Peary Perry

YOU CAN'T FIX STUPID...

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Sun, 12 Apr 2026 14:58:00 +0000

YOU CAN’T FIX STUPID---

I usually start thinking about these blogs a week or so in advance. It’s a hobby for me and keeps this old brain of mine moving and active. I was all prepared to go ballistic this week on the amount of fraud we are seeing in the news these days when an Amazon shipment arrived.

As you know I have started gardening and I ordered some buckets to put a couple of plants in for a while. Please note these are small buckets, but obviously due to some previous lawsuit they carried with them a sticker reading “DANGER DO NOT ALLOW SMALL CHILDREN INTO THIS BUCKET”

Now unless the ‘small child’ is under the size of a 10 lb. turkey, he or she is going to have a huge problem getting any part of their body in this bucket. Children smaller than 10 lb. turkey shouldn’t be wandering around outside by themselves anyway. Just saying.

So, looking around I got to noticing all of the ‘WARNING’ labels we see on the things in our lives. You and I both know these are the direct result of someone being major stupid and then suing someone for their own stupidity. Since we have a law firm on every corner it only proves that Americans will sue for anything, resulting in ‘WARNING’ stickers being applied to almost everything. Things that most of us with any modicum of common sense would be cautious about.

“Caution, Hot beverages are hot!” put on a coffee cup.. We all know where that one came from, don’t we?

“Do not use while sleeping” on a hair dryer. Duh?

This was on an electric drill. “This product not intended for dental use.” Bet that hurt.

I love this one… “Do not drive with the sunshade in place”. On a sunshade for car window.

“Do not use for ear plugs” on a container of silly putty.

The Rowenta Iron company must have had a lawsuit resulting in their warning of “Do not iron clothes on body.” Ouch!

Folks who have small children should not have any children if they require a warning that reads “ Remove small child from stroller before folding it.”

“Not dishwasher safe” on a television remote. Never thought about it.

“May be harmful if swallowed” on a hammer.

Peanut company has a warning to everyone.. “May contain nuts.”

“This product is not for weight control.” On a package of Life Savers.

And I saved the best one for last… “Caution, the contents of this bottle should not be fed to fish.” On a bottle of dog shampoo.

I have never been tempted to open the door on a moving train or unfasten my seat belt on a roller coaster. But I bet there are signs attached to those telling you not to do so since it is dangerous.

I truly believe that those of you who read my weekly musings will find these totally unnecessary and hopefully amusing. But I suggest to you that is it not sad to think that some of the very people who walk among us really do need information such as this?

At this point I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

See you next week…Peary Perry

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YOU CAN’T FIX STUPID---

“Caution, Hot beverages are hot!” put on a coffee cup.. We all know where that one came from, don’t we?

“Do not use while sleeping” on a hair dryer. Duh?

This was on an electric drill. “This product not intended for dental use.” Bet that hurt.

I love this one… “Do not drive with the sunshade in place”. On a sunshade for car window.

“Do not use for ear plugs” on a container of silly putty.

The Rowenta Iron company must have had a lawsuit resulting in their warning of “Do not iron clothes on body.” Ouch!

Folks who have small children should not have any children if they require a warning that reads “ Remove small child from stroller before folding it.”

“Not dishwasher safe” on a television remote. Never thought about it.

“May be harmful if swallowed” on a hammer.

Peanut company has a warning to everyone.. “May contain nuts.”

“This product is not for weight control.” On a package of Life Savers.

And I saved the best one for last… “Caution, the contents of this bottle should not be fed to fish.” On a bottle of dog shampoo.

I have never been tempted to open the door on a moving train or unfasten my seat belt on a roller coaster. But I bet there are signs attached to those telling you not to do so since it is dangerous.

At this point I don’t know whether to laugh or to cry.

See you next week…Peary Perry

Hit that “SUBSCRIBE ” button. It’s free and you will make this old guy feel good by subscribing.

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DO NOT BE---

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 02 Apr 2026 15:55:24 +0000

DO NOT BE ------

"Do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Let the day's own trouble be sufficient for the day." Jesus Christ

Wise words for all of us especially in times such as these.

The United States has a population of just over 345 million.

Now, consider these numbers:

People involved in politics at all levels of government- 519,682

People involved in the entertainment industry (media- movies- tv)- 4,400,000

People involved in academia all levels – 13,000,000

People involved in professional sports- 15,000

People employed by the government – 3,000,000

Total of the above = 20,900,000

This is .06% of our total population.

There are 1,450,000 websites in the USA.

Now look at how we form our opinions. We get our information from one or more of the above sources. We allow this small number of people to influence our daily thinking and create stress, anxiety, despair and worry over things we actually have very little control over.

We allow our brains to be filled with the opinions of newscasters, sports figures, movie stars and others who are motivated by influences beyond our knowledge.

Are they carrying a personal grudge or biases against some issue due to some event in their lives we know nothing about? Are they getting paid to slant their viewpoint one way or another by someone? Or worse, are they just ignorant of the facts since they did not care to fully investigate the entire situation from multiple viewpoints?

Diogenes, you may recall, lived about 300 BC. He was famous for carrying a lantern looking for an ‘honest’ man. So even this far back in time, men were searching for truth among others. Not any different from today, is it?

I suggest that we all heed the words of Jesus and save ourselves some grief and restlessness by looking towards the things and people in our lives that we can reach out and touch for their input and opinions. We can argue our points and listen to their viewpoints much more realistically than listening to some commentator or film star expound on something they know very little about.

Save yourself from worry and being anxious. Listen to those around you and let the others go.

It will less your anxiety and worry, trust me.

See you next week….Peary Perry

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WHO WAS FIRST?

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Sat, 28 Mar 2026 15:10:00 +0000

WHO WAS FIRST?

Necessity is said to be the mother of invention.

But I do not think that invention is the same as discovery.

Obviously, things were invented due to Someone figuring out that something needed to be improved on or changed to make it better. For example, Eli Whitney discovered a better way to gin cotton than the manual way which had been done for hundreds of years. Obviously, that's an invention. The same as the electric light bulb was an improvement over oil filled lamps and candles.

But what gets me is how people discovered certain things over the course of history that had to be thought out before implementation. For example, let's look at sheep, here we have a shepherd out in the field with his herd of sheep. Was he the first shepherd that looked at all of the wool growing on the sheep and decided...” hey I can do something with that” and then sheared it off and converted it into sheep's wool for clothing? The same thing has to be said for the guy that tested out shark repellent. I mean who was dumb enough to actually jump in the water with man eating sharks and spread some repellent around to get rid of them? Was this experiment #1 or experiment #10 and what happened to the first person?.

Old commercials used to use a young child by the name of Mikey and when kids didn't want to try something new, they would just say “let's give it to Mikey”. So, I am wondering if the same thing happened, for example with oysters. Did someone open an oyster and decide to give it to Bruno or Zog and say “hey how about trying this and see how it tastes”?

Obviously, bread was made once wheat was ground up and mixed with water and then heated. But who was the first person then came up with the idea of grinding wheat mixing it with water and trying to make bread with it? History doesn't tell us these facts, do they?

In addition, we have inventions which have been made by accident. For example the microwave. The story goes that an engineer was working on a microwave type device with a bar of chocolate in his pocket and he found that the waves from the microwave caused the chocolate to melt. Consequently, he carried the idea further and ultimately, we have the everyday appliance we use today in our kitchens. Same thing happened with the pressure cooker. Somebody had to decide that it would be a good idea to make a steel pot and put items in it and then heat it up without it exploding. I wonder how many people were injured or were killed before this became perfected?

The last item that I think confuses me as to who decided this was a good idea is the test for men for prostate cancer. Think about it, somebody had to be the first person to go to the doctor and have the doctor say “we've developed a new test” just bend over the table while I get my glove on. Who was the first doctor that decided to do this and who was the 1st person that accepted the doctor's opinion?

Men need to get start getting regular PSA checks at about 40. Prostate cancer is no joke; it is the 2^nd leading cause of cancer in men. Go get tested at least once a year.

These are the kinds of questions that I continue to research and hopefully we'll find the answers for you in the coming days.

As always have a good week and I'll see you next week. Peary Perry

PLANT PORN!

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 19 Mar 2026 16:26:08 +0000

PLANT PORN!!!

