A RAINBOW OF STONES
Today has basically been a repeat performance of Friday except I think the humidity is even heavier today. Had a list of things I hoped to accomplish this morning & got off to an OK start but it didn't take long for me to run into the usual long list of snags. At one point I had to drive over to Jeepster Pete's place & get him to show me how to totally remove the Jeep's soft top. Decided this morning I absolutely do not have the patience to continually fight with that stretching, pulling, & grunting soft top roof getting it up or down. Kelly & I are going to try lifting the hard top roof back on the Jeep in the morning. The hard top is just sooooo much more practical & AL friendly.
SHOVELED A WHOLE WHEELBARROW LOAD OF MUD & PINE NEEDLES OUT FROM UNDER THE TRAILER'S SUB FLOOR
By the time I got to the computer Friday night my interest & enthusiasm for writing the blog was about zero. Maybe it was the humidity, maybe it's the doldrums of summer, or maybe it was just the other 146 things I had on my mind. I think it may have been the first time since I started blogging in the fall of 07 that I didn't feel up to the day's blog challenge. Instead, I just wrote a couple of short paragraphs, pushed myself away from the computer, rounded up Max & Checkers & took the guys for a ride in the Jeep with the top down. It's been a long time since I have done something different after supper & the guys loved it. With the wind blowing their fur backwards we buzzed around a few country roads with their favorite Rin Tin Tin CD blaring in the player. It was nice to see how much they enjoyed riding in the open air Jeep & boppin to the tunes. Later last night around 10 I slipped out into the 80F air for another a drive by myself. Can't even remember the last time I sat behind a steering wheel & was able to look up & see the moon & stars. It felt great just to be doing something different for a change & it was a beautiful night for a drive. I have always loved being outside at night & it seems these last couple of years I have hardly been out at all. My astronomy interests have slipped & I now find myself having trouble remembering a once very familiar night sky.
Hey Dad, Checkers is pulling my tail!!
Ummm, don't ya think we're going a little fast there big Guy!!
We are creatures of habit & sometimes those habits need to be shaken up or life can become very humdrum & mundane leading to a debilitating case of.......Ho-Hum!! I am a believer in the saying, 'a change is as good as a rest.' Desire for change is the driving force behind RVing's hitch itch fever. I have always been at my best when the winds of change are blowing. When the mind is alive with thought. When the mind is alive with planning & when the mind is alive with excitement.
AWWWWW NUTS!!!! I SURE MESSED UP ON THE COLOR FOR THIS WOODEN BOX THAT WILL GO IN THE BACK OF THE JEEP. WANTED IT TO MATCH THE JEEP BUT I AM NO WHERE EVEN CLOSE. NOW THE TRAILER SIDES WILL HAVE TO BE THIS COLOR TOO CAUSE I GOT A WHOLE GALLON OF THIS PECAN PIE COLOR:((
There has been a fair bit of talk in the blogs lately about 'comments.' Sometimes a blogger will see an upswing in comments & then the comments may fade again. Doesn't seem to be any rhyme or reason for the most part. Carefully written & entertaining posts can garner few comments while hastily thrown together one's are sometimes very popular. However, I do think if a blogger takes the time to consistently leave comments on a lot of other people's blogs he/she of course will see a marked upswing in visitor's comments to their own site. That is a perfectly fine & totally logical way to attract visitors to your site & I wished I had the friendly type caring personality to do that. Personally, I don't comment on every blog I read. That doesn't mean the blog I'm reading isn't interesting, informative, or entertaining. It could be all those three things in spades but for me to comment on Grands, food, basket weaving, quilting, cooking, horseshoe tournaments, family rebellions, fishing, sports, or somebody's tour of a stamp collection museum just isn't me & I can't do that. As I said, wished I could but it just isn't in my personality to do that. (well ok, sometimes I do) But, when I do leave a comment on somebody's blog I try not to make it a generic comment. Some days it's hard to pull a comment out of myself about anything but when reading blogs I look for something a little different & try to put my own personal & creative spin on it. Sometimes serious, sometimes humorous & sometimes helpful. I can't call a photo 'great' if I don't think it is. I can't tell you how wonderful your new hat looks if I don't feel that way about it. Maybe it's the coolest hat in the country but I can't fudge my opinion.
