The Land of Quoz

There is a term for those events that occur in our lives when we least expect them. It ‘s called a Quoz. Defined as "quoz" is a noun "referring to anything strange, incongruous, or peculiar; at its heart is the unknown, the mysterious.

We have decided to be open to and even search for quoz’s on our journey along the road of life.

For instance, a quoz happened to occur today. As we were driving toward Scott’s Bluff Nebraska, Charlotte was looking for a place to eat tonight. She didn’t find a restaurant but did stumble across an ice cream store that sold Black Walnut Ice Cream.

Then she told me about working at Cook’s Ice Cream in Hot Springs, Arkansas when she was a kid. And I do mean a kid. She started there when she was 13. Her favorite flavor was Black Walnut which is not in the bins of places like Baskin Robbins or Cold Stone Creamery.

Later in the day, as she was driving I started looking for a good Mexican food diner. We settled on El Molcajete, which is located in the industrial part of town. At dinner, our granddaughter asked if we were stopping for ice cream after dinner. We said maybe, but most likely not.

When we left the diner, which was excellent by the way, we pulled out onto the street and started back to the camper when I noticed the little storefront next door that looked closed in spite of two “open” signs. As we went by Charlotte realized it was the place that served Black Walnut.

After a quick u-tern we pulled in a found the Platt Valley Creamery very much open. As it has been since 1932! We stood in the parking lot and enjoyed the full butterfat version of some of the best ice cream I have ever tasted.

That was a quoz.

We pondered what the chances were that the diner I picked would end up being right next door to the store she had read about earlier. Simply amazing. And thanks to Grace for mentioning ice cream over dinner. If not, we might have driven right by without even seeing the tiny sign offering homemade ice cream.

We are experiencing more and more quoz’s along the road now that we are open to “seeing” them.

I will be sharing more of these experiences as we continue our journeys down the highway. Our plan is to spend the next ten days in the Black Hills of South Dakota, then back to Denver for a week. About July 6 we are hoping to start fishing our way toward Seattle and hope to arrive there in late August. Who knows after that. Stay tuned.

I invite you to start looking for quoz along the road of you life. Ours is richer and more fulfilling since we started seeking quoz every day. Maybe you will find some Black Walnut Ice Cream along the way.

Did I make a difference with the time I was given?

Today I am celebrating my 21,900th day on planet earth. That's 525,600 hours or 31,536,000 minutes.
When I look at those numbers I start reflecting on what has occurred in my world over that period of time. Basically what I have done with all this time.

Let's see, if I figure I slept and average of 8 hours per 24 hours, that means I have been awake physically for about 350,400 hours or 14,600 days.

During my waking ours I suspect I spent on average about 3 hours a day eating, so that shaves off another 65,700 hours or about 2737. 5 days. Which leaves me with a mere 11,862.5 days to make a mark on the world.

Then I figure I spent about 6 hours a day for 19 years in school. So that took another 1/4 of about 6935 days or a total of 1,733.75 days out of the equation, which leaves me with about 10,128 days.

So,,,, now I guess I have spent about 1 hour a day with personal hygiene, excluding those bouts of diarrhea when I had Montezuma's revenge back in 1993. So knock off another 912 days. Now we are down to 9216 days for me to be productive.

But wait! I know I have spent at least an average of 2 hours a day in a vehicle moving about the planet. That shaves off another 18,432 hours or 768 days. Then I had 8448 days of productivity in life.

But wait again! The first 9 years of my life were not all that focussed on doing much other than surviving and eating. That's is an additional 3285 days. So lets take off those years. Here I now have had an amazing 5163 days to make a difference.

But wait, wait, wait!!! I guess I have spent at the very minimum at least 5 hours a day doing absolutely nothing with my life. Which is not the worst thing in the world. Doing nothing has it's benefits as well as it's pitfalls. But in terms of making a difference in the world, lets just say, those daily hours were not all that productive. So I am hacking off another 25,850 Hours or 1,077 days. Well it looks like that gave me 4086 days to leave some sort of good mark on the planet.

Then I started thinking about work time. I have worked in some sort of capacity for about 35 years. Let's say I averaged a 40 hour work week. That is probably a stretch, but it's a round number. Let's see, that is 72,800 hours of work time. Dang, no wonder I am tired at times. That translates into 3033.3 days of my life at the grindstone. So that left me with 1050 days to make a difference or about 17 days a year.
So over 60 years I have had about 1.4 days or 33.6 hours each month, or about 1.1 hours a day to really make a difference in the world!

I am starting to see why every minute counts.  My hope is that over the course of the next 25 years that I can spend less time sleeping, eating, working, and just goofing off to leave this place a little better than I found it or maybe a better way of saying it is better than it found me. Anyway, this little exersize in math has me pondering the idea that every day counts. It may not seem that way when we are going through the routine of daily living, but I now am a wee bit more conscious about the choices I make as I go through my day.

I hope this muse invites all of you to take stock in what you do today. I know we have responsibility to get stuff done, and brush our teeth and floss, but if my calculations are close, we all have at least one hour, or 60 minutes, or 3600 seconds a day to make a difference and leave the planet a little better than we found it.

Here are some ideas ....
It takes one second to say "thanks"
2 seconds to say "thank you"
3 seconds to tell some one you love them
4 seconds to say "I really appreciate that"
5 seconds to say "can I help you in any way?"
6 seconds to say "You are doing a great job. Keep up the good work"
10 seconds to help an elderly person cross the street
30 seconds to carry someones groceries out of the store for them
5 minutes to call a friend and just let them know you are thinking of them.
30 minutes to stop by the home of someone that is in need
60 minutes to do a small act of service for someone .... like mowing their yard or helping them change a tire on the freeway

The moment we believe we do not have time to help someone else is the moment we have lost all perspective on what it means to live.

Just something to think about ........

Captain Coy Theobalt