Commodes

 

I laughed at myself when using the toilet in Lowes the other day. I reached down for the flush handle.

We have lived full-time in our motor home now for over 13 years.  The above commode is like ours in the RV.  I is much more efficient than the commode in your non-rolling home. Our commode usually had a couple cups of water in the bowl. To add more water you reach down and pull up that handle. To flush our commode you step on that lever or push it down with your hand. As it flushes it also adds water, but only about half as much as the commode below.  The draw back is if the lever is held down too long you tend to bet an odor, therefore the fast-flush.

Most important about the above is it is WONDERFUL when you are stuck in traffic on the Atlanta Beltway.

 

Most of you know that the water in your commode has two purposes, to allow a liquid to aid when flushing waste. The other reason is to trap the sewer smell from rising from your sewer lines. With the liquid always in the ‘trap’, you do not get the smell. The same idea of the traps (the snake-looking pipe) under your vanity and kitchen sink. It is called a trap because it traps the sewer smell from rising out of the device.

The above device is a portable commode. It works on the same principle of the RV toilet.  We used one of these for a few months once.

It is a fact, although not the most pleasant subject, commodes will be a part of your life once you are ‘Potty-Trained’.  The one below is what most of us Seniors dread.

Either one of the above beats the outhouse, that some of us have known.  I can even remember when folks bragged about having ‘indoor plumbing’.

(Of course some of you may remember the slop-jar)

So when you set on your throne, remember the only thing between you and a very nasty sewer smell is 1/2 half gallon of water.

Nite Shipslog

PS:

If this works I have my Live writer back…

Don’t you just love modern conveniences!

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Now if you have ever been stuck in traffic at the wrong time you could appreciate the ones below.

 

There are some Forwards in my e-mail that have gems...

                  (Look what is parked next to us! better picture later)

Now for today's entry:

This has been around for some time, but friend Joan sent this and I thought it was good enough for the Shipslog (smile)

Six short stories:

{1}

  Once all villagers decided to pray for rain,

on the day of prayer all the people gathered,

but only one boy came with an umbrella.

That's FAITH

 

{2}
When you throw a baby in the air,

she laughs because she knows you will catch her.

That's TRUST

 

{3}
Every night we go to bed,

without any assurance of being alive the next morning

but still we set the alarms to wake up.

That's HOPE

{4}

We plan big things for tomorrow

in spite of zero knowledge of the future.

That's CONFIDENCE

 

{5}
We see the world suffering,

but still we get married and have children. 

 

That's LOVE

 

{6}
On an old man's shirt was written a sentence

'I am not 80 years old....

I am sweet 16 with 64 years experience'

 

That's ATTITUDE

 Yeah I know it ain't original, but I like it.

I am slowly getting a handle on posting again. I am hoping when we get back in the Charlotte area that my Live Writer will straighten out.







I do okay here, but I have a tough time locating and posting the pictures.

Today is a moving day.  We head back to Belmont for a few weeks.  This has been a good break, but I did not finish my book. I still lack a few chapters. I did get to do some more research, but the internet connection is very slow here.

(Jack Jr's Gandaughter Elsie making her scary face for Uncle Josh)

Nite Shipslog.

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This is what  our neighbor had the nerve to park next to us:

                                                                           1956 De Soto

That DeSoto was one tough car.

Twisted Facts, but true...

(Notice this blog only contains one original fact from jack)

Nine    Important Facts To Remember As We Grow Older
(Copied and modified, this is so old the original author is Mr. Unknown)

#9    Death is the number 1 killer in the world.

#8    Life is not the rehearsal you hoped.

#7    Good health is merely the slowest possible rate at which one can die.

#6    Men have 2 motivations: hunger and hanky panky, and they can't tell them    apart. If you see a gleam in his eyes, do not make him a sandwich.

#5    Give a person a fish and you feed them for a day. Teach a person to use the    Internet and they won't bother you for weeks, months, maybe    years.

#4    Health nuts are going to feel stupid someday, lying in the hospital, dying of    nothing.

#3    All of us could take a lesson from the weather. It pays no attention to    criticism.

#2    In the 60's, people took acid to make the world weird. Now the world is weird,    and people take Prozac to make it normal.

#1    Life is Good, but GOODER if you have Butter Pecan Ice Cream or a Klondike Bar.

-    - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

"The    difference between genius and stupidity is that genius has its limits. " ~    Albert Einstein 

(You may have noticed that the above is true, and our politicians continue to prove Einstein was a genius)

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I very quietly confided to my best friend that I was having an affair.

