Wet Carpet

Learning curve as you age:

The one who loves you will never leave you because, even
if there are 100 reasons to give up, he or she will
find one reason to hold on. (that is my girl)

Wet floors……

My life has changed in the last few years. A few years ago I could not hear, day or night. NOW at night when I take my cochlear implant devices off, I hear nothing.  It is a strange thing for a person who has 'heard sounds' to all of a sudden hear NOTHING.  At this time I am running a fan to dry the floor. We had water come in from the slide out when we brought it in, in the rain.  Leaving the Eastern Shore I had to disconnect the shore power, water and sewer in the rain, so I brought in water. Now our living room carpet is still wet. Sherry suggested I remove my devices since she was going to bed and I was staying here and would not hear the fan as it dried the floor.

(the little double squirrel cage is pretty quiet, but still makes a noise.)

I am not complaining about wet floors.  I've seen pictures of Houston.

 I spent an hour with a wet/dry vac to get the worst out. The fan is finishing the job.

It is just an incident that happens when you live in an RV and you must move while it is raining.  Thank goodness it happens very seldom.

But that is not the reason for the blog. I am completely deaf without my devices. Of course I was well aware of this. My Doctor took pains to explain I was gambling. Sometimes the Cochlear Implants do not work. Of course I was in the winning percentage, because most implants in my situation work. But she stressed it may not work. With stem cell medical technology my Cochlear(s) in the future might be fixed.  But at my age, I would not be a candidate. I am just glad I can hear with my implants.

After 60+ years of marriage I have been asked if I am going to renew my vows. I always say No way.  This is the reason:

Side note, that little fan was given to me when I was in construction by my best friend Sonny. It has been used to ventilate close spaces and to cool storage buildings. I love that little double squirrel cage fan. Some gifts just keep on giving, and renewing GOOD memories.

Nite Shipslog

Hating just ain't nice

Undeniable Facts of Life :

*****VERY wise words: "Eat your food as your medicines.
Otherwise you have to eat medicines as your
food."

*****My dad’s best advice to me: ‘Son keep your words soft and sweet, you might have to eat them.’

Imma start with smiles.  There are comments that make me smile, laugh and think.  Last night I learned from Betty I have been pronouncing Prescott ALL WRONG, but I was very surprised at 'Case-grand'.  What I really learned is I am not alone in mispronouncing city names. I thought it was just a ‘Southern Thang’.  BUT.....

Sweet Chatty, I am a Luey-ville kind of guy.

And then Myra is debating Tallassee, AL, I ain't even trying. LOL

You guys that read and comment will never know how much I appreciate the comments.  I also appreciate folks like my dear wife who reads mine, yours and others but never comments.  I know many read and don't comment. I read several blogs myself and do not comment.  Bloggin is going the way of the T-model Ford, but I will probably be here when they close the door.

Life changes sounds like Rick’s book, and life does do some changing. I have strong feelings about some subjects. There are times I vent but at that same time I know differences in this world are what makes the mix so good. I disagree with some of my kinfolk. I have differed with my best friends but it NEVER caused a major problem because of a difference of opinions.

I cannot imagine being in someone’s ‘skin’ who  hates anyone who does not agree with them. I love life too much to take time to HATE stuff that in the end, has no consequence ON MY LIFE.

Being honest I have thought lately about death. We have lost friends, one I have known since 1954. One I have known only a couple years the other I met in the 70’s when she was the young bride of a friend. I have never been a learned person, but I am good with logic. I have passed a lot of tests in my life, just depending on logic. My logic says, ‘Without a catastrophic event (wreck, cancer, unexpected heart attack) I have 5 to 15 years left (I say unexpected heart attack, ‘cause I ain’t allowing me to have one!).  Hey that isn’t long. 

Talking to my beloved nephew Howard who had suffered a heart attack and was told he would not live long, he said, “Uncle Jack, heart attacks are over blown, they are not just for the rich, shucks even us poor folk can have them.’  Loved that dude, he died at 36.

In the ‘relative’ short time I have, I refuse to ‘gather me some stress’ by hating anyone. Hey, I just HATE hating. Can I do that? hahahaha

Nite Shipslog

                                             (Most places you could get 7 for a dollar. several times when we could find the McD's we bought then and took them home and dressed them up with lettuce and tomato!)

Home

Undeniable Facts of Life

–

Don't try to educate your children to be rich. Educate them
to be happy, so when they grow up they will know the
value of things, not the price.

