Gear Grinding (Short Story) - 12/15/2016 7:39:53 AM
Rule number one. Fathers should never teach daughters how to drive. Rule number two. Never start a newbie driver out on a stick shift in shift and--go to a very large empty parking lot with lots of room to make mistakes. You are very lucky that nothing serious happened to either of you. Come to think of it, my father taught my mother (a very good driver) when she was 17 on a stick shift.
I know the feeling having taught several people how to drive from the passenger side without a second driving system--scary. My prize student was my sister. We only had country roads to drive on but I had her practice parallel parking on a slight hill on a gravel road. The guy who gave her the test told her that she was the best driving 16-year-old he had seen in a long time. Made me very proud. You had to parallel park in those days to get a license.
She was driving our automatic Buick station wagon. I learned at 16 in driver's training in high school on a Chevy with a very weak six-cylinder engine and a stick shift. Never drove a stick shift car after that except other peoples'. My younger brother's first car was an Austin America. A great little car that liked to switch ends and give you a thrill/scare. The automatic transmission lasted about 30,000 miles.
Ron
Gear Grinding (Short Story) - 12/15/2016 3:27:34 AM
I remember my own lessons on how to master a 5-speed manual on a Fiat X 19. Loved when I mastered it. Nothing like the feel of a sports car progressing through all gears.
Sue City Sue (Short Story) - 12/13/2016 3:41:05 AM
I think the insurance company should send one of their own to encircle the scene of the accident with red tape!
Sue City Sue (Short Story) - 12/12/2016 6:25:50 AM
While that was truly an unfortunate accident and injury, the aftermath was utterly uncalled for and your final response, while very funny, shows at what lengths those stupid inquiries can get. When I file a request for more "durable medical equipment" they always ask when the accident occurred and I tell them, "during spinal surgery on December 11, 1963." ;-)
While I started to trip and fall because of my slow left leg as early as the summer of 1964, it wasn't until the late 1980s that it became a real problem and I tripped and fell several times with my glasses on causing severe cuts and trauma like you describe. Eventually amounting to over 100 stitches. I found myself going to the emergency room and having stitches or tape put on the cuts and then having to go get my glasses repaired. Except for one fall where I fractured my eye orbit and messed up my sinuses, giving me a nasty headache, I never was x-rayed for the injuries--thank goodness. Eventually, my rehab doctor told me to, "Get in a wheelchair for your own protection."
I did have an incident with hot sticky pavement gum on my shoe, but it didn't cause me to fall and that's another story. ;-)
Ron
Sue City Sue (Short Story) - 12/11/2016 1:38:49 PM
Hah! I almost never read short stories anymore, but I am very happy I made an exception to this one. You made good use of the way insurance companies operate, and it is far from being funny, although this short story was hilariously funny. Thank you.
Matilda (Short Story) - 12/7/2016 7:29:15 AM
A happy recollection of what it was like when Christmases for poor people was all about making gifts and making them very personal. I remember that tangerines are always a treat during the winter months when all the apples were already spoiled.
A wonderful story to read to children this time of year.
Ron
The Dinner Party (Short Story) - 12/7/2016 3:22:37 AM
Don't ask me why, but I surmised this revelation after Jo "flipped her hair back to remove the chandelier-style earrings" - just had that premonition. Another story I enjoyed for its irony.
The Bum (Short Story) - 12/6/2016 8:08:30 AM
From this short piece on the butt, I can imagine what the rest of your anatomy book is like. For those that like humor, I believe your book is quite contagious.
Since I'm a quadriplegic in a electric wheelchair I sit on my butt for a long 16-17 hours a day and never get a chance to exercise the glutinous maximus required for running (not sitting) fast. Why sprinters have glorious rear ends. And, I must admit that I have never seen my rear end… Not even a selfie… And have no real desire to see it. However, over the years I've had nearly 10 caregivers who all seem to want to remark how beautiful my bottom is. Talk about a behind your back complement!
So, for all of you out there who want to have a beautiful butt. I would suggest that you stop exercising and just sit on your butt all day in a wheelchair and you will be guaranteed to have your butt admired every time someone sees it. ;-)
Ron
Shattered Silence (Short Story) - 12/6/2016 2:36:59 AM
A great story with an unexpected ending! Vengeance is sweet and swift!
