Things I Have Learned . . .

. . .Just Lately and Long Ago

That stray or abandoned dogs seem to know exactly where to come for consolation when wandering around lost.

I now know - and probably did then - why the captain of the ship carrying a bunch of soldiers to Scotland in World War II zigzagged for days on his long and scary trip.

I might have become a rich guy, or nearly rich anyway, if I had taken, after World War II, the advice of an old newspaper publisher to go to college and study to be a lawyer instead of a newspaperman.

That I never would have been a success as a wine and liquor inspector after taking a course in that field that included taste testing - hated the taste and still do.

That if I had been like my great-great-grandfather on the French side in the 1800s and fathered 23 children, I could have far outdistanced the lady in California who's mom now to 14.

That I could illustrate my blogs with pictures if I could remember the instructions Yarntangler had given me.

That in England back in World War II I could have done my traveling to visit hometown GIs in hospitals by driving a locomotive -yeah, a locomotive which was included on my British driving license.

Way back in the blizzards of New England I found out that using my snowblower was a wonderful way of clearing a driveway if I didn't blow the snow into the wind.

That I can spend at least five minutes in the cereal aisle of the local grocery store trying to find my favorite eats among 74 boxes on display with all sorts of names and pictures.

That I can occasionally teach some of the experts in certain manual labor fields tricks to move heavy items easily in ways from back in the last century when modern day equipment was still unknown.

That if I don't know now how to do something, I can probably find out how with a few clicks on the Internet.

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