On My Mind: Is the world getting more annoying?

It must be because of the “aging process” — med-speak for growing old — but little annoyances are doubly annoying. Trying to open a can of pineapple the other day, I pulled the little ring as the directions instructed. It came off.

I ended up with an ancient can opener, tin snips, a hammer and a butcher knife. Exactly 45 minutes later, the can was finally open, the kitchen was blue with bad words and I had lost my taste for pineapple.

Long list

There are so many more annoyances. Telephone rings that you somehow know are telemarketers. I let them get started,whether it’s a recording or not, and when someone says, “Can I talk to Jenny Jinkins?” I shout “No!” The call clicks off and I feel better. That has to be a very depressing job, going home day after day of rejection.

Just now on the television there is a commercial advising all of us to car pool or ride a bike to save money and help the economy. Then it showed the Endeavor blasting off on a $2 billion shot for space etc. Am I missing something? Anyhow, I found that to be very annoying.

High on the list are the commercials for “paper products.” Coming from an era when bodily functions were unmentionable, personal and private, when Mother’s grocery list had in tiny letters: tp. Now commercials show cute little bears running around with tp on their bottoms. Very irritating.

Unmentionables

And there are the “feminine products.” The “enhancement” products for men are another unmentionable subject. My remote’s mute button is overworked! I could go on and on.

But the very most annoying and irritating and downright disfespectful of all, in my opinion, is the yodeling and warbling by celebrities who demean and mock and destroy the beauty and clarity of The Star-Spangled Banner — its notes are pure as written and should be sung as written.

There are unbelievable tragedies in the South as the rivers wreak havoc on everything in their paths and our sympathies are with the thousands of afflicted. But no one has mentioned the awful toll on farm animals, on pets, on birds and all wildlife.

As with the oil spill in the Gulf and all the tornadoes, generations will pass before recovery, if ever.

Businessman

How about something cheerful like a 13-year-old entrepreneur whose attractive green business card reads “Forefront Farms — Safe Sustainable foods since 2010″? Meet Addison Richards, owner-operator, who already has some 70 six-week-old free-ranging chickens which are moved from place to place.

Addison and his dad, Adam Richards, stopped by recently to read the Ohio Historical Marker and in our conversation I learned about Addison’s project. I gave him chicken wire that was useless to me in the garage from the days when I fenced a small vegetable garden.

Addison, an eighth grader at Canfield, is a member of Canfield Clover Kids 4-H Club and Mahoning Couny Outdoorsmen. There is help for this world afterall!

Toby

When I hear Toby call in the night, I’m sure he’s calling not only to Apache but also to the calls of horses in the past, untold numbers, ghosts who have lived in this barn for 100 years. Long may they call and may this barn never be silent.