I don't want to alarm you!

Before we start, (ref YESTERDAY'S BLOG ENTRY) Sherry said, "I have a picture of you  guys in the rain"

Just dancing in the rain!

NOW TODAY"S EXCITING POST! LOL

Copied from an article on AOL concerning hand sanitizers:
"We're not trying to alarm people," said Dr. Janet Woodcock, director of the FDA's drug center. "Obviously ethanol and humans have co-existed for a long time so there's a lot that's known about it."

They are saying that after continued use ethanol is showing up in the blood stream.

I am not a prophet, I do not claim any extra ordinary knowledge other than I hope I use common sense. In my short visits around hospitals I am seeing hand sanitizers EVERYWHERE!  Even airports, and my girl has a small container in her purse (along with thousands of useable items,LOL).  

It bothers me because  for years I washed my hands in gasoline, kerosine and WD-40 to remove grease after working  on a car or lawnmower, etc.  Then I read that it could enter the blood streams thru the skin.  When I saw so many folks continually using the sanitizers it did bothers me, I have used it on occasion, but never on a regular basis.

Once I learned it was dangerous, I started using GOOP,
It might have been as bad!

Headlines such as, "Don't be alarmed!"  Causes me to think of an old joke, "Don't get upset, but they are lowering a piano from the third floor and it is just above your head and it looks like the rope is unraveling."

That is my public service announcement for today. My advice is keep your hands in your pockets if you need sanitizing find some Lye Soap.

Grandma's Lye Soap Lyrics

This song was recorded on old "vinyl records", long before the days of either tapes or CDs.

"You remember Grandma's Lye soap,
Good for everything in the home -
And the secret was in the scrubbing -
It wouldn't suds, and couldn't foam!

CHORUS:
O sing, O sing of Grandmas Lye Soap
Good for everything, everything in the home,
The pots and pans, the dirty dishes-
And for your hands, and for your face.

Verse:
Little Herman and brother Thurman
Had an aversion to washing their ears
Grandma scrubbed them with the lye soap
Now they haven't heard a word in years!

REPEAT CHORUS

Verse:
Mrs. O'Malley, down in the valley
Suffered from ulcers, I understand
Swallowed a cake of Grandma's Lye Soap-
Has the cleanest ulcers in the land!

ROUSING CHORUS
(often accompanied by clapping and dancing)
O Sing, O sing! O! Of Grandma's Lye Soap
Good for everything, everything in the home
The pots and pans, the dirty dishes!
And for your hands and for your face!"

Nite Shipslog 

PS:  Mama did make and use lye soap at our house. Every hog killing season.  Lye soap is a lot of pork fat (IN CASE YOU DID NOT KNOW!).

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1956 Tudor hardtop Chevy.  There was one of these in GITMO, I wish I had bought it and brought it back.

Rain

We are getting rain here in North  Carolina,  We need the rain.  Isn't it strange how certain smells bring back your youth, even at 77 years old.

So, yep I smelled the rain. As a kid I loved playing in the thunderstorms.  Anyone who lived before A/C was common in houses, knows what it is like to sleep under a fan, and know the feeling of sweat feeling cool under the fan.  Rain would cool things down some.

Sherry and I always remember a quote from her mom who was visiting Vernon and his family while he was stationed near Detroit.  It was blazing hot one night and she was sleeping with her grandson Rick at 6yrs of age. When neither could go to sleep, they were lying there sweating when Rick said, "Nice and warm tonight, isn't it?"

(NOTE: TONITE Rick is in Saudia Arabia, I hope he has A/C)

Now, as a matter of fact, Stella and I actually ran and danced a little in this rain, it is nice.

As I type tonight, is is raining again. I can hear the earth saying 'Thank YOU!'.

Nite Shipslog.
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That kid, what will become of him?

My brother Odis was known to my sister Shirl and I by one statement he made:

One never truly knows, does one?

I received a fwd e-mail from friend Joan out in Utah.  (We are Grandparents-in-law). It listed many folk that the average person would not know their beginning and their end. I have two examples: First:

A mischievous School boy. Considered stupid, restless and too inquisitive and a slow learner. 

Became Thomas Edison…

This beautiful heiress from a wealthy family called the Vlachs  of Albany, was Agnes Boiagiu but she became:

  

This all struck me and I referred back to kids we met while hiking the Appalachian Trail.  My faith in the youth of our country was given a super boost.  We met many young folk who had their feet firmly planted on this planet. They were mannerly, courteous, and full of ambition.  They planned to make the world can be a better place.

They were city, suburb and country kids. Most were between college years, HS & college, or just after college.  They were there to prove to themselves they could take on a task and complete it.  We fell in love with kids named: Cricket, Scruffy, Freight Train, Boats, Pig Pen, etc. We had pages of trail names.  After I listed many in my latest book and published it, I ran across forty or fifty more on another page of notes.

