Two feet of snow & LIGHT UP YOUR BRAIN WITH LASTING LOVE

I heard from Lindy the other day. She is doing well but having some computer problems. Lindy was the first person to comment on my journal. I wonder about her, and especially in the last few months. It is a joy to hear that a person you are concerned about is okay. Also hello Debbie!!!

I read about a study of folks who had been married over 21 years. The study took folks who said the flame had not gone out and ran some type of brain scan or test. The same test, done on a person high on cocaine, would light-up their brain on this machine. The study compared those who swore they were still passionately in love after 21 years of marriage; the comparison was the same, the longer married folk lit up the machine. The study was meant to show that passion dropped naturally after a few years, but the study came to the conclusion that the desire and passion in some folk never diminishes.
***Studies show that some folk live together because their religion commands it.
***Some stay together ‘for the children’s sake’.
***Some remain together because they are afraid of the stigma they see as attached to the separation.
***And then there are the couples who take the vow and are ‘in love’, they overcome the problems, they work out the big arguments, BUT they hold together and are glad they did, because the passion is still there.

***And then there is Sherry, she stays with me because I am good looking, wonderful, thoughtful, desirable, healthy, sexy, a great lover, tough, sensitive, passionate, marvelous, imaginative, brilliant and have a pretty bald head.

I am not usually wrong. So in this case I know that AT LEAST ONE of the above adjectives and/or SENTIMENTS is correct. The rest are for sure traits of my lovely wife. She sure lights up my brain!!!!
Thanks for coming by the log.
Nite Shipslog
PS:
Too many couples marry for better, or for worse, but not for good.

When a man marries a woman, they become one; but the trouble starts when they try to decide which one

Choc. stuff and space savers

Mel, of up 'North with Mel', puts recipes on the net. It is hard to convince Sherry they are just there because she can't think of something NICE to say. Anyway this is what was left of the last batch of Choc/p-nut 'stuff''. I keep saying it is impossible for 4 oz of food to put ten pounds on my belly, but I declare it does. So Mel is on vacation, but when she gets back she is headed for 'BAN-LAND'.

Living in a motor home has its advantages. It cuts down on collecting a lot of ‘Stuff’ you would normally accumulate. Stuff that I don’t need anyway but is a great buy. You will never know how much of that stuff I collected at one time. I am at a yard sale and here is a set of tools, a great buy. I have some just like them, but because they are a great buy, I would get them. I did that for hundreds of items, until my basement was becoming cluttered.

Now I cannot do that. Usually we try to follow the rule something in, something must go out. That is not always true because even in tight quarters, you can still find a little hole. Ha!

Yesterday we received the first shipment of ‘S’gar’ now I will find a place for my new books until I ship them all out. By the way I haven’t announced it, but if you want the new book it is available here for $12.00 including shipping. As in the past just tell me where to ship it, and when it comes, if you like it, send the money.

Also as I have said in the past do not feel obligated to order a book just because you read the Blog. However since I am a great writer, and it is a super book I wouldn’t want you to miss the thrill of a life time. Hahahahahahaha!

(The book is available at Create space and Amazon.com for $13.50 plus shipping.)

Sherry has found a place to hide her books to read behind her chair, in a shopping bag, but I found them.

I was just looking at a couple of our space savers. The napkin holder is hung under the cabinets above my head.

The coffee pot is hung to the left of Sherry’s laptop position across the table.

I have glued a couple magnets here to my left to hold paper clips, eyeglass repair kit and clippers. I glues some ½” pieces of PVC for pencil holders.

Our Small ‘Splendid’ Washer/Dryer combo is great and doesn’t take up much space. I try to encourage Sherry to wear less clothes so she won’t have to wash so much. So far I haven’t been too successful.

We have a small water closet (toilet),

We do have a full size shower but not luxury of a LONG shower since we only have a 10 gal hot water heater. (But that is twice as much as we had in the other motor home.)

Well thanks for stopping by the log.
Nite Shipslog

PS: **The only reason I would take up walking is so that I could hear heavy breathing again .

******* I have to walk early in the morning, before my brain figures out what I'm doing..

Just to register a ten foot boat!

