Why is the laundry more important?

[DVS]

Re: burning blue tarps

DVS- I told you not to ask!

Let's just say that they make quite a flame and stink when caught in the axle of a boat trailer and going down the highway...

*laughing some more*

The quandry when something you are towing is on fire is deciding if when you stop moving the fire will burn stronger...

For the record, I was not driving and I was not responsible for tying the tarp down... I was however in deep doo doo when I couldn't stop laughing as someone dear to me battled the fumes and flames... it was so Lucy.. I had some 'splainin' to do.

But it has been proven that they do burn and burn well... hmmm.. I wonder if your neighbors are violating the fire code?

It is so difficult to keep a straight face in some cases, isn't it. But, sometimes that is all you can do.

This past summer, someone called code enforcment about my neighbors many faults, and so the tarp (along with a few other eyesores) is gone. But, you know, at the time I didn't think of it being a fire hazzard. Where were you, when I needed you?
I bet it could have gone up in a flash, not unlike wood shingles. But, I bet that blue plastic would also let off noxious fumes.

 

[DVS]

So sorry. Couldn't resist!

No reason to be sorry. Very humorous addition. I only wish I could add a smilie with a few bugs.

 

[Guest]

last summer

Where were you, when I needed you?

DVS- I told you, I was on the side of the highway, wetting myself because I was laughing so hard...

 

[Guest]

ditto

Quasi-

What DVS said!

 

[Quasimodem]

... I bet that blue plastic would also let off noxious fumes.

As opposed to your neighbours, without the tarp?

 

[DVS]

As opposed to your neighbours, without the tarp?

I always seem to discount the obvious.

Well, off to work. I have to guard a vacant building to make sure nobody steals it! That would take some large pockets, huh?

 

[Svenskaflicka]

As for the stories of guns...

I read one titled "Dave Matthews hid his .9mm glock so well, it took his daughter four years to find it" - it was a story of a little child, curious like all children are, who had gotten her eyes on a box on a shelf just under the ceiling. The clever child climbed up on the kitchen table, pulled a chair up on the table, blimbed up on the chair, and managed to reach the top shelf and take the box down. She opened it, and found her father's gun in there. Not knowing what it was, she put it in her mouth, and the gun went off by accident. She only became 4 years old.

 

[its Leslie]

And just what DO you say to the parent eh?

Anything that well hid is not for self defense. So why own it at all?

It sure makes the remark guns don't kill people people kill people somehow seem entirely pointless.

You can't shoot yourself if you don't have a gun.

 

[wildsweetone]

having grown up as a country girl on a farm, i was fully aware of guns in the house. my father had a .22 (i think that's what it was)... my brothers when they were old enough (i think about 12 years) were given their own slug guns at which point they promptly shot any bird that dared come within a mile radius of the house.

back in those days, guns were considered the norm for farmers... it was a way of killing stock that needed the death sentence for various reasons, it was the way of getting rid of animals (including pets) that carried disease or were dying.

a quick humane way of putting an animal out of its misery, was what i got told.

having watched sheep being slaughtered - throat slit with sharp knife, skinned and chopped up for the freezer, (i never killed the animals, but i did help with the rest of the job) having watched cows sent off to the abbotoires(sp) - knowing what happens there... and having watched a neighbour bludgeon a pig to death by whacking it on the head with a mallet until it died, shooting obviously was a quicker death.

i'm not sure what the gun laws here are now. they were changed in the last five-ten years or so...

i no longer put up with having a weapon like that in the house. i have children and know how curious they become. we no longer live in a farming community, the 'need' for a gun is non-existent here.

 

[DVS]

My first experience with a gun (a 22 rifle) was with my dad, on my uncle's farm. I don't remember much of that day, but I think it was a coming of age thing for me.

My father was not the "outdoors" kind of guy, or even one to be around guns that much. We lived in a small town (about 2,000 people), but it was still considered "city" life. He wore a suit to work, and was very active in the betterment of our small community. I could go on and on about him, but I digress...

