Friends are good! OLD friends are special

 Photo of the day:

 

So for today:

Many years ago My sister suggested Lake Manatee, a State Park for camping near Bradenton, FL.  WE made reservations and went for a couple weeks and fell in love with the lake and area. WE spent many winters there. Fresh veggies and fruit were available nearby to ‘buy or self-pick.’ We met the campground hosts and rangers, all were friendly, nice folk and helpful. We fished most days and had fish 2-4 times a week.

Most of the time my sister and her husband were also camping there.  We became good friends with R.E. and Mary, camp hosts from Tennessee. Al and Judy from Maine, also camp hosts. Later we visited them at their homes in Tennessee and Maine.

AND with Judy, there was that great Mainer accent and the uniqueness of personalities.

Al was a character. I have mentioned in the past they lived way back in the woods just off upper Maine coastline. When Al was going to build the inspectors told him they didn’t care what he built there, unless he required electricity, then he would be required to have inspections.  True to his nature, he said I won’t require electric.

WE visited back them in the woods. They had a well for water and the house was wired for 12v electric (Not the normal 120v we all have). He backed his truck up to a beautiful log cabin and plugged the house into his truck battery; just like it was a travel trailer. It all amazed me. They even had a small 12v TV to watch.  He told me he used a generator once a week for Judy to vacuum the floors and wash clothes.  At the same time (Using the generator) water was pumped to a stainless steel tank in the loft, to furnish water for the house for the next week.

I have searched for a picture but somehow many of my photos are gone.

Al and R.E. died about 20 years ago. We have stayed in contact with Judy and Mary. This all comes back to me because we just visited Judy who still winters near Nocomis, FL. Such fun recalling memories and times together. I don’t remember the card game called Golf, but we played it with Al and Judy many evenings.

Judy is a sweetheart and skinny as a rail. She is 9 months older than I and still jumping around.

YES OLD friends are special and getting less in number for us.

   

Nite Shipslog

PS.

Thank, to all of you that read here. We enjoy comments and appreciate them. It is great to have friends that tolerate you!         ;-)  Even OLD ones.  LOL They tell me Florida is cooling off for a few days, Please shut the door, you guys north of us!

 

BUMPS in the road of an RV’er

 Photo of the day:

 

Not our first rec. vehicle, but the first mobile one.  We loved it, but sure climbed a mountain slow, had to pull off to let the cars by that we were holding back. OUCH (No refrigerator in this!)

So for today:

Living in a coach presents special problems, not common to the home dweller.  Yesterday was one of those days. Just a day or so ago the lower hinge of our Refer broke. This coach has a standard Refrig by Norcold. This one is very shallow and operates on 12v, 120v or LP gas. The hinge is part of the door so I needed to get a door and did find a couple on the internet$50-100$.

As you can see this is no BIG refer. Very shallow,  But when most of it is on the floor it looks like a lot. LOL

I put a temp fix of Duck tape to hold the door in place with the lock and top hinge……………………………………

HOWEVER on the road to this park we heard a CRASH inside the coach. Sherry said, 'The Door fell OFF the refrigerator.'  I found a place to pull off.  You can imagine the contents scattered over the place BUT with no major spills!

WE put everything in the sinks to keep it from scattering more and Taped the front of the door to hold some cool inside. This meant I NEEDED TO FIX THIS, there would be no time to travel a few hours to get the doors.  So I put my thinking cap on. ... LOL ....  In the meantime we checked in and set up on a good site.

I carry enough tools to build a house or overhaul an engine, I had an old flat barn door hinge; using it, I measured and cut the metal to fit the spot, then cut the old broken hinge out with my angle cutter. I did some adjusting with a hammer at the picnic table forming it to fit the ¼” round ref stem of the hinge. Drilled some holes then using some self-drilling screws and secured it.  It was silver, so I painted it black, looks great and works just as well.

Thank the Lord it was a ‘forced’ easy fix in many ways and at no cost and about an hour's work.…

Nite Shipslog

PS.

Thank all of you that read here. I enjoy comments and appreciate them as I read. It is great to have friends that tolerate you!         ;-) 

 

Am I too old? Or have my 'wants' just changed?

 Photo of the day:

 

Two of my favorites in cars.

So for today:

People who know me, KNOW I enjoy old cars.  For years I have wanted an antique car to drive around, not just on Sunday afternoon, just to enjoy.  I still smile, wave or honk my horn when I see or pass an oldie. But I no longer want one of my own.

 AS I think about that I get mad at me.  LOL My sister and her hubby had a big Studebaker auto collection. At his passing we helped her get things squared away. Before the collection was sold, she offered me any of them.  We were traveling a lot and I wasn’t ready. So yes, I could have that antique, but I declined.  WE all make stupid decisions at times; I just make more than my share. LOL

                        This is a '51 Studebaker

Speaking of changes, I was raised on some of the best biscuits in the world. My mama’s made my mouth water. Sherry learned to make great biscuits. I loved them for years, but something happened.  Today I will go out of my way to miss a biscuit. Just don’t seem to want one even with my meals.