It doesn’t take too much to get upset at the government. City, County, state or national. I was thinking the other day about the Healthcare bill. Both versions are about 2000 pages. Now honestly who can read it and do other stuff too. I read pretty fast and can sometimes read 500 pages of fiction in four days. But that is straight fiction, not legalese. How long would it take the average person to read 4,000 pages and the references? Most folk it would take three weeks of steady reading at 6 hours a day. I have a feeling we have leaders who do not read a bill. Folks do you realize that is a stack of paper about 8” high for both bills. That is many times longer than our Bill of Rights and the Constitution. Since these congressmen are mostly lawyers, I guess that is understandable. BUT an 8 INCH stack OF PAPER?

I just brought that up because I am trying to register my little ten foot folding boat. You would think it was a Yacht. There are at least eight pages to fill out including taxes. Right now I think I need a lawyer to help me finish filling them out. I get mad when I run into this. I remember seeing all the paperwork Sherry and Shirley handled with our parents and Medicare and insurance. Weird, how does the average Joe citizen understand insurance and the gov’t paper work. I know 2000 more pages of rules and regulations are gonna be fun.
Anyway we all know, or in my opinion should know, that neither party is going to make life simple, their job is to make you more dependent on the government to explain things.
If those guys wanted it simple, it would be simple.

Our son Jack was giving his opinion of pharmaceuticals. Pills are created to treat the symptoms, not the disease. It is all about money. If you are cured no need for more pills. But if the pills cover the symptoms then you are required to be on them for life, therefore creating a never ending market.
I threw my two cents worth in to Sherry. Years ago you went to the Doctor, left paying the secretary $30-$35. The doctor said, “If you have any more trouble come back.” Now they simply say, “I’ll see you again in two weeks, make an appointment with my secretary.” In other words you ain't gonna get better! It never fails! You are never through.

I have no idea what this has to do with registering a boat. Did you think one boat registration could cause so much anger!!!! Hahahaha! (I ain't really mad, just confused)
Thanks for coming this way!
Nite Shipslog.
PS: ****** 64,999,987 firearms owners killed no one yesterday.
****** The United States Constitution (c) 1791. All Rights Reserved. ***** The Second Amendment is in place in case the politicians ignore the others.
**** What part of 'shall not be infringed' do you NOT understand?
******Guns have only two enemies; rust and politicians.

Traveling, smelling the roses and going to the SUN!

Thanks for the response about the photo’s. I will probably scan more then put them in containers. Rose sent recommended materials to use to store them. Most folks don’t have the problems we do about storage. I am looking at these old pictures, they have held up well to have been in an old storage trailer for over ten years. It is funny (not ha ha) that we have thousands of pictures and many movies; once we are gone they will not be important to anyone. Of course the child hood pics of the kids and Grand kids will be important.
Pictures of our travels will be useless to most. Pictures of friends the kids never knew will be ignored.
I often wonder about traveling, and why I cannot be content to sit in one place. We have a beautiful home, actually three homes now. WE also have three acres of wooded land to use. I have some friends here, Sherry has many friends here. Friends she has known all her life. Many of them have been friends all the way through school. I am pleasantly surprised that she too has enjoyed the ‘road’. But I still ask myself, why? I must have some mental unbalance, because once we stop, I start thinking of following the next sunset.

WE do stop to smell the Roses. We ate at a little diner at the bowing alley where Granddaughter Reececup works part time to augment her regular job. She is just a joy to be around. She is also Sherry’s beautician (hair cut scheduled Sunday).

We have seen Mark, Luke and Matt (Matt not shown)

Last evening we took the kids out for supper. We had a great time. Later in the evening Jack called to say he and Stephen were coming over to the motor home. Steve brought his guitar. WE looked up Fred’s nephew on ‘youtube?’ He plays professionally with the USAF group called Country Blue (I think). We watched and listened. I mostly watched. Of course I asked Steve to do that, yeah, he did! he showed me he could do about the same thing on the guitar. He is good. We all sang ‘The day the music died’. All 8000 verses. Hahaha!

