Life should be like a 'T' ball game

I actually have been to a few T-ball games.  It would be nice to have the coach 'physically' over your shoulder to talk you thru the 'hit'.  If the batter doesn't hit the ball, no problem it is set up again, no 'three strikes you are out', stuff. YOU ARE GONNA GET A HIT!

And no matter how good you hit the ball, you always get to run to first and eventually around to home.  But what I like is on the way to home, you can:

you can stop and fix the dirt around the bases, even if the coach is yelling RUN! Well he doesn't yell in T-ball, he would be wasting his breath.  The players are in a world of their own, the game isn't their whole world. As a matter of fact if your baby brother wants to come on the field to play in the dirt, so what?

Some times the whole team actually chases the ball:

And sometimes there is something more important spotted in  the dirt than the ball.  May as well check this out since I am down here.

What the heck, I might as well go get my sister and bring her around, no matter if I am up to bat next!

And since you have filled the glove up with dirt, it must be dumped sometime:

But you still get the thrill of rounding third and heading HOME!

Everyone's a winner. Everyone goes around the bases no matter how well the ball is hit.  There are NO OUTS.
Everyone gets a trophy.

Our Great Grand Stella is now 4. Very hard to believe.

But Life isn't like T-ball. Sometimes no matter hard you try, you do not get the trophy. It would be nice in this world if we could be as concerned at the T-ball player.  Just take time to sit down in the dirt and look for that interesting bug or rock (or whatever 8 boys and girls can find) and let the world go on by. 

You know, the T-Ball players are doing the equivalent of 'smelling the roses' for adults. Sometimes we just need to ignore everything and notice how high the tomato plant has climbed, SMILE AT THE BLOOMS and APPRECIATE IT LIFE.

Nite Shipslog

The Edsel, good car, wrong timing.

I'm Just not sure

So many directions to go, I am just not sure which way 'we' want to go. It is getting a little warm down here in the flat lands. Since we do have wheels on our home and we really do need to know if the engine fix DID FIX this dude we need to ride somewhere.

The mountains are the first thing to come to our mind, BUT it is close to the 4th of July and reservations are sometimes hard to locate.  We do miss the time when we first started we NEVER made reservations.  Now the RV world has expanded and lots of folks have realized how freedom feels, if they do not like to be anchored.

Sherry doesn't want to go here!

You probably know what I mean. I have friends and family that are very happy to enjoy the roots they have grown. I do envy the feeling at times. BUT, but there is this built in clock that says, "Time to GO!"  We are obligated for a 'Stella Sitting Day' this week, so we must wait on that.

She doesn't want to go here either.

For a few days now she has taken our walk with us, of course she is riding in a stroller.  She does get out to play in the park we pass and to catch lightening bugs, on what we have dubbed lightening bug alley. She actually put 1.5 miles on her pedometer, while we put 3-5 miles.

Anyway, we are getting ready to go.

Nite Shipslog

PS: BUT BUT why am I looking at a building lot?  Even Sherry seems to be excited by it. It is owned by someone in Georgia, I have put out feelers.  Will let you know.  I have learned with modern technology you no longer must be present for a closing. 

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 The 1938 Corsair above and below the 1938 CAddy

 Can you imagine tooling around in one of these dudes?

Water, how wrong can you be?

Water is an absolute necessity. However problems associated with water are cunning, and problematic. We Easterners get very confused concerning water when traveling in the South West.  Once we were fortunate to attend a Chuckwagon Dinner hosted by the Sons of The Pioneers.  In his monolog the MC said, "YOU might be from Arizona if you do not associate bridges with water!"  We had noticed that was true, seeing many bridges with no water under them.

Once  driving near Ajo (A-ho), AZ I spotted a sign, "Danger no parking, flood Zone".  Imma southern boy, I looked around and saw only sandy dessert and not even a spring or creek, I would have rolled my eyes but I have read a lot of Louis L'amour books and vaguely remembered cattle drives and flash floods.   Also figured no one puts up these signs in the heat for the fun of it.. :-O. 

Water is unpredictable. Just ask someone looking for a leak on a roof.  Or a leak in the plumbing of your house.  It is hard to find the source in many cases. Thank goodness water once again has deceived me. 

This rough drawing is our Cummings diesel engine. It is located under our bed in the rear of the coach. To get to the engine I lift the bed and see the engine.  So a few days ago looking for my engine coolant problem I raised the  bed and at the left side I saw water dripping from a spot between the valve cover (pink) and the Head (orange). I closed the engine compartment and lowered the bed. Considering my options. I made a blog entry about it.
(The engine is mounted with a slant to the front so the water naturally followed the line)

Since the shop is not open on Saturdays and I could not take it back to the mechanic, I told Sherry I need to know more about the leak. I might can re-torque the head bolts or something.

After an hour (looking and working under the bed is very tight, I learned to appreciate the work the mechanics had to do).

In the meantime Friend Hank texts and volunteers to help. As a matter of fact he said, "With God's help, we can fix it."  I thought with that help, how can I lose.  But thanks Hank!! For even thinking about us! 

