Left behind

Historical Photo:

The real life Christopher Robin and Winnie the Pooh (1928) Winnie has been left behind  by many kids for colored animals and animations.

(The above picture was taken 11 years before I was born, and I still feel behind)
At times I feel like I have been left behind. Sherry and I went to McDonald's Sunday morning for our ½ biscuit, jelly and coffee. She orders and I find a seat. Since we are so close to Disney/Universal and other tourist destinations the place was crowded.
As I sat looking around at the crowd I saw people ordering food thru kiosks, smart phones, 2-drive through and at the counter.
In my youth we didn’t even have fast food. I never heard a foreign language except in French class.  Boys dressed practically alike, at least the same style. As I sat I heard at least three different languages and saw a BIG variety of dress. Boy, did I ever feel LEFT BEHIND.

Oh yes, I know and live in the world today, but as I near my 80^th year I am starting to feel it. Sherry received a call from son-Mark last evening. They passed pleasantries, weather, how was the trip etc. He is in NC to help his son Luke work on his ‘first house.’ 

They need a dump truck. So Mark is trying to ‘crank’ a dump truck I gave him years ago and it hasn’t been started for 6 years. I used it in building and then Mark used it in building.  Now he is giving it to Luke.  It is an antique, at the end of the conversation above, he told his mama “I need my daddy!” (I'm the guy that 'fixed things'.)

 (I thought) Yes and his daddy needs to be there climbing up in the engine compartment of that old truck, I would feel right at home. There is not one piece of electronics in that engine compartment, I COULD FIX IT, I could have it running in 3 hours.  I know it. I know that truck up close and personal.

Some of us OLD folk are left behind. (quick update: Sherry and I just finished about 20 minutes of scratching our heads to fix something on her phone, a kid coulda done it in two minutes.)


Nite Shipslog

 PS: Some of you old folk amaze me using your phones and pads to do this stuff in Bloggersville.  Y'all are pretty danged good!
 

PS 2: Cousin Tony sent these little known facts about the USA:

There's an island full of wild monkeys off the coast of South Carolina called Morgan Island, and it's not open to humans.

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 Jimmy Stewart and his Plymouth (Mid 30's)

Old money

Historical Photo:

 The only known photo of Billy the Kid when he was alive.. 1879.


More STUFF...........
I have been very busy these last few days. The basement of this motor home has needed a cleaning. I have taken the time lately to empty each compartment below. Actually I have found some things I forgot I have.

One find was a bag of money.  Old musty money (albeit, pennies and they did smell bad). In my younger days I loved to entertain kids, I was Magic Jack or The Story Teller. I used money a lot. Kids love money. They will answer most any question to dig their hand into a bucket of pennies to see how many they can get. The most is about 40-55 pennies.

I also had a leather sack of money and talked about a rich man and poor man.  The story varied with each presentation. But I found my leather sack of pennies. Here:

They were blackened, some bright copper, some corroded green.  As soon as Sherry sees it she has a place for it. She saves her change all year and at Christmas lets the great grands count it and divide it. So says she, “It goes with the change for the great grands.”

       You see some corroded, dirty and some bright:

So I counted it and finished rolling the pennies. A grand total of $10.32 (1,032 pennies). They weigh right at 5 lbs by our scales.  Just for fun I looked up the price of copper on the market. As scrap copper these coins are worth from $11.60 to a Little over $13.  I remember reading a few weeks ago that it costs about a nickel to mint a penny, Imma asking, Does that make sense? This sack is worth more for scrap than money!

Nite Shipslog
PS: Little known facts about the USA, from Cousin Tony:

In 1872, Russia sold Alaska to the United States for about 2 cents per acre.

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Ginger Rogers and her '37 Dodge!

