play outside with friends as the Internet, Nintendo and Playstation were foreign words to us.  We had little AM transistor radios that we held up to our ears to listen and no one ever got a brain tumor.  The music was a little tinny but the jocks were boss.  Our moms would make us Kool Aid, made with sugar, we drank from the garden hose, which doubled as entertainment when you attached a sprinkler to it, and I don't remember one case of lead poisoning.

We played outside with our neigborhood friends until way after the streetlights came on and no one was ever shot in a drive-by.  We played with sticks and garbage can lids, and hardly anyone ever lost an eye.  We climbed trees, scraped our knees, stubbed our toes and occasionally broke a bone or chipped a tooth, but no one ever got sued over it.  Most of the kids weren't morbidly obese because none of us sat in front of video games for hours on end and there were only three channels on the tv. 

We wrapped towels across our back to play superman and girls wrapped towels around their heads to simulate long flowing hair.  To be honest, I had a few guy fiends that did too.  They all make huge money now designing houses and inventing new women's clothing lines. 

The point is, where has imagination gone.  We played outside without the fear of getting kidnapped.  The only excercise our kids get are with their thumbs.  And worst of all, Michael Jackson has ALWAYS been white to our kids.  Our kids have never really dialed a phone, driven a car without power steering and air conditioning,  or listened to music played off of a vinyl disc called an LP. 

In many cases, our kids have never seen a real live dinosaur.  Did I just date myself?  More like carbon date myself!

That is all...Peters out!!!

 

 

Money, litter and ideas...

I feel like part of the working class again.  I received my first unemployment check and put it right to work in our less than abundent bank account.  I also am in the middle of preparing our tax return and I tell you, I am somewhat concerned. 

I remember we used to get back a modest refund every year and now we seem to owe every year.  It might be that being on unemployment for a couple of months every year kind of screws up the income tax thing.  This is the first time I've done my own taxes since I was in college.  It is a daunting task.  I'll let you know how it goes.  I'll also let you know where the Peters family bake sales will be held to raise money to pay the tax bill.

Now, some random thoughts.  I was working in my recording studio the other day when I was forced to evacuate.  Georgie the cat decided to use the facilities and stunk up the place.  Then I caught one of the dogs digging around in the litter box for a tasty treat.  We cannot keep the dogs out of the cat box.  It must make them thirsty too because all the toilets and the dog's water tank have litter remnants in them.

We have decided, in an effort to save money, to put litter in the dog's food bowl and get the cats to use it.  That way, we can stop buying dog food and save big money.  Patent pending of course.

All this cat litter talk has mde me hungry for a salted nut roll!

That is all...Peters out!

Three Years Ago Today....

I can't hardly believe it!  Three years ago, at this very minute, I laid dying in the ICU at Shawnee Mission Medical Center.  Earlier in the day Dr. Castlemain had performed triple bypass surgery on me when just a month earlier he had sent me home because he believed the bottom part of my heart had ceased functioning altogether.  Well, my heart proved him wrong!

I was scolding my mother on the phone a little while ago for going out and shovelling snow in her driveway, without a coat and without her cell phone in case she became frozen and needed to call for some de-icer.  Apparently, my sister had caught her shovelling and called me to call mom to scold her.  My sister then went out into mom's driveway and slipped and boinked her head pretty good.  Luckily, there was enough alcohol in her system to keep her from freezing and to act as an anesthetic.  That's what she told me at least.

During my good hearted scolding, my mom reminded me of something that had either slipped my mind or I had never realized,  that on that day, February 8, 2005,  the day I went to the hospital for surgery, my father went to the hospital, almost to the minute, 11 years earlier.  We buried my dad on Valentine's day that year, I got a second chance.  I miss him...we all miss him, very much.

That is all...Peters out!

Has it been THREE years?

This week is the third anniversary of my open heart surgery!  Unfortunately, we won't be having cake nor will we be opening presents.  I'm not allowed sugar or surprises. 

Stacy and I went to see the movie "The Bucket List" about a wealthy man and a common man both being diagnosed with terminal illness and together they decide to make a list of everything they want to do before they die, kick the "bucket".  By the end of the movie, we both had tears streaming down our faces.  I cried so much my socks were wet!  My friend Mister X went to see this movie but doesn't remember how it went as he was busy getting busy in the back of the theater.  He missed a good movie, but apparently not much else.

I have often thought about what I want to do before I die again, since I died once in the ICU after surgery, while I was conscious!  But I really can't come up with anything exciting.  First, I don't have any rich friends to pay for everything and second, I'm happy with my life as it is.  Except for the recurring unemployment, the worry about paying bills, losing the house, losing the cars and all of the crap we have worked our entire adult lives to have and then store in the garage until its falling out into the driveway.  Besides that stuff, its been okay.

I guess I would like to have a bus one day and travel some,  just to see the wonders of the road I haven't seen.  I've never really been east of Memphis or north of Atlanta, by that I mean the northeast part of the United States.  I would like to drive my bus through Yellowstone again and maybe see a bear this time.  I wouldn't mind driving to the Grand Canyon and being able to enjoy it's majesty without the constant fear of one of the children falling into the abyss.  In fact, I think it would be cool to load up the adult kids and their spouses and their children and just go to the mountains or the lake together. 

Next time we'll discuss thoughts about planning your own funeral  It will be fun.  Right now though, Georgie the cat has just taken a huge dump in the litter box which is housed in my recording studio.  So I'm off for fresh air...

That is all...Peters out!