Tag: listen

Categories
bible Faith family focus health Life

Sunrise

Batman says:

Do you get to sometimes see the sunrise God creates for us? I’m not talking about a glance and slide on the sunglasses as your driving, but really see it?

I am blessed that on some days, not all but quite a few, I get to really see and enjoy the sunrise. Some are gray and dreary, some foggy, some just bright and clear, but some, oh those special few, they are spectacular examples of the Masters ability to paint beautiful pictures. All of these are special and I do my best to capture them on camera and send my Peach one with a good morning wish.

God didn’t make them for me to hoard, he made them to be seen and shared by all his creations, and I think Peach likes to see them. My life revolves around making Peach happy and letting her know I love her all the time whether together or apart, and the sunrise pictures helps me express that.

Anyways…. taking the time to enjoy the sunrise, be it alone or with someone, should be something you all try and do once in awhile. Slow down, watch it slowly unfold revealing the brilliant colors. Thinking about how God reveals things to us in ways we wouldn’t expect, and if not looking & listening we simply miss them. Shame to, because they are glorious revelations even if it’s just a simple sunrise. I ponder things important only to me while watching the sunrises I have, and plan to ponder a great many more with Peach along the way. Some days I cannot send Peach a sunrise picture, but everyday I want to. If I could I would share them with everyone, everyday I took them, but I’m not that ingenious, so for now Peach gets them when I take them, and the rest go to our website:

PeachandBatman.smugmug.com

Y’all pop in and look at a sunrise with us, I’ll keep putting them up as I can, God creates them, I do my best to capture a bit of them to share with you all.

Yes Peach I have sunscreen on and my sleeves and my hat and my mask……it’s a wonder I can see anything at all.

Categories
Faith family focus health Life life styles

The Healing Effect of a Bonfire

Friday evening, 19:46 hours (7:46pm) and here Peach & I sit, words aren’t necessary but are welcome. We just watch the fire and look up at the moon and stars and slowly it happens.

The cares of the long week start first, then slowly the most recent cares follow suit, they just fade into oblivion. I have been fascinated by the night and by bonfires as long as I can remember (and I can still remember television shows in black & white and getting up to change to one of 3 channels), something about being outside, with the only sounds being those made by nature, eases the cares and worries to the back portion of the mind.

Man’s fascination with fires probably goes back to the beginning, and I am glad it’s rooted in my being. I know folks that cannot figure out how to start a fire and others that have no desire to be out at night under the moon and stars. To me these people, are missing one of nature’s ways of unwinding. There are people that pay large sums of money to learn “relaxation” methods (seriously, I just read about these!!) when all they need to do is turn off the lights, sit outside, close their eyes and relax by a small bonfire (campfire has the same effect). Build it in a hibachi if you can’t build it on the ground.

If you want to relax, and honestly forget the worries and stresses that have built up over days, weeks, months and years, trust me when I tell you there is no better way, and I stand by this, than to sit by a fire with friends and or family, under the stars.

You can pay someone for “relaxation” methods and waste your hard earned money, or you can stop by, Peach and I love company, just bring a pack of wood for the fire, and an open mind…God and nature will provide the “relaxation”.

Categories
bible Faith family Fear health Life life styles

Peace

Batman says:

I have been thinking a lot lately on what makes me truly happy (besides you Peach..and snacks). We are all different in this great big mixed up messed up world we live in, and each person I’m sure has their own answer to the ‘what truly makes you happy’ question. Couple days ago I found out, what it was for me, and it’s really so simple that I’m surprised it was so hard to find.

Peach and I love being outdoors, walking, biking, fishing, hunting, trapping, photographing oh well you get the idea I hope. I grew up much like most country folk, playing outdoors, wandering the woods observing and learning from God’s creatures in the wild, funny thing, Peach did much the same thing. Playing out in nature until we were either called or whistled home by mom or dad. All through my youth I was lucky to live where I could go into the woods and reset some internal clock, and set off on another adventure. Early adulthood, the same thanks to the U.S. Army and the National Guard. Later in life I still wandered the woods only this time it was with the Love of my life my beautiful bride “Peach” who together with, I have fished, hunted, trapped and traipsed through all kinds of country, be it mountains, swamps, oak hammocks or whatever. While doing this, Peach and I, we grew closer to each other and also we were in the place I found “peace”. I didn’t really know this, all I knew was I always enjoyed being out in God’s creation, away from city noise, human influence, anything but the quiet of nature. I didn’t know this until Sunday afternoon when Peach and I were in the hunting club. Not hunting, just walking the fence line and checking trail (game) cameras. I’m not sure how we got on the subject, but I had us stop and just close our eyes and ‘listen to the silence’ of nature. No phones, no cars no airplanes, just nature. Now there is no real “silence” in nature, there are always natural sounds, wind, trees, acorns falling you get the idea, but for those few fleeting seconds, I realized I found my “peace”. It was right where I’ve always known, but forgotten to look, the place that since I was old enough to walk I’ve been drawn to, God’s wonderful creation, the natural world. I realized at that moment in time, I have never been more at peace at any moment, than I was when I was out in nature, away from the noise and rat race of society. Funny thing is, took being there with Peach, to remind me.

