General George Washington, Sixteenth President of our Country

In the past, my Blogs have run the gambit from depressed, to angry and more recently, with this newer Blog Spot, leaning more towards the educational or at least attempting to make you think a little. I've always incorporated a more broad vocabulary because I know there are some that read my Blogs who use their extensive vocabulary for much more than colloquial conversation. Others, I'm sure, either used a dictionary or Googled a word or two. I will say right here that there is nothing wrong with having to look up a word! Please don't leave me hateful comments about educational levels of my readership. I happen to be one who must look up a word two or three times a week. I enjoy doing so, in point of fact. I understand, by doing so, that I am learning. I love to learn about new things. I pride myself on knowing little known or forgotten points in history or knowing things about Science or Technology of which my peers may not be aware.

For example:

How many holidays do we celebrate on the wrong day in this country? Did any of you mention July 4^th, a. k. a./The Fourth Of July, a. k. a./Independence Day? What is the correct day our independence was declared? What is the correct title of what we call "The Declaration Of Independence"? How many people signed it and on what dates? Did they all sit down together in a room to sign it as it is assumed in an historical painting by John Trumbull?

First. The aforementioned painting is often referred to as a depiction of the signing of the Declaration Of Independence.  I'm sure if you ask any child and most adults about what is depicted in this huge oil painting almost all will say, "It depicts the signing of The Declaration Of Independence."  It depicts instead, The presentation of said document to the Second Continental Congress. Now that some of you have learned that much.....

Second. Independence Day is not July 4, 1776. Our Independence Day is actually July 2, 1776. It is true! The draft of the document was what made Congress decide to declare independence from England and they did so on July 2, 1776, a full month after discussions to do so began. After the document had been drafted and Congress had ratified it and declared our independence, the text of the document was adopted two days later on July 4^th.

Lastly. The document was signed by John Hancock (one of numerous Presidents before George Washington), President of the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776. The rest of the fifty-six signatures were not scribed until August 2, 1776 after the final draft had been scribed. President Hancock signed the final draft as well. (One signature did not make the famous parchment until November 4^th of that year.)  President Hancock's signature was written so large because the King of England had sworn a warrant for the arrest of Hancock and many others and President Hancock wanted the King and others to be able to read his signature without spectacles (glasses). You have to admire the man's gumption! I wonder if I would have been so bold were I in his place.

It may be noted here that there were a total of fifteen Presidencies prior to General George Washington being elected as the President of our country, recently renamed “The Thirteen Colonies Of The United States”. In short, The United States. “Of America” was added later. Therefore. Though Washington was not the first President of our Country, he was the first President elected by our newly renamed country called the United States Of America. You may be asking yourself, “Who was our Country's first President?” My advice to you is Google it.  I did thinking there were only three Presidents before Washington.

I hope you've enjoyed these two little pieces of trivia which are part of our Country's history. There are many other historical events that are no longer taught in our schools so it is up to each and every one of us to research, learn and teach others about different subjects. History, Science, proper English Grammar and many more subjects could be preserved if we take it upon ourselves as individual contributors to society to pass the knowledge down to future generations. In this way, we won't have to worry whether our children are being taught everything they need be taught.  Maybe next time I'll talk about who first proposed the possibility of Black Holes.  (It Wasn't Einstein.)

Elderly Anamneses and The Tale Of The Broken Bow

Ever notice how, as you get older, time seems to become needed less and less. Time appears to take on new meaning when you reach fifty years of age. The years of personal history with all its triumphs and failures seem to blur and sometimes get pulled into the black hole located deep within the brain. There are multiple advantages to this stage of memory loss.

My Lady and I oft times giggle about never struggling to find something to watch on the television. It doesn't matter that we may have seen a given program or movie fifteen times because it usually has been forgotten and we enjoy viewing it anew each time. I would hate to have guests or children in the house now because I'm sure they would be complaining about having to watch the same things over and over again.

Another neat little thing about elderly memory recession is never worrying about subject matter for conversations. I must have told some stories a hundred or more times. The beauty of it in our household is all the repeated stories are always new! You see? There are advantages to getting old and losing some of that unimportant short-term memory.