I look at the youth today and realize they will run this country one day. I used to worry about it and just know, because of the youth of today, “This country is headed for a train wreck!” Our youth are the same mix of the youth of my day. Some wild, some ‘crazy’, some just normal and others with no label. WE made it.  I have confidence in the USA and our people.

We as a country may sink deeper. But I am a firm believer we have the right leaders out there somewhere.  I may not see it (being older than Linda, Lisa, Bonnie, Jimmy, Woody, Sheila, Myra and MA (and many more)) but I refuse to believe this country is headed down the drain.

Nite Shipslog

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 Our next Motor Home!

Monday was Wash day.

(I used to know when this would be published on the net............... may be today or tomorrow!)

Daddy brought the  little stands out that held up the tin tubs. He rolled the washing machine away from the  back porch wall and ran the hose over to the machine. Mama ran water into the black pot that dad had started a fire under. She then ran some water into the old wringer machine, and some into the two #2 tubs.  When the water in the black pot was hot she took a bucket and put some in the machine and tubs to have warm water. She added some Rinso (detergent, but we called it powdered soap) to the machine.

 I can remember far enough back that she used to take a butcher knife and shave off  thin strips of lye soap before Rinso.

Lye Soap

Mama started the machine, there was no timer, mama knew how long to run the machine, then started what  mesmerized me for years, the clothes were put thru the wringer. She carefully flattened each piece to try to keep it even to get all the soapy water out of the clothes, and keep her fingers out of the wringers.  She allowed me to start some small pieces at times, once I did get my fingers in the wringers, but she quickly reversed it and I only cried a little. LOL.

From the first rinse tub to the 'bluing' tub (I loved that blue water, I am still not sure what it was, maybe a mild bleach?).

The second time thru the wringers and then to the clothes line. She had a 'rag' she cleaned the wires before hanging. She had two different clothes pins. One was forked the other was spring loaded. (Later I learned to make pea shooters from the spring loaded ones)

Wash day was a lot of work for mama (and lots of women) because she still had to make dinner and supper from scratch. Of course WAsh day brought on Ironing day, Until I was in the 2nd grade mama used the irons that were heated on the wood stove, then she got an ELECTRIC IRON,  She used a coke bottle with a sprinkler in the end to sprinkle the clothes before ironing. 

 Later she got a STEAM IRON, WOW! No more sprinkling. (at some time for some reason some clothes went into the Ice box ??? anybody know why???)

Okay, I said all that to say this, mama's job would have been a whole lot easier now, if we dressed this way, check these headlines out, I am seeing more and more of them:

1.  Star bares her entire backside in totally sheer dress.

2.  Mariah Carey steps out in corset, flashes her behind

3. Taraji P. Henson wows in see-through dress

No heavy dresses and over-alls, no underwear.  Wash day would have been so simple! But I must ask, where to NEXT?  This is not in some smut journal, it is head lines.

Nite Shipslog

 1938 Jaguar

1955 Vette and two girls with clothes on

The 'S' and 'J' trees

Do you like the little Banzai trees?  Have you seen the trees that someone patiently formed into chairs or animals over a period of many years?

While hiking the Appalachian Trail I had the idea of tying knots in small trees as a novelty.  I was going back in a few years to see them. Of course I forgot where I did the deed.

So since I will be here a couple more weeks, I have decided to make an 'S' tree for Stella.  So when it is set to shape we can plant it and remember her youth with the 'S' Tree.

I found a very skinny tree. I will tighten it up as it gets used to the position now.

Then there will be an attempt to make a 'J' Tree for Jude. Now a J is a challenge. but I have two going in hopes that one will make it.  These are much younger trees:
Number  1.  

Then #2 a little younger. both of these are in the same pot:

(This one will be a J from the other side! LOL)

In a moment of thinking about crazy things, this was my idea. I hope I can get them to live.  I am not too good with the green thumb thing, that was my mama (and sisters)

Well at least I am trying.  LOL

Nite Shipslog

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This is a 1938 Plexiglas Pontiac so folks could see the inside of it.

And then again, I guess there may be a little room on the VW to hide it.  LOL

Where have all the bloggers gone,....

(Time to stop and smell/enjoy the flowers.  Flowers are for your enjoyment.)

Somewhere between 16  and 77 years old, I remember a 'hippy' song that started, "Where have all the flowers gone, long time passing?........"  It is very hard to change 'CHANGE'. So social media such as Facebook is an attraction, and in our busy world is much easier than producing an interesting 'blog entry'. It falls in line by clicking like or adding a witty statement.

