We complain about how hard it is to get up in the morning—but we eventually get up. We complain that we don’t sleep very well—but we still go to bed and try. We moan about our aches and pains and still work through them to get things done. We have plenty of problems—but we just carry on and persevere.

We are the survivors of an era when things just had to get done and so we just went ahead and did them. And we still do. Why? It’s just who we are. Larry the Cable Guy didn’t coin that famous phrase he uses. I’d heard it said in many forms many times in my life. My dad’s favorite was “Quitcher bitchin’ and just do it.” That’s the same as Larry’s “Get er Done!” “I don’t care how you do it, just do it!” That was another one.

My point is—why are people today always complaining that somebody in their group didn’t do something? Just do it! I’d rather just go ahead and do something then have to ask someone else to do it. It’s not worth the downcast eyes and shrugged shoulders that you get. It’s easier to just do it yourself.

But — is that trenchant self-reliance disappearing? Our country as a whole seems to be losing it. I hate the political arena so I tend to stay away from it, but…for the life of me, I don’t know why we’d shut down an oil pipeline just so we could buy it from countries that hate us? Why don’t we just produce it and ship it ourselves? It’s the same amount coming out of the earth and being used. Having said that—usually, I just tread along trying to keep my own life in order and don’t venture into that arena. But maybe we just need to step back and say, “This one’s on us. We’ll do it!” The poem is called:

Return to Our Values

We need to return to the values that once were America’s heart:

Treat others as you would be treated and just try to do your part.

It’s the very simplest of concepts—we’re all just a piece of the pie.

But if you’re the contamination—somebody’s gonna die.

We must get our act together before we’re totally lost.

If we can’t all act like Americans, then freedom will be the cost.

It’s a ship that needs lots of rowers—and others to guide where we go,

If you sit on your hands like a loser, then you’ll be the one we must tow.

You cannot be a part of a group of US if you don’t make a contribution,

“We the people” is everyone—it’s right in the Constitution.

I know there are those who cannot do all that some others will,

But everyone has to do what they can or our boat will just sit still. JDF

Joke: The bath was invented in 1850 and the telephone was invented in 1875. Just think, if you drew a bath in 1850, you could have sat in it for 25 years before the damn phone would ring.

Historical tidbits:

• If you went to Trinkaus Manor in the early 50’s, you could get a large shrimp cocktail for $.85. boiled Alaska king crab for $3.50, Lobster A La Newburg for $3.25, a prime roast sirloin of beef for $3.50 and a 2 lb. lobster—fresh out of the tank– for $4.95 (and they were considered a little more expensive then.)

• Brigham Young, the Mormon leader, left 17 wives and 48 children when he died. They had to split $2.5 million in assets, but not evenly. There were three “classes”:1-Wives with children, 2- wives without children and 3-children of deceased wives. (That was how it was written—but if they were deceased—he didn’t leave them, did he?)

• We’ve heard that Wyatt Earp helped tame the wild west as the Marshall of Dodge City (movies?). Wyatt was only the Deputy Marshall and he became that because only lawmen could wear guns in that wild town. He needed it. It seemed that old Wyatt had a propensity for some dirty tricks when it came to card playing—his favorite pastime.

Favorite One (or 2) Liners:

You know you’re a bad driver when Siri says, “Just pull over here and let me out.”

Some people give you the impression they were baptized in vinegar. *There are really only two types of people: the saints and the ain’ts.

We old folks could use cursive writing as a code—the kids don’t have a clue.

Another week gone. Bye! JDF