Napoleon once said…’Rest is Rust.’ He never shut it down until they put him on the island of St. Helena. Well, neither have I. Since I retired a couple of years ago, I find I have spent a considerable amount of time trying to find things to keep myself occupied. I cannot sit in a chair all day and stay glued to the television. I read 3 to 4 books at a time but even that gets old after a while.

I have made cheese, pickles, jam, and bread. Lots of bread. It has taken me about 15 recipes to finally find a bread recipe that I like and that turns out worth the effort. The bad thing about cooking, baking etc. is that you tend to eat stuff which you do not need.

When I was a kid I made model ships, airplanes of all sorts and sizes. I love glue. We had no place to keep them in our house, and my grandmother let me use a big glass cabinet of hers to display them. That was about my only hobby as I recall.

I don’t want to do those again, so I embarked upon an entirely new adventure.

I bought a greenhouse.

This venture has taken me into a completely new world. First off, I know nothing about growing anything, but I am fairly certain my success will be better than it was with an old jeep. What could go wrong?

I can’t make up my mind to grow flowers or vegetables. We buy lots of flowers and they are expensive, but carrots and celery are cheap. I have gotten comments about the fact that any vegetables I grow will be free of chemicals and pesticides. I suppose that’s true, but I am at a loss to think about how you grow only a small amount of peppers or squash? So, I am mulling these things over in my mind as I peruse various seed and gardening catalogs. So much to see and so little time.

Greenhouse gardening has many points to be considered that I had never thought of before. For example, I find that I am notoriously guilty of over-seeding! I never gave it a thought until now. If I must take an aspirin, I take two to make sure they work. Same with seed planting. The more the better. But now I find that is over-seeding and can lead to unnecessary plant bunching. And we wouldn’t want that to happen, now would we?

I find myself sitting in my chair at night drooling over new seed and tool products in very expensive catalogs. A month ago, I had no idea you needed different sized seed bottles to be accurate with your planting. What exactly is a seed bottle anyway? The internet picks up on what you are searching for and now I am besieged with web sites wanting to sell me something that has to do with things growing in the ground.

You’d be amazed at all the stuff they have for sale to plant. Who knew there were ten pages of tomato seeds or fifty kinds of chili peppers?

Well, at least it keeps me out of the bars and keeps me busy doing something useful.

And I don’t gain weight growing flowers…

See you next week….Peary Perry

SEND IN THE CLOWNS....

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 05 Mar 2026 17:53:00 +0000

SEND IN THE CLOWNS….

I don’t consider myself to be a Republican or a Democrat, I am an Independent.

So, today’s rant is not directed to any particular political party but to the institution of politics and government in general. When I see or read about various politicians of both parties getting indicted for various criminal acts but there isn’t any closure to the issue and it just seems to fall though the cracks, it hacks me off.

Those of you reading this would all be tried, convicted and put in prison if we committed these sorts of crimes. No questions asked, just do not pass go, just go to jail.

How many of us have received calls from folks pretending to be IRS agents or some law enforcement officer who has a warrant for our arrest unless we send them money or gift cards? Most of us, I would assume. How many elderly people lose their savings and endure grief over these frauds with very few of the total being arrested for their acts?

In 2024 there were over 850,000 reports of imposter fraud and scams reported to the government. There were 24 arrests made as a result. They could have gotten that many from just the calls made to my cell phone. Those ‘piracy’ notices you see in from of movies you watch at home? All those fake Gucci bags you see at the flea market? Resulted in 80 total arrests nationwide. 80?

In 2020 there were 1,571 arrests for IRS tax fraud in the whole country. They could have gotten more than that from our congress and government members.

Everyone knows it’s a federal crime to impersonate an FBI agent, but there isn’t any record of anybody getting convicted of doing this. They don’t post anything with their numbers.

Last year I was almost scammed by a guy in Chicago trying to buy a jeep I had for sale. He sent me a cashier’s check for the money but the whole deal looked and smelled suspicious. By the time I got through with it I found the check was a forgery and I would have lost the jeep. I took all of the information to the FBI in Fort Worth. Needless to say, I was not well received and did not feel as if they had time for an interstate auto scam. The FBI agent took all of my evidence (about 25 pages) supposedly to make a copy. I had paper-clipped all of these together and they were returned to me with the paper clip in exactly the same position, obviously they had not been copied. I asked him for his name so I could send him any later evidence. He said he was forbidden to give it out. I never heard from them again.

On several of these issues I have taken the time to write to my congressional representatives. Their letters in return are totally useless and say nothing. I assume some clerk mails these out daily with the content being so bland and vague as to cover every possibility you can name. I doubt any of you have ever received a letter from anyone in the government with any real answers to your inquiry.

My point is this, we elected them and we must deal with the results. These are our clowns, we did it to ourselves.

See you next week…Peary Perry

Ai SUCKS!!!

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 26 Feb 2026 21:48:10 +0000

Ai SUCKS!!!!

As you may know I am an octogenarian (someone over the age of 80) and proud of it. I asked Google what you would be called if you were in your 90’s and they replied ‘dead’.

Not the answer I was looking for, actually you can be called a nonagenarian’. I object to the first 3 letters of this word being the pronoun ‘non’. As in, not here or doesn’t exist.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste and unfortunately once you pass 50 years of age, you start the downward slide into the black hole of life. Your brain starts to shrink as you get older. This means you have less volume to store stuff into. So for me, it’s like I had a huge warehouse for all of my stuff and now I’m in an efficiency apartment.

You have stuff in there you may never need again, but we all realize that if you throw any of it away or try to forget it, you will certainly need it next week. Like that old tube of caulk that you had around for several years and threw it away last week and now you need a dab of it to fix a hole where a nail for a picture used to be.

With my brain shrinking, I’m afraid to put much more into it for fear I might push something out that was really important. Like that guy that kept the number for his 200 million bitcoin account on his computer and then forgot his password. If I had an account with 200 million in it I’d have that sucker written down in several places. On a rafter in my attic or in my sock drawer. Maybe write it on a bunch of pages in my bible. Note to readers who are part time or full robbers…I don’t have anything like this, so don’t come to my house.

To give you an example of how easy it is to lose your information, I bet most of you cannot remember all of the phone numbers you had to memorize before cell phones. Now we just know them as a voice prompt like ‘call office’ or you hit #4. My grandmother’s number was JA-22675, but I’m telling you I can’t for the life of me remember my kids cell numbers. Gone, just gone.

There is no way for me to know how old any of you are that read what I write each week. Obviously, I don’t do this for a living but just a hobby and to keep the old brain working on something all the time. A lot of my weekly rants are to fill you in on what is happening in the life and lives of us that are now old. I hope you don’t mind if I share these things I am experiencing with you. You won’t find any info here about hip-hop or the latest songs. You will only hear from me about this process I am going through.

One I hope you get an opportunity to enjoy yourself as well.

I just have to remember not to put too much information into my shrinking brain which might cause me to forget where I live.

See you next week….Peary Perry

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JUST KICK ME.....

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Fri, 20 Feb 2026 15:16:00 +0000

JUST KICK ME…..

As part of my civic responsibility, I feel it is my obligation to advise those of you much younger than myself of possible pitfalls they may encounter as they grow older. I consider these bon mots to be form of a ‘public service announcement’ and thus they are tax deductions as well.

So, here it is: under no circumstances, and I mean zero, zip, nada, nein should you ever consider doing the following at one time:

Purchase a new cell phone, buy a new computer and new hearing aids all in the same month. In order not to waste any of your time, I will shorten each of these to CP, COM, HA. You should be able to figure out each from now on without much trouble.

Each of these devices operate on a multitude of Satan inspired little programs or doors called ‘apps’. Which is short for APPLICATIONS or God knows what. The CP, COM, HA all have these little ‘doors’ which require you to use a password to enter them and actually be able use them.

None of these are compatible with one another. I have had my old computer for over 8 years. One of the computer gurus in some place called Silicon Valley decided that since it was working entirely too well, they needed to change it all up and generate some huge profits so they could afford another mega-yacht for their mega wealthy friends and relatives. You can see these photos of perfectly muscled young men and bo-toxed women in various degrees of undress lounging in the sun on one of their many decks scheming of a new method to drive us crazy trying to operate their new systems. You never, ever see any photos of their overweight uncle Fred in a Speedo or their 89-year-old grandmothers in a bikini on their boats, do you? No, never. And you never will.