Speaking of flowers, these came from a former daughter in law. They are beautiful. Thanks Corinne. (She is still my sweetheart)

I miss many of the regulars and I am sure you do also. But CHANGE is inevitable.  I do like Facebook for some things, but it honestly wears me out. Blogging is more my speed, more than once I have sat here and tried to think of a subject of interest and I couldn't even come up with a subject that I liked. LOL.

Facebook is probably at the top of the list now. But I must be honest, much of it I prefer not to know.  I am no prude, but I really do not want to know that some of my own family know more curse/vulgar words than I used as a sailor, but never in 'mixed company'.

Early in my military service I was taught, never use vulgar/off color language in front of a girl/lady, even an enlisted guy can be a gentleman.  Nowadays, even the ladies delight in showing they too can use the 'naughty' words, and think it is cool.

So I share away from FB, there are many things I do not need to know.

Back to the original thought, I do miss some of the witty guys/gals who blogged.  

Shipslog is usually 400-450 words an entry.  When I started I wrote 2,000 words. My niece who used to read the shipslog said I was too wordy and she didn't have that much time.  With an honest critique, I was too long.  I have cut it down a lot, my goal is 300 words, but I am stuck on 400 +/- a few.  (347 words)

I prefer to read a blog entry  100-800 words in length. Some can hold my attention up to 1000. I do not judge everything by numbers, but I have a short attention span.

I really do not want everyone to be # conscience, in comparison: I have heard sermons that were 20 minutes long and was tooo long. Contrary wise, I have heard an hour sermon/speech that seemed short.

Nite Shipslog

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 The infamous Buick Riviera and below the 1950's chevy waits on the train.

Buying new tires, have you noticed you pay the 'disposal fee' up front?

I keep wondering who gets the money? The buyer pays $5 per tire for it's disposal.  If I were to buy 4 tires and mount them myself, then take the tires to my local dump they charge me $2 per tire.  What? I already paid $5 each for their disposal, what did they do with the money?  The guy at the dump says , "It ain't me, It's the law (rules) you know!"

My problem, but today I was thinking how much fun I had 'rolling tires'.  I would bet I added a few hundred miles to some worn out tires. Boys my age just ran behind and beside a tire pushing it along.

I met boys from the cities up north and they rolled 'Barrel rings' using a stick. We didn't have barrel rings, so we rolled tires. Until I was 9-10 I could fold up inside a 16" tire and a buddy would push me down a hill. That was a dizzy ride, but I loved it.

I am glad there were no 'steel' belted tires back then, we would have gotten scratched thousands of times by the worn out belts sticking through the rubber of the tire.

My rubber pistol wasn't quite this cool!

Tires and tubes furnished some of our best toys. The inner tube rubber became rubber gun bullets, rubbers for our sling shots and the tips for our drag brakes on homemade wagons.  An old patched inner tube was the only swimming flotation device we ever had. Great on a hot day in the creek or river.

We recycled before we knew what it was.

Speaking of recycling, I wonder how many times my mama used the same quart 'Ball' jars in canning.

What did you 'recycle' 'repurpose' or use again.

Nite Shipslog

Some cars are just cool to look at:

 Above was the concept '55 Ford  Below a concept '55 Lincoln

I am a lucky guy, for a cheap fellow.

Stella has accompanied us on our evening walks lately, she takes to the stroller most of the trip. But our biggest challenge is to see how many lightning bugs we can get as dusk sets in and heads for dark thirty. 

Usually the success rate is 2-4 bugs.  Tonight the jar held 7-8. A record.

Evening before last on the final leg, I was ahead of the crew, they were behind chasing 'bugs' I had the responsibility of the empty stroller.  I approached some clothes on the side of the road. I turned and joked as the girls approached, somebody got scared out of their clothes.

Sherece looked closer and said some  still have the tags on them. She read the size of the jeans (More expensive than I buy) they were all new, my size, 4 pairs.  Did I pick them up, you bet. They have been laundered and in my closet.

Today Grandson Matt came over and  visited Reece and Stella. Stella came over to the motorhome leading a puppy.  Sherry said, "So you are walking Addie?" Addie is Matt's Silver Lab.

"No, Grandma this is my dog, we just bought it. It is a twin of Matts."  At 4 yrs old she was so convincing Sherry looked at the dog tag.

"This is Matt's puppy, the tag says so."

"Oh no Grandma, I borrowed the collar so I could hook the leash to it and take 'Mindy' for a walk."  (Not the name she used, I can't remember it.)

The little rascal just about had us convinced. I smiled at her ability to spin a tale, very seriously! She got caught when Sherece and Matt came out to the motor home.

We get to see a lot of Stella and the family, parked here,

Nite Shipslog

1960 Rambler, we had one of these.  Loved it.