Senseless Banter...

boffer wrote:Donnainzone10's new signature:

"Beware the Apostrolypse!"

Cute!  That's my new word of the day.  When I googled it, I found this definition example:

"The suffocation of all living organisim's by the relentles's rain of gratuitou's apostrophe's."

Grammargeddon!

Ain't dat da trooth!

Case yall aint noticed I type like I talk and I talk with a accent   AT least das what every one who aint from here says.  None of my neighbors think I got one.

Yes you do, but you pull it off with class and content!

And that's difficult to do!  Usually, content suffers....  You are certainly the exception.

Thanks, .......I think

Yes, that's a compliment.  Even though I'm a stickler for grammar, spelling, and punctuation.  

Long ago, I realized that most people write exactly the way they speak.  Of course, there are always those who exaggerate for effect....

Welp not a bad day.  I shaved and washed the dog, went ot hardware and got fishing licences, wiper blades for my ole jeep and scored a couple things from the sale rack in front.  Picked the very first of the asparagus beans and am kicked back wit a cold PBR and a grin as Peg cooks supper.  It's good to b e da cappy

Cappy
I caint speak Cajun but I seem to read it OK.

I never had an accent until I came to Canada.  Then everyone said I had one.

Kelejan wrote:I never had an accent until I came to Canada.  Then everyone said I had one.

Up before the rooster today.  Couldn't sleep so I got up, made coffee, had breakfast, got dressed and all before the neighborhood rooster crowed.

Huh!  Our tourists get upset because our roosters crow at 3 am!! Maybe you have more civilized roosters.  I wouldn't know because when I take my hearing aids out I can't hear any of the noises that bother others, like dogs barking, sirens, and so forth.  Good on you starting your day early.  Ain't summer wonderful?

There's a fun book called A Year In Provence, about a Brit who moves to Provence for a change of life. He has an old house and vineyards, and most of all, arrangements with the local peasantry. (It doesn't sound so bad when in the context of the traditions the book goes into, and basically means farmer.)

One of my favorite parts is where he suggests never trying to go up against peasants in a land deal. He says a local peasant had designs on the parcel next door that had just been bought by another foreigner. The peasant schemes to make the idyllic life that prompted the purchase intolerable, and one way he does it is by making as much noise as possible as early in the morning as possible. Roosters are definitely a part of it. When the neighbor objects and even tries to protest to the authorities, they laugh at him and say something like, "What, you expect there to be no roosters on a farm? There have always been roosters on farms! And they crow noise as they like." Machinery, roosters, every kind of interference ... and soon enough the foreigner and his disgusted guests pack their bags and the peasant gets the parcel. Don't mess with the locals!

I believe I may have read that book.  I absolutely agree. People,especially mainland tourists, are so unaccustomed to rural noises that they get all hot and bothered.  Frankly, it would suit me just fine if they didn't come here.  We have less and less rural and more development on our beautiful island.  I'll take the roosters and the other wonderful farming ambient noises any old time.

I had a bad experience with crowing roosters 30 years ago. To this day, I can't tolerate the sound, and have closed gardening videos in the middle because there's a rooster crowing in the background.

kauairosina wrote:...We have less and less rural and more development on our beautiful island...

I visited your piece of paradise in the eighties. I sure hate the idea of the flora being destroyed for development.

boffer wrote:I had a bad experience with crowing roosters 30 years ago. To this day, I can't tolerate the sound, and have closed gardening videos in the middle because there's a rooster crowing in the background.

Our parrot was kept in the foyer next to my room. The thing would go off before dawn, and when those things blast it out, it might as well be a fire alarm it's so loud. It would go on for hours. Living mostly in large cities as an adult, the times have been few and far between in which I could get a good night's sleep.

Our neighbors also had roosters. Luckily they were far enough across a long field that I could sometimes sleep through their crowing.

