Superstition - is it fact or fiction? Or is it just a figment of your warped mind? Do you avoid walking under ladders? This one I can tell you is not superstition, maybe. I just know that when a man is on a twenty foot ladder and drops his wrench which fortunate enough for me that I was wearing a hard hat. But not fortunate enough for the fool following me. It glanced off my hard hat and broke his nose. Now he had not walked under the ladder yet. He was about four or five feet behind me. I must add this was not just a little wrench for tightening small bolts like on your kids Tonka toy, but a twenty four inch heavy cast iron pipe wrench. He was very lucky that all it did was brake his nose, put his teeth through his lip, and as I said fortunate because his lip kept his teeth from being shattered or broken off. Superstition or dumb luck?

Cracks in the sidewalk. We have a nice 83 year old neighbor who walks the sidewalk every day and in a couple of places on the sidewalk the separating line between sections of concrete could be considered cracks. This particular one had been raised by the winter ice and was about an inch to an inch and a half higher than the section before it. This woman is very active and fit but she tripped landing face first with her face right on the next crack, like a log tipping over she said she tripped and fell perfectly straight and stiff. The first thing she saw was this crack in the cement. Scraped up knees, hands, elbows, and she even remarked how much she saved on plastic surgery by placing her nose back closer to it's original position until getting hurt on the farm she lived on when her nose was broken. I didn't catch exactly what it was she did on the farm, so stepping over cracks... superstition or dumb?

Black cats. Probably one of the worst negative superstars in a long list of things that scare people. If a black cat crosses your path this is suppose to represent bad luck. Now most superstitions make the recipient of the superstition be target of any negative occurrence precipitated by the superstition. So I have a question that I would really like as many of you that could possible answer back on my blog what their opinion is, particularly about black cats. If one crossing your path indicates bad luck what do you think will happen if you hit one with your low slung PT Cruiser at about 35 miles per hour with a definite overpowering "thud". You get out of the vehicle, prepare yourself with a handy roll of paper towels to pick up the carcass to pick up the dead animal and dispose of it in a propeller way, or if it is still alive to be able to get it to be rendered proper aid.

This happened to me and my wife three days ago. The cat was standing on the curb and actually looked both ways. Stared right at us and ran out into the road.  My wife observing this odd behavior swerved what she felt was a sufficient amount of distance to avoid striking the animal. We are animal lovers. She immediately pulled over and between deep emotional crying which was punctuated by "shit, oh shit, shit, I just killed that cat". I told her to stay where she was, I luckily had a high powered flash light with me. This happened at about 9pm. I searched the street for a half block in both directions, looking into shrubs and gutters, all the while thinking this must have been a glancing blow and that the injured cat was hold up in one of them. I am sure trying to see if he could stretch his tongue to the top and back of his head which is the area that would have taken the impact, given the size of the small creature. Licking the wound and comforting himself as best he could. Had I been able to locate this black cat I would have licked the back of his head for him while render whatever aid I could. In a way I am thankful I was unable to locate him as the thought of an enormous bloody hair ball did not sound appealing. But I would have done it.

After about 45 minutes of me laying on my back scooting around the car looking as much as I could in every nook and cranny under the framework, some nice gentleman from a community college in Richfield, observed me scooting around on my back with a flashlight looking under the vehicle. He made a U-turn, then pulled up behind me and put his lights on bright to help and turned on his four way flashers. I knew a couple of the vehicles came fairly close, but he told me the one that had been traveling in front of him missed me by only two or three inches. After searching every nook and cranny that I was able to underneath this cream colored PT Cruiser with double thick solid black undercoat covering the entire bottom of the vehicle, I was unable to locate as much as a drop of blood or a single hair from that black cats head. I thanked the gentleman for his assistance and humanity, I then thanked God that no one ran over me and that this beautiful creature evidently used up at least one of his nine lives. Or perhaps this was his ninth life and not knowing of anyone who knew a cat that had experience the use of all of his nine lives, superstition it follows has some basis. When you reach number nine in your cat lives "poof" you simply disappear completely.

Now the questions, I would really appreciate your comments. Later that night my neighbor, who is a friend, and cannot drive at night asked me if I could give him and his niece and her boyfriend a ride to a pub at about 2500 South State Street in South Salt Lake. As I turned into the parking lot, two sets of red and blue lights and a couple toots of siren manifested themselves out of nowhere right behind me. I was stopped. My friends niece and her boyfriend had exited the vehicle. I was stopped right in front of the main door of the establishment with no room for vehicles to get around me. The officer walked up to the car window and asked to see my drivers license, registration, and insurance card. I knew exactly where my drivers license was and promptly handed it to him. My friend opened the glove box, and when he did the police officers flashlight was focused on the glove box. He immediately unsnapped his pistola, holding his hand on it ready to yank it out as he pointed and said, "What's that in the glove box??" I reached in and pulled out two pair of gloves. I said, "Well, what do you think about that? There are actually gloves in the glove box!"

So far this night we had experienced two magical appearances, make that three, and one magical disappearance. As soon as I removed the gloves from the glove box I was quite concerned that we might observe two more vanishing as my wife had a stack of paperwork approximately the amount you can get into a shoe box arranged in no particular manner. So I put them on my lap and started thumbing through. I found the registration for 2006, then the one for 2008, finally I found the registration for 2010 and handed to the officer. I then went through and through the stack, finding the insurance cards dating for the last four years, all types of service invoices and receipts, banking envelopes, after frantically calling my wife, (she said, "it's in the glove box"),  I found one that looked correct because it did have a 2010 on it, but the officer handed it right back because it expired 3/1/2010. Finally the correct card was produced. After which I asked the officer why he was pulling me over. He said my right tail light was out. I began to get out of the vehicle so I could inspect it myself and he said, "No, wait" pushing the door shut. I guess he was afraid I would get out and somehow attack him with the hose that went from my oxygen bottle to my nose.

