Give Thanks...For My Friend Clifford Hughes

 I found out this past week a childhood friend passed away five years ago...

Five years.

And I only found out now.

Cliff and I grew up together. We went through elementary, jr. high, and high school. He was born nine days after me. We did scouts, sports, church (which was basically the same thing...), and if I'm not mistaken, even Dungeons and Dragons. There was a time when I talked about my best friends, Cliff was included in that conversation.

It's strange how people who meant so much to you at one point in your life can basically fade into memory.

Since graduation four decades ago (gads, that's a long time...), I've often wondered what happened to Cliff. After being released from being legally forced to spend time in the same educational building, we all went our separate ways. Most stayed close, but according to his obituary, Cliff moved east, one state over. He worked, had children, who in turn, had children making Cliff not only a father, but grandfather. There are no details as to his passing, other than the date.

As Cliff and I grew up, we made different decisions. I ended up choosing new friends who more aligned with the way I wanted to live my life, but Cliff was never "not my friend," at least, that's how I felt. Whenever we had a high school class together, we'd sit by each other and talk. Cliff had a good heart. He never made me feel bad for not hanging out with him as we grew older. 

Even though I haven't spoken to him for over forty years, the news hit hard. I feel for his children, grandchildren, those who knew him as a child, like me, and those who knew him in all those years in between. I'm thankful I could always call Cliff my friend. Since hearing the news, memories of those times years ago have returned. I'm thankful to have known Cliff. I'm thankful for those memories.

Getting Older...

Big deal...so I got my days mixed up. It happens. Actually, I thought it was funny. It happened during my second-to-last working day of the week. On the last work day of the week we gather all the trash in the house and take it outside. We then take the cans to the street for them to be picked up the following morning. I thought it was the wrong day so I got the cans ready a day early.

No big deal.

Humans made decisions based on bad data all the time. 

I am getting older, as is everyone who survives another day. I'm getting to the age where these lapses of judgements might mean something else, might be a signal to something else...something bad I suppose that could be said for me. Heck...it can be said for anyone. Does the fact that I got my days switched in my mind mean there's a larger problem out there? 

Anything's possible.

I'm not too worried. Even if it is the start of something, that's life. We all have a sack full of troubles and solutions. For some the trouble sack seems huge, for others, not so much. But we all have our troubles. It's how we handle them and deal with them that matters.

I snapped a picture of the garbage cans after I realized what I had done. I even posted the picture on social media. If we can't laugh at ourselves, then who can we laugh at?

I'm obviously no doctor, but I've heard that if you realize you've made an error in judgement, that's actually a good sign. It means you understand what's happening and you're not too far gone. I hope that's true. Then again, maybe I've been mixing things up for a while and I caught it this time.

Like I said, I'm not too worried.

Yet...I Resisted

 I watched as several co-worker prepared the room for our office party. Halloween decorations hung on the walls, but the biggest change came when box after box of sugary treats burdened tables in the corner. Doughnuts, brownies, candy bars, Halloween snacks...they just kept coming.

And yet, I did not partake.

It's a miracle.

What's funny (for me...) is that I hardly had any breakfast before I reached the party room. I should have jumped at the table, loading anything and everything on a plate and gone back for more once it was empty--especially, the Krispy Kreme doughnuts. They looked heavenly. 

But, something happened, something that doesn't happen. I looked at all that delicious food and the urge I get to eat as many treats as possible was gone.

I must be getting old.

As a kid, this time of year was the best time of year. Autumn is still my favorite season, but not for the same reasons. When I was younger and could eat candy all day long, I looked forward to Halloween, Thanksgiving, then Christmas...all good food holidays. Plus, everyone knows Halloween candy is not available on Halloween day only. When I worked in an office, I knew exactly who had candy at their desks and when it was replenished. When I needed a "pick-me-up" I'd take a walk around the office and take a candy or two.

The office party was a huge success. Most of the table-full of treats went uneaten, so we all, myself included, had to pack up bags of goodies to take home. I have no idea how long it's going to last me. Maybe I should give it away at Halloween.

Yes, I was surprised not to have jumped right in and gobbled up the goodies. Not sure what changed in me...