He turned to me and asked, 'Are you having it catered'?

And that, my friend, is the definition of 'OLD'!

Nite Shipslog

PS.  Ending joke, also copied from a forwarded e-mail. 

Just before the funeral services, the undertaker

came up to the very elderly widow and asked,

'How  old was your husband?'

'96,'  she replied: 'Two years younger than me'.

So  you're 98,' the undertaker commented.

She responded, 'Hardly worth going home, is it?'

This is not the car I expected, but it is the Ford Hq. I never was a Ford man, but I learned to respect the Ford Company during the last Financial Crisis.

Sherry and I walk and hold hands a lot in new towns we visit. We were in St. Ignace (Upper Michigan) and in July the Santa stopped, and said, "I know you guys are not from here, I just wanted to welcome you to town."

This is one special lady, Mrs "O". Her hubby built that boat on the left before he passed. This wonderful lady is the mama (and grandma) of several folk you  meet on the web. Commenting on this blog at times are her beautiful daughters: Mel, Darla, & Cher. & GD Sara!

We met them after driving over the top of Lake Michigan and back down into the North Woods of Wisconsin.

Mountains of Memories

There is an isolated lake two or three miles up the mountain at this park. A good path going up once you get past the first STEEP couple hundred yards. It is a good walk. So I says to my girl, "Tomorrow let's pack a lunch and climb the mountain to the High Lake and picnic."

Her response, "I was thinking of driving up to Blowing Rock to walk, then down to Boone."
My response, "That is  what I meant to say. LOL"

Up until a couple years ago the road up to Blowing was a very crooked narrow road. But as Teen it was the place to drive to from the Charlotte area on a Saturday date. Now the road is 95% 4 lanes and is cut thru a lot of solid granite.

If you read Jan Karon, you may know that Blowing Rock is Mitford. Sherry read the Mitford series first and liked it so much, I had to read it,  the series is very good. Blowing Rock (Mitford) is a tourist town atop a mountain, and very scenic.  WE love walking the streets and a winding trail with a few  good views.

There were some pretty flowers, and walking the half mile main street doesn't take much time. WE did't go in the shops, not even the  Ice Cream shops.  Sherry spotted a Kilwin's Shop. We first 'met' Kilwins Ice Cream in St. Joseph, Michigan, delicious.

I think this must be a hi-bred dogwood(?).

 I spotted this 1958(?) F100 Ford Pickup, a beauty!

Trees along Main St.

Okay, I yelled for Father Tim here at the Mitford Episcopal Church, he must be off visiting. Father Tim is the main Character in the Mitford Series. The church is beautiful and solid rock.

On our walk there were Rocks every where, these are old rock stairs. My girl smelling some orange Honey suckles, we had never seen anything but white ones.

Above is our walk  above the highway that is Main St and runs thru the little town. Sherry spotted this view below. Sorry, no zoom

On down to Boone and through the town I spotted the 'FIX'  in case our motor home roof  leaks.

As we turned to head home Sherry said, "Bill and Irene" live up here somewhere. Friends that retired to the mountains. We actually found them, and had a great visit, forgot pictures. 

We stopped to eat at  "Hog Heaven", A southern BBQ place. But what I wanted you to see is the siding on the place.  The boards are run thru the saw mill only the to edge of the board is squared. I  see this in  Blowing Rock a lot.

Then on home, it was a great day out.

Nite Shipslog

PS: There used to be the most beautiful home on the side of one of these mountains. As a young guy in love I promised it or one like it to Sherry. Today it does not have that beauty  the BIG road cut into the beauty. I did build Three nice homes for her, but she still prefers the Motor home. I do too.

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1957 Chevy spotted on Bourbon Street the last time in Nawlins.

OLD Friends

Some of you may remember that once in my many 'lives', I thought I was a preacher. During that time, and in my childhood church was the center of my life, whether I liked it or not, because my dad was a Church of God preacher.  Our church had strict RULES and I just accepted them.

(This was at the country church Dad pastored, me on the right and my sister Kat in the middle. left is Shirl. Mama loved her chickens, that was her chicken lot, dad's shadow he always wore a hat)

As time moved on, our church and many other 'strict' churches relaxed their stance on many things. Today's entry comes from an era after I had moved thru several of MY life's phases. From preacher to atheist, to agnostic and back to my Christian beliefs (Notice I said 'I', my girl NEVER had a doubt of what she believed, and we never 'fussed').  Since our 'faith' roads came back together, I am of course, much more liberal than my girl, and we still do not fuss.

