My daughter called me and she was distraught.
She’s very busy. She’s part of the Pleasant Grove royalty. Strawberry Days, our annual city festival is starting. And she had car trouble.
I’m her mechanic. She brings me her car every three months to change her oil. And she checks with me when she has an issue.
But, today she was just overwhelmed.
Look, sweety we can get this taken care of today.
But, aren’t you really busy?
It’s okay. I’ll be home around 4:00.
She took her car to an oil change place and they diagnosed it as needing a new battery and a new alternator.
And they quoted her $970 plus tax.
She brought her car by and we went to the auto parts store. The battery and the alternator came to about $500. But, I have a commercial account. That dropped the price to just a little over $300.
Of course, I still had to install it. I estimated it would take 2 hours. Half way through I realized I had the wrong alternator. It’s not unusual to have to make multiple trips to the auto parts store.
I pulled the old one out of the car and took it with me to the store. They tracked down the right one. And I headed back home to install it.
Batteries are easy t install. Alternators only slightly more difficult.
I got it put back together and had my daughter start it up. And it worked great.
Time to complete: 97 minutes. Including the extra trip to the store.
But, even if it had taken hours more, it would be worth it.
You make time for what’s most important.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
The classic story The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe, Narnia is gripped in an eternal winter. (And it’s never Christmas.)
As the calendar rolls over from May to June we are finally into the summer months. Here in Pleasant Grove it will be in the high 90s this month. I finally turned the sprinklers on my lawn last weekend.
Each season gets it’s three months and Spring separates Winter from Summer. But, it really feels like we are just coming out of a long, long two-year winter. During the winter there are things we can’t do. We can’t go swimming. It’s tough to go camping. Parks are closed. Utah shuts down. Except for the ski resorts of course. But, with the drought, even the ski resorts have had a difficult time doing their normal business.
COVID has been the Winter of our Discontent. We’ve had to put plans on hold. We’ve cancelled family gatherings. We’ve cancelled city, county and even state events.
For two years we’ve walked around afraid to breath each other’s air. We’ve covered our faces and been afraid to shake hands. Even now, we look with suspicion on someone who’s sick. Diseases have become very binary: is it COVID. . .or something else.
It’s like when Tiger Woods was winning all the golf tournaments. Sports betting would let you bet Tiger Woods would win, or someone else. That was your bet, ANYONE except Tiger Woods.
COVID is the Tiger Woods of the medical field. Well, the old Tiger Woods, before the accidents. . .and the affairs.
The last two years feels like something you would read about in the history books. And our grandchildren will. But, it seems odd to have lived through it. We all have our own stories of sickness or even death.
Memorial Day typically marks the unofficial start of summer. At my house we had a family BBQ. We used to have it every year. We didn’t the last two years. It was good to be back together.
My lovely daughter is part of the Pleasant Grove royalty. She will, of course be part of our local Strawberry Days festival. But, she will also be attending parades in all the surrounding towns as well. It’s almost like the last two years didn’t happen.
Next month the Follow The Flag organization will hang Lady Liberty in Grove Creek Canyon. There will be a flag walk the Sunday before. There will again be speeches and performances. Just like before the pandemic.
Later this month my family will gather at Palisades State Park for a family reunion. My daughter is coming from her duty station in South Korea. My dear mother is coming from Arizona.
We’ll visit. We’ll eat. We’ll fish a little. The grandkids will play in the water. All of us have either had COVID or been vaccinated or both. That’s part of our life now. The realization that COVID is part of every family gathering. It’s with us when we go out. It’s with us when we stay home.
With our immunity and vaccines we’ve given ourselves the tools we need to defend ourselves. But, the battle hasn’t been won. Only an uneasy truce.
Enjoy your summer. Go to the pool. Hold reunions and BBQs. Enjoy backyard parties and summer concerts. Take some time to go fishing.
