Welcome to the Wakefield Doctrine (the theory of clarks, scotts and rogers)
I tried to take a photo of the backyard/woods today, to serve as illustration of how, ‘not still Summer’, it is today. But although my camera tried to capture the grey overcast sky and the dying umber tones of the hurry-to-hibernate plant life visible out the window, it just gave up, as if to say, “No clark, lets not bother. everyone knows what’s coming, why can’t we just accept it and find the positive aspects to the most inevitable of all inevitabilities, the passage of time, the turning of the calendar? or, even better!! how ’bout we find me some naked women to create photos of…I promise not to send them to the Facebook this time!!”
Fortunately for me, (and for everyone else, I suspect), today is Saturday and that means it’s time for a TToT post! The blog-that-Lizzi-built is predicated on the notion that, if we focus on the week past enough to find 10 Items that inspire, generate or spontaneously cause us to feel grateful, our lives will be, (maybe a little/maybe a lot), enhanced for this effort. (Very) fortunately for me, the standards and requirements for successful participation in the Ten Things of Thankful bloghop are… lets, just say, flexible. Most Posts are concise, coherent, orderly and clearly the work of organized and talented writers, eminently readable and make me and my co-hostinae proud to say, “excuse me? do you enjoy writing Posts? would you care to join us at the TToT? we would be ever so delighted to have your voice join our chorus of appreciation of the good things in life.” And …we have the Wakefield Doctrine (and a certain few others, like the children who gravitate to the seats in the back of the class…. in 3rd grade!). not to mention any names, but there are some blogs with names that, like rhymes with ‘ meals with a side of lox‘ and ‘un-charted‘ and ‘the non-reality grape arbor‘ (now those guys write some weird-assed posts)
What I’m trying to say is, ‘if you’re new to the TToT and you want to join us but are concerned with doing it right… then you have nothing to fear’. That very attitude is all you need, provided you actually hit ‘Publish’, of course. There are lots of ways to come up with a list and lots of tools to help and the bottom line is, the act of participating in a gratitude bloghop is the whole point. So come on down! If you have any questions about, oh I don’t know, say the Book of Secret Rules (aka the Secret Book of Rules)… give zoe/ivy a ring. anything else you’re not sure of, do what I do… just make it up as you go along.
1) The co-hostinae of this here bloghop here. I could name them by name… ok, I will Christine and Michelle, Dyanne and Kristi, zoe and Lisa, Sarah and… Lizzi (who might be 19 miles high as I write this). They are very good at what they do.
2) Speaking of ‘very good at what they do’, gotta give a shootout to Una. We went for our walk yesterday and it was raining cats and ducks… and windy too. But, she stuck her head out the window as we drove along… ’cause that’s what she does when we go for a walk on Friday evening! (the shaking-shaking-off-the-water-from-the-fur as experienced in a smallish German luxury car warranted it’s own entry… but I didn’t mind. She was enjoying herself and that is the point.)
3) Phyllis gets a mention for her ability (more of a talent) (though, as I think about it, it is an element in the personal reality of her people (rogers)). She illustrates the complexities of life in the Herd better than anyone I know… on a given weekend, once she has established a list of things that she needs to do, she will accomplish them. No! seriously… yeah, we all do that. Except clarks will have a list and when it (the list) gets sidetracked, we’ll immediately re-create a list (yeah, a slight different list). At the end of the weekend… god knows what we clarks will have accomplished. As to scotts and lists…. no be serious! lol Now, Phyllis, when her list is drawn up, she will do those things! Sure, it’s raining… you say ‘Go to the Beach’ is on the list? no problem! (you were going to get wet anyway)… the lawn needs to be mowed and it’s, like 7:30 pm (because, even for rogers things sometimes run behind)…. not a problem! the driveway has a light and the backyard has floodlights… the grass doesn’t care what time it gets cut! So hats off to Phyllis
4) work…. sure. Actually I am grateful that I am able to do the work I do and the rewards that are attendant to being in this field.
5) The Graviteers over at the Gravity Challenge I really enjoy the daily connection and photos and such!
