Never tell me there's no Santa. I know better cause my Dad was Santa. He, & Mrs. Claus of course, saw to it that I would have so many memorable Christmases that recounting them would be difficult to keep in chronological order .... but I'll try.
My first real memorable Christmas comes to mind because of the Big Santa present. It was blue & white and had training wheels, Ray got a Big Boy version that was blue & white also. It was a rainy Christmas day so we had to ride them under Grandads carport, not a very long ride. I was four. Much latter I learned that Dad er uh Santa had taken the bikes to the hanger on base & refurbished them so they'd be alike (I also think there might have been a blue & white tricycle for Rob but that just might be me rounding out a perfect story). Still can't figure out how they got from Jacksonville FL to Clanton AL. We were traveling in a '51 or so 2 door Chevy at the time 4 kids 6, 4, 3 and 2.
That year we also got these wooden Bull Dogs that you could change the face on you'd lift the back where the ear, nose & mouth changes were kept.
The next one is one Unc has already written of. Fanner Fifties! These were THE BIG items of that year. There was no better brag that year when asked at school after Christmas Break "Wadya Get?!" a Fanner Fifty! It shot real bullets! There were stick on caps for each bullet not a roll. And only one rule that I remember ... "Don't shoot Grandad!" I think this was the year Ray got a printing press & I got a typewriter and we started a News Paper. One issue, maybe 15 words. The typewriter was a bit of a pain & the press & pressman were having issues. Grandad smiled & thought it was great and that was all that mattered to us.
There were always two Christmases. Paw Paws Christmas was always on Christmas Eve. Aunt Eve, Uncle Cliff Betty, Larry & later David always came. Aunt Katty Pat (Kathryn) Uncle Charley, Ann, Carol, Christina and later Cynthia (Cindy) came when they were stationed near (Uncle Charley was AirForce). After a MEGA Meal we got to open all the presents that were from that side of the family. Then we'd go outside & shoot off fireworks! How cool was that? Almost all of Clanton would be out shooting off fireworks. It was as big as the forth of July!
Then off to Mamo & Grandads. More partying! Uncle Bobby & Aunt Nell, Terry, Ben, Mark & later Tim. Aunt Carolyn, Uncle Jimmy and later Jay & Jeff.
To bed to wake early the next morning to the Magic that Mom & Dad er uh Santa & Mrs. Claus worked.
It's late & I gotta do more framing in sub freezing temps in the morning so I'm just gunna post this un finished. I'll get back to it as time allows.
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Sunday, December 05, 2010
Memories of Christmas
It’s Sunday morning and I decided to treat myself to a Jimmy Dean sausage patty and scrambled eggs. As the sausage started to cook I was looking down into our living room at our Christmas tree and was suddenly awash in memories.
That smell wafting through the room took me to my Maw Maw’s in the Mill Village. She’d wake at 4:30, had most of her life to go to work in the Mill, and start cooking breakfast. First thing on was coffee, remember the old percolators with the glass on top? Next were the butter milk biscuits, flour, buttermilk & lard hand kneaded into the melt in your mouth miracle that to this day I can’t equal. Then the sausage, a giant iron skillet packed with fat patties sizzling away, filling that little house with a ‘Come and Get it’ smell that you just couldn't’t sleep through. A dozen or so eggs scrambled and Saw Mill gravy to top it all! Yeow! Took a good hour to eat it all.
Then Paw Paw would get out a clean plate and mix up Paw Paw’s Special Butter. Fresh churned butter that, using a fork, he blended with Ribbon Cane syrup to put on that last flaky biscuit you knew you could squeeze in.
Now days the eggs are bad for my cholesterol so’s the sausage and the lard in the biscuits Oh My! Even though there were no preservatives in the sausage, the eggs were what they now call ‘Free Range’ and the lard hadn’t been hydrogenated.
So I shouldn’t have eaten today's eggs or the sausage & I rarely do but it was worth that trip to the Mill Village, listening to Maw Maw softly singing her favorite hymns while she cooked for her family.
