FED UP WITH FACEBOOK

I usually don't post or share these blog post with other forms or social media i.e. Facebook or Twitter. However, I made an exception for my last blog entitled THE VOICE, and posted a link to it on Facebook. Evidently either it offended someone or it hit on a banned word or two.  But to make a long story short, the post was removed from Facebook and I got a warning message about posting inappropriate links in violation of the Facebook Terms or Service.

I'm Not sure how I violated the Terms of Service and send a message to Facebook. Almost immediately I got back an automated response almost identical to the original message. So I still have no idea what was inappropriate or how I violated the Terms of Service.

Then to compound matters, one of the administrators in a private Facebook group filed a complaint with Facebook that I was spamming the group. I checked and in past two weeks I had made a grand total of three post to the group, two YouTube links that pertained to the subject of the group and one photo that also pertained to the group subject. 

I also looked back and found that during the same two week period the same administrator who popped me with a complaint posted more than 100 times, anything from video links to links selling t-shirts and flags. 

I message the group administrator about the issue three days ago and have not heard back from her.  I don't think I will as it appears that she wants to hijack the group for her own personal use. 

Long story short it appears that I am in Facebook Timeout and while I have been able to read posts I am not able to post or comment. I don't know how long I will be in timeout but when/if it is over I am strongly considering ending my Facebook participation and moving on to something else. We will see what happens when I cool down a little. But never the less I will be leaving the closed group even if I decide to stay on Facebook.

With that being said, nothing much has been happening here and I have been staying close to home. I did make a little day trip down to the NASCAR Hall of Fame in Charlotte. While I am not a fan of the current NASCAR, I do enjoy looking back to NASCAR's glory days when men were men and cars were cars. NASCAR today is so sterile, with no character.

I did get the final Dallas Video edited and posted. In this video I attempted to follow the footstep of Lee Harvey Oswald immediately before and after the assassination of President Kennedy.  The only site that I did not personally visit was the Ruth Payne House in Irving, Texas.

I did visit Oswald's Oak Cliff Romming House, the site of the Tippit Shooting and the Texas Theatre where he was eventually captured.  I also managed to visit the the Graves of both Officer Tippit and Oswald. I think it is a pretty good video and hope you will take a look. Here is the link to the video.

Anyway I don't have a lot planned for the next few weeks. I will be just chilling at home editing videos and getting ready from my Amtrak trip to Arizona in the middle of October.

THE VOICE, THAT CALM ELOQUENT VOICE

When I first started blogging a few years back (This is my third and longest running blog) I made a decision that I would avoid politics and religion. I felt that these were the two things that are the root of most disagreements. I still feel that way but I am going to break my own rule just this once.

A lot of eyes were on the events in Charlottesville, Virginia this past weekend. I watched and what I saw was a bunch of people yelling, and shouting and I still don't know what they were yelling and shouting about. So what did they accomplish. And after a while I stopped watching and didn't want to hear anything they had to say much less try and understand them.

Now I realize these people in Charlottesville don't want solutions. They just want to yell and scream just to be yelling an screaming. But for the few people who really are sincere about finding solutions to problems then maybe just maybe we should just take a deep breath and take a step back. The people in Charlottesville are the problem, they however do NOT figure in finding solution simply because they don't want a solution. If you find a solution they have nothing left other than to keep being the problem. So when I talk about reasonable people and reasonable solutions I am not talking about the people who were in Charlottesville this past weekend. They quiet simply are only interested in destroying this country and are not worth the time of day.

I, like a bunch of other folks, wondered why are we having all of these problems. And then for whatever reason a simple answer came to me. And I thought back to my teenage year growing up in rural Southwest Virginia, when I heard a voice. No there was not clap of thunder or a bolt of lighting. No it wasn't a voice from above. It was a voice speaking on the old black and white TV. I don't know what it was about this voice but it was captivating.

I stopped what I was doing, sat down and listened to one of the most eloquent speakers that I have ever heard. The voice was clear, calm and distinctive. Correctly pronouncing every syllable of every word. As I heard this voice, I felt that this person was speaking directly to me. And I continue to listen.

Keep in mind this was by in the early and mid-1970's. There were no VCR's, no cell phones and certainly no instant rewind on the DVR. But every time I heard this person speak, I stopped what I was doing and I listened.

Also keep in mind that in the 1970's our country was dealing with something called Watergate, and our President would eventually be force to resign. But through these different times I would continue to hear that voice. That calm, eloquent, voice who would talk to me and talk to our nation. And each time I would stop and would listen. And I would continue to listen, and soon I began to listen to not only to the voice but listen to the words and then I began to UNDERSTAND.

No yelling. No Screaming, No vulgar insults. Just a calm eloquent Voice and I heard, I listened, and I tried to UNDERSTOOD. I may not agreed with everything that was said but, I heard the voice, but more important, I listened to the words, and I began to UNDERSTAND.

So over the weekend, it dawned on me that if it worked back then, it could work today. Rather than yelling and screaming and shouting vulgar insult at anyone within ear shot. Calm down, understand yourself, talk TO people, don't yell AT people. And who knows before long some one may really hear you. If they hear you they may start listening TO you.  If people listen, while they may not agree with you, they may attempt understand you. It they understand you they may just talk to you  and before you know it you will be having a conversation.

