Author: John Morris Benson

Husband, father, grandfather, great-grandfather, brother, uncle, cousin, friend, veteran, retired, grow veggies-eat meat

P D T to P S T

Most of you know I wonder as I wander, and wander as I wander, so here I go again on signs of spring.

Another sign of spring is springing forward to save time.

Or did we fall back to save time some time ago?

Benjamin Franklin said, “Time is money,” in 1748.1Might not be an original thought, but he printed it.

“A penny saved is a penny earned,” is also attributed to Benjamin Franklin.2Never in exactly those words, and he wasn’t the originator of the saying either.

So what are we going to do with all that time we saved since last fall? Will we get interest on the savings? If so, what percentage?

Mankind with its considerable God given skill cannot possibly capture daylight, put it in a vault, and release it for later use.

Or is there a multi-nation, both friend and foe, working on a way to slow the rotation of the earth to gain more daylight.

But wait! If I remember a little about ratios, we would also get more hours of darkness.

Mankind has, however, been given paced skill improvement and access to the raw materials to develop compensations for times of shortened daylight. i.e. Fire in the very old days to LEDs in these days.

To be accurate, daylight has never been shortened, we just adjust the time when we use the compensations.

I haven’t studied the issue well enough to know or at least have an opinion that national ‘daylight saving’ is a continuing political issue, or just something that seemed to be a good idea sometime in the past.

My grandfather said that the cows don’t know about daylight saving. They want milked at the same earth time every day. My observation was that they came in from the pasture on standard time no matter what the clock said. It also amazed me how they could find their way to the barn in the dark.

Clocks on our microwave, coffee maker, and kitchen range are not connected to the internet and require the twice annual walk-around with hopes of getting them set somewhere within a minute of the actual time as specified by regulation and time zone. We left our old car on standard time gut our new car is connected to the internet, so it auto sets to the legislated time and our ‘devices’ are auto set. That is handy for the walkaround that includes two non-digital non-connected wall clocks.

Please don’t think I’m whining about this issue. As a retired nearly nonagenarian, I have the time to set the time on all the devices not connected to Wi-Fi.

So why then did I bring up the issue? I just wanted to, so there!

I wonder if I should wander about the house and move the non connected clocks before bed tonight or in the morning.

If you’ve read this content before, thanks for remembering. If not, I hope you found it interesting.

S O S

If you read my February 4th post, you would know I am fully aware the “Signs of Spring” are upon us.

In as much, as the earlier S O Ss were weather and critter related, other signs have been foisted upon us.

In the last week or so, probably two or three weeks, notifications have been presented. Am I alone in receiving the notifications? They’ve come in email, on Instagram, Facebook, and other platforms.

SEED AND PLANT CATALOGS, lawn care flyers, newspaper articles giving the best advice for a greener and healthier lawn, and …

I wonder if my half bag of ‘weed and feed’ will be good enough or go far enough so I don’t have to buy another bag and have a new half bag left over.

Random and not necessarily relative to S O S:
Why do pre-packaged screws, bolts, nuts, etc. come in odd numbers so you have to buy two packs?
Do you also have an odd number of a size you may never find a use for?
I do.

A Time to Remember

As I said in my previous post, I wrote programs in BASIC language in 1983.

A seventh-grade student said he could make them faster and easier and he did.

I decided to be a computer user rather than a programmer.

But I decided to recover memories of that experience, found a free compiler, and entered the 181 lines I had written 43 years ago.

Each command in BASIC language has its own line, but to save space, commands here are separated by a ; .
920 Cls ; 921 GoTo 100 ; 930 Print “ENTER ; RADIUS OF CYLINDER END” ; 940 Print ” ” ; 950 Input R ; 960 GoSub 1620 ; 970 Print “ENTER HEIGHT OR LENGTH OF CYLINDER” ; 980 Print ” ” ; 990 Input H ; 1000 A = (6.28 * R * H) + (6.28 * (R ^ 2)) ; 1010 GoTo 1370
The programs that worked then, did not work now, but the compiler told me what lines had errors.

Having the time granted to a retired, near-nonagenarian, I decided to re-learn some code and processes and wrote:
799 Print “CYLINDER – 2 ENDS” ; 800 Print “CYLINDER RADIUS” ; 801 Input R ; 802 GoSub 2000 ; 803 Print “CYLINDER HEIGHT or LENGTH” ; 804 Input H ; 805 GoSub 2000 ; 806 A = (6.28 * R * H) + (6.28 * R ^ 2) ; 807 Print “CYLINDER SURFACE AREA” ; 809 Print A; U$; ” sq” ; 810 GoTo 4000
It took many hours of my granted time reduce it to 166 lines and make it work.

Back in the day, it took a single entry on the Apple II computer to start the program. After several hours of searching, I didn’t find an easy or free way to do this on my 2500 times faster computer.

My experimenting with the BASIC language is over, but if I could remember the name of that seventh grader …

Before AI and …

AI is in front of us or has it been more common than we knew.
Remember seeing old high school senior class pictures with smooth hair and straight teeth?1
Remember voice dubbing for a movie actor who could not sing? 2Marni Nixon was the ghost singer for Deborah Kerr in The King and I, Natalie Wood in West Side Story, and Audrey Hepburn in My Fair Lady. The results were there, but AI did not exist.

The picture in the upper left of this post was not done with AI, but I have been tempted to duplicate it with the current technology.

But what fun would that be?

I do my posts with HTML,3HyperText Markup Language but others find it easier to use another tool for making posts with WordPress. I don’t find it easier to use code,4I’m not a code expert, so I do a lot of cut and paste. I just enjoy it more.

Is using a small piece of code to change font color a form of AI?