So, back to my problem. All of the ‘apps’ have their own special requirement for entry into their little app doors. Some want only a set of numbers, some want a capital letter and a series of numbers, some need a capital letter, a small caps letter and a number and finally, some want a symbol, a capital letter, a small caps letter and a number.

Ok, so you think to yourself… ‘I can do this’. So, you enter #345Mainstreet, that should do it, right?

Wrong, it says that you can’t use a password that you used 5 years ago. I can’t remember what I had for breakfast this morning, how am I supposed to remember what I used 5 years ago? So you keep trying until you get one that works, but the problem then becomes…how do I remember it since it doesn’t make sense or is tied to something I can remember. So what do you do?

You get little book and write it down. But wait, this could fall into the hands of the enemy (your brother-in-law) and wipe you out. What to do?

So, you write it in code. Backwards or not using the first 3 letters or numbers. But then you forget the code and have to write the instructions to the code down but that could fall into someone’s hands as well.

This practice leads to your attempting to memorize these many different code words which you need so you can hear (HA) or call someone (CP) or pay a bill or get an email (COM). Not using the absolutely correct password then requires you to change your password at which time they will send you an OTP (one time password) to your cell phone which you can’t open since you don’t have a password yet. So, you send this OTP to your wife’s phone. This number might be 4 numbers or 8 numbers and you have about 23 seconds after it is received to enter it into the space on your phone or it will become invalid. This number can be resubmitted to you in the next 5 minutes, not any sooner. Meanwhile nothing gets accomplished in any way shape or form.

At the same time, those mega rich guys with their perfect mates are ordering more lobster and have their yacht moved to take advantage of the sun.

Later tonight at dinner, they will decide to change to password requirements to include a smiley face of some sort.

And they just lay back in their lounge chairs and laugh and laugh.

I hate these guys.

See you next week…Peary Perry

FIRST KISS?

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 12 Feb 2026 23:18:00 +0000

FIRST KISS?

So, the other morning, my wife and I were drinking coffee and somehow got off on the subject of our first kiss. Now, bear with me here, we have been married for 54 years and met 55 years ago, so we aren’t talking about last week here. This was a LONG time ago.

Oddly enough, she couldn’t remember, which was a surprise to me because I though women would always recall something eventful such as this.

I tell young men who are about to get engaged to be sure and record everything about the time you asked her to marry you. Get yourself a little notebook and write down a few of the following:

Time and place, weather, where you were standing or sitting, what you wore, what she wore, how did she wear her hair? How did you wear your hair? Did you have any hair? Did she have any hair? what you ordered if in a restaurant, how was it cooked? Was it gluten free? the waiters name, description of the waiter, where was the waiter from? what you thought of the meal, what kind of music was playing, was it loud? who was the president of the USA, what was the Dow Jones Index number? What flowers were in bloom at this time of the year, was she crying? Why was she not crying? Where you parked your car, did you have a car? Did she have a car? What kind of car? What color were the cars? Did the cars run?

Trust me, your time in writing down a few of these items will be of tremendous benefit to you in the coming years. You will need most, if not all of this information at some point in the future. Pay attention to my next point.

If you do not have this information when the subject comes up, she will make it up and you will lose the discussion. End of the story.

You cannot refute a statement without facts (or evidence) of your own. Because she doesn’t remember any better than you can, she will make statements that you are unable to correct without hard cold facts. It is also very advisable to place a date on your information so you can verify it’s authenticity and not just made up in the last few days.

You might refer to a historical event of some kind that you recall happening on the night you proposed. For example, if you said something along the lines of, ‘oh, yes of course I remember, it was the dinner at your parents house where your Uncle Fred fell asleep at the table and fell face down into the mashed potatoes.”

No one could forget that event unless Uncle Fred did this on a routine basis. In which case you need to tie the event into some super memorable news item that no one would ever forget.

“Godzilla attacks New York City, but is driven away by Batman” is an event you would likely be able to recall, but probably won’t happen. Ever. Again.

No, I’ll leave it up to you to tie your special day into something that won’t ever be forgotten. Use your imagination. Ok?

See you next week….Peary Perry

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BEWARE !!!!

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 05 Feb 2026 19:40:00 +0000

BEWARE !!!!!!

If you should ever get a notion (as I have) to be creative and make certain food groups of your own for your family, please be advised.

THINK VERY HARD ABOUT WHAT YOU ARE TRYING TO DO.

As you know I am now retired and thus far I have attempted several different food related experiences with a variety of results which I will gladly explain as a public service announcement for which I think I can get a tax deduction this coming year.

Number one, if you are planning on attempting to make any of the following:

Cheese, butter, bread, jam.

I suggest you take my advice and look at the cost of your labor and materials in much the same way you would when buying a boat that you only use 3 times a year when your brother-in-law comes to visit and wants to go fishing for ½ a day. It is not cost efficient.

Cheese- I can buy a block of good cheddar for $5.24. The gallon of whole milk needed for the same amount of cheese costs $7.85. You are already in the hole before you start. Then you need cheesecloth to strain, a cheese press and various and sundry other chemicals to help the process. These various chemicals have a shelf life of about 13 hours from the time they arrive until they expire, and you will need new ones which can only be bought from the Cheese Institute of the World. If you have the milk and your chemicals ready you must start the entire cheese process within about 45 minutes, or everything will automatically go bad, and you must start all over. If you do succeed you will be forced to wait up to 6 months for the cheese to ‘cure’ to see if you did the process correctly.

Thus, I am a no-go person for trying to make cheese again.

Butter- 4 sticks of butter cost us $4.18 and requires nothing other than peeling off the wrapper. On the other hand, a carton of whipped cream costs $5.54 and requires a stand mixer with either a paddle or a whisk and several hours of your time to make the same 4 sticks. I initially used the paddle attachment as the video shows and after one hour switched to the whisk and got a sizeable amount of soft butter which firmed up after being in the refrigerator overnight. It had zero flavor.

Scratch butter from my list.

Jam-a jar of strawberry jam costs $2.62. Enough frozen strawberries to make the same amount costs $3.00 each. I need two bags of it, so my material cost for a product I can buy at $2.62 is $6.00 before any labor is required. I can’t even calculate the cost of the sugar and other stuff.

Needless to say, unless you are the government, this is not a workable effort.

Bread- I have saved the best for last. Do not, I say again do not believe the recipes you get on a hourly basis from some guy in Boise about his ‘fabulous’ bread. He is lying to you and wants you to subscribe to his substack account for only $5.00 a month. He has been making bread for about two weeks. No, use the recipe your grandmother wrote down on the cover of a 1956 Sears and Roebuck Christmas catalog. At this point in time, I am about 0-15 on my bread making efforts. It either doesn’t ‘proof’ right or it’s too dense or the crust didn’t harden or any of about 25 other things. Rye bread at our store is $4.45 a loaf. Bread flour is $5.86 a sack, so you are on the downside right there. But even if the cost of the materials isn’t too much out of whack, there are several other things to consider. You need a Dutch Oven, not a English oven or a French oven. Only one from Holland. Mine says ‘made in China’ but Amazon says it’s Dutch. Who am I to argue with Bezos? Then you must have a banneton basket to proof it properly. I am wondering how native Americans and cave men managed to get their water temperature at precisely 110 degrees, no more no less? Then you have to have a ‘lame’ to cut the bread before baking. A regular knife or razor blade wouldn’t do at all.

If you have the proper equipment and if you hold your mouth just right and if the moon is properly aligned with Venus and your room temperature is not too hot or too cold, you may end up with a pile of dough you can put in the oven.

Trust me, it is less stress and heartache to just buy this stuff at the store. I know, I know you don’t have the mental satisfaction of actually producing something with your bare hands, but it leaves you time to explore other venues.

Like gardening.

I’ll keep you posted.

See you next week… Peary Perry

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"TOO SOON OLD"

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Fri, 30 Jan 2026 13:30:00 +0000

“TOO SOON OLD….”

We’ve all heard that saying…. “ too soon old, too late smart”.

I could be the poster boy for this quotation. It has only taken me some 83+ years to realize some vital thoughts about myself. “too late smart” indeed!

