Our thoughts return to the Appalachian trail. We enjoy the serenity and beauty. But sometimes the weight of the pack overshadows the beauty for a little while.

Looking down on my girl as she climbs the rocks behind me. Sometimes I am in front. We are seldom together on the hike. WE are alone with our thoughts, except as some outstanding Vista, where we hold eachother and thank God for a chance to see this beauty.

Here she is ahead of me on another mountain, looking down and laughing, saying, " you have a long ways to climb big boy!'

Here she is way out on Mchaffey Knob in Virginia, supposed to be one of the most beautiful views on the AT, we happened to hit when the clouds were low.

Hello out there! WE are dreaming of a trip already. We are ready to head to the North East. We will have to do some checking first though. There is what they call the black fly season in the North East. I have read reports where they cover you like the no-see’em and dig into the flesh, don’t want to face that. Hahaha!
Vickie bought some of the new book and gave it to her friends. Now they are in demand that is good. I cannot find time to set up appointments and marketing areas yet. I did not expect too, Sonny was our main reason for coming home. We are not helping full time but are filling in where we can.
Hopefully in the next week he will be in an area with more intense care. And the family will not feel the need for an all night watch, that will wear them down. Such as Vickie did a 16 hour stretch one day and Steve did a 20 hour stretch yesterday/today. WE all know how that can wear you DOWN.
What is it about a hospital that drains you? Something does.
When I am gone like this I come in to answer from 20 to 43 e-mails. I enjoy the personal ones and delete the large down loads because it takes forever to download something. I have to draw the line at around 2MB, or I will be on thirty minutes down loading much larger.
I may drag out the laptop and take it to the hospital tomorrow, or just take my Tami Hoag, ‘The thin Dark Line’. I am about ¾ thru it. IT takes place in Cajun country, I love the accent, I can’t read it as it is spoken though. I also do not like crawfish. Gumbo is good. In reference to the Cajun food that is discussed in the book.
Anyway Sonny is not doing great, which is disappointing. He was alert enough for me to kid him about his sex change operation, etc. If you talk to the Lord, remember Sonny! Thanks to you who have offered sympathy and prayers.
Nite Shipslog
PS:"Action may not always bring happiness, but there is no
Happiness without action."Benjamin Disraeli

Politics or Just Silly Reporting

I did not vote for President Obama, but for the good of our country I hope he succeeds. I was not for a 'stimulus plan' but President Bush started it before he left office, not President Obama. I will not blame him for the Stimulus plan, it was not his idea, he is just following through.

Now. I wish they would drop the plan and let our business sink or swim on their own bad judgements.

But this latest Gaffe, is unforgiveable. I am horrified mabe mortified. I may never recover from such insensitivity.

Okay today I will venture to the realm of politics. Or maybe it is the realm of what I will call Political Crap. Or as my friend Debbie would say Flap Doodle. I am told from the best of sources Flap Doodle is nice words for Bull-$%$#.
Now To give society its dues, I guess it is nice to know which fork to use. I don’t know why you have two forks and two spoons, when at our house me made out with a fork and a spoon (Using the edge of the fork to cut something to size to eat.). I did learn something from the movies of officers training (that some sailor misplaced in our compartment for our entertainment on long cruises). I learned that you are expected you dip your spoon into your soup with a motion away from you. We weren’t supposed to view these movies because the Navy knew it would be a waste of time to teach the animals etiquette. You are also supposed to use all that hardware you are given ten forks and five spoons from the outside in, or is it inboard out. Shoot I failed that one. I usually look at the host and use whatever they use.
Okay now that you know I am cool. I can ID a soup spoon. You also know that I know how to eat soup without embarrassing anyone. I want to talk about the worst thing that could have happened. I expect a war between Great Britain and the USA. Someone says Our President and his Wife gave the ‘wrong’ gifts to the visiting dignitaries from the United Kingdom. Now Let me make this clear, the Prime Minister NOR his lovely wife have not said a blessed thing about the gifts. It is the media. What a gaffe, wow!
I’ll bet the children of these families have so many ‘things’ they do not need, ONE more thing, right or wrong. They should not care less. I saw an entry the other day where the reporters were crying because they were losing their jobs. “There won’t be enough reporters for the important news.” Well there are still enough to bring up this sort of STUPID headlines. Now the president will need a ‘GIFT ADVISOR’ so he won’t mess the next one up. Wow, the world is falling apart, and someone makes headlines by saying the Obama’s do not know how to give gifts to their guests children.
Don’t you love trivial CRAP!
Nite Shipslog
PS:
Today before you say an unkind word - Think of someone who can't speak.

