A Moonshooters Diary

I was sitting at the kitchen table a few minutes ago thinking, "The day that I stop asking questions will be the day I'll turn into Mr. Know It All.' " ... and with all the things in this universe to explore, it won't happen for at least another forty years. One of the things I've wondered about thus giving me more questions to ask was written by Benjamin Franklin in Poor Richard's Almanack in the 1700's. It was, from what I gather the Colonial America's forerunner to the more recent Farmer's Almanac. It goes, "Early to bed and early to rise, makes a man healthy, wealthy and wise." What was he thinking when he came up with that one...? My first thought was that he had a great sense of humor. That would pretty well describe the average lifestyle of people living back then. and if I remember my history correctly, there were probably fewer 'healthier, wealthier, and wiser' people per capita, running around then than there are ...

Now that it's over, it's time for me to do a little sharing. When I found out about the cataracts that I had, I was excited to have the surgery. People told me that it didn't hurt...that I didn't have anything to be nervous about...I'd be glad when I had it done, etc. etc. My thought when I heard all this stuff was, "Yea, right. I'll wait until after it's over ...and then I'll believe you." Mr. Doubting Thomas was the best way to describe me.. As the day of surgery rapidly approached (and as I'm reading what I'm writing, I'm laughing because I sound like a writer who has a corncob stuck up his...uh, pen) I was just as nervous as I was excited. Hey, what can I say. I'm a chicken and pain is NOT my best friend and 'painless surgery' is not something I've experienced. Surgery, yes. Painless no. I'm sitting here writing this the day AFTER surgery and all I can say is that they were right!! I'm a Mr. Believer. No ...

In the past I considered myself to be a reasonably intelligent guy. Maybe not the sharpest tack in the box but not the dullest either. But now, I think is a good time for me to 'fess up to dumbest thing I did...or rather didn't do. I didn't get my eyes checked for maybe 15+ years. Smart? Not exactly. It was just one of those things I kept putting off...until I had the time...or the extra money... or when I didn't have more 'important' things to do, etc. And my vision, which is one of my most valuable assets took a backseat to the other things that were going on in my life. Over a period of time my vision changed. I even came up with an anagram for the change. ICSFS (I Can't See For Sh....oot). I reasoned that it was because my glasses might be just a smidgen 'out of date'...and that's what I told everyone around me. And still I didn't go for an eye check. It progressed to the point that I thought it was probably my glasses...bu...

When the alarm went off at 6 AM this morning I made my first decision of the day. Should I turn it off...or hit the snooze alarm? OFF. Laying there, I thought about all I was planning on doing today and thought, Good Luck. That's when the word KISS popped into my head. Looking over at Sylvia, my wife and Cherokee Elvis, curled up with his head between his paws, sleeping peacefully I figured that there would be no 'kiss' from either one of them. At least not 'till they woke up...so what is with the KISS? Aha, I had my first inspiring thought of the day. KISS, is an acronym for Keep It Simple Sherlock...at least for me. Hmmmm . Food for thought. I got up...and promptly forgot about the KISS while I was trying collect my senses...which I'm not very good at in the morning. Sitting there sipping my first cup of coffee I thought about all there is to do and learn and so little time in 24 hours to do it in. Then I got hit with another KISS. Maybe I'm not as organized a...

The words of that song just popped into my head... but it definitely is not one of my favorite tunes. I woke up this morning and discovered, much to my chagrin, that it had snowed over night and I was surprised. I wasn't expecting it and I learned a lesson. If I'd have watched the weather report on the 11 o'clock news or payed attention to the weather forecast, I wouldn't have been caught off guard and would have planned my day better. The lesson? Pay attention. Oh,well... Now some people love snow...but I'm not one of them. Some love to ski on it, or love to shovel it for exercise, or like to sit in front of the fireplace reading a good book while winter is doing its thing outside. Others even like to go out a build a cool snowman. Not me. I don't ski, I'm too old to shovel (at least I let people think I am ), don't have a fireplace...and at the moment don't even have a good book to read. And even though I like looking at snowmen, I don't like ...