Yesterday, my wife and I drove to Waco, Texas for a doctor’s appointment. No big deal, no problem, just about 50 miles each way. Stopped and had lunch with some friends and came home.

Very peaceful and enjoyable.

I wake up this morning about 5AM and as I am drinking my coffee, I am thinking back about yesterday’s trip. What made it so pleasant?

It dawned on me (“too late smart” again) that I was engaged with my wife of 50+ years in conversations about everything and about nothing. No stress, no agenda, no pressure, just mundane words about everything you could think about and enjoying the day.

So why was this different than any other day?

For #1, I have retired after 68 years of working and #2 I don’t have a lot to worry about. The amazing thing is that it has taken me over a year and a half to come to grips with it and jus roll with the tide.

We don’t have any health issues, which is a major blessing in and of itself and our finances are ok for what we need. I can’t think of a thing I really need.

So, what happened?

Well, I think we (meaning all of us) live with such stress in our lives that we don’t know how to just stop and take a breath and relax. The pressures we put ourselves under with jobs we don’t like or work that seems impossible to produce along with the stress of family and friends’ relationships takes more of our time than we have.

We want to succeed in our work environment. We want our kids to be happy and successful. We want to maintain good, caring relationships with our extended family and our friends. But who has the time and energy for all of the stresses we put upon ourselves? All of us have the same number of hours in a day, don’t we?

But, fear not, Professor Perry is here to give you some words of wisdom for your use (free of charge).

Try and focus your energy on things you can fix and stop worrying or filling up your limited brain space with things beyond your control. You (nor I) can do anything about those folks in Washington D.C. except vote. We can’t do anything about the turmoil in other parts of the world either, can we?

We can be kinder to our neighbors, listen to our kids more and call or visit our old parents. After they are dead, you will regret not having visited more with them. Call someone you haven’t talked to in many months. Try and listen to them and encourage them with your support. Often you will find you are much better off than a lot of others out there which will go a long way towards making you appreciate your life.

In short, accent the positive and eliminate the negative. I think someone wrote a song about that.

Enjoy your time here on planet Earth, don’t wait around until you are too old to hug each other or take a simple road trip together on a sunny day.

The days go much faster the older you get.

See you next week, don’t forget to subscribe….Peary Perry

I NEED YOUR HELP

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Fri, 23 Jan 2026 20:26:00 +0000

I NEED YOUR HELP---

Several years ago, our pastor committed suicide. As you might imagine, it was a huge blow to his family as well as to our church. As a result, I wrote an essay about the things I see pastors doing for their church congregations that are not necessarily pastoral responsibilities.

I, for one, do not believe it is the pastor’s job to fix a flat tire for someone in the parking lot of his church if he is somewhat old. I do not think they should be called to a church members house to unplug a toilet. I believe any church would have someone with a plunger to take care of an item such as this. I do not believe the pastor or clergy member should have to take care of dressing, bathing, and feeding of an elderly member unless they just felt compelled to do so. But to be ordered to do so as a part of their job description is beyond the pale, as far as I’m concerned.

As a result of my pastor’s death, I wrote an essay on my feelings about these non-pastoral requests. In July, it was resurrected again by a Christian publication, and I was asked to verify my research sources and to update these as well.

I’m sad to say that in the 10 years since this event, the statistics have not improved very well when it comes to the life of a pastor or clergy member.

Their divorce rate, depression rate, hopelessness and loneliness rate are very much equal to the secular population as well. The percentage of pastors considering leaving their jobs is sad.

Think about it. You are a pastor of a small church in a small town. Who can you complain or share with about some problem that you are carrying? You can’t discuss it with any of your church members. I talked to one pastor who has been in the ministry for over 30 years. I suggested to him that in his time as a pastor, he had seen more dead people than I ever did as a cop in Houston. He agreed, and I asked how this affected him and was there any therapy or counseling for the stress he endured. He said there was now, but it just became available a couple of years ago.

Pastors are humans. They suffer and feel just like you and I do. They have families and need down time. Otherwise, they will suffer burnout and bitterness. Think about this: when do people get married? The rehearsal dinner is usually Friday night and the wedding on Saturday. Funerals usually occur on weekends in order to allow family members to arrive. What days off do pastors get? If there is a Saturday in there, then he has to work. Now, he realizes that is part of his job, but don’t you think he gets weary with it sometimes?

Revisiting these statistics made me think. We have an Alcoholics Anonymous, a Gamblers Anonymous, as well as many others. Why not have one for pastors and clergy?

So, a pastor friend and I created one. We started Pastors Anonymous on Facebook. It is a closed group for pastors and clergy only. It is a safe place for clergy of all denominations to go to and ask for help, advice, and resources from other experienced pastors and clergy. Doctrinal issues such as baptism, women preachers, etc. are not to be discussed. We want this to be a place to discuss industry issues such as addiction or depression or loneliness.

I will be the administrator, not a commentator, since I have never been a pastor.

Being a pastor or clergy member is a hard job and requires commitment and dedication. We need to support them as best as we can. They need us.

Please send this PASTORS ANONYMOUS Facebook page to any active or retired pastor or clergy member you might be acquainted with.

Who knows? We might just be able to help save someone and their family as well.

See you next week….Peary

WAIT UNTIL THIS HAPPENS --

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 15 Jan 2026 22:12:12 +0000

WAIT UNTIL THIS HAPPENS-----

As I’ve stated before, time flies like crazy. One day you’re 60 years old and the next you’re 80 years old. Your mind is still about 12 but your body is well over a 100. You are long past the stage where you would dare to yell out loud… ‘ hey ya’ll, watch this.’

So, my new cellphone arrived yesterday. I think I had my old one for about five or more years. I always dread changing one out since it is generally a pain. However, they have made many improvements since my last update and the transition is much easier now.

The problem that I now face is updating all of my ‘apps’ and the various setting I had gotten comfortable with on my old unit. I know where to find everything. Now, I’m completely lost and having to scurry around to locate the stuff I need for my daily chores.

Like texting, my previous version had a neat little icon of a book indicating the clipboard. That doesn’t exist anymore or if it does, I don’t know where to find it. What I see are little emojis with smiley faces or hands clapping or stars bursting overhead. I don’t need fireworks to wish someone a good morning. This has screwed my entire morning schedule up. To add insult to injury, it is now telling me I am using RCS for texting rather than SMS or MMS. I looked this up to see the difference and I guess I am on the most current one, but it does present challenges.

I also find that I need to adjust several items so I can actually read anything on my phone. First off, I need to adjust the font size that I use. The only that comes with this version is set on a font capable of being read by a 6-year-old child without glasses. I need BIG letters. The keyboard is way too small and needs to be adjusted, in fact it needs to be about double the size it is now. Using a magnifying glass to use your cell phone marks you an old codger and will be sure to elicit a few laughs at the restaurant or mall. I suggest you plan accordingly to avoid situations such as this. If you are in doubt as to what something says in order to read it, I suggest you learn a few phrases of a foreign language. French always sounds very sophisticated and impressive. You must admit that ‘‘Excusez-moi, je n’arrive pas a lire ceci’ sounds much mor elegant than EXCUSE ME, I CAN”T READ THIS, doesn’t it?

One of the most viewed ‘apps’ on our phone is the weather app. We have to check it multiple times per day instead of doing what we did 50 years ago by sticking our heads out the window to check for rain. This app is one of the more crucial ones that needs to be installed asap, why a hurricane could be brewing close by and we might miss it.

Another thing, even though we have a watch on our wrist, it is vitally important that we can read the one that is on the phone in LARGE numbers. We are more secure with the atomic clock time (whatever that is) than the time on the thing we have been carrying around on our bodies for 50 years or more. Thank God we don’t have to wind a watch any longer. Anyone reading this under the ago of 30 may have to ask for an explanation of ‘winding’ a watch.

My final point is this. In the ‘old’ days, new products came with instructions to be read and filed away with your toaster warranty and instructions. Now you have to point your cell phone to a ‘QR’ code, and it will lead you to the nifty 427-page instruction book. This is guaranteed to cause you to take a deep breath while looking for the part about learning to text and will require you to locate some adult beverages.

You may snicker as you read this and think none of this will ever happen to you.

But I warn you, be prepared, it will occur sooner rather than later. Some of you are still trying to set the clock on your old VCR, aren’t you?