(Old friends are like old houses, they hold so many wonderful memories)

On weekends when we are on the road we attend church as a rule. So this week in this area, my girl was reading something, looking for a church and she sorta squealed, "Ron and Sylvia have a church in this area!" WE met Ron and Sylvia after I had become more active teaching and entertaining (no longer preaching). At the time we met,  Ron was just beginning his ministry after 'feeling the call to preach' and we were attending the same church.

So, we visited their church and took them out to dinner afterwards and sat in the booth for an hour talking after the meal. It was fun to catch up, it had been 35 years.  Lots of water under the bridge. Of course I have a tough time communicating but as the crowds diminished in the restaurant I could understand better and I asked about their health, they looked great.

"Well Jack, other than a heart attack, 5 bypasses, a stroke and having a de-fib installed, I am great."  WE  sorta laughed, a surprise laugh, not a funny laugh. then he said, "Seriously, I do feel great and I get along very well."

Now we have an invite to their home for dinner coming up.  It is good to cross paths with folks you have known under pleasant conditions.

"Write a book, price it so your profit is $1, sell a million copies and you have it. Do you know who said that?" Ron asked me.

"No." says I.

"You said that once to the question a kid asked about how to become a millionaire."  I evidently said that during one of the sessions when I bantered back and forth with the kids, that was some of the best times of my life, entertaining kids with chalk, ventriloquism and magic. I miss it.














I taught this kid to change the colors of hankies and he is teaching me how to put a toad to sleep. (That is Sy, from up in the North Woods of Wisconsin, a Darla grandlove. He is practically grown now, I hear)

Ron & Sylvia stirred a lot of good memories.
Nite Shipslog

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I think this is an early '40's Studebaker we saw at the Studebaker Museum in South Bend.

I get upset at finding pictures. I cannot find early pictures of Ron & Sylvia. BUT on the right are our Oldest friends, outside of family and hometown folk. Robert Dallas and the beautiful Marian Fletcher. The picture is us, then and now.

I have mentioned this many times, This is the family of the oldest friends from when I thought I was a preacher. The farming family from Missouri, the Conrads.

Sometimes I read and other times I READ

(Hiking pictures from yesteryear) I just finished a long article by someone I never heard of, William Irvine.  I prefer books to articles, but this drew my interest, 'It is healthy to think about death.'

It caught my eye because when you reach a certain age (uh hum) you do think about it more. Basically what I gleaned from the LONGGGG article was death is a fact (yeah we know that), and when we actually know that, life becomes more important.  Have you noticed that at a funeral of a family member or friend?  I know I do and  especially if the deceased is young(er).

I smiled at a couple of the statements, one "Americans are good about covering their anxieties of death under an order of fries or a trip to Walmart."

So I looked at my girl the other night and said, you know, I am glad I am me. I cannot  remember (after 14-15 yrs old) ever wanting to be someone else. Or wanting what they had.

She looked at me and said, but we have always had about what we wanted, didn't we?

I answered her, BUT WE NEVER WANTED MUCH. (And in the beginning of our marriage we did not. She was enough for me.)  I said, remember we didn't need a new car, a bigger trailer, apartment or house. YOU were the main thing in my life. I really did not need anything else. I am smiling now because MA way up in Ohio has been talking a lot this year about love.  So I guess LOVE is really all we needed, the rest was incidental. 

AS we have aged we have thought of death more. I have mentioned it here in my blog. But it is  healthy thoughts.  When I am concerned about heart attacks (and I have been several times, my dad and a brother died of heart failure) I ask folks who have had a heart attack.  The symptoms are not the same. My brother said it was like a train ran over his chest. My nephew said, he thought it was gas and my dad hurt in his left arm.  That is only a few answers I gleaned.

(We could have made payments on the Vette but settled for a Plymouth we could pay for)

NOW MY POINT:
Thanks to  friends and some family we have accepted the fact that most likely one of us will be left alone. Again I ask questions. I read, sometimes I get a short but poignant point from MA, Paula, Helen, Rose, Shirl, Kat and my best friend Sonny before he died. NO ONE paints a rosy picture but you all say:
 LIFE goes on and you deal with it. 

So we know it is coming, and we know we will be shocked. And I do not doubt we do not know HOW shocked. but when you have never experienced it................

Nite Shipslog
PS: I miss my word counter......

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The pictures are what I could find on Picassa. I lost an entry and am afraid to look further tonight.