Then there were the lights. There were quite a few in the village that participated in the Christmas Light Race but most of ‘em were just trying to keep up with my Paw Paw. Why before he was allowed to turn them on he had to give the power company a 30 minute warning so they could open another gate at Lay Dam. The race was called off by God, on December 20th 1957. A tornado ripped the roofs off of a great deal of the Mill Village, every one off Paw Paws lights along with the trees they were on, and dropped them east of 31 around the old Dan River warehouse.
That smell wafting through the room took me to my Maw Maw’s in the Mill Village. She’d wake at 4:30, had most of her life to go to work in the Mill, and start cooking breakfast. First thing on was coffee, remember the old percolators with the glass on top? Next were the butter milk biscuits, flour, buttermilk & lard hand kneaded into the melt in your mouth miracle that to this day I can’t equal. Then the sausage, a giant iron skillet packed with fat patties sizzling away, filling that little house with a ‘Come and Get it’ smell that you just couldn't’t sleep through. A dozen or so eggs scrambled and Saw Mill gravy to top it all! Yeow! Took a good hour to eat it all.
Then Paw Paw would get out a clean plate and mix up Paw Paw’s Special Butter. Fresh churned butter that, using a fork, he blended with Ribbon Cane syrup to put on that last flaky biscuit you knew you could squeeze in.
Now days the eggs are bad for my cholesterol so’s the sausage and the lard in the biscuits Oh My! Even though there were no preservatives in the sausage, the eggs were what they now call ‘Free Range’ and the lard hadn’t been hydrogenated.
So I shouldn’t have eaten today's eggs or the sausage & I rarely do but it was worth that trip to the Mill Village, listening to Maw Maw softly singing her favorite hymns while she cooked for her family.
Then there were the lights. There were quite a few in the village that participated in the Christmas Light Race but most of ‘em were just trying to keep up with my Paw Paw. Why before he was allowed to turn them on he had to give the power company a 30 minute warning so they could open another gate at Lay Dam. The race was called off by God, on December 20th 1957. A tornado ripped the roofs off of a great deal of the Mill Village, every one off Paw Paws lights along with the trees they were on, and dropped them east of 31 around the old Dan River warehouse.
Wednesday, December 01, 2010
All They Ever Had
I’ve been reading ‘All They Ever Had’ by Rick Bragg. It’s about Mill life in Northeastern Alabama. His descriptions of the working conditions in the Mill and the people doing the work there are dead on. I know because my people on my fathers side were Mill people and for a year I worked in the Dan River Mill in Clanton.
My great grandfather, Porter King West, lost his right hand in the Mill so did his oldest son my great uncle Raymond. Granpa lost his right hand and Raymond lost his left. One of my first memories is at age three walking up the steps to grandpas house with them sitting on the porch hook to hook. As we, my siblings & cousins, got to the top of the stairs they raised their hooks together and shook them at us. Our squeals and screams set the Aunts on them and as they tried to amend the hook looked as menacing with sweet words as it did with ARGH! I do remember giving into that old mans entreaties and sitting in his lap. I even got up the courage to touch the hook. Latter, after his death, I would cry sometimes thinking how horrible that must have been for him.
My grandfather and grandmother, Maw Maw & Paw Paw, lived in the Mill Village, one house away from the road that ran across the front of the Mill. The front of the Mill was all glass with huge tilt sections that were open most months of the year. The glass was blue & blue green and always was beauty & magic to me. The noise that came from the Mill was not the sound of metal on metal but of the constant unsynchronized movements of the looms, like the roar of a waterfall. Maw Maw was a weaver, a weaver was responsible for keeping several looms running, filling the quill feeder, restarting the loom when it tripped, retying the thread when it broke. Paw Paw was a mechanic, mechanics had to keep the looms working, replacing burnt bearings, worn drive belts.
Paw Paw was proud that his son didn’t ‘go into’ the Mill. My Dad joined the Navy to escape that life. Paw Paw warned me “Get an education boy! Never ‘go into’ the Mill.”
Well after a disastrous first year at Montevallo I needed a job and went ‘into’ the Mill. It was only temporary I told them just until I could get back to school.
OMG! 19 and scared to death. That waterfall roar that had fascinated me as a child now became not just a deafening cacophony but a brutal vibration that came through the floor up my legs meeting the noise in my head somewhere near my heart. It was 93 degrees outside with 90 percent humidity, they were misting water into the air to keep the threads from breaking and the looms were creating their own atmospheric hell.