RED WINGED BLACK BIRD
I'm glad the 'comment' topic came up because it has been on my mind for a long time now & when I saw WANDERING WILLY express his thoughts a couple days ago about 'blog commenting' I knew I wasn't the only one with a differing opinion on the subject.
Now, one last thing about comments, just in case I haven't dug myself in deep enough yet..................I came across a comment in another's blogger's post Thursday that has me a bit puzzled. The comment left in a fellow blogger's comment box said, " We blog when it comes to us. It makes it more interesting. Freely flowing thoughts are so much more creative than sitting there trying to come up with something to write about." Ummmm, is this person saying they feel their blog is more interesting & creative than other bloggers simply because they don't write it every day therefore making it....... free flowing. This person says "their thoughts are so much more creative." "We blog when it comes to us because it makes it more interesting!!" Well, there is a lot I could say about this but I'm just not going to go there. Maybe I have missed the point somewhere or am not understanding correctly what this blogger is really saying. Or maybe it's just one of those mountain/molehill thingys. Or maybe it just doesn't matter!!
So now, let me blow myself out of my own water by telling you that the person who left the above comment on a friends blog happens to have well over 400 Followers. They have obviously hit upon a winning blog formula so what do I know & who am I to suggest they do or don't know what they are talking about.
Now I'm going to go take the guys for another spin in the Jeep.................10-4:))
GROANER'S CORNER:(( Got a tongue twister for you tonight.......
Through three cheese trees three free fleas flew.
While these fleas flew, freezy breeze blew.
Freezy breeze made these three trees freeze.
Freezy trees made these trees' cheese freeze.
And that's what made these three free fleas sneeze.
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Tourists see the world, travelers experience it.
Until one has loved an animal, part of their soul remains un-awakened
OUR BLOGGER WEBSITE http://thebayfieldbunch.com/
OUR PHOTO ALBUMS http://picasaweb.google.com/stargeezerguy/
AL'S SMUG MUG PHOTO GALLERY http://stargeezer.smugmug.com/ (a work in progress)
The only thing better than right now will someday be the memories of right now...... AL.
Whoa Al...Gotta say, this is my favorite post you've made so far...except for the one where you gave my blog a shout-out! LOL!
ReplyDeleteI find this whole blogging thing very interesting. As a newcomer to the blog world, I'm still trying to figure out the whole reason why I'm even doing it.
Sure, I like the challenge of writing, and it's fun getting comments from people, and I admit I have an obsession with my numbers on site meter, but sometimes, I wonder if I'm just giving myself another one of those self-imposed pressures so I can feel "useful" now that I'm not working.
Anyway...I appreciate your blog today because it made me think and evaluate.
BTW..when you first posted a comment on my blog, I thought I had "made it" Who needs over 400 followers? It's better to have 140 who give a crap what you think!
Nellie
http://midlifecruiser.blogspot.com
Al,
ReplyDeleteI know the feeling about the soft top... too much hassle. Ours is in our controlled storage room. If we do anything, we take the hard top off and wind surf in the jeep.
Change or "spice" is good..with the summer, take alot of evening jeep rides with the top off.. the open wind does a body good!
Mike & Gerri
Al...it isn't about how many comments you get..It's about why you do it..I could care less about how many comments we get...But I sure enjoy the ones that do..and I only comment on blogs I find "commmentable" to me..I just enjoy the outlet of blogging...If it becomes about how many followers you have, you have lost the point. When we started...I was happy with one..YOU and THE BAYFIELD BUNCH!!!! KEEP IT UP!!
ReplyDeleteWell, Al, you're dragging me into the mud with you now!! I just had to find out who commented "We blog when it comes to us. It makes it more interesting. Freely flowing thoughts are so much more creative than sitting there trying to come up with something to write about."
ReplyDeleteWhen I found the blog, I was just a little surprised to find out that they appear to have had "freely flowing thoughts" on just 3 occasions since April 9th.
