Life is too short to---

 

Living in a retirement community means seeing the constant rotation of old residents being replaced by new residents.  For the old, most of them are in their 80s to over 100. Seeing smiling happy bingo players on a Friday becomes hearing about their deaths on Saturday.

It is time, time to realize your bucket list or any list should not be delayed.  That said, here is some of my list:

Life is too short to...

Order the cheapest entree on the menu.

 

Buy and eat store-made sushi.

Sleep on an old mattress.

Use duct tape to fix the same thing over and over.

Be ignorant of history. Knowing the past 
changes how you understand the present.

Be mean. You will regret this
all your life.

Stay silent when speaking out will help people
or situations.

Avoid puddles when walking. Splash in them, dang it.

 

Stay inside at sunset. God created them, they are amazing.

Put off sorting through the boxes of photos in your closet.
They are not going away. Having your heirs do this is
embarrassing.

Watch TV all the time, regardless
what is on.

 

Make judgments about people.

Eat stale bread. Bread is God's gift.

Gossip. Truth will out. 

Purchase absolutely the least expensive, most awful toilet paper.

Rage at and curse the TV.

 

Give up on someone. 

 

Drink cheap wine.

this is from Calliers Chocolate factory in Switzerland. You have no idea.

Consume poor quality chocolate (go for the good stuff, like from Switzerland).

Avoid saying "I'm sorry".
 

Behave angrily and irrationally.

Be too proud to ask forgiveness.

 

Buy store-bought pie. I am a pie snob.

Be serious all the time.

 

Discount power of prayer.

Make plans to do something or go somewhere, but then don't do it.

 

Wear cheap shoes.

Eat an ice cream whose flavor you hate 
for some strange reason. 

Neglect friends or family.

 

Be serious all the time.

Forget what it was like to be a child.

Suppress a giggle. 

This list could go on and on. Don't you have a list of your own?  

 

What is it? What should you do about it?

 

This was written a few years ago.  I have edited it.  The list has grown longer.

 

 

 

 

 

Cow Dung Takes Flight

 

You absolutely have to check this site. I mean it.

 

Well, it is that time of the year: Chatham Jaycees Annual Sweet Corn and Cow Chipping Festival in Illinois.

Small communities like Chatham are gems. Generations gather to renew friendships and celebrate history.  While there are competitions of all sorts, nothing, but nothing, is as intense and delightful as the Cow Chipping Contest.

The whole process is fairly simple. From their cow pastures, farmers select dried cow pies of the correct size, using a toilet seat as the measuring standard. The pies are then donated to the Jaycees where they are kept in a secure place. I am not kidding.

(There have been some accusations about sabotage; pies have been embedded with pellets or such in the past.  So, security is provided. Yes, it is.) 

Future chippers--not afraid to get their hands dirty

"This event will take place on July 21-23 at the Chatham sports field. Any attendees wishing to participate in the cow chipping throw should attend when the event is announced.  Experience is not necessary. All should understand that participation may result in pungent particulates adhering to hands and clothing."

This is a quote from 2019 flyers.

Competition is serious business.

Beaver, OK, where cows outnumber people, 16-1

This is an international sport. Visitors travel to participate in this event.

Pinterest.com

 When I was there a few years ago, the Jaycees had an emergency: the farmer who provided cow pies in the past had sold half his herd.  My brother Rev. Don Peck and his son Jeremy (president of the Chatham Jaycees) contacted other locals. They know everyone in the community, and within 15 minutes all was resolved.

Community.

This was published 2019 originally. I just was notified that the Chatham Sweet Corn festival is next week. Can't show off my chipping skills.  Oh, I brought home a heavily shellacked patty and put it by the roses. Over the 4 years, it has wasted away.

 

Grandee Alice

Wow

 

When Grandee Alice died, her grandchildren were devastated by her loss.

Annie and Jack had walked the countryside with Grandee, where she led them along the landscape. Annie held Grandee’s hand, feeling her fingers brush along the sage bushes that littered the fields. Jack gasped after seeing a rainbow.

The sun was into the dusky night. They headed back to Grandee’s farmhouse where she brought slices of watermelon to the porch, juice soon running down faces. Grandee looked off to the farm. Resilience was part of her life, what she left behind was in Annie and Jack’s hands. 

 

Gazing at them, she drank in the art of God’s creations.

 

These underlined words are Wed. Words from June 28. The complete list of words and other comments in Elephant's Child . Please head over there to see what other bloggers have written with this collection of unrelated words!