Promises, Promises

Do you talk to yourself?  I mean do you sometimes say to yourself, I am going to do this more often?  There are times like sitting by a stream or waterfall, I say to myself, I am going to relax like this more often.

One of the times I do that is at a funeral. Our family is not a tight knit family. We did have a family reunion once upon a time, but they fizzled out. But we do get together at funerals. I ALWAYS say, I am going to visit my kin, and not just at funerals.

I mean it, but I just do not do it. Some of my first cousins I am close to and I should visit, but I do not.

Sonny’s Funeral. Nephew Tommy Malone’s family sang accapella  so beautifully at the graveside

Another time is when I really clean up our car.  I feel so good about it that I usually say to myself, this isn‘t much work, I am going to keep it this clean, but do I do it? NO!  It is dirty right now, but it is too cold to wash it, etc….

I didn’t have to worry about that in  GITMO, we were not allowed to use water from your faucets to wash your car.  some folk saved the water that dripped from the A/C’s, but not me.

(Our first house in GITMO, no a/c from which to catch the water)

I change the oil in our vehicles, but I am not religious with it. Our little car is over due now, and I will get to it.

Employment application blanks always ask who is to be notified in case of an emergency. I shoulda written, 'A Good Doctor!'

Oh a side note. I was recently bombed with about 20 Porn site notices with some VERY graphic pictures on my blogger dashboard. Has that happened to you?  I think Lucy had that problem for awhile,

Anyway, I do promise myself to do things many times, and I forget the promises soon after the event that keyed the promise.

I know you are tired of this rambling, so I’m outa here.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

I am very good about keeping promises to others, I think I will make an effort to keep promises to myself.

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I think this is from Czechoslovakia, 1939

I'm hoping God grades on the curve.

Mail Call and moving…

With our life style we do not have the mail box beside the door or out on the road so we do not get mail on a daily basis.

(I spied this mail box in Rural PA, near Lancaster)

We have a mail service in Eustis, Florida and when we are near, we pick it up, but most of the time we call and have it delivered General Delivery to a Post Office near where we will be in the next three days.  Most of the time it works well.

From life on a ship and in GITMO I was used to non-regular mail.  Mail is very important when you are away from home so listening to the scuttlebutt(rumors) we could usually tell when a mail plane was due in. But now that I am with the one who usually wrote letters to me, mail isn’t that critical.

WE pay a yearly fee for the mail service and give them a deposit for postage which they hold in escrow. Each mailing lowers the escrow when it is near exhausted and they will notify us that we need to put more in the escrow account. With fuel prices the level they are, we can call for the mail to be delivered more reasonable than driving for it.

(Mailboxes on St. Maartin in the Caribbean)

I mentioned that we pay for our mail to be shipped to us on this blog once, and confused some readers. Our mail goes to the Mail Forwarding service as normal mail. They hold it until Sherry calls for it.  At that time the service packages our mail and sends it to the address Sherry gives them.  So you see if we have a lot of junk mail (magazines and catalogs) the cost goes up because we pay to have that sent to us priority mail.  Our mail is usually a couple weeks out from us. Most of our bills are deducted from our bank account, that way we are not late on payments, I hate to pay anything late.

Yeah, we do move a lot about every two weeks, in the winter. We have 3-4 main RV parks here in Florida. The one furthest South is on the Peace River.  That one puts in the vicinity of both Florida Coasts where we have friends. So we get a chance to renew acquaintances and catch up on family news from Maine and Missouri.

We hope to try a new RV park Very near Disney in a few weeks when Reece brings Stella down.

I think Mark might be coming back down, but I am not sure. This allows them to have a more reasonable vacation since they can stay with us. We are looking forward to that, although it will be a short time.(2-4 days.)

Anyway for those who wondered, that is our mail and moving schedules over the winter. Summer is a different story, we never know about that.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

Now the mail pickup does get a little confusing if we forget where we asked them to send it. LOL

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We saw this Plymouth when we visited Warm Springs, Georgia.

This is really a small world

I have said that before. I remember once in South Dakota a guy knocked on our door and said he had read our name plate  his uncle was the Belmont, NC Postmaster. I knew his Uncle and had done business with him in several real estate buys.

