Those who have visited my blog before may have noticed that I have removed all of the links list......there are several reasons but the main one is that I've decided to go back to a more simple format.....that doesn't mean that I would posts any links but they will be relevant to posts.....and embedded in said post.......I must admit that I got overly enamored with gadgets.....not saying it won't happen again.....probably will  

  Sometimes my hermit syndrome gets to me and I curl up under my 'bridge' and avoid the world as much as possible.....haven't written here for 5 days or so, and have avoided for the most part Facebook, I could give multiple reasons, but although those reasons would sound very logical, the truth is they, that is the reasons are for the most part, just a facade to conceal excuses........nothing major but have had some minor physical problems.......on top of that the weather has either been hot and humid, or cool, rain and low humidity......and my going on 70 year old body doesn't always react to those weather conditions, truth be told, never react well to that.........
  

  Where I live smack dab in the middle of one of the east coast's major migratory flyways for waterfowl.....but the neat thing is that a large number of Canada Geese......have decided to skip the extra mileage and stay in the area.......there is a large wild life refuge and preserve run by the NYS DEC........I live in a commercial/retail area........over the last several years 3 drainage ponds were built....but the ducks, heron, canes, coots, and at least 1 egret, doesn't know that, they just think that those 3 ponds are places to feed, their idea i suppose of fast food...........But the geese, ah the geese, they took one look and they thought home, and have settled in, and set out they homesteads complete with nurseries.............
  So on my walk this AM there were about 50+/- Canada Geese, munching grass, somewhere between 12 and 14 adult, and not even an exact count on the kids.......a few of the kids ran to mom and dad however I really wasn't that close......
  On the way back, they had moved and were almost blocking my shortcut to my rooms.....and a few of the goslings ran to mom and dad.......know I don't actually speak goose, but I can guess at what was said

Gosling #1- mom what's that big ugly thing with 5 legs....
Mom- no son he's human 2 wings, 2 legs and a stick
Gosling #2- a stick, he could wack us with it
Mom- probably not we've seen that one  before
Gosling 3#- but mom
Dad- if he did swing that stick at you he'd probably lose his balance, fall down and bust his butt......

  Those geese can be very arrogant.......but in this case probably right

  I'm a little frustrated this evening I've spent a bunch of time trying to find a piece I sang Many years ago.......by a modern Welsh composer who name I forget, based on the passage "The souls of the righteous are in the hands of God, in the eyes of the foolish the seem to have perished, but they are at peace" the first few pages are in a minor key, but the tenors make a run which ends with the tenor part hitting the same note as the altos........and it's now in and finishes in a major key........beautiful piece of music......but that's not the point here
  The founder of the choral group I was singing with 'The NorthCountry Choral Society"....in the spring of the year lost our founder, he past on ....and it was scheduled for our fall performance, but before our first rehearsal, 9/11 occurred.........
  In rehearsal, it took several reads through the piece before half the choir didn't break down.....emotion is critical in a performance, but it can't always be controlled........
  We preformed it, and it went well, but the reaction in the audience was not normal, it was 3 months or so after 9/11.......the audience was silent, you could see the emotion, the same one we had in rehearsal....we'd have sung it may times but they heard it just once......and that's the reason, well one of the reasons I did that, sang in choirs for many years, so that those who heard, got just a little of what I felt when I sang....... 

  I have a bunch of eclectic interests and skills.........but one I don't think I've ever mentioned here is I love the process of cold pickling, cold pickling can also be called refrigerator pickling.......no canner is involved, no heat is involved, basically, just vinegar, and selected spices depending on what you want to preserve, and a few days curing in the frig.....
  Today's project has been pickled radishes, just salt, pepper corns and balsamic vinegar, I've tried the process two ways.......with red wine vinegar, and with balsamic vinegar, but i prefer the balsamic...........but I also have from previous times, pickled onions, shallots, eggs, at this point I don't have any pickled cucumbers by my own hand but it will happen again.
  Based on my personal tastes I will use any of the 3 following vinegars, red wine, white, or balsamic.....always salt and pepper......sometimes garlic.....some times a tad of sugar......and with eggs some times onion or shallots with the eggs..........and if I could find some good mackerel, at my local food mart I'd pickle that too.......on the other hand the afore mentioned food mart does carry pickled  mackerel....in white wine vinegar with onion, nice.....but you never know.........

