Small Irritations

 Our beautiful spring weather is blemished a bit by very cool nights (occasional frosts!) and lots of wind. Today is a bit warmer, but there is still that fresh wind out of the northwest that keeps the 70 degree temperature from being too warm for working outside.

I don't mind the wind except it's really troublesome if I'm trying to rake leaves or distribute mulched leaves for bedding in gardens. It does help to keep the black flies off, but they still manage to find me, and they are out in droves now. Also, after doing some brush cutting on Sunday on the hillside above my lawn to keep undergrowth from obscuring my stone walls, I found a tick hitch-hiking in my hair when I came inside. I captured him when he cruised onto my cheek. I had all but forgotten how pesky those little insects are, and was working in a wooded area totally ill-equipped to keep them off. From now on, I'll be more careful. Luckily, it was the only one I found, and I immediately tossed all my clothing into the dryer and gave my hair a good combing to be sure no others were hiding there. I'm so used to those little red lady-bug types landing in my hair from time to time, when I felt something moving, I simply brushed it away, but then I felt it crawling on my cheek. They are stealthy! I was limbing out some small trees in back of the stone wall, and I expect that's when I picked up the tick. I wasn't wearing a hat. Sometimes my small projects grow into more complicated ones. 

I hate being limited in what I can do - not only by black flies and ticks, but by an old, arthritic back and waning stamina. I also hate that I can no longer trust my balance well enough to trek into the woods over rough terrain. Or climb a ladder. But for all of that, I'm grateful to be able to stand upright and do the things that are still possible. 

However, I'm troubled that one of my blog entries - from 2016 - was recently taken down for "improper content" by google.com. It was a funny little story I'd found on the internet about Indians and weathermen, and I guess because it referred to Indians instead of Indigenous Peoples or Native Americans --  or perhaps it was the fact that it was a joke sort of story, with the joke being really about the weathermen -- it could offend someone. That was certainly not my intention. I thought it was amusing when I first saw and posted it, and re-reading it, I still think it was funny - and harmless. I'll never know the exact reason it was removed, but I am not going to attempt to republish it - that long ago, anything else in that entry would not be relevant now, if it had any real importance at the time. 

I think our culture is becoming too critical and too sensitive. Somehow, we've lost the art of combining mutual respect and good-natured kidding. I'm betting kids no longer chant, "Sticks and stones will break my bones, but names will never hurt me," to other kids who taunt them. My mother had several explanations for me when I complained about things like that: she would tell me either that (a.) it was because that person really liked me but didn't know how to express that, or (b.) you never know what that person's life is like; and if nothing else applied, (c.) consider the source and ignore it. It depended on the circumstances. Life was simpler then, and while there were really cruel, mean things said sometimes, our differences were usually settled on the playground without adult interference, and certainly not with guns or knives. And I never heard of any youngster committing suicide or even talking about suicide.

A friend said to me today that she learned early how to shrug off criticism from her friends, and as we recalled how vicious those carelessly slung comments sometimes were, but we agreed that we survived and learned from those experiences, and as adults, we were able to deal with life in general a lot better than some younger generations seem to be doing today. Definitely, there were not as many people going off the rails in the 30s and 40s as there are today. I don't know the reason(s) behind today's problems, and certainly have no idea how to change things or what the future holds in that respect, but the incredibly complicated rules of public awareness and political correctness are no doubt here to stay. Right or wrong, we'll learn to adapt. In the future I'll try to be more conscientious about what I say here.