Also, my father was in WW II as most men of his time were, so he did have his share of knowledge and experience with weapons of war, and death. He also had the basic handmedowns of the day... a couple of 22 rifles, a 12 gauge shotgun, an "over and under" and even a pellet air pistol. But, they all just collected dust, on a gun rack in his bedroom closet.

My uncle had (and still has) a large cattle farm. We could have gone far out into a field, but we were just outside the house, in the driveway. We had one of those 22 rifles and he was showing me safety and how to shoot it.

After loading it, he took it and aimed it at a bird, in a tree. I remember this part quite well. He shot the bird (a sparrow), and I will always remember how it acted after being shot.

It was just sitting on a limb, not bothering anything or anybody. Then it raised it's wings, as if the sound of the shot had scared it into flight. It seemed for an instant, it didn't even know it had been shot. It's wings fluttered, as if it was trying to fly but couldn't, then fell the 20 feet, to the ground.

It was a horrible site. Such a senseless thing to see. A life being taken right before me. I don't think my dad knew of my horror, because he then explained how the bird didn't feel a thing, the shot going clean through the body.

All I could think of was "why?" I didn't want to kill anything. I just wanted to shoot the gun. I didn't want to shoot living things, I just wanted to shoot cans and bottles, etc. But, here was this dead bird, and somehow I felt responsible.

Maybe my dad did this for a reason. Maybe it was to show me what guns would do, and the bird was part of this lesson. He never said, and I never asked. If that was his plan, I got the message.

You see, I wasn't like most boys, I guess. I didn't get into killing at all. I still don't. I see animals as God's creatures and they have rights, like we do. I never have and never will go out and kill for sport.

Oh, I know we have to kill animals for food, and such, but I will never be part of the process. I won't even kill a bug, if I can keep from it.

But, this doesn't include flys, mosquitoes, roaches, mice and brown recluse, etc. Those are in a different category. But, even this category doesn't deserve to suffer, needlessly.

And, ants that are outside, in their own domain are just doing what they were meant to do. But, inside the house, I will kill them, because they can get out of control. Other than that, I will carry bugs out of the house, before I will kill them.

OK, call me strange, but that is how I am. I have always been this way, for as long as I can remember. Taking a life (any life) is not my thing. Live and let live.

Now, after saying all of this, I must say I do understand the safe use of guns. I also understand how someone would want to own one.

I have inherited my dad's guns and have them in storage. That one 22 is among them. I believe owning a gun is a right, but it comes with responsibilities.

If you own a gun, you are responsible for how it is stored. You are also responsible for the safe use of it. The safe use of it involves making sure it is secure, in the possibility someone might find it, when you are not around.

I won't go into the rules of owning a gun, but they are very necessary to follow, because in the wrong hands, a gun can hurt or kill.

Just like taking the responsibility of driving a car and following the rules of the road. Irresponsible drivers can kill, too. Being responsible if you have been drinking, and not getting behind the wheel, is not done as often as it should be. I think we all know that.

I know there are those out there who feel we would all be better off without guns. That argument is only for debate, because we are beyond the point of removing all guns. As the saying goes, if guns were outlawed, only outlaws would have guns.

It's a fact we all have to live with. There are guns in this world. It is legal for responsible people to own, and fire them. Like it or not, there are also people who own these guns but shouldn't. And, it is sad when these irresponsible people don't secure their guns as they should, and inquisitive kids get hold of them.

 

[wildsweetone]

i think i'm going to need some time to try and let the pain from that particular bird story pass...

does anybody else feel pain like that? when someone you know has gone through or is going through pain, do you feel it too?

is it just a certain sensitivity thing that we creative people have, or am i going daft again?

 

[Guest]

guns, death and pain

I live where there are lots of hunters and guns. Ducks Unlimited and the NRA have large memberships here.

While I am also horrified by irresponsible gun owners--- NEVER leave a gun loaded, especially if it is not locked up--- I have to say that the hunters I come into contact with are probably the most anal retentive about gun safety... sure you read the news stories about the "stupid hunter" shooting his friend's backside, but that "stupid" hunter probably is the same guy who would run over his buddy with a bobcat doing landscaping....

