Hog Killing and stuff

 Memorable Automobiles from The Past:

Featured is 1940 Packard, the first auto with Air conditioning.

 

NOTICE:  Sherry's Doctor says the polyp is benign, no cancer. She does have***Barrette's Esophagus.  DOES NOT recommend ANY follow up exams.

Just watch the diet.    She smiled and said "Praise the Lord!"

                    For today:

One of daddy’s jokes was about the farmer whose truck broke down and a city fellow gave him a ride in his '40 Packard. The Farmer didn’t know about A/C and the driver had his on high. “Well what is going on at the farm these days?” asked the driver.

“Well sir, I was gonna clear more on the south 40, but surprising how cold it’s got, I may just kill one of the hogs early.”

Dar from the farm up in the North woods of Wisconsin said they had just killed 4 hogs, and cuda saved me the brains, since it ain’t on their menu! LOL

I have said it many times here, the farm never left dad. He loved to raise at least one hog a year. Yep it seems folks can use everything about the hog, ‘cept the oink.’

I loved to go to the river to fish as a kid. At most boat landings there was a sort of general store with some sandwich stuff. On the counter there was those 2-3 gallon jars filled with dill pickles and pickled pigs feet. Sherry says she liked pig’s feet, but I NEVER tasted one.

My favorite food while fishing was a pint of mama’s pinto beans and a biscuit. I also loved to borrow a tomato when I could.

I think many times about all the woods I wandered thru. I didn’t know someone owned them. By my mid-teens I did start seeing ‘POSTED’ signs. Funny I never got lost, me and my dog knew where every creek and river within 3-5 miles everyplace we lived. Valdese, NC was good. The mountain creeks and the Catawba River were close.

I enjoyed a lot of growing up, I called it exploring (I am not sure I ever stopped!). LOL When you are close to your dog, it is like having a friend along.

NiteShipslog

PS:   Speaking of dogs.......

Looks like our grand dog Janie.

PS2... ***** We did not ask if she has to return the esophagus to Barrette.  just wonderin'  ;-O 

Careful what you ‘search for’ on the net, Belmont, NC…

  Memorable car of the day:

This car, a Mercury, was NEW when I first saw the small town of Belmont, NC, it was 1954.....

For today, Local info:

I remember an old saying, “Careful what you wish or pray for!”

I know the term for finding something now is: ‘Google it’. BUT I am from the old giant computers where we had to ‘Search.’ So I search the net for a lot of info. Be careful what you search for….

I simply wanted to know the population of this small town in 1950. So STATISTICS popped up along with the population. SHOCKED OUT OF MY GOURD my sister Shirl used to say. 94% of the USA small towns are safer than Belmont, NC. Our crime rate is 125% higher than the National Average. I first thought ‘I have the wrong Belmont!’ But NOPE!

Our crime rate is just a bit below the city of Charlotte, NC.  Our neighboring city of Mt. Holly is 50% safer than most small towns. WHAT?

Looking at the Belmont Map, the worst Crime rate is the once sedate area known as ‘Browntown’ (Named because of the # of people there named Brown, great folks, true!) then across the boulevard, thru our little downtown, down to the rail road tracks….. Our home, near S.Point High School, is a medium crime area.  A person in Belmont has a 1 in 20 chance of being a victim of serious crime. OUCH.

I bet y’all moving here from Charlotte didn’t know that! I sure didn’t, To be honest, for some reason, this is the Booming area of housing for the City of Charlotte. Homes here have doubled, some tripled their appraised value. They cannot be built fast enough.

Our CITY population is now over 15,000. With twice that just outside the limits. In 1950 the entire population was 5,330. People did not lock their homes and keys were left in most cars. We had 9 policemen then, now we have 50.

Nite Shipslog

PS: As a ‘former’ builder, I honestly thought our biggest problem with all this growth would be available water and sewer. Joke is on me.

PS2 Statistics from law enforcement and the FBI!