6) I had a work-in-the-woods adventure this week that caused me to stop what I was doing and laugh at myself (and the situation)… it’s more appropriate in the Number 9 Item position…
7) Am I ever grateful for the flexibility in what is permissible for inclusion as individual Grat Items!! otherwise, there’s no way I would get this far
8) the Wakefield Doctrine, ever the fun tool for understanding the behavior of the people in our lives, the principles (essentially: determine how you relate yourself to the world around you… then correctly infer how the people you encounter are relating themselves to the world around them (aka their predominant worldviews, clark or scott or roger) and then see the world as the other person is experiencing it! that’s all it takes to have a better life!) anyway, as I was saying, of late, I’ve been exploring some metaphors for the difference in age, i.e. how are ‘the young’ different from ‘the old’ and I’m really excited by what seems to be a difference in the rhythm of (those two) worlds! The fact of this difference has established that, when I see other people, there is a sense of…maybe… possibly….becoming aware of my own rhythm (of my relationship to the world around me)…enough to step out of my own typical behavior! very cool… will keep you up to date as it develops.
9) …so, we have a pond on our property, decent sized… not boating-sized body of water, but big enough to have mature trees lining it’s irregular shoreline. The pond has a very muddy bottom, (years of leaves from the trees settling on the bottom and rotting), so, even at this time of year when the water level drops significantly, you’re not inclined to think, ‘hey! I’ll just walk out the 10 or 12 feet to that fallen limb and cut it up and drag it to shore‘. The project was to clear the deadfall in two places where some good-sized limbs had fallen off of over-hanging trees, into the water. They were, maybe, 12/15 feet long and more of a small-trunk-sized in diameter. The plan I came up with was pleasing in its simplicity. We have a 12×12 canvas tarp that we were throwing away, so I thought, ‘if I spread this tarp over a wide enough an area leading up to the limb, I shouldn’t sink into the mud too much!’ So I did and it worked! I took some rope, because the limbs needed to be dragged out of the water. My plan was to tie off one part of the limb, cut it with my chainsaw and, with the rope, drag the ….smaller section to the shore! It worked fine… until I got to the biggest limb.
Canvas up to limb? √! Tie rope around the section of limb that is to be pulled onto shore? √ Crank-up chainsaw and cut √? …watch the limb fall into the water because I cut on the wrong side of the tie-off? √√√ lol
This is where I started to laugh, yet I felt good that I got as much done as I had… the rope stayed firmly attached to the main trunk, of course, luckily I could just reach the cut section and dragged on shore. (Not that you can see it, but the lead photo in today’s Post is of that limb…with the red thing in the right foreground being the chainsaw on the bridge that I built a couple of years ago).
10) 1.3 y’all 1.3!
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I’m FRIST Binyon!
Love it. I like to laugh at myself. Truth be told I hoped I was going to be laughing at you falling into the muck at the bottom of the pond. No such luck but I have that left/right spatial awareness error thing going on. Do you suppose it’s a Clark thing or just a klutz thing?
lol the ‘Everything Rule’ says that we all can make such a mistake, it’s just how we respond to it… (a scott might have simply thrown the chainsaw (still running) across the pond)) and a roger would have moved the rope and cut again (the cutting again might very well still be on the wrong side, but the deliberateness of the act would have countered the embarrassment, which is important, because the roger would not be so inclined to laugh.
My dog loves to lay in front of the fan because I think it simulates him sticking his head out a car window…dogs love that, don’t they??!!
like having their own TV remote (except for scents) and (outdoors)
No. 3! I envy rogers! Most are exceptional at the to do list and checking off the “to dos”. I am in total awe.
Do you have rubber boots?! Anyone living in the country and or on some land needs to have the rubber boots! No need for tarps then :) Good for you for creatively approaching (well, you are a clark) the task. I love the sense of satisfaction from doing the physical stuff, especially when there is such an obvious visual sense of accomplishment.
No 8. Interesting concept and one I will take note of. Anything to evolve :D
You make a good point about the relating ourselves to the world. There is a difference how we do it the older we get. We still relate as a clark, scott or roger but you’re right. I’ve never thought about the effects of age on the manifestation of my world view.
A pond on the property sounds lovely until I remember my water and mud loving dogs, and then I’m grateful I don’t have one!
