Just When You Thought It Was Safe to Take Out the Trash

"Medium size grizzly bear in the Artillery Road area, down west end of Mammoth Cir. rummaging through trash. Would take an extra look around in the early morning if you live in west Eagle River."

~ Facebook report this morning, from a community 10 miles north of Anchorage

Throw-Back Thursday

Not about the long string of vehicles we've owned. That will wait until I've gone through several hundred unsorted photos in storage boxes, looking for random snapshots of this car or that.

I've recently reactivated my Book of Face account, and trimmed the list of contacts considerably. There were several reasons why I shut the thing down, a couple years ago.

One, trying to find something clever, pithy, and brief to say there was sapping my ability to write anything here.

Two, there were so many friends of friends of friends who'd "friended" me to bolster their on-screen numbers ... and I found it tiring, after awhile, to even scan posts from complete strangers about other strangers, and things of no interest.

This time 'round, my list is relatives, people I know now, and - to my delight - some Navy friends from boot camp, A school, and everyplace I was stationed.

Additionally, I don't care whether I post something every day, or even check the account every day. It's just a pastime, ya know?

Freedom includes owning things. But when things own you, that's a form of slavery ... even if self-imposed.

What a Dumb Idea

The Anchorage Daily News, often a cesspool of leftist ideology, makes yet another dumb decision.

Due to their own, self-admitted failure to monitor their website, adn.com has decided to require Facebook accounts for anyone to comment on-line.

Bloggers - better than most - understand the can of worms which anonymous comments can bring.

But really, Daily News?  Facebook?

This 'n' That

I created a Facebook account some three years ago, when I found out my youngest (then not quite 15) had done so. Wanted to keep an eye on what she might stumble into.

Now that she's about to turn 18, I don't want or need the account anymore. So, for the three or four of you who stumbled across my account, you'll have to keep reading this blog. It's not like I've posted much of any import there, anyway.

It remains to be seen whether my posting here will ramp back up to previous levels. Time will tell, as it always does.

* * * * *

After a rare month or so of accurate forecasts, AccuHunch WeatherGuess has returned to their usual standards. At 7 am, they said we'd have rain and 57 degrees. It's now been sunny for the last four hours, and is up to 64 already.

Admittedly, it's a mistake we wish they'd make more often. :)

* * * * *

And here's a late addition for "dumb things tourists say to Alaskans":

"I want to go swimming with the orcas ... you know, like the dolphins in Florida. How come they don't have that here?" (Skagway News, "Heard on the Wind" column)

Read more here: http://www.adn.com/2013/07/06/2966231/alaska-ear-a-question-772013.html#storylink=cpy

Seen on Facebook

I spend little time on Facebook these days, but saw this one today:

Tim McArdle "The only time liberals don't use children to further their agendas is at pro-choice rallies..."

Word.

Facebook and Over 50?

From a friend who shall remain nameless:

When I bought my Blackberry, I thought about the 30-year business I ran with 1800 employees, all without a cell phone that plays music, takes videos, pictures and communicates with Facebook and Twitter. I signed up under duress for Twitter and Facebook, so my seven kids, their spouses, 13 grandkids and 2 great grand kids could communicate with me in the modern way. I figured I could handle something as simple as Twitter with only 140 characters of space.

That was before one of my grandkids hooked me up for Tweeter, Tweetree, Twhirl, Twitterfon, Tweetie and Twittererific, Tweetdeck, Twitpix and something that sends every message to my cell phone and every other program within the texting world.

My phone was beeping every three minutes with the details of everything except the bowel movements of the entire next generation. I am not ready to live like this. I keep my cell phone in the garage in my golf bag.

The kids bought me a GPS for my last birthday because they say I get lost every now and then going over to the grocery store or library. I keep that in a box under my tool bench with the Blue tooth [it's red] phone I am supposed to use when I drive. I wore it once and was standing in line at Barnes and Noble talking to my wife and everyone in the nearest 50 yards was glaring at me. I had to take my hearing aid out to use it, and I got a little loud.

I mean the GPS looked pretty smart on my dash board, but the lady inside that gadget was the most annoying, rudest person I had run into in a long time. Every 10 minutes, she would sarcastically say, "Recalculating." You would think that she could be nicer. It was like she could barely tolerate me. She would let go with a deep sigh and then tell me to make a U-turn at the next light. Then if I made a right turn instead. Well, it was not a good relationship.

When I get really lost now, I call my wife and tell her the name of the cross streets and while she is starting to develop the same tone as Gypsy, the GPS lady, at least she loves me.

To be perfectly frank, I am still trying to learn how to use the cordless phones in our house. We have had them for 4 years, but I still haven't figured out how I can lose three phones all at once and have to run around digging under chair cushions and checking bathrooms and the dirty laundry baskets when the phone rings.

The world is just getting too complex for me. They even mess me up every time I go to the grocery store. You would think they could settle on something themselves but this sudden "Paper or plastic?" every time I check out just knocks me for a loop. I bought some of those cloth reusable bags to avoid looking confused, but I never remember to take them in with me.

Now I toss it back to them. When they ask me, "Paper or Plastic?" I just say, "Doesn't matter to me. I am bi-sacksual." Then it's their turn to stare at me with a blank look. I was recently asked if I tweet. I answered, No, but I do toot a lot."

Us senior citizens don't need anymore gadgets. The TV remote and the garage door remote are about all we can handle.

 

h/t Gamsbo