It's not hard for me to imagine a 'long, dark tunnel' with a light at the end of it. When I think of all the times I've been in one of those long dark tunnels in the past, it makes me cringe. So I don't think about the tunnels very often... and appreciate the light that's gotten me through them and made me who I am today. If I spend more time focusing on the light I'll be thinking less about the tunnel. The light gets brighter, the tunnel gets shorter, time speeds up and... poof, somehow I get through it. That's the way it works the most often for me. "Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, today is a gift...that's why it's called the present ." I don't know who wrote it, but I wish could have been that wise. And thankfully life only happens to me only 'one day at a time.' At least that's the way it's always worked up until now. LOL

A few days ago I celebrated...yes, celebrated... my 71st birthday. Yep, and what, Rosannie , the manager of one of my jobs pointed out, it only means that I've successfully been on this planet called "Earth" for that number of years. Birthdays are just another reason to celebrate and add another candle to the cake...unless, like in my case there are so many I'm afraid of starting a bonfire and don't have the oooomph to blow them all out. But there aren't too many 16 year olds that could do that either. :) So how old am I actually? 31 What does that mean? A 90 year old woman, who was one of the youngest thinking 'older' person I knew at the time taught me her 'trick'. She said pick a number...any number you like, and stay that number for the rest of your life. You're body will naturally grow older, but you won't because YOU are not your body. So I picked "31" as my number because it felt right. So if a situation comes up whe...

From my point of view, Albert Einstein was one of the coolest guys that I would ever have liked to have met. Not only was he a great physicist but as I researched him (looked stuff up...heh,heh) I found out the he was also into metaphysics somewhat...and had a great sense of humor too. It's been said...and I don't know who said it, I'll have to look that one up too...that a picture's worth a thousand words These are a couple of my fav's of Einstein. Why? Because I can identify more closely with him. Not because I'm a genius, but that's what I look like when I get up in the morning and we both have a sense of humor. OK...on to the more serious matters, what exactly did he say that I like so much? Some of the quotes that I found that 'float my cork' are these. "A person who never made a mistake never tried anything new." That is soooo cool. It doesn't make me feel so dumb. I've gone through life with erasers on my pencils. But ...

One of the many favorite things I enjoy are songs that ‘grab me’ for one reason or other... and stick in my noodle. "I Gotta Be Me" is one of those. I realized that I'm at this stage of my life it could be my theme song. So John Crocker aka the Moonshooter needs a theme song? Sure...why not? I, of course being the ‘aspiring novelist’ that I am, was nosy and had to find out where it came from and when...and talk about timing. Whoa. It’s from a Broadway musical (and I love musicals) called The Golden Rainbow, that closed on January 11, 1969. Exactly forty years ago today. I like the Rainbow part in the title because it reminds me of ‘Over the Rainbow’ from the Wizard of OZ, one of my favorite movies. That’s cool too. So what did I do next? You didn’t ask...but I’ll tell you anyhow. I printed out the lyrics and they go like this... Whether I’m right or whether I’m wrong Whether I find a place in this world or never belong I gotta be me, I gotta be me What else can I be bu...

This has been one dyn-o-mite week. Monday I went for an eye test because I thought either I needed new glasses... or I was going blind. It’s been 15 plus years since my last exam. Hey, what can I say other than I’ve been busy. After the exam, the doctor told me that I have cataracts...big time. What a relief that was. I wasn’t going blind. Whew. LOL But she says if I opted for glasses over surgery, my glasses would be as thick as coke bottles. Hey, I figure I’m not going to make much of a fashion statement with those kind. So surgery it is. I’m excited. Coincidently, for the longest time the lyrics to the song ‘I Can See Clearly Now’ have been in and out of my head. I just looked up the actual lyrics on the...what else...the internet and here they are. I can see clearly now the rain is gone I can see all obstacles in my way Gone are the dark clouds that had me blind It's gonna be a bright sunshiny day I think I can make it now the rain is gone All of the bad feelings have disappear...

My New Year began amazingly well. I've been searching for this particlar man's videos for weeks because he's one of the most inspiring people I've had the pleasure of knowing about. The first time I heard about Nick was through my writing class. Benning, who was one of the mentors posted a video about him to inspire us...which worked for me. My problem was I didn't save it or remember Nick's name. So I've been looking off and on for weeks on the internet. New Year's day, I accidentally found it and thought I'd post it so I wouldn't lose it again. It's at http://www.lifewithoutlimbs.org/ . It's awesome.