Like how was my Christmas? Oh man it was like BIG man I got this M3p player thingy man like with 2 Gigs man! Like how big is that? Man uh no man like really how big IS that ? I want to know how many albums I can put on it man. I looked on all of my vinyl but none of them had any Gigs and I looked at everyone of my 500 CD’s man same result. A Gig used to be a job man but if that's what they're talking about man I've had 5 year jobs and 5 minute jobs so I'm still not sure how many albums man ya know what I mean man? I mean like I know you should keep up with current terms man but couldn't they just say "This little thingy holds 10 CD's" or "this medium thingy holds 20 CD's" or This BIG SOB holds all of your CD's". Maybe they don't know what a Gig is man... Kinda like a Bazzilion Dollars man .... just a new way to say a lot man...but why'd you want to say 2 a lot man....
My son said just put them on, he says it’ll be like my own radio station man!
Wow now there’s POWER man like a Radio Station man able to influence others …Far Out Man! But man that’s a lot of responsibility man … big load …Maybe I should be careful of content man I wouldn’t want to do any harm to the public you know …man … I’d have to be responsible to the audience man …. What son? I’m the audience? Oh! Well …uh .. more reason for caution man you should be responsible to yourself ya know? 'Cause you know a mind is a terrible thing.. uh well ... Waste is like ... So you shouldn't like .. Did I tell you I got this M3p thingy for Christmas Man?
Monday, January 10, 2011
Tuesday, December 14, 2010
Ah Dad, That you made my Christmas.
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.
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.
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 ;~)
Friday, November 13, 2009
Such a place
There's a place in my mind where every thing's fine,
I go there as much as I can.
Then something pops up that brings me about,
Lord knows it's such a distraction.
It used to be things full of wonder & glee
but more often than not now just upsetting.
The world as it is, such a wonder to see,
being picked apart by TV.
There's the 'Left' & the 'Right' and a 'Middle they say,
but all just divisions of 'US'.
They use ugly names all sides do the same,
I think I'll head back to my place
I go there as much as I can.
Then something pops up that brings me about,
Lord knows it's such a distraction.
It used to be things full of wonder & glee
but more often than not now just upsetting.
The world as it is, such a wonder to see,
being picked apart by TV.
There's the 'Left' & the 'Right' and a 'Middle they say,
but all just divisions of 'US'.
They use ugly names all sides do the same,
I think I'll head back to my place
Sunday, November 08, 2009
Excited distress. Now there's a combination.
I always get excited about going into NYC. There's an electric charge, that I'm sure is created by me for me, whenever I go 'in'.
I live in a rather rural setting, for the northeast that is. Not the 5,000 sq/mi solitude of Verbena but isolation just the same. To go into the Megalopolis of NYC in just 2 hrs of travel from our seclusion still thrills me.
But there is also the distress. Driving closer to the flame creates a tension that's only released by driving away.
So Tuesdays trip 'in' to attend the Memorial services of a dear departed college friend is fraught with anticipation, stress, excitement & remorse.
So many feelings -- Life is grand!
I always get excited about going into NYC. There's an electric charge, that I'm sure is created by me for me, whenever I go 'in'.
I live in a rather rural setting, for the northeast that is. Not the 5,000 sq/mi solitude of Verbena but isolation just the same. To go into the Megalopolis of NYC in just 2 hrs of travel from our seclusion still thrills me.
But there is also the distress. Driving closer to the flame creates a tension that's only released by driving away.
So Tuesdays trip 'in' to attend the Memorial services of a dear departed college friend is fraught with anticipation, stress, excitement & remorse.
So many feelings -- Life is grand!
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
DAMN!
All I want is some work. If it was up to me those Bas*#@*! that stole our economy would have to pay back every cent & go to jail. They're at the beach & we're at the breach.
It's comin folks! Be careful & beware.
It's comin folks! Be careful & beware.
Thursday, October 15, 2009
Health Deform
I tried to start a discussion on FB about Healthcare Reform and got one rant from a Libertarian friend who thinks anything done by the government is a screw up. Although her Mom's on Medicare, She teaches at a school that is government subsidized and uses the interstate road system to get from one place to another she thinks that any government program leads to Socialism.
I'm not a proponent of any particular reform, hell I'm a carpenter,but there's gotta be some smart people out there that don't have an agenda of their own that can come up with some ideas.
Guess I have to take that back 'cause there is one thing that might save some money & improve your healthcare. Get rid of the insurance companies. Here's an industry that started out as a gambling tool in a bar in in London back in the 1500's. It was Loyds. They put their money up hoping that "their ship would come in". They've even retained certain terms, 'spread the risk' comes to mind, that attest to their beginnings.
When we decided to start a family we looked into getting insurance and found that by not being in a large group our premiums were going to be more than we could afford. So we lived without insurance. My income level made our children eligible for coverage subsidized by our County Assistance (Socialism).
But I do belong to a large group. The largest group in this country. I'm a citizen, got a SS# to prove it but if all of us citizens had the same policy provider then all of tose agents & CEO's wouldn't be living a better life than I can afford.