Steve did a couple of his original songs. He also plays the piano. He has written original symphonies, I guess that is what you call them. He does full orchestrations, all parts. He writes parts within parts. Josh (his twin) is proficient on the piano and vocally also. Josh is a computer whiz and travels a lot, so he is gone this week.

Sherry has a brother, Vernon, here. Shirl, my only living sibling is here. We have even been able to share a little time out of her ‘busy’ schedule.
So I ask myself, “Self, why do you want to leave?” I don’t have an answer except down inside there is something that says, “GO!”

Maybe one more trip around the country after Matt’s graduation from HS. Then WE might have had enough.
Thanks for coming by the Log
Nite Shipslog,
PS:
Me, Vondale and a Russian friend were talking one day.
The Russian said, 'We were the first in space!'
Vondale said, 'Yeah, but we were the first on the moon!'
Not to be out done I said, 'So what? We're going to be the first on the sun!' The Russian and Vondale looked at each other and shook their heads.
'You can't land on the sun, you idiot! You'll burn up!' said the Russian.
To which I replied,

'We're not stupid, you know. We're going at night!'
(Seemed the obvious answer to me at the time! Don’t know why they were rolling around laughing!)

A Flower from Afar... More Sonny

When you have a problem my belief that the world has some great folks in it, comes alive. Friends here and from the internet have expressed their sympathy. We apprecdiate them and especially yor attitudes. Wonderful and feeling they were. Again THANKS SO VERY MUCH.

(Photo taken at Aunt Nee's BD party. I snatched this from Glenda's facebook via Vickies I think, mine didn't do great!)

Glenda Hulbert, Harry Conrad, Eileen Conrad, Claude Pinder, David Luke (down front), Irma Lee Pinder, with Juanelle Conrad Blyler above her.Vickie Conrad, Mary Conrad Gilbert and Irma Conrad Brumfield, lower right.

(Missing Kenneth, the daddy rabbit, Kenny, Robert and Lil.) What a Family!

Yesterday Shirl called and said come and see this beautiful flower. Glenda, from Okee, my speaking rep for the Conrad family, had sent a beautiful plant in memory of Sonny. We have never had a plant with a plaited trunk, this is pretty. Thanks Glenda and all the Conrads.

(This is the Birthday girl a week or so ago, Irma Lee Pinder aka aunt Nee)(90)

I have mentioned this family many times, other than my family and kin we feel closer to them. They are real Missouri folks. A farm family of loving, caring and sharing people.

(Irma's little sister, Eileen Pinder Conrad, the Mama Rabbit of the Conrad Clan)

I learned a lot from the daddy rabbit of the clan, Kenneth Conrad. While living in Missouri. Today the memory of his wonderful life and family has been stolen by Alzheimer’s. His beautiful wife is missing that part of him. The family is joining hands and working like a team. God bless ‘em all. That is one tough bunch.

Sherry and Shirl displaying the Flower we recieved.

I am sure I will get off the subject of Sonny in a while, but for now he is fresh on my mind. We shared a trip to Pike’s Peak. We went up into the St. Louis Arch, stood at Wild Bill Hickok and Calamity Jane’s graves together. Went into the last house that Pa Ingals built, and climbed to the top of the little rise where the little house on the prairie sat. We stood under the cotton woods that Pa had planted.

We walked down into the Badlands. We got lost together in Wall Drug . We stopped to shed a tear at the site of the Oklahoma City Bombing. We shared our thoughts of the Alamo (Where Sonny argued with the museum personnel about why we couldn’t take a picture inside. LOL) Then we went to the River walk there in San Antonio. We saw the Petrified Forest and some big meteor crater close by there. Ahh, and Yosemite together. Oh yes, we went to the Devil’s tower together, Sonny refused to try to climb it. Of all the places we shared, probably the Grand Canyon was the most impressive. He and Colette loved it.

Yes, we went and enjoyed some great parts of this great country. Oh, yes, we saw Niagara Falls and on to Nova Scotia and the Bay of Fundy. There was the Mayflower at Plymouth and the Great Cape Cod Bay.
Enough, thanks for sharing my ramblings,
Nite Shipslog

PS: Speaking of the River Walk.