I didn’t run or cry, although I wanted badly to do both. One reason being I needed the job the other was these people were family, they’d worked beside Maw Maw & Paw Paw.
So I became an oiler. One of the easiest jobs on the floor. They gave Alton, the current oiler one week to train me then moved him to Doffing. Alton had wanted to be a Doffer for years, it paid more, and did his best to see that I knew all of the responsibilities of the job. There were seventeen little oil trays on each loom that I had to wipe the accumulated oil soaked lint from and refill with oil. I had four days to do this to every loom in the mill. I can’t remember today how many looms there were but it took every minute of every day of all four days to get it done. The looms were set back to back in rows with just enough room for the doffer to remove the cloth, the mechanics to make repairs and me to oil the Loom. As I stuck my hand into this Slamming Banging machine to wipe the lint from the tray I kept seeing my great grandpas hook. On the fifth day I had to grease the bearings on one third of the looms on the floor. I had to stop the Loom. To stop the Loom you had to time the action so the shuttle, that was flying back and forth at about one hundred passes a minute, was in the left hand or restarting was a real chore. An improper shut down could send the shuttle flying across the room destroying anything in its path, warp, window, or human. Just a quick description. The shuttle was made from hardwood about fourteen inches long four inches wide and about that tall. It was pointed at both ends with metal tips and hollowed out like an old dugout canoe to accept the quill.
So 5 days after starting I’ve learned to work in Dante’s Inferno while breathing cotton lint in one hundred and 10 percent humidity and see to the lubricating needs of a factory’s worth of Looms. Or so I thought. On Monday of my fourth week while standing in the bathroom smoking a cigarette and trying to listen to sage advice from Alton we heard loud banging noises. Now if you can hear a noise louder than the Looms running something BIG is happening. We looked out to see the first nine Looms on the far row stopped and smoking. The floor manager was quick enough to shut off the main power and saved the rest. Seems that ‘Earl & Zena’s boy’ had missed a major grease fitting on all of the Looms.
Found out latter, after I was ‘out of the Mill’, that they didn’t fire me for the same reason they’d given me the easiest job on the floor, I was ‘Earl & Zena’s boy’. So on Tuesday Alton returned to oiler and I was moved to the graveyard shift running quills to the Weavers.
After returning to school I kept a part time job at the Mill. On Sundays the Mill was closed at 6 AM and I went in to ‘Blow down the Mill’. After a week of running with the misters going and the lint flying it got real dang fuzzy in there. Using compressed air I had to blow all of the lint down from the ceiling, off of the drive shafts and pulleys and the Looms then sweep it up. After working in the violence of that big room being there alone with only the noise of escaping compressed air was spooky. Like there was violence in the floor and air still looking for a victim. I think by mid February I gave the job up, getting to Clanton by 6 AM every Sunday after partying on Saturday night wasn’t working.
I never went ‘back in’, I never gave it much thought until I read ‘All They Ever Had’. If you want to know what a large portion of Alabama’s labor force went through in the first three quarters of the 20th Century get a copy.
I didn’t learn the harder lesson that the Mill should have taught, get an education, but I learned a lot about the people in that Mill and what they went through to ‘just get by’. I also learned that they not only tolerated me and cared about me because I was ‘Earl & Zena’s boy” but because I was ‘in the Mill’ just like they were. No better, no worse. proud to be working.
My great grandfather, Porter King West, lost his right hand in the Mill so did his oldest son my great uncle Raymond. Granpa lost his right hand and Raymond lost his left. One of my first memories is at age three walking up the steps to grandpas house with them sitting on the porch hook to hook. As we, my siblings & cousins, got to the top of the stairs they raised their hooks together and shook them at us. Our squeals and screams set the Aunts on them and as they tried to amend the hook looked as menacing with sweet words as it did with ARGH! I do remember giving into that old mans entreaties and sitting in his lap. I even got up the courage to touch the hook. Latter, after his death, I would cry sometimes thinking how horrible that must have been for him.
