Simone Biles and other folk.

 Memorable Automobiles from The Past:

 

And then in the late 40s Studebaker did this!

For today:

I have heard in my life time, “Some people ain’t got the sense God gave a Billy Goat!” I have said that this week.

Some fool who can’t walk or think straight said this week that Simone was a national disgrace. WHAT AN IDIOT! When he found out that ‘OUTSIDE HIS PERSONAL FRIENDS AND ENCLOSURE’ most of us think different.

I wouldn’t attempt what that lady does if I was 18 years old with 17 years of practice!! Neither would 99.9% of the rest of the world. I think she is a Texan and the detractor is also a Texan, what gives what that? No state pride? Stupidity?

Now, I am sure MOST of the folks reading if you have witnessed just ONE of her ‘routines’ (Her’s is not routine!), you had to have said in your mind “WOW!”.

ANY person who can qualify for the Olympics MUST be head and shoulders above others in their field.

I must be honest, I have never sat and watched the Olympics on TV. It is not my cup of tea. But I have watched the news snippets enough to know these athletes are the top of the top.  I honestly hope the dude that was ignorant enough to make that statement loses all respect in his ‘supposed’ area of expertise (if there is one). I would not trust a person who was that ignorant of public opinion, in politics, he ain’t too smart.

Now I said that I want to say about NASCAR drivers. Hey, I could do that, only 160-170mph, 12 inches from Richard Petty’s bumper with cars on both sides. Piece of cake.  (Of course my pit crew would not be able stand the smell of the inside of my vehicle, and I would have ruined my clothes and the front seat. LOL)

Opinions are just that, just a few brain cells tells a dude from NYC not to make fun of Robert E Lee in a red neck bar in small town Mississippi.

The same goes for a Redneck from down here to be in a bar in Rochester, NY and say Ulysses S Grant was an idiot.

We all have opinions, we are made different. BUT evidently not all of us have common sense……  Just sayin’.

Also, in London,  if you are a sailor in uniform and in a bar near Piccadilly Circus, a couple things you should not do.

1.       Challenge a British Swabbie to a game of Darts and bet him 50 pounds you could beat him.

2.       You don’t say anything nasty about the Queen.

So much for my soap box today. And yes, I admire Ms. Bile’s talent and Athletic ability. I can do that without knowing her religion or politics.

Nite Shipslog

SAD, thinking of Churches

 Memorable Vehicles from The Past:

 

For today:

Reading blogs kick in memories.  Some good some bad.

Today it was Victor’s entry about a country church.

Walking into an empty church and sitting down just to meditate, think or pray was part and parcel of my growing up. All of the churches except one my dad pastored was beside the church. That one church owned an old rundown house beside the church building. My dad insisted on remodeling that for the parsonage and saving the rent on the house the church was renting for the pastor. One of the things that ID’d my dad was his mantra, “WE do not waste God’s money!”

All that aside living by the church I watched many times as strangers or church members would stop by just to enjoy the quietness and reverence of a building built to honor God.

Of course as a boy, it was a place for me to sneak in and just play. I was cured of that by a sweet but mischievous mama. This particular church in Valdese, NC was all wood, no carpet and you could take off your shoes run and slide 10-15 feet down the main aisle. Even during the day it was dim inside. I was just finishing one of my long slides and started back for another when a ghostly figure under a white sheet rose up from the back between the pews. The noise it made was quiet but wild sounding like NOOOOOOOOOOO. I was out the back thru the SS rooms in a flash and never again played in the sanctuary!!

Yep, that was my sweet mama, such a wise woman. That was much better than a spanking.

But it is a sad testimony for our churches and the day in which we live. MOST CHURCHES I know of are locked and have alarm systems. So now you cannot enter sit and meditate unless the rector, pastor priest is present.

Joan of Arc in New Orleans French Quarter

It is a little different where the church is famous and part of the Tourist traffic. On one trip to New Orleans we went into the New Orleans Cathedral-Basilica of St. Louis King of France, (St Louis Cathedral) the oldest Catholic cathedral in continual use in the United States. I noticed our youngest son, found a seat and just sat there. It made me feel good seeing that. I enjoyed the feeling, feeling was that of a sacred place, much revered.

Yes, ‘tis sad the traveler, the work-worn person, cannot just walk in as in YESTERDAY and enjoy it’s serene quietness and converse with God.

Shipslog

PS: We cannot think of New Orleans with out remembering our favorite restaurant 'Cafe du Monde' and the chicory coffee and Beignets! 

Clothes/wallets

 Memorable trucks from The Past:

 

I'm beginning to think about apple cider!

For today:

I find myself wearing the same clothes a lot. I have one short sleeve shirt I think I wear it to church all the time or when we are going out to eat.

I have switched to cargo pants for most of the time because of the side pockets when I carry my wallet. I think a lot of men have back problems because we are trying to carry in a wallet what ladies put in their purse. LOL

I look thru my wallet and try to leave some things behind, but I still keep all the cards so it stays too think, Not because of cash of course, but even in this day we still have at debit card and a credit card. Each if used is paid off every month.

