Tag: differance

“Unnatural Changes”

lane

“Unnatural Changes”

I worked for a company back in the 70’s building luxury condominiums in a factory. We would build the floor sections and push them down the track. Then set the prefab walls on them and push them down the track again. Next, we put all of the appliances in and push again, fabricate the roof and so on. When they came out of the building, they were finished. I was in charge of a large number of workers. The assembly line was long and spread out. I had so many people working up and down the line that I couldn’t keep track of them. Well, it was easy to congregate, hide and talk. A lot of the people were young and inexperienced and the job didn’t pay a lot. But, production had to be kept up. I couldn’t see them all and this made it difficult. My brother Charlie was a welder in the jigs and fixture department, so I had him build me an office on a 12 foot tower. Problem solved, I could now see over my whole department. I now had an overview. This didn’t set well with my workers, but it sure kept production up. I knew what natural production should look like, so I always looked for unnatural things that slowed down production. There were always those few people that brought unnatural changes in. My job as an overseer, was to have the know-how to build and keep production up. Unnatural changes can damage a business, a family or a nation. Continue reading ““Unnatural Changes””

“Either-Or”

 

banjos

“Either – Or”

 

While sitting on the couch, I glanced over at my two banjo’s sitting side by side on one of our recliners. I keep them in plain sight so that I will remember to practice. I can see them from anywhere in the room. One of them has flower inlays on the neck, While the other has the tree of life inlays all the way up the neck. They are both beautiful but different. The one with the flowers is tuned in a G tuning, while the other one is tuned in Double C tuning. The reason they are tuned differently is because playing Old Time Mountain style banjo you are limited to the amount of lead notes you can play. So, the banjo is tuned in the tuning where you can play those certain notes. For instance the old tune Cherokee Shuffle, is played in the G tuning. I had taught the folks in our music jam to play it this way. While I was gone, a man came along and taught them to play it in the key of D, The problem is that some of the lead notes are just not there. The tune now sounds nothing like The Cherokee Shuffle. The tune could be played on most all of the other instruments, but not the clawhammer banjo. Everyone was having a great time playing the tune, while I just sat there quietly. When playing in public, someone might ask me to play a certain tune, I choose the banjo that is tuned in the only tuning that can play the tune correctly. I kid people sometimes and say, let me change banjos because that song is not in this banjo. Continue reading ““Either-Or””

The Difference Makes The Differance

scout

“The difference makes the difference”

In the settlement of the old west, there were men that went first. They were different than others, they didn’t mind being alone and isolated. They had a way about them that caused them to stand out. They wanted to see what was ahead first. They looked and dressed different than the others. One such man was the scout for the wagon train. They seldom had the shelter and luxuries that the other members enjoyed. They wore leather clothes for protection from the elements. They were in constant danger from wild beasts, snakes and unfriendly humans. They were always out ahead looking for the best paths to take and constantly on the lookout for danger, taking stock of all aspects in the movement of the wagon train. He was called the scout for a reason. His job was to guide the train to reach its destination on time and safely. He warned of pending danger also. Guiding them through the correct paths was difficult enough, but to warn of danger was even more so. Because he looked and acted so different from the rest of the wagon train, he was looked at as strange. He didn’t seem all there to them and therefore not trusted. They fussed about the trails to take and even more so, pending danger. When the train folks and the wagon master over turned the scout’s directives, trouble was on the horizon. It was just a matter of time. The scout was amazed that the people would not see what he saw. The scout suffered many hardships on the trail, out front and alone. His job was to watch and to listen, only to not be believed. He was, as it seemed, the only one that saw the danger in taking the wrong trail. Continue reading “The Difference Makes The Differance”