My grandfather and grandmother, Maw Maw & Paw Paw, lived in the Mill Village, one house away from the road that ran across the front of the Mill. The front of the Mill was all glass with huge tilt sections that were open most months of the year. The glass was blue & blue green and always was beauty & magic to me. The noise that came from the Mill was not the sound of metal on metal but of the constant unsynchronized movements of the looms, like the roar of a waterfall. Maw Maw was a weaver, a weaver was responsible for keeping several looms running, filling the quill feeder, restarting the loom when it tripped, retying the thread when it broke. Paw Paw was a mechanic, mechanics had to keep the looms working, replacing burnt bearings, worn drive belts.
Paw Paw was proud that his son didn’t ‘go into’ the Mill. My Dad joined the Navy to escape that life. Paw Paw warned me “Get an education boy! Never ‘go into’ the Mill.”
Well after a disastrous first year at Montevallo I needed a job and went ‘into’ the Mill. It was only temporary I told them just until I could get back to school.
OMG! 19 and scared to death. That waterfall roar that had fascinated me as a child now became not just a deafening cacophony but a brutal vibration that came through the floor up my legs meeting the noise in my head somewhere near my heart. It was 93 degrees outside with 90 percent humidity, they were misting water into the air to keep the threads from breaking and the looms were creating their own atmospheric hell.
I didn’t run or cry, although I wanted badly to do both. One reason being I needed the job the other was these people were family, they’d worked beside Maw Maw & Paw Paw.
So I became an oiler. One of the easiest jobs on the floor. They gave Alton, the current oiler one week to train me then moved him to Doffing. Alton had wanted to be a Doffer for years, it paid more, and did his best to see that I knew all of the responsibilities of the job. There were seventeen little oil trays on each loom that I had to wipe the accumulated oil soaked lint from and refill with oil. I had four days to do this to every loom in the mill. I can’t remember today how many looms there were but it took every minute of every day of all four days to get it done. The looms were set back to back in rows with just enough room for the doffer to remove the cloth, the mechanics to make repairs and me to oil the Loom. As I stuck my hand into this Slamming Banging machine to wipe the lint from the tray I kept seeing my great grandpas hook. On the fifth day I had to grease the bearings on one third of the looms on the floor. I had to stop the Loom. To stop the Loom you had to time the action so the shuttle, that was flying back and forth at about one hundred passes a minute, was in the left hand or restarting was a real chore. An improper shut down could send the shuttle flying across the room destroying anything in its path, warp, window, or human. Just a quick description. The shuttle was made from hardwood about fourteen inches long four inches wide and about that tall. It was pointed at both ends with metal tips and hollowed out like an old dugout canoe to accept the quill.
So 5 days after starting I’ve learned to work in Dante’s Inferno while breathing cotton lint in one hundred and 10 percent humidity and see to the lubricating needs of a factory’s worth of Looms. Or so I thought. On Monday of my fourth week while standing in the bathroom smoking a cigarette and trying to listen to sage advice from Alton we heard loud banging noises. Now if you can hear a noise louder than the Looms running something BIG is happening. We looked out to see the first nine Looms on the far row stopped and smoking. The floor manager was quick enough to shut off the main power and saved the rest. Seems that ‘Earl & Zena’s boy’ had missed a major grease fitting on all of the Looms.
Found out latter, after I was ‘out of the Mill’, that they didn’t fire me for the same reason they’d given me the easiest job on the floor, I was ‘Earl & Zena’s boy’. So on Tuesday Alton returned to oiler and I was moved to the graveyard shift running quills to the Weavers.
After returning to school I kept a part time job at the Mill. On Sundays the Mill was closed at 6 AM and I went in to ‘Blow down the Mill’. After a week of running with the misters going and the lint flying it got real dang fuzzy in there. Using compressed air I had to blow all of the lint down from the ceiling, off of the drive shafts and pulleys and the Looms then sweep it up. After working in the violence of that big room being there alone with only the noise of escaping compressed air was spooky. Like there was violence in the floor and air still looking for a victim. I think by mid February I gave the job up, getting to Clanton by 6 AM every Sunday after partying on Saturday night wasn’t working.
I never went ‘back in’, I never gave it much thought until I read ‘All They Ever Had’. If you want to know what a large portion of Alabama’s labor force went through in the first three quarters of the 20th Century get a copy.