The trip Home..  (Sherry shot the pictures on our crossing the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel in the wind and rain)

Last night we walked about three miles after the drive to North Carolina. This walk was in the woods, by the Yadkin River by a couple fields of soy beans. The soy was growing in some beautiful rich bottom land. AS we walked beside the soy I stepped into the field. That stuff is three feet high, I never realized it grew so tall. I wondered as I walked how it was harvested.

On crops. We passed some huge tobacco fields in Virginia. For some reason I was surprised to see that much growing.  And since we drove through so much farm land, we also passed a huge cotton gin. Sherry’s comment was I wonder what they do with the cotton they gin, most of our mills are closed.  That is fact.

I remember my mama’s face would be crimson when she would tell of dad kissing her the first time behind the cotton gin near Red Hill, Georgia, musta been about 1920. I always thought that musta been some kiss! WOW that was nearly 100 years ago.

Anyway, we are back in NC, and our home base for a few weeks. Sherry mentioned about maybe cancelling our Dr. Appointments and reschedule in the spring.  Imma thinking that is a good idea.

I said, ‘Going Home’. I have a friend who asked, ‘where is your home?’ Belmont is Sherry’s Home town, her home. But in reality our home is where we park it.  That is not original, but it is true. Our home stays the same, but our front yard changes fairly regularly.  Right now when we look out all we see is farm land and woods.  WE are parked in what is called overflow. We have electric and water. This is really in the boon docks, but we like it.

                              (light at the end of the tunnel!)

Sherry is looking forward to seeing many of her classmates at the coming HS reunion.  September houses our 61st wedding anniversary! It doesn’t seem long, but I guess it is. Figures do not lie.

Nite Shipslog

                         The 1911 Austin

Ain't That a Kick in The Head

Learning curve as you age:

We realize our true inner happiness does not come from
the material things of this world we start to realize that when we have friends and family with  whom we can chat, laugh, talk, sing, talk about north-south-east-west or heaven and earth -- that is
true happiness!

So for today…..

Dean Martin once recorded a song, probably one of those fillers on the ‘flip-side’ of a hit record. It was, “Ain’t that a Kick in the Head?”

(first verse lyrics)

How lucky can one guy be?
I kissed her and she kissed me
Like the fella once said
"Ain't that a kick in the head?"

Since I love a good KISS, that must mean ‘good’. So today was a traveling day, to me that is always, “A kick in the head.”  However as we were getting ready to leave the phone rang. The Ranger was calling to ask if we were heading south. YES! I wanted to let you know that the CBBT is closed. Wind is too high. OUCH. but YES we can stay another night no charge. She gave Sherry the Phone # to check.  In the mean time I suggested we head that way and if we had to, spend the night in the huge parking lot they use when the bridge closes.
Sherry called the # and the manager on the other end said it was now open but that could change in 5 minutes. WE thanked the ranger for the heads up and concern, but we were going to live on the edge and head south.
It was open, and I got lost only once in Norfolk, pretty good for me. LOL


We are spending the night in a small place in North Carolina called Advance.

 When Sherry told Jack Jr. on the phone we were spending the night in Ad-vance’, he corrected her.

“Mama you will be spending the night in ADD’ vance. If you are buying car parts at the store spelled the same as the town you are at Ad-vance’. But the locals pronounce it ADD’-vance.  I just want you to fit in mama.”  He said laughing.

That is son #1. When I received orders to a town in Mississippi, I Told Sherry we were going to Biloxi. I pronounced it Bi-LOCK-see. Once we arrived we learned it is pronounced Bull-luck-see.

             (Cute little fellow, wasn't he?)

Anyway this trip is bringing us to our home base, on the boy’s 59^th birthday. He was born at Biloxi in the Keesler AFB Hospital. 

(This is Birthday son with his latest grandlove and mama Sherry)

We plan a family dinner at the Long Horn in Gastonia to celebrate two birthdays: Jack Jr at 59 and grandson Matt Dillon’s 25^th.  It is hard to believe we have a son soon to draw Social Security!

             (Birthday boy, Matt Dillon Darnell and Addie Darnell)

WOW, Sherry is getting old, but she doesn’t look it. I still see that 17 year old girl with a long dark wavy hair and that cute grin.

NOW…… Ain’t that a kick in the head!

Nite Shipslog

Sherry just a little while before JJ was born, That is our 1953 Plymouth.