  It's late, well check that, It's actually early, but as happened from time to time sleep evades me, must be all the off shifts I worked when I was still working, been either on disability or retired for several years.....not only long hours on different shifts.....well that is quite true......for many years i carried a pager.......24 hours a day and 7 days a week.......and even when I was off, the dang thing could go off, even on days off or even vacation...the dang thing would go off, and I was expected to respond...in fact I had to alert the plant that I might be out of pager range for a fixed period of time, and I'd come home and there would be several messages, now don't get me wrong I was well paid for the inconvenience......I realize that pagers are now as extinct as the dinosaurs, slide-rules, and 8 tracks....and at least in industry I'm thankfully just as extinct......but my W loved the dang thing, I never should have given her the number, but that is another story which quite frankly I will never tell......
  A quiet day, slept well into the fore noon....and although I from time to time blame other things about why I can't sleep, I must admit that the problem is mine and mine alone, there are times, even though my body is exhausted, my mind is like a bag of angry cats......snarling, hissing, and scratching.......the cause is varying, one thing or another, and even if sleep comes, I may awake, from pain in multiple places in my body that suffers from arthritis......or the need to hung the porcelain.....one of my meds is a diuretic.......but I'm using  this time to stream a video on YouTube, and bore you with my musings of an old man
  

  the post I made earlier to my Facebook timeline and cut and copied here below got me thinking about my adventures in politics......i thought that what was wrong with politics is that we left them to the politicians, and that maybe the problem could be rectified by a non-politician getting involved........now at the time I was a registered member of the NYS Conservative party......knew the chairmen of the country party, and lived in a neighborhood, that did not have a ward committeemen...  anywho......I accepted, at the same time I was  lay member of the county Council of Church's.......and if you don't understand that that's involves politics then you've never been a delegate to a local county Council of Church's..... but I degrees.....
  At one point I was offered and accepted a spot on the executive committee of the county Conservative Party... didn't last that long but.....was on the committee when the story below took place, (sorry for the long intro)
  I played for many years at a local public golf course, which sold yearly memberships, and there was an association for members that ran 3 leagues, and a bunch of tournaments.....members only....what i want   to write about tonight occurred after a member's men's league.....
  My partner and I, partner was head of QC at the plant i worked at, I was the Materials Supervisor, we played against a special ed. teacher, and a lawyer who lived in the same neighborhood I did, and he and his wife had twin girls that were in my daughter's class, and was the county chairman of the Democratic party....... so my partner wandered off and his partner got the look from him, so the two of us sat there eating our 'cold plates' and did i mention the pitcher of Gin and Tonic, it was a hot night and you need to re-hydrate........This was just after Reagan got the nod to run for POTUS.......(again i apologize for the long intro)
  He knew my point of view, and said "You must be happy that you have a candidate that agrees with most of your point of view"
  I thought for a minute and replied " I'm not saying I won't vote for him, but I really think he's too dang old for the pressure and the responsibility of the job"
  And I don't know the actually situation, but to be honest the last 2 or so years he was in office, for lack of a medical diagnosis, let's just call it old-timers........
  So finally to my point, the election for POTUS between HC and DT.......at the time of the election I was about a month short of 69 years old, and they were both older then me.......call me ageist if you must, but with the pressures and responsibilities of the job, I'd rather see a younger candidate.......  
( i just realized that a "cold plate" might not be common knowledge......a scoop of cottage cheese , a scoop of macaroni salad, a scoop of potato salad, slices of roast beef, turkey and ham, rolls and butter....and sometimes some sliced veg )

( I rarely do this but have decided to post here what I have posted on my Facebook timeline)
  after reading and listening to everything that has been reported about the events of yesterday.......and the screen shots I saw of his Twitter and Facebook pages, it's just re-posts of much of what I find on my home page every day........all his were slanted to the left, and although not quite as common I see some slanted to the right......I won't attempt to try to explain why he took that course of action, and this is not about trying to curtail ones rights to believe what they believe, and their rights to express those beliefs on social media..........but I'm left with one nagging question.........did the amount, and tone of 100's of posts attacking the Potus, and the Republican Party.......have a part in inciting this person who attacked in a violent way
(PLEASE NOTE: this is not aimed at any individual, but just what i see as a disturbing trend)