The winter is finally over and summer has finally arrived.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
I got to bless my granddaughter on Sunday. It’s like a christening. She’s just a few months old. And the actual ceremony is where she is presented before God and the church and given a name and a blessing.
It’s a very humbling responsibility. (The parents still get to pick the name. They just told me what they wanted her named.)
With 13 children and 11 grandchildren, there have been plenty of baby blessings. And there have been a lot of baptisms. (They happen at about eight years old in our faith.) There have been marriages. A few deaths. Priesthood ordinations. Missions served. There have been a lot of special family events.
I record them. I literally have a family Bible that I write them down in. It’s flyleafs are covered with names and dates and locations.
I was thinking about records this weekend. Of course, I needed to record her name. And the event. And the date. And I also recorded who her parents were and where the blessing occurred.
And then I thought, when is recording information about an event too much?
I work with computers. I have for years. Computers are good at storing data. They are terrible at figuring out what is valuable data. They just save it all.
Is it important to know who else stood in the circle and helped bless my granddaughter? What about the family that was there to support her? What about the time of the blessing?
And then I thought of the information that could be recorded but was clearly immaterial. What color tie I was wearing. Where we stood in the church. At what point during the blessing she started wailing because she was tired of being the center of attention? The color of the drapes in the chapel.
There’s literally an unlimited amount of different things I could record.
Have you ever been to a cemetery and seen a gravestone that just has a year of death, but not the day or month?
We value information on a spectrum. At one end is the vital information. At the other end is trivia that is pointless. The information we value falls somewhere in between.
So, my granddaughter’s name went into the Bible. Actually, her birth was already there. But, her blessing date and place went in next to it.
Perhaps it will never be valuable to anyone except me. But, if it’s only me, that’s enough.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
He was okay with my points even when they disagreed with him, just so long as I didn’t threaten his expertise.
I like to political discussions. Not arguments. But, actual discussions. And in fact, the best conversations are with people who are intelligent but disagree with me.
John was like that. We were Facebook friends. John was a former ultra conservative who insisted for much of the time I knew him that he was not a Liberal. He was just about “truth.” (He was a Liberal.)
But, John was very experienced in politics. He’d been around politics a long time. And he avoided ad hominem attacks. He also attacked the argument and not the person.
I enjoyed my debates with John.
With the recent shootings, John was focusing on gun control. Gun control and gun rights is a topic I’ve researched for a long time. It’s a complex topic. And it often rejects “intuitive logic.” It lends itself to simplistic slogans.
If guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns.
More guns equals more gun crime.
The debates are never that simple. When a tragedy like the one that occurred in Ulveda, Texas happen, people become very emotional. And I do to. It’s horrific.
But, people seem to decide that when they are emotionally committed to a topic, anyone who disagrees must be opposed to their feelings as well. If my feelings are sorrow for the children and you disagree with me, it must mean that you don’t care about the kids dying.
It’s not true, of course. But, we don’t often think when we are emotional.
Poor John let his emotions and his ego get away from him.
During a discussion about gun violence around the world, I pointed out that the USA ranks about 25th as the most dangerous for gun violence. John was trying to convince his readers, “This doesn’t happen elsewhere in the world.”
Sadly, shootings happen all over the world. In some countries worse than in the USA.
John decided I was simply parroting hollow right wing talking points. (Having studied the topic for decades, I certainly wasn’t. But, it didn’t matter than he thought so.)
In frustration he finally said,
I know more than you do.
In other words he wanted to be the smartest person in the room. A dangerous position to think you are in. and an even more dangerous position to actually be in. I responded,
John, that is the stupidest thing you’ve ever said to me. I assume you are familiar with an appeal to authority logic fallacy.
And it was at that point where after years of discussion and thousands of words exchanged, he decided he no longer wanted to talk to me. He unfriended me and had his posts set so only friends could comment.
I find the relationships more important than the arguments. If John had asked me to stop commenting I certainly would. Another liberal mutual friend told me that he only wanted people who agreed with him to post on his wall. I think that’s a stupid idea, but “his wall, his rules.” I respected his opinion.
