Day: January 18, 2020

I am at peace
The snow storm came and Mother Nature
dropped eight inches of precipitation

My driveway looked long, but
was the same length as yesterday
Nothing to do except begin

My machine started and then stopped
Neglect showed its face
I had the fuel, but failed to fill the tank

After resolving this problem, I began the
back and forth clearing the parking area
It was much slower than reading these lines

The point came where I could
begin the long curving driveway
Snow had drifted to a foot

I took it slow and got to the road
The county trucks had not been here
I cleared some of the area for them

Slow and steady, while remaining patient
I continued and began dreaming,
Thinking about men and their machines
I was lucky to have a powerful engine
And a reliable tool

I thought about a picture my late bride
and I saw in North Dakota in a local newspaper
A teacher/farmer had died
It showed him being thrown around 
in his threshing machine

He taught at my granddaughter’s school
We covered the picture 
to keep her from seeing it

He was checking something and 
his clothing got caught
It was a gruesome death 
and sorrow flooded me again as
it had when we first saw the article

My daughter and I finished our 
battle against the snow in 
a matter of one hour and forty-five minutes
We parked our tools and went inside

We were happy that things had gone well
The workout was arduous, but satisfying
I continued to think about life and 
how fortunate we are for having so much

We must continue to realize this and 
maintain respect for those who came before us, 
constantly improving things
 
Stanski
January 18, 2020 ^
 
 

THE WIZARD
 
Think about the wizard
Just another hoax
So gullible are we
No one has to coax
 
Experts are surprised
Why should they be
More propaganda
To upset you and me
 
Career vipers
In control of the news
Accuracy be damned
They have nothing to lose
 
What they’re about
Just protect their job
And stay on the right side
Of the unruly mob
 
If you play by the rules
You’ll probably never win
Just look the other way and wink
They’ll know you by the grin
 
Play your horns for the wizard
But don’t pull back the drape
There’s no truthful hero
Wearing the magic cape
 
Stanski
January 17, 2020 ^

Plantation moss

Called Spanish

Alive on live oak trees

Apparent symbiotic relationship

Held in esteem as

Symbolic of deep, Old South

The moss is not Spanish

It is not even moss

The oak trees take:

   One hundred years to grow

   Another hundred to live

   Plus one hundred to die

We, as a country:

   Grew for one hundred years

   Have lived for another hundred

   Are we using the next hundred to die?

Like much in life

Things of perceived value have a worthless epithet

When reality asks to be recognized

We play with falsehoods

Until they become the “truth”

Symbols can be good:  truth is good

   Will we keep calling “our moss” Spanish?

Can we wake up to truth

Or be blinded forever more

And left to perish in our own ruins?

Stanski

January 17, 2020 ^

Now they’re gone
What does it matter?
They had their say
You heard their chatter

Their influence like vapor
Evaporation of the power
Coolly leaving behind
Just a few with sorrow

Who were the affected?
How deep the furrow?
Myth becomes truth
Legend imitates a tower

Soon the meaning is gone
If it ever was there
The memory is lost
Who would really care?

The block of life that counts
Is not the cornerstone
But the love in every brick
And how it was shown

Affected every soul it touched
In a quiet sort of way
Not worrying about tomorrow
Living for today

How it manifested thanks
For the precious gift of being
Gave back a hundred-fold
Before the final leaving

Stanski
January 18, 2020

Clem Ley was my grandpa
A funny man of sorts
Used words like “thunderation”
Smoked cigar clippings in his pipe
Worked for many years
at Tokheim Manufacturing
on Wabash Avenue
in Fort Wayne, Indiana
They manufactured gasoline pumps
and during the Second World War
they switched over to munitions
He was a maintenance man

I was born there and so was he
That made him special in my book

The story I want to tell though
came about one summer
while I was vacationing there
My grandmother
was doing things that irritated him
To solve this problem
Clem walked to the nearest drugstore
Bought a large bottle of Lydia Pinkham Tonic,
a cure-all for female maladies, and returned home

He opened the package and proceeded
to pour out one tablespoonful and
suggested that Emma, his wife, take it
When she said she wasn’t taking that s—
he threw the tablespoonful into the sink
then he fetched another utensil and
poured out another dose and said
“Well, I’ll take the damn stuff myself!”

By this time everyone was laughing hysterically
He thought we should all take a dose to settle us down
It was 36 proof at the time, but we declined
There are other stories but this was one of the best.

Stanski
January 17, 2020 #