I didn’t learn the harder lesson that the Mill should have taught, get an education, but I learned a lot about the people in that Mill and what they went through to ‘just get by’. I also learned that they not only tolerated me and cared about me because I was ‘Earl & Zena’s boy” but because I was ‘in the Mill’ just like they were. No better, no worse. proud to be working.
Wednesday, October 27, 2010
Construction
This might just go all over the place but it's my Blog and is rarely read by others so I'll use it as intended.....release.
I have a rather romanticized view of my profession. I consider those that I deal with in my trade as fair minded, honest & reliable people. But reality bites ones butt occasionally.
I've been trying to get a job off the ground for over four months now. Just getting prices has been a nightmare. Excavator contractors promising to give bids but never calling back was the first hurdle. Then after a set of figures were presented Deed issues that had to be clarified caused a time issue that called for the excavator to pull out of the project. While scurrying around to find a replacement my customer agreed to a 'Ball Park Bid' that allowed me to hire a tree removal company to proceed with clearing the area that the addition would occupy.
And then true agony and frustration sets in. The tree removal contractor I hired, he was paid half of the $2,000 bid and was supposed to finish 3 days after starting, started the job & j u s t l e t i t d r a g o n. OMG! after three weeks, with repeated phone calls and unanswered messages I hired someone else to complete his job. I had lined up an excavator to start digging the week after the tree guy started. He backed out of the project because he couldn't stay idle waiting for the tree guy to finish.
It was one of the hardest things I'd done. One of the reasons I'm a good carpenter but not a very good General Contractor is I see the other guy as honest and therefore in trouble if he doesn't perform on schedule.
So I hire an excavator that agrees to remove the trees & dig the hole. He starts working the next day, a Friday & returns on Saturday to work more. On Monday while he's digging away the tree removal guy shows up. Not with a crew to finish the job but with a bill for $750. He claims that removing the trees he'd cut down was only worth $250. This guy has Balls! Hang me out for three weeks leave me wondering when I might get to bring in an excavator and then tell me what it cost to finish his job! ARGH!! I told him the balance of his estimate had been paid to someone else to finish the job. Well that seemed to upset him something terrible. He was using language that I'll not even attempt to describe with #!@*'s. He also be came physical to the point that I thought I was going to have to dial 911.
So he rants off with threats of suit and liens, neither of which he can persue because there was no contract, and I now have concrete blocks being laid for my crawlspace foundation.
Three days ago I get a letter from his daughter-in-law who's a lawyer in Delaware claiming dire legal consequences if I don't pay the $750 to this Butthead. Now I get real upset when threatened. Especially when I was wronged and there is no grounds to back up the threat. In PA if there's no contract there is no legal recourse. You can't sue, you can't put a lien on the property you can't nothing. So I'm ready to tear this little snotty lawyer a new one when my customer calls. Seems he also received the letter and wants me to settle even after I explain that the Butthead has no legal or moral ground to his claim. So customers are always right and I had to write a counter offer to Buttheads daughter-in-law lawyer. Took seven versions to get all of the inflammatory stuff out of my first draft ;~)
So now I wait to see if the offer of $400, the customers suggested amount, is accepted. Knowing lawyers & this Butthead they'll come back with something higher at which time my offer drops to $350. And so on and on and on.
At least my foundation was started and only lacks one day to complete. It's raining today & will be tomorrow which means Monday ............
I have a rather romanticized view of my profession. I consider those that I deal with in my trade as fair minded, honest & reliable people. But reality bites ones butt occasionally.
I've been trying to get a job off the ground for over four months now. Just getting prices has been a nightmare. Excavator contractors promising to give bids but never calling back was the first hurdle. Then after a set of figures were presented Deed issues that had to be clarified caused a time issue that called for the excavator to pull out of the project. While scurrying around to find a replacement my customer agreed to a 'Ball Park Bid' that allowed me to hire a tree removal company to proceed with clearing the area that the addition would occupy.
And then true agony and frustration sets in. The tree removal contractor I hired, he was paid half of the $2,000 bid and was supposed to finish 3 days after starting, started the job & j u s t l e t i t d r a g o n. OMG! after three weeks, with repeated phone calls and unanswered messages I hired someone else to complete his job. I had lined up an excavator to start digging the week after the tree guy started. He backed out of the project because he couldn't stay idle waiting for the tree guy to finish.