Tune in again next week for more exciting episodes of “Living with the Elderly’.

If you like this or want to comment, please do so.

Subscriptions are free, so sign up today before I change my mind.

Pearyperry@gmail.com

WHY IS IT?

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 08 Jan 2026 20:42:17 +0000

WHY IS IT?

Why is that the older we get, the faster time seems to fly by?

When we were children, it seemed that it took forever for our birthdays, Christmas and vacations to come around, didn’t it? Christmas Eve lasted what? 3 days?

Now, I look at the calendar and see that January of this year is almost half over and the Christmas stuff needs to be taken down at least before Valentine’s Day.

I was just getting used to writing the year 2025 when BAM! It’s over and done and now we are into the new year. Where did the time go? It follows that old saying that ‘time is like a roll of toilet paper. The closer you get to the end, the faster it goes.”

I am looking back, and I swear, I cannot remember much happening between the ages of 60 and now 83…it went by in such a flash. One minute I was semi-old, then old and the next minute I am elderly. I think your senior discounts start to kick in about the age of 60, but I was so busy I didn’t even realize I had them, now it’s too late. I get more emails and letters for cemeteries and cremation than I do life insurance or sky-diving trips.

Apparently, you aren’t supposed to actually get old. If you will notice on most of the applications you fill out, the highest the age goes is about 65. Try those applications for auto insurance, they tend to stop early. I think when you get into your 80’s they put you into some type of special department that scans you more closely to see if you are an actual living human being that can see and hear a train approaching.

Try finding a new doctor at 80+ years. The paperwork is horrible, they give you 3 pages for your medications (large print) and 3 more pages to list your ailments, also large print.

If you don’t take any medications (I don’t) or have any life-threatening diseases or illnesses (none of those either) they get very suspicious of you. First, they want to know “why are you here?”. When you tell them you want to get a checkup on your general health, they want to know ‘what for’.? When you arrive they look at you with those same kind of looks you get when you want to open your safe deposit box….those “why do you want to do this” looks.

I think they aren’t used to seeing old/elderly/ancient people who are actually in pretty good shape after 80+ years still walking around and talking without drooling. It destroys their systems, how is this possible? We are supposed to be dead by now. What happened to this guy? What was his secret? What does he know that we need to know about? What is he not telling us?

You know I am just pulling your leg. I know what I was doing all of these many years. I do know that they have been eventful and exciting even with the down times and the valleys we all go through from one year to the next. The high points and the mountain tops make it all worthwhile. I wouldn’t change one thing that I’ve done throughout all these years.

Well, maybe one or two things….perhaps three.

See you next week….Peary Perry

MY MOTHER------

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 01 Jan 2026 17:38:00 +0000

MY MOTHER----

My mother was 17 years old when I was born. By the time I was old enough to leave home, she was 39, so I never got much of a chance to really get to know and possibly appreciate who she was. We differed about many things over her lifetime. Politics for one. I tend to vote for the person I thought could do the best job. She voted for the candidate with the best hair. Therefore, Kennedy got her vote over Nixon, who she thought looked ‘sneaky’,

Our most argued issues were over how to raise children. Since I was an only child, she only had me to deal with for experience. We have 4 boys, which creates a different situation altogether. I don’t think she actually wanted to be a mother in the first place. Hence, I am an only child, or perhaps she was afraid she would get another one like me. Why knows? I never got a chance to find out.

I once asked her that if you had 1 child, how much love could you give them? She replied 100%. I then asked if you had 2 children and she replied 50% each. Since we have 4, she thought we were only capable of giving each 25%. I tried to explain that love multiplies, not divides and therefore we had 400% of love to give. She could never seem to grasp this concept.

But it’s true, isn’t it? As a parent, you are only as happy as your saddest child.

You cheer for their successes and weep for their heartaches your entire life.

My children are all grown men, some approaching social security age, but they are still my boys no matter how old they become. I worry for them when they are traveling or away from their homes. I am concerned when they are sick or having an operation.

It’s what you do. It comes with the territory and you never grow out of it.

I am not nor have I been a perfect father. I think I did the best that I could based upon the life experiences that I had to work with. There isn’t (to my knowledge) a book that someone wrote to tell me how to react to situations that arise at this point in my life. Someone once said that ‘today is the first day for the rest of your life’. They were right, on one hand you know your children are fully grown and you can’t fix or change anything about their personal situations at this time of their lives. For one thing, they don’t want you to do so.

But it still is an ingrained virtue of being a parent to desire only the best for them at the cost of every part of your being. What parent wouldn’t throw themselves in front of a speeding bus in order to shove their child out of the way?

I cannot take credit for any of my sons’ successes, nor will I accept guilt for their failures. They had theirs and I had mine.

I just need to go into this new year with the idea in mind that life is full of peaks and valleys that change from day to day.

I just must learn to be more patient and accept what I’m given. No matter what.

See you next week…Peary Perry

AND THEN I REALIZED ----

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Mon, 29 Dec 2025 15:30:00 +0000

AND THEN I REALIZED, I WAS-----

Sitting in an easy chair with a hot cup of coffee watching my three great granddaughters open their Christmas presents, I began to realize…I was happy and having fun.

When was the last time you had fun? At some point in our lives our friends came to our doors to play for the last time, and we didn’t even think about it. What happened? When did we stop playing and having fun?

I know, we all got caught in that thing called life. Making a living, nose to the grindstone, shoulder to the wheel, eyes on the prize, all that other nonsense. And along the way, we got so consumed with ourselves we forgot to just stop and smell the roses. My dad used to tell me…’Don’t send me roses I can’t smell’. It has taken me a long time to figure out what he meant.

I remember being in Korea (after the war) and the people were so poor. No television, no telephone, no cars, no banks, no department stores but they were happy. They smiled and laughed and talked to each other and I thought to myself….how is this even possible? Don’t they even know what they are missing? I mean we have credit cards and lawn mowers ….I don’t think I ever saw a lawn much less one that needed to be mowed. I went to a Korean wedding once with food that was unbelievable and dishes I never asked what they were before I ate them. Several of them were fantastic until I found out what was in it. The event lasted all weekend and even though most of us couldn’t understand a word of the conversation, we had the time of our lives.

No, somewhere between then and now, which is a long, long time, I forgot to have fun and play. Like most of us, that are waiting until we can retire to enjoy life. Why shouldn’t we be enjoying every day that passes as if it were to be our last one?

Last night we sat down, popped some popcorn and watched a silly Christmas movie. My cheeks hurt from laughing this morning. When is the last time you switched off the doom news channels and watched something that made no sense but made you laugh? I bet it’s been a long time.

When’s last time you drug those old Monopoly games or Clue out of the closet and asked your neighbors over to drink coffee or wine and just play some games, no heavy talk, no television just communication with family or friends.

You were doing that very thing when your neighborhood pals knocked on your door to ask you to ride bikes or play ball with them. You talked, you laughed, you forgot about school or the yard you needed to mow, and you had fun. You were happy.

Don’t quit just because you’re old. Wear funny hats and clothes, no one cares any longer about the things you do when you’re old. They just think you’re going through your second childhood.

And that’s a very good thing, isn’t it?

Merry Christmas, Happy New Year…see you next week Peary Perry

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 18 Dec 2025 18:59:31 +0000

HOW MUCH IS ENOUGH?

Two authors, Joseph Heller and Kurt Vonnegut were at a cocktail party hosted by a very wealthy person. Heller asked Vonnegut ‘How does it feel to know this guy makes more money in one year than you will ever make in your lifetime with your books?’

Vonnegut responded by saying ‘He will never have something I’ve got’.

Heller was caught off guard and asked…’What is that ?’

Vonnegut replied..’Enough’.

So, how much is enough?

We see families of very wealthy people torn apart even though they have more money than they can ever spend. We read of lottery winners who are tormented by their massive riches and it’s responsibility and are broke again in a few years.

I say again, how much is enough?

Who needs or can use 15 cars, or 15 houses scattered over the world?

Who has 150 or 200 close ‘friends’ to occupy those vast buildings or otherwise they would seem cavernous and very lonely?

I have been around a number of wealthy friends over these past 80+ years and believe me when I say, they know who the suck-ups are and those who only take and mooch never giving in return. Most of my wealthy friends were also paranoid in thinking that everyone only wanted to be their friend for access to their resources. They found it exceedingly difficult to truly trust anyone.