We have RV club cards, discount cards, emergency RV cards, license registration, and insurance. Those alone make a bundle. So that is why I went to cargo pants so it is not in my back pocket. I tried my front pocket for a while, but that got bulky and odd looking..

Anyway I have a few pants and shirts that just feel better so I wear them until they are worn out. I have a pair of shoes that are about 40 yrs old, they are Florshiem (?) and good still. I have at least one shirt that is 40 yrs old. LOL. That one is worn out but I still put it on at times.

I think maybe it is because I wore uniforms for years so wearing the same thing daily is something I am used to.

I don’t think I have ever been driven by fads after my teen yrs of Ducks tails, pegged pants and flat tops.

I am still enjoying life and probably look a little odd, maybe old, now that I think about it. But I am enjoying myself. Life is too short not to try and enjoy it.

 

Shipslog

PS: you notice I didn't have much to talk about, but thanks for coming this  way.

Me?

 Memorable Automobiles from The Past:

 

Some of you  will remember the car built, One Piece at a time... That is sorta ME!

Notes concerning previous entry:

1. The USN has a standing tradition to bury its vets, retirees or active duty personnel at sea. The bodies are weighted so they will not return ashore. I know it is silly to most, but some of us do not mind feeding the fish vs worms. Many of our fellows have went down with their ships and are already there.

2. I don't think the Funeral director intentionally mislead Kat, but he was WRONG not checking deeper on her insistence.

NOW, For today:

I am so blessed to have folks who comment on this blog.

I started off yesterday’s entry just like above, then got side tracked to my sister Kat.

By mentioning comments and bloggers I was recalling the one I had just read by Myra.  Using the supposition that someone would look at this home in 50 years, what would they think?  The first thought inside my head was, “Someone would say, a crazy person lived here, he could not decide what he wanted to be or do!”

A Marine on his first tour

An Airman and his first son.

The pastor of the Moberly Church of God and his family

A sailor on his first tour 

A chief on his final tour

They would find stuff from 3 military services.  Enough Bibles to think I had been a preacher, then see the names inside several of them and think, ‘NO, he stole folks’ bibles!’

Something like the lady who was arrested for car theft. When she proven innocent she asked the Policeman why he thought she had stolen the car?

“Well ma’am I read you bumper stickers, ‘I love my Church’, Follow me there!’, ‘Jesus loves you’ and a couple more on LOVE. Then reading your lips you were cursing and giving the finger to the guy who cut off, I knew it could not be your car!”……….

Digging up evidence of the past. I remember we visited Williamsburg and once and took a tour to an excavation site. The guide was telling us how much we were learning from the digging. One of the tour group asked, “Don’t we have written information on life here? Things such as written history and actual letter describing life in Williamsburg?”

“Yes sir, we do have much in writing, but it is hard to tell if things are embellished or just not true in the writings! Digging we get the facts!”  (ARTIFACTS??)

My mind is saying WHAT? You dig up something and you must assume who had it, when they had it and what they did with it. With the writings you KNOW who wrote and WHEN!!

I am NOT against digging and archelogy, but I would prefer actual words of the ones who lived at that time.

My first little house as a builder. (Jack, Jim, Dick & KAT!)

The second house above,  Like the first one, Sherry & I did it all except the H/A/C

One of our last houses: By this time I was using some subcontractors also.

Anyway many people are like me, a ‘Jack of all trades and master of none,’ in this world. Shucks my life confuses me (and my girl) much less what it would do to a historian. LOL

Not only a brother to the wild goose, but I seem to always want to be where I ‘AIN’T’, I am not sure that is a good mind set, but I just can’t help it, ;-(  that is simply ME.

I did not say it, but I have had a beautiful lady who probably rolled her eyes many times over the years as my focus changed 'fairly often.' Some would say since she married me when I was 17, she could have raised me better! LOL

Shipslog

PS: Today would have been Paula’s 85^th birthday, I miss her blog. Some people you just can’t help but like; Paula and Jean (of OPP) are two of ‘em!

 

 

Misunderstandings

 Memorable Automobiles from The Past:

 

President Harding in a Packard

For today:

I am so blessed to have folks who comment on this blog. This blog is not a journal as such, but just a collection of my random thoughts with some entries concerning my life. I am humbled and smile at times at your comments, life is good.

There are incidents that need to be recorded and others that are only 'tree leaves blown by the wind'. I remember when AOL Journals died, some copied all their entries and saved them, at times I wish I had, but I did not.

Misunderstandings that cost:

I have said good bye to my parents and siblings. One is especially memorable, concerning insurance. I called her "Kat." When I was a kid she was actually like a second mama to me.

During the discussion for the funeral of her deceased husband Dick, she handed the director the burial Ins. Policy; at the time she casually said, “I am covered by this policy also.”

After studying it for a moment, “No ma’am, you are not covered, this is only for Rev. Lankford.”

“Oh yes it is, my husband would not have told me if it was not true.”  Her son was with her and agreed with the  director, (who was an acquaintance of mine). The director kept the policy.

