Two Important Things Happened this Week.

For a man who runs a tree service and sells seasoned firewood, December is a busy month. There are trees to trim and firewood to distribute to restaurants and homes.

I was there in that tree service office while a young man in his late twenties was talking to Shawn, the owner. Shawn was sitting about 15 feet away while the young man stood at the counter.

The young man was explaining his experience with many different heavy equipment machines, along with a spotless safety record. You could tell by the way he talked that he had done everything he claimed. 

Shawn  asked a few questions, sized him up, and asked, “When can you start?”

“As soon as you want me to.”

It was Friday afternoon. Shawn said, “We’ll see you tomorrow morning at seven. Finish the paperwork and give it to my secretary, Bonnie.”

A qualified man met an employer in need and that’s all it took. Both men went home happy that night.

America  still lives … and works.

My 14-year-old daughter’s friend, Laura, is having to move out of her mother’s house and live with her father.

BUT her father is now moving to a new city, 26 miles away. Laura will have to relocate and start in another school.

She is in her first year of high school band. Mrs. B, Laura's former middle school band director, is married to Mr. B, Laura's new high school band director. 

So here are these two band directors who probably sleep 3 hours a night and … they offered Laura their home to live in. 

This is a life changer for Laura. When she eventually leaves her new home for a music scholarship, Mr. and Mrs. B will say that they gained as much from having Laura live there as Laura did. That may be true, but Laura really won on this deal.

God Bless a new job and God Bless a new home.

America not only lives and works … it still loves too.

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com

Aquarius. Insights into the Water Bearer

Aquarius, The Water Bearer

January 21 - February 19

You are honest, inventive, and independent. But those traits also come with a bit of contrariness, unpredictability and a somewhat detached personality.                     

Good with the bad, it’s always a trait off.

An Aquarian in traffic may capriciously change lanes without signaling. However, you don’t get emotionally involved or upset when the driver you just cut off, waves at you with one finger.

Aquarius is the god of Water. Don’t think you’re going to get far up that vacation road in the family car if you just washed down your blood pressure medicine with a big old tumbler of Sweeeeeeeet Tay.

Ye, of deep winter birth, are outgoing and friendly, but after the panhandler has thanked you for the dollar and said, “God Bless you,” that pretty much wraps up the conversation. No further intercourse is necessary.

Aquarians make good planners and musicians, but they especially like planning to become musicians.

Turquoise is your primary color. Several times in your life, you have become overly fascinated and obsessed with the syllable “quoise.”

In your early 40’s, neighbors observed you wandering through your empty house repeating the word, “Quoise, Quoise, Quoise”, laughing at how it sounded and made your mouth feel. That phase has passed and many of your friends have cautiously returned into your life.

Your birthstone is Garnet or Amethyst. What a cheap date that makes you. “Look, Honey. I got you this here Amethyst ring with my first week’s pay at the mill.”

Be careful during the first week of February when many Aquarians will listen to unscrupulous medical advice. A doctor may try to grab a senior’s annual Medicare deductible early in the year.

Schedule a screening colonoscopy since your ruling planet is Uranus. Don’t get ill in a crowded theater and yell, “Is there a Health Care Provider in the house?”

Paul Newman and Ellen DeGeneres were both born under this sign. They may not appear similar or share a commonality until you realize that Paul Newman preferred women and, of course, Ellen DeGeneres … 

Aquarian Oprah Winfrey is compatible with a Libra. In fact, the tabloids have romantically linked metaphysical spiritualist Libra Deepak Chopra and Oprah Winfrey. If you’ve ever had your tabloids romantically linked, then you know how good that can feel. 

Oprah cancelled her wedding plans when she realized that no one would ever watch ... The Oprah Chopra Show.

Remember. You are a Star, Even if it’s a Fallen-and-Can’t-Get-Up Star.

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com

25 Warnings That You Are Getting Older

Family album of your Father and Mother and Pets

There were a few more things I was going to say before I gave you this list of 25 warnings that you are getting, but I forgot them.

I know that is a tired old joke, but sometimes a tired old joke is what I feel like.

I have a notion that some of my worthy forgotten sentences were quite clever and pithy, enough so that many of the more intelligent readers would have remarked, “Say, I thought that old Mark Twain was dead, but here he is a telling us just how it is again. Maybe some sleepy air-traffic controller re-routed Halley’s Comet past the earth this morning just to give us one more classic bit of read.”