It fascinates me that some things done years ago stick with you no matter what. Many of those memories just happen to be the ones you'd like to forget and have all your buddies who were witnesses to those things forget them as well. For example. I had been a rather good Archer for a number of years with both Right and Left-Handed bows. I was most comfortable with Re-curve Bows because I'd confidently used them for many years without issue or incident. My buddies had finally talked me into purchasing a new-fangled Compound Bow. I bought a used one because I didn't want to sink a lot of money into something that I might wind up not liking at all. I had worked on the new/used bow for several days. Lubricating, tightening here and there, adjusting and drawing this complicated tool of modern archery. I finally began to practice with it with target tips roughly aimed in the general direction of the target affixed to the hay bale twenty yards from a tree root used as a line in the ground. I'd loose an arrow and watch for the fletching to stop indicating the arrow had struck its mark. Another adjustment or thirty to the sight posts and I was becoming quite accurate with my new toy. With the sun lingering low on the horizon, I packed arrows and bow away to pull out and play another day. (Make a rhyme every time!)

It so happened that one of my buddies called and asked me to come over to his house to fling some arrows downrange, as he called it, the next day. I piled my bow and extra arrows and tips next to the door so I wouldn't forget them in the morning. I then laid down to try and sleep but couldn't for thinking about how I was going to surprise my friends the next day.

The sun finally began to slip through the blinds and onto my closed eye lids which told me it was time to get the coffee brewing. I showered and hurriedly dressed in my finest Real Tree Cammo outfit, grabbed my archery gear and headed off to Wayne's house. As expected, I pulled into the driveway to chants of “Re-Curve Man!” They all loved giving me a hard time about my older technology bows. I just smiled as I got out of my pick up, reached into the bed and grabbed the bow case and a large quiver stuffed full of my best arrows. I went over to a table and laid everything out and began to prepare for the target practice. Out came the Compound Bow and the hoots and hollers started! “It's about God-damned time you decided to get with the rest of the world!”, Wayne chided. I just smiled back at him.

It was finally time to nock arrows and ceremoniously loose the first ones in unison which was our custom. All three arrows made purchase deep within our individual, hay bale backed targets nearly simultaneously. I reached for another arrow to nock and noticed Wayne was staring at me and then to my centered 'Bull's-Eye' downrange. I could tell he wanted to say something smart but he held his tongue as I raised the bow. Just as I reached full draw, I heard a loud crack then rapidly found myself wrapped in bow-string with one of the broken bow limbs swaying dangerously close to my left eye.

I stood there, shocked and perplexed for what must have been a minute or two still in my full draw position. I was brought back to reality as the sound of unbridled laughter began to make its way forward into my consciousness. Back to myself once more, I took a series of tiny little steps to turn around still maintaining my full draw stance. Once I had turned enough to face my truck, I used similar baby steps to carry myself back to the safety of said truck. I finally started the arduous chore of untangling myself from, what seemed at the time, miles of bow string.

Both my buddies laughed for more than an hour. Neither of them were able to loose another arrow the rest of the morning. All they could bring themselves to do was imitate what they had witnessed during my equipment failure and start laughing all over again. Of course they had to tell everyone they saw just what had happened to me on that fateful morning. As a result of their retelling and reenacting "The Tale Of The Broken Bow", as they had named it, I still get ribbed for the incident to this day! I wish this event could be wiped clean from every person's mind who witnessed it or has heard the tale. God love 'em! The bastards!

The Moral Of The Story? No matter how many things you forget as you grow older, your surviving friends will still be telling your most embarrassing story to as many people who will listen. Since they suffer the same memory issues as you do, they'll tell it over and over and over and over and over and....

