Never say never. That saying always bugged me. Yet, people feel compelled to quote it —a lot. I know what they are trying to say, that you shouldn’t make claims which might not be accurate in the future because no one really knows what the future holds—that is true. Others use the saying to assert there are no absolutes in this world. That is absolutely not true. But either way, the saying itself is contradictory, so it can’t be used as a truism of any sort. Besides, there are definitely some things that I can unequivocally state that have never, and will never, happen.
 
I’ve never had a maiden name. Never will. I’ve never been pregnant and never will be. I will never be a kid again. I’ll never know what an elephant is thinking. And I’ll never forget how many grains of sand are in the world because I’ll never know.
 
Admittedly, the preceding list is probably not things to which the saying refers. None of them are even a possibility. Still, there are other things that technically could happen but I’m certain will not: I’ll never visit China, or the moon. I’ll never live in a space capsule. I’ll never be elected President—because I’ll never run. I’ll never jump out of a perfectly good airplane, never bungee jump just for the fun of it, and I’ll never win the gold medal in anything at the Olympics.
 
The point is there are plenty of instances where saying never is entirely appropriate and acceptable. So, ‘never say never’ is a saying I never use. Usually anyway. I realize I’ve used it twice in this post.
 
I was running all of this by my four-year-old grandson earlier today, and he thoughtfully offered another enlightening observation; “And you’ll never be a millionaire.” I told him he was right. Probably. But then, you never know. ~
 
 
Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

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Growing up in rural Oregon, I was quite accustomed to seeing various wildlife, including coyotes. These days, seeing a coyote or two in my daily travels is still pretty normal and I usually don’t pay that much attention. Except for the other day.
 
I was working. Driving the truck downtown Portland. At first, when I saw the coyote, walking leisurely down the sidewalk, I thought it must be a dog. It had to be a dog, I told myself. Why would a coyote be running around the city? Especially, downtown.
 
But the closer I got, the more I was convinced; it definitely looked like a coyote. Still, I wasn’t positive. It was dark and headlights do not always show things clearly. But then, stopping for a red light, I got a better look. Wise to the city ways the animal paused under the streetlight, waiting for traffic to clear. Being just a few feet away, I was certain this was indeed a coyote.
 
Then the light changed and we both took off. As I lost sight of the coyote in my mirror, I again started thinking that it had to have been a dog.
 
But now, I was curious. Doing a search, I was surprised to learn that coyote sightings in the Portland area are common with upwards of 2000 sightings per year. However, these sightings are usually on the outskirts of town or in the suburbs, not downtown. Still, with a thriving coyote population, seeing one in the busy part of the city was not out of the question. When I was a kid, coyotes never even made it close to Portland. Apparently, times have changed. There is now an estimated 500 or more living in or around Portland.
 
Okay, so I guess I wasn’t imagining things after all. Good to know. I suppose I shouldn’t have been surprised though. The part of town where I saw the coyote was near where I pick up my load—of garbage. I think a transfer station is sort of like a buffet for coyotes.
 
I still find it odd, however. I’ve always considered coyotes to be more of a rural creature, not really an urban one. But since we’re providing them with fine dining establishments these days, I guess they’ve discovered it’s easier to find a good meal in the city than in the country. ~
 
 
Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

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Time for a new pair of boots. Seems I’ve walked holes in the soles—again. Boots typically last me about a year. Been that way for most of my life. And it doesn’t seem to matter what brand I buy, I get about a year out of them. It’s been a little longer than that this time but only by a month or so.
 
To a lot of folks, a year may not seem that long for footwear to wear out, but most people do not wear one pair continuously. I do. I own just a single pair of boots at a time. I wear them every day no matter where I’m going or what I’m doing, from the time I get up until the time I go to bed.
 
I’ve often wondered just what sort of “mileage” I get with my boots and now, thanks to the Heart app on my phone I can see exactly how far I walk each day, week, month, or year. And since I always wear the same boots, I know that every step, every mile recorded was taken in those boots.
 
What I’ve found is that I walk an average of about 3,600 steps per day. That’s around 1.5 miles, which translates to 547.5 miles per year. While that seems like a lot of walking, (to me) I know it’s nowhere close to the recommended 10,000 steps, or 5 miles, per day.
 
But really, that amount of walking is just not feasible for me. No, not because I don’t have time, or that I’m a truck driver and we don’t like walking, or the fact that I’m old. No, the reason I can’t walk more than I do is simple. My boots just couldn’t take it. They’d never make to the year mark because apparently, I’m only getting about 550 miles to the pair. ~
 
 
Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.

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Previously on this blog, I’ve mentioned that I like to stay busy. A better way to state it is that I HAVE to stay busy. I always need to DO something because I can’t handle not being productive. Usually anyway.
 
My wife likes being productive as well but she also enjoys taking time to do relaxing things such as putting puzzles together. In our younger days, back when I didn’t spend all of my time trying to be productive, we used to work on puzzles together. And it was fun.
 
But putting puzzles together takes time. And these days I have a hard time justifying spending hours on a project with no payoff at the end. A completed puzzle doesn’t allow me to mark a single thing off my never-ending list of things to do.
 
Which is why I found it a little odd that over the past few days, I have helped her on, not one, but two puzzles. Even while we were working on the puzzles I wondered why I was “wasting” time on such things. Not that spending time with my wife is a waste of time; it’s just that I feel guilty not accomplishing anything other than finishing a picture on cardboard. I said as much to her while we “worked” and she agreed that puzzles were ultimately a waste of time. “But, I like doing them,” she added.
 
I had to admit, it was still fun; searching through the scrambled bits of colored cardboard, looking for that certain piece, or seeing a uniquely shaped piece and determining where it goes, is, in the end, rewarding—sort of. Yet, even as I looked at the completed picture, my satisfaction was short-lived, and it had nothing to do with not marking something off my list.
 
See, when my wife finishes a puzzle, she then becomes very time conscious—like she’s suddenly worried about being efficient and not wasting time getting things done. What I’m referring to specifically is, she almost immediately tears the puzzle apart to put it back in the box. Me, I’d like to leave it there a day or so, maybe a week, no more than a month at the most, just to look at and enjoy the fact that it is together.
 
Notice anything odd? It’s almost like we switch roles once the puzzle is finished. Briefly. Then, it’s back to reality—and back to my list. Speaking of my list, normally I put a big dent in it on the weekend, but this past weekend it didn’t really get much smaller. You’d think that would bother me, and yet, it really doesn’t. I had a good time and there’s always next weekend. But that sort of mentality, putting things off until later, is just not like me. And frankly, it has me worried—and a little puzzled. ~
 
 
Bruce A. Borders is the author of more than a dozen books, including: Inside Room 913, Over My Dead Body, The Journey, Miscarriage Of Justice, The Lana Denae Mysteries, and The Wynn Garrett Series. Available in ebook at www.amazon.com/Bruce-A.-Borders/e/B006SOLWQS and paperback on Amazon, Barnes & Noble and Books-a-Million. Bruce A. Borders is a proud member of Rave Reviews Book Club.