I am told, I am old.

I can remember thinking folks in their 50’s and 60’s were old. Folks in their 70’s and 80’s were ancient. I am sure this is nothing new. Probably every generation says the same things:

Time flies, where did the time go? I turned old too soon.

Really I do not mind being older, I just chide myself for judging the older generation when I was younger.

I had a friend, Mr. McCumbee, I met him when I was building a Spec-house beside his home. He would hand me water and some peanuts over the fence when we talked. I had known  Jinks Mc Cumbee  a long time (I always smiled about his name)    I had never known anyone by that name. Anyway Mr. McCumbee was OLD. He was very hard of hearing and in his 70’s.

One day he climbed up on his house to clean the gutters and his ladder fell, he was stuck on the roof with no way to get down. Finally someone replaced the ladder. When he told me, I thought, ‘you are too old to be on the roof.’

   

Now I do the same, I wonder do folks think I am missing a few cards from my deck?  Most probably.

Lean-to report:

I ran underground power to my new Lean-to today. I need to do some landscaping, but it is most done. Now to move some stuff around and put up all the tools. I am very happy with it.

Oh, I have been having a talk with some ‘Carpenter Bees’, they love this new lumber. I hate to kill them, they don’t bother me, they come within inches and I talk to them.  One day last week, Mark brought Stella down to find out who I was talking to, when I said to the Bees, that was the wrong word, now she is afraid to come into the lean-to.

Maybe when I lock it up the Bees will go else where.

Nite Shipslog

PS: I keep wondering why we have so much STUFF?

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<V>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Looks like a ‘48 Packard.

Today

Today is here and I do not have a blog entry completed. I have been doing them in the evenings, but last night I made a fire. Stella came home from T-ball practice with her mom and new coach, ‘uncle Luke’.  When Stella was the fire the word S’mores came out.

Reece helped here daughter make S-mores. Everyone  had to go to Sir Logan’s grave where Mark had placed one of the solar powered angel lights that changes colors. It is very pretty at night and I just enjoyed Stella as she knelt by the light, transfixed as the little angle changed colors.

Sherry went back by the fire after everyone had went to bed and enjoyed some ‘camping atmosphere’. It was so relaxing it was after 9PM when we came in.

I have wanted to shorten the blog, maybe this is the ticket.

Thanks for coming this way.

Nite Shipslog (this morning)

PS:

We really do enjoy campfires

 

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<V>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

1946 Dodge

Weather

Every year I tend to say, this is the hottest I remember, or coldest I remember. Now this year it is the wettest or wildest. Friend Bonnie of Organic Discourse was hit by a terrible hail storm a week or so ago. Breaking windshields, beating the house siding to shreds and ruining the roof. Golf ball size hail.

Now friend Pauline ( paulinescountrytales )   down Texas way, reports of a near miss by tornados.  The news said some place in Texas reported ‘SOFTBALL’  size hail.  I know Texas must do things bigger, but HAIL?  WOW.

     

All winter we had rain and mud in Florida.  Coming home and North Carolina has had rain. Floods in the Mts and in some major cities.

One thing we have now that was not available years ago is the internet (Instant news) and Satellite coverage by photos and real time.

I must admit, I fuss at the weather man a lot, but in reality they are pretty much right in their predictions.  I still trust the forecast, and they are really pretty good.  I just get upset when it isn’t what I want.

There is a lot of talk about the weather world wide. I am a believer that man is too small to affect the Global changes in the weather. I still think we should be prudent and conserve and not pollute.  I do like wind and solar electricity, and think we should use those as much as possible.  I smiled at the term ‘Wind Farm’ when we first saw the wind turbines as we traveled out west.  I sorta liked that. I read where one of those big dudes could carry 1450 houses, that was amazing to me.

Just some passing thoughts.  

Nite Shipslog

PS

Probably a good thing we cannot change the weather to suit us all the time.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<V>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

1927 Erskine

Two equals One

There is something satisfying when two become one. I noticed the feeling this morning in the shower.  It always takes two or three showers but finally this morning my old bar of soap is finally married to my new bar of soap, now the ‘cake’ of soap is bigger and better for a few days. I like it when they quit breaking apart!

