It Looks Like Rain

Most folks seem to get way too worked up over the rain. We worry about it all the time and actually plan entire events around whether or not it's supposed to rain. A lot of folks watch the weather every single night for primarily one reason: to find out whether or not it's going to rain. It seems to me we're taking this rain thing way too serious.

When you were a kid you loved the rain and anytime you got the chance to you'd run around in it trying to get as wet as you could before you're mom or someone else's mom started yelling at you to get in out of it. But over the years, we've been conditioned to believe that getting caught out in the rain is bad. The truth is, it was an umbrella salesman who came up with that concept. Before the umbrella was invented, people just went around wet when it rained. It's one of the reasons God invented the sun, along with body heat and later on the bath towel. Eventually He came up with the electric dryer (both blow and tumble), although some guy from Sheboygan took the credit for that.

One thing I've noticed over the years is that no matter how wet you get from getting caught in the rain, you'll eventually dry out. And I'm not talking about most of the time: I mean literally every single time!

I've given the subject of getting rained on quite a bit of thought this afternoon as I sit here in T.H. Benton's on the Bentonville Square, and as a result I'm going out on a limb. I'm recommending that collectively we turn over a new leaf, lighten up and embrace the rain--just like some folks have (fill in the blank).

Here's the thought of the day: the next time you get caught out in the rain, remember these two things:

1) Running with your head down doesn't keep you from getting less wet than if you run with your head up and...

B) In and of itself, a little rain water never hurt anyone.

NOTE: According to my late Grandma Stewart, "Rain water is good for your hair silly!"

Whacky

I'm convinced everyone is whacked. Liberal thinkers think conservative folks are whacked. Conservative folks think liberal's are whacked. Anti-gun folks think NRA members are whacked and NRA members think non-gun folks and Subaru owners are whacked. Subaru owners and Chevy Volt owners think the oil folks are whacked and the oil folks think members of Sierra Club International are whacked (or at least getting in their way-which from their perspective makes a person whacked). Fat folks think skinny folks are whacked and skinny folks think you're whacked if you don't own a stair stepper, 3 jump ropes and a treadmill. Students think the teacher's union is whacked and the teacher's union thinks---no one really knows what the teacher's union is thinking, but it's likely whacked. Bronco fans think Chiefs fans are whacked, Chiefs fans think Raider fans are whacked and....wait a minute, wait a minute....even Raider fans think Raider fans are whacked.

The interesting thing about everyone thinking everyone else is whacked is, no one thinks "they're" whacked personally....except for me. I personally know I'm whacked and have absolutely no problem with it. Being whacked keeps me laughing and at the same time feeling young and alive. The option is to go "all grown up and serious" on everyone and pretty soon I'll not just be whacked, I'll start acting whacked....just like everyone else!

In A Word

Is there a difference between being a writer and being a blogger? I don't think so. If you run they call you a runner. If you build they call you a builder. And if you're a real cranky individual who's difficult to get along with, they call you a (blank), although in that case it's usually behind your back.
My point is, if you write stuff down that anyone with the ability and inclination to read, can in fact do so, then in my estimation that makes you a writer. 
My Aunt "D" ask me today what I was blogging about. I responded, "Mostly random odds and ends-my mind has a tendency to wonder". 
At some point I'll settle in on an overall basic and consistent theme. Haven't decided what audience I'm shooting for: so far, it's an audience of 11.

Bentonville?

If you've never visited Bentonville, Arkansas, you should. My wife and I have lived here over 19 years and although it's always been a nice place to live, it's turned into a wonderful place to visit.
As I sit here in T.H. Benton's Coffee/Deli on the corner of Central and Main, I'm somewhat amazed at how much this place has changed since moving here in June of 1993. Who would have ever believed the original Norman Rockwell painting of Rosie The Riveter, along with numerous other priceless, original works of American Art would be hanging in a truly fabulous world class museum, not much more than a stones throw from the downtown square and the site of Sam Walton's original 5 & 10. I doubt that many local residents in 1993 envisioned a biking/walking/running trail that would take them some 37 miles from Belle Vista, through Bentonville, Rogers and Springdale, south all the way to Fayetteville-the home of the Arkansas Razorbacks. Did anyone ever dream they might one day visit this little town and while here, stop in for a coffee at Star Bucks, shop at 9 West or Cabella's and perhaps attend a broadway play and maybe later, dinner at Ruth's Chris? Probably not.

If you've never visited Bentonville, Arkansas, like Bob The Barker might have said, "Come on down!"....we'll leave one of the street lights on for ya!

Sausage for Breakfast?

A good friend just forwarded me an email of a picture someone took of an alleged 1800 pound wild hog, allegedly shot somewhere south of St. Louis. Now I don't claim to know everything about pigs, but I'm guessing the picture of the alleged super hog was photo shopped. My thought process is: if a wild ranging pig was capable of growing to the size of an African Water Buffalo while subsisting on roots, acorns, and an occasional dead shake, don't you think Tyson foods could have by now figured out how to grow a pen raised, corn fed hog to at least twice that size?

If the picture is real, I'm going hog hunting and if successful, we won't have to buy bacon or sausage for at least a month (I eat a lot of bacon and sausage).