Happy New Year

Autos of beauty

For today:

One should say something cool and philosophical on the first day of the year. Like, “What is a New Year’s Resolution?”

That answer is sorta simple, “It is a promise that goes in one year and out the other.”

This will be sorta short because I know all you party goers are tired and hung over.

Some of you, bless your hearts, are bright eyed and busy tailed while my friend Gary is being chided by the sweet Anna Mae, ‘You have got to start listening to your Doctor and quit acting like a sailor in port after 30 days at sea.’   Just kidding, Gary gave up that life when he became a cop!  Of course some say that drives you to drink, but what do THEY know. ;-) Shucks, he even sings in church now. :-O

Hoping EVERYONE out there in Bloggersville has a wonderful New Year. The best one you have ever had. We are glad to see another new year arrive. The older I get I am more thankful for each day. God has been good to Sherry and I. Our New Year’s night was sweet, a quiet evening; nice being together.

Nite Shipslog

Those salesman or The salesman (New Years EVE)

 Note about the last blog entry: I lost 2 pocket knives one at an airport the other at the courthouse. OUCH!

That Car:

  The motor home has a small chimney, but this was supposed to be under the tree.....

or one of these:

 Not sure what happened, I've been good!

Now, the salesman:

Some salespeople are as honest as you are and then some deserve the name given to 'the old' Used car salesmen. In 1957 you could not buy a job it. Friends Doug Carver and Dale Hartness were also unemployed. We answered many job ads. AND THEN a full page in the Charlotte Observer. “Our company is hiring hundreds of men for high paying Jobs.”

Among the qualifications were:

….Not finicky (I had to look that up, it was not in my vocabulary)

….Not afraid of taking a chance

…At times dangerous.  Etc.

Sounded right down my alley. After all I was an ex-Marine  ;-). The applicants stretched three city blocks.

At exactly 9AM. A man on a bull horn said, “As you file toward me I will motion you inside or away. Please do not question, time is of the essence, the line must keep moving.” WE WERE among those PICKED.

There were many UPSET men that day, after much hurrah and culling men, we made the finals. Then some were MORE UPSET Still no one knew what the jobs were. In the end the jobs were door to door salesmen for Rainbow Vacuum cleaners. The vacuum that would save the universe by washing the air! We walked out disgusted. A day wasted, neither of us was a door to door salesmen.

IN A home, the vacuum cleaner salesman might have you use your vacuum on your carpet. “Do the best you can,” he says. Then YOU are embarrassed when he runs his over it and picks up MORE dirt and stuff. I mean you have been living in filth (is your thoughts). He explains the germs, etc that you have been leaving. Remember last year’s colds, who KNEW?

Today I used our new vacuum. I cleaned three or four different directions, went over the carpet 3 times. To prove what I have always thought, I cleaned the vacuum and its filters and vacuumed again. I picked up MORE Florida sand and dirt. LOL

The salesman has a VERY clean machine. His interior filters are clean. Of course he will do better than you did. He might sell a lot of vacuums by making the homemaker feel they have been endangering their family. OUCH

happy new year!!!  Nite Shipslog

PS:  Not all salespersons are crooks. Remember salesmen sale everything from greeting cards to skyscrapers.

Ps: This started because Sherry lost one of those little ear-ring keepers. You have never lost one, have you? LOL Looking, sweeping, crawling, vacuum, nada.

Where was that?

Autos of beauty 

   1960 Buick Electra

For today: Is this MOnday?

Sherry and I have ‘My Pictures’ as our screen saver. Many times one of us will say, “Now where was that taken?” Seldom do we draw a blank.

Pictures of the Pacific Coast or a Giant Red wood are easy to remember. Rushmore, the Grand Canyon, Alaska or Nova Scotia jump out at us.  Many times we just sit here and watch a slide show. I only have a couple thousand here on this computer but she has over 20K on her system. My dead computer has about 26K on it.

The pictures kick in so many memories. We see our friends of Wisconsin from the Big O family, Dar & Mel and their families.  There is Paula from San Antonia, one of our favorite places. And then there is Jean, Grover, Sheila & Rick stemming from down in OPP, AL. We went to the NC Mts to see the Blue Ridge Boomer, she pops up. WE once stopped in Nebraska and surprised Joe, Spunky and Lucy so their pics jump up too. Spunky & Joe passed, I always wonder about Lucy.

The pictures of Gary, Debbie and Terri come up. We were in Kentucky. They drove over 100 miles to see us, SWEET. I just saw Gary’s picture, he passed away last year. He was a man’s man, a real mechanic. Debbie said she once asked Gary if he had his pocket knife? His response was, “Got my pants on don’t I?”  I have used that line many times since hearing that. There was a time when Every man, boy and some girls carried a pocket knife.