The Big Day

 Memorable car of the day:

    For today:

Sherry studied hard for today’s tests. Of course it is natural to dread this kind of procedure.  She is one to follow Dr. Instructions as close as she can and she did.  I used to joke about her sister Collette and DR orders. I commented if he said do not take over 50 steps, she would count to 50 and STOP!

We always try to be early and we were, but we were not the first there.  I have mentioned that the medical complex is built right on the area where the Climax Mill Village stood. Sherry was born at home on the Climax with Dr. McAdams in attendance. Her procedure today was performed just multiple yards from where she was born.

I have mentioned many times Sherry has deep roots, I never established any.

For the RESULTS:

Endoscopy: nothing of interest. A small amount of inflammation on the stomach wall, but nothing out of the ordinary.

Colonoscopy: One polyp which was removed and sent off to the Lab for analysis to be back within a week. But the Dr. did not seem excited about either procedure.

She is doing great, back to her Normal (?) self ;-).

I was invited back to be with her until she was awake from the anesthesia. Now to be honest it is sorta fun to listen to a person as they come off the meds. (you have to be there) This girl has NEVER been high on booze or illicit drugs. BUT this was fun in away, she was really cute. LOL Slurring her words and then later not even remembering what she said or how she said it. LOL again. (She still didn't say any bad words!!!) ;-)

I have to be careful and not joke too much about it, to keep out of trouble. ;-)

We want to thank all of you for your prayers and concern. We all know that any procedure involving invasion of the body and being put under anesthesia, presents many possible results and possible missteps. Life is precious and as you age life is down hill.

Merry Christmastime.

 Nite Shipslog

PS: We did get to stop by Hardees and have a gravy biscuit. It was an added pleasure Don & Evelyn were there also. She hasn't said what she would like for dinner.

Old People

Memorable car of the day:

Cars today were new when these old people graduated HS!

 

1956 Crown Victoria Corporal Virgil Jenson (Son of an Iowa Farmer) owned one of these.    

For today:

I write a lot about age.  I do that because that is the big subject around here. Yesterday we met with some old folks for dinner at a local restaurant.  Early in our lives that area was only woods. It is owned by the Local Catholic College, The Belmont Abbey a land mark here abouts. 

It is now a bustling commercial center. The Abbey is still here also and it has grown.  But this restaurant has a local history, it was once a great steak house.  Now it is a good Fish Restaurant, “The Captain’s Cap”.

The old folks we met were from Sherry’s HS graduating class. Earline and I were the kids since we did not graduate with these upper classmen.

Anyway we had a good time, and even a younger man like me can learn. With all the talking it came to ‘church’ of all things. Then to Baptist Churches.  Martin M mentioned where they attended. Sherry asked if he knew Lisa (commenter here from a neighboring town. She was born in Belmont). Martin said, “BUT Of course, Her dad & mom (and the family) are dedicated Christian folk………. You won’t believe this but her dad retired and got tired of sitting around and took a job of delivering for an auto parts place I think.”  Martin continued.. 

“He told us he seldom drove his old van, but last week decided to drive it. While driving he smelled something different as he drove. He disregarded it and parked and entered a store.  Just a few minutes later someone came in and said someone’s white van is on fire in the parking lot.  It was his and completely burned up.”

Of course he was thanking God he was not on the road driving at the time and that no one was hurt.

So we were sorta smiling that we had other friends of friends we did not know about and that there at least was a connection. Of course nothing really surprises me about folks from a small town.

They tell me that coal mining towns are the same. Villages become family and everyone knows everyone’s business. The idea is good. They had community watches before there were ‘Community Watches’. No doors were locked those who had cars the keys were in them.

So that is OLD People story for today. I didn’t say it but among the old people were Don & Evelyn, Martin & Earline, and ED. Ed and Sherry go back to childhood where they were neighbors.

Merry Christmastime.

