September 30, 2025 - Service

 I just read a quote from the Grapevine about doing a tenth step journal of my day and I thought that is kinda what I use this blog for lately. Unfortunately, the tenth step is something I do every day and this blog is not updated every day. Maybe that is one of the things I should be working on.

Today was pretty straighforward. I woke up, did the things that I do every morning. That includes two daily readings, one from AA and one from Al-Anon, then I pick my word of the day. Today, it was forgiveness. Then, I share that word with about 50 people on social media. Then, I write a short blog entry at one of my blogs called quite appropriately The God Box. Once I had completed the morning ritual today, I made a cherry cheesecake for a birthday meeting I'm going to this evening and readied myself for a meeting with someone I sponsor.

The sponsorship meeting went well. It was on part of Step Four, the categories of Fear and Sex Conduct. we listened to one of the Dumb Guy CDs; he explains it well.

Then, I baked some cookies for the birthday meeting, cranberry with white chocolate chip. The cranberries I used were whole fresh cranberries. Just as I was finishing up with those, I met with someone to whom I am a service sponsor. We had a look at Tradition One. we use the Traditions Checklist. Lots of thought provoking questions there.

I was asked if I could be the chair for the birthday meeting tonight. Without hesitation, I agreed. I have been sober myself since November of 1997 and I have been doing service of some kind or another since November of 1997. I think the two are related.

September 28, 2025

 Another sunshiney day. My word of the day was service and although I did some, it wasn't a lot. Of course, we started with church and after church, they have a fellowship hour. I made a few cranberry with white chocolate chip cookies for that. Then, we came home because I was making a meal for us of corned beef and cabbage and that takes a few hours. I chatted with a few people on social media whom I do not sponsor but to whom I may act as if I was their sponsor, trying to point them in a direction where they might eventually run into God and I hope they lnow how to to recognize Him or Her. I do have some service work on the schedule today. I meet with two of the men I sponsor to go over some stuff. Of course, I meet them each at a different time. And, finally, I host a beginner meeting at 8. Every Sunday evening is basically like that.

September 27, 2025

 Oops, missed a day. Life happens. I could say I was busy yesterday, but I was busy today as well and here I am. I knew I was going to a birthday celebration this evening so I spent my morning baking cookies and making a cheesecake. I also met with a few of the people I sponsor and a fellow that I used to sponsor years ago came over and installed a ceiling fan in the dining room. I offered to pay him for his service but he turned me down. I was also able to get to the fabric store and pick up some yarn for some scarves that I'm working on and at the end of the day we did make it to the birthday meeting, so that was good. I managed to present one of the ladies with her own god box. Life for me these days is about helping people, especially new people. That is probably the biggest change for me from the old me. In my other life, I cared only for one person...me. Now, I try to be of maximum usefulness to God and to those around me. It's because of a deal I made with the God of my understanding about 28 years ago. I asked him to take away my difficulties and in return I promised to help as many of my fellows as I am able to. Most good ideas are simple.

September 25, 2025

 Its been a hectic day but a good day. it was payday so we always have a lot of shopping to do and we have to go to more than one store to do it, but we got it done. I spent a few hundred getting everything we needed, but really my three month supply of medication came to zero dollars so that was a bonus. Earlier this month, the ceiling fan in the dining room went on the fritz so we bought a new one today. Less than two hundred so that wasn't too difficult. I have a friend who is good with electrical stuff so he has agreed to install it for us, another savings. I might slip him a few bucks for his trouble anyway. I just noticed that the coffee pot is not working so that's something else I need to fix. Got to have the old morning coffee. Wish getting a new younger body was as easy as that. Oh well.

September 24, 2025 - Cheap Date or CheapSkate

 Nancy was always saying she'd like to spend our anniversary in Hawaii, so one time, in 2021, during the pandemic, I brought her to a meeting on zoom that was based in hawaii so she got what she wanted and I didn't have to pay for air fare. So, I'm either a cheap date or a cheapskate. Nancy liked the meeting so much she joined it and was a member for about 2 years. She celebrates there tonight. 28 years. So, naturally I invited everyone and their dog.

September 23, 2025 - Squirrels

 I slept in a little bit today, not too long. I didn't miss any appointments I had and I didn't need to scramble around to get everything done. I managed to get my morning ritual of the god box word done on time and I did meet with someone to go over some step work. Later in the day, I got some service work done. I had needed to go to the bank for the district committee and that's taken care of. I also found out that I will be chairing my group tonight. I don't mind. It won't be my first rodeo. A few squirrels came at me during the day and I got sidetracked a few times, but the interesting thing about those type of squirrels, is they can get you back on track just as easily.