In-as-much as technology is/seems to be changing or improving exponentially faster than during the Luddite movement, it doesn’t make sense to me to fight it.

When home computers became available, my children said, “You need to keep up, Dad.”

I wrote two what I thought to be fairly complex programs in BASIC language. A seventh-grade student looked at what I had done and said he could make them faster and easier for other students to use. He did, and I decided I would be a computer user rather than a programmer.

When the parking meter app became available for our smart phone, a granddaughter said, “You need to keep up, Gramps.” And that wasn’t the first prompt I got from grandkids.

So, I said yup again and am happy I did!

Thomas Edison invented a device to record and play back sound. But not to worry, neither will the horseless carriage catch on.

On the Edge of History

History happens and some event or posting might cause us to remember where we were when. Many of us remember the newscasts about major events in history. However, some of us were on the edge of those reported events.

Today, 10 Feb is one of those days well noted in history books. 09 Feb 1962 isn’t mentioned in Exchange of Spies.

Berlin Tunnel, Bridge, and Bockwurst on my Short Stories page tells two events of my being on the edge of history.

If you’ve read this content before, thanks for remembering. If not, I hope you found it interesting or at least not an insult to your intelligence.

Gone too Soon

At least one reliable source says the season after winter and before summer, in which vegetation begins to appear, in the northern hemisphere is called spring.

The southern WA winter is not usually like Alexandria, MN, where ice fishing is common, nor is it anywhere near Palmview, TX, where one can play golf most winter days.

It is with great sadness and concern that I announce Old Man Winter in the Pacific Northwest was or is gone too soon. Neither football nor basketball seasons are over yet and the season of “Say it ain’t so, Joe” hasn’t started so it must still be winter.

But:

The green of my iris plants has been showing for several weeks now — also true for the scattered bluebells.

My potted daffodils would normally appear in about a month, but they are nearly four inches above the potting soil. The roses would not bud until April or May, but they are now! The Rodies look like they are only weeks away from blooming too.

Yes it seems that Old Man Winter where I live is gone too soon, and for the sake of the plants thinking it is spring, I hope the old man is gone for the rest of the year.

Oh! I’ve also noticed that crows and squirrels are gathering nest materials about a month early too.

Corner Bushes

Primary election season is upon us. Candidate and opinion signs will be up soon, and many will block drivers’ view of traffic.

NO, this is not a political opinion statement.

However, it is my opinion that there should be a law against …

We obey the law and stop at an intersection because a red octagonal sign, put in place for our safety, tells us to stop.

Vision blocking political signs are generally in place every two years, garage sale and estate sale signs are short time temporary, and most municipalities have regulations for commercial signs.

When was the last time you stopped at a sign, looked left, looked right, then looked left again and your vision of the street to the left was blocked by a bush? How far did you have to creep forward until you could see the lane you would have to cross or enter to see a speed limit moving vehicle? How about a ten-over vehicle?

How about uncontrolled intersections? Do you have to stop to creep into one because a bush blocks your view? Should there be a law against corner bushes?

Crawl Space

Have you been in your crawl space lately?

Was the radon blocking material clean?

Were all the pipes wrapped?

Spider webs?

Why am I talking about crawl spaces?

It is winter – even in the Pacific Northwest. Granted it’s not like where the center of the country is blasted with cold from Canada, or where lake effect drops feet of snow overnight. What does winter have to do with crawl spaces? No, I’m not going to get into the conversation about plugging the vents or not plugging them.

Winter keeps most, many, or some of us inside. What is inside other than a good book or a hobby like this activity seems to be?

TV! And you know what supports antenna TV. Commercials! What do they have to do with crawl spaces?

One starts with something like, “Buggs, mold, moisture, dry rot … where you can’t see.” Then it shows men in clean uniforms with clearance over their heads rolling out a vapor/radon barrier in a well-lighted clean I say alleged. crawl space. Then the brag about being able to make any crawl space look like the one shown.

That commercial sparked memories of all or most of the crawl spaces where I had to work or find wires or pipes. Even the one new house we owned had just enough space above the ground to crawl using my scapulas or elbows to get a grip on the surface for propulsion. Where was the problem needing analysis or repair?

At the opposite end of the access opening, of course.

Do I believe the crawl space depicted in the commercial is common?

No!

Would I go into my crawl space again?

No!
Even ‘I can do it myself’ people my age should stay out of crawl spaces and off of their roof.1Cost of shingle repair $1000; cost of tibia repair after insurance $2000.

I Resolve

I‘m not sure where the idea of making New Years Resolutions and I certainly do not feel like researching the topic.

The following bits are adapted from bits written by people other than me.

Someone said, or wrote, “My goal for 2016 was to lose ten pounds. That New Year’s Day, I ate salad for dinner! Mostly croutons & tomatoes. Really just one big, round crouton covered with tomato sauce. And cheese. FINE, it was a pizza. I ate a pizza. At the end of 2016, I still had fifteen to go.”
I feel sure some might say the same at the end of 2026, but I and others have a year to prove me wrong.

I also read:

I just did a week’s worth of cardio after walking into a spider web.

I don’t mean to brag but… I finished my 14-day diet in 3 hours and 20 minutes.

Kids today don’t know how easy they have it. When I was young, I had to walk 9 feet through shag carpet to change the TV channel.
What does that have to do with resolutions?

Remember back when we were kids and every time it was below zero outside they closed school? Me neither.
Also, what does that have to do with resolutions?

I love being almost ninety. I learn something new every day and forget five others, but I forgot where I was going with this.
PS: Sunday, March 8, 2026, begins Daylight Saving Time. Don’t forget to set your bathroom scale back ten pounds on Saturday night.

If you’ve read this content before, thanks for remembering. If not, I hope you find it interesting.