It was one of the hardest things I'd done. One of the reasons I'm a good carpenter but not a very good General Contractor is I see the other guy as honest and therefore in trouble if he doesn't perform on schedule.
So I hire an excavator that agrees to remove the trees & dig the hole. He starts working the next day, a Friday & returns on Saturday to work more. On Monday while he's digging away the tree removal guy shows up. Not with a crew to finish the job but with a bill for $750. He claims that removing the trees he'd cut down was only worth $250. This guy has Balls! Hang me out for three weeks leave me wondering when I might get to bring in an excavator and then tell me what it cost to finish his job! ARGH!! I told him the balance of his estimate had been paid to someone else to finish the job. Well that seemed to upset him something terrible. He was using language that I'll not even attempt to describe with #!@*'s. He also be came physical to the point that I thought I was going to have to dial 911.
So he rants off with threats of suit and liens, neither of which he can persue because there was no contract, and I now have concrete blocks being laid for my crawlspace foundation.
Three days ago I get a letter from his daughter-in-law who's a lawyer in Delaware claiming dire legal consequences if I don't pay the $750 to this Butthead. Now I get real upset when threatened. Especially when I was wronged and there is no grounds to back up the threat. In PA if there's no contract there is no legal recourse. You can't sue, you can't put a lien on the property you can't nothing. So I'm ready to tear this little snotty lawyer a new one when my customer calls. Seems he also received the letter and wants me to settle even after I explain that the Butthead has no legal or moral ground to his claim. So customers are always right and I had to write a counter offer to Buttheads daughter-in-law lawyer. Took seven versions to get all of the inflammatory stuff out of my first draft ;~)
So now I wait to see if the offer of $400, the customers suggested amount, is accepted. Knowing lawyers & this Butthead they'll come back with something higher at which time my offer drops to $350. And so on and on and on.
At least my foundation was started and only lacks one day to complete. It's raining today & will be tomorrow which means Monday ............
Friday, September 10, 2010
Buna Lois Bertie Garner
I've been blessed in knowing several truly 'good' women in my life but Aunt Buna was special. Whenever I was with her she made me feel like I was the only child in her heart. Now I know that she made many feel that way, it was one of her gifts, but I'll allow myself to believe it was only me.
She laughed all the time, not a great guffaw but a melodic chuckle, and praised the works of her family & friends and the blessings bestowed upon her by her Lord & Savior. She saw almost everything as a blessing and was eager to share them with you.
Buna lived by herself after Uncle Jimmy passed away in May of 1981 in the house at Macedonia that her father-in-law built at the turn of the Century. She never learned to drive and relied on friends & family for transportation. She reluctantly agreed to a move to the nursing home in Clanton just a few years ago when she could no longer hobble about her home and care for herself.
Yesterday, while unknown to me she lay dying, I was trying to recount how many great Aunts & Uncles I had. 22 not counting their spouses. I remember almost all of them but I'll never forget Aunt Buna and how she said "Rickey" with a beaming smile.
Rest in Peace sweetheart! You've gone to the reward you've prepared for all of your life. Say hey to the family for me. Love You!
No Zip today
Wednesday, September 08, 2010
Ruby!
Ah Ruby. It was a true experience knowing Ruby. Ruby was my Aunt Carolyn's mother-in-law but Ruby knew me and my family before that connection was made. Ruby worked in the Dan River Cotton mill with my grandparents. I don't remember any actual conversations but I don't think my grandmother cared for Ruby much. Ruby was .... Flamboyant...yep that'll do. Her hair was piled high, her skirts were tight and her make up was plentiful. And she just loved to spoil the shit out of me and my sibs. She was married to Hal a retired Air Force guy. He was uncle Jimmies step dad.
One time we were traveling from Memphis to Clanton and somehow Ruby & Hal were traveling the same way. I was asked if I wanted to ride with Ruby & Hal. Are you kid'n? The trip with Mom & Dad would be the usual, a stop for gas and a bathroom break some water & then on the road again. With Ruby the opportunities were endless. There would be at least be one if not two stops where a soda & some candy would be offered. And to top it off Hal's car had the head of an Indian on the front that glowed orange at night.
As the years came and went Ruby never altered her basic costume or make up. Well maybe the make up by adding to it ;~). She always made a fuss over me and that goes a long way with this guy.
