Being Positive is Fun, Being Negative is Funk

Posted on 30/08/2025 by Grumpa Joe

Wow! It seems like forever since I last posted. So much has transpired. The baby steps that I used to tick off have stopped and that sent me into a sunk feeling. I like to say I am in a funk when I am feeling depressed. In spite of all the positive activity toward my goals I have been stricken with a slight case of depression. My self-esteem is low, and that always is a sign of depression. Some little thing triggered me into a funk. The funk is over, I’ve survived and now it’s time to BLOG again. How did I get myself out of the funk? Well first there is work. Good hard physical work. Thank God, I can still do physical work. That meant that doing my physical therapy exercises religiously and without complaint.

I drove to Pets Mart last week and bought ten good size goldfish for the pond. We can now see fish from our kitchen window, whereas before, the little guys were invisible. Everyday, Lovely and I throw a handful of fish pellets into the water to feed them. I want to train the fish to come to us when we approach the edge of the water.

Another powerful tool for getting out of the funk is to pray. I pray every night before retiring. I coax my sub-conscious into bringing me only good health, great stories, and abundance. Included is a request to help a bunch of people who need it. In the morning, when I walk, it is  another opportunity to pray and speak to God. I can’t walk without praying. It’s a habit I developed over the last twenty-two years.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the endorphins begin to kick in and the funk begins to disappear.

Today, I remembered signing up for writing school twenty years ago. I had hoped to improve my writing to become as good as the really fluid writers on the blogs I visit. Man are they good. I admire people who can write their thoughts clearly, concisely, and in a completely understandable way . They amaze me. How can some writers be so descriptive with their words and others like me are complete klutzes. Do you believe this, I’m writing myself into a funk just by giving someone unknown to anyone an “atta boy.”

I am not a klutzy writer, I do well. Even though others can write rings around me, I must concentrate on the positive in my life and not dwell on the negative. The negative, “or dark side,” can quickly envelop the “id” and predominate. We have to learn and practice being positive every moment of our lives. Being positive is much more fun than being negative. Funk rules the negative person.

Filed under: Funk, Garden, Motivation, Writer | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Older and Wiser, 17 Years Later

Posted on 29/08/2025 by Grumpa Joe

Wow! Too many projects with too little time to finish them. Does that sound familiar? Let me tell you something folks, it doesn’t change with age. As long as a person has his health, and mental faculties, he will continue to want to be a useful citizen of this earth.

Several years ago, during the election cycle pitting John McCain against Obama, a friend asked asked a question. As a conservative He was concerned because as a conservative, and the candidate aligned with his political philosophy was an older man named John McCain. He looked at me and asked, “how old are you Joe?

“Seventy,” I replied.

“Do you feel that you have the energy and mental capacity to be president?

“Yes,” was my answer. 

The real question in my mind is whether nature will be good to me, and let me keep my health and energy as I age. I fully intend to stay healthy, and today, I am reasonably healthy, but will I stay that way for much longer? I don’t know, neither do you. Only the Lord knows what is ahead of us. All we can do is, “Remember yesterday, Dream tomorrow, Live today.” 

So what if our current conservative candidate is old? He will select a younger Vice Presidential partner, who will rise to the occasion if it is necessary.  It is also a fact that young men die too. Many of them live a higher risk life style than older men, so their chances of meeting with injury or accidental demise is probably greater. Remember Christopher Reeves, “Super Man,” broke his neck while enjoying his passion, i.e. riding a horse. More recently, Heath Ledger died of too many medicines at one time. To quote Forest Gump, ” Shit Happens.”

 Life is filled with stories about people who die when they shouldn’t.

Instead of worrying about a candidate’s age, and his prospects for surviving life, we should concentrate on which political philosophy we want our kids, and grandkids to grow up with. We should be discussing our life values and the reasons that we believe in them.