Before you complain about the taste of your food - Think of someone who has nothing to eat.

Before you complain about your husband or wife - Think of someone who's crying out to GOD for a companion.

I refuse to talk about politics today. I am boing to talk about my typing. There is an example without any help. I hit the b instead of the g. I am doing that a lot lately. Sometimes tyhis computer corrects automatically for me and that is ice3. (Nice). I add extra letters as in ‘This’ above. I also notice I either do not hit the ‘r’ in your or I don’t hit it hard enough. It comes out like Luke would say as a child, “I want to go to you house!”
So now for the rest of this entry I will try to correct myself. I like what my good friend Glenda said about my mistakes (she knows psychology), she said,
“ Anybody can make corrections, it is the creative thoughts that make a book.”
Now isn’t that sweet? Of course it is sweet, she is one sweet lady from a very loving and sweet family. There were farmers in my family.

I remember going to my Great grandpa’s farm near Tocca, Georgia. By the time I went though, he was not farming, just living in the farm house. He did raise chickens and hogs. So I actually was never on an active working farm until I was transferred to Kirksville AFS, Kirksville, MO. There in the church at Moberly, MO. I met an old farmer named Kenneth Conrad. At the time he must have been nearly thirty six years old. We got along well even thought he was old. I was in my early twenties. Mark was a baby and Jack was two or three yrs old. I always enjoyed the visit to the farm. We were invited to dinner and supper many times. Eileen, the mama, a great lady, was some great cook. She had to do some cooking; they were raising ten children on the forty acres. Kenneth worked a full time job at H.B. Chance, came home and worked til dark. Like many farmers he still had time to help his neighbors.

I have mentioned Kenneth many times in this blog. Just lately it was on his visit to Glenda’s home in Okeechobee, FL. Kenneth is the one that Alzheimer’s is stealing his mind. Eileen sang in church, she had a voice that could have been professional, quality, range and style. I loved to hear her sing. She would sing to 20 or hundreds with the same passion.
Now they are both up in age seriously. Life is no picnic with illnesses, over weight and Alzheimer’s. It is also no fun and very stressful on the family. I think of them and the people they were. I know you have friends and family that stand out in your life. I learned a lot from Kenneth about life and a work ethic.
(You probably think I don’t know another family other than the Conrads)
Nite shipslog
PS:
ARTISTRY OF INSULTS.
When Insults Had Class (no 4-letter words!!) These glorious insults are from an era when cleverness with words was still valued, before a great portion of the English language got boiled down to 4-letter words, not to mention waving middle fingers.

"I've just learned about his illness. Let's hope it's nothing trivial." - Irvin S. Cobb

"He is not only dull himself, he is the cause of dullness in others." - Samuel Johnson

"He is simply a shiver looking for a spine to run up." - Paul Keating

"He has the attention span of a lightning bolt." - Robert Redford

More Hair dooooo's, and my story of hair.

Poor Evelyn, seems that she is getting old before her time. She is shrinking.

Okay, this is my girls and their 'DOOOO's' Since this is hair-do, or let's all feel better week I just has to post them. Shirls is brand new and Sherry's is a day old. I love it when the girls are happy with their hair!!!!!

Now my hair story!!!! So very exciting, hold on to your hat....