(We are not real tourists, this is as close as I got to the Eiffel Tower.)

But now with the internet your blog and my blog can be and is read around the world. It is hard to believe that folks from Russia, Germany, Italy, the Islands and India also Canada and the UK actually click on the Shipslog. some regularly.

If we can communicate this way, maybe it will eventually be a way to see each other in a more compassionate setting.  Maybe we can BE FRIENDS around the world and over ride the hate mongers who cause and actually want WAR.

(My friend Buck and I in a Castle in Germany, this is a Huge Ceramic covered Furnace)

The internet could be a vehicle for better world wide understanding on ‘OUR level’ (The citizens) it can be a a vehicle for peace, we sure need one.

I miss Robert from Athens, he is a mixture of worlds, Germany and Greece. Of course Mort was always a blast even being as sick as he is. I know he misses his Mum. Mort’s flowers and love life was always interesting. And then there was Allie from the UK, what a dear. A computer crash just took her out of our lives,  I communicated with Amil out of India for awhile, and ‘Rainy Days’ with the blind Pugs of Nova Scotia (originally from Quebec, I cannot think of her name, it has been 3 yrs since she dropped off the radar). 

(Another Castle in Germany)

Most of the folks who read your blog and the Shipslog, DO NOT comment.  We do have some solid ‘Good Will’ ambassadors here.

There is one thing that needs to be cleared up here in the USA. This is the United States of America. We also Americans.  But we share that title with our friends from the North, the Canadians and our friends from the South, Mexico and central America. WE are all Americans.  Shucks the folks in Argentina are Americans also, although South Americans. .

(Leaving the Senator Hotel in Switzerland, it still holds the record of the most $ paid for one nights stay! OUCH)

We really should get that straight. The citizens of the United States of America are not the only Americans in the World.

Okay, lets all set around the campfire and sing Cum by yah.  Or what ever that 60-70’s peace-nic song is..

Nite shipslog

PS:

You probably are thinking, what is this fool saying? ………………………….. Feel good about yourself………. because I don’t know either!

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(Hello boss, Got this slight problem! could you bring a ladder?)

Two 1982’s! Chrysler 5th and the Citroen.

Those Sorry Rich people,

There is Jon and Karen Huntsman, Barron Hilton, Michael Bloomberg, David Rockefeller, Paul G. Allen, George Lucas, Eli and Edythe Broad, Alfred Mann, Ted Turner and also that weird Bill Gates.

Do you know them?  Some I have never heard of. None of them have asked me to their house for Tea!  What do they have in common? Them dudes are RICH in capitol letters. Not millions, but BILLIONS!

What do they have in common? Well for one thing lots of folks envy them and want their money.  Many poor or less fortunate think these folk should share their wealth.  Most of those who want to share their wealth want it for  selfish purposes. ME & MY FAMILY DESERVE A PIECE OF YOUR PIE!

The above list also share one other thing in common,  they have set in motion for most of their wealth to be GIVEN away before they die or after their death.

To me the beauty of this is that these folks are wise enough to know where to distribute their money, they are not leaving it up to a government to decide. So we can relax, it ain’t coming to me or you. I do not  deserve one penny of Bill Gates money.  Where do they distribute it? In the form of medicines to third world countries. Grants for education. Research for vaccines, disease cures and hospitals. Cleaner water and to fight hunger and real poverty, etc.

Some of these folks inherited their money, some earned every penny of it. Either way these are just a few of the wealthy folk in this country who are doing good with their fortunes.

 Yeah, of course there are scrooges and there are millionaires on paper who really do not have what they appear to have etc. There are folks who have gotten rich by taking advantage of others lives.

By far our wealthy families are benevolent people.  Just because they don’t send me a check or invite me to dinner does not mean they are hard-hearted snotty rich folk. (maybe just snotty, nah, I don’t mean that, but I realize I do not fit in that level of society.)

(You know this is taken in OUR toilet! LOL)

Some people are born business men, if they were to have catastrophe and lose everything, they would be back on their feet in a few years. Not everyone can do that.

Thanks for stoppin by.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

Be a good steward of what is placed in your hands by honest work.

DID U KNOW?