When I try to remember what I forgot, I lean toward a facade of braggadocio, planked with unrestrained hyperbole. It’s a much evolved form of masking. If those lost thoughts come back to me, I will be sure to add them in later and since all of you are getting older too, you might not remember any of this anyway.

So adjust your Craftmatic adjustable bed to READING position and enjoy these 25 warnings that you are getting older:

1. You take your shoes off near a chair so you can sit down when you put them back on again.

2. You have Arthritis and the name BENGAY doesn’t make you laugh anymore.

3. Your robe fell open and blinded the dog.

4. You remembered to feed the cat this morning … but you don’t have a cat.

5. You like baby showers because it means that there are new taxpayers coming on line to help pay for your Social Security benefit.

6. You get your daily aerobic workout at night while hustling to the bathroom.

7. When did potato chips get so hard on the mouth?

8. Has anybody seen my uh, hmm, lets see now, where was I when I. Now, what was I looking for?

9. The strained peas seemed awful spicy tonight.

10. That Pat Sajak and Vanna White make a cute couple don’t they?

11. I can’t get this pudding cup open.

12. I am going to sit and face west today.

13. I woke up late and had already slept through my morning nap.

14. I remember when milk was $3.75 a gallon, like it was yesterday.

15. Why are all these girl scouts singing in my room?

16. I need a flashlight at night to know when I stop peeing.

17. Why was my only grandson fluffing my pillow late last night over my mouth and nose?

18. You are too old to join AARP.

19. Start the Winnebago and point me south.

20. Your birth certificate is written on Papyrus.

21. The secret to living to 100 is to not let your children know how rich you are.

22. Nobody wants to sing Stephen Foster songs with you.

23. After you die, your hardened toenails will be donated to NASA to use as re-entry heat shields.

24. You like to do housework while listening to a good old fashioned John Phillip Souza march.

25. You liked the Bible better before that old meddling King James got a hold of it.

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com

Miley Cyrus Thanksgiving Dinner: Twerky and Un-Dressing

Late Breaking News

Twerky and Un-Dressing

On Thanksgiving Day, Miley Cyrus will be sitting down to some Twerky and Un-Dressing. Her entire family will be there, including her Daddy, Billy Gravy Cyrus.

Miley, however, will not be ingesting any mashed taters or biscuits because she is on a Low-Garb diet.

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com

Lions Kill Lioness.

Your birthday was 5 days ago. Take off the stupid hat
 or I'll give you one upside of your head

Recently, two male lions killed their lady friend in a Dallas zoo. They bit her neck and that was that. The zoo is investigating.

Often alcohol is involved in violence, but zookeepers say that the alcohol screen came back negative. Additional tests showed no evidence of recreational drugs. Even the Catnip test was negative.

Zookeeper spokesman Andy Seffner said, “I've never seen anything like this happen before. I’m kinda sorry I missed it. It sounds neat."

Jo-Jo was a loving mother and a respected member in the lion family. She recently celebrated her fifth birthday with a frozen cake … in her cage.

We all know, from watching the Animal Planet cable channel, just how thrilling it must be for real lions on the real Serengeti plains to stalk and run down a real frozen cake.

A thorough search of the cage found an unknown meat. The beasts were probably fighting over that fresh flesh. Antelope may have been involved in the violence.

Another theory on the assault is that the male lions have been watching reruns of Barbara Walters’s interview with Sean Connery.|

Both offending lions have subsequently apologized and have swallowed their pride.

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com

Cremation Warning Tips

Uncle Benny was cremated.
A Benny Saved is a Benny Urned

Discussing Cremation is a sensitive subject, especially if you are lying in a hospital bed with loved ones gathered, bickering over who gets to pull the plug. 

If you are grieving or dying, there are many avenues to get help for your pain and sorrow. There are also some streets and boulevards. 

Perhaps you can return to this article at a more appropriate time in your life to reflect on this humorous, yet sensitive, review of Cremation Services.

For the rest of you who are momentarily in between tragedies, read on. Here is the list of Cremation Warning Tips:

1. “I want to cremate my wife. Is that possible?”

“Yes, but Sir. She has to be dead first." 

2. Why does the Cremation Service share the same lobby and receptionist with the Tanning Salon?

3. The Ashes Scattered at Sea service is included in the price. There is an additional service charge for Ashes Scattered over Halle Berry.

