Facebook message sent to Kroger from an elderly gentleman: "Facebook was down for about five minutes so I went and visited my wife. She seems like such a nice person."

It's another day in the blogger neighborhood and I bring you greetings from my electronic block to wherever you happen to be. We are embracing the day the Lord has given to us here on this Thursday, September 8, 2016. I know my immediate family always thought of me as being out of touch when I was glued to something on TV. I can remember them saying some crazy things to see if I was hearing anything. You know, like, "Hey dad, me and some of my buddies want to go for a joyride and smoke a little weed. Can I use the New Yorker?" I made that up but it was stuff like that. I suppose my wife has finally figured out a way to give some payback. She now sits and watches our regular big screen TV while at the same time she watches Netflix on her tablet. I never really saw her as a multimedia multitasker, but there she is. Earbuds from her tablet blasting away while she also is trying to keep up with American Ninja Warrior. Sometimes I say something just to see if she notices. She's even perfected something I thought I had trademarked. The wide-eyed "Huh?" She would say it's because she doesn't hear as well as she used to. I get that. The other thing she will tell you is that it would be hard for me to communicate when I am passed out in the recliner. Her Grandma Rawles had the best answer for that one, "I wasn't asleep. I was just resting my eyes." I think I might just resemble that remark. A little.

I'm seventy years old so I have earned the right to talk about these things. I have, over time, developed a tremor of sorts that causes my head to shake. Only slightly. My wife doesn't care for it at all. I read where 10% of all seniors over 65 have some form of shaking. I'm actually not even aware of it when it happens. She typically asks me very politely, "Why are you doing that?" Me, "Doing what?" Her, "That head shaking thing." Me, "Oh, that." I suppose I could give her a little of my really bad Elvis, "I said come on over baby, a-whole lotta shakin' goin' on Yeah I said come on over baby, a-whole lotta shakin' goin' on Well we ain't fakin', a-whole lotta shakin' goin' on." Based on our nearly 55 years of association, I'm 99.99% certain that would not be a good idea. I looked up tremors on the internet and found nearly 6 million hits. I started at the top. There were many categories of tremors discussed in the Tremor Fact Sheet. The intermittent involuntary type of tremor seems to be experienced by most people but not always noticed. It can be brought on by different triggers. For most tremors, there is no known cure. Speaking of triggers, I did love me some Roy Rogers and Trigger when I was a kid. I don't think there's any connection but it might be a good place to start.

You do know that I am poking fun at myself. Not others. I am well aware that involuntary shaking is a side effect of many diseases and some of them are very serious. I'm just trying to give you the developing view of what it means to be a 70-year-old still beating and banging on the keyboard. Speaking of keyboarding, my daughter-in-law recently said she foud it hard to believe that most kids are no longer taught how to type. She said watching them at a personal computer makes her nearly pull her hair out. I suppose with today's smartphones, tablets, and other electronic gizmos available to these kids, well, they just don't need to know how to type. They can't write in cursive. I guess if they decided to write something they would need to do a voice to text conversion, or print it on a sheet of paper and scan it into the computer. Who knows? I told her that most of these kids think they have developed blinding speed in their hunt and peck techniques. I do see them going fast on their tiny little keyboards but I have no idea what might show up as an end result. Here's an example of a text message from a parent to their teenager. Mom, "Your great aunt just passed away. lol." Son, "Why is that funny mom?" Mom, "It's not funny David, why did you say that?" Son, "lol means laugh out loud mom." Mom, "oh my goodness, I thought it meant lots of love. I sent that message to everyone and now I have to call them all. Oh my!" Now you know why I don't use lol. Have a great day and watch out for us septuagenarians. Look it up. May God bless us all is my prayer. Amen. ....More later.