I recently attended a party held outdoors in farming country. Near the road was an old piece of farm machinery, slowly rusting.

I wrote this poem for what is past and unchangeable:

Waiting long:
For men to bind me to their task.
For sun and wind and dirt and grass.
For purposed motion past that tree.
For harvests that are not for me.

As the sun set I was struck with the awareness that each of us has had times of achievements — of getting things done, of doing well — but feel now that time is passing without the arrival of new successes.

Looking at this rusting machine, I realized that I too have rusty parts — signs of wear, not quite as fit, and holding on to old ideas of how things should be done and said.

But looking at this rusting machine, I realized that I am changeable — that my rust is reversable, that I can be renewed.

There are truths of purpose and truths of things worth doing. They all involve people, helping each other to move forward, even if moving forward means to sit and share a smile.

We are not a rusty machine or a tree stuck in the ground. Shake off the rust. Shake off the dust.

Try hard. Be kind. Make more of today, together.

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Each of us have birds native to their area of the world. The two birds that I love the most are the North American Robin and the Red Tailed Hawk.

The robin is a gentle bird — happy to co-exist with people on the lawns of Eastern North America. This year, I saw my first robin in my own backyard, on March 9th, amidst the melting snow piles. It was sharing space with a black squirrel, with both of them probing the early Spring lawn for something to eat. At one point the robin and squirrel were within 2 feet of each other, and neither was troubled in the least. In fact, I have never seen a squirrel and robin interact, let alone quarrel.

By the time summer fully arrives there will be thousands of robins across our city, using their hopping motion to move around the yard in search of worms to pry up, either for themselves or their little ones. That robins also lay beautiful, light-blue eggs is another reason I like them.

Robins are independent. Unlike other "city" birds like pigeons and geese, they won’t badger you for a snack. They can get their own, thank you very much!

The robin will happily co-exist with humans. Cars don’t startle them (unless you drive onto the lawn) and walking by a robin gets you only a brief glance — you have to be closer than 10 feet to get what I would call a wary glance from a robin. This makes the robin a wonderful companion, and a great way for children to enjoy nature up close and at its most peaceful.

The joy of robins is that they are calm. In that way they are a role model for all of us.

They know there is food to be had. They know most people ignore them. They know they have few enemies, and rarely have to flee. They are good fliers, and can move to a fresh lawn any time they wish. They also have fun: flying like acrobats, standing on tree branches, and singing.

Robins are also unique in their community styles. They are often on their own, and seem quite content with that. When they find a mate they are dutiful in building a nest and finding food for the young ones. And they can also be seen in larger groups, particularly in the autumn when they are getting ready to migrate south to find warmer worms.

I love robins. They are calm, close, and beautiful singers.

Robins make me feel that nature loves me too.

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Winter sky

The winter sky looks on and dreams
of warmer times of grass and streams.

It scowls along from here to there
and broods about the goods it bears.

A snowflake here, or sleeting rain:
its harvest leads us to complain.

But there’s a secret that it knows:
just past the edge of winter grows
a bright new face to give us joy
when spring does winter sky deploy.

By Rob Hueniken

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My Twitter friend, Mike Todd (miketodd07), was out raking today, and sent this tweet:

Raking leaves in the sunshine, listening to Owl City on the iPod, thinking about poetry.

So I wrote this poem on Twitter:

Leaves & sun, together,
sounding crisp & smelling soft,
like earth and summer memories,
fallen but still remaining and reminding.

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While some people cannot tell the difference between cats and dogs, there are actually ways to tell them apart.