I don’t know the scriptures, or the fancy words, I know each of us has our own place to go to be truly at peace, for me, it’s away from mans footprint, on a jaunt thru the woods, no words necessary, holding hands with the Love of my Life that God blesses me with…mine forever…my Peach

Categories
Faith family focus Life life styles Time management

Strolls through the woods

Batman says:

When was the last time you took a stroll through the woods? For Peach and I it was just today, walking through the woods checking game cameras for activity (470 pictures of cows the last time I counted). It’s always a fun adventure watching Peach freak out over a banana spider that’s 10′ over her head (hehe sorry peach but it is funny), but she is a trooper always wants to come with me and is great company, there is no one I would rather wander around with than Peach, we have such adventures.

Wandering around in the woods looking at all gods creations and just being outside in nature makes you feel alive and grateful you have the opportunity. The day was perfect, blue clear skies, a breeze, the green of the leaves really showing off their colors. Just being surrounded by all the colors and sounds and sensations is worth a pot of gold to me, and having Peach along makes it all better.

Anyways, that’s enough musing along about my woods walk, y’all get out and look and listen to God’s creations in the woods, I promise you won’t be disappointed.

Categories
bible Faith family focus health Life life styles Uncategorized

Outside

Batman says:

Outside, the place not inside, not in your house, car, office, tent, bus, camper…you get the idea (if not, leave now, you’ll be bored). God created us outside, we have always been apart of the outside world, and most people, if they are honest, will admit they are happier when outside enjoying Gods creations.

When I was young (go on, make the jokes, but I was actually young, of course that was before cell phones and more than 3 channels on the tele) I spent every waking moment outdoors, traipsing through the woods, running barefoot everywhere, doing fun stuff. I actually had working trap-line before the hunters with dogs whined and got steel leg hold traps outlawed (if u can’t kill a deer without chasing it with dogs till it’s exhausted, then shoot it, maybe you need to rethink your hunting prowess).We kids ran all day, outside and pitched a fit when it was dark and Mom called us home to get a bath and go to bed. Never in our wildest dreams could we imagine sitting in front of a television screen and ‘playing’ games all day (we had Clue, Sorry, Monopoly board games and others for rainy days). Video games, even had they been around back then, I’m willing to bet would not have done as well with us as this last couple generations. The problem is the parents, they allow the television to be a fix all baby sitter. Parents do not take responsibility for their kids (I’ll give you the few rare ones that do, but in my job I see it daily) actions, they don’t set firm limits and when their kids act out they blame everyone else but themselves. Read a quote from an actor, don’t remember who but it goes “Respect is taught at home,If a child is disrespectful, it’s your fault, It’s not societies fault or a video games fault, it’s Yours”We were taught respect or we got a belt period. Think we grew up ok getting a spanking that we deserved. Anyways I got off on another post for later, this was headed in the right direction then a squirrel ran by and I was distracted.Outside, anyways back to that, I cannot imagine a more harsh punishment to a child of my time than to be told he or she could not go outside and play. It was as if the world turned upside down. Today, and today’s parents, their punishment consists of repeatedly telling their kids over and over not to do the same thing they keep doing. When the punishment is much simpler. Make them go outside and play, not to a friends to play videos, but outside in your yard or park and actually spend time outside in God’s masterpiece creation. I’m willing to bet that if you do this enough, video games will become second fiddle to being outside and physically having fun with their friends. As for the adults, don’t care what you say or do, you to need to get outdoors as much as possible, to rejuvenate your soul. God made this planet not only to live on, he made it for us to enjoy being out on. I am a firm believer that every time I go outside, even for a short period, that it takes worry and stress off my mind and body. If this were Peach’s post she could find a scripture instantly to match this ramble, sorry if have to look for one it will take a week.I will leave you all with this thought, think back, when you were young, on a trip or walk with your parents. Then think where you were when you had the most exciting and interesting fun together, I’m betting you were outside someplace. Folks, God made it for us, don’t waste it by staying inside looking out, go Outside and experience it.

Categories
family Life life styles

Upgrade

Batman says:

Peach and I have decided to upgrade our ham licenses from Technician to General, which will like I explained in an earlier post, allow us more frequencies to converse on when we pass the test. “There’s a Test?? You know I stink at tests!!” to which Peach does as she always does, rolls her eyes and tells me to be serious, which kinda leads to the reason for this post (the test part not the me trying to be serious, which if you ask Peach, I rarely am).

