Life’s Truths

Heros

mikemjensen Interesting Stuff (to me anyway), Life's Truths, Quote Tags: , , Leave a comment

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.

sacrifice

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

Wear It Out

mikemjensen goals, Life's Truths Tags: , , , , Leave a comment

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Old pictures revel bad haircuts, outdated fashions, lost friends, hopeless relationships, and unrealized dreams.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.resetbutton

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

Canyon by Video

mikemjensen Internet, Life's Truths, Utah Tags: , , , , , Leave a comment

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.1797529_510846092361849_202623632_n

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

Pipkin

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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. fb_img_1471094628735

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

Make the Lake Great Again

mikemjensen kayaks, Life's Truths, Utah Tags: , , , , , 2 Comments

Hey Kids,

One of the pictures I currently have as a random cover header photo on this blog is on the Spiral Jetty on the Great Salt Lake. It is a land art project located on the northern shoreline. Refresh the page a few times and it’ll pop up.IMG_20150322_185821_183

Few, in comparison to the population surrounding the lake, have ever seen it. Few still are the number of Utah natives that even venture out to this inland sea.

The Great Salt Lake is salty, with shallow, muddy shorelines. The mud under the wind and sun dried crust is smelly. When the wind blows and stirs the lakes waves, the smell can overtake the entire valley downwind. People call it the lake stench.

The waters hold no fish; brine shrimp are the lake’s only aquatic residents. Flies buzz along the shoreline and larger flies bite people visiting the dry, half-burnt, half-inaccessible Antelope Island. The place and its rumored bug problem are avoided by most.

But the same Island holds one of the pure strains of Bison. Mountain sheep and elk roam the Island’s highlands. Sandy beaches on its west shore allows the few visitors a glimpse of being on an ocean, fully equipped with sun sets to take your breath away.

Deer and Antelope roam free. Watch carefully and you’ll see one of the coyotes too.

The Great Salt Lake marshes and distant islands gives migratory birds refuge and thousands of pelicans a place to nest. Sea gulls freely roam the skies and salty breezes and if one closed their eyes and listened, you could be on almost any pacific beach you could imagine.

Kayaks glide high and smooth on ofttimes glassy waters. Sail boats set out and roam far enough away to disappear into the horizon.

The Great Salt Lake is magical. A world of its own. In the lights of the large metropolis, yet separated enough to be called wilderness. It is the last remains of a once greater lake, Lake Bonneville. A true endangered species.

The lake currently sits at its historical low, surpassing the low level set back in the early sixties. A prolonged drought and continued diverted water have the lake gasping for life. Some fear it might dry up completely and become nothing but a memory and a dust bowl.

I hope we’re smart enough to know we don’t want that. I hope were smart enough to know the lake needs its share of water. I hope we’re smart enough to figure it out before it’s too late.

The loss would be unmeasurable, the health risks would be uncalculatable, and the sin would be unpardonable.

 

Post 3-038

Making it Known

mikemjensen Fishing, Football, Interesting Stuff (to me anyway), Internet, Life's Truths, Motorcycles, Sports, Useless Observations Tags: , , , , , , , , , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

It’s political times. 5508Everybody has an opinion and not always based on information, reason, or understanding. Here are some of my political beliefs:

For: American League, American Conference, and Western Conference.

Against: Fan voted All Stars.

For: Motorcycles. They don’t have to be Harleys either.

Against: Gold Wings. Just kidding, I’m for Gold Wings too.

For: Cheap gas and fast cars. Real ones. Classics.

Against: Smart Cars. Not kidding.

For: Buy low and sell high. I don’t do this much in practice, but I’m for it.

Against: Places that don’t have a Value Menu.

For: Lake Powell

Against: Anyone against Lake Powell

For: Fishing. Fly, bait, or lure. If there’s fish to catch, I’m in.

Against: People catching bigger or more fish than me.

For: Free speech.

Against: Long lists of “for and against”.

 

(Please note, I don’t always agree with everything that I say.)

 

Post 3-037

New Age Explorer

mikemjensen Internet, Life's Truths Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

The Internet delivers stories and pictures to me daily of different places and different adventures that exist elsewhere in the world. Some are near to my home and some are far; the computer doesn’t know the difference and brings them all. Years past, these stories would rarely reach my attention.

But they do now.age-of-exploration-image

I feel I know so many more of my family than I ever did before. Posts of their travels, their schools, their kids, their accomplishments, their struggles, and their adventures allow me to enjoy them, argue with them, and miss them. I used to not even know their names.

There are so many places that I want to visit, things I want to see, and people I want to meet in person. I take account of them all and I realize that there are too many places that interest me, that I can’t possibly see and do it all. I will never run out of new things to explore.

Isn’t that wonderful.

 

Post 3-035

One Man’s Lake…

mikemjensen Life's Truths, Utah Tags: , , , , Leave a comment
powel

Lake Powell. Well, part of it. (Picture by NASA)

Hey Kids,

No matter the position and the clarity of logic you may hold, there will always be someone who holds the complete opposite view. Always.

In this era of ready access to each other, the opposition makes itself known easier than before. I now find myself in a situation that could develop into such a scenario. I want Lake Powell in Utah to remain.

I own a houseboat now on that lake and I have an intense love for it. I hope it lasts forever. I can’t wait to be back on top of the deep water between the deeper rock walls and to float into the bays and canyons, exploring the many fingers of waterways clawed into the red rock desert.

The fishing that awaits me, is fishing only dreamed of just a year away. I long for the symptoms of severe striper fever to grip my body and cause me to reel fish in my sleep. I want to paddle the kayak, swim the waves, and stare at sunsets and sunrises until my retinas cry for mercy.

And yet, there are people who call for the lake to be drained. I have read their arguments, studied their positions, and I find little merit. But they would argue that point.

They can have their opinion, wrong as it might be. That’s what makes this country great. We can allow people with opposing points of view to state their point of view. We can allow them to be wrong and it erodes our rightness nothing at all.

I plan on enjoying my lake. I plan on talking about it and having no shame for doing so.

Feel free to proclaim “Drain Lake Powell” of “Free the Colorado” as much as you like. But as for me and my house, we will say “Fill Lake Powell to the brim.”

PS- My boat lives in the bay in the lower right hand corner of the included picture.

 

Post 3-032

The Mountain does Yield

mikemjensen Life's Truths Tags: , , , Leave a comment

Hey Kids,

If you hold a rock in your hand and blow against it, nothing happens.

Or so it seems.

Something does happen, dust is vacated.img_20161014_145743244_hdr

More dust is generated by the surface of the rock being exposed to yet more gusts.

Another pulse of breath, and that dust is gone.

From attempt to attempt, the naked eye sees nothing.

Yet from attempt to attempt, the rock yields to the movement of air.

Effort does not go without effect. Work does not go without results.

Maybe not seen on a daily basis, the long term results cannot be denied.

 

Post 3-030