Cowboy Bob Sorensen

This weblog will focus on my grieving process for a while, and I hope that it will help some people who are going through these things as well. Everyone grieves sometime, but not the same way. There is no "getting over it." Some of these will be short, some long. Music has power. It can influence moods and even cause excitement (such as with rallying songs chosen as anthems). Some become a part of us while others have poor lyrics that were only effective because of the delivery and production. Songs can take us back to times in our lives, both good and bad. I'll hear a song now and remember how Charlene liked it. Some make me think of her even if she didn't know them. She told me that she was playing mix CDs in her car that I had made her years ago. I had label and case insert-printing software, and had fun doing it. What is seen here may be the very first one I made for her. (The picture was taken in the lantern area of the Rondout Lighthouse, and it was quite a feat

On Wednesday, September 20, 2023, my beloved wife Charlene left this world to be with Jesus and loved ones who have gone before. I love her and will be with her again someday. A rather detailed version of what went on is here , so no need to do it all again. There is a great deal to learn about the grieving process, and it is different for everyone. Do not expect someone to get over the emotional gut punch and mental fog (especially with unexpected losses like mine) quickly. We have to experience it and learn to deal with it. Here is one way I am facing it. Esopus Creek near Mt. Tremper, Unsplash / Cowboy Bob Sorensen In September of 2022, Charlene and I gave ourselves an outing. We went on Route 28 to Mt. Tremper for some walking in nature and so I could get some pictures. (This is comparatively recent for me, partly motivated by the fact that newer smartphones tend to have good cameras.) Unfortunately, the Esopus was muddy from low rainfall . During this time, her back condition was

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Having had experience on both sides of the retail world — worker and consumer — and being observant, I have seen many disconcerting things in human behavior. One example was a boy running around with merchandise and hearing his mother tell the father, "I just gave it to him to play with while we are here." Great, Bratley ruins merchandise because feckless parents cannot keep him under control. There are people who just drop stuff anywhere, whether trying to be funny or having changed their minds. That is bad enough, but they also waste food; a frozen pizza does not belong in sporting goods! There is a video of a guy trying to show his "badness" while being recorded in the drinks section. He would open bottles, take a drink, and put them back . Sick jerk.  Grocery shopping, Pexels / Hobi industri , modified at FotoSketcher On the other side of the coin, you have lackadaisical employees who simply don't care about working to earn their pay.

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Some time ago, I wrote about being professional in the workplace , and that I got to know a worker at a big box store. He will be called Aaron from now on. Aaron sent me a telegram the other day, so I saddled up and rode into his town so we could talk about the item of concern. He had the day off so we met at an eatery for a leisurely lunch. While having coffee, he described the situation. Aaron's place of employment has a prairie schooner-full of folks in supervisory roles. While not all are necessarily his supervisors, they have superior roles and can give orders. Businessman, Pixabay / Goumbik There is a chain of command, as expected. One person is second in authority to the store manager, and was giving instructions at a store meeting. (You've probably seen meetings like this in various stores where employees are gathered for a few minutes in a large opening.) At the very end, "Chop! Chop!" was uttered. Aaron seems to be level-headed and no

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Here is a stylized picture of the White-Breasted Nuthatch that I (hopefully) rescued a few weeks ago. He* was being harassed by another of his kind, and when trying to fly away, smacked into the plate glass window on our porch. I was oh so careful picking him up and setting him on the grass below. These woodpecker cousins are so cute . It was extremely difficult for me to picture these 6.1 inch (15.5 cm. for those who do millimetrics) delicate birds trying to be big and bad. My Nuthatch photo modified with FotoSketcher When one is on the patio floor looking for suet crumbs, seeds, and nuts, he moves in short bursts. I took to calling him Scooter. My wife told me that I had just missed the thing she had told me about. A few seconds later, I saw it. Scooter didn't want to share the seeds on the floor with a catbird, so he spread his wings and rocked slightly back and forth. When my wife first told me about this action, he was trying to intimidate a much large

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen  Those of us who know about responsible firearm use cringe when we see displays of stupidity — one of which is firing into the air. Yee haw, bang bang bang! Maybe it is human nature to make noise when celebrating, but is it human nature to put the brain in neutral as well? Ammunition may be hard to come by, so that is one reason shooting guns in the air is stupid. Worse, though, is a simple thing called gravity. What goes up must come down. Old Hank Longfellow shot an arrow into the air and eventually found it in a tree. Stupid poem . Recovered al-Shabaab AK-47s, Flickr / AMISOM Public Information ( CC0 1.0 ). On an episode of CSI: Crime Scene Investigation , a man was under suspicion of murder for supposedly shooting his wife — outside. However, the damage and the angle of the wound were all wrong, and other facts didn't jibe. It was determined that she was killed because someone nearby fired a bullet into the air. Watching news reports or movies with idiot

by Cowboy Bob Sorensen You know the game, most of us played it when we were kids. Someone is selected to be the leader and everyone falls in behind for whatever journey happens. When it becomes hazardous, people follow at their own peril or wise up and drop out. Many of us play variations on it later in life. There may be a persuasive leader in a clique or someone in authority at the workplace. Sometimes it is friends, or mayhaps jumping in on teh interwebs. Follow the Leader, Wikimedia Commons / Doug Coldwell ( CC BY-SA 4.0 ) We easily see how professing atheists are control freaks, especially on social(ist) media. I have had several times when I posted on a biblical creation science topic, and a misotheist feels the need to disrupt things and hijack the discussion thread with demands for "proof" (mostly on a different subject altogether). There are Christians who think they are rising to the challenge and try to persuade the atheist that God exists or something similar, bu