( for those who may not be aware of the event I'm referring to, a lone gunmen targeted a practice for a charity baseball game, the players involved where Republican members of the US Congress and their aids)

  I've again and done it again, I've had a post removed from a Facebook group, which I know I posted be cause I reread after I posted  I left out a word, heck I do that here on my blog all the time.....and i thought that the response I got was for the last post I had written but it was for the post before and my last post was not to be found, I guess I could have re-posted but the truth is that you don't have to hit me with a stick to get me to understand I'm not wanted, so rather then suffer the shame of being throw out, I just withdrew, I deleted the group from my list........
  The weird thing is that on the face of it........I have at least in theory the same view point that this group says they believe, and besides that am well read in the stated subject, well a little more then that but I will not go into details ( anyone who knows this blog, knows that there are times i deal with a situation in the abstract...no real details)
  But have been there before........a group on Facebook, or on the old Usenet boards claim to want to discuss something, but they don't really want that, what they want is to pontificate their views, they want to field questions from those who are seeking something, but they really, I mean really, don't want a contrary point of view, even if your point of view agrees with them on most points......
  Sorry about that I should have engaged the rant alert.........

  I have come to the conclusion that there is one word that needs to be removed from every dictionary in the US of A, and particular from the dictionaries of the Democratic party, and that is the word bipartisan........because they the fore mention people, especially those in congress have no knowledge of either the word it's self or the meaning of the word.......
  My condolences are with you, but you lost the election......and rather then spending all your time is looking for a reason to impeach him, you should be looking for ways to do the job your constituents elected you for, and that is representing them in congress, and doing what you can to improve the conditions in the country, and at this point those should be any representative of the peoples prime concern.....
  Wasting congress' time and tax payers money, on endless inquiries, about what the President, or those around him, may or may not of done.......does nothing for making laws that will help us come back to where we should be, restore our economy, and deal with our obvious problems.......
  Get over it, the President will be our president for at least the next 3 and 1/2 years.......and given the majority of the Republicans in both houses of congress, impeachment is highly unlikely to ever happen
  Vote against his programs, bills if you must, add amendments, filibuster in the senate if you must, that's you right, privilege, and you dang job...put aside you loss and do your dang lob........
    Sorry for the rant but not that sorry........

  I've spent the evening, mostly doing a little net surfing, and watching some episodes of the 'Hornblower Saga'........you can find the links on the right, based on the stories of C.S.Forester, my fav writer of his historical fiction, he also wrote the novel that the movie  'African Queen" was based on........
  You have to forgive me, on the other hand maybe you don't, but I am as it would have been said back in the day 'I' am well read'.......but with the exception of historical fiction, and political fiction.......for the most part my interests in reading or maybe for a more accurate point of view, non fiction, and the older the better, I love the works of the Greek philosophers, the writings of the Early Church fathers...........and musically the works, the liturgical works mostly from the 16th century up until the very early 20th century.......
  I think that my interests in the ancient written books  was maybe because of my musically studies, I studied piano from a very early age, and classical piano, and then in 7th grade was handed a French Horn, although there (that is the French Horn) does appear from time to time in pop music, much of what I played, was classical...and I was gifted with 2 things I can't explain, I was 5 and 1/2 years old when i could sing harmony, and already had near perfect pitch......( as an aside although others may disagree I will never admit to perfect pitch)..............but I was 'gifted with a voice'....that was a High Tenor voice.....that was perfect for baroque liturgical music, the works of Handel, Hayden......et al.......besides I not only had the voice, but the love of that music.......now to be honest as I approach 70 years old, the voice is gone, but my mind still hears the music, still hears my parts, still loves the music.....age may have taken from me the ability to preform, but the mind still understands...........I love the pieces on YouTube that include the scores.....and allows me to follow 'my' part........
  You should forgive me for from time to time, to allow me to let me use this blog for myself, to let me express my feelings, how i got to this point in my life...... 

