Sometimes, Ya Gotta Laugh... At Yourself

Sometimes... Ya gotta laugh... at yourself..

Many years ago....

I decided that I wanted to become a part-time Softball Umpire... Don't ask why... I don't remember.

So... off I go reading the required material, taking the test and passing it (yes there is a test). Now to the store to buy the official Umpire Uniform..... A Blue Shirt and a Dark Blue Pair of Pants plus a dark pair of athletic shoes.

You also had to watch at least 16 innings of another umpire doing thier job. So off to the local baseball diamond. What is hard, is to watch the umpire..not the game.... You learn very quickly that the busiest person on the field, is the umpire. Because, with every hit there is a place you have to get to very fast to cover the result of the hit and at the same time stay out of the way of the players...

Now... I'm ready...

Just before leaving the house on my first real Umpiring experience my wife (Lord Love Her) asked me where it was I was going to be. I told her and she rolled her eyes back and while hugging me goodbye said "I'm glad that your insurance is paid up.. Because that is probably the WORST PART OF TOWN you can be in...

Hmmmmm.... Thanks Babe... and I drive across town thinking of all the rules, regulations and what all I had just got myself into... But now I cannot forget her last words... THE WORST PART OF TOWN YOU CAN BE IN.

I arrived one game early hoping to be able to watch the two umpires going through their roles only to find that one of them had not shown up... So... Yep... here I go....

I walked out onto the field and took my place between 1st base and 2nd.. Thank God, at least I was not going to have to be the Home Plate Ump..

The "on field" team warmed up. I tried to look as "Professional" as I could and follow the Golden Rule of Umpiring which is "STAY OUT OF THEIR WAY." All the while, those little words given to me by loving wife kept bouncing around my head.. THE WORST PART OF TOWN YOU CAN BE IN.

Finally.. the moment arrived,,, The Home Base Umpire looked at his watch and at exactly 7.pm... raised his hand.. stepped over the plate and brushed it off with his $.99 cent paint brush... Turned and scanned the field and yelled those most famous Umpire words ever heard..."Play Ball".

The 1st Batter took his stance and the Pitcher glanced over his left shoulder at 1st base.. I don't know why... it's just what they do just before pitching...

I was concentrating and being very Proffessional looking. Knees slightly bent with my palms resting on my knees... That was when it happened..

BANG.... A PISTOL SHOT RANG OUT SOMEWHERE OVER MY RIGHT SHOULDER.... in THE WORST PART OF TOWN YOU CAN BE IN!!!

My reaction... well of course.... I dropped flat on my stomach.....

When I openned my eyes after making sure I wasn't hit. I noticed everyone else on the field were still standing... But looking at me.....

The Southside Track and Field Stadium, which was adjacent to the Southside Baseball Diamond Complex, whiched was seperated by a very large row of thick trees, was where the Regional High School Track and Field Competition had just started the 1st 100 yard relay race.... At exactly 7:01.pm... With yes... The shot of a starter pistol.....

I didn't continue to be a Softball Umpire very long.... Main reason... it seemed about every third game, one of the two teams that had all laughed at me as I picked myself up and dusted my self off that first night was playing... I also remember that I had gotten a standing ovation from everyone in the stands.

From that game on there was someone who always yelled out "Hey Blue... got your bullet proof vest on?"

Yep,,, Ya just gotta laugh.. at yourself...

Johnny

Memorial Day Honors

In Memory of those who did not return....

On these days set aside for them, let's remember those who did not return while serving their country for what they believed in.

If you knew one personally. Talk about them, who they were, what they meant to you and how you miss them. Or... at least take a few moments to think of them and what they must have gone through... It's not that hard...

Those are the greatest honors you can do for them.

Then pray that soon the verse of Isaiah 2:4 can come true.

:"He will judge between the nations and will settle disputes for many peoples. They will beat their swords into plowshares and their spears into pruning hooks. Nation will not take up sword against nation, nor will they train for war anymore.."

From near the begining of man's existence there have been battles... At each battle there was almost always one weapon present. It hung at the warrior's side ready to be drawn to defend one's homeland or as a weapon of assault by those who came to conquer.

A warrior's sword in many cases was the deciding factor whether he was to walk away a victor or be remembered as one who gave his life for what he believed in.

Remember them....

Johnny

5/220179

Farm Fresh Corn

Thinking back to the fields of cotton and corn that my
Brothers and I passed through each May to start our \
summer escapades.

The corn ran 4 cents a ear if they picked it, 5 cents if we picked (correct me Brothers if I'm wrong on the price).  Usually started picking about this time of the year and this time in the morning...

 I got to go only on the last few of those excursions myself but the memory is still with me and will always be ...

As if it happened only yesterday...

But times, they are achanging and we have to flow with it... saw a special on sweet corn in the paper yesterday...

"Farm Fresg Corn..... 45 cents an ear or 2 for 80 cents"

What a deal...

Johnny
5/25/2017

Does He Work In Unusual Ways?

So... Does He work in unusual ways....

This morning I went to drop 20 Avon flyers/packets for Syl less then an hour ago... Driving down the second street from us I noticed a little old lady taping a notice to the side of the Community Mail box. I pulled up next to her with 2 intentions. 1. So see what it was that had been lost and 2. To give her a packet...

She shared with me that her daughter, a RN for the School District had come by yesterday evening to drop some things off to her. In the 4-5 minutes she was inside someoen had gone into her unlocked car and took a very important Day Planner that held alot of important information.

Remembering the time I had lost my Dayplanner I told her I would keep a look out for it as I dropped the rest of my packets...