So I got to thinking, there are a lot of things that merge and make one:

The Three legged race

Chocolate and vanilla Ice cream, I like to stir them together.

Mashed potatoes and gravy

Grits and over easy eggs mixed and stirred together.

 

And as a kid: a nickel pack of salted p-nuts funneled into my nickel bottled Pepsi!

Yellow and Blue paint make Green!

      

Fish and water!  Oh, did you hear about the guy who was concerned about his beautiful gold fish he was sure it was having seizures. So he took it to a vet. The vet said he normally did not treat fish but he would look at it.

“Your fish seems to be normal sir,” the doctor said as he looked at the fish swimming peacefully in the little portable bowl.

“Sure he does, I haven’t taken him out of the water to pet him yet!”

Thanks for stopping by for this silly time. 

Nite Shipslog

PS: Lately I have had problems with mud, you know water and dirt make MUD!

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<V>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Two (or more) become one!

Now, too late, I understand my Oldest Brother

Odis Howard, the eldest of my siblings was very talented in wood.  He also was the only male in our family that could play the guitar.  He loved to play and sing around a fire out in the yard. He had never built a house, but after the war, he and his wife Ruth, bought a piece of land for $50 cut the trees with a cross cut saw, made the brick with a mold from Sears and Roebuck, and built them a beautiful home. He was a truck driver by trade but loved to carve and form wood. He built an award  winning (Gold Hammer award) nine foot battle ship.

(Odis’s family donated the model to the USS North Carolina Museum in Wilmington. Shirl and I delivered it. The local news covered the donation. you see the USS NC in the back ground))

(That is Shirl’s hubby Jim in the back ground, Sherry doing the picture taking.)

He built a cabin cruiser.

He built two houses, one burned to the ground and he rebuilt it.

(I was so proud of my older brother, He had such talent, he was also an artist, Chief Jack on the left and Odis)

As he got older he became withdrawn. His son Howard arranged an interview with NBC, featuring his fleet of ships. The fleet (each ship 5-9 feet in length), two Battle ships, Two carriers, a couple destroyers and also the Pinta, Nina and the Santa Marie, had been displayed in some hi- profile buildings and banks. They were a big demand for parades.

  (Below is Howard and a reporter, at a display at Porter Brothers in Shelby, NC. Howard was a great PR man for his dad, sorrowfully, Howard expired at 36 years of age, leaving a beautiful wife and two children)

 

I was disappointed when the News crew arrived at his shop, he disappeared, got in his pickup and drove up. The TV crew still used the ships in a TV special, but my brother was no where to be seen on TV.

He was very hard of hearing. Now I know how he felt.  He refused to be put in the position of not being able to answer questions he could not hear, or answer a question he THOUGHT he heard, and appear a little dumb.  I know the feeling, yes, I know the feeling very well. 

 

Odis had the ability to do his own thing without explaining. I don’t have that personality,I HAVE TO TRY TO EXPLAIN, therefore I avoid being in a situation where folks will want to converse or I nod and act like I understand.  I wish I had understood my big brother back then.

 

Understanding has a lot to do with knowing what is going to be said. If I can anticipate a conversation, at times  I can join in, but if the subject is out of ‘left field’, I start off lost and it gets worse.

 

Odis would migrate to his wood shop and play.  I loved to visit Odis and Ruth. The last time I spoke to Odis, his first words were when he realized I was there were, “I hear what I D--- well want to.”

I said, “Od, I didn’t say anything,” and he gave me that winning lopsided smile.  We visited awhile and that was the last time I saw him alive. He passed away at 61, too young.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

He always wore a flat top. He built a rig of wood framing that sit on his shoulders the his hair went thru a piece of stretched screen wire. Ruth ran the clippers over the screen, he had immediate haircut, perfect flat top.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<V>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

I remember the two rut road Odis ad Ruth lived on.

He had a A model for awhile. (This is a T model I think)

He later had a Kaiser, I thought that was cool.

