Posts Tagged ‘Lists’
Thinking Thinks
Some thinks I was thinking while walking the dog recently.
- Of all the great things in this world, think about a time when you blinked your eyes and they failed to open again for an awkwardly long time as sleep was trying hard to bring you under its spell. When this happens and you are free to give in without a care, it is just the absolute best. Let sleep win.
- With the wind blowing rather fiercely as I walk along the slippery, muddy trail, my eyes are fixed on picking a place for each step. High above me, I could hear the dramatic clacking of branches smacking into each other out of my view. Unnerving, to say the least.
- I have been seeing the tiniest hints of spring growth becoming evident throughout our forest. It seems like it takes a long, long time to reach this point, and then it seems like the growth explodes in a matter of days. That is the point when I wish I had accomplished more pruning in advance.
- No matter how much control I think I have over managing our landscape, the natural world is infinitely more complicated in its functionings. I cut and prune and sometimes plant things anew, but everywhere trees and plants are growing and dying in innumerable ways beyond my comprehension. We have a variety of new mosses growing on our pathways this year.
- I estimate we are just days away from being able to give the horses access to the back pasture and front hayfield for grazing. It’s a week later than we opened those gates last year. I wonder if the horses will run like they did that time.
- I’m contemplating the “No Mow May” campaign to help pollinators coming out of hibernation but I can’t imagine how my mower will cope with how tall and thick the grass will be by June if I participate. I also wonder if I can stand the appearance of neglecting our property. I take pride in keeping things looking well kept.
- It’s only been one week since Cyndie’s surgery but I’m deeply missing her company when walking Delilah. Cyndie would share her viewpoints on tending to property issues and possible improvements which helped direct our attention to what we should do next. I definitely miss splitting the jobs of feeding and cleaning up after the horses twice a day. I feel bad she doesn’t get to watch from up close the growth explosion of new buds and opening leaves. Our landscape will look so completely different by the time she starts walking outside again.
- If it wasn’t for Cyndie’s surgery, I probably wouldn’t be having so many solo thinks while walking Delilah. I would have to come up with something else to write about. Hee!
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Written by johnwhays
April 25, 2022 at 6:00 am
Posted in Chronicle
Tagged with blogging, Lists, No Mow May, property management, random thoughts, spring, thinking, writing
Ten Tidbits
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• When publishing a list, always put a quantity in the title.
• If there is no story to tell, a list actually tells a story.
• Not every clementine in a bunch is as good as all the others.
• A degenerating disc doesn’t need an obvious activity to begin to bulge.
• When ordering day-old chicks online, you never know when you might end up with a rooster.
• If the industrialization of our planet creates exponential increases in carbon dioxide in the atmosphere, the weather will get weird.
• History is only as interesting as the interest one puts into it.
• It is really nice to be able to work outdoors when sanding wood sculptures.
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• The most amazing thing about video recordings of interesting events that have occurred is that someone thought to record it at the time.
• Unexpected audio suddenly blaring unexpectedly when the phone is set on silent is a very unwelcome jolt to the senses.
• It doesn’t really matter how many tidbits you include when putting a quantity in the title.
• The pandemic won’t end all at once with some specific point, but will gradually disappear over time.
• Lists of tidbits don’t share that same trait.