A new non-talkative friend.

As we grow older, hopefully, we learn to think:

Whether we fly first or economy class, if the plane goes
down - -  we go down with it. Whether we fly first
or economy class, when the plane reaches its destination
- - everyone arrives at the same time.

SWEET:

Our RV life has presented so many wonderful experiences. We have accidentally ‘ran into’ some neat festivals and ‘happenings.’  Once just riding around in Roundout Valley in NY we attended a great festival. Sherry bought some homemade jelly 

 and I got this GREAT shot of one of the happiest kids I had seen that day, as he ate an ice cream cone his mama was feeding him. I asked permission to take his picture and his mama graciously allowed it.

A couple years earlier, on the way to  Hyde Park, we ran into a county fair at New Palz, NY. Shucks, this cheap skate  smiled when I read the sign, ‘Seniors Free Today’. So we went in.

(insight) We have friends who are song writers. Many of us have internet friends, Rick & Jilda, who write songs over in Alabama.  Three of our friends (the Ward brothers and Bill Waters) have written religious songs that have sold tens of thousands copies. The writer seldom gets any acclaim, but the artist that performs the song does. In a little research the other day I learned ‘Joe South’ wrote, ‘Down in the Boondocks’.  

Now, back to that County Fair. Who was featured at the county fair for entertainment? Yeah! we got to hear Billy Joe Royal sing that song in person.  We got in on an afternoon with the ‘Boon Docks and Rain Drops Tour' featuring BJ Thomas and Billy Joe. I admired and have enjoyed both artists. It was hot that day, they performed in the sun  and they were GOOD, SWEATING, they gave it everything they had!

My new book, Our RV Life, is about the big and small things we have enjoyed. This short trip, a week in Lynchburg, two weeks in Williamsburg now finishing two weeks on the ‘Eastern Shore’ has been one of the 'Just a nice time.’  This is our first time to ‘take time’ so see the area. We class this as a ‘Pleasant time’. One visit with dear friends and many great walks 2-4 miles most days.

This entire blog entry was written to end with a new friend we met while walking. He/she was not talkative although I chatted nonstop for 50-100 feet the dude just walked along with us.  We see a lot of gulls and wild geese here, but this little friend was a pigeon.

Even the small neat ‘gifts’ make this life a thrill.

Nite Shipslog

PS:  Reality check.... While we enjoyed the Rain Drops and Boon docks presentation a young girl standing beside Sherry, pointing to the stage,  asked, "Are they supposed to be somebody?"  Now that hurts!!!!

Sex On The Road, new book, very short

Adults have learned about OLD:

Whether the house we live in
is 300 or 3,000 or 30,000 sq. ft. - -
the loneliness is the same.

Tonight, just a friendly entry, no complaining nor fussing, Soooo

"Sex on the Road" WAS the title of my new book, but Sherry poo poo’d it (Can you  imagine that, and no she isn't pregnant!). So the name of the book is now: ‘Our RV Life’.  I have tried to be productive here on the Eastern Shore. ;-)  So I dug up an old manuscript and tried to update it and make it work.  It will need a lot of work but I think folks interested in the RV life will like it.

Speaking of productive, my friend Dallas, you know, the smart guy in my novels.  Well the books may be Fiction, but with the help of his young wife Marion, he is pretty smart.  He has had about as many occupations as I, but his chosen profession was herding turkeys (okay raising them).  Well we were able to visit them at their ‘stationary part time home’ in Chincoteague, Virginia on up the Eastern Shore.

They took us a neat guided tour of Chincoteague. That is the home of the wild ponies and the saltwater cowboys.  We did get to see some of the wild ponies, tour the welcome center, light house of that National Park, and see the beach.  

The beach is free of any commercial, tourist establishments. Honest, there is not even an ice cream stand now bar to be seen. Just thousands of folks soaking up the sun and enjoying the salt water.

To be honest what I hear is:  Chic-o-T.  With my hearing, I really cannot tell. The place is a tourist destination, therefore expensive.  Sales taxes are even higher just because ‘they can’. ;-)

Dallas and Marian are very dear to us because they were our first ‘real friends’ as young marrieds. Both couples lived in the Camp Geiger Trailer Park just off the base.  Young married life is wonderful. Learning and sharing with each other and new friends.  We have remained writing, calling and sometimes visiting friends for over 61 years.