Money Matters, Cheap or Conservative?

This piece is MOSTLY MY OPINION, as I was told by one of my grandsons when he was 3 years old. “Everyone has an opinion Grandpa!”

(J.Jr in the laundry basket, living in a trailer we visited a lot of laundramats! He was fussy that day and I was outside entertaining him while Sherry did the laundry, nah, he didn’t ride in the trunk. lol Pay no attention to the bald spare!)
I used to think everyone should be like us, but now in my later years, I don’t think so, some personalities do not fit the mold, and they would be miserable.

{My girl outside one of our trailers, the home made charcoal grill to her right)
Sherry and I were both raised by conservative parents who had endured hardships, stayed together, raised a family, lived through the great depression and SURVIVED. Both of us remember well parents who said, “You need to put something back for a rainy day.” They never explained why, they didn’t think it was necessary, but that admonishment was stuck deep in our personalities.
(Sherry and JJ on the hood of the ‘55 Ford we towed our trailer with)

There have been very few months in our lives that we did not save something. It might have been 50¢ or $1, but something went aside ‘for the rainy day’. 
      
(Mom and dad visiting us in Mississippi)
The thought of folks today seems to be have it now and pay later. We were different. To us a little trailer paid for was better than a nicer house with a  mortgage.
 
(Proud dad looking at son jack in the window.)
Jean said something that let’s me know there are others in the world like us.  If either of them had ever won or had a million dollars, you can bet most of it would have went into some savings plan for our retirement.
 
(Cooking out on the home made grill outside our trailer)
We tried to think of the future. I buy a lottery ticket most every week. I know the odds, but someone will win.  If I would win, it would go into something to produce income for my sons in their retirement. Apartments or houses. My daddy said many times never play the other guys game. I have never messed with Stocks, don’t know a thing about them. I did buy US Savings Bonds for a long time.
Just rambling here in NC in the rain. Still working on the lean-to.  Getting more ideas (sometimes that is not good!)
Thanks for coming this way.
Nite Shipslog
PS:
This would be a boring world if we were all alike (but then you could anticipate the commands better). LOL

In our youth we paid $10-$15 a month to park the trailer, while our peers paid $50 to $90 a month rent.
<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<V>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Cars and trains  because they struck my fancy. The green truck is like one I had, and the Buick Special in the last picture is like one dad had.
 

I miss some things

Getting older I start missing my youth. Having the strength to lift a 3/4 piece of plywood, carry 6 or 8 2x4 studs without feeling awkward. Most of my thoughts go to building. I can still move a heavy piece of plywood, but by using leverage and some ingenuity, not strength.

I can still work 8-10 hours a day, but I do not produce as much, I miss showing off, LOL.

I am finishing up my lean-to storage. It has been fun, I actually still enjoy the physical labor. I remember  my friend Tuck and a barn raising on his farm near Morven NC. We drove a lot of large stakes to use to pull the huge trusses up and into place. I worked with Mr. Adcock (Tuck’s father in law), he was OLD, near 70 (LOL). He could swing a sledge about as well as I could, and I was in my 50’s.

I remember him saying, “I like this, it makes me feel good and useful.”

I think of that, Now I am much older, building this little lean-to, makes me feel useful. LOL

I am appreciative of good health, and the ability to still do a pretty good days work at 76. I do not take it for granted, I realize some of my close friends can not do much physical labor, yep, God has been better to me than I ever deserved.

Leaving the hearing doctor today, just as deaf as when I entered the hospital, I told Sherry I am still the luckiest guy in the world. Our lives are good, she is able to walk a couple miles a day with my sister Shirl, and I am able to work.

And,  We have been very successful for no more education than we had, then I added, we are successful because we worked together, stayed together and played together.  Now we travel together. It has been over 58 years with this girl and over all it has been wonderful. Of course I would change some of the stupid things I have done over the years if I could,( we men can be exasperating at times), but we don’t dwell on that.

Enough, I am tired.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

If you have found a job you love or if you have found that perfect mate, you my friend are blessed.

<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<V>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

These cars were just born when I met my LOVE! 1954