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Written by johnwhays
March 12, 2021 at 7:00 am
Posted in Chronicle
Tagged with blogging, humor, life, Lists, living life, making lists, telling stories, tidbits
Meandering List
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It doesn’t all begin right here
How many things forgotten are saved in the top dresser drawer
Six moods experienced since late last night
All the ways to get from there to here
Pictures of full moons that I never took
Forests of trees that have been made into books
Random memories still around from elementary school
And dinner I don’t recall from several days ago
News constantly breaking that I don’t even know
Which obviously never matters to the actual facts
Feeling okay at the same time that I’m not
A morning paper that only occasionally arrives
Ageless illusions that shiver and fade like a carnival game
Favorite songs that change more often than socks
Walking just far enough to still make it back
Ecstatic energized laughter of a teenage girl on a road trip with her best girlfriends
The last gulp of water that leaves nothing but ice cubes
The way a singer’s voice breaks just right
Irony that gets missed so often it’s not
Sinking under the weight of waiting so awfully long
Noticing when bitter cold gets described as being “not terribly warm”
Savoring the flavor in our most favorite bites
Wishing for something that can’t possibly happen
That ubiquitous mug that holds so many cast-off pencils and pens
The unidentifiable sounds a house makes all by itself
Unquestionable adoration from a dog that would equally betray
Returning again and again for the same unexpected surprise
Thinking about ice cream ten times more often than actually eating it
Working the program with old school cool aplomb
Dancing when nobody is watching because that’s so much more authentic
Wishing it would rain so you didn’t have to go
Going anyway and having a better time than we ever imagined
Counting the ways until you forget what you’re counting
Looking at what’s right in front of us and recognizing the genuine still-life portrait we can see
The color of the sky during the minutes both darkness and light are visible
Asking the right question knowing full well the answer is all wrong
Arriving on time at the last chance saloon
Patiently listening even though they are talking too loud
Writing down each thought just as fast as it comes
Then breathing deep into that moment of falling fast into a restful night’s sleep
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Written by johnwhays
December 11, 2019 at 7:00 am
Posted in Creative Writing
Tagged with creative writing, free verse, life, Lists, poetry, prose, stream of consciousness, universal experience
Wondering Why
I’m wondering why there are so many people who are inclined toward fear.
I’m wondering why the water doesn’t flow off our property.
I’m wondering why I continue to feel connected to sport teams from where I grew up, despite the many ways they fail.
I’m wondering why people are so quick to polarize.
I’m wondering why I find it so difficult to achieve a full 8-hours sleep in a night.
I’m wondering why brains don’t crave healthy food with the same addictive urge as unhealthy food.
I’m wondering why Cyndie and I tend not to hear delivery trucks that drive up to our house and turn around.
I’m wondering why our pine trees keep dying.
I’m wondering why some dreams linger and others evaporate faster than we can struggle to recall them.
I’m wondering why radicalized extremist purveyors of peace and love don’t receive more recognition.
I’m wondering why fallacies and faulty reasoning are so easily and/or willingly taken as fact by some people.
I’m wondering why more people don’t speak out in the presence of overt bigotry.
I’m wondering why I don’t have a really great picture to go along with a list of wonderings.
I’m wondering why my computer at work suddenly doesn’t have enough RAM to run all the usual applications that I have always used.
I’m wondering why there is such a strong urge to provide answers to things people wonder about.
I’m wondering why rhetorical questions are so fun to ask.
I’m wondering why there seems to be a point where lists get too long to keep a reader engaged.
I’m wondering why I didn’t have inspiration to write about something other than wonderings right now.
I’m wondering why just thinking about love has power to build more love.
I’m wondering why some of people’s most difficult personal challenges tend to be self-induced and basically illusory obstacles.
I’m wondering why I decided to end this list of wonderings right here.
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Written by johnwhays
December 11, 2015 at 7:00 am
Posted in Uncategorized
Tagged with creative nonfiction, Lists, rhetorical questions, wondering
Things Listed
- Dead pine tree cut down
- Cut logs removed from the woods
- Lawn mowed
- Cat prowling for attention
- Hornet nests knocked down
- Compressor moisture drained
- Uninterrupted night’s sleep
- Trash picked up a day late on holiday week schedule
- Giant pink soccer ball inflated for horses
- Steaming hot compost pile turned
- Dog running off again
- Dog back on the leash
- Stone path finished
- Floor pads of 2 barn stalls removed for cleaning
- Horse blankets washed
- Windows open
- Furnace fan on
- Heat and AC off
- Netflix movie
- Make that two
- Housecleaning in process
- Grocery run, too
- Company coming
- September birthdays to be celebrated: 2
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Written by johnwhays
September 13, 2015 at 8:35 am
Posted in Creative Writing
Tagged with happenings, Lists, minutiae, trivial detail
Listing Away
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mosquitoes
cat vomit
summer finale
dishes in the sink
National Geographic magazine
Ritz crackers
chirping crickets
open windows
red and green LEDs
horse research
cold grapes
iPad Scrabble™
minutes passing
bedtime lapsing
sweat
coughing
TV actor with bad hair
weary eyelids
another turn
shark week
better letters
loving banter
idle threats
comfort zone
caller ID
leather couch
oscillating fan
itching bites
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Written by johnwhays
August 4, 2011 at 7:00 am
Posted in Creative Writing
Tagged with Lists



