Blog 3355 – 91.09.2025
A Special Kind Of Idiot
A dear friend in Wisconsin commented on my “A Wordy Guy” blog yesterday that it was good to see that I can laugh at myself. I replied that I try not to take myself too seriously. When I saw the tee shirt pictured above in an on-line add last night, I had to laugh and admit that I am a special kind of idiot.
The 98 mile Shiner Bash took me about seven hours to complete and even my fifteen year old (at the time) son was impressed with his old man. That is something a fifty-five year old father seldom sees from a teenaged son. This year Jay will turn 35 and I will turn 75 and it is he that impresses me constantly.
In 2005 at the ripe young age of 55, I bicycled from Katy, Texas to Shiner, Texas (98 miles) the event was the Seventh Annual Shiner Bash (far as I can tell they only had one more the next year) and I was accompanied by over 3,000 other idiots. It was my first and last group cycling event. I still try to ride my bike for an hour each morning, weather permitting and I try to log in least one two hour ride on the weekends. I like to do my riding solo in the early morning hours before sunup with as little traffic (walkers, and cyclists) as possible on my favorite hike and bike trail along White Oak Bayou. The trail runs south from my neighborhood to the University of Houston Downtown Campus and it takes me about an hour to get there and an hour to get back depending on the wind. The hike and bike trail goes on further and there are several others that branch off from it, I am satisfied with a two hour ride. The White Oak Bayou paved hike and bike trail also goes north from Oak Forest (my neighborhood) for a good hour ride at least, but that section currently is closed in places due to construction work widening the bayou’s banks.
Just this morning my son sent me three pictures of deer captured by one of the new game cameras that I swapped out on Jay’s Hundred Acre Dream Ranch yesterday. Here they are, “We’ve got deer!”
Last week, Jay, his friend (mine too) John, and I carried four forty pound bags of corn into the woods to scatter near four game cameras to attract more wild life so we could take their pictures. It is almost like getting to be there every time the game cameras capture movement.
I caught myself thinking, I wonder if corn is good for deer to eat, having heard a lot lately that it is not part of a healthy human diet. Sure enough I Googled it and read the attached:
So now this idiot is trying to figure out how to best feed our guests when they visit us. If I get my one hundred plus years, rest assured there will be plenty of apple trees and acorn bearing trees scattered around the property and free flowing streams and a wider pond for them to get a nice cold drink after a nutritious and satisfying meal.
A special kind of idiot, well maybe, but just maybe we could use a lot more idiots to help make sure our grandchildren get to enjoy nature and all her glorious critters throughout the rest of this century and beyond.
Your friend, fellow traveler, cyclist, and self appointed game keeper,
David White
Carpenters – Bless The Beasts And Children (Lyrics)
theencouragingword 