Going to church

 It is Wednesday Morning, we are headed for church.   WE have attended many churches in our about 70 years of marriage.  After a hitch in the USMC and the USAF,  I even thought I was a preacher for a few years and pastored a church in Missouri, got to know some wonderful people, some we still are in contact with.  Then we moved back to NC, to pastor one, a little later we organized and built another.  It is hard to believe that when the church was doing great, going from about 20 up to about 80 in attendance, I lost my faith.  Looking back that is hard to believe even for me. but I resigned the Sunday after I realized all of a sudden, I saw no answered prayers, and I had lost it all down inside, I was going thru motions.

After resignation I tried attending Surveyor's School. nada, I finally returned to the life I loved, the miliary, I joined the Navy.

I continued to attend church with Sherry.  Usually thinking of my next project or  planning the rest of the day......Years later I regained my faith. We were actually in a church service at the same church My dad pastored when I met my sweetheart; when it happened, a light just came on and my FAITH was back!

Now after many years we are back attending that church.  The church is far different now, years later and having hadbgood pastors came covid.  The Attendance back has averaged 175 to 250. (Once years ago, my dad promoted Sunday School and we had over 850 one Sunday, Blocking streets)

BUT now it has dwindled to  35 to 55, mostly all us OLD people. Our resources have dropped that we must dip into church savings  each week just to pay a pastor and keep the doors open.

Older pastors kept their finger on the pulse of the times. The churches that are growing in today's world, are doing that;  the rest of us are just biding our time.

WE enjoy the pastor and people, we have some great folk.  So since our church is old, evidently leadership accepts what it is and has decided to just have a slow death. So we have one Sunday morning service and a Wednesday Morning service. You  know that no working families can attend mid week services in the mornings, just us old folk.

So WE will be there and I will get a few smiles and maybe a laugh or two.  This is what I found in my closet:

In 1976 Gas was about 59 cents a gallon.  Yes we voted for Jimmy. We once lived about 20-25 miles from him in Georgia.  Of course we never knew him. He was in Plains, and we were south a few miles in  Albany, Georgia LOL

I found this shirt and button along with buttons of FDR and Stevenson.

Yep a Jimmy Carter shirt. My sister Shirley bought that in Plains when She and her Husband Jim went to the Campaign HQ there.

Enough, gotta go.  I might attach more shots.  No more shots but I got a lot of laughs and some NONONONOS AND SOME yeaS!

Nite Shipslog

RAdiation close to sensitive areas

 MOTOCROSS in Cuba

We enjoyed about 4 years living aboard the USN station GITMO bay Cuba.  The boys raced Moto cross. I have a funny story of how we got the bikes to GITMO.  Maybe later.

BUT so for today:

Over all, today went well.  It is amazing how 'a very short action' is so complicated for which to prepare.  It took almost an hour to prepare me for a few 'seconds' of radiation. 

BAD hearing caused me to THINK that some form of eye drops were going to be used to prevent damage to my eye by the radiation.  Those special 'eye drops & solutions I purchased at the pharmacy were NOT replacing the lead that would prevent damage to my eye, BUT they were only lubricants and deadening drops, to make the insertion of lead or other preventers, less painful.

They inserted materials around the 'eyeball' before the actual radiation was activated.  AND YES, it was definitely a tough time to endure. :-(

But  good doctors have decided this was the most effective path for preventing the spreading of the Merkel Cell Carcinoma. 

I do hope and pray the radiation worked it's miracle.  I am not sure if I could have handled that insertion around my eyeball for 25-30 applications, as the Dr. prescribed. 

AND NOW that action is over!  I still think my approach is logical; so now, maybe I will be able to aggravate my sweetheart a few more years to the 100 mark.  LOL

Thanks to EVERYONE for the support, love and prayers. I have been very blessed; after this entire few month's process, I just took a pain pill, the first I have needed.  That is only due to the aggravation at my eye due to the insertion of  the materials to prevent damage to my eye, a very small price to pay to save my sight in that eye.

Nite Shipslog

PS:  And they also said, DO NOT SCRATCH THAT AREA IF IT ITCHES!!!

I am not scratching, but I sure am rubbing pretty regularly.  LOL

Monday is the day.

Now playing at Sight and Sound, we think!

for today

 Monday is coming up.  I now have my super special eye drops I picked up today, they somehow prevent radiation from effecting my eyes..... Being deaf hurts, but to think of something effecting my sight really makes me think.

I am checking on reservations for our trip to Pennsylvania.  Sherry checked what is going on at 'Sight and Sound' near Lancaster.  They are doing 'Joshua'  I hope we can arrange that between my appointments and Sherry's.  

She is still fighting blood pressure problems with many ups!  Now when I got lost on our last trip to the hospital we had to walk a lot and I did not know we were about ruining her knee, and she did not complain.  I blame myself because it was my fault that we got lost.

