Finally, our annual, springtime backwaters flooding of the Ohio River has  receeded, leaving me once again with driftwood covering my, and my three neighbors, backyards. But this year instead of the many, many branches that I (alone) get to pick up and drag off, I have some pretty large logs that I am going to have to take care of before I can start cutting the grass.

And the key phrase in that last sentence was "before I start cutting"! Not one of my wonderful neighbors will bother to give me a hand cleaning any of this up-nor will they cut any grass,buy one cent worth of gasoline for my little mower(which, of course , I had to buy to keep doing this).

 My 3rd, mind you, in the 28 years we've lived here. Of course when we bought the house in 1980 I was 32 and my neighbors were much older than me. So, being the good neighborly kind of dude that I was I thought I would help these "old folks" out by keeping the backyards cut for them. Now I am the "old guy" on the block!! Every year I tell myself that I am not going to do this anymore. Last year I even tried, but after cutting the area I actually own three times, no one else had made any effort to cut theirs!! By that time, their grass was a foot and a half high and I, being the wusss that I am, decided to go ahead and cut it. It was so high and thick by that time that I promptly fouled the blades on the mower and smoked the drive belt. $50.00 for a new belt and two hours on my back changing it(by myself.....is there any other way??). I have given up on giving up!!!!!! If I am going to have a backyard I can be proud of (with my beautiful view of the river)I have to do it myself!!

Now the question is, do I do this the easy way, or the hard way?

The easy way would be to roll or push these logs back over the bank where they may float away, or they may just be back in the yard the next time the water comes up.

The hard way is to rent or borrow a chain saw, spend hours cutting and stacking and burning this driftwood, and then cleaning up the mess left by that process.

Hmmmmmmm,what to do, what to do??

    "In a land where guns are outlawed,only outlaws will have guns" is an old cliche that is also perfectly true when applied to this question!! The 2nd Amendment gives all law abiding citizens the right to bear arms,but there is also an underlying duty and responsibility to protect and defend ourselves,our families,and those around us from harm. Most people today seem to assume that should anything bad start to happen they can simply call 911 and the police will come and take care of the problem. Nothing could be further from the truth!! They will, of course ,respond but they cannot prevent the crime from happening!! They can do nothing until a crime has occurred!! Their job is to solve crimes and arrest the guilty if possible. 

    I myself am licensed to carry concealed in 38 states and have been for years, simply because there is no police officer assigned to watch out for me and safegaurd me 24 hours a day,and surprise folks,none are assigned to you either!!

   

(Meet two of my closest friends-Mr.Smith & Mr.Wesson)

Now, no one can tell you that you have to own a firearm,just as no one should be able to tell me I cannot own one.

I personally would never want to be in the highly unfortunate position of hearing glass breaking,stairsteps creaking or whatever in the middle of the night and upon getting out of my comfy bed,seeing one or more individuals,armed with whatever they choose to be armed with,coming up my stairs,and me knowing that there is nothing at all in this house to defend ourselves with.

And even if the very first thing I do in this situation is "call the police",the 15,25,or 30 minutes it takes them to get here is when all the of the Bad Shit is going to happen!!

I'm sure they would  write a very detailed report about what terrible things happened to the nice older couple that used to live here!!!

 NO THANK YOU

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