Camping at the Grand canyon!)
I am just calling these to mind because I once said I would like to meet the people I have talked to here on the net. The journals and blogging has been lots of fun as we travel. We started this many years ago in 1983. It was a way for Sonny & Collette to keep in touch with their family, we all went together in a pop up camper. As we towed it through Beverly Hills we laughed, thinking ‘Beverly Hillbillies.’

Nite Shipslog

Life, it matters…

Autos of beauty

             1966 Ford GT 40

I think this is for Sunday...

For now:

It is hard to think that the queen’s sons and daughters called her Mum. It is also a little hard to think of the big CEO playing with grandchildren just like we did. I cannot think of ‘John-john’ in the Whitehouse and JFK just being a ‘daddy!’  There were pictures of John-John crawling in the oval office. That did sorta make life appear real in the Whitehouse.

I remember reading advice given to a young attorney who was thrown into a situation where he was to appear before the Supreme Court and speak. He was nervous, and his boss said, When you begin to speak just see Chief Justices sitting there in their underwear, they won’t seem so formidable.

I have heard it said, “A billionaire gets up in the morning and puts his underwear and pants on one leg at a time just like most everyone else.. then a pause.. However they may be more expensive than yours. But unless they are handicapped they get in a shower or tub like you.  They also dress themselves, nobody does it for them.

When you get down to it, one’s station in life, nor wealth makes one hurt less when they mash their finger, bite their lip or hit their shin on a chair.

Humanity became REAL when we learned a Princess could be killed in an automobile accident. It became real to us ‘Cowboy’ admirers that John Wayne and Steve McQueen were really just human when their diagnoses  was cancer and they succumbed to it.

A headache hurts the king as much as the peasant.

Life is REAL and it matters. If you have something important to tell someone, DO IT! Life is REAL and it is unpredictable. Tell your family how much you love them. ……… Some people think everyone does that….Uh uh! Not everyone does.

Nite Shipslog

PS: I keep seeing a book advertised called:

‘You are Dead, Now what?’  I am letting that sink in

1952 or 1953 “Jackie? This is Jim, Frank is Dying!”

Autos of beauty

 1952 Ford Crestline and a 1952 Kaiser Travler New when I met Frank

For today (Saturday):

When your parents move often and you are a kid, you never know what to expect at the next school or town. Sometimes it just ain’t fun. When we moved to Valdese I met Guy Abee, Peter David Hunt, Paul Settlemeyer and the brothers Jim & Bub Page, all unforgettable.

Betty Carswell was my first crush but she never knew it. LOL Robby Cook was the lucky dude that landed her.

But the Garland Page family was the coolest folks I met, they had Frank, a horse. and I got to ride Frank. 

 (Pinto Image from the net)

Summer evenings on the front porch Garland would break out the guitar. He had a voice of velvet. Bub & Jim were the ‘Everly Brothers.’ ;-) They and Paul Settelmeyer sang in church. The Page family could sing. I loved to join with them. They enjoyed some wonderful family time.

Bro and Sister Page farmed a small area and also raised hogs and chickens. Garland worked for Kirksey, Sister Page in a local mill. Bub and Linda(?) did the inside work Bub, the baker, cooked supper. Jim the outside chores. I tried to help at times but was mostly in the way methinks.

I will never forget the times I had. The boys would borrow horses (they got me a blind one once) and we would ride up into the mountains. I just knew I was a cowboy.

Then one night I got a call, “Jackie?” Yeah Jim, “Frank is dying.” I jumped on my bike (no light) and headed to the Pages’. I rode right by Paul's house and didn't stop, I was crying. How could this be? Ponies don’t die!

Frank had gotten into the oat barrel and ate too much then to the creek and drank, he now lay on his side foundered. A Vet did everything he could to save Frank, but to no avail he died.

Bub said he forgot and left the barrel uncovered. All I remember is everyone standing around crying. For a boy in the eighth grade that was the saddest event ever.

The death of a big animal is hard to fathom for a kid. I don’t remember how Frank was moved; you don’t pick up 1500-2000 pounds and put him in a trailer

.

Frank was a pinto riding pony. Garland also plowed him. He was replaced by another Pinto, I think Garland finally trained him to pull a plow and he was ridden, but he was NEVER FRANK.

Kentucky and Florida have many beautiful horses, but none could thrill me like Jim and Bub letting me ride Frank. He loved sugar cubes.

Nite Shipslog