There's this blonde out for a walk. She comes to a river and sees another blonde on the opposite bank 'Yoo-hoo!' she shouts, 'How can I get to the other side?'
The second blonde looks up the river then down the river and shouts back, 'You ARE on the other side.'

These cars have nothing to do with the log entry, they are just beautiful, I love old cars.

Looks like a 1951 buick, dad had one.

The Edsel, worth much more now than then when it was a mistake, they said.

This was a classic, looks like a 49 Stud.

I used to just love to smell the smoke from a steam engine.

1955 Rambler, Sherry and I had one of these.

What is it that retirees do in the cold weather? WE can’t get out and walk and we don’t have a job. The only indoor sport I know, Sherry ain’t crazy about participating in all the time.

I do play some card games while I am thinking of my next novel. I am going to write a romance/love story. Sherry will be my consultant she has been in love a long time. She will have to remember way back when all the boys were after her. I will research to see what love is from the lady’s view point. That will be rough. I know what us boys think love is, it is undoubtedly the three letter word 'SIX'. ( Yeah, I know, but this is a 'G' rated journal. You will figure it out)

I need to know something unrelated to love & romance. We have 30 to 40 picture albums. They are stored in a damp trailer. I need to know the best way to keep them. I have thought about taking them out of the albums (some of which are falling apart) and putting them standing up on edge in one of those plastic shoe boxes. But I am afraid they will stick together.

I went to the storage trailer today to see if I could find some life jackets and an anchor, I did. So I decided to try to look around to see if anything needed to be done. Found a couple of 3-4 foot snake skins. Then looked at the pictures. The pictures seem to be holding up well, but the albums are biting the dust. Does anyone know of a good way to store pictures and photo’s other than albums?

We are in Belmont, NC now for a few days, weeks or mmmmmmooo.. I just can’t make myself say that word, when you get to months you are really talking time. However we do have our next to last grandson graduating from HS this year and want to be around for that. That happens around June 12th. I just counted that is 12 weeks off. TWELVE WEEKS that is a boot camp.

So we will get a slab ready to pour and depart for awhile. We are pouring a slab at Marks place so we can be over there to help him and not be in the mud.

Thanks for coming this way.
Nite Shipslog
PS:

Two drunks sitting on a bench in Colorado, looking up at the moon on a clear night. One said, “We should just go to Florida.”
The other guy staring at the moon asks, “Which is the fartherest away, Florida or the moon?”
“Hellooooo, Man are you daft? Can you see Florida?”

It is hard to attend a funeral service and not sit there and think. Since I cannot hear, I think.
In one life I thought I was a preacher, during that time I only married two couples. One couple got divorced and the other couple is still married and happy. That is 50% success. Not too good. BUT…..

Funerals, I performed three funeral eulogies. So far all three remain buried. I guess that is a 100% success rate. LOL I guess I could be proud of that, had I thought of that I could put that on my resume, shucks. (Of course the 100% one only)

A friendship of over 50 years a lot of stories come up. My mind went to the number of trips we made together. Once Sonny and Colette, Sherry & I, hooked a pop-up trailer behind our car and headed across country. After visiting the home of Elvis (Colette was A Super fan of Elvis) we planned to overnight in West Memphis, ARK. That night one of the worst storms possible came up. (without being a tornado) Colette began to pray loudly when the little camper would start to go air borne. Sherry & Colette got in the car. Sonny and I folded the camper up. We and everything was soaked. We drove all night to Muscogee, OK. Where we tried to dry everything out. We sang what we knew of the song by Merle the Hag.


(It was seldom you saw Sonny in a tie. Here he is with his beautiful daughter Vickie at his side. I think it was Sonny & Colette's 25th anniversary.)

Once in California, US1 was closed by a mud slide. Our map lady, Sherry, found a road across the mountain, a little north of the Hearst Castle, without going back and around to the interstate. The little road had no guard rails and at times we were looking down a couple hundred feet of sheer cleft. The girls were scared out of their gourds and we could not turn around with the trailer. Boy was that fun! LOL

(One of the many trips Sonny and Colette took their family to the beach.)

