Mowing the lawn

I love to mow the lawn.  Some people may think I’m crazy, but it really is something that I love to do.  I love riding around on my Walker zero-radius mower.  I mow the lawn in practically no time at all!  The challenge this year has been to find a time to mow the lawn when it hasn’t been raining!  Seems to me that every time I want to get out there and mow, it starts to rain.  Although I have mowed the lawn before when it is wet, it just doesn’t look as nice as when it is dry.  We’ve been having a spell where it has rained every day for over a week, and it is killing me watching the grass grow and not being able to mow it!

Can we talk?

I have been observing the rapidly growing number Spanish-only speaking  residents there are living in the area, and I have noticed how many English-only  speaking residents there are that are reluctant to learn how to speak Spanish.  There is a lot of hostility on the part of the non-Spanish citizens, and I often  hear remarks like “If they are coming to this country then they need to learn  English.” I also hear a lot of anger about how our tax dollars are being wasted  on illegal immigrant families. I’m not sure that is really happening, but the  general perception is that it is happening.

I am trying to understand both sides of the issue, and I just want to say  that I think it is important that we ALL learn to speak BOTH English and  Spanish.  Eventually we are all going to need to know both languages in order to  get along in every day life here in America.  And I think it is important that  we all get along!

Missing the Sunday paper

We subscribe to the Sunday paper so we can get coupons and the television guide.  That is essentially the only reason we subscribe to it.  Every Sunday morning I walk down to the newspaper box, dragging the trash can behind me (trash pickup is early Monday morning) and leave the trashcan at the end of the driveway and then bring the newspaper back up to the house.  It’s not something I enjoy doing, but it needs to be done and my wife has asked me to make that part of my routine.  So I do it to make her happy.

It is very aggravating when I get down to the newspaper box to find that the Sunday paper is missing.  I don’t know if someone swiped it or if the delivery person didn’t deliver it; I just know that it isn’t there.  No coupons, no television guide.  I know that I can call the paper and complain and they will give me credit for the missing paper, but that still leaves us without the coupons and television guide, and the inconvenience of having to run to the store to pick up a copy if we really want it that badly.

Newest Bad Word

There have always been a handful of words and phrases that become popular and get overused each year, especially by the younger people. Some of the words I hear way too much include, “Are you serious?” and “I don’t know, right?” which drive me crazy.

So, with all of the tragedy in Japan and the still unresolved threat of a nuclear meltdown in Japan, the newest bad word that I’ve heard used a lot these past couple of days is “radioactive.” It is an adjective used to describe someone or something as extrememely bad.

Sometimes it is hard to be gracious

My wife is always telling me that there is never an excuse to be rude, and that we need should be gracious at all times.  That is a challenging thing to do!  For example, my brother sent our kids Christmas gifts that were obvious regifts and/or free things that he had gotten in the past.  Like those free Gevalia coffee cups that you get just for trying Gevalia coffee.  Or a used book.  This guy has more money than he could ever dream of spending and he gifts things like that as gifts to family?  It is really hard to be gracious when you get gifts like that.   They say that it’s the thought that counts, and I’m thinking that he’s thinking of ways to be cheap.  And that’s not a good feeling.