I just can't believe it's so difficult to work out & I know it's not. There are two big problems and they have no real connection with the mechanics of the cure.
Number one is Lobbyist. The Healthcare Industry has spent $380 million dollars so far in Washington to defeat healthcare reform. That's about $1.75 per citizen 18 & over. Over a million of it went to the Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus.
Number two is our Senators & Representatives have insurance that can't be canceled paid for by you and me that'll just about cover a full body transplant with no deductible for THE REST OF THEIR LIVES! Take it away. Make them buy a policy for them & their children and you'll see reform the next day. If the Healthcare Industry was taking money out of their pockets instead of putting it in their pockets this topic would never have come up.
So that cures that! Now for Social Security! Whoa! Socialism. Touchy subject. Same cure though.
Interesting that the major hurdle we citizens have to get over to improve our lives are the people we send to Washington to see that our lives are improved. Hmmmmmmm
MAN THE BARRICADES!!!!!!
Zipidee is Flippin Out!!!
I'm not a proponent of any particular reform, hell I'm a carpenter,but there's gotta be some smart people out there that don't have an agenda of their own that can come up with some ideas.
Guess I have to take that back 'cause there is one thing that might save some money & improve your healthcare. Get rid of the insurance companies. Here's an industry that started out as a gambling tool in a bar in in London back in the 1500's. It was Loyds. They put their money up hoping that "their ship would come in". They've even retained certain terms, 'spread the risk' comes to mind, that attest to their beginnings.
When we decided to start a family we looked into getting insurance and found that by not being in a large group our premiums were going to be more than we could afford. So we lived without insurance. My income level made our children eligible for coverage subsidized by our County Assistance (Socialism).
But I do belong to a large group. The largest group in this country. I'm a citizen, got a SS# to prove it but if all of us citizens had the same policy provider then all of tose agents & CEO's wouldn't be living a better life than I can afford.
I just can't believe it's so difficult to work out & I know it's not. There are two big problems and they have no real connection with the mechanics of the cure.
Number one is Lobbyist. The Healthcare Industry has spent $380 million dollars so far in Washington to defeat healthcare reform. That's about $1.75 per citizen 18 & over. Over a million of it went to the Senate Finance Committee Chairman Baucus.
Number two is our Senators & Representatives have insurance that can't be canceled paid for by you and me that'll just about cover a full body transplant with no deductible for THE REST OF THEIR LIVES! Take it away. Make them buy a policy for them & their children and you'll see reform the next day. If the Healthcare Industry was taking money out of their pockets instead of putting it in their pockets this topic would never have come up.
So that cures that! Now for Social Security! Whoa! Socialism. Touchy subject. Same cure though.
Interesting that the major hurdle we citizens have to get over to improve our lives are the people we send to Washington to see that our lives are improved. Hmmmmmmm
MAN THE BARRICADES!!!!!!
Zipidee is Flippin Out!!!
Monday, October 12, 2009
Mo Mems
In Brunswick on Emanuel Drive the curbs were curved instead of squared. This allowed us to approach them from the street at an angle and jump onto the sidewalk. We would spend quite a bit of time in this endeavor.
Once Rob was using Rays bike. It had a very large basket on the front. Rob comes racing down the road (speed = distance) launches up the curb pulling back on the handle bars (speed + lift = more distance). As he and the rest of the bike lift to great heights the front tire remains firmly in touch with Terra Firma. As gravity acts & Rob, with bike, returns to the sidewalk sans tire the bike stops but not Rob. He skids across the sidewalk on his face. He winds up with a scab under his nose for several weeks. With his blond hair and little square 'Mustache' he was often nominated to play Hitler in our Nazi bashing wars.
Yes we were very into WWII. Here's why. For ever we'd played Cowboys & Indians then we saw "The Guns of Navarone". Gregory Peck, David Niven & Anthony Quinn whooping Nazi's like no tomorrow!
This accident may have been the reason for him getting a chrome 3 speed bike for Christmas.
Once Rob was using Rays bike. It had a very large basket on the front. Rob comes racing down the road (speed = distance) launches up the curb pulling back on the handle bars (speed + lift = more distance). As he and the rest of the bike lift to great heights the front tire remains firmly in touch with Terra Firma. As gravity acts & Rob, with bike, returns to the sidewalk sans tire the bike stops but not Rob. He skids across the sidewalk on his face. He winds up with a scab under his nose for several weeks. With his blond hair and little square 'Mustache' he was often nominated to play Hitler in our Nazi bashing wars.
Yes we were very into WWII. Here's why. For ever we'd played Cowboys & Indians then we saw "The Guns of Navarone". Gregory Peck, David Niven & Anthony Quinn whooping Nazi's like no tomorrow!
This accident may have been the reason for him getting a chrome 3 speed bike for Christmas.
Thursday, October 08, 2009
Blogin
Seems like only yesterday I was talked into starting a blog. It was where we would all share stories, hopes, rants, ideas. Now it's a place I go to talk to a wall. OOOOOW There's a FB phrase. Now I FB with everyone else but there's no room or audience for stories, hopes, rants, ideas on FB.
