I wasn't going to blog this mini-story, but Grandpa John made a great point about maybe the writing in the Loser's car was really meant for me and the rest of us on the outside! Then Sherry mentioned funny bumper stickers with little messages that others are intended to read --- and so this story goes ...............

Later the same day I was stuck in a traffic light behind another dipstick who had emblazoned on the rear window of his car in bold words: If my music's TOO loud, then you're TOO old!

Ho, ho. I thought that was a riot and I have only one thing to say to the driver:

Eh? What didja say, sonny?

That's going to be what he's saying in 40 years! Tee hee. Many of us old rock & rollers have lost a great deal of hearing, but it's a fact that as we age we all lose different ranges of hearing. Remember a couple of posts ago I wrote about new ringtones that only the younger people can hear? Women lose the deep mellow ranges and men lose the high-pitched squeaky sounds with age. My hubby says that's why the two of us can't communicate anymore!

What didja say, honey?

While I was out and about during the lunch hour yesterday, I saw a truck, with a male driver stopped at a traffic light. Arm out the window, he was grooving to some music thumping in his interior.

Well, on the window right behind him --- painted in yellow with one of those glass markers --- was written the word "Loser," big and bold! I know he had to see it before he saddled-up for a ride, but, my question is, why would he leave that on his car??? Are we to be impressed? Did someone tell him it meant "cool dude?"

I'm at an all-time lose of explanations, so help me again, Streamers!

1. This one is leftover from my elementary school stories. One recess we had the usual boys against the girls games, but this day took a mean turn. A boy classmate, who with good reason has never admitted responsibility, decided it would be great fun to rub some of us girls down with poison ivy! Oh, what a surprise it was by the next morning --- plenty of us, including me, had bad cases of the itching bumps --- however, one girl was so covered because of an allergic reaction that she missed a week of school. The Poison Ivy War caused her swollen eyes and she was a mess of red itchy skin! Today she still has to avoid this terrible plant and every so often we all talk about that day on the playground.

2. It's a wonder some of us kids made it through childhood. We used to eat anything growing on trees! Green pecans and apples, mulberries, blackberries and we'd have battles with persimmons! Unripe persimmons are so bitter that we never developed a taste for them. Anything growing that looked edible was fair game, though, but probably one of the worse things we ate were the seeds from peaches. We would crack them open and eat them! Now the word is out that those peach seeds are poisonous, so maybe we lost a few brain cells while we were growing up!

3. Once while visiting relatives, my brother, another sister, and I were trying to get some apples out of the tree. We were still young and very stupid because one of us got the bright idea to throw rocks up at the apples. What happens when one throws a rock into the air? Well, it comes back down, that's what!! Guess who got hit in the head and stumbled into the auntie's house, bleeding like a slaughtered animal? Well, of course me! Just a few years ago my brother owned up to throwing the rock that hit me. I always thought I had done it to myself. To this day, that scar on my head keeps me from parting my hair on one side.

4. Like so many kids from the past, I loved riding my bike, especially during the summer. We used to lap the neighborhood with a posse of kids. Of course, we put the playing cards on the wheels with clothespins and the flapping sound was quite awesome to hear buzzing around the blocks! My favorite game on those late summer nights was "Kick the Can" and we hated giving it up and going home --- exhausted and dragging in sweaty and dusty with dirt --- but we knew the much-needed bath waited for us.

5. Okay, this last one is no surprise --- I was the only kid in the family with car sickness! Oh, yuck, you would not want to sit next to me on any road trip. Anything that lasted more than twenty minutes in the car had me heaving up my lunch! In those days there was no medicine for it, but plenty of home remedies --- one of which was sucking on lemons! That only made me throw-up acid! I finally outgrew it somewhat, except for mountain roads, and then my first daughter had it when she was young. It is no fun for the "sickee" or the bystanders!

I am thankful for the memories of a happy childhood growing up in the USA. Many children will never know that peace. Let's all enjoy our freedom by celebrating our country's upcoming 230th Independence Day this Tuesday, Streamers!

"New links must be forged as old ones rust." (Jane Howard)

This quote I found the other day reminded me of current happenings in the Stream. People come and go --- some we know what happens to --- and other people we'll never hear from again! I agree with Sherry'sCherries that if someone is taking time off from writing, it would be nice for them to post that on their blog. Then we would know what the reason is and not wonder if something is wrong. Maybe something good happened to them. Like they did win that lottery and don't want to host that big super party I had suggested! Oh, and for heaven's sake, I was only teasing about borrowing money.

When I first started blogging, I remember some people who contacted me right off and now they are gone. Disappeared! Months of commenting back and forth, even private messages. Deactivated or just never post anything even again? Both. Vanished! One wanted to combine our efforts and she do the artwork and I do the poetry. Another is an 80 year old ex-Marine who's blog is still there, but nothing posted since April. Maybe something bad did happen --- the absolute worse possible thing is death --- or it never occurred to them that some Streamers might think of them and wonder if they are still okay. Of course, if they are gone forever, their family would never think of posting on a blog site to tell their cyberfriends. We are left with the mystery.

So the Stream is a mini version of life --- friends come and go --- some we will remember for years and some we won't. Some we wish we never ran across and some, hopefully, we will enjoy for a lifetime.

Walking in the parking lot with my husband, we passed a bright red sportscar wearing a black leather bra on its bumper. I touched it fondly, and looking up to Honey Buns, I tell him I might get one of these hot accessories for my car. Ha, he says, mumbling something about how "pimping my ride" would mess up my Grammy Van!

I contend that my "Old Girl" wheels might get a shot in the arm with something uplifting strapped around its bumper.

Am I wrong, Streamers?