(Sonny wore long side burns for years, here he is sharing a bucket of chicken with his younger brother Allen.)

(Sonny again, much younger!)

Colette, Sherry’s sister was a quiet refined little lady, sweet, proper and easily embarrassed. You may not remember when screw guns came out and were very popular amongst us boys. Building and repairing became much easier. Sonny loved his screw gun and used it every chance. We were talking once, and the subject came up, Colette blurted out, “Sonny is the screwingest guy in Paw Creek!”

We all just looked, and she turned red, “OH, you know what I mean!!!”

Thanks for coming this way,
Nite Shipslog
PS:
Actual questions and answers from kids:

IS IT BETTER TO BE SINGLE OR MARRIED?
It's better for girls to be single but not for boys. Boys need someone to clean up after them. -- Anita, age 9
(Bless you child.)

HOW WOULD THE WORLD BE DIFFERENT IF PEOPLE DIDN'T GET MARRIED?
There sure would be a lot of kids to explain, wouldn't there? -- Kelvin, age 8

HOW WOULD YOU MAKE A MARRIAGE WORK?
Tell your wife that she looks pretty, even if she looks like a dump truck.
-- Ricky , age 10

Sherry us SO CUTE! Motor home fun!

Sonny and I having a saspirilla at the LOng Branch

Sonny and Colette at the Long Branch in Dodge City.

My last visit with Sonny was at Vickie's birthday.

Before I begin, Thanks for the out pouring of love, sympathy and understanding. From ones who have lost family lately, for those who remember the sorrow and from Woody who just buried his best friend a few short weeks ago. I am posting the entry I had prepared for yesterday. I don’t feel much like more now. (when our families get together even though there has been a death, there are still light hearted times remembering the funny things in Sonny & Colette’s lives.)

This entry is about my girl and ‘sometimes lover!’

There are times I go to bed after Sherry and I will leave my girl love notes! She always gets up before me because she hasn’t learned to sleep in. Every once in a while I will leave her a note asking a question. Etc.
Being a very conservative (cheap) person, I cut my waste printer paper in quarters and use the blank side for notes. Notes for my book or research etc. the stack is right in front of my key board.

A couple days ago I thought she might want to go out for breakfast. So before retiring I made a note saying: “If you want to go out for breakfast, wake me.”

I stumbled up the next morning; she had breakfast on the table. I sat down, reached over and took the note and wadded it up. I said, “Well I guess you didn’t want to go out.”

My sweetheart of 53 years, the one I sleep with, the only other person in the danged motor home says sweetly, “So YOU are the one who wrote the note, I wasn’t sure, IT WASN’T SIGNED!”

Now I will admit, I usually sign it ‘your secret admirer’, or ’your lover’ etc. I had forgotten to sign it.
Leave it to a woman to know how to make a point, huh?

Thanks for coming by the log,
Nite Shipslog
PS:
Actual questions and answers from kids, (via Evelyn):


WHAT DO MOST PEOPLE DO ON A DATE?
-Dates are for having fun, and people should use them to get to know each other. Even boys have something to say if you listen long enough. -- Lynnette, age 8 (isn't she a treasure)


-On the first date, they just tell each other lies and that usually gets them interested enough to go for a second date. -- Martin, age 10

WHEN IS IT OKAY TO KISS SOMEONE?
-When they're rich.. -- Pam, age 7 (my kinda person)
-The law says you have to be eighteen, so I wouldn't want to mess with that. - - Curt, age 7
-The rule goes like this: If you kiss someone, then you should marry them and have kids with them. It's the right thing to do. - - Howard, age 8

Sonny

Hello Shipslog. Last night one of the biggest fears of traveling come about. Sonny, my best friend and brother in law passed away. We got the call late in the evening. We sit here now, practically ready to pull out of a dark camp ground. I do not like to move this rig in the dark, especially in the woods.

Another draw-back is the diesel engine. In a very quiet camp ground you must start it and let it idle for about ten minutes while it builds up air pressure for the air bags and air brakes. Then as you move each time you touch the brakes they make a squeal, that your fellow campers and RV’rs do not appreciate.