My parents were staunch Democrats. They made one “X” under “D” on their ballot. They believed in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the saviour of the working class. Mom and Dad, lived through the depression, they blamed President Hoover for everything that went wrong with the economy. Yet, when I think about how they taught me to live, they were as conservative as the day is long. They never spoke of conservatism, but they lived it. They wouldn’t have understood what “Green” meant, but they lived more “Green” than any modern citizen does today. Their bottom line philosophies:

“If you don’t have the money, don’t buy it.”

“When you have land, you will always be able to feed yourself.”

Mom wasn’t talking about acres or hundreds of acres, she was talking about a back yard. She made our tiny yard into a farm. She raised vegetables, chickens, flowers, and some grass too.

“Never waste.” Mom knew how to mend socks, shirts, and pants. She knew the value of re-cycling hand-me-downs, and somehow we managed to survive without knowing we were poor.

“Welfare is for people who are worse off than we are.” My Dad would have hung himself before he accepted money from the government. He came to this country with the clothes on his back, got a job, learned English, took abuse from his co-workers, and managed to feed and educate three kids.

If you believe in big government, and the philosophy that Big Brother should take care of you, that’s okay. You should vote for the Liberal.

I happen to believe that the government is way too big, and the National Debt is out of control. If you want to tax me to pay off the debt, okay. If you want to tax me to pay for more social programs, go fly a kite.

I’m voting conservative even if the candidate is 101 years old. He’d be the much wiser choice.

I just turned eighty-seven, and I voted for an old man, who in my eyes is a teenager compared to me. I still feel mentally capable of doing the job, but I am a little slower than I used to be.

Filed under: Aging, Characters I knew, family, Garden, Memories | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

The Three D’s of Success: Desire, Determination, Durability

Posted on 28/08/2025 by Grumpa Joe

I once heard George Halas, owner of the Chicago Bears and the world-famous football team, say, “There are three D’s required to reach success.”

The first ‘D’ is for “Desire.” Without desire one will not achieve a goal. A person must have the goal imprinted deep within his mind. How often have we heard that we must record our goals? The simple act of writing the goal on a piece of paper serves to etch it into our subconscious mind. The list allows us to “see” the goal in front of us often. Each time we “see” the goal on the list it becomes more firmly entrenched in our minds. The constant reminder will churn within us a desire to achieve.

“Determination” is the second “D.” This is the quality that keeps us taking the baby-steps toward achievement. Determination keeps us focused and coming back to the goal after being steered off the course toward other pursuits. It is the quality that keeps us getting back up after a failure has knocked us down. It is the trait that will cause us to rethink the situation and create a new path toward success.

Finally, there is “Durability.” For a football player this is an important aspect of success. It means staying physically fit and in condition to take the hits and the falls that occur in the game. Though many of us will never play football, we still need durability to succeed. We need to remain physically fit, and mentally sharp. Physical conditioning is one way to achieve the energy levels and mental acuity that it will take to reach the goal we set. Physical activity increases the oxygen levels in the blood to give us energy, and allows our brain to function. Activity, gives us the thinking power needed to define the steps to take toward achievement of our dreams.

DESIRE, DETERMINATION, DURABILITY,

The three “D’s” of success.

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Lessons from My Grandfather’s Hermit Lifestyle

Posted on 27/08/2025 by Grumpa Joe

 

My grandfather knew how to live. Granted, he was a hermit, but he knew how to manage on a very small pension. My recollection of him dates back to when I was ten, he was seventy-two. He was living on a small farm in southwest Michigan. His house was small and without plumbing. It did have electricity and hand pumped water in the kitchen. Gramp’s pension came from working in a coal mine when he was younger. The pension wasn’t very much, perhaps thirty dollars a month. Somehow he managed to live on that amount. He smoked Camels, and drank an occassional bottle of beer. I never knew him to work. My earliest recollection of him does not include work at a job. He was sixty-two when I was born, so he was near retirement then. When he did retire, there was no social security, only his meager pension from the mine.

