Older and Meaner

 

De-escalation Tactics

A recent encounter with a neighbor while delivering a mortgage company letter got ugly. Seems the neighbor is a retired policeman and has taken upon himself to be a neighborhood watchman.

He confronted me, demanding to know my business, and I politely told him to fuck off. Upon reflection, I didn’t use good de-escalation tactics. Upon further reflection came the realization I don’t give a fuck. He was still in the street making threats as I drove off.

Yeah bitch, lay hands on an “at risk senior”. Felony in Colorado.

Frugal

Indifferent to what people in general think of him is my second son. Who else drives a 2001 Ford Focus with 200,000 miles on the odometer?  He would rather spend $1,500 to $2,000 a year on repairs and tires than work overtime and Saturday to make the payment on a new car, like many of his contemporaries. The car gets regular oil changes. He uses a shop that is willing to work on an “old piece of shit”.

He makes his cheapskate father proud! What really makes his father prouder is his nearly a decade of sobriety.

Tools

                                                                                                         

Over the years I wonder how many “borrowed” tools I’ve replaced.

https://www.chickenwingscomics.com/

Idaho Co-ed Murders

Seems the perp now will plead guilty. Seems everyone has an opinion. Here is mine. He will be going away, forever.

 Yes, we won’t have a trial circus and endless appeals for years to come. That is a bad thing?

 Lastly, high praise for that small town police department doing their job so well the prosecution had a strong hand.

As always, YMMV

Will I Ever Grow Up?

I’m 71. By now I should have a grip on my explosive temper, don’t you think? No so, as I relearned that lesson today.

As part of my job, I seal boxes of medical specimens for shipment. This involves dry ice, packing tape, I Pad  entries, etc. My last stop is the Regional West Hospital in Scottsbluff, NE.  In a nearby parking lot are some nice shade trees so I park in the (very broad) traffic lane and do my ten minute job. Doesn’t inconvenience anyone and the hospital security people are ok with it.

Today as I’m working a blivet and blivette (a blivet is two pounds of shit in a one pound bag) pull up along side of me in a ratty Geo Tracker. The blivet driver proceeds to say something along the lines of, “You Colorado drivers are real dumb shits, parking in the RED Zone” or words to that effect and starts to drive off. 

My reply, “Go fuck yourself”, resulted in him slamming to a stop, jumping out of his POS, and getting in my face. He is about 50, a few inches shorter than me but just as fat. So now we have two hot heads jawing at each other. He left before it got physical, damn it. (Maybe my lucky day).

Turning around I saw this older lady with her cell phone recording the whole thing. Her remarks clearly showed her to be sympathetic to me.

“What was his problem? You are just doing your job”, she said.

 I thanked her for having my back.

My lesson from all this is, I still have a hot temper and a short fuse. Despite all the problems this has caused me in my life I don’t have good (or any) control. Fuck it, don’t mean shit, drive on.