Chicken Eggs, Eye-Boogers And A Bull's Ass

Some time ago I came to the conclusion that I am, in point of fact, beginning to get older. I was born in 1958 and by my mathematical calculations (using today's math) this dates me to somewhere between seventeen and nineteen years of age. That's my story and I'll stick to it as long as you let me use contemporary mathematics. Using the math I grew up with I am, however, in actuality more than half-a-century old. Now. That may seem like old to some but to those of us this old and older, it ain't old at all. Younger folk would do well to actually look up from their phones, tablets, and computer games and strike up some conversation with us Old Geezers. With all our years of living has come a tremendous amount of knowledge and wisdom. Knowledge and wisdom which seems to be in short supply these days. Most all the young, whipper-snappers of today lack much understanding which comes from, you guessed it, knowledge and wisdom! Go figure! So. The next time you ask a question of a young-un, you'll understand the reason for the deer-in-the-headlights stare.

This brings me to a quandary. How do we as naturally inquisitive adults attain understanding? Through study. That's how! You don't have to only study books. You must decide to study written texts as well as a life-long, in-depth study of the world and your immediate environment. For example: Several years ago, I was preparing breakfast and was removing several eggs, one-by-one from the refrigerator to lay out to cook. As I moved the eggs from one spot to another, I studied the shape of each egg. They were each slightly different in one way or another but were all “egg-shaped”. I began to ponder about the definitive shape and how eggs came to be shaped thus. After some considerable contemplation as I enjoyed the last remnants of my fried eggs and grits, I decided to see what I may find on the aforementioned subject on the internet. Keep in mind that I am a city boy, born and raised in Greenville, South Carolina and never spent any time on or near a farm. That made me rather uneducated in regards what others might deem common knowledge.

Following a few key strokes on the computer, I found a web-site dealing with nothing but Chicken Trivia hosted by none other than The Georgia Tech Extension Service.  The best part was they had an actual Contact E-Mail Address!  I excitedly went about composing an e-mail explaining my citified upbringing and my pondering over breakfast about how those eggshells got their shape.  In other words, which freakin' "end" of the egg comes out of the chicken first?  I checked my In-box everyday for over two weeks before finally receiving a response from the contact person at Georgia Tech's Extension Service about my Chicken Trivia question.  I opened the message and began to read. “Dear Mr. Davis,....”, it began, “....You are truly one of the World's greatest thinkers!....”  I wasn't sure but I thought I detected some level of sarcasm in the opening statement therein. He continued on to explain just how the chicken eggs got their shape and it then made total sense to me. It was akin to a harsh “Duh!” moment.   No matter the sarcasm interlaced into the response, I learned something that day. I learned because I was curious enough to ask the question.  I never have claimed to be the smartest person on the planet and took the ribbing as part of the learning process.

Here's another example of how I gain understanding from knowledge and wisdom. I was on a hunting trip many years ago on a ranch in Wyoming. I was hunting Pronghorn Antelope. After a rather long morning of trying to figure out the running patterns of the game, I had become hungry and decided to park low into a draw and eat my lunch. As I sat there munching on some cheese crackers and Penrose Sausages and drinking coffee, I noticed a rather large, longhorn bull had come over the rise to keep an eye on me. I kept an eye on him as I made sure I had a quick way to escape should he decide to charge. The bull became relaxed enough to let his attention drift to something else moving on the prairie and he had  turned completely away from me. I sat there sipping coffee watching the bull. I studied his movements and admired his lean, muscular appearance. He swatted his tail to one side then the other to shoo the flies away and that's when it hit me. I've never understood just how my brain worked but there it was just as obvious as could be! A bull's ass is made of beef!

One more thing for you to consider. You awake in the morning and at some point scrape the crusty junk from the inside corners of both eyes. Usually this occurs while sitting in your car at a traffic light as the person in the lane next to you is watching to see what you do with it. Come on! You know this has happened to you! At some point later on in the day, you notice that your eyes feel “funny” and you again put a finger into each eye's inside corner. This time what you find is that soft bulb of off-white, sticky matter I refer to as Eye-Boogers. Most of us will just roll the Eye-Booger between our index finger and thumb rather than wiping it onto a tissue or (Eewe!) licking it off with our tongues. Here comes the conundrum. For those of us who roll it around betwixt digits, where the hell does that Eye-Booger go? It just seems to disappear! Is there an Eye-Booger Faerie that comes and snatches it away from us before we wipe it underneath the car seat or worse, on our pants? I believe what must happen to the Eye-Booger is that the friction of rolling it around causes a disturbance in the magnetic flux of the element, Unobtainium which initiates a linear phase shift in its mass resulting in faster-than-light-speed transfer from one membrane to another effectually causing what a number of scientist have dubbed 'The Big Bang'. I came up with this theory while under the influence of the chemical compound, 3, 4, 5-Trimethoxybenzeneethanamine (C11H17NO3). Awe. Come on, Young-uns! I bet a lot of you are wishing you'd paid attention in Chemistry!  It's another one of those "Knowledge + Wisdom = Understanding" things!