If you are wealthy enough to own 15 cars and love to collect them as a passion, then good for you. I appreciate the fact that you have the resources to do this, but more things mean more potential issues, doesn’t it?

What does it take to keep them operating, how to secure, how to maintain, how to insure?

Owning a boat is the same, here comes a hurricane, watch out. Divide the number of times a year you actually go out in your boat by the amount of money spent for insurance, upkeep, fuel, food and dock fees. Better yet, don’t do that, it will only depress you.

I have a friend who owns 2 Bentleys, I love him like a brother, but he has to worry about where to park since jealous people key his car if it’s in an unsecure place. He pays extra for personal parking spaces in crowded areas. No one bothers an old truck, and we get there just the same, don’t we?

We watch those old English movies where the waiters or staff are always standing around waiting to pour the wine or another heaping amount of asparagus. I wonder if they really acted in this manner or is this fiction? It would seem weird to me to have servants listening in or hearing our family or marriage discussions. Besides, who wants to eat dinner dressed up like you do for a funeral? I eat dinner some nights in my pajamas. I suppose that would be frowned upon in many societies.

Now that I am retired, I find I am vastly over clothed. This means I have too many suits, sports coats, dress shirts and power shoes. I probably need 1 suit and sport coat and a good pair of black shoes. I can’t find any place in a town of 257 that requires me to dress up. Blue jeans, boots and a long sleeve shirt just about covers any place within 100 miles of here.

Same with our house, we have 1 guest bedroom. So, no more large groups can stay with us. But you know what? We get to know people in smaller groups than we did when there were gobs of them for the weekend. You have time to talk and share and actually hear other people who are really conversing with you.

I am a blessed man, I have enough.

See you next week, Merry Christmas…. Peary Perry

PARDON ME, BOY....

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 11 Dec 2025 22:34:00 +0000

PARDON ME, BOY----

You would think that life with age gets easier and better, wouldn’t you?

Well, Bunky it doesn’t seem to be that way at all. In fact, I think I am more confused now than I was 40 or 50 years ago.

For example, is coffee good for you or bad for you? How much exercise is enough?

Do I need 4 hours or 8 hours of sleep every night? Are cell phones dangerous to my brain or not?

What in the world are microplastics and what can I do about them?

On top of all of this nonsense we have a new term to deal with, which is cultural appropriation. This current trend seems to suggest that I am only supposed to observe or use the customs, morals and practices derived from my native county.

So, my question is this? What is my native country?

I’m an American mutt. My last name really gives you no clue as to where any of my folks came from. If your name is O’Reilly, Gomez, or Goldstein you might have a idea as to your family origins. Even the name such as Smith or Miller can be traced back to some craft or trade that your ancestors were involved with.

But Perry? Where was this and what did it derive from? Oh, I’ve done the Ancestory.com thing and gotten a paper that says I’m part Scottish, German, English, Irish and Nigerian? Like I said, I’m a mutt.

So how is a mutt supposed to act if he can’t go to a Mexican or Chinese restaurant since he isn’t from that culture? Is this what they mean by cultural appropriation? I like those foods. I always have. I can’t think of any food from any country that I don’t like. I had Russian food one time in New York City and I hope I didn’t make any Russians mad when I paid for the meal. They didn’t seem to object one little bit.

Is St. Patrick’s day only for the Irish? How about Cinco de Mayo?

We are having a national discussion aboutt immigration in this country. I am not going to get into the pros and cons of this argument at this time. Face it, we are a nation of immigrants and isn’t it better for all of us to learn about the culture of those around us? Doesn’t that make us better able to understand others that are from different countries and backgrounds?

At this stage of life, I suppose I am too old to change my habits. I am going to continue to eat tacos and corned beef and even borsch if I want to do so.

They will have to throw me out and refuse to take my credit card. Then I guess I will be stuck with bread and jelly or dog food, for the mutt that I am.

Aren’t we all a bit ridiculous sometimes?

See you next week….Peary Perry

SOAPBOX #1

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 04 Dec 2025 17:27:00 +0000

SOAPBOX #1---

You know what they say about opinions…’everyone has one’.

So, here’s mine for this week. You are welcome to comment back to me if you want to discuss.

Anyway, all of us in this country (except for the Native Americans or Indians) came from some other country at one time or another. It might be of interest to you to know that before the America revolution, England sent their convicts to Maryland and Virginia. They started sending them to Australia after we won our independence. So, those of you in those states might not want to go back too far on Ancestry.com and be surprised that your great+ grandparents were pickpockets or worse. Might put a damper on that Mayflower story you’ve been passing around for years.I have no problem with immigration if it is done legally. Aside from the 100,000 or so convicts sent from England, I am fairly certain most of our ancestors came in the legal way, not just walking across the border.

So how does this relate to todays opinion piece?

Well, here’s how. In today’s news there is a story about an old guy (88) named Ed Bambas of Brighton, Michigan. Old Ed worked for General Motors for over 20 years and lost his pension when the GM entity went bankrupt in 1999. He is a ex-Army veteran as well. He lost his pension and his health care. His wife was sick, he sold everything, and she died 7 years ago. Now he works at a grocery store 8 hours a day, 5 days a week to support himself. A reporter heard his story and set up a Go Fund Me page for him at gofundme ed bambas. They have collected over a million dollars for him so far.

Good for them. Good for the folks who have chipped in and tried to help.

But my question is this….how many more Ed’s are there in our country who are in similar circumstances? How many have lost their pensions or life savings after years of hard work?

We are having a national debate at this time about the illegal immigrants living in our country at this time. I have no idea how much they are supported by the taxpayers. Do they get housing, food, cell phones and health care? We cannot absorb the population of the entire world.

Don’t we have an obligation to take care of our own citizens first? Shouldn’t we be looking to help Ed and others who have paid taxes and served in the military before we fund someone who entered into our country illegally?

I am in favor of regulated immigration for those who want to contribute to our way of life. I am not in favor of providing everything needed for their existence to those who do not want to work or assimilate into our culture and society. We need to provide for more people like Ed and less for those who want a free ride forever and who actively despise our nation and it’s ideals.

That’s my opinion and I’m sticking with it.

See you next week----Peary Perry

pperry@pearyperry.com

WHO NEEDS IT?

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Fri, 28 Nov 2025 18:16:19 +0000

WHO NEEDS IT?

I think it is fair to say that the majority of the folks reading my blog were born before the advent of so-called ‘artificial intelligence’ Many of you, like myself, were born before cell phones and computers were in everyday usage. Charles Lindbergh thought that “The evil of technology was not in technology itself; Lindbergh came to see after the war, not in airplanes or the myriad contrivances of modern technical ingenuity, but in the extent to which they can distance us from our better moral nature, our sense of personal accountability."

So, I think old Charles was onto something in that our current technology is removing us from developing closer relationship with one another. Look at what we are dealing with on a daily basis, cell phones, computers, television, cameras of every shape and size. Today I am besieged with advertisements for a ‘bird buddy’ that will allow us to see what each bird is doing when they come to our feeders to eat. I already know what they do, they stick the birdseed in their little beaks and fly away to poop on our cars. We have cameras that tell us if anyone is on our property and if they ring our doorbell. We can be in China and our phones will tell us who is on our front porch. We get the weather reports for the entire world from a multitude of sources. Most of it is useless since it changes by the hour, but we still look at it, don’t we?

Our ovens talk to us and tell us when we need to come and take out the pies or cakes. I have seen refrigerators that have computer screens to tell us what items are out of date or what we need to buy. What happened to a plain old pad and pencil for a shopping list? I will admit that the GPS in my car has been one of the greatest inventions ever. Moses could have certainly used it and would have saved himself forty years of wandering around the desert. Paper maps are strictly from the devil himself in my opinion.

I was wondering if anyone compiled a record of the injuries caused by walking and texting on your cell phone. Well, Bunky guess what? The Readers Digest reports that over 11,000 people are injured each year in this country by walking and fooling with their cell phones at the same time. This should be a lesson to all of us that cannot walk and chew gum at the same time. The National Safety Council estimates that cell phone usage causes 1.6 million accidents a year in the good old USA. They also say they think this is a severely underreported number since the majority of people will not admit that they were driving and using their phones at the same time.