4. A Cremation Services sign should not include “Always Preheated. We’re ready when you are.”

5. Cremation caskets can range from a cardboard container to a hardwood casket. Styrofoam boxes, however, are no longer available.

6. You can bring your own urn, but remember that Tupperware is “so yesterday."

7. It is in bad taste to include the telephone number and business hours of the Cremation Service on the Urn.

8. Only a small percentage of funeral homes have cremation units. Beware of the ones that have industrial crock pot facilities,

9. After the ashes have been scattered, please do not use the urn for next summer’s picnic potato salad container.

10. Cremation is not a substitution for a funeral and neither is a new chest freezer in the basement.

11. You can have the memorial service before or after the cremation, just as long as your check has cleared the bank. We also take MasterCharred.

12. You can view Grandpa’s cremation process but leave the marshmallows and sticks at home.

13. It is essential to remove pacemakers and other medical devices prior to cremation. Middle East cremation operators also need to check for unexploded vests.

14. Recent laws now make it illegal to use cremated remains as a gravy thickener. 

15. How hot does the oven get? Hot enough to dispatch the entire cast of The Biggest Losers in two hours,

16. What happens during the cremation process? “Well Sir, we usually start the body and then break for lunch.”

17. The Cremation Society on Rodeo Drive offers a Gucci Ashes Tote for your recently departed Shopped-Till-She-Dropped-Friend.

18. When picking up your loved one’s ashes, the clerk should not ask, “Paper or plastic?”

19. Solar Powered Cremation is still an unproven lengthy process ... and very smelly.

20. Avoid the facility located on the Andreas Fault called “Shake and Bake"

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com  

Who Does Not Love Ya, Baby?

Nobody Loves Me.

John Wilkes Booth

Your brother told you that Dad loved him better and you said, “We had a Dad?” 

The druggist sells you some birth control pills but says, “Why don’t you give these to someone who actually needs them?” This is the harsh reality of no love.

We only need 5 things to survive: Air, water, food, shelter, and a working TV remote control. That's really 6 things, if you count the television too.

I don’t like where this is going, but you get the picture: Love is not on the short list.

I'm not against love. Some of my best friends are in love, but then some of my worst enemies are also in love. On rare occasions, one of my best friends will fall in love with one of my worst enemies. Love is an equal opportunity affliction.

Unrequited love is responsible for huge sales in the Country Music industry. The more folks are unhappy, then the more tunes are going to be purchased and listened to. We can get this country back on the road to recovery if we can generate enough heartache out there.

So don’t ask what Country Music can do for you. Ask who you can break up with to help Country Music. Dump someone tonight, preferably before they dump you. It’s the patriotic thing to do.

Put on some Hank Williams, open up a six-pack, and reflect on these top 26 signs that nobody loves you:

1. Your mother blocks you from her Facebook account.

2. Co-workers keep sending your resume to North Korea.

3. You can only speak to your adult children through their attorney.

4. You caught your mail carrier smashing your mail box with a baseball bat.

5. The Salvation Army will not pick up OR deliver to your house.

6. The highway patrol waved you right on through to the washed-out bridge.

7. The flight attendant just tossed your carry-on luggage on the wing.

8. When you sunbathe in the back yard, vultures start gagging.

9. When you answer the door bell, the Jehovah Witness flips you off.

10. Your dentist tells you it’s really not necessary to see him every year.

11. You are fabulously wealthy but the 30-years-your-junior-dance instructor will still not commit to you.

12. “What do you take?” asks the tailor, “About a 42 long in a Shroud?”

13. Your wife keeps introducing you as “my late husband.”

14. Radio Shack does not ask for your address anymore.

15. Your dog wants a longer leash so nobody will see you walking with him.

16. Your roommate has been using your electric toothbrush in a romantic way.

17. Weight Watchers gives you a coupon for Jenny Craig.

18. The bus driver won’t accept your exact change.

19. The Army recruiter says, “Sorry young fella, but we’re all full up.”

20. McDonald’s gives you back a dollar if you get-it-to-go.

21. Your dentist says “Novocain is for babies.”

22. Your boss walks by and says, “Are you still here?"

23. Your daddy only plays catch with the little boy next door.

24. You have to wear hand-me-downs from your older brother, even though you are his sister.

25. You are a 14-year-old girl and no one wants to chat with you on-line.

26. You were driving through Florida in 1990 and Aileen Wuornos would not get in your truck. This is really funny, but you might have to look it up. 

Bob Simpson

Bobsimpson1947@yahoo.com