So he was waiting for back up. They promptly arrived. Two more motorcycle officers and two marked police cars as well as an unmarked police car. After perusing my documentation they used all of their flashlights shining them in every direction through my drivers license, figuring it must be counterfeit because it only contained a four digit number. After some time they used common sense by calling it into dispatch. Although they had already spoken to them to see if I was a wanted criminal, and to see if I had a valid license. They evidently had never seen a drivers license with only four numbers. After passing it around to about five officers they returned it to me, along with a citation with two infractions. The first one was for me getting out and noticing that I had two tail lights, and as I haven't mentioned time had gone on... the crowd from the bar had moved their party outdoors to watch the real entertainment (and drama). Actually as it turned out was a comedy. I pointed out to the police officer that I had two tail light. I pointed out the crowd, "How many tail lights do you see on my vehicle?" The whole crowd shouted out, "two". The other officer corrected the assumption by explaining it was the brake light. I then had my friend turn off the lights and reach over to hit the brake peddle and sure enough no brake light came on. This is a thirty dollar fine, but if you have it repaired with fourteen days there is no fine and the judge dismisses it.

The second item the officer issued me a citation for, and I still do not understand, but it says, "No card required carried in vehicle". As I had already given him both of the necessary cards, I said, "I have all of the cards". The officer then snapped back with, "Yes you have the cards, but it is required that you place your signature on the line on the back of the registration" The fine for this is forty dollars. Again, you are allowed fourteen days to correct this violation and when I asked the officer if I could use his pen he would not allow me to sign it in front of him. Now the way the verify you have corrected these violations of the law is to have your vehicle inspected by a police officer from anywhere. My first thought was to go to Las Vegas and have someone there sign it, enjoying the trip at the same time, but my wife, bless her heart, did not feel that was a good idea.

The next day having signed the registration, lamination the registration and the insurance card and attaching them to each other I called Murray City Police who are polite, professional, and courteous. Diametrically opposed to the jerk wad, dip shit, who had just had the training wheels removed from his motorcycle, which empowered him to qualify for the high standards that South Salt Lake seems to require of their officers and qualifies them as truly ignorant, discourteous, with a lack of tact and diplomacy which they make up for by practicing at being a royal pain in the ass. I would not have been so harsh in my description of this highly qualified ass hole but on several occasions during this ordeal I asked him, not once, but several times, could I please step back into the automobile and get back on my oxygen, as the oxygen in my body was being severely depleted. I don't know what his reasoning was, except to prove that he was in charge, but had it been much longer, I probably would have suffered a heart attack as on top of emphysema I have congestive heart failure and I am on an extremely large amount of oxygen. I certainly hope that someone with some authority in South Salt Lake can offer their officers a little bit, NO, a lot more education in personal relations and dealing with the public in a considerate, professional manner.

Now, comes the question. Was this superstition or just bad luck?? You would think it would stop right there. But yesterday my wife drove the mile and a half to her work with everything in her vehicle functioning. She usually comes home for lunch, this day was no exception, she came home for lunch. However she did it without knowing how fast she was going, how much gasoline she had, and everything else that your instrument panel is suppose to tell you. The dash lights would not work. The overhead dome lights would not work. The key lock would not lock or unlock the vehicle, nor set the alarm. I checked every fuse; not once, not twice, but three times. Did I mention this is a 2006 PT Cruiser Limited Edition, fully loaded, and only 22000 miles on it. She has it serviced regularly, and has never had any problems. Now I ask you - superstition or just dumb luck? I would like as many opinions as possible. I would like hundreds of opinions. And I want to save every one of you out there forty dollars. Right now before you forget, go out to your vehicle, pull out the vehicle registration, look in the very middle at the bottom of the registration, there is a long line with an X and the wording above it says, "you are required to carry insurance on this vehicle and your signature is your promise to do so" Sign it now, put it back in your glove box along with your gloves, your pistolas, hand grenades, and the last ten years worth of paperwork for your automobile. If you truly like your friends save them all forty dollars or make your self a few dollars by betting them whether or not you have to sign your vehicle registration.

So this is what happens when you run over a black cat that's crossing the road in front of you on a dark moonless night, and as luck would have it I forgot to mention that we were at 35th South and Third West when we hit the cat in South Salt Lake Utah. Today I am playing it safe. I am drinking my fruit punch, I have my sox and my summer shorts (this is the first day of summer), but I can guarantee this I am not going anywhere near South Salt Lake today. I am wondering if I can find a white cat whose life I can save will this terrible curse be lifted? It seems that it is me that it's happening to and I wasn't even driving. I am really concerned and worried about the well being of my wife... If anyone out there knows how long a jinx will last please let us know.

Thank you for listening to me ramble today. But it would have been a whole lot longer if I had told you all of the conversation I had with this "rookie" from South Salt Lake.

PLEASE RESPOND WITH COMMENTS, EVERYONE, WE NEED SOME SERIOUS HELP. OF COURSE WE ARE TRYING PRAYER, WE DO THAT ANYWAY.

God Bless you all,
Ken the afterlife messenger