Horsing Around

Meet Lando. He's a silly horse.

My friend Kate is the proud owner.

Lando begs for treats by sticking out his tongue.

This was my friend Doe Do's first time visiting a horse.

Lando checks me out while I take his photo.

Kate & Doe Do posing with Lando. He loves the attention.

I promised Kate I would come and take photos of her and Lando.

A girl and her horse. Riding off into the sunset.

Doe Do was eager to visit the horse so Kate invited her along.

Doe Do spends time with Lando while Kate does chores.

The visit is over. Kate and Doe Do say goodbye.

I, of course, had to take an artsy photo while I was there.

The moon rises as we leave. Good night Lando. See you next time.

Additional Questions:
What & how many pets do you own?
How did they get their names?
Is the name random or a namesake?

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Bonus Material

Lando's Namesake

I've been promising Kate for awhile I would come take photos of her and Lando. It was a bit cold out, but we decided a few snow pictures would be neat. In Summer, I'll be back to take a few more photos of her and Lando.

It was also cool to see my other friend get her wish of visiting Lando. Its' something not many people in the city get to do. Doe Do was overjoyed and Kate was happy to introduce the two.

(To Be Continued This Summer)

F is for Friends

R.a.n.t. of day 04/07/15

F is for friends who do stuff together, U is for you and me. N is for any where, any time at all. Right? Okay, so that spells FUN. But the word friend is right in the phraseology. Look. This truly is an accurate description of what friends are. Someone who will do anything at any time with you, and have fun doing it. It doesn't matter the distance or the last time you did something, they are always there for you. Note: There is a distinction between any where, at any time and every where, at every time. So it's good to have friends. What is there to complain about? Why write a r.a.n.t. about friends?

The problem is, sometimes F is for fire that burns down the whole town, U is for Uranium bombs, N is for No survivors. Oddly, sometimes friends start living by this credo. Everything is drama with them, there is always someone they are burning down and no one is saved from their wrath. It can be daunting. These are the same friends who suddenly, and sometimes for no discernible reason, are no longer your friends. I call these Forgotten Friends. As if they forgot they were your friend. It's an odd phenomenon. Suddenly they are no longer there for you. Texts can go unanswered, phone messages will be ignored. A friend of mine recently returned a text I sent them with, "Who is this?" Did they forget who I was? I was shocked. Did they delete my contact? And why did they do so? I replied, "Sorry, I must have the wrong number". I assumed if they were just joking they would let me know, but I never received a text back. I later learned they were indeed joking. Two weeks later! Wow, that makes you feel special. I have a hard time understanding this. I might need help trying to figure this one out.

So, as a special treat today, I decided to call in my good friend Professor Sanee. For those unaware, she is the J.A.Scott Blog resident psychologist and humour expert. Below is a transcript of our Skype chat from last night.


Jeffrey Scott: Good evening Professor.

Professor Sanee: Good evening Mr. Scott.

JS: Tomorrow I'm preparing an article about friendships and how the loss of one can happen. I'd like to get your thoughts.

PS: Yes, I got your email. I've boiled it down to three main reasons. The first is no communication.

JS: Isn't no communication the result of a loss of friendship? (I was actually trying to make a joke).

PS: It would be more precise to say communication has failed completely with the loss of a friendship. But the loss of a friend starts with poor communication. For whatever reason, two friends sometimes talk less and less with each other. The reason for this can be one of two things. The first is misunderstanding.

JS: Who is that?

PS: Who is who?

JS: Miss Understanding. (I laugh at my own joke. She is not amused. For someone with a degree in humour, she sometimes seems like she has no sense of one.)

PS: Not Miss Understanding. Misunderstanding.

JS: Sorry, I misunderstood you.

PS: Did you want me to continue? We can tell each other jokes for the hour if you'd prefer. I know a great one about a deaf horse and a man in a gorilla suit.

JS: Sorry, please continue.

PS: As we've just demonstrated, sometimes misunderstandings occur. Usually, they are pretty small and petty, but sometimes it not or gets blown out of proportion. Unfortunately, ego's get involved and even if one person is ready to be forgiving, some times both are not. If one friend is unable or unwilling to forgive another for a past discretion, the relationship is tarnished. This results in poor communication, resulting in the loss of a friend.

JS: So what's the second reason for a loss of communication?

PS: Change my dear. People change over time. What is first important in a relationship at a young age, is not always important years later. If you find you and your friend are have less and less in common, you talk less and less. And that leads to....

JS: Poor communication?

PS: Correct. Resulting in?

JS: The loss of a friend.

PS: Now you've got it. So those are the three main reasons I've discovered for the loss of a friend. Change of interests, misunderstanding and poor communication.

JS: Well, I appreciate you taking the time to discuss this matter with me. It's always good to get a professional opinion once in awhile.

PS: I'm always willing to help. Will that be all?