  A  post and the responses to that post got me to thinking.......and for me sometimes that can be dangerous.....the following is what that created in my mind ( the exact content of the post and responces is not important, and will not, or maybe not be mentioned here)
  Now for a first timer to this blog you may or may not know that my college education is in bible/theology, and one of many courses that in took to heart so to speak was Hermeneutics, the basics are how to interpret a text.......but I have applied those principles to everything that i approach ......but one of the prime principles is to put everything in context........to approach anything with our 'modern' point of view, and condemn people or countries or philosophies, or even rebellions in the past without taking into the historical, cultural or ethics, or religious customs, of the day, is at the least naive,and at the most...will lead you to a point of at best ignorance and at worst wrong conclusions......What's even worst if you apply that to calling those of the past who at this point none of their concern...but calling them traitors with out understanding the factors, the context if you will that caused their apparent switch in loyalties, ( you will notice that I've skirted the content of the post the caused me to write this but let me get this a different illustration)
  History is written by the winners....if the colonials had lost the war of the American Revolutionary War......I doubt the capital of the USA would be called Washington DC, and i doubt that we would honor the names of Adams, Franklin, or Jefferson........but to deny the existence of historical figures, just because they were on the losing side......
  You may ask,why I have not posted this to Facebook......why I have not been specific about the content of the post......because although a specific post was the reason for this 'rant'.......it's because it violated one of the principles by which i live........Facebook is no place for that.........
   

  It's been the better part of a week since I posted here, I could give multiple reasons for my absences here but I have no good reasons, or excuses, truth is I'd have to fall back on a bold face lie.......and i won't do that..............there are just times for multiple reasons I may write more then once a day......but if I don't have a rant, or something that just ticks me off, or something I've found interesting.........or just something of interest.....
  On the local Canada goose watch, the goslings are growing by leaps and bounds...however the place that I live, the ground maintenance guy, is not happy with their presence, they have been feeding in the picnic/pool area.......and have left many "calling cards".......I have come to understand the old adage about people that tell tall tales and that is "They have more ---- then a goose" and although I know or have known such people......but from current observation of wild geese.......and their almost prodigious abilities to produce excrement, there have been 1 or 2 people I've known that could give the geese a real run for their 'money' in this arena...........  

  I've been on Facebook for just over a year, and the only reason i did it I found out there was a Facebook  group for an online game I was playing, and added some family as friends.......one night i was searching people on Facebook and found a kid I knew in high school...( well he was a kid when i knew him but at the end of June it will be 51 years since i saw him)........and based on that I've reconnect with several kids I went to high school with
  After a year plus, I have come to several conclusions about it:
    1) I have got to reconnect with many people who because of distance and years I've lost track of
    2) and I enjoy many of the postings......
    However:
    3) what drives me nuts is peeps that post stuff without doing any fact check to see if the post is
     true.....and these posts fall into 3 common groups.....
      A) there are certain peeps who believe anything they read...
      B) those that just because the article agrees with there point of view it must be right.......
    Now the two groups above, although it is mildly annoying......I guess I can forgive them  
      C) then there is a small  group  of peeps who deliberately post stuff that they know is wrong, now
    when challenged that claim, "well  it's sarcasm".....but they know it will be believed by those in        
    group (A) above........
My conclusions are if you do use Facebook or any other social media site, or any other web site for that matter.....
    legit cave ( reader beware )
    credis antequam coerceret (check it out before you believe it)
     

  It's been a few days since I've posted.......been dealing with a chronic problem  that only bothers me a coupe times a year, which seriously effects my mobility, fortunately I walked a few days ago, and stocked up on food, and other necessities......but feels better today, still a little sore but should be fine tomorrow.............reminds me of the movie title "My Left Foot".......but in my case it's not the solution, it's the problem......but i can't even remember how many times i hurt my left foot and ankle, both in sport and and also work related, but it must be in the range of 8 to 10...so as we said back in the day: 1) I'm a bit under the weather; 2) I'm off my feed; and just haven't felt like writing.......