I am really here by myself

Comment if you see this,

I SEE THIS

Well, Here I Am To Visit, But Apparently I Am All By Myself!

Apparently we don't, Ashley. I have missed it, but I don't think I have seen a notification of a post in a long time. I saw yours accidentally when I was trying to make a post on the Friend's House blog, which has not had one since last June.

I guess we just get sidetracked.

Happy birthday cousin Betty!

I have to admit, I hadn't even looked at this blog since last year when I commented on Uncle David's birthday post. But...in my American Folklore class we were discussing family lore and I mentioned enscussions.

Does anyone still visit this blog? I know most of us are lost in Facebook these days, but I kind of miss the interaction on here.

HAPPY 85TH BIRTHDAY TO COUSIN BETTY

CONGRATULATIONS AND BEST WISHES TO COUSIN BETTY IN PRAGUE, CZECH REPUBLIC FOR MAKING IT TO THE RIPE OLD AGE OF 85 WITH HER MIND INTACT AND SHARP AS EVER. WE HOPE YOU ARE DOING WELL AND COPING WITH THE CHALLENGES OF THE AGING PROCESS.

I AM ENJOYING YOUR MEMORIES OF OUR FAMILY BACK IN THE DAYS OF YOUR YOUTH.

I KNOW YOUR BIRTHDAY WAS YESTERDAY, JANUARY 23RD. I THOUGHT IT WAS ON MY CALENDAR, BUT MY 80 YEAR OLD BROTHER HAD TO CALL AND REMIND ME.

HOPE YOU HAD A GREAT DAY.

Food for thought...

I was reading this article about how one family trimmed their budget, and one of their ideas was to visit family and friends instead of staying in hotels. One of the readers made this comment:

I'm always amazed at people who save on vacations by visiting family/friends. Unless you are bringing groceries/cleaning products; paying for water/electricity/gas or chopping wood; helping with household chores; and footing the bill for any outings, all you do is pass on the cost, except for travel, to the people you are visiting. Stay at home. Visit state or national parks where you live. Go downtown and play tourist or volunteer to improve your community. That way you save your money as well as the money your family/friends spend entertaining you and yours for a week or more.

NOTE: This is one person's opinion that may apply to some people at some times. Always good to check with the visitee and, no matter how welcome/related you are, this is good advice to follow generally speaking.

Oops

I accidentally posted an entry to this blog instead of my personal blog.  I deleted it, but if it sent out auto-notifications to everyone, I'm sorry.  I should pay more attention to which blog is on top of the dashboard.

We Are Waiting Patiently Not So Much

Well, it is that time again. Time when we can drive in at night and see the lights of the newest gas well. The rig is in place and scheduled to start turning soon.
This one is exciting for a couple of reasons--it is a horizontal well, and potentially more productive than the first, a vertical. Secondly, if it is more productive, there will be more money with which to expand the shelter and other programs, and third, to feed Stranger The Cat. At this moment Stranger is in on one of his every few days visits to the house, during which he loudly demands food. But back to the well. Should be producing within a couple of months. If you have any interest at all in reading about the shelter, go to www.atmyfriendshouse.blogspot.com . In between other activities we try to keep a running commentary on the progress there.

This was written by someone else who emailed it to me, but something we can all think about.

Thoughts Upon Listening To Many People Talk . . . and Talk . . . and Talk

Maybe I am just getting old. I am—that is a fact. Maybe I have just heard too many people talk too long at a time, and for too many years. That is also a fact. Whatever the reason, it seems to me that there are lots of people who seem not to understand that other people neither want nor need to hear every possible word that might be uttered.

You may think that you are a good conversationalist and a welcome guest because people listen to you and talk to you. They may, just may, be polite people who do not want to tell you that you are trying their patience, and that they just have not yet found a correspondingly polite way to ask that you PLEASE SHUT UP!

How would you know if you are boring other folks? If the other partners in your conversational events seem to exhibit any of these behaviors, you might want to wonder if your conversational skills may need just a tad of improvement:

1. Frequent yawns or shifting seating positions.
2. Frequent glances at a watch or anywhere else in the room.
3. Frequent checking of a cell phone (not quite as obvious as the watch-glancing, since you might actually be legitimately checking something).
4. Frequent surreptitious glances exchanged between two or more others in the conversation.
5. Responding to you (if you inadvertently pause and give them an opening) in an irritated manner on a subject that doesn’t seem to call for irritation.

Or, listen to yourself (something I suspect most of the offenders rarely do) to ascertain

1. How long it has been since you took a breath,
2. How many times you use the word “uh”, or any similar word to hold your place,
3. How many times  you explain what you like or not like and why,
4. How long you have been talking,
5. How many times you hear yourself saying “I said” and “s/he said”,
6. How grating your voice might sound to others in the room, and
7. How long it has been since you heard a voice other than your own.

If you feel the need to interject with your own experience each and every time that someone else makes any comment, or if you find yourself being interrupted more and more frequently, you might need to think about this.

If you feel the need to “one-up” any comment, you may be feeling insecure and this may be your way of proving that you are not inferior. The other people may not feel superior, just frustrated and bored.

If you have children, you probably are a good parent, but no one wants to hear every in and out of how you raise them and what you told them (or anyone else) in excruciating detail. Other people may do it differently. You are certainly entitled to your way, but it is not the only way.

If you have begun more than two sentences with “I”, quit. You need to expand your world. A time-proven element of getting a good conversation going is to get the other person(s) to talk by asking them something about themselves. Not intrusive or nosy things, just general things.

If you feel that you must supply every possible detail of every situation, every item you have ever eaten, which ones you liked and why, which ones you did not like and why, express every thought that enters your mind, and explain every relationship and life circumstance of every person in your stories, you may need to think about this, also.

And so do I. I need to reread this and quit doing irritating conversational things. But please remember that others will be more friendly and forthcoming if we follow the Golden Rule and let them talk, also.