The state I live in has a law that if someone breaks into your house and you shoot them you will not be prosecuted for hurting them.... I know this will be hard to believe, but our state has one of the lowest breaking and entry rates in the country and "hot" breaking and entries (when the homeowner is present) are very rare. In this case, we will never know how many innocent people have been protected from assault, rape and murder because the greater chance that the perpetrator would end up dead deters them.

We own guns. They are locked up and in the attic. My husband is a great skeet marksman and I have learned to shoot several pistols. I don't like shooting-- it's too loud-- but in a few years we will take our daughters out to a range and teach them gun safety and shooting. I think they'll all cringe because of the noise and recoil... and that's great with me. The sterile shooting scenes in movies and television deceive children and adults into thinking that there is nothing horrifying about shooting a person.

WSO- I think that sympathy is a positve outworking of being observant and creative... both necessary for good writing.

I, too, feel like I am punched in the gut when confronted with other people's pain... 9/11 was emotionally shattering.... I didn't lose anyone that I knew, but the incredible pain and loss of the survivors shook me. While I am sure that Lisa Beamer's new book is inspiring, I think I would weep all the way through it.

No, dear, you are not going daft... although living in a world filled with sorrows and suffering can push a sensitive person to the edge some days...

for all your kindnesses to people in pain

 

[DVS]

i think i'm going to need some time to try and let the pain from that particular bird story pass...

does anybody else feel pain like that? when someone you know has gone through or is going through pain, do you feel it too?

is it just a certain sensitivity thing that we creative people have, or am i going daft again?

I'm sorry, if I upset you with my bird story. But, it did happen, and I felt it necessary to tell to explain my point.

I do feel as you do, for people who are less able than I am, for some reason. I want everybody to be happy, have a full stomach and be well. I know this isn't possible, but that's just how I am. I like to think most people feel like I do, but something tells me we are a dying breed.

And, I feel the same way about animals. I can't go to a dog pound, etc., or I would be bringing every animal home with me. I have always wanted to be wealthy so I could fix the problems of the world. But, I will never be rich, so someone else will have to step up.

OK, who's it going to be?

 

[wildsweetone]

thank you both

i read your posting with interest bridget. it's good to see there are still people around with common sense. obviously if one lives in an area where guns are a common piece of 'useful' equipment then yes, it's always better to learn the proper care and use of them.

the 9/11 thing... i was 'playing' on the threads with another author a long time ago, making stories out of 300 and 500 word limits. i took the bull by the horns (my own emotions) a couple of times and wrote two pieces which were triggered by odd thoughts.

the first was of a couple of people in one of the buildings which had been hit by a plane. the second was of a woman in afghanistan. i found it an incredible experience that i could write from two viewpoints i had never experienced. the emotion behind those pieces was, and still is, almost overwhelming at times.

DVS please don't apologise for tugging at my emotions. anything is better than feeling nothing. i am alive. it's good to know.

your bird story captured my interest. you described it in such a manner that had i reached out, i could have picked up the bird and cradled it in my palm. I don't know if you write stories or journal entries on things other than Lit type topics, but I hope you try.

i'm glad there's other people around who can show caring. isn't it odd how lonely it can feel at times when you stick yourself out on a limb... i keep looking down at the ground from my branch and thinking... "God i hope it don't hurt too bad when my sorry arse hits the ground"

 

[DVS]

Re: guns, death and pain

My husband is a great skeet marksman and I have learned to shoot several pistols.

My dad was very active in the small community where I grew up. Until his death, he was the oldest and only living charter member of the local Lion's club. He had nearly 50 years of membership.
The Lion's club had annual skeet shoot contests. I think you won a turkey. Yeah, they were called turkey shoots! I got to go with my dad on some of those outings. It was interstesting to see how good some shooters were at aiming and shooting at those clay pigeons. I also got to go down and retrieve the ones missed, to be used again. A fun time, for a young boy.