She then arranged and took out a paid-up policy for her funeral, $4000 or 5000 at the time.

She mentioned it to Shirl, who took the ball and ran with it. Having been an ins. underwriter and understood some of the ins and outs. Shirl chased it and even without the policy or #, found that Kat was covered, and retrieved a copy.

I then went to the director about recovering her payment. “Of course Jack, all she has to do is pay the premiums for the 2 months.”

THE PREMIUMS WERE $1000!!!! “WHAT BILLY???”

“It is what it is Jack, I’m sorry.”

 When I told Kat she said 'forget it' and changed the beneficiary of her policy to Shirl for finding the error.

Just after that, Sherry & I did some checking. Buying that policy is considered a bad financial investment.  Sherry and I called our NY Life agent and each took out an extra policy on each of us for $10K for burial. Those policies are now paid up and worth twice their orig value.  So we are “PAID FOR.”

Shipslog

PS: My girl can save herself some money and have a party if she will just call the USN and ask that I be ‘Buried at Sea!‘  They don’t charge for dropping off an old USN Chief somewhere on one of our ships as it crossed the Atlantic. They will send her the coordinates where I am dropped.

It won't be any ship I was on because they are all in mothballs.

 

Little things

Memorable little things:

For today:

Kitty Kallen hit the charts with "Little Things Mean a Lot" in 1954.  I remember it very well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3qWRtLCfOI

Throughout life little things have always meant a lot.  At times the smallest of items, actions or personal completions just make you smile all over.

The hand wave in my youth was something else. When a local policeman took time to wave, hey that was a thrill. Then there was the fireman! AND then at the top for most boys was an engineer from the old steam engine as it chugged by; then there was the trucker!

Then my first ‘experiment’ wrapping a copper wire around a little flash light bulb, holding the light to the + post of a battery and touching the bottom with the other end of the wire, the light lit up!  WOW that was something to a 2^nd grader.

There is a big construction job across from Mavrick’s house. He waves at the truck drivers. Now they hve stopped to shake his hand, the boss gave him an orange jacket and other stuff, that kid caught their hearts, I think he will remember that.  I know Matt and Kiersten will, the house stays dusty and cars red from the dust. LOL

A few weeks ago son Mark left a gob of dirt and rust here. You could tell by the shape it was a little 3” truck. It sat on the shelf in the basement for a while. THEN it got to me, I had to see it. I wish I had taken a picture of the GOB!

I soaked it in soapy water, then in Mineral spirits. One could tell it was a combo of metal and plastic. I scrubbed and scraped it. I could tell the name, it is a Buddy L toy, I have never heard of it, but evidently well built.

Here it is taken apart.

 

In the center above is first the windows (faded green) just above is the rusted body. I had already cleaned the little vehicle.

Now the finished rehab.  The finish is rough because it was most eaten by rust.

 

This little fellow is 4” long and about 1 ½ inches high. Fits in the palm of my hand.

 

Yep, sometimes it is the little things that tickle your funny bone.

 

Shipslog

About Yard sales,

 Memorable Automobiles from The Past:

 I received this picture from Evelyn.  Don has been looking for another RV.  I agree he should get this one from 1958!!

(I do wonder if that ladder is legal???)  LOL

For today:

Yard sales have been our entertainment as we RV'd full time for 22 years. For so many years our reading was paperbacks and yard sales were mostly our supply ‘depot.’  To be honest some of my most prized clothes came from yard sales. The most I have ever paid for a new shirt is $12. Yard sales they are usually 50 cents.

Once at a yard sale I looked at a gentleman’s shirts for sale and saw the tags at $8. I said, “$8 is pretty high for a yard sale.”

He replied, “I paid $92 for that shirt you are looking at.”

I bought it. LOL I had NEVER had an expensive shirt. I have enjoyed it and it is nice.

We were at a yard sale in Florida during the time e-mails were just beginning to be used. I heard a lady talking about office e-mails. She had two big bosses at her job. One she liked and one she could not stand.   She meant to send one to the good guy complaining about the bad guy, mistakenly sent the e-mail to both! OUCH

In West Virginia we were walking up to a yard sale and a lady had a stroke while driving by. She went by us in the yard and plowed into the tables. One lady was injured enough to require a hospital.

A man asked in Vermont (upon seeing our car tag), “You drove up from Florida to go to yard sales?”

In Bangor, Maine I spied a Hearing aid still in the original package for 50 cents, batteries included. It worked as well as my VA hearing aids, it became my back up.

BUT… way back in the HILLS of Maine, we lucked up on a sale. I saw the first pince-nez eye glasses I had ever

 

seen. I just had to have them. The man was asking fifty cents, I didn’t even try to get them cheaper, LOL. They are in the original case with the Doctor’s name on them. The bridge is 10K Gold.  They are interesting. I have held them for a few years now. They are only a reminder of Maine and the wonderful folks there.

 

Shipslog

PS: I think pince-nez glasses were reading glasses. These seem to be very weak magnification.