I cannot say for sure, but not many people loved biscuits more than me. Gravy and biscuit. Honey/jelly & butter with a biscuit, YEAH!  Mama also served buttered biscuits with brown sugar on them at times for breakfast. Sherry gets frozen biscuits now, they are good, but I am just shut down on bread now. OK, OK,  except maybe Pizza Crust!  LOL

                                    Above is the Biscuit on which I was raised, I am not sure but I think below is a biscuit as known in the UK.  That biscuit we call a 'cookie'.

I blame my ‘problem’ on Covid. My appetite changed after my little adventure with the Covid thang. Most people would be happy in my situation. I lost down from 160 to 137 and have stayed within 2 pounds of that.  The family says I am skinny. I saw my daddy lose pounds in his last couple years, I don’t think I look as bad as he did, do I?  LOL

Has your appetite made any drastic changes.

I mentioned tripping the other day and Brother Victor said he tripped over a snowflake!

Nite Shipslog

PS.

Thank all of you that read here. I enjoy comments and appreciate them as I read. It is great to have friends!                          ;-)  I am not much on cake and pies, but I have gone crazy on Butter Pecan Ice Cream. One box lasts 4-5 days.  I could eat the whole box at one sitting, but I would have to go back to the store too soon.  LOL(That box being what used to be a half Gallon now 48 oz or 1.4 Ltr)

That sure is big!

 Photo of the day:

 

Rockies from a distance.....

So for today:

Things are relative in this life. It is hard to judge a mountain from a distance. I remember the first time we traveled west and crossed the Rockies. In North Carolina when you head for the mountains; once you see them on the horizon, you will be there in less than 4 hours.

 I thought the same of the Rockies. However, once we spotted them it was a couple DAYS before we actually got there. Of course the highest peak in NC is about 5,000 ft. The Rockies go to 14,000 ft. Quite a difference.

That is about big stuff. I would bet more people trip and  fall in the USA over an inch change in a surface rather than a foot high.  The average person doesn’t raise their feet more than 1/2” as they walk, we are vulnerable.  And YES I have fallen a few times over something small.

Today I felt a gravel in my shoe, it felt like it was the size of marble. When I took off my shoe, it wasn’t as large as a BB.

I had a tooth filled once, as we traveled thru Idaho. By the time we drove to lower Utah I stopped in a small town to get a dentist to grind the filling down, it felt like it was much higher than it should be, maybe an inch LOL! The dentist charged me $8 to cut less than a 32^nd of an inch. He described it as about the thickness of a sheet of paper.  LOL

Yeah funny, your tongue and feet can’t be trusted to tell you the size of something. What is that old saying, “You bit off more than you can chew!”  That is true in many cases of life  ……….  Mine anyway!

There is a man in our hometown who knows more than anyone in the world. Heads go down when he walks towards someone, people are tired of hearing him and he will never know it. I thought of that when a man approached our table this morning to tell us ABOUT HIMSELF.

After about 10 minutes, our ‘insightful’ waiter, stopped by and informed the gentleman his food was on his table. WHEW

I hope I am not, but there are some people who are worse than gravel in your shoe! L

Nite Shipslog

PS.

Thank all of you that read here. I enjoy comments and appreciate them as I read. It is great to have friends!                          ;-) 

Food, fruits and stuff

 Photo of the day:

 This one is Kennedy, One of Jack's Granddaughters.

I think she loves apples!

So for today:

Before I start this wandering entry I wanted to tell you the background of Bluebell That I wrote about lately. 

The top breeds she has in her Heinz mix:

BUT for today’s entry. Imma start with food, I may end up with space travel, since I am known not to stay on track.

Oatmeal, do you cook, eat or serve it? It has lowered my bad Cholesterol, I think. 

           Do you use instant, quick or old fashioned?

Sherry switched to Old Fashioned style a few years ago when she heard it was better for us, more nutrients.

I grew up with oatmeal for breakfast probably a couple times a month. Sherry was raised to add sugar. I was raised eating it with no sugar, but I added salt. For over 50 years of our marriage, I did not use sugar, but for the past few years I do use too much brown sugar in mine.

Yes, I know dietitians frown on salt, and I have cut back.

Speaking of salt, I have always been an apple lover, from the green ones, at about an inch in diameter, to the big red ones. During the spring I carried salt in my pocket wrapped in wax paper in case I ran across an apple tree where I could get a green apple.  I still use salt on my apple, but I have cut back on the amount.

I thought of Johnny Appleseed when I ran cross an apple tree in the woods. To me spreading apple trees across the USA would have been fun. His real name was John Chapman many trees in Pennsylvania and that area are attributed to him.

(The grapefruit tree, that is our coach in the background I am sitting at the 2 window back as I type. I am that close to the tree. LOL)

We are presently in Florida house sitting for son Mark. Our coach is in his yard about 6 feet from the neighbor’s dying citrus trees. The neighbor is not home, but he is very sick I understand and not here. No one is gathering grapefruits. The orange and lemon trees are already dead. I did juice some of the 'red meated' grapefruits that had recently fallen, and the juice was very good.

I was not raised around citrus. I have eaten many an apple that fallen to the ground, but the farmers say here that any fruit that falls, will not be good. BUT I figured the ones just fallen couldn’t be bad. LOL

 I have wandered enough… 

  

Nite Shipslog

PS.