September 22, 2025 - Little Things

 A few things I have noticed.

Know it alls don't really know it ALL.

Whenever something seems too good to be true, it's because it is.

Everything is connected. the trick is finding the dots.

and last but not least, when my ship finally comes in, chances are I'll be at the airport.

September 21, 2025 - Change Isn't Always A Bad Thing

I was supposed to have a busy day, but a few little things changed and freed up a few hours of my time, so I was able to attend to a few other things. Like, the podcast I do once a week. There are a few steps involved in getting it online and I usually don't have the time to get it done until the last few hours. But, I'm a little ahead of the game now. So, change isn't always a bad thing. 

September 20, 2025

It's Saturday. Ordinarily, we would go to the zoom meeting in Hawaii. we started that tradition on Saturday night a few years ago. nancy had aways joked that she would like to go to hawaii for our wedding anniversary which is on new year's eve. So, in 2021, during the pandemic, I brought her to an AA meeting in hawaii through the zoom platform. So, she got her wish and it didnt cost me anything. So, either I'm a cheap date or a cheap skate.

Today, we went to an AA day event in Sackville. A few meetings, a barbecue, lots of fellowship and old friends and making new friends. We're home now, knitting and/or crocheting various projects that we have.

September 19, 2025

My word of the day was Humility, so in theory I'm not supposed to be thinking of myself more than I'm thinking of others. But, I don't like to gossip about others at my personal blog, so I guess I can talk a little about myself or at least how I perceive things. I slept in a little today, just an hour and not even an hour to be honest. I had no pressing need to get up exactly when the alarm went off, so I snoozed a little. Tomorrow will be different. we are going to an event in Sackville. I have someone coming by at ten to drive us there, so getting up at 8 am sounds like a plan. I'm not sure how long we'll stay at the thing tomorrow. I do like to stay until its almost over. Sunday is also a busy day for me. Church in the morning plus a committee meeting in the afternoon. I usually bake cookies for those things and sometimes I gets wiser as I gets older, so I baked the cookies today.

September 18, 2025

 It almost slipped my mind again. I can't use the excuse that I was too busy because I wasn't. I had a few things to do today, but nothing too complicated and that was a good thing because my word for the day was the slogan Keep It Simple.That's always a good reminder for me not to over-complicate things. I have a tendency to do that. But, as I say, today was not too complicated. I went to a church thing, a men's lunch. An opportunity for us to share a meal and some conversation, get to know each other a bit. I always chuckle when I think that I do that sort of thing in my other fellowship quite a bit, and the people in each of the fellowships are quite different and the conversations, although similar in topic, are also different. I said this before, yesterday I think. It is good for me to get out and do things with my peers. I might even try to do that more. I find it easier to do in the other fellowship. In fact, on Saturday I'm going to a day long event

September 17, 2025 - Anti- Comfort Zone

 There is a men's lunch tomorrow at church. Good way for the men to get to know each other better. We have soup and sandwiches. I bring cookies, so does one of the other guys. It's good for me to get out and do something. I have a tendency to do things that don't require that I leave the house. Playing video games is one of my favorite past times, but I do other things that are good things to do. I write or blog, like I'm doing now. I sponsor people using the zoom platform. And, as I said, I can do all those things without leaving the house. Because I'm doing things with others, I don't see it as a form of isolating, but it is isolating. So, it's good for me to get out and do things to break out of my comfort zone.

September 16, 2025 Not So Sweet Dreams

 I had a dream last night. Like many dreams, it was a bit weird. I was out somewhere, at the bank I think. I had stopped there, on my way to somewhere else. As I was leaving, I noticed I had left my cell phone at home, so i wouldn't be able to call a cab. Actually, I have the taxi app on my phone so I just book a cab, but this was a weird dream right. I didn't want to ask the bank teller to call me a taxi so I decided to use the pay phone. It would have cost me fifty cents, but luckily I had the change. I picked up the phone receiver to call the taxi copany, but there was someone already on the line. He seemed to be having a conversation with whomever had been using the phone last. I got the impression that this person was in a prison and was trying to get help contacting someone on the outside. I interrupted him and told him I needed to use the phone so could he please hang up. Well, the fellow flew into a tirade of obscenities about how I was a rascist no good for nothing prick, I didn't even know the guy. I hung up my end of the call and as I was contemplating what to do, I saw a familiar taxi driver and he gave me a ride back home. Then, I woke up. As I was scratching my head over the dream, I noticed the TV set was on. We usually put it on a timer. the guy on the sitcom was berating someone on the phone, calling him a rascist prick. Dilemma solved.