I considered why John blocked me. And I realized it was because his ego couldn’t accept a peer. He was convinced he knew more and if he’d only talk long enough I would agree with him.
I’ll miss the debates with him, but I’ll miss his friendship more. Even if it was only on Facebook.
Life’s too short to take a Facebook comment too seriously.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
This painting should not exist. In fact, the artist wanted it destroyed. He specifically requested that.
It’s not my fault he didn’t accompany us to the dump that day.
This picture doesn’t have a name. The artist never named it.
The artist was my father, Lloyd V Bliss. He took up painting later in life. He did several water colors. Eventually he gave it up. The paint supplies were sold and the actual paintings went into a pile in his garage.
One day he asked me to come over and help clean out his garage. “Help” was what he said. Not necessarily what he wanted. He wanted my brother and me to clean out his garage. I had a truck and he wanted “everything to go to the dump!”
That’s what he said, “Everything goes.”
That’s easy direction to take. Basically after being a storage shed for years he decided he wanted to start using his garage to store cars in. He didn’t want to keep anything. So, my brother and I started hauling boxes and bins, old broken tools, and piles of papers.
As I was carrying one box out to the truck my dad stopped me.
Wait. Let me see what’s in that one? No, I want to keep this one.
But, you said that everything would go.
Right.
So, you want us to throw out everything except the stuff you want to keep?
Exactly.
Apparently the box held some old army discharge papers.
Eventually I came on a stack of paintings.
What about these? Do you want these kept?
Are you kidding? Absolutely not. Be sure and throw those away!
Sure, Dad. They went into the front of the truck. You know because there was not enough room in the bed.
And if I forgot to clear them out later from the cab? Hardly my fault.
So, I ended up with a pile of paintings. I never told my dad I had them. He was serious about wanting them destroyed. Eventually I had this one framed. The blues and grays of the mat and frame set off the subdued colors of the sea and the boat.
We had a boat when I was a kid. Not a sailboat. Ours was a ski boat that we rigged for fishing. We never caught many fish, but we had a good time. We lived near Puget Sound. There were plenty of sailboats in and around Olympia.
I imagine the silhouettes of the two people are my father and me. We had a strained relationship at times. There was always love, but it didn’t always show. However, I could see us spending the day on a boat. Not even talking. Just being there as the boat cut through the waters of Puget Sound.
My father passed away about ten years ago. After his death as we were discussing what to do with some of his things. I mentioned to my family that I had some paintings that Dad had done.
We had to decide how to divide them up. I had already framed the sailboat picture. As my siblings considered the remaining pictures they joked,
Rodney, already took the best ones.
One. I took ONE painting. But, yeah, I think it was his best one.
It’s not my fault they didn’t go to the dump with me that day.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
Fair warning: I don’t know. I don’t know why it’s important to express gratitude. I think it is. But, I don’t want you to think I have some magic insight into what expressing gratitude will do for you.
Okay, now that we’ve established that I don’t know what I’m talking about, let me talk about it a while longer.
I’m taking a class through my church. The class is on emotional resilience. I took the class because my lovely wife signed us up. And my good friend is teaching it. There are about 7 people in the class. But occasionally as few as three or four of us show up each week. So, if I wasn’t there, they might not continue the class. So I go each week.
It’s not a bad class. And the principles are good. We had one exercise that required us to write something we are grateful for everyday.
That’s the entire exercise. We don’t have to make it about anything in particular. We don’t have to create any sort of action plan.
Nope.
Just write down one thing you are grateful for.
It’s an easy exercise, of course. But, it is also a valuable one. Some days, I admit I didn’t remember until I was in bed. I thought of something and wrote it down the next day. Other times I’ve written a quick note expressing gratitude for my lovely wife, or music. On Monday I expressed gratitude for our fallen soldiers, including my father, who was a reluctant soldier, as well as my many generations-great grandfather who fought at Lexington and Concord during the Revolutionary War.