 Nite Shipslog

The Five and Dime & Inflation

 Memorable car of the day:

I am sure this was painted with NORTHERN States in mind, the rest of us LOVE to see the snow

  Now for TODAY, 14 days until Christmas!

The first stores I remember were ‘The Five and Dime’ and Sears. The stores weren’t named Five and Dime but that is how folks referred to them. Much of the nickel-dime toys in my youth were made in Japan from USA beer cans. The stores were Roses, Kress, Murphy, Woolworth, Walton and many more. Locally we had Kress and Roses. What was in your area?

Strange how inflation showed itself long ago, before they disappeared they were just Dime Stores. I wonder what they were called in other countries. Now it is dollar stores and most of the products are made in China.

With so much inflation the Stores will soon be Dollar-Dime Stores!

The other store I remember is Sears & Roebuck. I was seldom there, mostly it was mail order.

OK it is Christmas-time. I cannot help it but my mind goes back to some of the presents I received. Most kids got one present, and that was from their parents. I can remember when boys thought of bicycles, balls and gloves. My sister thought of Dolls, doll houses and candy.

Mama would help Shirley and I get a gift for each other. What did you dream of for Christmas?

When I was 13 I began to think of Sherry as my Christmas present, but I didn’t know that was her name back then. LOL  She probably dreamed of Rock Hudson or Cary Grant because Elvis wasn’t known when she was 13!

Merry Christmastime.

 Nite Shipslog

A roving life, the Gypsy …

 Memorable car of the day:

 The 1940 Ford Coupe was big for customizing in the 50s also.

But, just the old 40 was great as it was. 

For today:

When we started the RV life, we stayed in State, National, City, County and Corps of Engineers parks.  They were the most reasonable and outdoorsy.  We Never work-camped, i.e. work in the park for a free camp site. Most places required 4 hours a day dedicated to cleaning bath houses, cleaning vacated sites or acting as a host for campers questions and problems. Very seldom did these jobs include collecting fees ($), just minor work and time.

We met many workers, ALL were great folks. Some became lifelong friends. A few we visited during off season at their home places.  I classed them as ‘salt of the earth’ people.

When we started ‘camping’, a site cost $5 to $12 a night. With weekly sites $30. NOW? RV’ing is not cheap! Sites actually go up to $100 a night. Minimum like our last site was $35 a night and did not include sewer hookup.

A few years ago we joined a ‘camping club’, this gave us about 15 parks on the East coast. We could stay free for 2 weeks at a time. Yearly fees were $400. A good deal. That worked great for a while. We had bought another individual’s membership, ‘on the cheap’ thru the internet. Like many of the ‘Infamous Condo/club stories’ it became hard to find ‘available sites’. AHHH.. so then there was another hook dangled before us and the bait looked good, so like good fish we BIT! We ‘UPGRADED’.  Again that worked great for a few years. Presently it is NEAR impossible to find an available site in our now 80 parks.  WE are too old to UPGRADE again. The bait just isn’t good enough to make us bite again. LOL

So since we like to spend the winter in Florida, the next best thing is a permanent site. So now we have bought the trailer in Leesburg.  We have the option of driving a car back and forth or driving the coach and towing the car.

I said all that to say Full time RV’ing is great, but it is getting to the point that it is definitely not as cost effective, as it was once. The life of a Gypsy is only cheap if you spend the night at rest areas or WalMart parking lots. LOL

Yeah we are crazy. WE are parked in the back yard of our 2800 ft home in NC.  We most likely will not sleep in the house while we are here. WE do prefer living in this coach.  Hey at least the car is in a garage. LOL

Nite Shipslog

PS:  AND, the feral cats are glad to have is back for a few days. LOL

PS2:  Yes we do plan to return to Florida for Christmas and the rest of the winter.  This is just a fun trip for Sherry to enjoy a colonoscopy.

Pictures and insight (?)

Our coach last night:

It doesn't show well, but there is a beautiful lake out front.