But I hope it lasts.

The Fifteen-Minute Mile...It's A Start

 Last winter really did a number on me. After shoveling my last scoop of snow, I found things have changed...

And not for the better.

The biggest issue was my feet. They hurt like I'd never had them hurt before. I think it was all that shifting weight in big boots shoveling the snow. They call it plantar fasciitis, though I've never been diagnosed. A quick internet search and I have the symptoms. It hurt to walk. I didn't even want to think about jogging, let alone, running.

This summer I've tried to keep somewhat active. On work breaks I hit the treadmill and walk ten or fifteen minutes...not everyday, but enough to keep it going. 

Then came FanX weekend.

A weekend I dreaded, because of my feet.

From Thursday to Sunday (FanX and my Frightmares gig...), I'm on my feet more than I'm off. I wore my best walking shoes and I was surprise that after the first day, my feet didn't feel too bad. I thought, things would be bad--or worse--the next day. The day came and, once again, not as bad as I suspected. The weekend came to an end and I was shocked. Not only did I survive the con and my weekend gig, my feet felt surprisingly good.

I thought I'd try doing a little jogging.

Last week I would walk then jog then walk then jog on the treadmill. Two days ago I jogged for several minutes, longer than I had before. My ankles hurt, I had pains in places I'd never had before, but I kept going. I got close, but yesterday, I hit a mile under 15 minutes.

Back in 2021 I blogged about running a fifteen-minute mile. Things seemed so much easier then, as things do when thinking of past times. My goal going forward is to run that length without as much pain, then try and do a twelve-minute mile and see how that goes.

I'll keep you posted.

Give Thanks...For Sleeping In

 Remember when you were young and busy doing all the things young people do and you get tired and you know that the next morning you have nothing to do and you can sleep in, and...

You actually sleep in?

Those were the days.

Sadly, as I get older and older, the days of sleeping in when you want to are fading forever in the distance. Sleep is no longer a given, something you know your body will be able to do. You can add "sleep" to a long list of things your body is no longer able to do, a list that gets longer and longer with each passing year.

This morning, however, it seemed those old days returned. We slept in until after 8:30am. And because if was Conference weekend, I did not have to hurry, get dressed and go to church that begins at 9am. No, it was a wonderful convergence of available weekend and actually sleeping in.

It doesn't happen often, but I'm thankful for those rare times when it does. It's a small thing, when comparing big things like poverty and the national debt, but when I woke up and saw the time on the clock...man, it felt great.

Well, There's Your Problem Right There...

 Every year, without fail, I'm forced to remember things I once knew but apparently have forgotten. I'm talking about yardwork, but with me and my age, it could be anything.

I work at a job where we're supposed to know literal volumes of information in order to do the job correctly. It's so much to learn and retain that many times after I've learned it, it may not be remained. Of course, I'm usually reminded that I've forgotten something when I do it wrong and it's found out I did it wrong. Then, my aging brain searches for that time when I learned that particular tidbit of knowledge I somehow forgot and wonder why I failed to recall it when needed.

The same thing happened to me today. We live in an area that has four seasons, meaning, we have snow in the winter and hot temperatures in the summer. Because of this, we shut down our sprinkling system in the fall and resurrect it each spring. I remember being told when we put in the system that the secondary/irrigation water is not clean--not by a long shot. We have a filtration system to remove the gunk and silt that's in the lines. The water was turned on a few weeks ago.

I noticed the pressure in our lines was low and I couldn't figure out why. 

Then I remembered.

The filter.

There's your problem right there.

Cleaning out the filter it reminded me of when I forget things at work and probably other places that I haven't yet remembered I've forgotten.

I guess I'm getting old.

Superplow--An INCREDIBLE Product...Unfortunately, Not For Us

 For the past two winters, my family has had a side gig...snow removal. Last year - not a big deal. I think we were called out four times...

This year, however, we've already got that beat and we're not even into February.

Because this year has been so tough, our family has discussed options for next year. We've decided we've got to get some help...some mechanical help, if we want to continue the gig. Not only are my wife and I getting older, but the neighborhood, in which we've been hired to remove show, is growing. We could have an 20% increase in homes by next winter. We can't keep up with what we're currently doing.