AS of now the knee is easing off.  I am doing my best to keep her off her feet to let that knee heal.

A trip would be good just now.  She would have to stay off her feet and relax in her recliner on our way north.

I would like to thank MA for the SS information.  That verifies what a good friend of mine at church told me.  She too gets her deceased hubby's Social Security since his death.   So that easies one thing on my mind.

I can say one thing positive, I did get that crazy zero turn mower fixed.  And I come up with a good meal today. Sherry is easy to please, but said this was the best meal in months.

Son Mark brought in 2 chicken 1/4s. I cleaned the bones and saved the meat.  I boiled carrots in sweet syrup, honey and brown sugar for about 14 minutes. then let it set. I made some potato pieces in lots of butter (after boiling them for 10 minutes.). I drained the carrots and dumped them with the chicken into the home fries. I steamed them all while I prepared a  loaf of bread saved from our last trip to a steak house.

I hear  her  on the phone now, bragging on that meal.  LOL

Nite Shipslog

Some times

 There are times that  hearing the news makes one feel sick.  Remember the Shah of Iran?  During that time Iran and the USA were 'buddies'.

Now we are killing Iranians because we do not like the present 'SHAWs',

I heard an interview with what was called 'just an Iranian guy'.  He stated , 'we loved America.'  Now it is confusing because you guys are bombing and Killing us.  What happened?

I will apologies to you that smile at our present condition, saying it is just temporary.  Hey, I am paying close to $4 a gallon for gas that I remember most of my life was less than $1.50, much of my life gas was less than $1 a gallon. 

No one wants to be hit with an A-Bomb!  I am afraid we have bit off more than we can chew. Did we need a war we could not win?

I guess I wouldn't be so frustrated but recently I bought gas for my lawn mowers and paid more than a fill up on our Honda, normally.

I have always smiled at how blessed we were in the USA when paying for gas in Germany, Switzerland, France, Spain and seeing the price in the UK and Caribbean.   I cannot imagine the prices in those areas now.

I might be blind sighted, but this present war that has upset the world's oil industry is the first war I can remember that WE STARTED.  WE have been in wars, but seldom did we start them.

A a former military man with the majority of my time in and Teaching,  Intelligence Processing, I am amazed anyone THOUGHT a middle eastern country would capitulate to our demands. Hey remember, those fools knew they were going to die crashing into the twin towers, and many other places. Death is an honor to them.  OR something to that effect.

I am sorry, I really do not mean to offend you who back our present Commander in Chief, but personalities of those who require praise just seem to nip at my heels.  Even if it is my own party.  ;-)

Nite Shipslog

PS  Maybe it is time for me to just stop and take a few days off and relax.  I am hoping to take a vacation after my next Dr. appt. anyway.  I would love to be eating some Pennsylvania fresh corn....

RAin? great, but hey I am outside!

 

A care free sailor. sitting in the safety nets around the flight deck of the USS Independence CVA62, in the Mediterranean Sea. Sherry and I were up on technology, we were now communicating with cassette tapes, and I could hear her voice, She sounded wonderful, even thousands of miles away! In the safety net no one could hear her but me!

That from the past, now today!

WE need the rain, however our deck at our favorite swing needed repair.  About $80 of lumber and a few hours I finished with one screw left, when the rain came.

Yeh, I did get all the tools in and cleared the area.

I cannot help but think of my life,  and possibly leaving my sweetheart.  ME and EVERYONE else says what I say, "NO one can say when this life will end.  Yeah I KNOW that.  But when someone who is  of the medical profession gives you a date, you pause and THINK!.

Of course the pastor says, "Bro. Jack, you will leave this world when HE is through with you and not before!"

An answer I would and did expect.  What else could he say?

Honestly, and I MEAN this, "I really do not care!"  That may be hard to understand, but I can say that. AS a matter of fact, it is easy to say. At present I do not have a pain in my body that is life threatening.  Now, I might say different if I was suffering as some folks are.

But LOGIC tells me, prepare for what future you have, so I plan to.  I am thinking of my sweetheart and what she will have to live on when I am gone.   I need to check with SS to see how much her SS will increase.  I hear she can draw off mine.  I get a little more than she does  at present.

Anyway I am thinking of the future MUCH DIFFERENT than I did 2 weeks ago when I thought I had a simple 'skincancer', LOL

Love you guys

NIte Shipslog

As you know, I am not new to this Blogging/ Journalling.

I have a picture Sherry took of me working on this 1953 Plymouth we had in Biloxi Mississippi. Here she is in her first Pregnancy with Jack Jr.  I did work on this one, and we prayed for it a lot too! I was a lowly Airman, and things were tough. Me or the Lord had to fix it, or we would have walked. He did help me of course.

For this time:

 BUT... I do forget how to do things, such as to change font type and size, color, etc.  Posting the right size pictures confuse me also, as time has gone on.