One thing the exercise has done is help me to think about what to be grateful for. I didn’t just think of it once per day, of course. As I got in the habit I found myself returning to the exercise throughout the day.
And I wrote down the things each day. I saw the post I-it notes throughout the day. Another reminder to be grateful.
It’s not hard to find things to be grateful for. Being a man of faith, I believe that all we have is a gift from God. Literally everything, from the air we breathe, to the food we eat. The skills we have. The earth and everything in it.
I realize I’m grateful for all of you. Th readers that make these scribbles more than just my random thoughts.
What are you grateful for? If you had a gratitude journal what would be in it?
I’m still filling mine.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
I pulled weeds today. The weeds were a common weed called Morning Glory. There were some dandelions and others as well. But, mostly it was Morning Glory. Morning Glory is a vine. It grows everywhere. It is surprisingly easy to pull up. But, also surprisingly hard to kill.
Oh, and it grows very fast. I completely cleared my garden space earlier this Spring. Today the garden plot was nearly completely covered with them. I haven’t planted anything in the garden yet. But, I also have a strawberry patch and the Morning Glory had it pretty well covered too.
Is it a good or a bad thing when plants are hardy?
Yes.
Morning Glory is a hardy plant. You couldn’t kill it if you tried. In the case of Morning Glory, “hardy” is an undesirable trait. My strawberries seem to be holding their own against the invasive vine. Hardy strawberries are a good thing.
There’s a game called Train. It’s a pretty simple concept. You are presented with a train car and the object is to figure out how to get as many people as possible into the train car.
At one point during the game you turn over a card that identifies the destination of your train: Auschwitz. At this point the players of the game realize the truth. The games designer, Brenda Romero typically manages each time the game is played. She said her purpose was to teach complicity.
The players go from the highs of winning a game to the devastation of knowing they were complicit in sending Jews to their deaths.
I thought of the game while thinking out those “hardy” plants. Is being good at something really good? Is winning a game a success?
And I thought of another example: ruthless. Is it good or bad to be ruthless? A good movie villain is ruthless. But, what about in real life? I’ve heard stories of ruthless people. I’ve even met a couple. People who could not be trusted. Who were only out for themselves and were willing to take advantage of anything and anyone who got in their way.
Can ruthlessness be a positive trait? Have you ever known someone who was ruthless about doing what’s right? I have.
It’s popular for certain people to talk about how tough they are. How they are someone to be careful of.
I’ve always thought that a truly dangerous man would not need to tell people how dangerous he was. In fact, the more dangerous he was, the less he’d need to say so.
Plants
Railway Cars
Ruthless
Toughness
Good or bad depends on your perspective.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
Things You See In WalMart
I was in WalMart today picking up some last minute things for our Memorial Day BBQ.
I noticed this sign.
I didn’t bother to look in the bin. I didn’t need to. I remember 1988 and the electronics were pretty bad.
A few rows away I noticed this display.
Now I know why they say, “Ask for assistance for items on the top shelf.” Hope no one wanted those green ones.
Unexpected Benefit Of My North Facing Driveway
I love my house. Seriously, it fits our family perfectly. We had extended family over for a BBQ today and it was great to be able to entertain in the back yard. And my driveway is nice and flat and long. Great for car repairs.
There’s jus tone problem, my driveway faces North. Well, it’s not really a problem, but I thought it was. See, it snows in Utah in the winter. Never enough, but plenty. If you have a south facing driveway the winter sun, which sits low in the Southern sky, will help to thaw the snow on your driveway.
Last weekend I did some work on my daughter’s car. And I discovered my north facing driveway wasn’t such a problem after all.
Do you see it? I had to change the oil. And because my driveway faces north, I get to spend most of the work in the shade.
I love my house. . .especially it’s north facing driveway.
The Reason We Get To Have A BBQ
I attended the Memorial Day service in my little town of Pleasant Grove today. The weather seemed to match the mood. It was grey and overcame but the sun eventually came through.