Using a paper towel to ID hidden water I found water all along the side of the engine (really scaring me, it wasn't just one place, I thought.) I continued along the valve cover (see red arrows) and found to my DELIGHT we had a small 1/4" water line that had deteriorated and cracked. WONDERFUL I thinks!

It was no fun but now I wasn't looking at $2000 but $20 and a few hours of labor to reroute a new hose. Tired but happy, we no longer have water dripping from the engine.

To tell the truth I was dreading moving out of our home again while the work was done, now I don't think that will happen.

Nite Shipslog

PS: What I am trying to say is, water problems are very tricky, this time I was fortunately fooled by the path of water.

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Above the '46 Dodge and  Below, the amazing, resilient Corvette.

The Reverend B.F. Darnell

I don't always pay attention to special days here on the Shipslog.  With Father's Day coming up my sons have already wished me a Happy Father's day.  If they didn't, I would know they meant it.  I tell my wife many times, don't expect cards and calls on every special day from your sons, neither has a 'sweetie' to tell them, "Hey your mother's birthday (etc) is in three days."

You ladies seem to have a special clock that goes off to announce special occasions.  But today it is me, I am thinking of my dad.  The best man I ever knew in every respect. He was the oldest of 9 brothers and 3 sisters. He went to the 3rd grade in formal education and then he started working full time on the family farm in the Red Hill community of North Georgia near Toccoa.

For a few years after the marriage to mama, he was a successful sharecropper, raising peanuts. He dug wells by hand and learned on his own how to handle dynamite.  Neither family, mama's or daddy's were particular religious.

(Dad & Mom early in his ministry, Shelby, NC)

Like the old song Hank Williams sang, my daddy “saw the light." He felt 'a call to preach.' He first associated with the 'Fire-Baptized Holiness' group. Studying every spare moment and working under older ministers, he was self-educated. 

(Dad & Mom on their 50th)

His parents sold their farm and moved to Lowell, NC to work in the cotton mills. Dad and some of his siblings did also.  While working at the Art Cloth He learned of a Bible School with the Church of God. He attended when he could and still hold down his job at Art Cloth.

Dad organized and built the ‘South Gastonia Church of God’. It is still one of the strongest in Western NC.  Dad loved his people.  He became known as a very good pastor. He was not a ‘ladder climber’. Most folk know even in church organizations, politics come into play. When we moved he never took a larger church than he pastored. But when he left it was much larger than when he came.

His life, his dedication instilled in his the three sons and two daughters that lived to maturity, to call him BLESSED. Though he pastored large churches and received good salaries, most of it went back into HIS church. He had no savings and a very small bank account, but at his death hundreds came, church leaders, politicians and HIS people, the cotton mill workers. In death he was RICH, because he was a child of the KING!

Daddy is now on ‘The Other Side’. Shirl and I think of him often.  Out of the family of nine, we are left.

Nite Shipslog

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 Ramblers, dad's car of choice!

I don't like it

No one likes it when they have a bad day.  There are times I do not handle a bad day well.

Today started off as a good day. I had the foresight to order extra A/C Gaskets the last time I replaced them. So I had the gasket on hand.  

As most folk know most RV A/C units are on the roof. To keep them from leaking they have a heavy duty gasket. You can imagine the gasket takes a beating balancing the heavy A/C units over thousands of miles, many of those rough roads. So the gasket was shot.

(I do not know why, but Old barns give me a good feeling)

I have changed about 8 of them over the years so the job was done in a couple hours, along with checking the front A/C unit and tightening it some.  We finished cleaning the stained ceiling from last nights episode. So all is well.  That is until.........

On the trip to and from Florida I had a 'Low Coolant' light show up, I checked both times, yep it was low so I added.  The engine never did get over heated.

(I admire anyone for even thinking about this this building!)

So I finally had time today to look at the engine.  Bad news.  Water is coming from the area all the work was done last month.  Water coming from the head.  Most mechanics, (EVEN THE NOVICE) know, THIS AIN'T GOOD.

So Monday, I must pay Mr. Mechanic a visit to learn my options.

But no matter the outcome, I thought the posted pictures were good.  And things could be much worse, there are wrecks, strokes and heart attacks, and I did not have either.

Nite Shipslog

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Sometimes your just have to get it done!

(Pictures, cars from the 1930's)

You may have heard the long quoted story among men of the married couple in the bed doing what ‘some’ married folk do, when the wife says, “Honey did  you know the ceiling needs painting?”

1934 buick

I have a habit of seeing something that needs fixing, and doing it. Once Sherry and I had just went to bed and she said, “Did you know our ceiling is sagging?”  I looked and sure enough, it was.

I said, “Go get in bed with the boys, I have work to do.”  By 8 the next morning the ceiling was replaced and sheetrock finished ready for painting.

1935 Buick

So, tonight I am saying good night to my sweetie, who is preparing to ‘sleep-read’.  I try always to get back to the bedroom to admire my wife and get some sugar. Many times we will discuss the day or what we plan tomorrow as I sit and enjoy my girl.