The American Neighbor

Historical Photo:

The only known photo of a living Quagga in a London Zoo 1870.
(I had to look it up:  extinct subspecies of plains zebra that lived in South Africa

(FIRST: Posting early we are off on a day trip to check our mail and have lunch with Don & Evelyn up in Leesburg.)
(Are real neighbors becoming extinct?)
If you know your neighbors you are probably unique. In our small town many people still know their neighbors, but just as many do not.  We have become a transient society and many times the ‘permanent’ neighbor will only be around a year, before transferring.

I read once that ‘willing to relocate’ was high on THE SUCCESSFUL resume’s, due to national companies.

(This view changes. This was aboard the USAF Academy in Colorado)


In that respect we RV’ers are ‘nearly normal’.  Our neighbors or WE, move every two or three weeks. I thought of this as I watched the neighbor across the street here in Kissimmee pull out. I never spoke to him. We smiled and waved, and then in a few days he is gone. We may possibly see him again, but most likely not.

Sherry was raised on Mill Hills.  I was raised around them and most of my friends were from the Mill Hills. Back then, even if a neighbor moved, it was usually across town to another Mill Hill and you would still see them in town, at the grocery store or at school.

We used to smile at Sonny my buddy. For about 80 of his years here on earth he never moved over a block and a half. That was to a different Mill House in Paw Creek. He lived in four different houses. One oddity is three of those houses are owned by his family now.

I smiled when I learned that Stevie, Sonny & Colette’s son, bought and remodeled the home in which he was born. Making them owning three. He is/or will rent it out. So he and/or his sister now own three of the four.

Yes, there was a time we Americans knew most everyone on our street. Houses were never locked and keys stayed in the ignitions of the cars. Kids roamed at will and at times you would hear someone call loudly for a boy or girl. Word was passed along until the kid got the word, your mama is calling. Might not be as efficient as the cell phone, but it was cheaper and effective.

Now at this stage of life, I know that period of time is gone. Backyard neighbors, fence neighbors and good friendly neighborhoods are disappearing.

Is it better or worse? YES is the answer.  It is all in the way you look at it.

 I believe I read this on Ma’s blog: IF YOU THINK YOU CAN OR THINK YOU CANNOT  .… YOU ARE CORRECT!

Nite Shipslog

PS: Cousin Tony sent these little known facts about the USA:

It would take you more than 400 years to spend a night in all of Las Vegas's hotel rooms.  That are over 146,000 rooms.

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Tyrone Power and his Jaguar.

Heating and A/C update

Historical Photo:

  The only Female to Strike out both Babe Ruth and Lou Gehrig. Jackie Mitchell 1931.

Now our update, written last night.....
Report on our remove and replace Heat and A/C. Our granddaughter’s home now has a new system. Steve our nephew, the son of my best friend ever, Sonny, got it replaced for $4200. The next best estimate was approaching $7,000.  Steve is a very hard  worker. He works about as much off the job as on the job.This is a ‘side job’, so he can get things done more reasonable using men who also hold down full time jobs in other fields.

Most of us ‘handy men’ or ‘do it yourselfers’ have done the same. The job is professional, not a shabby job.

Payment is complicated (from a distance), because the men who do this kind of work need their money, ‘when the job is complete.’(now). We have a sweet ex-daughter in law that we love dearly, Corinne (we still consider her a daughter). She wrote them a check for the job and we reimbursed her via priority mail with a little extra for saving us a lot of trouble and cost in overnight-ing a check.

Our lifestyle does present some challenges, but not enough to make us quit. We are sorta addicted to the Gypsy life.

 A few minutes ago I tucked my girl in. Lots of benefits to this life.

 Now I look back and see my girl sleep reading. I will sit here and work on a book or two, knowing life is good. Living in this close quarters is such a pleasure; great for an old man who still thinks he can be a lover. LOL Note: She probably thinks different, but she hasn’t told me yet!

Nite Shipslog

PS: Cousin Tony sent some little known facts about the USA:

The word 'Pennsylvania' is misspelled on the Liberty Bell.

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 Tyrone Power owned a lot of cars. This is him with his Deucenberg.