Dallas and I were on Parris Island together in JANUARY 1956, WE MET THE SAND FLEAS at 'Pleasure Island' about the same time.  LOL

Nite Shipslog

Race Relations

As we grow older we slowly realize that:

**** Whether we wear a $3000 or $10 watch - - they both tell the
same time.

Tonight my thoughts on the race controversy.

Most things never happen as fast as we want it to. A kid thinks Christmas will never get here, but it does.

I can remember when I thought I would NEVER reach 16 so I could get my driver’s license.

We have a touchy subject here in the good old USA. Race relations. I smile, sometimes get irritated when I hear race relations haven’t changed.  Believe me, a white man, I think they have changed. Mostly for the better. I do not have any real close friends who are black, but I do have many who are my friends. If I needed them they would be here. If they need me I hope I would be there.

An example of change hit me hard a couple years ago in the small town of Valdese, NC. This town was founded by the Waldensians from Italy. I lived there in the early 1950’s. Segregation was still in full swing. No property inside the city limits was owned by a black man. The movie house was white only. There was no place in Valdese where a Black man could sit down and eat.

I was12-13 years old and had lived in 4 towns in NC and none were this ‘segregated’. Keep in mind my mama and daddy came from North Georgia. BUT in our house if you used the ‘N’ word you could get a swat or a ‘talking to.’  To my mama saying Negro was about as bad, she insisted we use the term ‘Colored’ because it was respectful, and Colored folk appreciated it.

Mama told me once she could not understand Christians who would send money, clothes and food to Africa and would not fellowship with colored people here in our country.

So at the time there were colored water fountains and colored ordering windows at some cafes. Some service stations did provide ‘Colored Restrooms’ but not all.

The only black athletes I heard of were Jackie Robinson and Joe Louis.

So to let you know that there has been change in Race relations. We were in Valdese a few years ago to meet our childhood friends Jim & Bub Page and Robbie Cook and his wife Betty.  As I sat at Myra’s Café in Valdese I saw a mixed couple enjoying a hamburger and fries. As far as I could tell no one paid any attention.

Sherry or I were never in a school where a Black kids attended. The only black person there was the janitor.  Both our sons and all our grand kids have attended integrated schools. So change did not come easy, it HAS come. 

I consider Sticky (John Moore) a friend.  We seldom even see each other anymore but I could depend on him helping me if needed.  The same with Denise another good friend.

I respected ML King. He advanced the cause of race relations more than any other in the last century. A fool killed MLK, I wish another would arise.

I realize I am looking thru White Eyes, but that is how I was born. None of us can get into another’s mind.

Changed?  Yep one black athlete now can earn more in a year than Jackie & Joe earned in their lifetimes combined.

I loudly repeat the words of Rodney King,

                      

”Why can’t we all just get along?”

Nite Shipslog

It's a Dirty Rotten Shame

Learning curve as you age:

****If you have a $3000 or $10 wallet/handbag - - the amount
of money inside is the same.

***** Drink a whole bottle of $300 or $30 or $3 wine - -the

hangover is the same.

 *  * *  *  *  *     *****    ** * * * * *  *  **  **  **  ** 

Ah, but For today…

I think it's normal to get a song on my mind and it just rolls around and around. One of the short comings of my musical life is I catch one line of a song start singing it over and over. This week it has been the words from Games People Play.

Joe South, 1940-2012 Bufort, Georgia.  Some well known songs:

 "Walk A Mile In My Shoes" ,"Don't It Make You Want to Go Home," "(I Never Promised You a) Rose Garden" "Down in the Boondocks'.

I never actually thought of the words when they were sang. Now I sing them I realize the REALITY is in the words.  do you remember saying, “Cross my heart and hope to die?”  I never thought how FINAL those words sounded. WOW ‘Hope to die?’

And the other line that I sang over and over again was, “Never meaning what they say now, Never saying what they mean”

I guess that is going through my mind because of all the rhetoric and promises from politicians these days.  YES,  LATELY HAVE I THOUGHT HOW TRUE THE LINE IS, “Never meaning what they say!!!! Never SAYING what they mean.”