I have often wondered what twisted personalities develop questions for Ham tests, I mean, if you look at them on the face they are a mixed jumble of technical jargon that the normal person has no clue what the meaning is (I’ll give a few examples in a bit). Now before all you Ham enthusiasts get all uppity, finish reading. There are two types of Ham operators, generally, I believe (leaving out the preppers, not because they don’t count but, because they mostly are using Ham for preparation for society collapse, good on ya for being prepared.) My two types are people that just want to turn on a radio, find some people talking and have a fun conversation, making new “contacts” and hopefully lifelong friendships. The other type also enjoys the same things, but these are the technical ones, the ones that desire to use computers, tinker with new equipment, find new ways to do things, which generally improves Ham radio for most others (except when it comes to tests).

The first user type is a young child or adult introduced to Ham at school or by a friend of the family or at a field day etc. They become excited to talk to people around the world (yes it’s possible to do) and enjoy doing so. This type does not care how the radio works, does not care how many volts equal a millivolt, kilovolt, volt cola or whatever. They just want to be able to talk and make friends. They will probably never open a radio up to fix a bad diode or bulb, won’t build or adjust antennas, will buy what’s best and use it based on what’s in the instruction manual. They want to know the rules, so they can follow them and be good Ham operators, and generally are happy with the knowledge they have.

Type two, the tinkerers, question everything, look for ways to talk farther, improve speed, make antennas easier to adjust (tune). These are the people that over the years, have improved Ham radio two-fold over what it was capable of doing in the early days, and they continue to question and try and improve each time they have a moment.

I believe both types have their place and both add something to Ham radio, and now the reason for the ramble:

Who writes these tests? I mean seriously??!! Why does a person need to know how many nanofarad’s equal a picofarad just to talk on a radio to someone?? Why do I care how the efficiency of a RF power amplifier is determined? Answer is “I don’t” except to upgrade my license, based on God knows who’s idea of what knowledge I need to be licensed to talk on Ham radio legally. This is where the two sides butt heads, the one side could care less, the other thinks everyone should know.

It’s my blog post (when Peach lets me call it that) so I’m gonna go out on a limb, why not make the test relevant to what you can and cannot do? Questions about the rules, would in my humble opinion, better serve the Ham community and teach what’s proper. By all means, if your type 2 then go forth and prosper, keep up the good work, but that’s no reason to expect the average person to learn how to calculate how long a wire antenna needs to be to be resonant on 80 meters (use the online calculators out there it’s easier).

Peach and I will wade through the technical crap that we will never use, and we will pass our tests (confidence is key) even though we believe it’s not relevant to why we are doing it. It has gotten “easier”, they took out the Morse code requirement (CW) which is weird because it would actually be relevant to a lot of people.

Anyways, I have to go learn what a discriminator, a mixer and other things I will never use are, the test is next month and my mind doesn’t like being crammed with useless knowledge, even if I only have to retain it till I pass the test.

Y’all take care

The pic above is all Peach and I use to talk on the air, it’s all we need.

Oh, when you write to give me heck, please use decent language, sometimes little kids read these posts to

73 y’all

Categories
Uncategorized

At the Workplace

Batman says:

Ever had that boss or coworker that just has to be right, has to be done their way or it’s wrong or stupid? Welcome to adulthood, where EVERYONE thinks their way is the only way something can or should be done. Yep, I fall in this category to at times, but knowing this I try and see another’s point of view and if an idea is better, then I grudgingly acquiesce to that way, usually after huffing and puffing around a bit.

Now I admit it readily and I am working on doing better at fixing it, but there are some, who no matter what, cannot seem to admit they have the same issues. These individuals are usually in positions that have a direct and proximate effect on others. They are the top of the tier, and those directing and or planning how others will do things. Without fail, they are highly educated, both academically and job field related training, or they have absolutely no job related skills and are in their position do to management training or education.

The common worker, the one that goes out and actually performs the tasks are more often than not, left out of ANY discussions on how the job they do should be done. These ‘expert’ bosses, have forgotten how, or never really did know, how the job is done in real life. They go to academies, they go to conferences, they attend training seminars and come back full of ‘great ideas’ on how the common worker should not only do the job, but how they should act and feel while doing it.

The gist of this musing is hopefully to inspire those that are in the position to make changes, to ask the worker bee, and their line supervisors for input and actually CONSIDER what is said to see if it has merit and not just disregard it out of hand because some class or group meeting you attended said their way was best.

Sometimes the least academically educated person in the room has the most of what 99% of us need and that’s COMMON SENSE.