Toodles until next week!

Technology, Neighbors and Fresh Milk

I've had a rather busy week and have struggled with subject matter for this week's Blog. I'm tired of the Political Races. You'll know who won by the time you read this any way. I'm outright fed up with the lack of respect for our troops by some individuals. Sorely upset am I with the way other countries perceive us much because of our politician's actions over the years and our apparent inability to search for the truth about the things we do to other countries. I still believe I live in the best country in the world. I just don't have to love the way some things are handled within our borders and overseas. (Time to get off my Soap-Box here.) I've wondered whether to rant and complain about family feuds or my health difficulties. After much thought, I finally decided on a few topics for this week.

Technology! What the hell is going on with the technological advances these days. I used to be able to keep up with new stuff but have found that I'm squarely behind the eight-ball these days on much of the new technology of today. I've discovered that I can no longer impress my associates with trivia about new things coming out soon. I'm often met with resounding retorts about several other new things that are already on the market to which I was not privy. I always tried to keep just ahead of new technology but have found it seems to advance years in just a month. I still remember the days when it took roughly thirty to fifty Key-Strokes to boot a computer. Back then, the only operating system was the Programmer's Language called DOS. Frozen pine sap flowed faster than those first computers could resolve a single, simple mathematical problem. Now? The processors of today are so much faster. And the memory capacity! It makes those early computers look like something from the dark ages. Wait! I suppose you could say they were in the dark ages of computing back then! My phone has more memory and is decidedly faster than my first computer and my phone is five years old!

Neighbors! These are the folks who live nearby. You know? In that house next door, the one across the street and other locations near your house. These are the folks who used to visit us and that we used to visit when I was growing up. We all knew each other and usually had no more than two sore heads or ass-holes who lived in the neighborhood that everyone hated. We never used to grace them with a friendly wave but would turn our noses up if they looked at us. What happened? It seems no one ever knows all their neighbors anymore. We peer at them through the narrow slits in our blinds and wonder what they're up to instead of going over to introduce ourselves and invite them over for coffee or a Bar-B-Que. We live close to them so why don't we know them? Has our trust and faith in Humanity fallen so low or is it that we just cannot bare to miss our TV shows once in a while? Your friends cannot make it into Syndication like your TV Programs are likely to do. When the friends (neighbors) are gone, they're just gone.

Fresh milk! There's nothing like going down to the local dairy and purchasing a quart or a gallon of fresh milk then turning up the container to get a big old swig of contents without shaking it up first! If you're my age or older or have poured a glass of fresh milk in recent years, you know what I'm talking about. The layer of thick, delicious cream that rests on top of the milk! To use some text talk phrases, OMG! That is SFG! The first of the liquid that is poured out of the container with some milk chocolate sauce stirred into it is like silky, chocolate heaven on the pallet. I miss the milk bottles with the paper or foil caps pressed around the mouth of the bottle because all the milk back then had that wonderful layer of cream which every child and every adult craved and often fought over (at least in our house). It's getting harder to find milk with cream on it these days. If you pass by a dairy with a retail store in it someday, stop in and grab a pint of fresh milk. Shake it up then try to just sip it! I think you'll find that you'll turn it up and you won't be able to stop until the last drop is gone. Then you'll go back for another. All this talk of fresh milk has gotten me in the mood for a tall, cold glass of chocolate milk made with fresh milk from the Happy Cow Dairy just down the road from us. You can bet I'm going to pour that milk without shaking the container up first. Mmmmmm!