Hair do’s. I mentioned once that Sherry used to go to her niece to get her hair repaired or fixed. I always went to a barber shop. Sherry started making appointments for me to get my hair done. Did I tell you I have never like appointments? Well I have never liked appointments since I left the military. In the Military it was an order not an appointment. Anyway, of course if mama says do it, you do it.
My hair was getting thin and grey. So it was decided that I would have my hair colored or frosted or something. Now this is really funny. I got this bag on my head, everything stinks. I sit there for the appointed time. Now mind you, I could be somewhere driving nails, but I patiently sit there.
Then the magic time, we all can’t wait, I am going to be young and beautiful again. As the cover starts off, the hair dresser says, OH NO! Now any time you hear that, you know it is akin to a surgeon saying ‘OOPS”. I had the prettiest head of green hair. The girls are crying I think it is hysterical, I love it. I am going to enjoy this, I am ready to go back to work.
Well through the tears I am told I cannot leave. WE CAN FIX IT! I am not happy, I don’t want it fixed.
( Shoot when the movie ‘The boy with green hair’ came to our town in the late forties/early fifties the theater announced anyone with green hair got in free. Tuck and me bought a bottle of green food coloring, got us some green hair.)
WE got in free. Saved 9 cents a piece, total of 18 cents. Coloring cost 25 cents. I have always been good with arithmetic. Anyway I charged it to daddy at the store, so I didn’t pay the 25 cents.
You can't fix fuzzy green meat, but beauticians can fix green hair, but it takes another hour. Less nails get driven. That is my hair story. IT is good to remember that at one time I had hair, I would settle for green hair now, I would fit right in.
Thanks for coming this way.
Nite Shipslog
PS:

I found out later, no body cared about my green hair. It was a beauticians reputation we were worried about. If I left I couldn't have advertised what happened and with whom.

ADULT: A person who has stopped growing at both ends and is now growing in the middle.

BEAUTY PARLOR: A place where women curl up and dye.

CANNIBAL: Someone who is fed up with people.

CHICKENS: The only animals you eat before they are born and after they are dead.

My mama was a light bulb!

Mama ordered hers from the Sears and Roebuck Catalog.

Tonights exciting entry to the Shipslog. From our Home port!

Supposed to be warm tomorrow, I sure hope so. I have only had a few days of COLD and already I remember BIG TIME why I put wheels under the house we live in. Texas, Florida, New Mexico and Arizona for the winter for me. After hearing some LP and heating oil bills for this past winter, I can stay in Florida much cheaper than that. I heard someone bragging on this very Blogspot, they have had their A/C on near San Antonio lately. Shucks!!!
We got back from the hospital this evening, it was dark, but I think Sister Shirl has shoveled our snow off. Thanks Shirl. That is not a hint, that there is nothing stopping me from going is it? LOL. That was very sweet.
Oh yes, I noticed it is easy to spot the Floridians in bad weather, we are the only ones in Tennis shoes in the snow. Ha!
I thought of a few short stories while in the room waiting for Sonny to come back from dialysis.
How is this: MY MOTHER IS A LIGHT BULB.
You kinow turtles never see their mothers. They are buried in the sand as eggs. When they are born they must dig to the surface and start looking for food. Ain’t no mama there to get them food.

I was remembering the joy in our house when the mail man brought Mama her first chicks. They came in a pasteboard box that had holes in it. I could hear the little guys just cheeping away. They were so little, yellow and soft. Mama would take them out to the chicken house and put them in an incubator or brooder, don’t remember which was what. But there was a little 20 or 30 watt bulb in there. Those little chicks headed right to the light bulb. That was to be their mama for a few days until they grew up. Now I should be able to write a story about when Chicken Lil was young. Can’t use Chicken Little, someone beat me to it. Should be a story there somewhere! I sure enjoyed seeing those little guys in that small cage. Funny how that order of chicks kept us in eggs and chicken for a couple years. Times get bad, we all may have to do that again. I bet in Nebraska and New York and places COLD the mother was a 500 watt bulb. Hahahah! Of course all the zoning laws would have to be changed.
Nite Shipslog
PS:
Thanks for reading this Drivel.
I have printed these, but they bear repeating:Enjoy.......

