OK, NOW IT'S TIME TO RAKE CELL PHONE USERS

Recently at a beach, our oldest grandson found a tiny shell. He held it to his ear. He proclaimed, "I can hear a faucet dripping." I thought that very clever, but granddads are like that. I wish more cell phone users would follow that principle of little is better.

I wouldn't talk bad about cell phones anymore than I intended to not talk bad about dogs in yesterday's missive. For you see, cell phones are terrific. They give you affordable, easy access. On our daughter's, you can even get updated scores. How handy is that? On a friend's, he can get immediate fantasy football stats and see how many catches his TE has for the on-going game while he sits at another. How could I diss such a handy tech mechanism?

But the users. Oh my! I've actually jumped when someone walks behind me on a city street and talks loudly on the phone. I always joke that it must be a long distance call that makes them talk louder.

Drivers, well 'nuff said. All know my complaints in that arena. And if you don't share them, you ain't been driving in the past 5 years or so.

Grocery store users that chatter and won't move when they're in your way. Not until they have read all the kinds of oatmeal they are perusing. I say, just make a decision. I know, it's important to get just what you want. We go to as many as 4 different stores because of the select brands or quantity that we desire. But as they say, "It's not rocket science," and you're not allowed special privileges because you have a phone.

I must confess, I'm not much of a talker on the phone. Never was. Well, almost. If I was talking to a girl in my adolescence, then I could walk away red eared, but that was it. Say what's necessary and hang up.

I guess the worst case scenario would be to see a dog owner distracted by his own loud talking (about nothing) and not notice or care what his dog was doing. When the dog was done, the cell phone owner left the remains as he made yet another call. Walking up behind someone and shouting "Where are you at?" As his scraggly dog sniffs at the back of the pedestrians heels.