	Cats can be eaten by frogs. Unlike the more manic and fast-moving dog, sleepy-headed cats can find themselves gnawed on by a stealthy frog — particularly the Wide-mouthed Couch frog. Cat owners should be checking under their sofa seats to ensure that their favorite feline can catch a nap without fear of frog slobber. [Advertising opportunity: Does your company sell a safe and reliable frog slobber blob dauber, or kitty-sized jaws of life? Global warming will double, yes double, the need for cat-extraction technology, as well as the need to provide homes and distribution channels for these lovable and misunderstood Wide-mouth Couch frogs. Contact us!]
	Dogs are bigger than cats. While dogs are generally larger than cats, both dog and cat legs usually reach the ground — unlike those in this rare photo of the North American Ground-dwelling Dog. Similar to camels, dogs can often go for long periods of time without a meal or a fatty snack — sometimes up to half an hour! [Advertising opportunity: The market is growing for fatty snacks, preferably those suitable for the human/dog crossover market. Think "meaty-fruity-fibre". Doggy wagons (to put the dog into, not to be pulled by the dog) are also needed. No frail wagons, please! These dogs can dent pavement! Contact us!]
	Cats can see farther than dogs. Thanks to their higher-altitude perches on sofas, computer keyboards and otherwise clean kitchen counters, cats can see things farther away — at least in those moments between napping duties. While parrots were the choice of most fictional pirates, the Japanese Standing Cat — seen checking the horizon for seafaring mice — narrowly missed its chance to stand tall and proud, like a fluffy gopher. [Training opportunity: Japanese Standing Cats will soon be joining the opera tour circuit of Europe, and showing up in other fancy places, as the warm-up act and body-doubles for shy opera singers. Problem: none of the them (I mean "cats" here) seem to speak either English or European. This is a major opportunity to surge ahead in the exciting opera-focused entertainment arena. Contact us!]
	Dogs travel further and faster. Seen here in a high-speed travel holster, modern dogs use both their own legs as well as motion-assisting devices, including cars, circus ponies, and high speed mag-lev trains — basically they are happy being out and about, on their way to another snack or sniff-fest. While few dogs are able to book their own travel, they are eager to be on their way, running to the door at the first sound of words resembling “walk”, “run” or “What is wrong with this dog?” This is unlike cats, which would wear a groove into the linoleum between the food dish, litter box and sofa if their paws weren’t so absolutely dainty. [Advertising opportunity: We're looking for companies who can convince all women to carry dogs in the travel holsters we had designed for us by a previous Manufacturing opportunity. Help us!]
Photo by austinite	Cats are cleaner. Thanks to advances in water-free tubs and tuna-flavored soaps, cats around the world are swirling their fur balls down the drain. Unlike dogs, which are satisfied with sleeping on dirty welcome mats, cats know that a shiny coat, clean butt and “it’s all about me” attitude are vital social attributes for getting past the door and closer to the couch. Plus, cats taste great, both during grooming and after! [At least to cats.] [Research opportunity: The water-free tubs currently preferred by cats don't actually exist. We're looking for researchers to help us figure out what other things cats might pretend they own. Think about contacting us!]
Photo by FreeDigitalPhotos	Dogs have a lot on their minds. As this photo shows, dogs are clearly brilliant thinkers. It can take a lot of planning, insight and careful strategy to be as close to food as possible without annoying your master. While cats might become aloof and cranky when they don’t make the lecture circuit, dogs see this down-time as an opportunity to consider weighty issues, such as fat-to-fibre snack ratios, maximizing head pats, and the effects of air fresheners on both wet and dry noses. [There are no research opportunities here -- the dogs are already handling all the deep thinking.]
Yes, cats and dogs are just a bit different ! [Return to the home page of MakingMoreOfToday.com.]

We all have our weaknesses, and most of us know what they are.  We also have our strengths, and those are what we need to focus on sharing.

Sitting in the backyard with my friend we saw a rabbit. It was doing what rabbits spend a lot of time doing — sitting very still and sniffing the air.

“Do you think the rabbit knows it’s cute?” asked my friend.  “No,” I replied, “but the rabbit knows he’s delicious.”

From the moment a rabbit is born he is told that he would be a very tasty meal. He won’t become less tasty or desirable to predators — he will always be tasty, and one day he will be tasted and consumed.  Being a potential meal is a rabbit’s main weakness.

But rabbits also have great strengths. They are patient, and observant — they can sit quietly for a long time, watching and knowing what is going on around them. Rabbits eat grass and since they are often sitting in the grass they have most of what they need very close by — they aren’t fussy, they’re sensible. Rabbits are also camouflaged and blend into their surroundings — they don’t have to be noticed but we still notice them, because they are definitely cute.

And added to all of those strengths is the fact that rabbits are fast! When it’s action time there is no-one taking it more seriously than a rabbit. When it comes to getting from here to there the rabbit is getting the job done, and right now!

The rabbit knows he’s delicious, but he also knows his strengths.