So, I took to the internet and checked out some plows for sale. That's when I happened upon an incredible product, an amazingly wonderful product called the Superplow.

Basically, this thing hooks up to any trailer hitch and you pull the show from behind. I asked several questions to the seller...is my little Subaru powerful enough to use this? Is it okay to pull snow into the street and what do you do with it afterwards? Is there a lot of parts that can break down?

The seller answered them all. He even allowed us to hook it up, take it home, and try it out, which we gladly did. We drove home--it was weird having a 200-400 lb plow hanging on the back of my car. When we got it home, it was obvious we could not use it on our own driveway because my car is so low. Had we a 4x4 truck, it would be no problem. We then went to the neighborhood and tested it out on two driveways. The thing was amazing. I was a little worried about my car handling the snow, but it did okay. But, unless we bought another vehicle to use the Superplow, we'd not be able to use it on 1/3 to 1/2 of the driveways. 

This morning, after weighing the pros and cons, and discussing it with the family, we decided it's not for us. We're taking it back tomorrow. 

We're not sure what the future will hold for us. For the price of the Superplow, there are some quads with plows that we might look into--we're not quite sure. I don't know who invented the Superplow, but I think they did a great job. So much so, I'm surprised there aren't more of them out there.

Is It Really Colder...?

I heard a wise man once say, "History begins when you were born." I'm not sure if that wise man was the originator of that thought, and I can't at this moment remember exactly who it was who said it, but as I grow older, the phrase makes more and more sense to me.

So, what does that have to do about if it's colder outside than normal?

Good question.

I live in Northern Utah, almost to Idaho. It can get cold where we live--not Colorado or Alaska or Canada cold, but cold...cold enough that at certain times you'll die if you're outside at night without adequate protection. Thankfully, we have a beautiful home that protects us from the elements. We're grateful for our house--it allows us to survive.

But, back to the cold question. Right now where we live, it feels like December or January. My wife said the other day, she can't remember a time when we went from turning off the a/c to turning on the heater in the home the next day. I agree. It's unusual. We had an incredible Indian Summer this fall. Then, it got cold. But, is it that much colder than usual?

One thing humans do very well is keep track of stats. As technology improves, so do the facts. I could, if I wished, check the average temperature of our town year after year as long as records have been kept. These records will give me the definitive answer to the question, is it colder?

The problem is, people nowadays don't like facts at times if it goes against what they believe to be true, especially if it requires the changing of opinions. Yes, it may be colder than normal. Then the question of "why" is asked. I'm not going there...too big an issue. 

When we think about history, so many times we only go back to what we ourselves remember. I remember there being so much snow in the winters in Northern Utah. Did we really get more snow back then? Now, it seems like we hardly get any snow at all. Is my own truth, my own history correct? Was there more snow in the winters years ago? Has the climate changed so much in my lifetime? Many look to the records for answers, but it's so much easier to remember how things "used to be."

I hope we get a lot of snow this winter. We need it. Is it the sign of things to come? Maybe, and if so, people years from now will remember this winter one way or the other...whether it actually happened or not.

Father's Day...What If

I am getting to the age where my friend's parents are passing away. Each year, more and more parents are leaving us. My own parents are gone, but if my dad were alive today, he'd be 95.

Happy Father's Day, Dad.

It's odd, celebrating special days on social media. Actually, days like today--Father's Day, Mother's Day, Veterans Day, even Thanksgiving, Christmas, and Easter--I love! I love reading posts from friends and family on social media as they praise their loved ones. Maybe it's because all the poast are positive.

There's also many posts I read today where people are acknowledging their fathers who are gone and how much they're missed. Those are special posts, too.



What if, this is the last time you'll be able to celebrate Father's Day with your father.

With the events of today, that is not something that "happens," but a real possibility, with Covid-19 attacking the elderly the harshest. Would you act differently if you knew this would be the last Father's Day with your father? I'm sure you would, but that's one of the most beautiful aspects of life...that we don't know these things.

I loved reading everyone's posts today. Let's pray we can post similar things a year from now.