Beech Tree News Network

My sister sent me an email message last week. Since she rarely emails, I quickly opened the message to find an entertaining bit of imagination.

The message was one that she had received and forwarded:

Deep down, we all knew the difference in a movie and TV cowboy, but we liked the movie cowboy better.  There were more romantic, ridin' down the canyon on horseback, strumin' a guitar, singing about tumbleweeds or cactus plants bloomin'.
The real cowboys got down and dirty; was kicked and smeared with seven different kinds and consistencies of "cow patties"---cow patties on his hat, matching the cow patty on his shirt.  The only time you ever saw dirt on a movie cowboy is when he'd been in a fight...although he seldom lost his hat.

“Chapter Two” is one of my favorite plays, written by one of my favorite playwrights, Neil Simon.   (It was adapted to film in 1979.)  The play is semi-autobiographical, and centers around Simon’s struggle to move on with his life after his first wife died.  In the storyline, Simon decides to try dating again, and gets caught up in a whirlwind romance with his soon-to-be second wife, Marsha Mason.  Simon puts on the brakes when he realizes he is still grieving the death of his first wife.  He says to Mason, “I resent everything you want out of marriage that I’ve already had, and for making

Perhaps all of us at one time or another has heard someone say, “Life is too short to ….” Yes, based on the Bible’s teachings, we see that our life on earth is very brief. David said, “The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years,yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away” (Ps. 90:10). James said, “For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away” (Jas. 4:14). Last week, we studied some on this subject. Today, let us conclude this study.

Why do your favorite stores always change their placement? I can almost guarantee that your favorite products aren’t in the same place as the last time you visited the store.  I can be sent to look for a certain product, and it’s honestly like a scavenger hunt.  I’m going down this aisle and that aisle.  I’m looking left and right.  All the while, the dye that I’m certain they put in the air is messing with my eyes.

A recent newspaper article reported that “driving in America has stalled.” Total vehicle use (the collective miles driven) peaked in 2007. Even though our economy has shown signs of recovery, auto use has not. The article described contributing factors for the decline and quoted economist Sean McAlinden as saying, “… I think it’s all economics” [Lowy, J. (2013, August 29). Americans’ drive time falls. Daily News, p. D1.]. Decreased driving may be symptomatic of a changing America.

Sometimes I guess we all wonder what makes people "tick".  Barney was one like that--Barney Barnheart.  Years ago, I worked with Barney at a chemical plant in Texas.  It was said Barney slept in a coffin--he lived by himself.  Actually though, he slept in a wooden box coffins came in"bought it from a local funeral home.  Slept warm, he said.  In winter he claimed it cut down on his heat bills.  We do know that wood is a good insulating material.

If you are having difficulty getting out of bed in the mornings, might I suggest the services of my granddaughter—for a small fee, of course.  I, for one, have found it almost impossible to sleep with a dinosaur in my ear.
    Most mornings, I’m up by about six, but once in a while, I get a Saturday when nothing is pressing, and I want to lie in bed.  It rarely happens.  My granddaughter is an early riser.  She shows up by my bedside with handfuls of various objects meant to persuade me to get up-and-at-em. 

Dear MTV,

Recently, I read that Linda Ronstadt has been diagnosed with Parkinson's disease and is unable to sing. Ronstadt was an outstanding singer, and her songs transport me to another time: the 1970s.