Somehow I used to make my entry, then transfer it here and post. I am sure a Genius can get lost here as they age.  I am laughing.

I was told once, "You are the smartest person in the world, dad!"

That was when son Mark was selling his Corvette, the man was coming to get the car with cash, and it would not start.  He was desperate, I did get it started, just as the man drove up."

The 'smartest person in the world' came out when he heard that engine roar to life.  LOL

I am smiling, I am a smart man; So I am also smart enough to know that was his RELIEF talking. ;-)

WE all feel like that at times when relief shows up in the nick of time. ;-)

I do have an ability to fix stuff. Example: This week my sweet heart mentioned she did not like the damage to a step in this house.  I just happened to have a scrap of oak wood that would work in a cut and insert, in this case.  A few hours of work fixed that for her.  She be happy.  I have to admit it is a first class 'fix'.

She is easy to impress.  Growing up, her mama could fix more than her dad around their house.  After about 70 years it is still hard for her to accept I can fix most carpentry, plumbing and electrical problems in our homes.  Before all this mumbo jumbo of computerized firing and timing of cars and engines, I could repair engines even complete rebuilding one.  I have been stopped in my tracks, like most guys, since those Enovation's  in cars came around. LOL

I just finished my ice cream sandwich MA blogged about today.  It was small, I think I will have another.  LOL

Nite Shipslog

PS: I just finished my 2nd ice cream sandwich; well you know they are small. LOL

Ideas, yeaah right?

 

Above is Corporal Dallas Fletcher from a foreign Country: Pennsylvania!

Friends of mine

For today, I think!

I had an idea when I sat down, but it has flown.  This happens more often than in the past.

Nuts to you... No,  Nuts for me!  I have loved nuts since I was a kid. Probably from 4 yrs old to 6 yrs old when Granny died. She always reached into her 'bosom' to get her change   purse, a small thingee with a twist snap top; she always found me a nickel.  I would run to a little shack that sold snacks and buy a little container of salted nuts. That little container always promised a coin inside every pack, 1 to 25 cents.  Of course it was always a penny. ;-),

The coins were not new either. I look back at what I have been told  that coins have more germs attached than most things.  WHY didn't all us kids get sick and die?  Don't get me wrong, I am glad I did not, ;-0.  As a kid I did swallow a couple coins! ;-)

ANYWAY, now my choice of nut is Honey Roasted.  I eat both p-nuts and almonds at night. I guess I eat about a 1/4 cup (as I am now, as I type)

YES, I AM TYPING. I do actually use two hands instead of one finger, but I still look at the keys, more than the screen, at times I look up and see nothing is on the screens, LOL

I never took Typing in school. I had to learn fast, when I was forced to use a 'typewriter' at a USAF job at MARS (Military Affiliated Radio Stations).  I did get a lot of strange looks when asked, I said, " I work at MARS!" 

I was supposed to type every message I received. To be honest most messages more than one line,  I wrote long-hand, then typed it off line

In this life I have did a lot of crazy things. I was trained as an Analog Computer repairman. Then when the world went Digital  I was trained as a Digital Repairman. Later I went to IBM School in D.C. And became an IBM repairman. 

 I have a sweet brilliant grandson, Josh, who programs and repairs software problems. I once told him, "I have fixed many computers and had no idea how I did it!" 

He made me feel so good once when he said, "Grandpa, I have done the same thing in Software repairs!"

Okay, that is my entry. I was going to write a brilliant post.

Love to all.

Nite Shipslog

PS: As I finished this I thought to two guys I do so admire,  Both have health problems, both from my long time past. Not sure if you will read this, but Buddy and Dallas tonight I wish you well,  Memories of you bring a smile...

After a lot of work I think pictures appeared... I am confused

Just 'Marking Time'

 

We called it Happy VAlley. WE had bought a home there for $3000. While I attended Surveyor  School.  That did not last but 2-3 Quarters, then I joined the USN. This picture was before Sherry moved to Norfolk to be with me there. Sailoring was the longest I stayed at any job methinks. LOL

For today:

In the USMC  I learned to 'mark time'.  marching in-place,  and not getting anywhere.  LOL

I am just waiting for another appointment, this one for Radiation

I am staying busy with me working on my TO DO list.

I have been busy cutting the many trees here that interfere with our power and phone lines. Some of the power lines for two neighbors homes.  The trees are not big but tall. They are 3-4 inches thru, but 20-30 feet high. That is crossed off the list.

I fixed a loose fender on the motor home and  puller a step that needed repair.  Just staying busy.  Still feeding the coons and possums. 

Son Mark has mentioned a black and white kitty.  I finally saw it today. very young kitty and it ran like  a scalded dog when it saw me. I put som milk aout for it.

My pet Bunny is still here. I am trying to name it 'Funny Bunny'.  It will still sit about 5' from me and talk.  (I talk it listens) I enjoy it.

Nite Shipslog.