One things for sure, your blog tonight sure got my attention and I found it very interesting too! I'll skip on the creative part!
Dang! That was some tongue twister!
ReplyDeleteI don't know about free flowing thoughts. My mind is always clogged with thoughts. Don't know if I'm creative or not. Not sure it matters to me. I blog just about daily because is serves a purpose for me. I can't imagine having 400 "followers."
Didn't some famous person say "Everything is relative?"
I'm happy I can pick out Caseopia (sp). All in all, I'm just happy. What more can I ask for?
Ok, I'm confused! You tell me that you are not patient enough to mess around with the soft top on the Jeep, and how you and Kelly are going to put the hard one back on.
ReplyDeleteThen in the next several sentences you spend time explaining how you have been taking the dogs out to experience the wind in their fur.
Then the stars overhead at night comment. And finish off ready to go back out and do the top down thing again!
If it is bringing you that much enjoyment, why would you even worry about putting the hard top back on, until later in the fall?
It will be the same PITA then that it will be tomorrow. Just leave the top down and park in the garage. It won't rain that much in the next several weeks, will it?
That red-winged blackbird is agreeing with every thing you say: "YEAH, you tell 'em, Al!"
ReplyDeleteI'm feeling about the same way you are right now - partly I think because of the weather, and partly because of boredom.
But I think something else is going on, at least with me, and that is I am getting damn sick of technology and spending all my time in front of this computer! It's too hot to be outdoors, too hot to even want to cook or eat, too hot to take a drive. I don't have (and don't want) a TV, can't read books until I can get glasses, so I spend entire days at the computer, sometimes looking up things I don't even care about.
Something needs to give, and I think we just have to hang on until we are doing what we can't help but wish we were doing: traveling. On the road again. Desert for you and Kelly and the lush green forested mountains of the Appalachians for me.
Hang in there as it will be autumn before we know it!
Is this the comment section?.......Well err!Ah.....Oh I forgot.......Well have a nice day.....Oh and ya,what the red winged blackbird said....That goes for me too.
ReplyDeleteJust having a little fun with you Al:)
I guess I'll comment ~ I don't think I have for you before. Love your blog. Everyone's blog is their own; kind of like a journal, but in a public way. And, just like all things now, it has become "about me" in the sense that many peeps only care about themselves and what they can get; i.e. comments. Most of your peeps and my peeps (and me) didn't start a blog for that reason. The glory seeker/comment wanters probably did. I can't know....
ReplyDeleteAnd about "following" ~ I tend to bookmark on my puter rather than follow. We should really only be following One person as we go down our happy trails ~ just my opinion.
Keep entertaining us... supposedly we are heading out in our motorhome today ~ if the hubster ever drags his butt out of bed!
Well, Al, you've stirred up the commenters! And those who post when the thoughts are free flowing. Me? I post whenever I can get to it, which these days has been seldom. But why post? I wish I knew why I do it. Sometimes it's because I have something I want to say, sometimes an idea pops up, and sometimes I just feel like I ought to put out a post. Haven't found it necessary to be daily, but the idea has its appeal. I do like to comeent, but sometimes all I can do it say "AMEN" to what five people ahead have already said.
ReplyDeleteAl, why not take a photo of the color you are looking for, the gallon can remnants and go to the emporium you purchased the paint from and have them adjust the tint to get it closer to what you wanted? By the way, if it is the Jeep's color you are seeking to match, an auto body and paint jobber will be able to match it exactly from the paint codes on the sticker in the glove box. It will cost an arm and a leg and will only be suitable for applying with a sprayer, but it will match, dang it all.
ReplyDeleteThanks Al, for putting things in perspective. I was one of those bloggers who worried about comments . I wondered why no one but my family (and not even all of them) ever commented after I'd worked so hard to churn out a daily blog.
ReplyDeleteThen I realized that "churning out" a daily blog was not very satisfying at all. So I stopped and now post when I have something to say or just feel like it.
Still don't get a lot of comments or followers but I do run into fellow RVers who say they know me from my blogs! So I do have readers. I'm glad they enjoy what I write, when I write.
BTW- It's summer doldrums time in Utah too and I am so ready for a change!