You don't stop laughing when you die, you die when you stop laughing

Ducks executing their divide and conquer ploy.

BTW: I've loved dogs and I treasure my cats, so there's no bias in this story, it's just cute.

I was out walking in 2010's fantastic fall this week. I'd just been up to see the pictographs on the side of Ha Ling mountain with a buddy. The last time I went there the trail was blocked for maintenance and you couldn't get to them. That was two years ago and I remember it as a steep hike, me puffing up the side, a good exercise with great views of the waterfall and two pristine, spring-fed lakes. This time we got to the lakes and I was still wondering when the steep part would start.
Good to know I am in much better shape these days.
I got pix of an amazing wall-full of icicles, round icicles along a spring fed stream and the hoop-holding Indian pictographs. On my way home I stopped at another lake hoping to get a reflection of the mountains in the water. I flushed a pair of mallards and stalked them as they glided among the lake's golden reeds and still waters. I heard a funny sound behind me and a golden retriever poked his head into the lake.
Off went my ducks and on went a frown: the signage was clear about no dogs allowed around the lake, they had a huge dog area of their own nearby. But dog owners, many of them, don't think rules apply to them. They refuse to use leashs, or use extendable leashes that mean they have no effective control  over their dogs, One bragged the other day that she connected two extendable leashes to 40 feet so her animal could get a good workout while she was obeying the leash law. Sigh.
This owner didn't even pretend, she had her two animals off leash in a restricted area without apology and I was concerned for my ducks.
Silly me.
The retriever jumped in and started paddling straight toward the pair. They glided smoothly away. The dog paddled harder and drew closer. The ducks looked at each other, waited a bit, then split up.
The dog followed the male, then realized there was only one duck. He got confused and turned toward the now-distant female. She allowed the retriver to close the gap, then lifted gracefully from the water and landed  out of reach.
It was all done so smoothly the dog never knew what happened.
The owner did.
I laughed at the ducks' clever ploy as she called in her hapless pet. "Ducks are way smarter," she shrugged as she stepped away from her wet pet shaking off the water and they headed off.
It wasn't a belly laugh quip, but I chuckled all the way around the lake as the ducks returned to their reed dinner. 

Momma said there'd be days like this...

Cosmic laughter: the universe finds us irresistibly hilarious.

My big brother gave me a book.

BB has given me a lot of books over the years. Some I read, some I have not.

And I have to admit I started this one because I ran out of books and was too lazy to go to the library to get more. So I opened it. 

It's about insecurity (So Long, Insecurity by Beth Moore). Now, I have a lot of personality issues, but I never labeled any of them as being insecure. This author says pretty well everything can stem from feeling insecure. What you feel insecure about varies: competence, appearance, status, acceptance, adequacy, being loved, liked, appreciated, admired, measuring up, falling down, the list is practically endless.

When the insecure button gets pushed, we all react differently. Some circle the wagons and fire off the big guns, others retreat to a deep dark hiding place. Some rage, others cry. Some sail on as if nothing happened; hiding that it did.

This isn't rocket science, but I like some of the points she makes about where insecurity comes from (if you thought "childhood:" gold star) and the difference between dignity and pride. I've experienced both the deep dark cave and the sailing on, but what intrigues me is those who seem never to wobble no matter what gets thrown at them. They have an inner dignity, a secure sense of self, that accepts life is not fair, evaluates each new wrinkle, irons it out and moves on.

It's my goal to be there. To laugh at spilled milk sooner. This video shows a Domino Day, when you reach for the milk, spill it on your computer keyboard & while rushing to get paper towels, the kitties smell the milk and track it all over the desk, including the irreplaceable family photographs you were going to send to your mom...and on and on in a string of seemingly unending calamities while you yell at the Universe for dumping on you. 

My theory is the faster you can laugh, the faster you can break the disaster chain. People of dignity laugh.

The book may help point my way to getting there. Thanks, BB.

Click on the video.


Momma said there'd be days like this...

Old Dogs, New Schticks

I just wrote a thank you to a girlfriend from my way younger days. Something she said came home to roost yesterday in a big way and life is suddenly way more fun. Here it is.

I think Cowboy and Miss K have been laughing at me all this time.

Say El, wanted to thank you for something I don't know you realize you did.
Years ago when you had just split from your husband and were in that house you bought, you had an electrical box that didn't work. You told me you took off the face plate, fished around and fixed it. It made you feel empowered to do that. I have always remembered it, and my boys have been really good at helping me learn to fish as well, but you know our generation of women: raised to be insecure about our ability to fix things without a man to help.

I bought a treadmill in 2000 in eastern Colorado. Moved it to Denver, then San Francisco, then Canada. A basic fold up model small enough to fit in my car and not too heavy. Cost me $188 at SuperWalMart.

When I got laid off in 09, it stopped working, first trouble I'd had with it. A friend got a guy to come in and he got it working again. A few months later I stepped on the belt and the frame at the same time, stopping the belt. The motor stopped dead. I tried to get that guy to come back. He just wouldn't. I asked folks to help, including my engineer son, a friend who owns the Esso station, looked in the phone book where no one advertises they fix small motors, talked to the manufacturer, not that they make it anymore but they still service it, but nobody would or could help. I thought about buying a new motor for $250, but the motor frankly looked fine to me - how could I tell I needed a new motor? I finally gave up and looked on Craigslist for a used treadmill since the price was now in the high hundreds and thousands. I actually got one in my car, but it stuck out three inches and I couldn't close the trunk (it also took three of us to move it, so not exactly portable) - in short I have been trying to get that treadmill fixed or replaced for going on two years.

Yesterday, for some reason, I got tired of it being a big metal coat rack. I'd just talked to the electrician my landlord has working on the extension he's making to the house (and my place, I get another room!) I told him about the treadmill and he wouldn't have anything to do with it. Suggested I ask the place I bought it - same old, same old.

Now I'd had the cover off before. Looked at it. Found a reset switch which I thought was frozen since I couldn't get it to move. It was a mysterious, intimidating mix of circuit board, motor and pulley to me.

Yesterday, I found the manual on line. Read it. It showed a graphic of the reset switch. I pulled the cover off and looked. The button was reset, not tripped or frozen. Hummmm. I reached underneath the frame and felt the wires it was attached to. Wiggled em. Moved the cord next to it. Blew out the dust. Turned it on.

It worked.

And while I was at it, the dashboard hadn't worked since I got here. The manual had a hazy explanation of what to do if it didn't work involving the pulley, a magnet and a switch that I would have to move closer to the magnet. I couldn't picture where it was on the diagram, but figured what they hey, in for a penny...so I looked, found the magnet, moved the switch and Bingo! The dashboard now works, too.

OMG. I gotta tell you, El, I've just won the lottery. The confidence that gave me is just amazing. I'm not opening a fixit shop or anything, but anything that goes wrong around here will get looked at thoroughly, wires wiggled, whatever, before I give up on it. That kind of goes for life, too. I don't know why no one else would wiggle the wires, but I right now I'm damn glad they didn't!

Thank you.

Your friend, T