Santa's Sneak Preview (Short Story) - 12/5/2016 8:10:48 AM
Beautifully written and a great idea. It's really sad to see how clowns have been changed by scary movies and fools that use clowns to commit crimes. Will Santa be next?
Ron
Santa's Sneak Preview (Short Story) - 12/4/2016 6:27:43 PM
There's a time for everything! Most people seem to put up with holiday commercialism far in advance of December 25th, but forget about going along "after the fact"...
How Text Became a Verb (Article) - 12/13/2016 10:42:02 AM
I feel like I'm in English class. ;-)
Seriously, I seem to recall that letters were always associated with the numbers on the dial. And I remember when phone numbers were alphanumeric. Perhaps the most famous phone number using the exchange, Butterfield, with the number on that exchange, 8, leading to the Elizabeth Taylor movie, Butterfield 8. People really complained when those exchanges were phased out for numbers, probably in the 1950s. Back then, the Internet was the operators who listen in on all the gossip going on in their exchange and passed it on to all the other operators. "Don't telephone… Tell a woman."
Ron
Grow Your Own Food or Not (Article) - 12/9/2016 5:51:18 AM
Laughed all the way to the dinner table.
From childhood onward many years to learn how to grow food with all the hazards involved. Now, one can go on Internet and quickly find out the best way to grow almost anything. I think that city folks like you with no gardening experience are going to be some of the best farmers in the future. No fun intended.
Ron
Weight is Weight (Article) - 12/7/2016 7:52:07 AM
You've made some good arguments for the injustices in airline travel. One size does not fit all. I'm not familiar with airline travel these days because I find it very hard to fly. And, the gear and supplies that I must take with me are way too much for current weight limits--why Christopher Reeve required private jets.
But, I read or heard that large people were required to purchase two seats. I believe there was some controversy over the problem of equality. But your idea of having the airline seats built with different sizes (and legroom?) makes a lot of sense. Those that require more would have to pay more for their extra needs.
It's an old problem. My friend, Herb Morrison, a pilot, befriended American Airlines when he was a reporter for WLS Chicago. He wanted to record the arrival of the Hindenburg in 1937 for the second season and had American fly him and his engineer with the recording equipment to Lakehurst by way of Buffalo, Newark and other cities. Since the recording equipment weighed 90 pounds, Herb and his engineer had to fly on two different airplanes--both going and coming back. However, Herb had the, "… All the humanity…" aghast expression record with him on the return trip and had a devil of a time avoiding the American Nazis at Newark and Buffalo (had to slug a guy there to avoid being kidnapped) and had to sneak up a freight elevator with the record back at WLS. I don't know if the large record was a carry-on or not. ;-)
Ron
Poetry 101-Lesson 2 (Poetry) - 12/12/2016 9:41:42 AM
You bear witness here, quite effectively, that the differences between the literati, and the illuminati, are almost indiscernible.
Poetry 101-Lesson 2 (Poetry) - 12/12/2016 7:28:08 AM
I laughed all the way through. Some of your definitions were oh, so true.
It's time to explain/confess. I punctuate my poems so that when I go to HTML for my webpage it is easier for me to use Find and Replace to add the tags ( <br> breve and <p> paragraph) at the end of each line easier.
Ron
Poetry 101-Lesson 2 (Poetry) - 12/11/2016 2:55:59 PM
We poets write, readers read, and what they don't understand, just goes to seed.
Lighthouse (Poetry) - 12/10/2016 10:49:24 AM
With GPS, lighthouses have become even more, obsolete. But their locations and their unique construction make them more iconic than ever.
My nephew and his (now) wife were enamored with lighthouses on the Great Lakes. I fashioned a poem about a lighthouse for their wedding.
Ron
Lighthouse (Poetry) - 12/10/2016 8:11:31 AM
You summed up the lighthouse and its duties very well in this acrostic, and I so enjoyed it.
Now Is The Time (Poetry) - 12/6/2016 10:17:01 AM
With a bit of repetition the call is for each individual to stand up for his/her thoughts on any matter. I encourage that greatly. When we fall into agreeing with everything others say for us without thinking about it and expressing our concerns, we may fall into bad company.
Ron