My dad, being very active in this, supplied the concrete blocks for the safetly wall (we had just had our home's foundation replaced) and he was also one of the 'jack of all trades' who built the wall.

And, he was usually the one who loaded the machine that shot the pigeons out for the shooters. But, one day, the guy pulling the lever pulled too soon, and my dad's hand was in the way. The machine's arm hit his hand and mangled his thumb pretty badly.

But, being the good guy he was, he knew it was an accident and told the guy who pulled the lever by mistake "Don't worry, I'll live." And, he did. The thumb healed fine with no residual problems.

Sorry, just another blast from my past. But, it is possible to include guns, humans and fun. Just keep your hands away from the machinery!

 

[wildsweetone]

man, these things may not be anything to do with authorial threads, but i love how interesting our postings are. thanks

your 'blast from the past' comment got me thinking.

i am on a community panel for our local district council.

at our last meeting a small group of us were asked to define what we felt were positive aspects of living in our area. we had to think and discuss what we believed the pillars of our area were.

out of the whole room of people there was only myself and one councillor who were actually born here. we managed to enlighten the rest of the room on the history that surrounds them.

it was an amazingly enlightening experience and one which i am going to relate on a slightly different level - family.

 

[Guest]

Mayberry

But, being the good guy he was, he knew it was an accident and told the guy who pulled the lever by mistake "Don't worry, I'll live." And, he did. The thumb healed fine with no residual problems.

DVS- Amazing! No call to a personal injury lawyer. No petitions demanding a legislative prohibition of turkey shoots. No Consumer Protection Agency complaints about the unsafeness of the pigeon thrower. No therapy for the victim or group discussions for the participants who may have been traumatized my the event.

What did you all do to make money and fill your time?

Oh yeah, you worked and took care of your families and neighbors.

 

[DVS]

Re: Mayberry

DVS- Amazing! No call to a personal injury lawyer. No petitions demanding a legislative prohibition of turkey shoots. No Consumer Protection Agency complaints about the unsafeness of the pigeon thrower. No therapy for the victim or group discussions for the participants who may have been traumatized my the event.

What did you all do to make money and fill your time?

Oh yeah, you worked and took care of your families and neighbors.

Yes, I think we fondly call these the good ol' days.

 

[Guest]

sometimes I am REALLY slow...

man, these things may not be anything to do with authorial threads, but i love how interesting our postings are. thanks

With you on that, WSO! I meant what I said on that thread about you keeping this thread moving in interesting directions.

I had to post to demonstrate that I finally figured out how to quote a post and have it say "originally posted by...". Okay it only took me close to 300 posts, but I just think this demonstrates that I am always learning...

WSO... have you resolved our friends' on the island dilemma? Not to rush you, but....

 

[DVS]

Re: sometimes I am REALLY slow...

...I had to post to demonstrate that I finally figured out how to quote a post and have it say "originally posted by...". Okay it only took me close to 300 posts, but I just think this demonstrates that I am always learning...

Quoting someone? Piece of cake. No problem. No brag, just fact.

WSO... have you resolved our friends' on the island dilemma? Not to rush you, but....

Does this involve Gilligan and/or the other castaways, perhaps?

 

[DVS]

Re: guns, death and pain

While I am also horrified by irresponsible gun owners...

First off, notice the quote? It's easy!

OK, another blast from my past...
One day, some friends and I were going out to the water resevour to shoot targets. That was just out of the city limits and also a safe place to shoot, because it had a dirt backdrop.
Anyway, as people sometimes do, one guy was messing around with a .45 caliber automatic, while in the car. This wasn't his gun. It was owned by another guy in the car.

He thought he had taken all of the precautions necessary, because he had taken the clip out of it. But, he didn't pull the slide back and look in the chamber. He was pointing the gun at all of us and asking us how we felt, looking down the barrel of a .45.

Well, obviously, we all felt the same way, not wanting to ever be in that situation. But I looked deep into the hole and thought I saw a round. I thought surely he had checked the gun completely before he started pointing it at all of us, so I didn't say anything.