Miss you Ruby! You too Hal.
Zipidee
One time we were traveling from Memphis to Clanton and somehow Ruby & Hal were traveling the same way. I was asked if I wanted to ride with Ruby & Hal. Are you kid'n? The trip with Mom & Dad would be the usual, a stop for gas and a bathroom break some water & then on the road again. With Ruby the opportunities were endless. There would be at least be one if not two stops where a soda & some candy would be offered. And to top it off Hal's car had the head of an Indian on the front that glowed orange at night.
As the years came and went Ruby never altered her basic costume or make up. Well maybe the make up by adding to it ;~). She always made a fuss over me and that goes a long way with this guy.
Miss you Ruby! You too Hal.
Zipidee
Saturday, July 24, 2010
Mo!
Well just a quick bitch about deregulation then on to other things. Not really in a rant mood right now and if I rant too long it might put me in one so....
So last rant was banking deregulation so this one is about oil drilling & gas drilling regulation. WE NEED MORE!
Said it would be short. Working on getting a two story 18'X20' addition started. Been difficult getting a price from an excavator. It's going to be difficult to do but all I'm asking is "How much money?" I can't just go with "Dig it then bill me".
This job will be enough to keep us from going under next winter and make a Christmas trip to 'Bama possible. YeeHa!
So last rant was banking deregulation so this one is about oil drilling & gas drilling regulation. WE NEED MORE!
Said it would be short. Working on getting a two story 18'X20' addition started. Been difficult getting a price from an excavator. It's going to be difficult to do but all I'm asking is "How much money?" I can't just go with "Dig it then bill me".
This job will be enough to keep us from going under next winter and make a Christmas trip to 'Bama possible. YeeHa!
Friday, April 16, 2010
Regulation
I hear the Harpies Screeching daily about how the government needs to get out of their lives and let ---what? -- Big Business rule?
What example can they give that supports a reason for not regulating our economy & businesses? None!
It’s worth remembering that between the 1930s and the 1980s, there weren’t any really big financial bailouts, because strong regulation kept most banks out of trouble. It was only with Reagan-era deregulation that big bank disasters re-emerged. In fact, relative to the size of the economy, the taxpayer costs of the savings and loan disaster, which unfolded in the Reagan years, were much higher than anything likely to happen under President Obama.
To understand what’s really at stake right now, watch the looming fight over derivatives, the complex financial instruments Warren Buffett famously described as “financial weapons of mass destruction.” The Obama administration wants tighter regulation of derivatives, while Republicans are opposed. And that tells you everything you need to know.
What example can they give that supports a reason for not regulating our economy & businesses? None!
It’s worth remembering that between the 1930s and the 1980s, there weren’t any really big financial bailouts, because strong regulation kept most banks out of trouble. It was only with Reagan-era deregulation that big bank disasters re-emerged. In fact, relative to the size of the economy, the taxpayer costs of the savings and loan disaster, which unfolded in the Reagan years, were much higher than anything likely to happen under President Obama.
To understand what’s really at stake right now, watch the looming fight over derivatives, the complex financial instruments Warren Buffett famously described as “financial weapons of mass destruction.” The Obama administration wants tighter regulation of derivatives, while Republicans are opposed. And that tells you everything you need to know.
Friday, February 19, 2010
*#@**#@@@!!!
I can't put in words how ANGRY I am with my government. It deregulated banking, it let the insurance industry, the health care industry & the oil industry dictate policies that have thrown me & hundreds of thousands out of work.
After stealing my livelihood the BASTARDS have the BALLS to pass out obscene bonuses for a job well done!
Getting rich wasn't a goal I set when I started my life. Having a good family, loving, caring, honest, one like my parents had, was my goal. I have that. But now at 59 years RICH FAT BUSINESS BASTARDS have made it so that while they lay about at the beach I sit at home waiting for .....
I do see the need for revolution and revolution needn't foster violence or rely on it to reach it's goals and I steadfastly REFUSE to ally myself with Homophobic Racist no matter how similar the goals might be.
Venting here really doesn't get it all out though it does some, but seems that FB isn't considered the place to post it, or so I'm told ;~)
Zipidee
After stealing my livelihood the BASTARDS have the BALLS to pass out obscene bonuses for a job well done!