I was talking to a guy I sponsor and he was telling me how he always had drinking dreams. Those were dreams that he had relapsed and was drinking again. I told him that I had a dream once that I could fly, but that hasn't happened yet. So, maybe it was just a dream.

September 15, 2025 - A Good Day

 Fall is definitely here. The sun is shining, but as Nancy put it, it's not a day for sun tanning. There's a bit of a breeze. Still, it seemed like a good day for a barbecue. It's a charcoal smoker so every time I want to use it, I have to clean the ashes out from the last time I used it. Reminds me of working in Swiss Chalet which I did about 40 years ago. Before you could cook the day's chicken, you would first have to dump the grease bucket. Smelled gross after sitting there all night. Greatest cure for a hangover. If that didn't make you puke, nothing would.

Cleaning my barbecue is much easier. While I was doing that, I noticed that I hadn't cut the grass in a while. I haven't been cutting it very often this year because it hasn't been growing because of the lack of water. So, I mowed it. And trimmed the edges with the whippersnipper. I had a bag of dirt that I bought for something, can't remember what; I used it to fill in a few holes the rodents had made so they could tunnel under the skirting. Filling those in with dirt won't do any good, but it was entertaining thinking that it might.

While all this was going on, I made a few friends on social media. Well, honestly, I was already friends with both of them. One guy I was just re-connecting with, and the other person I sort of know already and I'm just getting to know her better.

I recorded my weekly podcast today. I don't upload it until Wednesday but I like to have it ready to go and now it is.

So, it's been a good day. 

September 14, 2025

 I overheard a conversation today on a topic about which I disagree. I was tempted to insinuate myself into the discussion so that I could make my opinion known. But, then I realized that not every one wants to know my thoughts on certain subjects, so I did something out of character and kept my mouth that.

I did make comments to the people I was with about the same subject. It concerned a book that was recently written on a subject that is familiar to me. The original book was written in 1939 and this recent book was the Plain language version of that book. It's true that the language used in the old book was often outdated and not in common usage these days, and the language in the new book used terms that most everyone these days understands. I concede that point. However, the message in the new book is a watered down version of the message in the original book.

Back in the day, I used the dictionary a lot to look up words that I was unfamiliar with. The theory is that if you read a sentence and there is a word in that sentence that you do not understand, you might not understand the sentence. If you do not understand the sentence, you might not understand the paragraph. Nowadays, you can just google words like that, but we didn't have Google back then.

My thoughts are you don't need a plain language version of a book. You just need the original book and either a dictionary or a cell phone. Maybe it's because I'm from a different time zone.

September 13, 2025 - Distorted Perceptions

 I made a post on social media that tavern food is good, just so long as I don't have to go to the tavern to get it. We're having chicken fingers on a bun so chicken burgers right and I thought french fries would be a good side. I know people claim that french fries cooked in an air fryer are healthier, but really folks, they are gross. The reason they call them french fries is because you fry them, in deep fat. The best method, according to most chefs, is to blanch them first, then deep fy them a second time.

Some people just have distorted perceptions of reality. It's like Harm Reduction. What's up with that anyway. I'm a recovered alcoholic. I no longer drink. I did not recover from alcoholism by reducing the harm it did to me and the people in my life; I recovered by completely eliminating the harm it does to me and the people in my life. And I do not believe in the marijuana maintenance program. Substituting one addiction for another is like switching seats on the Titanic. The ship is still sinking and you're still on it.

September 12, 2025 - Love Is Also A Verb

 I recently made a commitment to spend more time updating my blogs. I update The God Box every morning, and I had made a decision to update this one each night before bedtime. Last night it slipped my mind and about 11:45 pm I was scrambling to get it done. So, I have revised my original plan to Update The God Box in the morning and update Mulgrave Lane later in the day or evening. So, currently it is 430 pm and I have a bit of time on my hands so here we are.

Today has been a good day here. I was awake at 8 am, did the morning ritual which consists of asking God as I understand Him for a little help to get through the day, then I do a couple of readings, one from an AA book and one from an Al-Anon book, then I pull a word from my god box. I share that word with 50 or so people that I'm connected to on a daily basis and then I write a little blurb at my other blog, The God Box. It's a carryover from the days when I used to journal. Now, I blog.