I had gone 8 houses away and when throwing the Avon packet I noticed that it was swerving towards the bushes at the edge of the sidewalk, but when it landed.... It landed on top of a large brown Day Planner lying onto of the border grass..... No Way....

I got out and walked towards it and it fit the description the lady had given me.... No way...

I jumped back in my car... drove back to the lady and told her that I had found it... She came with me, and she got out walked up to the planner and yes it was her daughter's. Nothing even looked like it had been taken...

I took her back to her home and she asked me to wait a minute... Her husband came back out with her and she handed me a $100.00 bill... I tried to say no but she and he insisted saying that I had just become their daughter's hero. Saying that she would be by later to give me a big hug...

You know.... In todays world, many say.... "Don't get involved.... It's just not worth it"...

Well.....

Thank you Lord for sending me their way today.....

Johnny

5/23/2017

If We Consider Ourselves as the Chiefs of the Earth Tribe... Then...

“The frog does not drink up the pond in which he lives.” —Native American Proverb

“When a man does a piece of work which is admired by all we say that it is wonderful; but when we see the changes of day and night, the sun, the moon, and the stars in the sky, and the changing seasons upon the earth, with their ripening fruits, anyone must realize that it is the work of someone more powerfrbul than man.” —Chief Standing Bear



This mural I noticed on the wall of the lodge at the top of Mt. Charlston yesterday and for some reason it sent me this messege..

Humans were not made Chief of the Earth Tribe to lead us to destruction but to protect all that lives here with us, including the earth itself."

I believe that WE are the second highest level of intelligence there has ever been,  We were given that level of intelligence for a reason... To Care for and Nurture all of that which is around us, not to destroy it...

Spread the Word....  Much of the damage we have done to the only place we have to live is done and we cannot fix it... But that does not mean we can't change our ways to stop killing our Earth...

Let's all do our part to start correcting our wrongs.....Even the smallest effort is better then no effort.

Save Our Earth.... If not for us, then for the generations that will follow.

Johnny
5/22/2017

If you agree.... pass it on....

In Your Arms

To All of those who are "Moms".....

In Your Arms...

It was you who calmed our fears...
It was you who dried our tears....
It was you who was always there....
It was you who we could lean on....
No matter when, or where...

Your smell,
Your touch....
Your voice,
Your love....

They're all part of you
That no one can take from us, never....
These parts of you....
We'll remember Forever....

Because....
Well, Because...
Your Our Mom.....

Happy Mother's Day to you all...

Johnny

5/14/2017

A Streak of Silver

They say...

That in Southwest Nevada, way up on top of one of these little hills there is a natural cave which has a large streak of silver running through it...More then one man could ever pull out in a life time. 

This, brings on several questions that a person should ask themselves when you starting thinking... "Hmmm.. maybe if"....

1, How old are you?.

2. What kind of shape are you in?

3. Is it true that Rattlesnakes like nice cool caves?

4. Are you faster then a Rattlesnake?

5. Would you stop rolling before you got to the bottom of the hill?

6. If a old man is lying at the bottom of a hill after rolling 

down it, laying there screaming in anguish, would anyone hear him?

7. How hot does it get on the floor of one of these 

canyons in the summer?

8. Is there Good Cel Phone reception in these canyons?

9. Is the battery in my "Help, I've fallen and Can't Get Up Transmitter" still strong?

10. If it is still strong and it too survived the rolling down the side of the hill
 and the guy at the 

"Help Me, I've Fallen and Can't Get Up" Company office
saw just how far the hell you were out in the middle of nowhere,

would he even send someone for you?

 Or just run another ad on TV to get a new customer?

And finally...

11. Just how much is silver running per ounce these days?

                                            As for Me.... I'll just keep taking photos....

No Reasonable Answer...

No Reasonable Answer...

What happened today where a person choose to take another's life in Austin Texas is tragic. For a person to take another's life should always be looked at as an unneeded act of violence.

In this casee it was a knife that was used. But last week it was a Truck, last month, a chemical gas bomb, several years ago, a airplane,

But.... From the beginning of time it is not the type of weapon used that caused the act, it was a person choosing what to use as a weapon.

There will always be a way to kill...It is our curse of having the mental ability to devise a way to kill each other... If only we would use the same mental capabilities to find ways to stop these acts from happening.

Material items whether the jaw of an ass or a nuclear bomb are material items and only become lethal in the hands of mad men,,,

Then... there is the problem of determining "who" will do these deeds of atrocities.. The man standing beside you? The girl who sits in the corner across the room? The old man walking in the door? It's been proven by our own actions that anyone can be the pushed to the point of no return.

I wish God had given us all the power to be able to identify those who are thinking of doing such horrible acts so that they can be stopped before it happens.... Maybe then these acts of cruelty could be reduced.

To take away materials items just because they have been used for such acts toward humanity is unfair.....

Don't blame the weapon, because it was we who made it a weapon. don't use it as an excuse to cover the fact that unfortunatly we cannot control each others actions.

Somethings are never going to change...

There are good people and there are bad people. Both walk amoung us.

It is my opinion, that all we really can do is ask the Good Lord to keep us safe....

Johnny

Mankind

Mankind... has not changed.... 

We have only changed the world around us to better suit what it is we want....

Take it all away and we would still be just another creature of the earth, trying to survive...

Some of us,  feel that if we continue down this path we are being led down....

We will be soon back at the beginning..... 

Trying to do just that... trying to survive...

STOP HURTING OUR EARTH AND EACH OTHER....

Johnny...
5/1/2017

Talk.... Don't Spit

The tool of language is something we have come to use way to easily thinking that it can be put back into our pocket until we decide to pull it out and use again as a weapon...

What crawls across our tongue is sometimes the most dangerous weapon we can choose to use.

Johnny.