---Writer's Block is a terrible thing; and, when it occurs, there ain't nuthin' gonna get written. It's kinda' like a slump. You just can't get yourself properly motivated to write anything that sounds remotely interesting. The only cure is time.
---Trains and their whistles are wonderfully enchanting and haunting. Throughout our nights here in north Knoxville, we hear the trains as they pass through the east Tennessee darkness. Their destinations are unknown. Their cargo is unknown. The tracks run about a mile from our neighborhood---just close enough for us to hear the gentle rumbling of the rails and the moaning, spectral wail of the whistles as the trains approach the Dante and Merchant's Road crossings.
Interesting observation---each engineer has his own, unique fingerprint of blowing the whistle. Some use a series of long blasts....WOOOOOOOOOOOOO......WOOOOOOOOOOOOO.... WOOOOOOOOOOOOO........
Others use a series of short blasts....WOOO...WOOO...WOOO...
Some use a combination of the two....WOOO...WOOOOOOOOOOOO...WOOO...WOOO...
I think it would be possible to tell the identity of each engineer simply by listening to the unique series of identifying whistle blasts.
---There is a situation going on in professional football right now that has me scratching my head. It involves Tim Tebow, the quarterback of the Denver Broncos and Denver Bronco management.
Tebow, you may recall, led the Broncos---an otherwise mediocre team---to a series of "miraculous" wins last year, and even guided the team to a playoff win over the vaunted Pittsburgh Steelers.
Well, management of the Broncos is trying to replace Tebow as quarterback with legendary quarterback Peyton Manning, who is a free agent.
Questions:
---If the Broncos sign Manning, do they keep Tebow, the most popular player in Denver? How do you put the most popular player on the bench? Do you trade Tebow if you sign Manning? How do you trade the most popular player? What if Manning reinjures his neck, which has had 5 operations? What if he cannot play after an injury and you have traded Tebow? What then?
Let me insert here that I did a blog a short time back on thinking outside the box. Denver management is obviously incapable of doing that. If they were only able to see that improvement of their team can be spectacularly accomplished by designing an offense to complement Tebow's unique abilities, they would be unstoppable.
---Why can't anybody design elastic that will not wear out immediately in underwear?
---Had a doctor's visit yesterday. Had to wait 45 minutes in the waiting room and then another 30 minutes in the exam room. Doctor finally appears. I'm not happy about the wait. I guess when you make an appointment, it is for me, but not necessarily for HIM.
He said he was sorry for the wait---said there was a mixup---said he should have seen me before the other patient, but made a mistake and went into the wrong exam room. Sigh.
---My wife, Cindy, is an accomplished artist. One of the things she does is portraits. We decided to advertise her business in the local paper. Yesterday, we went to the newspaper office to see about placing the ad. I was so impressed by the newspaper staff---they were so friendly and helpful. It's funny, I guess, but it seems so unusual that people are friendly any more. Usually, it is like they are doing you a favor if you try to do business with them.
---I was making myself an egg sandwich the other morning. I had some trouble getting one of the eggs out of the carton. Finally got it out but it slipped from my fingers and splatted on the tile floor. I was upset. So upset that I did the same thing with the next egg I extracted from the carton. I knew then that it wan't gonna be a good day.
---Was reading the bible this morning and came across that admonition---"Thou shalt have no other gods before me".
Now, be honest---what other gods do you put before Him?........ Money? Power? Sex? Pornography? Blogging? Possessions? Drugs? Politics? Food? Work? Internet? Electronic Games? Physical Fitness?.......
Call these the music, poetry, fact and fiction of a dreamer....Call this LYRICS of LOVE and LORE.
It's good to see my husband's writer's block has vanished and that he has come up with good and original thoughts and observations. It's good you and I share a love of trains. It still blows my mind that on some nights one of us can not hear the train when it appears so loudly it could be in our backyard.
ReplyDeleteIdols in my life? Goodness, I do have them and need to work on eliminating them. They seem innocent until one gets to thinking about how much time is spent on these "idols". I suppose it could be said time spent on "something" turns it into an idol. Well, some of the time.
Love the randoms! Trains - grew up somewhat around the train yard, lived near trains but now I live the closest ever... maybe 20-30 feet. We had to get used to every 2 hours a train coming by the house. Still wakes me up from time to time, shaking the windows. One night around 1 am the train had an issue and they were right at our house it seemed. Maybe 2 men or 3 working but I could hear the mumbles. Some trains are slow, changing cars and sometimes they are really fast. Sometimes they are loaded and the whole house even us are vibrated that it bothers me and sometimes we don't notice. trains whew!
ReplyDeleteIdols - I did a study on Jeremiah where God was speaking to Israel/Judah about all the backsliding and idolatry. We made a list of all the things that could take up time away from the Lord and become the most important thing in our life. I have to limit Facebook, blogging and any computer time. In the past was my cellphone that became stuck to me, to read email, weather, games so that had to stop. It's all about balance - thanks for the prompt for my next blog post.
Hey Clint, why don't you buy some of those drawstring underwear? Go to cottonique.com. They look really good.
ReplyDeleteI love to hear the trains, too. I didn't know about the whistle patterns though and will have to pay more attention next time.
I like to use the sound of the whistle as a reminder to say a little prayer and thank God for something in my life.
Wonderful post, Clint.
Nice post and for me it was interesting what you did, and I hope the people will call about a portrait. Cindy is a great artist!!
ReplyDeleteAbout the trains....I loved to hear the woo wooo, but over here there were no trains, no wooo wooo.
Wishing you all the best and sending a lot of greetings to you and Cindy♥
Very interesting post. I did not know about the unique fingerprint of the train whistle blasts- I just try to get off the tracks when I hear them. And you're right- your wife is remarkably talented as an artist. I love to look at what she puts on line.
ReplyDeleteGood that you writer's block has gone, excellent post to read and very interesting.
ReplyDeleteOff to Spain tomorrow to visit my younger son ......only for the week-end be back Monday evening,
I would visit my eldest son who lives nearer but he still has not got in touch.
Have a good week-end.
Yvonne.
If this is what you write when you have writer's block, then watch out! Enjoyed your random thoughts. Especially about Tebow/Manning. I have not been paying close attention and I missed that bit of news. Wow. I hope Peyton doesn't start channeling Brett Favre. Oh dear.
ReplyDeleteYou don't seem to have a writer's block to me! I know when you drop two eggs it seems to be or go that way the whole day. And why would they want to give up Tebow? sandie
ReplyDeleteHi Clint,
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of Peyton Manning, why in the world would he want to be playing? Why risk it? He has made plenty of money and one hit could mean life in a wheel chair.
God bless,
Ken
Ok to have a break from blogging. That's what I call it :)
ReplyDeleteGee, haven't heard or seen a train for awhile down this end of the world, expect I will on a frosty morning. It is lovely to find smiling friendly staff...