Bill and Melinda Gates have given away $28.3 BILLION. It would probably take you ten years to save that much!

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1924 Amilcar, French

This is the Martin Aerodynamic prototype, 1928 built in St. Louis If I remember right, but never was produced.

YOU are not exempt.

Man’s life is a few days and full of trouble.

Yes compared to A ROCK, or an eternity, YEP, our lives are a few days.

Trouble?  After you have lived as long as some of us you will learn, “No one has that perfect life!” You learn as you go along that the man or woman who seems to have the perfect life, has problems you do not know about. If health doesn’t get the human, someone in the family will!

Troubles are related to family,  business, finances or health and sometimes, all of the above.

We have some wonderful friends in Minnesota, Les and Gail.  We met in GITMO and continue to correspond. They appear to have charmed lives. Perfect kids, marriages, etc., the last Christmas card tells us Gail fell and had what was diagnosed as a sprain ankle. The pain became intense and later found that there were broken bones in ankle and foot. You know how that works, infections etc. Three months of constant care and pain.

Some folks look like they are on the top of the world and inside are carrying a lot of weight, either physical or mentally. I had a dear friend who gave the impression, all was well. Always drove a new Jaguar and carried money. But at his death the house of cards came apart. The banks took everything. NONE OF US ARE EXEMPT.

The metal in a person is how they handle that trouble when it comes. There is enough troubles in life without us bringing more on ourselves. I hate to see folk who want it all  and will work  long hours to keep up with the Jones’, and then their lives fall apart under the stress.

When we learn to be happy with what we have, life is good. Many folk spend their lives looking at the ‘nice’ things the other guy has and wanting the same and more.  Some of us learn to look at the less fortunate, then appreciate what we have.

We have a great bunch of blogger friends who are enjoying their lives with what they have, shucks, even the weather!

I may never get that little ‘53 MG, but I am going to love looking at it.

Nite Shipslog

PS: I am glad Sherry and I came from the era that when something was broke, you fixed it. You did not throw it away!

I love this………..

God grant me the serenity
to accept the things I cannot change;
courage to change the things I can;
and wisdom to know the difference.

OH, if you talk to the Lord, some folk do, mention Helen and Ken, Lucy & Joe to Him. Our sweet Rose needs to dance also.

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Remember the Circus?

Growing up it was hard for me to understand the difference in a Carnival, the Fair and the Circus. All were fun.

There were some of the same activities, rides and side shows. I liked the guys who tied balloons and I had a ball in the Haunted house and the house of mirrors. I was fooled many times by the miniature grown-up as small as your hand who could talk to you. Now I know it was mirrors and I am disappointed.

Oh, the games you could not win! and the one man Band!

Oh boy, did I like the strong man. Most boys did. The one I remember  inserted a metal comb, in his hair. hooking a rope in it he slowly backed up pulling a big truck.  There were pictures where he had pulled trains, I believed it all.

I wasn’t supposed to be there because it was a sin, but Buddy and Vondale talked me into going. What was one more sin to a 13 year old. Mine didn’t count yet did they?

Yeah, at the very back was the Hooche Cooche show. 50¢, No one under 18 allowed, “THESE GIRLS WILL SHOW YOU THINGS YOUHAVE NEVER SEEN BEFORE, STEP RIGHT UP!” Vondale was the tallest so he bought us three tickets, he assured the man we were all 18! The man believed it. Ya think?

We walked into the tent, and I found out we weren’t the only sinners. There taking the tickets was a man I had seen at our church, usually to get food and clothes from the pantry. BUT HE DIDN’T KNOW ME AND I DIDN’T KNOW HIM!

I smile looking back, it was a strip tease, all the way down to bikini’s.  But in the 50’s that was a sight to behold for us 13 yr old boys. HA!

That night it was Buddy Curry’s Hollywood Hell Drivers. They put on a great show, but it didn’t top those bikini’s.

It is amazing to go to a fair now and see the same hustles that have been around since the beginning of side-shows.

The rides? I loved the tilt-a-whirl and the Ferris Wheel.

Remember the Circus?

Thanks for coming by the log.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

When the circus moved on, we searched the grounds for lost change, we usually found enough for a Pepsi and cheese crackers.

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Amazing stunt drivers!