But, he turned the gun on himself, also, and commented on how it felt for him, too. Then, he noticed what I had noticed, he got very quiet and his face went pale.

He pulled the slide back, and there was a live round in the chamber. If he had pulled the trigger, while pointing it at any of us, it would have blown off the head of one of his friends.

This guy's name is Alvin. And, I love him like a brother. So do the rest of the guys in the car, that day. And, the scary part of this story is he is the type of guy who would have pulled the trigger, too. Not if he thought the gun was loaded, but because he thought it wasn't.

But, it wasn't all his fault. The owner of the gun shouldn't have (1) had the gun loaded during travel, and (2) shouldn't have had a round in the chamber, either.

But, Alvin should have checked, if he was going to point a gun at someone. I know he probably had thought about pulling the trigger, at some time, during his little show and tell. I hate to think it could have been when it was pointed at my head.


I never asked him, and I wonder if he would even want to think of it. I think Alvin grew up a lot, that day. You shouldn't do stupid things like that, just for the reason I mentioned. That very well could have been a bad day for all of us. But, because Alvin didn't pull the trigger, it turned out to be just a well learned lesson.

And, it wasn't because Alvin is stupid. He had a stint in the Air Force, and was also a pilot. He is also very smart and works for McDonald Douglas as an electrical engineer.

But, being smart isn't enough. You ALWAYS treat a gun as if it is loaded. You never have a loaded gun in a moving car. And, there is never a reason to have a live round in the chamber, until you are ready to pull the trigger.

Yes, we were all adults. All of us in our 30s, at the time. Any of us could have stopped Alvin from doing what he did, and none of us did. It still makes me queasy to think about it.

 

[Guest]

Re: Re: guns, death and pain

It still makes me queasy to think about it.

DVS- I am queasy too... While I grew up with rifles, I had never handled a pistol until my husband took me to a range with his. acknowledging the pun...

The one things he drilled into my head ( besides the obvious) was the fact that his semi-automatics left a bullet in the chamber when the clip was pulled out. The other basic truth of life... never point any gun at a person unless you intend to kill them... was one that I had down already.

I am glad that Alvin didn't pull the trigger and that all of you were reminded that even the most experienced people have to follow safety rules.

Thank you for sharing the story.. you can count on me sharing this with my girls when we orient them to being responsible handlers of firearms. Too often it is easy to say "I know" when we really don't know.

WSO... okay, not an island, a tropical jungle... it's been SOOO LONG since I read the last installment, it is getting fuzzy for me...nudge, nudge...

 

[Quasimodem]

Re: guns, death, and pain

If you will pardon a return to my "Chicken Farming" days, I can tell you my first reaction to using a rifle.

To begin with, there is nothing endearing about a chicken. It is the stupidest creature God wrought, and man has spent a considerable effort making them bigger, juicier, while giving no thought that they became - in the mean time - vastly stupider. When did someone last offer you a ‘smart' chicken salad sandwich?

They arrive fuzzy, and need to stay under the brooder to keep warm enough to survive. Naturally, the first thing they do, is head to the cold hinterlands of the barn, where they will quickly freeze to death, without the sense to return under the brooder. So, the first job is to set a ‘wall' around the perimeter of the brooder, to keep them from leaving, and freezing to death.

Once they get a bit older, they discover a use for their beaks. Suddenly! For no, good reason - or even, no reason at all - one chicklet will peck one of her sisters on the head. Another chicklet will see the bird being pecked, or just the result of the pecking, and that will set the next bird off. Another bird pecks the chicklet upon the head. Soon it has become a fad.

The pecked chicklet is dazedly wandering about with an open sore where the other birds have pecked through the skin, and still they keep pecking. At this point, the pecked bird becomes a hazard to all the other chicklets. If they keep pecking the open sore, they will catch one of the MANY diseases to which they are heir, and the whole flock will quickly die.

The only remedy, is to cull the pecked bird out of the flock, take it to the garbage, and break its neck, using a quick flick of the wrist. By ten, I had that motion down pat.