I've learned .. That the best classroom in the world is at the feet of an elderly person.

I've learned .. That when you're in love, it shows.

I've learned .. That just one person saying to me, 'You've made my day!' makes my day.

Today in our lives.Company Came today!

Sherece and Grandma in the motor home working on the hair.

Luke Vegas and MJ (Mary Jane) the DOG. She has her coat on. I might enlist Luke in the Marines in a few years.

MJ in the driver's seat of our home.

Matthew, who will be a HS senior next year. I might enlist him in the Navy, or maybe the Air Force.

Well now, it seems we have lost the pump that pumps water when we are not hooked up to park or city water. Must have frozen and cracked the pump. I think that is the only damage from the deep freeze in North Carolina. We did not go to the hospital today, we go in the morning and take our shift in the day.

We have not been able to see Louise. We would love to drop by to see her, but the Sons, care givers, think it should be limited to family. Once you have been a care giver, it is easy to understand and honor their opinions. So we pray and hope for the best for her. One thing about that, we will remember Louise as she was the last time we saw her at Hardees, laughing and having fun.

Near twenty here tonight. Then we warm up. THANK GOODNESS. I know, you folks who really know COLD are laughing. So I will laugh with you …..…..hahahahahahahaah.

WE had a visit from our grand sons, Matthew and Luke. They brought M.J. the bull dog. Now Sherece is here making Sherry more beautiful. For years Sherry had her private beautician, Brenda her niece. Now it is her grand Daughter the beautiful Sherece. Sherry will many times put off getting her hair done when she knows she can get it done here.

So today we have had a visit from Mark’s family, soon we will see Jack’s family. We have seen Mark (youngest son), on his way to work one morning and Jack (the elder son) went to the hospital to see Sonny with us when we first came home.

Shirl ate supper with us tonight, Sherry tried a new recipe for chicken pot pie. It turned out very good.

Take care and thanks for stopping by the Shipslog.
Nite Shipslog
PS:
Sometimes, when I look at my children, I say to myself, 'Lillian, you should have remained a virgin.' - Lillian Carter (mother of Jimmy Carter)

I had a rose named after me and I was very flattered. But I was not pleased to read the description in the catalog: 'No good in a bed, but fine against a wall.'
- Eleanor Roosevelt

Last week, I stated this woman was the ugliest woman I had ever seen. I have since been visited by her sister, and now wish to withdraw that statement.
-Mark Twain

Snow and cold in North Carolina, Dad gummit!

We were at the hospital all day, we got home about 8PM. We were greeted by Shirl's Snow woman. She named it Evelyn in honor of Evelyn who is still suffering down in Florida.

She built it on the asphalt, so the snow around her melted. I thought the hat added a touch of class for Evil, I mean Evelyn.

Now for today's exciting adventure!

Well, they predicted six inches, we got three. You all know in North Carolina we don’t have much snow removing equip. We were to spend the day at the hospital with Sonny, so we left before six.
Problem was, I couldn’t get out of the motor home at first. Dummy me left the awnings out and they caught about four inches because nothing melted, you know like a bridge freezes first. I finally got the awning up at the door enough to get out. I tried to get some of the snow off the large awning, but did not have much luck. It was swagged about eight inches.

Jack is supposed to know that stuff. Sherry said Evelyn and I said the awnings should be in, but nobody reminded the master mind. Hahahaah!

The Shirl e-mailed last night to say I should have parked in one of the three open garages here. Shoulda thunk of that too, but we are not used to having a garage near. So at least I did put some warm water on the wind shield so I could see and took the car around front and put it in the garage. Saved my life this morning also. (I'll tell her I had planned to anyway, can't let folks think they know moren U.)

I could tell, it was so obvious, the girls are out to get me.