People are never going to agree on everything, but a calm conversation can bring mutual understanding which may bring results. It you talk TO people, and not yell AT people, someone may hear you, someone may listen to you and yes then someone may UNDERSTAND You.

What went on in Charlottesville this past weekend accomplished nothing. Absolutely nothing. Just a

bunch of people yelling. They may have been heard, but nobody really listened and certainly nobody even tried to understand.

Yes, I think back to that voice, that wonderful calm, eloquent voice of the 1970's and how I not only l heard but I listened, and most of all I tried to Understood.

The voice that had such a impact on not only a young teen but also of a troubled nation was the voice of  a congresswoman from Texas by the name of Barbara Jordan. And as Paul Harvey would say....Now you know the rest of the story.

But the story doesn't end there. This past March I spent the better part of a month touring around the State Of Texas. One of my stops was at the State Cemetery of Texas in Austin. There in the shadow of the Stephen F. Austin Monument, I stumbled upon the grave of Barbara Jordan. That eloquent voice of wisdom and calm from the troubled times of the 70's. What an honor it was to stand silently and pay my respects to this eloquent and graceful lady who meant so much to so many.

I invite you to listen to and hear the words of one of the most eloquent speakers that I have ever heard as she addressed the 1976 Democratic National Convention as its keynote speaker.

CATCHING UP

CASCADE FALLS

Since returning from my 8-day Kentucky trip I have been catching up on a few chores that I have
been putting off. First off a few days before I left for Kentucky one of the local cats decided to challenge a skunk in my drive way. 

I was sitting at home cool evening with the windows open, when about 10:30 p.m. I heard a commotion in my driveway that was followed almost immediately but the strong odor of a skunk.  I slammed the window shut and looked out and saw a cat and skunk in a turf battle right at my front door.

Well then next morning I stepped out side and the odor was unbearable both for me and my neighbors. My front door and my garage door had a large stain and the skunk has soaked both along with my sidewalk, driveway and bushes.

I made a quick trip to the store and picked up a couple of gallons of bleach and apple cider vinegar. According to a few post on YouTube spraying my doors with bleach will reduce the stain and then spraying the area with apple cider vinegar will help with getting ride of the odor.

I sprayed the doors with the bleach followed by a scrubbing it with soap and water and then sprayed it with beach again.  I then hosed down the entire area and and sprayed the doors, driveway and bushes with the vinegar.

I let everything dry and gave it another dose of both bleach and vinegar in the afternoon.  The odor was still pretty strong but the stains on the door were about gone.  Before dark I gave everything another heavy dose of bleach and vinegar.

When I got up the next morning the stains were almost all gone but the odor was still pretty strong.  I went back to the store and got more vinegar and sprayed everything again after scrubbing the driveway with hot soapy water.

After after three days of spraying and scrubbing the odor was pretty much gone by the time that I left for Kentucky. Or so I thought.

After being gone for 8-days when I pulled back into my driveway I could still smell the skunk odor. So I sprayed everything again with vinegar. Finally I got in touch with the HOA Maintenance Supervisor and they came by and cut my bushes way back and hauled off the debris.  This seem to pretty much eliminate the odor.

While I was in Kentucky I got an E-Mail from DMV telling me that it was time to renew my drivers license.  I would rather do just about anything than go to DMV. The DMV Office in Roanoke it absolutely horrible, anything under 2-hours there is considered quick. 

The Office here in Christiansburg isn't much better. So on a whim I decided to drive 30-minutes to the smaller DMV Office In Pulaski and take a chance on them not being so busy.  My trip paid off, I guess. It was a 30-minute drive up, and it took about 30-minutes to complete the process of renewing my license. Then it was a 30-minute drive back.

Total time for this little DMV Excursion was an hour and a half. Probably about the same amount of time it would have took me if I had just gone to Christiansburg.  But the bottom line is I am renewed and good until 2026. 

Since returning from Kentucky, Most of Virginia has been locked into a rainy pattern.  These storms that pop up in the afternoon and evening are common during the summer. What is not common is that when they pop up they aren't moving. They just sit and dump several inched of rain over the same area. 

Seems every evening Lynchburg and localities east of Roanoke along with a few places over around Bluefield have been hit with 3-4 inches of rain several days in a row. This has resulted in localized flooding. 

But the weather system that was causing all these issues finally move on and Saturday and Sunday have been just beautiful days.

Cascade Falls

Today was just too pretty to sit inside, so I drove over to Pembroke and hiked up to the Cascade Falls.  There is a $3.00 to park in the parking area, I began my hike up to the falls.

There are two different trail leading to the falls but due to all of the recent rain the Lower Trail was washed out and closed, forcing everyone to take the more difficult upper trail.

From the parking area, it is about 2.5-miles to the falls. The upper trail is more difficult because it is all up hill going to the falls.  The 2.5 mile hike takes me about 50-minutes, but I must say it was totally worth it. The falls are beautiful and there was a number of people swimming in the cool water in the pond immediately below the falls.

After taking a rest and spending about 30-minute in the cool area surrounding of the the falls it was time to head back. I must say the trip back was a lot easier as it was all DOWN Hill. The same 2.5-mile trip back took me only about 35 minutes.

So that was my week, I have really nothing planned for the upcoming week, but I am sure that will change. I'll just have to wait and see what lays ahead.