The crowd was small but respectful.
The guest of honor was a veteran of four wars: WWII, Korea, Vietnam and The Cold War. He is 98 years old. I can only hope to be in his shape at that age. He later posed for pictures with my beautiful daughter and the rest of the Miss Pleasant Grove Royalty.
My daughter Ruth is the one on the left.
I’m grateful for all the Veterans who are no longer with us, especially those in my family, from my father who manned a radio shack in Alaska, all the way back to Capt Abdail Bliss who fought at Lexington and Concord.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
I went to the doctor last week. I had to start up a series of medications. It was a formality mostly.
While I was there I asked about Covid boosters. I got the Johnson & Johnson vaccine. And then a few months later I got a second Johnson & Johnson shot.
But, that’s been months ago. I’ve been trying to decide if I should get a booster. Should I get an mRNA booster? Should I get another Johnson & Johnson shot?
Every time I tried to research what the preferred course of action was, I was confused. So, I kept putting off getting another shot.
But, I wondered if I should still get a shot.
So, I asked my doctor about it last week.
Well, you are over 50, so you would fall into the group that can get a booster. But, we know that it only is effective for a few months. So. . .you can get one, but unless you are in a high risk group or you are concerned, I would recommend you wait.
Wait, what? All those months that I was not getting the shot, and I thought I was simply procrastinating? I was actually following my doctor’s advice.
I procrastinated my way to proper Covid protections.
Sometimes it pays to do nothing.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved
Tell your friends about this!
I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor – Rich is better.
– Mae West
Like Mae West, I’ve been rich and I’ve been poor. Mostly rich.
If you have enough money to pay all your wants and some of your needs. . .you are rich. Richer than the majority of people in the world.
The poor don’t want to be poor. I’ve never known anyone who wanted to be poor. But, there are times where they just can’t help it.
One of the best descriptions of ever heard on why the poor remain poor had to do with boots.
A poor farmer needed a new pair of boots. He had two choices. One set of boots were $30. They were well made and would last at least 5 years. There was another set of boots that was only $10. They were poorer quality and would typically only last a year.
The poor man, of course buys the cheaper boots. His neighbor, a rich man buys the $30 nicer boots.
Every year, the poor man’s boots wear out and he has to buy a new pair. Of course, every year he buys the cheap books that wear out after a year. The rich man’s boots last for five years.
At the end of five years the rich has spent $30 on boots. The poor man? $50.
And that’s why the poor man stays poor.
I’ve always enjoyed the Steinbeck class, “The Grapes of Wrath.” At one point, the Joad family ends up in California working in the fruit orchards. The family, of course, has no money. So, the company provides them room and board, on credit. But, what becomes obvious as the harvest continues is that the money from picking peaches never equals the cost of room and board.
The longer the Joad family works, the more in debt they become. They are poor and the system makes them poorer. Like the poor man’s boots, the get more behind every year.
I’m not sure how this example compares to modern poverty. Perhaps those who feel they have to use the cash advance from Credit Card A to pay the bill on Credit Card B. I’ve been there. Running out of money before I ran out of month.
I was able to escape the cycle of poverty. But, it gave me a great appreciation for those who are struggling to get by.
It may be their fault. But, I don’t blame them. No more than I blame the man buying $10 shoes, or the Joad family, just trying to get enough food to get ahead.
Stay safe
Rodney M Bliss is an author, columnist and IT Consultant. His blog updates every weekday. He lives in Pleasant Grove, UT with his lovely wife, thirteen children and grandchildren. Order Miscellany II, an anthology including his latest short story, “The Mercy System” here
Follow him on
Twitter (@rodneymbliss)
Facebook (www.facebook.com/rbliss)
LinkedIn (www.LinkedIn.com/in/rbliss)
or email him at rbliss at msn dot com(c) 2022 Rodney M Bliss, all rights reserved