The word today was Love. Thinking back, this morning's blog entry was good but as the day progresses I amost always find other things to say about my word, as I relate it to the day's goings on. Love is one of the words that is just as powerful as a verb as it is as a noun. I baked cookies today. We're going to a meeting tonight and we're also going to a program at the church tomorrow morning called Blankets of Hope. Me and Nancy and about a dozen other ladies knit blankets to give to those less fortunate than us. It's a way to spread around love. The cookies I bake are also a way to do that.

After my morning coffee, I spent about an hour with a person that I sponsor, just talking and giving her some hope and guidance. That's another way that I express love. Someone once asked me what was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. I replied that it is the look in an alcoholic or addict's eyes  once they realized they did not have to live the way they had been living.

As I said, we're going to the speaker meeting tonight. I'm not the person speaking, but someone mentioned to me that she'd like to go if she had a drive. We're getting a drive there and there's an extra seat in the car. That didn't take much thinking. Doing a favor for someone with no thought of getting anything for it is another way for me to express love. having said that, by doing for others, I do get something in return. I get to keep the gift that God has given me, the gift of Sobriety. But, that is something I am always aware of and it doesn't really come up during that moment when I agree to be unselfish. If that makes sense.

September 11, 2025

 My word this morning was Trust. I figured I'd bring it up as a topic this evening, but I turned the one word into a slogan we are familiar with - Trust God Clean House Help Others. Helping others is a good way to do service work and it feels good to carry a bit of hope to others especially new people. But, it's hard to carry a message to others until my own affairs are in order, so I should get my shit together first. I should, as they say, clean my house first. And, before I start working on myself, which can be a tough thing to do, the first thing I should do is place my trust in God or a higher power if the word God is difficult for you.

I carry the message a lot, through sponsorship. Not all the people I sponsor actually get sober. I have to frequently remind myself that because I ought not to take the credit for getting them sober, I also ought not blame myself if they don't get sober. I simply encourage them to find a higher power and help them to establish a relationship with that higher power and then whether or not they continue the steps is really between them and their God. It has very little to do with me.

Primary Doesn't Mean Important

 As I have mentioned, this is my primary blog. I don't think that means it is my most important blog, because it does not get updated as frequently as some of my other blogs. I think subconsciously it means my First Blog and even that is not completely accurate, because I had blogs prior to this one. To say it is my first blog at Blogger would be more to the pont. I could check to be sure but I'd say it's about 15 years old. I did actually save what I had written so far and then checked the date of the earliest saved post. that one dates back to 2015, so that's ten years. If memory serves me correctly, that post is not the first post. I'd say 2010 would be a better starting point, but if that's the case, where are all the posts from 2010 to 2015?

So Many Blogs, So Little Time

 A friend of mine was having difficulty with something and i made a reference to something I had written in one of my blogs and he said Oh I didn't know you had a blog and of course I said Yeah I have a few of those. I actually have quite a few. I'm an addict. My whole philosophy of life is based on the premise that if one works this good, just think what ten would do. 

Mulgrave Lane is supposed to be my primary blog. I remember how it got started. They renamed all the streets in the trailer park. They are all named after ships that were lost in the Battle of the Atlantic. My part of the street is on the corner of Trentonian Lane and Mulgrave Lane. My access door is on Mulgrave lane and I like that better than Trentonian. It's easier to say and easier to spell. So, I contacted the city and asked if my civic address could be changed to Mulgrave Lane. After a few weeks they responded to me and said that a 911 driver would need to drive all the way to the end of Mulgrave Lane to get to my trailer, so they denied my request. A 911 driver would have to travel all the way to the end of Trentonian Lane to get to my trailer anyway but that idea didn't seem to have anything to do with anything, so my address is 38 Trentonian.

My solution? I created a blog called Mulgrave Lane. And it's not my only blog. I have a recipe blog and a dessert blog that I do not update on a regular basis. Those would be So Good To Come To and Stressed Spelled Backward. Go ahead, spell it backward.

One day, when I was working as a security guard, the guy who worked the night shift, who was supposed to relieve me the evening, was snowed in and we had to shovel him out so he could go home sleep and then come back to work. A backhoe plow was driving by and the good samaritan in him decided to help plow my buddy out. So I blogged about that at a blog I created called Sometimes God Drives A Snow Plow. that blog doesn't get updated very often.

I have one called The God Box which is little blurbs about the words I pick from my God Box every day. I've been updating that one regularly every day for at least a month or so.

And this little rant has served to update Mulgrave Lane.