Getting rich wasn't a goal I set when I started my life. Having a good family, loving, caring, honest, one like my parents had, was my goal. I have that. But now at 59 years RICH FAT BUSINESS BASTARDS have made it so that while they lay about at the beach I sit at home waiting for .....
I do see the need for revolution and revolution needn't foster violence or rely on it to reach it's goals and I steadfastly REFUSE to ally myself with Homophobic Racist no matter how similar the goals might be.
Venting here really doesn't get it all out though it does some, but seems that FB isn't considered the place to post it, or so I'm told ;~)
Zipidee
Tuesday, February 09, 2010
And then
We bring up 'If it's ok for them to do it it's ok for us to do it. What? third grade playground ethics now? It's not ok for Franks to do it or Shelby for that matter.
If we don't put this States & Region crap behind us a start acting like the Union we're suposed to be we will become a third world country.
The same things are wrong in the state I live in that are wrong with the state you live in. Yes we each have a few unique wrongs but for the most part we're the same. Only concerted effort to correct all of the wrongs will set us on a path to progress. Continuing to justify wrong actions by previous wrong actions is infantile.
If we don't put this States & Region crap behind us a start acting like the Union we're suposed to be we will become a third world country.
The same things are wrong in the state I live in that are wrong with the state you live in. Yes we each have a few unique wrongs but for the most part we're the same. Only concerted effort to correct all of the wrongs will set us on a path to progress. Continuing to justify wrong actions by previous wrong actions is infantile.
Monday, February 08, 2010
Put up yer Dukes!
Seems ole Unc thinks that posting an opinion on a certain social networking tool is an invitation to a fisticuffs. Not so. Merely a statement of opinion. You're entitled as am I.
I, unlike Unc, love to talk politics. The fair exchange of ideas is bread & wine to me. I learn a lot in discourse. If I had the answers I wouldn't be sitting here bloggin, I'd be telling the world. So share with me your thoughts, if I find them persuasive I might make them a part of my belief, if not you've lost nothing.
The issue that I have with those I named on FB is their source for their stated subject. One of them says something that not only can't be substantiated but can often be repudiated. It is then repeated by the others and when the original is asked for a source of his facts quotes one of those that merely repeated his original calumny.
I find this from those mentioned far too often. I look for it on CNN, NBC, MSNBC, CBS and ABC but have yet to find one instance where the source was a past report by a fellow reporter.
You don't know how I pray for a grass roots uprising that will take back our government and restore my vote. This 'Tea Bag'thing was, in the beginning, an answer to that prayer. Until it was co opted by Far Right Republicans, Racist Homophobes and Wack Jobs. Sarah Palin as the 'Light that Leads'!? Oh My God. If that's the best they can come up with I not only want nothing to do with them but laugh at their lack of intelligence in their choice. Is there no Newt out there? Is there no truth to be used? Do they have to use fear, ignorance & libel to advance their cause?
Zipidee wishes he could be more concise ;~)
I, unlike Unc, love to talk politics. The fair exchange of ideas is bread & wine to me. I learn a lot in discourse. If I had the answers I wouldn't be sitting here bloggin, I'd be telling the world. So share with me your thoughts, if I find them persuasive I might make them a part of my belief, if not you've lost nothing.
The issue that I have with those I named on FB is their source for their stated subject. One of them says something that not only can't be substantiated but can often be repudiated. It is then repeated by the others and when the original is asked for a source of his facts quotes one of those that merely repeated his original calumny.
I find this from those mentioned far too often. I look for it on CNN, NBC, MSNBC, CBS and ABC but have yet to find one instance where the source was a past report by a fellow reporter.
You don't know how I pray for a grass roots uprising that will take back our government and restore my vote. This 'Tea Bag'thing was, in the beginning, an answer to that prayer. Until it was co opted by Far Right Republicans, Racist Homophobes and Wack Jobs. Sarah Palin as the 'Light that Leads'!? Oh My God. If that's the best they can come up with I not only want nothing to do with them but laugh at their lack of intelligence in their choice. Is there no Newt out there? Is there no truth to be used? Do they have to use fear, ignorance & libel to advance their cause?
Zipidee wishes he could be more concise ;~)
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