                    For today:

WE only drove about 450 miles today. Much of it in the rain. AND yes anytime we get in the coach that is a chance something will go wrong. I checked the oil/water/tire pressure (I don’t always do that)

WE started off and I asked Sherry, “Is the coach riding stiff to you?”  YES, I feel every bump on the road. About 15 miles up the road I was able to pull off. OUCH, the controls for the air bags was broken. I actually have the part needed, but this was not the time to fix it, so Jack Jr would be proud of me I taped it back together. (Tape is his #1 tool) It did well.  Then it rained, poured, the wipers finally came on but only operate on high. OUCH again.

But any trip is good with my girl.

 Son Mark is selling his home in New Port Richey, so some of his stuff is at our trailer in Leesburg. Can you imagine these plants he collected?  (That is our Poinsettia bush against the trailer)

And these. 20+  some 8' tall.

 

Other stuff is under the black plastic. My playhouse is even full of STUFF! I have said many times we are not Plant people. I usually kill everything I try to grow, 'cept Ivy!

BUT below is a shot of wainscot (Actually wall paper since it is not wood.) It is a line half way up the wall in the bathroom of the coach.

 

I cannot help it.  I see an ugly animal. I know it is a flower, but every time I see it, I see a line of ugly animals’ every other one upside down. LOL

 

 I am not much on plants and flowers. I KNOW azaleas and elephant ears, but I am limited.  WE have this beautiful poinsettia bush at the corner of our house. 

 I did not know this. This poinsettia  is NOT a flower as I know flowers. The RED leaves are nothing but green leaves just like the rest on the bush, but the top ones turn the most beautiful red. WE love this bush. As we get closer to Christmas the more RED it becomes.

You can see at least some green in one red leaf that is still turning.  WE should be parked behind our home in Belmont as you read this

Nite Shipslog

PS:  (Forgive me, 2 more pics)

Above Auto Endoscopy,  Below Auto colonoscopy!

I wish ……

 That Car:

1950 Ford also popular with customizers :

 

For today:

I think every human wishes (dreams); at times it is envy, but not always.

(Even if in a traffic jam, most of us have wished we had chosen another route!)

In my youth as I read comic books, I wished many times I could fly like Superman and Captain Marvel.

As a kid, our family traveled a lot. Dad picked up hitchhikers back then. Many times it made for interesting trips; learning others’ lives. I enjoyed it when dad would pick up a man in uniform.  Most of the time he was headed home on ‘liberty’, or back to the base. I started wishing I wore a uniform and could hitchhike.

Reading Pauline’s “Wanna Be Cowgirl” I was reminded of the Saturday morning cowboy movies I slipped off to see. Shows (Movies) were a sin at our church, so I did a lot of sneaking, knowing God would forgive me (OUCH).  BUT I can remember wishing there were no cars and we were back in real COWBOY times. I wished I was a cowboy!

I am smiling now thinking about my best friend in the USMC, Dallas Fletcher.  Cpl. Fletcher would hitch-hike to Pennsylvania from NC many weekends and was never late making it back for muster on Monday morning. He said he just had to go see that cute Marion. He married Marion; I married Sherry, all 4 of us are still around enjoying 65 years of marriage. Marion kept having babies until Dallas found out what was causing them. ;-).  I found out after 2. He is a slow learner. ;-0

I wished for years we could just travel. And we eventually did. WE took only 3 cruises. Then Covid hit, now that is out. BUT today as you read this we should be ON THE ROAD, a few hours from NC.

Sherry will be studying for her medical tests next Monday. Sunday she will really study, Smart a-- Buddy SAID, ‘I hope everything comes out all right as she ‘studies.’  Seems everyone makes jokes about a colonoscopy.  Buddy even suggested she have the DR. do the Endoscopy before the colonoscopy. Methinks that is probably a good idea!  Huh?

Any way we are hoping and praying all the reports will be good and she will pass with ‘flying colors.’

Speaking of wishing, Sherry WISHES this was all OVER & DONE!

 Nite Shipslog

PS: