How fast I became dependent!

 Photo of the day: 

 

The Three Harris Girls, Lennie, Sherry and Colette. They were all great sisters and mothers. Their kids the cousins all got along well.  We miss Lennie and Colette. My BILs thought they got the best looking sister, but I KNEW mine was the best looking.....

Above with their mother.  They were close to their mama.  I read how close Lisa, who comments here, is to her daughter, it reminds me of Sherry & her mama.

So for today:

I had a short errand to run today.  I jumped in the car (maybe I didn’t jump in since I will be 85 next month) and headed to town. I passed a quick stop and thought, I will stop and get a lottery ticket on the way back, just for the fun of it. I drove on up the road, then I thought as I was driving 5mph over the speed limit, I don’t have my wallet.  Why didn’t I think of that when I thought of the lottery ticket? I automatically slowed down to the speed limit; I couldn’t show my license if I got stopped.

Oops, then I saw some trash on the road, the results of a wreck and I thought, ‘hey I didn’t bring a cell phone I drive good, but the other guy just might not be paying attention and I couldn’t even let Sherry know I had a bump up.’

I finished the errand and as usual had no problems. I got to thinking I can’t remember when I have had to show my license nor remember when something serious has happened and I NEEDED a cell phone.

The cell phone, I call it a leash!  I seldom talk on the phone of course, but I am getting dependent on texting.  I do use voice to text (‘verbal’ texting), but I am dependent.

I did laugh at myself this past weekend. We were in a motel room with a HUGE TV and never once in the evening did we turn it on.  I turned it on for the fun of it the next morning and laughed as I clicked thru a million (ok, a lot) of channels and did not find a thing I wanted to see. I have become dependent on the NET for my news and info.

Yep, how easily I eased into dependence…

 Nite Shipslog

PS

: PS:. Thanks for reading the Shipslog, hope to see you again. I think I have started to depend on you guys to keep me sane..

Regrets, I have a few

 Photo of the day: 

 

I moved this family into a converted Chicken house. LOL

So for today:

I remember the good things of life, BUT I also remember Misguided thoughts. You and I cannot fix others’ problems but ME? I VERY seldom advise, but I do THINK!  “No dude you should not do THAT!”

Since I am such a cheapskate, many of my thoughts are in wonder of how someone can afford ALL the big people’s toys I see today. Even folks skating close to bankruptcy, I see: Big Boats, ski doos, new cars (even two new cars), Mudders (trucks and utility), expensive guns (just to have, not for hunting), etc.

I once despised that felon in the news. I think different now; NOW I think first of the families, the mothers and dads of that…..  Murderer, kidnapper, drug king, bank robber or the scam artist who is caught.

In my own family a brother and sweet SIL, had three sons. All with great personalities. They exceeded in school, in academics and sports. Two were successful one spent most of his life in prison, due to drugs.

 I do not remember thinking how hard it was on them to visit a son in prison and especially on ‘Thanksgiving and Christmas..’ I never expressed my sympathy nor tried to understand their hurt.  That family is gone now, but now I know a little more than I did when they were alive.

I regret being so busy I never once visited Bub in prison. Thank God before dying he was out of prison, and trying to make up for some of the hurt.

I KNOW very well we cannot solve other’s problems, but a little love and understanding will be my part in the last few years of my life.

I will be absent a couple of days. We are headed to visit a family member unable to join us for Christmas

 

Nite Shipslog

PS !: PS:. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again….

I’m here

  Photo of the day: 

 

The beginning of our family, Jack Jr on my knee with my Sweet Sherry in Biloxi Mississippi

So for today:

At times I am afraid to write.  Most of our lives have been an open book.  But the last couple years have forced more privacy, I don’t know why, but things just haven’t gone as ‘planned’.  I know we all experience that bump in the road, but lately the whole road seems bumpy! LOL

Little things bother me too.  Like people who have no idea how to manage money. Our government over the last few decades has shown its citizens you can spend more than you make and live well.

I have given money to men for food, when down inside I thought it would go to alcohol, not food.

I fixed a leak in our motorhome yesterday I hope. I told Sherry it looked like it was fixed, it wasn’t leaking.  She reminded me it hasn’t rained since I got it fixed either. She is a stickler for facts… :-O

Enough of nothing. I do hope you all have a great Christmas.  I keep reminding myself of the REASON for this SEASON.

 

Nite Shipslog

PS !: PS:. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again….

Still in the Funk, but getting better, I think

  Photo of the day: 

Ater hearing of trees large enough to drive a car thru, Sherry always wanted to do that.  she finally got to on our trip around the USA in '98. That is one huge tree and still alive.

So for today:

WE furnished a meal for the family.   I was hesitant to attend, still have the rough throat, runny nose and just not in the best of shape.  We kept our distance as much as possible.  Since it was just next door so to speak.  we wanted to try to get there and see the family.

We are some better for sure, but still cannot get out much.  We have a good friend getting married in south Florida soon but we will not be able to make that.  She is a sweetheart and was a big part of our lives when we were in Missouri.  She smiles when talking about baby sitting the boys,  Funny that, She and the boys are now on SS or eligible for it.

Above is some kids in Missouri, That is Glenda holding Jack Jr.

She is from a big family and we have so many memories of those younger years.

Hoping to feel BETTER SOONER!

Oh I meant to mention The funeral was well attended, we had to park over a block away. The funeral was standing room only, speaking WELL for Brother Wayne. We did get to use one of the over flow rooms with less people and view all on the huge TV.

Nite Shipslog

PS !: PS:. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again….

The Good byes keep coming

 Photo of the day: 

        The Right Reverend Max Wayne Carter, a good friend, I introduced him to you back in August.

So for today:

We said good by to a close friend on the 13^th.  Pastor Wayne Carter of Eustis, FL.

When we bought a place in Tavares Florida, one of our priorities in moving is finding a church were we feel we could fit in.   We visited several places one was Praise Cathedral. I could hear and understand the pastor which is one of the priorities. As we were leaving the usher asked if we were new to the area. I told him we were just looking around for a church.  He smiled and said very warmly, “Then you will be back!”  He was right.

That became a great relationship with Brother Wayne and his wonderful family. He touched our hearts in so many ways, I must say other than my dad, he was the best pastor I can remember. Also as I joked with him, it is nice to have a pastor older and wiser than I.

He was a late friend but a dear one.  In his early life he was a Race car Driver.  He loved stock cars and did very well until he met the Lord and he began a dedicated life.  He organized and built the Praise Cathedral and pastored it for 40 years.

When Katrina hit the Gulf Coast The Carters traveled with us in the RV to see the damage and see how we could help. We located a place needing help that we could do, arranged a trip back to be of assistance.

As life goes, Wayne lost Juanita, the love of his life. He was so lonely and depressed.  Later he called us and said, “I have found some Joy in for my life!  I have met an old friend from the past, the sweet Joyce!”  They later married and were a good match.  Many folks do not understand your family can bring comfort, but others need more. Wayne has a loving family but he needed someone to share the lonely evenings with, Joyce was an excellent choice for them both.

BUT as I have said many times that second love doesn’t last long, the years will always take one or the other.  He will be missed, but now he has reached that final destination.

RIP Wayne,  we will be along shortly.

Nite Shipslog

 PS:. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again…. We all should seriously think of that time and make it as easy as possible on those left.

I’m a Believer

  Photo of the day: 

Remember the Monkees?

So for today:

Some folks think that because I served this country in the military is why I still believe it is still a country of laws and has more good folks than bad.  I DO NOT and will not believe that as a whole this country has gone to pot.

However there are truths that hit me and I find it hard to imagine. Examples:

In my early 40’s I started hearing that crooks were stealing mail, ‘checks’ from Rural Mail boxes.  WHAT? That is a Federal Offense, DON’T THEY KNOW THAT?

Then a month ago the headlines in the Charlotte Observer was: Postal Workers charged with stealing over $21 MILLION while processing mail in Charlotte, NC.  WHAT? Some of the most desired jobs available are Postal. The USPS workers do WORK, but have great benefits. The pay is good, WHY JEPARDIZE  a great job?

I know former postal workers who would not have taken a $50 bill if it was hanging from a torn envelope.

Now I read that somewhere in Wyoming two men are charged with killing over 3,000 Eagles to sell the feathers and wings on the Black Market! I wouldn’t even shoot a Red Bird with my BB gun because it was a STATE BIRD!

That is just a few things I find hard to wrap my mind around.  That we have folks that devious.

 THEN I THINK….. But they do get caught, maybe not all, BUT our laws DO WORK.  Not fast enough for some of us, BUT THEY WORK!

Do you ever THINK how I (and you) know this stuff? Do you know that in 1965 I would not know 1/100^th of the things I know now, because we have 24hr a day NEWS casts. In 1950 part of the Texas coastline could have been destroyed by a hurricane and I would not have known it for weeks.  NOW I can see a reporter standing in the winds as it HITS!  WE have instant news and then the net to make it even more immediate.

IF one is interested you can even 'know' what clothes the rich and famous are wearing this morning, even what they ate last night, if you like.

Cops get a bad rap. HONEST officers of the law:

In New York,  Woody, young Police officer just out of the USN

Capt. Claude Setzer family friend not long out of the USMC, in Belmont, NC

BUT despite it all I still believes that over all our salesmen are honest, over all, our leaders are honest, our police forces are honest even most of our Priests and Preachers are honest.  I believe ours and your grandkids, if the world stands, they will ‘OVER ALL’ do well, have a good work ethic and BELIEVE.

IF you are a DOUBTER I ask you to look around you; have your neighbors gained your trust? I still BELIEVE in the end the GOOD GUYS will win. Just ask Roy and Gene!

 

Nite Shipslog\

PS !: Just ask Roy and Gene! That is Roy Rogers and Gene Autry.  I remember their movies….

 

PS:. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again….Believe if you don’t believe, Give it a try!

Quitting is tough…. Smoke, Smoke smoke that Cigarette

  Photo of the day: 

Tex Williams #1 hit on Bill board 1947

 

Tell St.Peter at the Golden Gate you just hate to make him         wait, but you just gotta have another cigarette!!

(Lyrics at bottom if you want to take the time, remember this was 1947 I was in 2nd grade and thought it was cool...

But for today:

Have you ever been addicted to cigarettes?  I have been quit many years but I can still remember what it was like to want one, during the hundreds of times I quit (smile); I remember looking thru ash trays for the longest butt.

 

I remember saying when the cigarettes went to 30 cents a pack I was quitting. Boy was that a joke.  I did quit before they were 50 cents a pack.

 

I haven’t bought a pack of cigarettes in over 25 years.  We have a family member who is in a position he cannot go to buy cigarettes, is trying to quit but is having a tough time of it. So today I bought 2 packs to send to him. WHAT?  $4.50 a pack?  No wonder he is trying to quit.

Oh yes and I asked for a couple packs. The clerk looked at me and asked, you want more than one? How many?  I said make that two packs.

 

With my hearing the clerk said something else and I smiled, having no idea what he said. He asked again and finally I said what did you say?  He said I need your birthday.  When I told him, he looked at me, 1939? For Real? Evidently he had to enter that on the sales ticket.  I guess I am old enough to buy them now.

That is it for today my friends.  Love from a rainy Florida.

Nite Shipslog

PS:. Thanks for stopping by, hope to see you again….

Lyrics to Smoke..... if you want to  take the time..

Now I'm a fellow with a heart of gold 
With the ways of a gentleman I've been told
A kind of a fellow that wouldn't even harm a flea
But if me and a certain character met 
That guy that invented the cigarette
I'd murder that son of a gun in the first degree

That ain't that I don't smoke myself 
And I don't reckon they'll injure your health
I've smoked 'em all my life and I ain't dead yet
But nicotine slaves are all the same 
At a pheasant party or a poker game
Everything's gotta stop when they have that cigarette

Smoke smoke smoke that cigarette 
Puff puff puff 
And if you smoke yourself to death
Tell St Peter at the Golden Gate 
That you hate to make him wait
But you just gotta have another cigarette

Now at a game of chance the other night 
Ol' Dame Forson wasn't doin' me right
Them kings and queens just kept on comin' round
Well I got a full and I bet it high 
But my plug didn't work on a certain guy
He just kept a risin' and a layin' that money down
He's raise me and I'd raise him 
I sweated blood I had to sink or swim
He finally called and he didn't raise the bet
I said "aces is full pal how about you?" 
He said "I'll tell you in a minute or two
But I just gotta have another cigarette"

Smoke smoke smoke that cigarette 
Puff puff puff 
And if you smoke yourself to death
Tell St Peter at the Golden Gate 
That you hate to make him wait
But you just gotta have another cigarette

The other night I had a date with 
The cutest gal in the fifty states
A high bred uptown social little dame
She said she loved me and it seemed to me 
That things were like they ought a be
So hand in hand we strolled down Lover's Lane
She was oh so far from a chunk of ice 
And our smoochin' party was a goin' real nice
So help and I think I'd of been there yet
But I give her a hug and a little squeeze 
And she said "Willie excuse me please
But I just gotta have another cigarette"
Smoke smoke smoke that cigarette 
Puff puff puff 
And if you smoke yourself to death
Tell St Peter at the Golden Gate 
That you hate to make him wait
But you just gotta have another cigarette
Smoke smoke smoke that cigarette 
Puff puff puff 
And if you smoke yourself to death
Tell St Peter at the Golden Gate 
That you hate to make him wait
But you just gotta have another cigarette
Just gotta have another cigarette

The Trumpet player can’t sing

 Photo of the day: 

 Banjo Matthews in his 1958 Chevy

 (Pictures from the net)

So for today:

The churches I was raised in loved music and musical instruments. Dad encouraged all musicians to use their talents in church. Dad first got me a Saxophone. The more I looked at all those keys the more scary it got. I begged him to return the sax and get me a trumpet, it has 3 keys!  I thought I could handle that.  LOL

In your life you will make decisions you regret. The alternatives MAY NOT have worked out but man oh man when I hear a sax player that makes that thing talk, I smile with regrets. ;-)  I did get good with the trumpet, I made it to first trumpet in the School band.