So, my question is simply this: since the invention of the internet and cell phones, have our lives vastly improved or have our lives gotten worst? I think we need to do a Ben Franklin evaluation of all of this. Yes, we have seen many things greatly improve our lives such as medical devices and medical discoveries. We are able to communicate with anyone, anywhere at little or no cost. We can obtain vast amounts of information about virtually anything at any time we like. No more trudging down to the library to look up some needed facts. But we do seem to have increased the gap between each other at the cost of face-to-face conversations and discussions, haven’t we? We definitely need to not be on our phones when we are walking or driving. We also should shut them down when we enter into a conversation with our kids or friends. Phones and computers have a purpose just like a hammer, but they are tools, nothing more, nothing less and should not be the central point of our lives.

See you next week---Peary Perry

WHO KNEW ?

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 20 Nov 2025 15:28:02 +0000

WHO KNEW?

162 years ago this week, Abraham Lincoln gave us the Gettysburg Address. As you might recall he also gave us this famous quotation, “Don’t believe everything you read on the internet”.

That quote may very well be false, but these days who knows.

They say that history is written by the victors, which may very well be true, and this is what is causing all of us so much anxiety these days. The folks who conquer countries or nations get to write their story as they like to without any opposition.

It is virtually impossible today to know what is or what isn’t truth. The advent of so-called AI or artificial intelligence is leading us all down the primrose path to eventual stupidity.

Who can tell what is real or not these days?

You might recall a Greek philosopher in about 300 BC named Diogenes. He was reported to be searching for ‘an honest man’. I sincerely doubt if he could find one in those troubled times. Anymore than he could find one in this day and age. Lots of luck doing that.

But isn’t that what we all are trying to do in this day and age. Looking for something to be honest and truthful? And it seems to be harder and harder to accomplish each and every day, isn’t it?

Now we have to question each and every piece of information we receive and try to determine if it is true or just make believe. The other day, for instance, I saw this NBA basketball game being played atop a stadium built on top of this very tall skyscraper in Dubai. The quotes from people included one that stated, “you could actually feel the building swaying.” Now the graphics and effects were very realistic, and I started to look into this only to find out it was all make believe.

My question, is why go to all of this trouble? They weren’t selling anything or pushing me to subscribe to anyone that I could see, so what is their purpose? For fun? Who knows?

Anyway, rather than getting my panties in a wad, I have decided to view the news and internet the same as I do a novel. Pure fiction until I can prove otherwise. I will trust but verify anything I read from now on. Those ‘feel good’ blogs and ‘reels’ that show lost kids who become brain surgeons and save the guy who gave them a sandwich thirty years ago or the lost dog that pulls the children from a fire. I will read those and cogitate upon them for what they are or might be. I will view those with a grain of salt and smile or laugh or cry in the right spots. But I will not be consumed by something that I cannot verify. News or not.

Maybe real, maybe not.

Who cares, it could be real, it might not be, so why get all upset over it and ruin my perfectly good day? There you have it for this week.

See you next week…Peary Perry

I'M DYING HERE------

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Fri, 14 Nov 2025 13:35:00 +0000

I’M DYING HERE------

I’m living in the middle of a hay field and why am I surprised to have hay fever? In Houston, I had ragweed…in Austin, it was cedar. It seems as if the entire globe has some thing or another that sets me off. If I was living in the Sahara Desert, I imagine I would sneeze, snort, cough every ten minutes due to the abundance of sand.

Last Sunday we went to a doc-in-the-box and got three shots of something or another. I’m pretty sure I would be disqualified for any Olympics games at this point, but I do feel better. The positive thing that has happened during all of this is that I have started on our Christmas decorations. The new tissue boxes are all done up in festive colors.

Retiring is a mindset that you have to get adjusted with. I know lots of people who have told me, ‘when I retire, I’m playing golf and fishing every day’. I don’t know of anyone who ever lived up to that statement. Perhaps they are out there, but I’ve never seen or heard of them. Even now, I like to stay busy, and I enjoy myself without having goals or deadlines to meet. It’s great to work at your own pace and actually have less stress than the workplace. Try it for yourself.

I started working at fourteen, my first job was cutting up melons at a watermelon stand. I got fired after the first week since I was cutting the slices too large to suit the manager. My second job was a caddy at a country club in Baytown, Texas. I think this had a lot to do with my attitude towards golf for the rest of my life.

I hated it.

Number one, I never saw a happy golfer. They always seemed mad about something or another. Secondly, I knew nothing about the game and here is some adult asking me what club to use for this shot as if I knew. Then yell at me for picking the wrong iron or wood. How was I supposed to know you shouldn’t use a driver to putt?

I don’t have time to describe all of the various business opportunities I was involved in after I got out of the army and the police department. I’ll get around to those at some later date. The rest of my pre-adult jobs were mostly paper routes, grocery stores and service stations. Paper routes were ok, but when it came time to collect each month, you came to dislike those who avoided you for payment. When you rang the doorbell and the curtains moved, you knew they weren’t going to fork over that $3.50 again that month. Bagging groceries in paper sacks was not bad. Most of the customers were nice and tipped well. It was only those who wanted to stand over you and berate you on their method of double bagging and how canned goods were always placed and the bottom and the bread on top. As if I didn’t know that already.

All of these jobs gave me lots of positive experiences in learning how to deal with people and handle their individual characteristics. It helped me when I became an adult.

Do kids today even have after school jobs and if they do, do they learn anything from them?

I wonder….will have to check into this. Keep reading.

See you next week----Peary Perry

GIVE IT UP....

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 06 Nov 2025 18:27:16 +0000

GIVE IT UP…..

So, go back in your mind when you were young and think about the stuff you moved from one apartment to another. It probably could all fit inside your car or truck. Not much at all. We were kind of like nomads carrying our stuff from one place to another, weren’t we?

Now come back to present day and open your eyes, what do you see?

Stuff. Junk…crap you will never in your lifetime ever use. You bought that handy corn on the cob shucker, didn’t you? Used it once and threw it into the ‘things I’ll never use again drawer’. That nice Ronco slicer/dicer that takes longer to set up than it does to cut up some carrots and celery, into the drawer. Along with those knives you bought on sale that went dull after using them twice. But in your mind, you think you will get around to sharpening them someday.

Keep dreaming because it will never happen.

Recipe books? Who needs them anymore? Remember all those Junior League books you bought with all those pretty pictures that you never used? Your version of a coconut cake never even came close to the one on page 54. Your forks and napkins were nice but that’s about as close as you came, wasn’t it?

The Tupperware starter and master set of 36 containers that you have stored in the overhead cabinet over the stove. A cabinet you cannot reach without a ladder from the garage. Just sitting there, year after year doing nothing or anyone any good whatsoever.

When we downsized for our move to the country a year ago, we were faced with a serious dilemma. Move from a 2500 square foot house with a huge garage and lots of storage to a 1500 square foot house with a 250 square foot storeroom. It’s plenty big enough for us.

Most of the stuff we had to get rid of were things we didn’t really need. Or missed once it was gone. I can’t think of one thing I wish that I had kept.

Being married for over 54 years brings 108 birthdays, 54 anniversaries, 54 Mothers and Father’s Day gifts and multiple vacation and other mementos. School annuals? Who needs them? I can hardly read what anyone wrote much less make sense of their comments. “I’ll never forget THAT night” signed Ace. Who was Ace and what night is he referring to?

Your kids are grown and married, it’s time for them to come and get their letter jackets and school crossing certificates. Those finger painting pictures they made in first grade have got to go as well. Your mother’s favorite china dishes she never used because she was saving them?

Why and for whom was she saving them? Why haven’t you used them? Your kids don’t want them, or they would have gotten them by now.

Toss em’. Give them away to charity. Let someone else try to figure out what to do with it. In 10 or 15 years, maybe longer they will be asking themselves the same questions?

“What do we need this for?”

See you next week…Peary Perry

I THOUGHT I COULD....

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Mon, 03 Nov 2025 19:48:00 +0000

I THOUGHT I COULD-------

I really thought I could be a substitute teacher at our local high school. I volunteered of my own free will. No pressure or threats from anyone but myself.

Boy was I wrong. I grade myself as a ‘F’ for the day. What was I thinking?

