YES, I AM STILL HERE peeking out of the newspaper’s window on Main Street and I am wringing my hands over what to do with the two letters I got from the hospital about what I should do as a result of the data breach. Apparently some bad characters got aholt of such information as my Social Security number, address, birth date, true weight and other information that someone could use to mess up my credit.
I read the letters as best I could before I began wringing my hands.
It appears that I could be in trouble as long as that information is floating around on the Internet. But to be perfectly honest, after reading the hospital’s suggestions about what I could do — instead, I just began wringing my hands and weeping.
I’ve wrung them so much that I need hand cream. Not just some cheap cream, either. I can no more follow the suggestions than I can do handsprings and backflips.
Dear Hospital: IT IS TOO HARD for a geezer to follow those suggestions.
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THE GOOD EARTH. So, last week I predicted snow based upon a skill I used to have. We got a bit of sleet, but no snow. So I guess I was wrong about the return of my remarkable skill.
Don’t make fun of me. I’m still about as accurate as tv weather forecasters. And, who knows? My ancient skill might fully return.
All I can tell you for sure, right now, is that I don’t smell snow.
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ANIMAL CRACKERS. The most unpopular bird in your backyard is likely to be the common house sparrow. It’s little, and has dull colors of gray and brown.
This priceless information is from an online site, “Birds & Blooms” which I obviously read frequently.
The species is non-native and unfortunately takes over nesting sites from bluebirds and purple martins.
They are not a protected species, and although I AM a fan of bluebirds and purple martins, I am loathe to do any harm to sparrows because of a spiritual written in 1905, “His Eye is On the Sparrow.”
Some of my detractors have said that I am ‘soft’ on sparrows.
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SUPER BOWL. It’s this weekend. And let me remind you that on the preceding Saturday morning there will be slabs of ribs and Cornish game hens out at the fairgrounds. Proceeds go to the local 4-H program.
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THIS IS FROM an old column but the golden truths contained within are still golden truths.
THINGS CHANGE. Not always for the better.
The late, great Mike McCann used to say that he and his wife, Jean, were at first puzzled — and later were delighted — at the way people here waved at each other from passing vehicles.
“I have no idea who this person is, but he is waving at me like we are long lost cousins,” is how he once explained this new pleasure. Mike and Jean finally learned to wave back.
Let me back up because some unfortunate people will not remember Mike and Jean.
Mike was the Big Dog of industry here. He ran what is now Husqvarna, and he made it into a big footprint, not just one small plant. He was a Big Dog in the town, too. His ‘can do’ attitude carried over into many areas.
He liked to cuss and he was rumored to occasionally take a drink. Despite those shortcomings he was alright in my book. TeeHee.
Jean was also delighted when people waved. She served on the City Park Commission where she was an active and valued member. She did not cuss or imbibe. They were solid people who had a profound influence in our community.
But they were both from Kentucky, and they had folks back there, and so ……
After he retired and they moved back to Kentucky, he told me on the phone that people there didn’t wave to strangers.
Neither do we, anymore.
If it is your habit to cheerfully wave at EVERYONE in oncoming vehicles, nowadays you probably won’t get a wave back.
The other drivers are likely holding a cell phone to one ear, and their attention is on the phone conversation and (hopefully) the road ahead, not on returning your friendly wave.
I’ll be so glad when this cell phone fad goes away. Even if means I don’t get to talk to Amanda in the warranty department every morning.
It’s funny how she always says the same thing.
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THINGS I LEARNED by opening an email: The nicest thing about the future is that it always starts tomorrow.
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WORD GAMES. A nice young couple: Adam and Eve. Theirs was an arranged marriage.
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HE SAID: “The desire to fly is an idea handed down to us by our ancestors who… looked enviously on the birds soaring freely through space… on the infinite highway of the air.” Wilbur Wright, inventor
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SHE SAID: “Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” Mother Teresa, activist for the poor
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SWEET DREAMS, Baby