In cities, you have people firing up their leaf blowers fiendishly early in the morning, ignoring all ordinances to the contrary, and using them to make the sidewalks prettier whether they're dirty or not, a concern one can only assume must be of crucial importance to the welfare of society. And you have semi-trucks rattling along down the street and thumping through potholes, and motorcycles. At night, you get helicopters. Everything is so close together that you can hear your neighbors brushing their teeth. In the country and sometimes in the suburbs you have birds,chainsaws, weed whackers, and lawn mowers. Woe to anyone in either place who is anywhere near a freeway; you'll get the boom boom shudder boom of passing cars and their pressure waves rattling your windows all day and it sounds even louder at night when the rest of the world quiets down by contrast. There are not a lot of places people make it easy for each other to sleep.

My neighbors rooster isn't too bad, funny thing is he sometimes sounds like he has cotton in his mouth. I'd rather hear the roosters, hens or dogs over the traffic any day.

I wear those drugstore foam earplugs every night.

kauairosina wrote:Huh!  Our tourists get upset because our roosters crow at 3 am!! Maybe you have more civilized roosters.  I wouldn't know because when I take my hearing aids out I can't hear any of the noises that bother others, like dogs barking, sirens, and so forth.  Good on you starting your day early.  Ain't summer wonderful?

Rosina, there are some upsides at time to being hard of hearing.  I sleep through thunderstorms and telephones and most of high-pitched sounds. But my little dog can wake me with his bark so he would be useful in warning me of situations like intruders or fire.

I cannot imagine living in a city with the ceaseless noise of traffic.  I live in a cul de sac sourounded by trees and space and the only traffic are visitors to the few houses beyond me. I am separated from the railway track by the road, houses and trees between us so the occasional rattle of trucks is not noticable. My neighbours are quiet and the ones that do have parties are too far away to bother me. I am happy here.

When I see pictures of those monster houses in Vancouver taking up almost 100% of the land with about five feet of space between each of them, I feel so sorry for them. Also the miles they have to travel in their cars to get from  home to work and the time they have to spend and the opportunity to have accidents and so on and that happens every work day for years.  What a waste of one's life.

There are neighborhoods in Southern California in which people drive two and three hours a day, one way, to Los Angeles to work. So they're on the road for 4 to 6 hours a day in total. But it's the only way most of them can afford a house, so they basically sacrifice their lives to own it. The usual 8 to 10 hour day plus another 4 to 6 hours driving time barely gives you time to eat and do the occasional household chore before it's time for bed. Getting ahead in life is worth an awful lot, but your life can simply disappear entirely with that kind of commute.

As a 40-year veteran of Southern California, I can assure you that Marc isn't exaggerating.  

It's wonderful to be back in Oregon now.  It's peaceful, quiet, and no matter what the locals say, there's little traffic.  

I also despise those tiny building lots so popular these days.  For one thing, where's the space (and sunlight) to have a garden?  Each house shades the next.  Front yards are about the size of a postage stamp.  It's that way in newer developments, even here.  What are they thinking?  Or ARE they thinking?  

Guess its all in what you like.  Some folks down the street have huge 2 story 3 car garage monster houses that take up over half their yard.  Our home is less than 900 ft of living space tucked in the corner of our yard and our yard is like a park.  or jungle depending on who ya ask.  We spend time out side when those other folks are never seen.  Alls I can say is if they are happy I am happy for them.

donnainzone10 wrote:...I also despise those tiny building lots so popular these days...

Me too.  It makes me wonder if developers realized that the airlines' modern business model is the way to go:  cramming more people into smaller spaces equals bigger profits!

I wonder if these tiny lots will be the last opportunity to achieve the American dream of owning one's home.  Will the  next step  be large developments full of attached townhouse style buildings?

Perhaps we've gone full cycle and are beginning to repeat the past from 60-90 years ago:  I remember my grandparents living in older neighborhoods where the lots were small and the house took up most of it.  I'm also thinking of the many brownstones in NYC, and row townhouses in Phillie from that era.