I started to name this thing “Quietly Positive” or “Positively Quiet”.  If you are bored and have 30 minutes or so to spare sometime check those two words in the dictionary.  I became confused and just called it “Nothing Much”

I really haven’t broken the blogging habit.  Since I wrote that “Line in the Sand” deal and challenged myself to concentrate on the positive.  It has been mostly positive but quiet at Dave’s house and that is where I’ve been.

Summer has slipped away and early indicators point to a short fall (shortfall sounds a little like my budget) or early winter. Fall is my very favorite season.  The only downside is those gray days, like we had last week, serve as a reminder that winter is approaching.

Fall is a great time of year to fish, piddle around outside, run up and down the road looking for or at foliage or maybe even burn a brush pile.

Awe; I did have a little excitement.  Last time I got home from here, yes I am at the lake again.  My homeowners association had busted me for having a brush pile in the yard.  I thought they were a little picky and used a very broad interpretation of that covenant; it didn’t talk about brush piles.

I didn’t argue or make an issue of the notification; at least I haven’t yet.  I am not in contention for yard of the week but I didn’t intend to leave the brush pile there.  I have probably burned more brush piles than most of those guys have seen.

There is a way and a time to burn them and there is a way and a time not to burn them.  To me burning one is more of an art than a science.  You need to let the stuff dry, it doesn’t burn good when it is green.  You definitely pick a day with little or no wind and in Oklahoma that is a real problem especially when you like to fish on those kinds of days.  When you light it you don’t go do something else, you baby-sit it.  There is always some adjusting to do.  When the thing finally burns out I don’t want to see a piece of anything bigger than a tennis ball unburned.

It was strictly coincidence but a couple days after the notification the weather cooperated and the biggest remaining piece of the pile is no bigger than a tennis ball.

Using that tennis ball reference reminded me of something I have always found interesting and kind of amusing.  The references used to define the size of hail and the size of tumors.  Little bitty hail and tumors share “pea size”. When they grow just a bit hail is compared to coins i.e. dime size, nickel size until it gets as big as a ping-pong ball, then tennis ball, baseball and softball size.  I hope I don’t ever hear about basketball size hail.  Fruit is the standard for measuring tumors larger than pea size.  I have heard of grape, and then we seem to use the citrus varieties lime through grapefruit size and occasionally some as large as melons are discussed.  I have never heard of lemon size hail or a tennis ball size tumor.  I wonder why that is?

I made my routine semi annual or is it bi annual (I go every six months) trip to the doctor this week.  He was at a loss for words as he usually just tells me to lose some weight and get more exercise.  I have done both of those things so he was a little confused; I took advantage of the situation and did most of the talking.

I had to go to the lab for some routine blood work. The phlebotomist was a friendly and attractive young lady approaching her 30^th birthday. I don’t know how her birthday became part of the conversation.  She had a difficult time pronouncing the name of my street; I think it was because she had this big pin thing through her tongue.  About the time she finished drawing the blood (she was very good at that) she asked if I had ever done any Public Address announcing.  My voice is a little unique, so I field that question from time to time.  I told her, many years ago I did some rodeo.  She got excited and told me she is a barrel racer.  My last rodeo was more than a year before she was born and I don’t think barrel racers had deals in their tongues then.  There is a bond even if one is old and gray and over the hill and the other has a pin in her tongue and other visible body piercings. I don’t think her next patient was as excited about this common interest as we were.  We talked for a few minutes.

If you are still reading I’m not going to ask if you think the title fits.

Please keep me in your prayers, just because I didn’t mention the tough days don’t mean they don’t exist.

Good Night and God Bless.

Dave