You and I aren’t rabbits, though we can be cute. And unlike rabbits, we get to share a lot of our lives with others who have a broad range of strengths and skills.

There is a growing movement to focus on people’s strengths instead of their weaknesses, and I believe that has a lot of merit. When people care about each other and share their strengths, there is no job that can’t get done.

Let’s stop sitting in our patch of grass watching life. Let’s visit and talk and share our lives and our strengths.

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When we get out into nature one thing becomes clear: nature is a fantastic experience, in all its variations. Nature is reality TV in its purest form.

A friend and I went walking yesterday in a hill-top park that holds our city’s water supply, suitably called Reservoir Park. It is an inspiring combination of urban function and natural environment.

The sun was strong and the late-summer leaves were deep green and working hard.  There was lichen on the tree trunks — the bumpy, mottled blue-green combination of algae and fungus — working hard in its own slow way to pull in the sun’s rays. And there were birds, somewhere — just out of sight — calling to each other.

A family walked by carrying bits of sticks. “We’re going to roast marshmallows!”, exclaimed the girl with a huge smile. The Dad smiled, and I could tell that making this effort was worth it. Another family tootled slowly by on bicycles, followed by a band of four boys, mostly on bikes. One of them was carrying a bike wheel, and another half-carried, half-pushed the bike itself. All four of them were grinning in the sunshine — together and being outside.

Not every day is a perfect sunny day, but with nature every day is real. You feel it and it touches you.

Trees only get one channel, and it’s pure reality TV. If you don’t subscribe to it these days you really should get out more.

Three trees line up to pull in their favorite TV channel.	Urban candy-canes share the wind with grass and children.

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One of my favorite natural events is a windy day. Feeling the strong but invisible push against my face is a joy that I have felt since childhood. Barring flying grit, rain or the need to ride a bicycle, a windy day is a great way to have fun. I don’t need a kite or a reason — I just enjoy feeling the wind.

On rare days when the wind is very strong, I find that I can jump up into the wind and feel it hold me up — just for a moment — as I body surf on the air.

In the city one needs to get to an open street or park to really feel the wind.  I don’t count the high-velocity air sluices that pummel workers between high-rises — that is not really wind — it’s a man-made pushing match between nature and people.

When we lived in San Diego there were steady, strong winds by the ocean shore. Walking there, I saw people controlling kites using two strings. I loved the idea of working with the wind and being able to control a kite, and took a good look at those aerobatic kites. I didn’t imagine trying to buy one — instead I lovingly created it out nylon and wooden dowling. When I was done with the thread, duct tape and glue gun it looked just like the kites I had seen others flying!

But when I tried flying the kite it fluttered to the ground immediately.  Confused, I asked some other kite flyers for a closer look at their kites. Sure enough, I had not swept the wing tips backward, to make the underside of the kite look like the bottom of a boat. That is why the old-fashioned kiddy kites never worked: they were flat. A kite needs to be V-shaped to let the wind sweep past it on both sides.

Here’s a picture from today (Aug 30, 2009) with me holding the kite I made in San Diego.

Whether you are flying kites or just enjoying the breeze on your cheeks, I encourage you to be a fan of wind, and to reconnect with the simple joy of one of life’s earliest invisible mysteries.

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While having lunch outdoors yesterday my friend and I were visited by two wasps.  The wasps in our area rarely sting you if you let them be, but “letting them be” usually involves them hovering around or crawling on both your food and yourself.

We kept hoping the wasps would go away but they persisted. It was too nice a day to eat inside and swatting the wasps with our forks was not going to be effective.

While we coexisted with the wasps we noticed that they liked my friend’s Caesar salad more than my Greek salad, so my friend got to spend more time with the wasps.

But at one point a wasp flew slowly over my plate, very low – about an inch above the plate – and I saw the pepper and dry spices on my plate move around. The wind from the wasp wings was actually strong enough to create a tiny dust storm!

I had never thought before about how strongly wasps need to beat their wings in order to fly. But I realized at that meal that it is equivalent to a person blowing very gently – just enough to shift some pepper from an inch away.

It is a subtle reminder that everything we do can have a secondary effect, both on our world and on others around us.  People are much bigger and noisier than wasps, and how we drive, walk, and behave have effects beyond just moving us around or getting our things done.

What we do affects our world, far more than the wind beneath wasp wings.

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