JS: Yes, I think so. Thanks again.

PS: I'll bill you at the standard rate for our usual sessions.

JS: Oh, I thought this one was gratis.

PS: See what I mean? Poor communication. Arrivederci

She signs off Skype and I'm left wondering if she's joking or not. With Professor Sanee, you never know.

Some questions for discussion:
Have you ever lost a friend for some unexplained reason?
Ever have a humorous miscommunication happen?
Do you use Skype or something similar to chat with friends, family or colleagues?

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Professor Sanee resides in Italy
and teaches the course 'the
Ethics of Humour' at I.M.A.
She's also author of the book,
"Why Isn't Anyone Laughing?"

Abandoned

R.a.n.t. of week 11/02/14

It's an awful feeling to have. I think everyone has felt this at some point in their lives. And different people feel this emotion to different degrees. A child who learns it was adopted because it's parents abandoned it will most likely feel worse than a parent who learns it's child would rather spend more time with his friends. But truly, it always hurts, even if you understand the reasons behind it. As they say, life moves on.

Lately, I've been feeling like this within several layers. At times I'm able to deal with the stress from it all, other days, not so much. Next month It'll be nine years since my wife filed for divorce. Sure, I've been able to deal with that and have been able to move on, for the most part. But there is always some nagging feeling of abandonment when someone you once loved let's you know they are leaving.

Within the past year other things have taken place. One of my brothers has this annoying habit of reuniting with the family every so often, only to sneak away in the middle of the night because he can't deal with things. About two years ago my brother once again reconnected with the family. Most likely because my father was dying. However, earlier last year he did his Amazing Mumford routine and disappeared once again. I haven't heard from him since. He's one of those people who react impulsively to situations instead of sitting down and trying to figure out how to deal with it. So I'm use to this behaviour of his, but it still feels like an abandonment.

Another form of seemingly abandonment is when children finally decide to leave home. Last year, the ex-wife decided to move to another city about a forty minute drive away. No, that's not such a big distance, especially when we agreed to meet half way to exchange children. But within the past few weeks, both of my boys have taken jobs in that city. What this means is, the weekends I'm supposed to have my kids visit me, does not work now. So it can be weeks at a time till I see my kids again. One is still in school, one is not. So with school and work, it'll be a while till I see my youngest. My oldest is now working many hours, and as hinted above, would rather spend time with his friends. Yes, all understandable. Life goes on, life resumes, life continues. But sitting at home alone now makes me feel abandoned many times over.

Other thoughts on this topic include when friends drift apart. Either they are drawn to other people more, or they have stressful lives with too much to do. Friends marry, have children, additional responsibilities, concentrate on a burdensome workload or other matters to attend to and suddenly you are no longer as essential to them as you once were. You let them know you will always be there for them, but it becomes apparent they no long need your reliance. Feelings of abandonment are once again felt.

Yes, I know what you are thinking. 'You need to toughen up, that's life'. Of course it's life and I understand that. But like most of my rants, that doesn't mean I have to like feeling abandoned. Even if it's all in my head.

A Social Blight

R.a.n.t. of week 02/24/13

This weekend I was invited to a friends for dinner, along with two other couples and our children. It was the first time I've visited since he moved into the place. The evening was wonderful! After dinner the kids played outside while the rest of us chatted. For a while the girls talked in a group while the guys did likewise. During dessert, all us adults talked together, reminiscing about old times or relating tales of things we've recently done that not all of us have been included in. You couldn't ask for a better evening. For a brief moment, I felt I was living a 'Come Dine With Me' moment. Beyond the dinner, what really impressed me was how gorgeous their home is. The view they have is lovely *, even the drive to their home is impressive. The décor and design of the house was breath-taking. Certainly homier and more comfortable than my own.

Now that I'm done explaining that, you are probably wondering what my rant is this week. Perhaps it's jealousy, right? No. Not on my part, and I'll tell you why. I was also at another house this weekend. The drive to this house was along a main city street. As I walked upstairs, the steps creaked and the view outside was of the house next door. The family had a guest staying because his house was without working plumbing, so the apartment was fairly crowded. What's amazing is they were all seemingly content. How so? Because their house is considerably better than living in a Burmese refuge camp, where many of them are from. Granted, I don't speak the Karen language, but I heard several stories interpreted to me about some of the things they have experienced. I would have a hard tell writing them here without tearing up.

So no, I'm certainly not jealous. Jealousy is a social blight which unnecessarily destroys ones own happiness and joy. And what's the point of being jealous anyway? We all have things someone else will covet. It could be our health, finances, faith, relationships, endurance, talent, the list goes on. Instead of being jealous of others we should be appreciating what we ourselves have. And if you think about it, the more we work on appreciating what we have, the more others are likely to be jealous of us.




* The photo above may or may not be a view from my friends house. I'll let you decide.