I love a good list. I have lots and lots of them all around the house. I usually get some of the things done. Sometimes, though, if I choose not to do anything on the list, I’ll write down the things I did do, and immediately cross them off. :)
Great trimming of the tree in the pond story. Glad you could laugh at yourself. I do things like that all the time. I inherited it from my mom, who does stuff like that constantly!
well, you kinda have to laugh, seeing how everything up to that point was a)voluntary and 2) my idea and besides it’s a classic bit (cutting on the wrong side)…. lists are good after the fact more than before the fact, at least for me
Yes, hats off to Phyllis! I have a love-hate relationship with lists. I love the fact that I can put in writing what I want to do, because if I try to file everything in my mind, I will forget something. I love and hate the fact that my list is never-ending. I am never bored, but if I’m not careful, I can get overwhelmed. On those days that I happen to write a short, realistic list, it is a great feeling to cross off items from the list.
yeah, I don’t think she does a written list, but I do know that, for Phyllis there is a certain optimum order to a day (especially a weekend day) and if things are to be done and enjoyed, then they get done and enjoyed.
loved loved loved your cleaning the trees story…so glad it wasn’t limbs up high in a tree and you cut the wrong side ! And I do appreciate the kindnesses that have been shown my way upon joining this group. I was a bit worried. Putting stuff on the internet seemed like an invitation for haters and complainers. It was so refreshing to get positive feedback. I don’t expect everyone to love everything I write, but it was so nice to get some encouraging words.
I suspect the haters and such are out there, but there is nothing (around here) for them… like bullies, the negative people need to inspire fear (even if it’s a simple, ‘how can you say such a mean thing…’) and as quirky as this bunch here at the TToT may be, fearful is not a particular weakness among them/us.
I really think I’m getting the hang of the WD thing. I’m starting to get it. Lizzi suggested something to me today, and I replied that I wasn’t Scott enough to do it. Though I did kiss you.
I knew that you would, get the Doctrine (and the kiss)… and I’m grateful for both.
You really know how to live. A treehouse…a pond! Kinda jealous here.
I clicked over to see the Graviteers’ hard work and am so impressed. So impressed!
The Gravity Challenge is totally something special… please, come join us anytime…. ticket for admission a photo of your scale before am…. messaged through the Facebook!
I was waiting for the dead tree story to end with you taking a tumble into the water….
Hey, I write lists! I also LOSE lists, sometimes (often) before I get to check anything off, but I certainly write them!
no… for being shy and wallflowerish, clarks have great balance and pretty good reflexes… it’s just in the presence of you damned attractive scottian females that we get all clumsy and such….but then you knew that
My cousins have a pond like that on their property and I enjoy just hanging out out on the floating dock they’ve built out there. Their dogs like being out with us also and occasionally will dive off it for a stick or something.
Lists are a big thing online. I like this one.
My dog likes to stick his head out the car window and I swear he pushes down on the button to open the back window, on purpose. The one day he actually jumped or fell out, Im not certain, but gladly the car wasn’t going very fast at the time. It was the strangest thing.
yeah… it’s fun to look at (our pond) and, over the years I’ve thought, ‘hey maybe I could shovel out around the shore and get some sand…’ but that was at a time when energy was in greater abundance, but there is a concern with the DEM, in RI they are very strict about people altering natural features like ponds and the surrounding environmentally sensitive areas.
I like to think about (dogs in cars) as like them having the remote for the tv…. all sorts of things that are interesting (scent-wise)
I’ve often thought it was so interesting how couples are often almost opposites of one another in some behaviors. I think that is probably a good thing in a lot of instances. . .kind of like keeping things in balance in a relationship.
Sometimes we all have those days when how we envision something turning out isn’t exactly what happens, and then laughter turns it into a great memory. Glad the saw didn’t end up in the water!
(maybe suggesting that ‘opposites’ are not as opposites as we are often lead to believe)… I am too! (there was some nasty mud there… years and years and years of leafs and such, settled to the bottom).
I always love seeing dogs hanging out the car windows. Such a simple joy!
dogs do ‘this is fun’ thing better than anyone/anything