Now they are threatening 15 degrees tonight. Oh I know, you guys in NE and NY and PA and Northern AL and most everywhere else, that ain’t so bad. But to be honest I have no idea about the anti freeze in either vehicle. SHOOT THIS IS THE FIRST TIME WE HAVE SEEN TREES WITH NO LEAVES IN TEN YEARS!!!! I THOUGHT THEY WERE DEAD AT FIRST! I had to be reminded I left to keep from raking leaves in the fall!

Anyway we had a good drive in. I can drive in snow, and the ice was minimal. Fresh snow grabs good.
Sonny was out of the room for five hours + for dialysis. He comes back very disoriented.
Thanks for everyone who reads this blarney.
I will get the book orders out as soon as I can. I know you all have said no rush, but I want to get them in the mail.
Nite Shipslog
PS:
The snow woman is for Evelyn, still suffering down in Florida!

THINGS YOU might KNOW BUT forgot!

The first product Motorola started to develop was a record player for automobiles. At that time, the most known player on the market was the Victrola, so they called themselves Motorola.

Celery has negative calories! It takes more calories to eat a piece of celery than the celery has in it to begin with. It's the same with apples.

Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying!

Tis sleeting but I am thinking 85 & sunshine!

Sonny is the second from the right. Sweet lady to his right is Colette, Sherrys Sister now deceased.
Left is Steve (Son) his wife Donna. Then yours truly. Sonny's grand daughters Jessica and Megan in front. (This is a few years ago)

Well we are in North Carolina. It is rainy and messy here. I think the South is supposed to get freezing rain and snow tomorrow. At least it is not like Woody’s area of New York and Nebraska, where it comes to stay. If we get any here it will be gone in less than two days.
We are not happy about the weather, but as most of you know, hospital stays can wear a family down. WE are here to help, because most of the folks involved with Sonny are still working. And especially at a time like this with jobs at a premium, you don’t want to give a company any excuse to let you go. So we are volunteering for the night shifts so the others can get sleep to continue work.
They are trying dialysis on Sonny to try to clear up the poison in his body. I am learning something also. Gout is not limited to the feet and legs. Sonny has gout in one of his arms. It hurts to move it. He has gout in feet and legs, they hurt to move them. Sonny is also too heavy, it is impossible to move him without hurting him. If you have been around a hospital any length, you are familiar with transferring the patient from the gurney to the bed and vice versa. I have watched two nurses handle a man with ease, as I am sure you have. Today I had to aid three or four nurses getting Sonny back onto the bed, and it hurt him so bad. It was easy to see that the maneuvering really took its toll. Sonny could not help himself; he left no doubt that he was hurt.
One nice thing about coming home, we get to see Shirl my sister and Vernon, Sherry’s older brother (He fell out of a tree a couple months back). Shirl is doing pretty well, but is tired from all the long distance shopping sprees her and Terri have taken. LOL. Vernon is really doing well and walking without the aid of cane of walker. He still gets around and entertains Old People.
Most areas have local talent or person’s of local fame. One of ours in Gaston County is Smokey Coe. (No kin to David Allen, I don’t think) Smokey had his own recording studio here in Gaston. He has a son in the entertainment business in Nashville and an Attorney son, who practiced with one of our lawyers here in Belmont for awhile. I believe he said that son had moved to Florida. (Good move, LOL). Smokey took some songs up in the charts I think. Anyway, Vernon has recruited him also into the FREE senior entertaining. Sherry and I got to meet him last night at dinner, seems like a nice guy good sense of humor. Dinner was at a local Cafeteria, it was the first time we had a chance to talk to Shirl also. No visiting today, it has been too messy.
I will not complain about the weather you guys that have had it rough will climb my case, so I will try not to fuss. LOL.
Nite Shipslog

PS:

If you click the following thread. Just scroll down the page, do not click the movie or what ever shows up first. The big woman is on down the page.
You got to see this 320 pound woman! You should be amazed!

http://world-amazing-news.blogspot.com/2007/08/tallest-and-biggest-woman.html