PAST COLD WINTERS

How was it when there was nothing?

Willingness was having a tough time

Meeting up with opportunity

Things will get better

They always do, but for now

We are doing without

Heartfelt feelings will be hurt

You sense abandonment

No love offered or received

Worry has replaced every emotion

Subdue all expectations

Gather all the wood you can

It will be a long winter

The cold that causes bones to ache

Will work on the spirit

In an effort to break

The treasury was lost and won’t be found

No matter how you look

We have done this before

Animals have to be saved

Who of us will keep the score?

Who will keep the pump primed?

We never know for sure

Days will pass, then weeks and

Promise for early spring, but

Fool’s gold is cheap and

Anyway, we’re not buying

No one ever has or will see us crying

As the waiting nears an end

We hope we can, in our hearts, have love again

Yes, we hope we can

These wretched cold winters are never grand

Stanski

February 18, 2025

WILL WE COLLECTIVELY WAKE UP

Frustration is a great word

People in love with the evil ones

Can’t provide enough patronization

They are total frauds

Now they want exoneration

Because they were snookered

Suddenly snookering is not okay

They have been doing it to their audiences

Day after week after month after decades

Graft, cheating, loss of life, and promises

Denied, covered, nothing to it and why keep them

Impressing a small but steady group of sycophants

People wear their labels, boldly and proudly

Make it difficult to return politics to normal

They think the swamp is a reference to them

But the swamp is full of phony-baloney

Plastic-banana, good time rock and rollers

From both sides of the aisle

It is not Democrat versus Republican

It is the Swamp versus the deplorable

Money beyond our ability to comprehend

Is at play in all the decisions made by

Our elected officials and representatives

It leaves many feeling powerless

People work hard and more are working

Than ever before in our country

There is a modicum of hope

That things will keep getting better

We need manufacturing to return to this country

This thing called cheap is going to cost us

Do we want drugs made in China?

How about food or anything when

Slave labor make it possible

There is no liberty in China

People are oppressed and eliminated

Are we willing to pay this price for cheap?

Stanski

February 17, 2025 ^

WHAT ARE WE DOING

Green energy

Not reliable

More expensive

Could not exist

Without government subsidies

Paid for by us

Another tax

We are already broke

Fighting the Wuhan Virus

Lying politicians

Disillusioned followers

Ruptured landscape

Dead birds

Black outs

Outsourcing to China

People without power

Disposal of outdated equipment

People without jobs

No transition

No green jobs

Pathetic decisions

Oil and natural gas are cheap

Wind turbines create

Distressing noise and

Flickering strobe light effect

What about batteries

A storage vehicle

Requires lithium and cobalt

And other minerals

Where do we get them?

Generators require sun or fuel

What do we do when we have neither?

What we have is working well

Low carbon imprint

Which is a left wing ideology

Carbon Dioxide feeds trees and plants

Gives us back Oxygen

Green energy

A political hype

A socialist’s delight

That will cripple us

Stanski

February 16, 2025, ^

LATE AFTERNOON NAP

I woke after a nap

Saw a lone star in the evening sky

Earlier I saw the reflection of the sun

In the now calm water of Lake Michigan

With the real sun above it appeared as a double sun

Another beautiful gift from nature

Before that my snow-blower started

I was able to clear seven inches of snow

From my drive and parking area

The county driver left a pile two feet high

Three feet wide and twelve feet long

My machine took care of the special gift

Day was bright as the sun was shining

Sky was blue without clouds

The job was daunting but I persevered

I didn’t quit but thought of others who

Quit on their commitment to us

There is a cost to destructive policy

The Wuhan Virus information is available but not released

Why are we protecting the Chinese controlled WHO?

Why are we giving them money which we have to borrow?

We fall in line and do nothing to confront the threat

Like the star we are the lone remaining hope

Our real leader was stripped away from us

Now we open our borders and pass out valentines

We stop construction of the border wall

Promised to President Reagan over 32 years ago

We stop construction of the Keystone Pipe Line

Costing us nearly 70,000 good paying jobs

We stop fracking on federal property costing more jobs

The cost of electricity and gasoline escalates

There is a promise of increased taxes and

Other job killing policies

The lone star is not shining too brightly and

Yogi said he takes a two-hour nap between one and four.

Stanski

February 15, 2025, ^

CUTTING FOR LIGHT

Life could be so easy if only you had a pair of scissors                                                                                                                                 

that could cut off those scraggly parts                                                                                                                                     

and seemingly get things in order.                                                                                                                                                          

A good pair of scissors; that’s all it would take.                                                                                                                              

Then happiness would fall right into line.                                                                                                                                  

Why do things have to be so complicated?                                                                                                                                                                  

Where is the order that I was looking for?                                                                                                                      

Complications weren’t meant for me.                                                                                                                                             

Why should I have a bunch of obstacles to work with?                                                                                                                     

 Don’t I have enough to do?                                                                                                                                                              

So what’s the answer?                                                                                                                                                                             There is no answer.  Life goes on.                                                                                                                                                           

You deal with opportunities.                                                                                                                                                                   

You deal with the problems.                                                                                                                                                              

They can both be the same thing.                                                                                                                                                     

 Attitude is a big part of the equation.                                                                                                                                               

Easiness is something you find in fairy tales.                                                                                                                                            

In real life the road takes twists and turns which open up new beginnings.                                                                                       

The seasons change.  We too must be prepared for change.                                                                                                                                        

When you know this then you know what life is.                                                                                                                                        

Acceptance will usually follow unless you look at road blocks as problems.                                                                                                             

Somehow things in life balance out and moving forward can and will be blissful and peaceful.                                                               

Seek the light.  Search for the truth.  Be aware of wonder.                                                                                             

Thankfulness and joy are walking with you.  You have arrived.  Thanks-be to God.   