But now in church, I know ONE line of a lot of songs because I was tooting the horn and looked at notes, not words.

My dad had a passion for tent meetings. He had his own tent for years.  Even when he pastored he found a nearby area with a field that the owners donated a weeks time for the revival.  I remember a revival in the mountains of NC several folks came to the Lord. One fellow, who lived on and sold moonshine; was ‘saved,’ started to church and got a regular job in the mill.

That one I remember because the chief of Police  came to the parsonage to talk to dad.  He asked about the man since they had had no complaints and he had not been arrested in a few weeks. He had heard he had turned over a new leaf. LOL.

The old man’s son had a home-made banjo. Dad got him in the church band.  That kid could play that thing. I took notice that the sound was good, but the kid only fretted one string.  I asked my grandson Stephen (Steve is a master of any stringed instrument)  about that and he said YES, it is seldom done, but some folks can tune a banjo to do that.

Anyway since I seldom know an entire Hymn/song, in church at times my ribs get sore from her elbow ( wrong verse, she whispers!)

I see some kids still play music in church.

Nite Shipslog

PS: We attended a Church of Christ once with a friend, you know, I didn’t notice it at first that there were no instruments, they do great Acephala.  But I do prefer instruments.

The Apologist

  Photo of the day: I SEARCHED FOR the Apologist car and got this:

 

 Not sure what that means???

So for today:  I am saying I am sorry for this entry in advance, I'M SORRY!

Antonym = Critic

Today I feel it necessary to defend the person who is NEVER wrong.  You know him or her, they are a lot like me, a ‘Know it All’ (but I know it!).  They (we) are people who do not KNOW they should apologize for something.  If asked for an apology they may start, “I’m sorry……BUT if you had not done so and so I would not have been forced to act that way!”  The apology somehow turns into the ‘asking person’s’ fault.

 

That sounds a lot like a ‘Man’s apology to his sweet wife!’

BUT,  back to the beginning, I had a misunderstanding of the word ‘Apologist’, I am not sure, but I cannot EVER remember hearing that word growing up, even in school. I have learned that the word is very old, back to the 17^th century. If you have the nerve read the PS, I think I get the gist of what it means, but it is NOT what I though an Apologist is.

Now what I wanted to say is that some folks who do not know how to apologize CANNOT HELP IT! It is a mind situation that says, I can’t be wrong, it is their fault, but to make them feel better I will apologize, Thus the NON-Apololgy received is NOT and apology, but maybe their ‘excuse’ for being forced to act in a nasty way.  BUT down inside they WERE NOT WRONG,  it is a shame but methinks it is true.

It is like I read from a psychiatrist somewhere: The WORST thing you can do in a relationship is tell a ‘narcissist’ he/she is a Narcissist!

I had a cousin once, a very intelligent man, A grad of a well known college. He failed in business a couple times, BUT it was NEVER his fault. My sister in an e-mail once was describing him, He knows it all and is better than anyone at anything, etc. She sent the message to him by mistake.  When he LET ME AND SHIRLEY know he had read it, I simply told he, “Now, Ken, you know she is right, your ego is bigger than Atlanta.”

 

Anyway when I read a person’s ‘forced’ apology for making a BIG blunder, most times I feel like, “Yes Sir, you are sorry!!! SORRY YOU GOT CAUGHT!”  Yeah I know I am too hard on ‘em guys, I’m Sorry! (not).

 

So I guess an ‘Apologist’ is apologizing (EXPLAINING) for someone else's belief?

Nite Shipslog

PS: Today’s apologists: 

                                                            Bishop Robert Barron, 

    ````````````

William Lane Craig and Ravi Zacharias

Apologist, any of the Christian writers, primarily in the 2nd century, who attempted to provide a defense of Christianity and criticisms of paganism and other aspects of Greco-Roman culture. Many of their writings were addressed to Roman emperors, and it is probable that the writings were actually sent to government secretaries who were empowered to accept or reject them. Under these circumstances, some of the apologies assumed the form of briefs written to defend Christians against the accusations current in the 2nd century, especially the charges that their religion was novel or godless or that they engaged in immoral cultic practices.