Some of the lyrics:

Look at some of the Lyrics of Joe South’s  Games People Play :

Oh the games people play now  Every night and every day now
Never meaning what they say now  Never saying what they mean

And they wile away the hours  In their ivory towers
Till they're covered up with flowers  In the back of a black limousine

[Chorus]
La-da da da da da da da
La-da da da da da de
Talking 'bout you and me
And the games people play

Oh we make one another cry  Break a heart then we say goodbye
Cross our hearts and we hope to die  That the other was to blame
Neither one will give in  So we gaze at our eight by ten
Thinking 'bout the things that might have been  It's a dirty rotten shame.
[Chorus]

… … …

Look around tell me what you see What's happening to you and me
God grant me the serenity  To remember who I am

Cause you've given up your sanity  For your pride and your vanity
Turns you sad on humanity  And you don't give a da da da da da
[Chorus]

That was 1968.  Now that I read the lyrics I read it as lovers, but I always pictured it as actually to the WORLD at the time.

Anyway that is how I see the world of politics today, “Oh we make one another cry, cross our hearts and hope to die! It’s a dirty rotten shame!”

For years our politics have served up the blame game, when government can find someone or somewhere to place the blame, they are happy. Not solving the problem, Just it is “HIS/HER” fault.
.

Nite Shipslog

                    '34 Hupmobile 

                                                        (stolen from Paul's blog)

We Wander and I WONDER!

Things OLD folk learn (firsthand knowledge)

***It's frustrating when you know all the answers but nobody bothers to ask you the questions.

*** Time may be a great healer, but it's a lousy beautician.
*** Wisdom comes with age, but sometimes age comes alone.

___*___*___* _____*  ___ *

Today’s entry (Or is this yesterday???):

I wondered:

***I can remember seeing the back of my dad’s neck. He had DEEP rugged wrinkles, but it seemed they were only at the back of his neck. I wondered if that would happen to me,  Yep it has.

***I have said it before, dad was a preacher. But before that he worked in the fields, mines, saw mills, cotton mills and weave mills. As a pastor he was never afraid of work. When churches were being built he supplied LABOR.  I wondered if I would ever be as strong as he was.  I am not. But I do not mind working.

***When he died at 69, I wondered if I would live AS LONG as he did, and then die with his attitude. He told my BIL, “I’m going HOME (and pointed up!).”  I have out-lived him, I still wonder how my end will be? I am smart enough to know I have much less ahead than I had.

***I wondered if my life would be as exciting as his seemed to be. I think I came close.

***I wondered if OUR marriage would be as sweet as mom and dad’s.  Shucks, we might have beat them. (But we haven’t lived in a fish bowl)

***I wondered if Sherry would remain beautiful.  I no longer wonder, SHE HAS! Her mom was cute with a heart of GOLD. Her dad was a little self-centered, but a very handsome man. Sherry has her dad’s strong features, spun into a beautiful woman with the unselfish heart, frugality and love of her mama. What a combination.

***I wondered if my sons would follow in my footsteps. I tried to follow in dad’s footsteps, it didn’t work. My sons have not followed in my footsteps (other than being entrepreneurs).

My dad was disappointed but still accepted my headstrong ideas. Sure it is a disappointment that my sons’ marriages were not as happy as ours or our parents. It was a disappointment when they turned the military down. But like my dad before me I can accept and even understand the reasons.

 

So, do you ever just WONDER?

Nite Shipslog

Our Eclipse Walk

Learning curve as you age:
***When you fall down, you wonder what else you can do while you're down there.
***You're getting old when you get the same sensation from a rocking chair that you once got from a roller coaster.
***   ****************   *********
Our Eclipse walk……………….

Since it was going to ‘get dark that afternoon’ (?) we decided to walk midafternoon.  There was a good breeze and some clouds. About 87 degrees here on the Eastern Shore.
We decided to walk the main road of our RV Park, ‘Virginia Landing’. So here we are:

This is the interior park road. A Maple tree every 75 feet. The flower pots from another post are about every ¼ mile. WE have never been in a park with an entrance road nearly a mile long inside the park.

Outside the park is a narrow macadam road. Thick rows of trees either side with open fields behind. Most of this little peninsula is farm land. This is the road:

 We learned from a lady yesterday that kids from Quinby used this road to learn to drive on since it was dead end.  At the end was a farm called “The Point”. An RV developer bought the farm and designed this beautiful park. Later Thousand Trails Organization bought it and still own it.
It didn’t even get close to dark. It appeared as if the sun went behind a cloud.
I got this shot thru a cloud. This was about our coverage:

We walked about a mile inside the park and outside making our walk near 4 miles.  A good fast paced work out in a little over an hour.

The deer were a bonus

Nite Shipslog