1938 Buick

Our Motorhome has two overhead a/c units. One front and the other over the bed. My girl says, “Honey, Oh no, look at the ceiling.” The ceiling fabric was already stained from the water leak (from the A/c) and was on the verge of starting to drip on the bed.  This is really not an unusual occurrence in an RV, but it can be a pain.

1936 Chevy

We carry a wet/vac so I dug it out. Along with some carpet cleaner, and with Sherry in the bed I cleaned the ceiling, well, not just me, I got to enjoy my wife as she cleaned some also. (She did ask was the door locked!).

 I tightened the unit down a little more until I can get on top tomorrow and look at the gasket. We did get the water stains out of the ceiling and all is shipshape for the night.

1937 Ford

Things go bump in the night even in a 330sqft home.

Nite Shipslog

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1934 Packard

We were invited to a Pot Party, so we went

“Good friends are like quilts - they age with you, and yet, they never lose their warmth.”  I read that statement and thought of mama's quilts. I would be willing to bet that I slept under some of the same quilts mama made when my oldest brother was a kid.  I also would bet when she died there was a pan or something she had kept forever.

Every time dad and mom moved, that the old black pot from the back yard went on the trailer. So I got to thinking, what do we (Sherry and I) have that we haven't lost or thrown away in our 60 years of marriage.  Something that has been in our family for decades?

Now in 1974-75 we were invited to a pot party. Miracle Maid, I believe. Anyway we bought a set of pots and still  use them. But that wouldn't be but 41 years.  We do have two cast iron pans we have had a lot longer, but cannot remember how long (I asked Sherry, she usually knows everything and she is not sure how old they are.)

I know folks that have lived in the same house all their lives have older stuff, but we moved a lot.

                                     (Sherry's fan is maroon)

Thinking about it, we do have two articles that have been in Sherry's life MOST of her life, maybe minus 5 years. We have a fan that is also a stool. She said she used to sit on it and spread her dress around it and it was cool.  We also still have her mama's 'cedar chest', I think every family had a cedar chest. That is pretty old.

(This one actually looks like my mama's, Sherry's mom's is blonde)

What is the oldest thing you are holding onto? (Sherry looking at me, just said, "YOU are the oldest thing I am holding onto.” I'm not sure that is fair???)

 Blog entry

Nite Shipslog

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 The Crosley car, a long time before it's time (1940's)

The beautiful Hudson Terreplane (Mid 1930's)

There are times your heart is breaking, and you don't know what to do!

On Monday the 13th, Sherry received a text from one of our favorite families, the text said, "Mom passed away this morning."

(We drove up to Pascagoula to see the damage and deliver some funds to help, Juanita is on the phone back to her family in this picture.)
Mom was Juanita Carter, one of the good guys. A small package of a woman but someone you cannot forget. We met Juanita when we were looking for a church after moving to Florida years ago. We met the fantastic team of Juanita and Wayne Carter.  We hit it off immediately, I did say it is nice to have a pastor who was older than I. LOL

But we came to know and love Juanita. She always had a smile. I remember in one conversation, she said something I will never forget.  She had fought and won the battle over cancer years before.  Our conversation came to folks accepting or denying cancer treatment. Her words were soft but firm, "When the doctor says, 'take the treatment there is the possibility of life', do not take it and it is sure death." She paused for a moment, smiled and said, "When someone says your choice is life or death, you take LIFE!"

(We enjoyed a trip to Mississippi with the Carters in our Overland Motor Home, great traveling companions)
She chose life and was able to continue to be a support and sounding board for her dedicated husband, and a sweet support for many who leaned on her and her husband.

Towards the end, to be honest, we did't know what to do. We wanted to visit, but didn't want to cause her any confusion. You see, that terrible word and mind thief, Alzheimer's had shown up.

(Once we had dinner with one of Juanita's life time friends, they had a ball reminiscing)

She is at rest, in a better place (we say) but as my good friend Sonny said after losing his wife, "I don't care what is said, I want her back!"

I know Debbie, Linda, Diana, Gene and especially Wayne will miss her terribly.  We have reached the age we say goodbye to loved ones we thought would be here forever.

Well, we learn no one will be here forever, but we also learn we will miss them on earth 'forever'. Memories are imprinted, those eyes and that smile hold you captivated.  But we think and sing of a day we will see our loved ones again. My dad once said of Sherry's mom at her funeral, "You miss Susie now, and she loved you, but if you could see her now, you couldn't get her attention, she is seeing things she has only dreamed of."

None of us could get Juanita's attention now, but one day we will. 

A sailor's blessings to our dear friend Juanita:

"Fair winds and following seas as you pass over heaven's waters."

The Wayne Carter Clan is one of the closest knit we have ever known. They will rebound, but talk of 'Gigi' (Juanita to the grands) will remain around for many years to come.

Our love and thoughts go out to a loving family, and mostly to Wayne, the best pastor I ever knew.

Nite Shipslog

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These cars were new when Juanita was born in 1933. Later her husband Wayne would race some of these on dirt tracks, with  Juanita at home praying for his safety. The prayers evidently worked. He lived and turned out pretty good, LOL