Most will realize there is an emergency, and understand without saying many bad words.
About Sonny. Like any good friend and buddy we have had a great time. We have laughed and cried together. Even when he was very sick last year this time, we found a way to laugh. He was a great guy, we had a lot in common. Never once in our 50+ years of friendship was there a harsh word, a falling out a nasty situation we were always just a little more than friends.

What I have lost, his family has lost and the world has lost, is probably the worlds last ‘honest man’. I do not know anyone who is not, or has not been an actor at one time in their life, but not Sonny. In our close relationship he never ‘gossiped’. Talking ‘about people’ in a nasty sense was not Sonny. Revealing ‘your’ secret was not in him. One of the most ‘Christian’ men I have ever known without being ‘religious’. One of the most honest men who knew how to say, ‘I don’t know.’

I will now reveal one of his inner-most feelings. It was expressed to me a little after his beautiful wife died. He and I riding along (I remember the exact place we were). He said, “Jack you are going to think I am terrible,” tears in his eyes, “But if I could just KNOW Colette was with Jesus, If I could just KNOW she is happy, I could find peace. What do you think about that?”

“I’d say you are normal buddy.” Was all I could say, and I meant it. So to everyone I say, “Now he KNOWS.”
Good day Shipslog,

And to my friend I say,"Fair winds and following seas buddy, I love you!"

Throwaway

To open, I have had trouble staying on the net. Each comment has taken over fifteen minutes. Then none of my pictures uploaded. so here goes nothing......

WE have become a throwaway society. Rain mentioned the printers we have. Yeah I know that is true about the cost of cartridges and printers. Sherry and I were in line to pay for two cartridges and passed a printer with more features than ours and it was ten dollars more than the cartridges I was carrying. So we bought a new printer.

I just now looked across the table at one of our cell phones charging. WE don’t even use a cell phone long enough to need a new battery anymore, and no one wants the old ones.

We have to be careful or people become throw away items. I am not talking about the old and infirm only. I have a different philosophy than most my family and friends concerning ME in that position.
But I am not talking the aged; I am talking the druggie kids, the prostituting drug using mamas and the dealers and heavy drug users. If I am not careful I want to put them all in prison or on death row. Like everyone else I think seriously about doing that (unless my family is involved, then we should make an exception).

If I am not careful, I would suggest using the death penalty more often than it should be. I get upset about ‘home invaders’ or burglars. They know that stuff is not theirs; they have no right to it what so ever. They did not earn the money to buy the TV sets and jewelry they are stealing, if I am not careful I’ll want those shot!

I don’t think society should keep them up forever, in and out of prison. I believe every prison should be forced to raise their vegetables, meat, milk and cheese. Every prisoner should work or not eat. Yeah I know it ain’t fair, but that is how I feel about it. If we are going to support a criminal, they should be forced to work on the roads, clean up the right of way and cut grass. No work, no eat. If they get weak feed them through their veins until they decide to work.

Don’t get me wrong. Prison is sort of like divorce. Everyone seems to be touched by them. Thirty to sixty years ago not every family was affected, but today? Most all our families have had someone in jail, prison and we all have been affected by divorce. So I know it affects us all. I know without a doubt there are folks in prison who should not be there, but by and large they were justly convicted. Just my opinion.

A man I dearly loved spent most of his life behind bars. He was an artist and a master brick mason. He just could not stay off booze and drugs. He died early, I still miss him and his wonderful brother.

Thanks for coming this way,
Nite Shipslog
PS:
Actual questions and answers to elementary school kids from Evelyn:

HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHO TO MARRY?
-You got to find somebody who likes the same stuff.. Like, if you like sports, she should like it that you like sports, and she should keep the chips and dip coming.
-- Alan, age 10 (good plan Alan)

WE moved our home a little South!

We have moved South. Not far enough, but near Tampa. WE are at Hillsborough River State Park. This is a beautiful park and we hope to have a campfire or two.
This has been a rough winter all over the northern hemisphere evidently. I know, I know, I ain’t seen nothing. Hey, when you expect to see 70-85 degree weather and you see down to the lower 20’s and average around 50-55 that just ain’t no fun. Had I been a prophet, and known the future, we would be in Key West or Yuma, Arizona.

At least you guys are losing weight shoveling snow and sliding down and busting your behinds etc. AND you get snow cream anytime you want it.
The Hillsborough River runs through this park. We are hoping the weather clears and warms enough to walk they have some interesting trails here.
We are not far from St. Pete and we have some OLD friends there. Plus Judy, a dear friend from Maine, is staying in St. Pete for the winter, we plan to see her.

The trip down went well, I could watch the boat on top of the car in the rear monitor, and it rode well. The ground is soft here also, from all the rain; we sank up a little but not enough to get excited about. So we are settled in our new home, I will try to give you a picture of our new yard, etc. hahahaha!
S’gar is finally finished, proofed and ready for printing. It is already for sale on Amazon, even though I haven’t received a shipment yet. I reread it the last few days, and I did good, I love it. Hahahahaha, that guy is a great author!

WE have switched our normal drink from Sam diet decaf cola to Diet Green tea from Arizona. Do they grow tea in Arizona? I thought that tea came from China. I remember a saying when I was small that went something like this, “Man, I wouldn’t do that for all the tea in China!” So I figured that is where it came from.

I just looked at the jug; if I take it to California they will give me 5 cents for it. As soon as I read that Sherry said, “Let’s go!” (gotta love that girl)
Thanks for visiting us at our new home.
NIte Shipslog
PS: Actual questions and answers from kids (from Evelyn):


WHAT DO YOU THINK YOUR MOM AND DAD HAVE IN COMMON?
Both don't want any more kids. -- Lori, age 8

Terrible things and debts

Terrible things in our country. So far we haven’t had any suicide bombers (that I know of), but in the last couple years we have had a couple Church shootings, College shootings by students, College shooting by faculty and mothers accused of killing their children. This started at the Post Office, I think. Some ‘quick witted (?)’ journalist started using the term ‘going postal’.


When you get depressed enough, or pushed enough and you see no way out, you might do something ‘crazy’. Have you ever tried to imagine how you would feel if all of a sudden you were accused of something terrible you did not do? And no matter how hard you tried to explain it, it got worse.

The only times I’ve been in that position has been traffic tickets. Twice I have been given citations when I was absolutely not speeding. The more I talked the worse it got. Especially one incident, it was a state trooper in rural NC and a Justice of the peace, both smiling as I protested. The ‘judge’s decision remained the same’: $50 or go immediately to jail.

I had no choice but to pay, jail would have meant missing troop movement as I was scheduled to deploy two days from then. The Judge and trooper knew this.
For years after that I pictured taking a case of shells and my automatic shotgun and ‘blowing that little town apart’. Of course it was all a fantasy, but I have often thought how easy it would have been to carry out the fantasy, if as we say, someone is a ‘sandwich short of a picnic’.

Stress has become a factor, or is it that we cannot handle stress as well as we used to (as a society)? There has never been a time when there was not stress. One problem is, fifty years ago if you lost your job, all you really needed was food to tide you over. Churches, family and friends could help until one found work.

But today when a person loses their job they have this $1500 house payment, $500 car payments, $300 credit card payments, and several other ‘credit’ debts. Friends, churches and family cannot make those. It is not just food anymore! Therefore ‘extreme stress’, brought on by poor planning, but it is there none the less.
So I find myself trying to understand why Kids kill kids at school and teachers kill teachers. I don’t think I will ever understand it!
Just my ramblings. Thanks for coming this way.
Nite Shipslog
PS: Actual questions and answers from kids, from Evelyn (I love this one):


HOW CAN A STRANGER TELL IF TWO PEOPLE ARE MARRIED?

You might have to guess, based on whether they seem to be yelling at the same kids.-- Derrick, age 8

Spur of the moment purchase!

You ever buy something just for the heck of it? I was walking by a table sale and spotted an old newspaper from the forties. I bought it for fifty cents; the original price on it was five cents. I thought it was interesting and for fifty cents thought the grand kids would get a kick out of the ads and prices. They did. I gave it to one to take to school. I know they had a ball with it.

This past summer I bought a pair of Pince Nez eye glasses. French, Pince meaning pincher and nez meaning nose. The eye glasses without ear shafts. I have seen pictures of them but this was the first I had ever actually seen up close, so I forked over a dollar and bought them. I will have to give them to one of the grandkids when we get home, no need to keep them.
Sherry bought some small bone painted Christmas ear rings from an Indian in Maine, just because she liked the shop.

I buy jeans because they are on sale. I try to never pay over $10 for a pair of jeans. I think I now have five pair nearly new. They will do me for the rest of my life. I now have enough tennis shoes (or whatever they are called now) to last until I die. I have three BRAND new pairs of Reeboks.

They just opened the Billy Graham Library about eight miles from our house. I loved his speech. He said his family told him he had become a little slovenly lately, so he went out and bought the new suit he was wearing. He told the audience he had bought it for two occasions. This meeting and one other, Billy is a great man.
I am not unaware that, considering my family history of males, I have five or ten years left, hopefully they will be productive, so I can nearly wear out the Reeboks.

I wonder if you wear shoes when you are prepared for the last journey. Will I wear shoes in my casket? (I probably have a choice) If I have on pants, I won't a couple dollars in the pockets, one never knows, does one?
I don’t mean to be morbid, but when I do go my Granddaughter has promised that on my stone will read, ‘Here lies Jack in a Box’. (Should that be ‘lays’?)

Thanks for coming this way.
Nite Shipslog
PS:
Folks ask me what do you do all week?
I try not to smile but I answer, Monday to Friday; Nothing,
Saturday & Sunday I rest.
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Happiness is a voyage, not a destination,There is no better time to be happy than... NOW!

Don’t you just love being alive

Stupid things, maybe just ignorant!

Before today's exciting entry, Fred asked what did the boat weigh I should have had that in the entry. The boat weighs 52 lbs (23.5k)the seats/transom weigh 31 so the total is 81lbs (37.5k) put together.

I was reminded when I read on Lucy’s blog awhile back, that her appointment was something like 3:45 and it was around 5 before she was seen.
I once had an appointment with a dentist for ‘oral surgery’ translate that ‘to pull a tooth’. My appt. was at 9:45. At 10:15 I asked if there was an emergency, the receptionist said he will see you as soon as he can. I told her I had been there since 9:45 and if I was in the chair by 9:30 I was leaving. At 9:30 I told her bye and walked out ( everyone in the office was smiling and nodding).
Out side, I said,”That was stupid, now I have to go thru the same thing, plus find another Dr. I still need the tooth pulled.”
But I taught them a thing or two. Hahahahahahahaha! As if it made a difference to them. I was the one who was put out.

While in business, I made a trip to Albany, Ga from NC to sell a piece of land. At closing, I told the attorney I wanted a check that I could cash immediately. I knew the bank’s policy of holding an out of state check ten days. I did not need the money but wanted it available if I did. The Attorney, my BIL Sonny, and I walked to the bank. I assured by the banker and the attorney that this check ‘Cashiers Check’ was good anywhere in the USA.

In NC, I drove by my bank, NCNB wrote out a deposit slip depositing the check, and withdrawing $100. The drive thru lady said, I can’t we must hold the check ten days. I ended up in the bank president’s office, demanding my money from person/business accounts, I was closing them. He had the nerve to ask how I wanted the check made out? Check? Are you crazy? That is what started this whole thing, I want it all in cash.
But, But but…..
Yep, every penny in cash.
I left the bank smug, I guess I showed them. I went to another bank and opened a new account. They gave me some rib eye steaks for opening with them.

I forgot one small thing (maybe two or three), I had a direct deposit going to NCNB, ins. taken out etc. The first of the month my account reopened automatically because of the direct deposit.

I fixed it all and went to another bank to re-close the account. I am sooooooo smart some times.

But I am so much better now, that is since you came by!!!!!
NIte Shipslog

PS:
The advantage of exercising every day is so when you die, they'll say, 'Well, he looks good doesn't he.'