Hey Kids,
Seeing my cat sleep for his 15th nap today has convinced me that if reincarnation exists, I hope to return as a cat.
I know this violates the idea of an upward progression of the soul, but I could use the sleep.
The cat food, however, might be a bit tough to take.
Post 3-048
Hey Kids,
“Suppose you were an idiot and suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.” – Mark Twain
Post 3-048
Hey Kids,
Tonight I’m headed to a film festival. Although not as prestigious or glamorous as the recent Sundance Film Festival, I do expect to be entertained. Tonight will be the Fly fishing Film Festival. The one evening festival consists of about two hours of 5-10 minutes films featuring fly fishing.
The films are not all just cast, hook, and catch. Most shorts tell an interesting story that includes casting, hooking, and catching. I have noticed that these films do share certain characteristics:
Ultimately all tough days are rewarded, shy trout give in to curiosity, and anglers pat each other on the back as they stroll away from the water, rods in hand and smiles galore.
What’s really fun is that with the group of paid viewers, cheers are shared for the hits, and awes for the misses. And when each film ends, the applause is exuberant.
It should be fun.
Post 3-047
Hey Kids,
Is a fisherman judged by the number of the fish he catches?
Or is it the quality of those fish?
Is he judged by the species he pursues?
Or it by the methods he masters?
By Boat? By shore?
By guide? By self-taught?
The answer is simple: No. Only whether he does.
Post 3-046
Hey Kids,
Growing up in the 70’s like I did, there was no greater super hero than Batman. Every afternoon, the episode aired and all of us kids tuned in. Mondays and Wednesdays left Batman and Robin in a life threatening peril that only Tuesdays and Thursdays would reveal how they could escape. And Fridays, if we were lucky, brought Cat woman into the fray.
The funny thing about Batman, he had no super power other than being rich. He bought all the gizmos and trinkets that help him overcome the equally non-powerful villains. They were all quirky, but no ray eyes or flying or exposure to rare substances. They simply tried to out think each other in their eccentric ways and cheap puns.
Superman was a cheat. An alien life form that brought with him all his cheating ways. He was faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, etc, etc, etc. Boring, really.
But if you were going to a superhero, Superman was the guy. He could do it all.
One of the best lines in any movie, anywhere, comes from the animated movie the Iron Giant. Remembering the lesson from the little boy who taught him all of what he knew of his world, he answered the call of being who he chose to be.
Flying straight into the nuclear missile, high in the atmosphere, and into certain destruction, all to save the boy, his mother, the town, and the military personnel who had been trying to destroy him, he closed his eyes and proclaimed, “Superman.”
Even Batman would have to be proud.
Post 3-045
Hey Kids,
Every day is a reset.
Old pictures revel bad haircuts, outdated fashions, lost friends, hopeless relationships, and unrealized dreams.
But we thought we were on top of it then; so hip.
I can think of things I did or said yesterday that I could have tried harder or phrased better.
I think I have it all figured out in the morning and yet ready to hang it up by nightfall.
It’s that figured out part in the morning that’s important.
Each morning is a new chance to do it right.
The rooster is crowing.
Post 3-044
Hey Kids,
So last I heard, California was in a drought. The lakes were dry. The trickles of water flowing across dry cracked mud puddles passed as reservoirs.
To my astonishment, when Google listed stories I might be interested in, the announcement of one of the bigger dams in Northern California is facing possible failure due to erosion on the spillway while trying to keep the water behind the dam from breaching the top.
Wait. What?
I don’t mean to get on those people who cried that we may just have to accept that this drought might never end; but if before the snow pack even has a chance to melt, we’re already worried we can’t hold it all- maybe someone didn’t know what they were talking about.
Or maybe I might be in denial.
Post 3-043
Hey Kids,
Growing up in California, I never ran into another Jensen. Our family was an island; alone in the sea of last names. Occasionally, some kids at school would even think my name was the cartoon equivalent of Jetson; not that it bothered me.
But in Utah, there’s no shortage of Jensen’s and you can find one around any corner. And Mike Jensen’s are so common that if you swing a stick, you’ll hit three of us.
Even cooler than that, there’s a town in Utah called Jensen. I had never visited the town until today.
Jensen lies in the upper northeast corner of Utah and is the gateway town to Dinosaur National Monument. A welcome center is all there is for visitors. So we visited the center and then proceeded to Dinosaur National Monument.
The day’s snow kept us from hiking or being able to explore anything beyond the paved roads. But we did get to spot a pair of bald eagles along the Green River and visit the quarry and its Wall of Bones.
The wall of bones is a preserved section of the actual quarry where thousands of dinosaur bones have been excavated over many years. This wall, has the visible bones left behind so others can see what a target-rich fossil environment looks like.
I’ve seen dinosaur skeletons before. I’ve seen people on TV digging bones from the ground with their brushes and hammers, their straw hats, and their dusty long sleeve button-up shirts. But to see the raw bone encased in the rock struck me differently: they were real.
The bones were where history had placed them millions of years ago. They hadn’t been rearranged or assembled. Maybe identified for the uneducated tourists (like me), but they had yet to be moved.
Visiting historical sites is to touch history. To touch history is to feel the history that happened there, to imagine it in context of its location. In turn, I feel a part of it.
Jensen may be Danish in origin, but it has now lead me to something new to which to be related.
Post 3-042
Hey Kids,
What a fantastic time we live in.
Sure there are some bad things that can’t be ignored. The political scene in the US is a joke that isn’t funny and the future may hold some unpleasant prospects.
But never has so much freedom of information ever been endowed upon the common person. For the cost of an internet connection and the device to connect to it, nearly anything is available to anyone.
“Just Google it.”
Or “You Tube it.”
I’ve been in and around the canyons of Utah’s canyon country. I look out at the landscape and find it unfathomable to imagine how that slow meandering river could’ve carved out the deep ravines and side canyons, and the cuts, and the cliffs.
I understand erosion. I’ve seen canyons before. But the great canyons of the Colorado, especially the Grand Canyon of them all; I can’t put my head around it.
Until today.
While working at my desk, working numbers on an excel spreadsheet, I found, in my recommended videos, one to watch titled, “How the Grand Canyon was formed.” I watched/listened to it, some parts twice.
I understand it now.
Incredible.
Post 3-041
Hey Kids,
I like to think I’m cold and unfeeling. I keep to myself. I’m not mean, but I don’t attract admirers.
I’m OK with this persona I maintain, mostly at work. It keeps me safe and isolated. To be within my circle of trusted friends, you have to be patient.
And then the image, in two-minutes, is blown.
I made the mistake of talking about something dear to me at a staff meeting. I let down my guard and dropped the curtain to a part of me that I didn’t expect to show. It even surprised me.
I cried. 
In front of way too many people that I now have to work with.
Dammit.
The taboo subject I should’ve avoided?
Our sweet little Pipkin who left us after only a few months of living with us, but long enough to steal and own my heart. And now after four months, I still miss her as if she had always been with us.
“A pet- a heartbreak waiting to happen.”
Post 3-040
Mike M Jensen 