This was in no way shape or form ‘generational gap’. This gap was the Grand Canyon times two.

I was trying to get an idea of the relative ages of their parents, grandparents, and great grandparents, if they had any.

Their grandparents were in their sixties. I think I made my first mistake by stating that I was graduating from high school when their grandparents were being born. This was where it started to go south on me. I don’t think I have ever seen so many high school students with complete looks of shock on their faces at one time.

At this time, they began to look at me as if I were an alien from some distant planet. I am certain they are trying to figure out just how this ancient artifact of a human is still standing, much less trying to converse with us. Perhaps they were afraid I might just die in front of them, and they were asking themselves if they remembered their CPR class.

One of the students asked if I was born before the internet? I popped off and said, ‘I was born before television’. Right then and there I knew I had lost them.

Instead of seeing someone standing in front of them as an ex-military, ex-cop macho type of individual, I think they put me in the category of Tim Conway in the ‘little old fireman’ skits he used to do. I think they were surprised I wasn’t drooling.

Now I am wise enough to know not to try and insert their slang phrases of the day such as 6-7 or others currently popular expressions. But you would think they would give me credit for (1) being alive and breathing and (2) able to converse in complete sentences and answer any questions.

I wasn’t asked any questions other than ‘can I go get a drink of water?’ or ‘can I go to the bathroom?’. Lots of these all day long.

I will say this, they were all clean and as polite as they can be at this age. I just don’t think they have ever had to answer questions or formulate any opinions in front of someone as elderly as me.

The other thing that I noticed is the softness of their voices. This is the first time I have had to use my new hearing aids in a room with twenty-five other highly active people. I turned them up as high as they would go, but that only made matters worse. I heard every pencil drop, chair move and other noises while trying to comprehend what some youngster was trying to say about two feet away. I am getting them retested next month.

Then I will try again.

See you next week…Peary Perry

PASTORS ARE PEOPLE TOO...

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Thu, 23 Oct 2025 19:56:33 +0000

Contrary to the belief of a lot of church-going folks, pastors are not hired servants.

They are servants, for sure, just as police officers and firefighters and nurses. But they are servants of God and, as such, are here to help each of us to garner a better understanding of how we can glorify God and please him.

The pastor is not there to wait on us. The pastor is not there to unplug our toilet or change our flat tire. The pastor is there to help with our spiritual needs the same as a nurse helps with our medical needs or a police officer with our legal issues.

Pastoral salaries

Pastors have families and need downtime. Our churches must require our pastors and their families to take vacations and time off. They cannot be treated as robots to hop and jump for our pleasure.

Is your congregation aware of the salary being paid to your pastor? Is it enough for the pastor to live on? Is the pastor stressed due to financial worries? If we get stressed over money issues, have we ever thought our pastors might have the same problem as well?

What can we or our church do to help them?

Our churches give millions of dollars annually to various ministries across the globe, but look at that 15-year-old car our pastor is driving around in. What can we do to make driving safer for the pastor and the pastor’s family?

Weddings and funerals

While we are at it, what days off does our pastor have?

Let’s see, weddings usually take place on Saturdays, with rehearsal dinners on Friday nights. Funerals often are on Saturdays, as well. These are scheduled for the convenience of the families, to allow for their family members to travel for the event.

While these might be joyous in the case of weddings or sad in the case of funerals, the pastor may not know the participants and probably doesn’t feel the same emotions as the families, especially if the pastor has lost a day off.

There’s also the matter of paying pastors an honorarium for services rendered. In many cases pastors receive little or nothing for performing weddings and funerals on their days off.

Of course, weddings and funerals are part of any clergy’s duties and responsibilities, but the timing of these events should be considered in relationship to the pastor’s working schedule. Events scheduled outside of normal working hours should be compensated.

Churches could give out a pamphlet explaining how funerals and weddings work and that payments for these services are appreciated, even suggesting customary amounts. At a minimum, a pamphlet can explain the pastor’s responsibilities during weddings and funerals.

At my age, I might die at any time. Do you think it is going to matter to me who presides over my funeral service? I am not going to be there. I don’t care if some associate pastor or someone else takes charge of my service.

Weddings and funerals are significant rituals of our lives, but let’s get real and consider what it takes for a minister to officiate at these events.

The pastor’s family

Our pastor has a family. Our pastor may have kids who go to school, play in sports, perform recitals, have roles in drama programs. They also have birthdays and anniversaries and may be taking care of their own parents.

When our pastors’ daughter stars in a play at school on the night we want our pastor to attend a rehearsal dinner for our daughter’s wedding, how do we think our pastor’s daughter is going to feel? Is she going to be happy or resentful? We know the answer to this.

Is our event so important and so special we couldn’t consider the church providing us with some other staff member to perform our service?

Pastors have the same stresses and problems we do. They can’t complain about their issues. They certainly can’t discuss their issues with members of the church, and they certainly can’t afford to offend their largest “donors” who want them to perform some special function.

In short, they are not free or at liberty to use a truly short word: “No.”

Our church’s largest tither wants the pastor and only the pastor to perform the marriage service for his only daughter on the weekend the pastor had scheduled a trip to Paris for the pastor’s wedding anniversary.

Tickets are paid for, passports secured, hotels booked, and now Mr. Warbucks comes and tells the pastor his daughter must be married on such-and-such date because it has major significance for one reason or another. No other date will do.

What the pastor wants to do and what the pastor feels has to be done probably don’t match.

But that’s not the question. The question is what are we going to do?

Are we going to be inconsiderate Christians demanding things that give rise to resentment, or will we be Christlike and realize our pastor has feelings and needs like all the rest of us?

The choice is ours and ours alone.

Peary Perry is an author and husband, father, grandfather and great-grandfather. To learn more about him, you can visit www.pearyperry.com or email him confidentially at pperry@pearyperry.com. The views expressed in this opinion article are those of the author.

DOGS MAKE ME ....

noreply@blogger.com (peary perry) — Fri, 17 Oct 2025 14:38:00 +0000

DOGS MAKE ME A -----

Dogs make me a better person. I like people who like dogs as well as we do. I like people who don’t like them also, but maybe just not as much

My first dog was named Penny and she was a mutt. We lived in Odessa Texas, my dad was in the oil field and we left that little dog sitting at the corner as we drove to Houston for my dad’s new job. I can still see her sitting there wagging her tail in hopes I would be home soon. Not going to happen. I never had a dog growing up, but my dad did. He loved Boston Terriers. Meanest little things I ever saw. They were my dad’s dogs, not mine.

From the time I first got married, I have always had a dog. Most of them have been mutts. Just pure old mutts. Several were pure bred, but it seemed as if the mutts knew they had a better life than whatever they had before and were thankful that someone was taking care of them.

Dogs are great teachers. They teach you patience and unconditional love. They don’t care if you come home late because you did come home. They don’t care if you are just driving to the post office 3 blocks away because they can hang their head out the window and it’s an adventure.

Try getting a cat to do that.

Dogs are great therapists as well. They somehow know when you are sick and need comfort. We had a friend come and stay with us for a week or so after his wife died of cancer. Both of our dogs stayed with him the entire time he was here and never left him alone. They could sense that he was sad and grieving.

Our current furry friend is a 100% mutt, part schnauzer and part poodle. I think they call them a ‘Schnoodle”. He is 24 lbs. of love. He is zero trouble and 100% pure fun and family. On Sunday when we are getting ready for church, he knows he isn’t going, and he is perfectly happy and not upset. Now that we are retired, he is our newest child. He fits in and is no trouble for us. Rescue dogs know they have been rescued. They are very appreciative of being a part of your family, and not living on the street. When he goes too the groomer and the house is empty without him, it is a different feeling than it is when he is here with us.

If you choose to get a dog, bear in mind that you should give some consideration to the type and the conditions in which they will live. Large dogs don’t do well in small apartments. Dogs need exercise so you must have time for them. Dogs cost money, so you must take care of them. They need shots and dental care and lots of other things as well.

Studies have shown that people with pets (dogs and cats) live longer than people without them. Prisons have adopted programs to give inmates a pet to take care of and it has reduced the violence in many instances.

I started off saying that dogs make me a better person. I truthfully believe they improve the quality of our lives. Try adopting one and see for yourself.

See you next week…..Peary Perry