Gramps lived on a farm, but I never saw him plant anything. My mother always planted the garden. She also raised the chickens, pigs, cow, and a horse. Gramps just supervised.

Grampa Jim got the Hungarian language newspaper in the mail every week. His job was to read every issue of the paper from cover to cover. Most of the news in his paper was old, but it didn’t matter, it was all new to him, and he read the paper faithfully. He was a great socializer. Once or twice a week his friend John picked him up in a model T, around three o’clock in the afternoon. Together they drove the quarter mile to the corner store. This store was special. They sold gasoline, kerosene, groceries, and had a beer hall too.  Come to think of it, it wasn’t much different from today’s gas stations. Only the beer hall and kerosene is different. Gramp’s buddy parked at the pump and self served himself a gallon or two of 15 cent gas. Then went to pay and to have beer. The two of them sat in the beer hall talking over events. Nine times out of ten, Gramp’s beer outlasted his buddy’s.  Gramps had more than a half bottle of beer remaining when his buddy went dry. John had a wife so he beat it back home before she missed him. That left Gramps alone with his beer.  He wasn’t alone for long, because more customers came to the store, they checked to see if anyone was sitting in the beer hall. Soon, gramps had another party to chat with. He had company non-stop throughout the time he sat in the beer hall. Every one knew him, and loved to talk to him. Meanwhile his beer got flatter and flatter and flatter. Eventually, the bottle was empty.

On many days, gramps didn’t get home until after nine o’clock. By that time we were all in bed, and the house was dark except for the kitchen. Mom was still up doing chores while she waited for him.

When summer ended we returned to the city to start school.  Gramps was free again living his simple life. He did have to cook for himself after Mom left. I don’t think he ever washed a dish, only rinsed them off. While we were visiting Mom insisted he change clothes and she washed for him. His wardrobe consisted of what he was wearing and he wore until even he couldn’t stand it anymore.

Gramps loved the solitary life, but was always happy to see us come for a visit. He was equally glad to see us go home. When he got older, Mom convinced him to come into the city for the winter. He did, but by March he disappeared back to the farm where everyone in the township knew him, yet he could be alone when he wanted to, and he wore the same clothes for as long as he wanted, and eat greasy foods off of dirty dishes. He enjoyed the sights, sounds, and scents of his farm and nature.

Filed under: Biography, Memories, Writer | Tagged: , , , , , | 4 Comments »

Unscrew Your Sorry Ass From the Couch

Posted on 26/08/2025 by Grumpa Joe

What does it take to get you motivated? Do others provide your motivation, or are you able to get yourself going? Grumpa Joe’s Place will strive to give you hints about getting the juices flowing. Mostly, he will tell you about how he gets his own sorry ass from growing into the couch.

The fact of the matter is that no one can motivate you but you! You are the deciding factor in making positive things happen in your life. Others can only scare you into doing something. Fear is definitely an emotion that will drive us into action. Usually, it is fear of a loss such as a job, a loved one, or money. This type of motivation does work, but only temporarily. As soon as you are able to get out from under the fear you revert to your normal unmotivated being. 

Your best bet is to set some simple goals to start your engine running. Make them easy to begin with. Achieving easy goals will empower you to begin achieving tougher ones. Take the smallest steps possible, i.e. “baby steps,” to accomplish the goal. The Japanese call this method “Kaizen.” Their philosophy is “go slow fast.” If you don’t believe this system works, ask yourself why the big three automakers in the U.S. today are on the verge of losing it to a Japanese big three. The Japs are relentless in their pursuit of the goal. They have been working it since 1945, and will not rest until they have world domination in the auto industry. They have continuously improved their designs and manufacturing processes in “baby steps” to the point of making superior quality products that delight their customers.

You can do the same with your own life. Set yourself a goal that is measurable, achievable, realistic, and tangible.

Filed under: Motivation | Tagged: , | 1 Comment »

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