Most modern chicken hatcheries have procedures to reduce the likelihood of this happening. When the chicks are just born, hatcheries use a hot blade to cut and cauterize away the comb, wattles, and the point of the chick's beak. This way they have neither targets, nor pointy beaks to use to peck each other. Their beaks resemble flat ended shovels, for scooping in the feed.

Obviously, my delight with the fuzzy little chicks did not survive the full ninety days that the flock was with us. By then, my opinion had changed . I thought, and still do, that anyone who eats a chicken, is doing a good thing, putting it out of its misery. In fact, the best favour you can do a chicken, is to eat an egg, thereby saving it the degradation of having to grow up to be a chicken.

To get back to the point of your thread, I was presented with a single-shot twenty-two rimfire on my twelfth birthday. My father set up a target, and taught me how to aim and shoot. He also taught me certain safety practises.

Always carry the rifle with the bolt in the locked open position. Only load the rifle when you are about to fire it. If you change your mind, and do not fire the rifle, open the breech, and retrieve the live shell.

Also: Always assume a rifle is loaded. Always walk with the rifle pointed at the ground. Never point a rifle at anything you do not intend to kill. Even when you know it is empty, never lean or set a rifle in anyway where it is possible to fall over.

There were more, but I have forgotten them. It happened this way.

The first time I was allowed out shooting on my own, I saw a pigeon on the barn roof. Now, a pigeon is a bad article to a farmer. They are as liable to steal seed that has just been sewn as feed. If they don't get the crop, they can still do damage by getting into the feed. If they can get at a broken bag, there is always a chance that the feed has been contaminated with a disease carried by the pigeon. Pigeons fall into the ‘flying rat' category.

The pigeon was on the roof, about 150 feet away. I took a shot, just as it lifted to fly away. The pigeon tumbled over the opposite side of the barn. When I got there, I found I had only wounded it. One wing was snapped. It could never fly, but at best it would slowly bleed to death. Failing that, it would starve to death, or be taken by some varmint.

Ejecting the spent casing, leaving the bolt open, I lay the rifle on the ground.

The next half hour was spent running after that damn pigeon, trying to catch it. When I finally did, I snapped its neck, using the same procedure perfected on broilers. And, from that day forth, the only gun I touched, was a cap pistol.

My thinking was that the killing of a broiler was a necessary death. I was doing it a favour and saving the flock, but that did not require a rifle. Killing a pigeon, was an unnecessary death. It was free, and bright enough to take care of itself. As I had no desire to eat it, I had no cause to add to the hardships of its life.

A lot of farm kids in the neighbourhood thought I was crazy, but I never touched the rifle again. When my father learned how I felt, he did not say a word.

A week later, he sold my rifle, and replaced it with something I eventually learned to love. An old, antiquated, probably obsolete, but a still functional typewriter.

 

[wildsweetone]

Damnit all to hell. I just typed a great long piece to add into here, hit submit reply and then manu decided to do her thing and I've lost the whole posting.

I am in the middle of writing four different stories, so disorganised and I hate it when i'm disorganised. Yes Bridget, one of the stories is the island jungle and Bess is driving me insane, but she's being kept busy

I really hope you three are printing off your stories, or adding them to your Journals. These are the kinds of tales that get lost forever when we are gone.

I am grateful you didn't have to experience that gun firing at your friends DVS. I can think of nothing worse on earth.

Quasi, thanks so much for telling me what goes on in those huge chicken sheds. We have them here, the chickens are grown for Tegel and other companies. I am glad that your father bought you something you could learn to be deadly accurate with without killing humans. Perhaps he knew you better than you realised

wildsweetone


(seems the pc isn't keeping my nick registered)

 

[DVS]

(seems the pc isn't keeping my nick registered)

That is a cookie thing. I would wait a few days to see if Literotica is having problems.

I couldn't get to Lit for a while, today, so that could be related. Cookies are in the background and if you haven't changed anything, it will surely fix itself.

No, I didn't name the damn things cookies, so don't blame me.