 Thank all of you that read here. I enjoy comments and appreciate it as I read them. It is great to have friends!  Not every one enjoys fruit, but we all enjoy food!  ;-)

Who is my daddy?

  Photo of the day:

 

(Who is my Daddy?)

So for today:

We have a new GGrand dog. Bluebell.  There is a contest of what breeds brought her around to our family?  I guessed Bull, Beagle and Fiest I thought some of you may have some insight on a better guess… any ideas?  THANKS!

I am learning that not everyone has a dog in their background. As a kid I had Two: One, Bingo, a white Feist mix the other, Ace, a black English Spaniel. 

Ace may be the only dog in heaven, I prayed over his grave several nights asking God to allow Ace into heaven. I was a preacher’s son, so I did believe in prayer.

I have said I should go to heaven just on the fact I attended church more than most kids did. I had to attend every church service even REVIVALS.  The only thing that could get me excused was a heart attack. I used that excuse a couple times, but daddy prayed for me and said I was healed. ;-(  So off to church.  But my mama was not just a preacher’s wife but a mama. She faked belief in my stories once or twice and I was allowed to stay home.

Oh wait,  this was about dogs.  Ace attended church at every service in the summer time, also. Some of you may remember when churches were not air conditioned and the doors and windows were all open in the summer.  My Ace would lay at the back door with his head on the thresh hold and watch all the proceedings. So much so that many people said dad considered him a member of the church. LOL Shouting was common in Holiness Churches back then and old Ace would just lay there and watch it all.  So I am sure he got saved at least once or twice.  LOL

I hope you had a good dog as a kid, I sure did, except Ace loved to chase chickens; that got me into trouble more than once…

Below is Bluebell lying down. We had a Grand dog, Janie, a bulldog that laid out like this:

This is Bluebell and GGD Rosie below, Imma thinking there is gonna be some long time attraction here....

Pictures I borrowed from Grandson Josh's Facebook.

 

Nite Shipslog

PS.

 Thank all of you that read here. I enjoy comments and appreciate it as I read them. I hope you can see some breed in Bluebell's pictures.  Y’all are the BEST!  It is great to have friends! 

OLD PEOPLE & POLITICS

 Picture for today:

  Now for today:

I smiled when I read this comment from ‘Unknown,’ THANKS:

 

I learned about the Great Depression at Sunday Dinner. My Grandparents never forgot hunger. Their families joined the CCC, WPA and sent money home. Roosevelt's picture was on the Livingroom wall because he saved their farm. The State University sent Extension Service scientists to teach how to make their land more productive. And they blessed the name of 'Government' Why do we want to destroy it?

 FDR crossed the aisle and did save the country.

I became aware of politics in Valdese, NC. A Mountain town with great folks; set in their ways and KNEW which political party they preferred.

 

At the time Ike was running against Stevenson. The church members would come to church wearing their political buttons,  They even sat on opposite sides of the church, Congregation ran about 125-150. My dad always announced at new churches, “Please do not ask my political opinions, I am the pastor of all and I am what YOU are, Christian.”

 

There were more Democrats than Republicans, but they all joked and carried on, they were friends and Christians. After his death, I realized I never knew my daddy’s political positions.

 

Then we moved to Belmont, NC. The Democrats ruled the roost. I was shocked when I learned Sherry’s Daddy (a Republican) admired Democrat, FDR.  

 

Sherry and I have voted both sides of the aisle.  We have voted differently 2 times that I know of, LOL (She was wrong of course, but I still love her to pieces!) LOL

 

I was not happy with the choices in our last election. The two running at the first of the campaigns were TOO OLD to run this country for 4 LONG yrs, I still feel that way.  We needed some younger minds in the White House.

 

Late 70s and 80 year olds should not be making decisions for the country in my opinion. ALSO I think Congress AND the Supreme court, needs either age or term limits.

(Official Betting odds: President Trump's  the age/health factor says he has less than 75% chance of finishing this term.  He has a 33% chance of dying in office, that is AI talking. )  (I had to search what AI meant)

 

I am old, I know many SMART OLD folks, but none would I want to make complicated decisions that affected life and limb.  How about you? 

***Senility is hidden too many times until toooooo late. Ronald Reagan was a great president, but in his last years things were not right in his head. The same with President Biden, mentally he is past making the BIG Decisions properly. "MO"

 Remember folks, we all have opinions, and I respect yours no matter your views and affiliations. I make the mistake blogging, too many times, by voicing my opinion.

 

Nite Shipslog

PS: *** There will be times in your life that you, or someone you love will become demented. My mother suffered that in her last years.  Friends would come to visit, when leaving would say, ”Jack your mother isn’t demented, she is sharp as a tack!” I didn’t tell them that she still though daddy was alive, and saw things that were not there, that she thought she fixed breakfast every morning (she was bed fast). You must be around someone 24/7 at times to KNOW!

True dis: I was talking to a friend saying..."At least your dad didn't lose his mind at the end." She laughed, "Jack he was crazy as a bedbug! in the end!"