                                                                                                                                                                      Stansberry McKricken akaStanski                                                                                                                                                                   February 14, 2025 ^

                                                                                                                                                                      If you’re not up to adventure, you’ll only know what you know                       Robert Morrison-17th Century Taylor. He sounds like Yogi.

Yogi said that he didn’t say all that he said.

By Steve Haarman

WHO IS ANGRY NOW

I have voted for Democrats

I have voted for republicans

I have no party

I am a conservative deplorable

I wonder why Democrats are so angry

I wonder why Education is being reinvented

I wonder why gender is being reassembled

I wonder why conservatives are being censored

Are there any valid answers

Why are some Republicans RINOs?

Who has the answers we seek

They say it isn’t censorship; it is harm reduction

The left wants to control America

Totalitarianism is not a pleasant thing

We cannot allow speech and ideas

To be under the control of the left

The left following instruction by the billionaires

It is a difficult time; difficult to grasp

There was a term used:  “Bitter clingers”

This I believe applies to decent Democrats

They have clung to a part which has transformed

And their loyalty is taken for granted

I wonder about the questionable election

I wonder about the fiats made during the pandemic

They are destroying all of the progress made

I wonder about the peaceful demonstrations

Which destroyed businesses with burning and looting

I wonder why they were encouraged by the left

I wonder about the opening of the border

While hundreds of thousands are without jobs

This is why we all are angry

Stanski

February 13, 2025 ^

NATURE’S PUSH

Yesterday I heard the wind

Today it was the talking of the snow

Tomorrow the sunshine will try to diminish both

But I will draw the line

Simplification can be fine

We know the oceans roar

Have seen icebergs off distant shore

And suffered the heat of sun midday

Had sea adventures disguised as play

Watched horses drawing wagons full of hay

And tornado chasers on this side of the fray

Known of sabers and soldiers guns

None of that can be fun

Dreams betrayed by other needs

Little people and their share of greed

Life becomes a so what, sort of

It is hard to sense what is most important

Shall I go with the wind?

Its song and force could be a friend

Will the dance in the rain bring me fame?

Or the sun, could it be won?

Oh my friend, it’s myself I’ll be

And I’ll stand tall for all, you’ll see

Stanski

February 12, 2025 ^

HOLD STEADY

THE ARENA OF POSSIBILITIES

We are told by many of possibilities

We look at those telling this story

They are the well-connected;

Already in power and usually

Indebted to power brokers because

They have sold their souls

They sit at the table where decisions

Are made and make their choices as

Instructed by those who own them

This is not what America should be

These people will ultimately fail

We can do the unthinkable

We are a nation of faith

We have been lied to by those we voted for

Have lost jobs because of their decisions

Have opened our border to illegals

They cannot be retained or released to Mexico

We have promised them housing, food and health care

This is while millions of Americans are struggling

We must keep our faith and have undaunted courage

There is power in the number of people who believe

In spite of the odds we must persevere

In spite of the odds we must join to fight

What lies in front of us seems insurmountable

Our forefathers faced down and defeated their enemies

We can do the same with our ideas, courage and will

Stanski

February 11, 2025 ^

FEBRUARY BLUES

YOOPERS DROOPERS

I look at my blank sheet of paper

Remember the winter stream of water

A creek that flows into Lake Michigan

There every day, always moving even

When covered by ice and frozen snow

I think of this when I am about to give up

If I want to accomplish anything

I must keep taking the steps

It would be easy to give up

Lay down the pen and walk away

Hope that I might feel better about it tomorrow

But this is today and tomorrow isn’t here

I think of how gray it has been

The sun graces me every so often

Through the huge puffy clouds above

It streaks through the trees in the south

And shines on the branches in the north

It is beautiful and lovely and a rich gift

The weather forecast predicts cold

Subzero weather is as depressing as

The bright full moon is uplifting and beautiful

Thinking of cold before it is here does no good

If it comes I deal with it as best I can

Hoping that there is some offset

From my window I can see large chunks of ice

Waves bring pieces of it to shore where it crashes

The mountain grows and is amazing

Wind blows, but not hard enough

To remove the snow from the green trees

The sun has somehow melted the roof snow

And drops of water fall like rain

It is mysterious and mystical

I have read stories of survival

Conditions there are grim and hopeless

What I have is nothing in comparison

I should be able to survive today

No need to worry about today and

Tomorrow will take care of itself

Stanski

February 10, 2025 ^

FEBRUARY THOUGHTS

BRIGHT FEBRUARY BLUES

Sunshine lights up the landscape

Spirits are lifted for a while

Grueling winter wears heavy

Normally felt losses seem more hurtful

Today we all feel better

The cold still has us laden with anxiety

We wonder if it was ever worse

Is this the norm or a curse?

It could be more disastrous, we know:

Preponderate amounts of snow

Ice storms shutting down electricity

Alternate fuels causing fires or poisoning the air

Still we only know today

Enough promise to make us gay

Stansberry McKricken aka Stanski

February 9, 2025 ^