Peachy puts up pics of Tucker and I really appreciate that but the rest are MIA or should I say MIFB ;~)
OK no more bitchin! Now there's a story!
In '67 we moved from Southern California to Central Alabama. Culture shock beyond anything you can imagine. Hippies and Surf Bums to Buba and Birmingham. They were still rolling up the fire hoses. Civil Rights was a newspaper headline not something practiced in Montevallo.
As a 'Navy Brat' moving every 2 years the first thing you did at a new Station was find a best friend. We'd only been civilians for 2 years but the family habit of bi-annual migration wasn't over. Anyhow I looked out my back door and there was Billy 'Bones' White working on his car in front of his garage. It was after dark and there was one of those large round shades with a light bulb under it suspended from an arm attached to the gable above the two hinged doors that almost wouldn't close due to the slight right tilt of the building.We were best friends from that day until graduation. I went to college Billy went to work.
For the few short days (weeks?) before school started Billy tried to help me adjust to the new surroundings. One day while walking down the main street of town, which was only a block from our homes, Jimmy Brown stepped out of a store in front of us. Billy introduced us and in conversation I learned that Jimmy was Co-Captain of the football team. His first question was ' You gunna play?' This question was repeated by any and every person I met, no matter there gender or age. It was my first realization of how much football was a part of the southern creed. My answer was 'No', to Jimmy at that time and to all others later. Our conversation wained and the three of us continued down the sidewalk. Across the street a very pretty blond stepped out of a store, she smiled and waved, we waved back and i said "Now there's one Bitchin Babe". BAM! next thing I know Billy is helping me up while trying to keep Jimmy from hitting me again. "Hey what was that for?" Jimmy, "You just called Trish Baker a bitch and I'm gonna teach you to watch your mouth!" "Wait! Hold on! Where I come from Bitchin is as good as it gets. I was just saying how fine she looked." Jimmy, "Well you better find a better way of sayin it."
It's amazing how fast you can change your vocabulary :~)
Peachy puts up pics of Tucker and I really appreciate that but the rest are MIA or should I say MIFB ;~)
OK no more bitchin! Now there's a story!
In '67 we moved from Southern California to Central Alabama. Culture shock beyond anything you can imagine. Hippies and Surf Bums to Buba and Birmingham. They were still rolling up the fire hoses. Civil Rights was a newspaper headline not something practiced in Montevallo.
As a 'Navy Brat' moving every 2 years the first thing you did at a new Station was find a best friend. We'd only been civilians for 2 years but the family habit of bi-annual migration wasn't over. Anyhow I looked out my back door and there was Billy 'Bones' White working on his car in front of his garage. It was after dark and there was one of those large round shades with a light bulb under it suspended from an arm attached to the gable above the two hinged doors that almost wouldn't close due to the slight right tilt of the building.We were best friends from that day until graduation. I went to college Billy went to work.
For the few short days (weeks?) before school started Billy tried to help me adjust to the new surroundings. One day while walking down the main street of town, which was only a block from our homes, Jimmy Brown stepped out of a store in front of us. Billy introduced us and in conversation I learned that Jimmy was Co-Captain of the football team. His first question was ' You gunna play?' This question was repeated by any and every person I met, no matter there gender or age. It was my first realization of how much football was a part of the southern creed. My answer was 'No', to Jimmy at that time and to all others later. Our conversation wained and the three of us continued down the sidewalk. Across the street a very pretty blond stepped out of a store, she smiled and waved, we waved back and i said "Now there's one Bitchin Babe". BAM! next thing I know Billy is helping me up while trying to keep Jimmy from hitting me again. "Hey what was that for?" Jimmy, "You just called Trish Baker a bitch and I'm gonna teach you to watch your mouth!" "Wait! Hold on! Where I come from Bitchin is as good as it gets. I was just saying how fine she looked." Jimmy, "Well you better find a better way of sayin it."
It's amazing how fast you can change your vocabulary :~)
Saturday, October 03, 2009
Platitudes
I've been using that word wrong forever.
Platitude n. A trite or banal remark or statement, especially one expressed as if it were original or significant.
So what word should I use for sayings by famous people applied to situations by others suposedly to instruct the young. HMMMMMMM
Ah a story to enlighten.
In Brunswick Maine, our second time there, we lived in Base Housing. This was a little confusing because the Base was on the other side of town but still Base Housing. Everyone in that neighborhood was military of varying rank.We all walked to the same school, played in the same fields & woods. Our house was on the perimeter of the project which gave us, not legal, all of the woods as a playground. Into the woods and down a ways was the 'Sand Pit'. Most of the year we used it to recreate Nazi woopin battles but after it snowed it was our sledding place.
Hours upon hours down the hill ...trudge back up the hill..down the hill ... trudge back up. With the occasional snowball fight. There was no adult supervision there was no need. Well almost no need. I guess there's always a bully in every neighborhood. Ours was an older guy, older than most of us anyway. He liked to sled down beside you grab the side of your sled and flip you over. This got real old real fast. One evening I told Dad about it. The only part of the conversation I remember now and apparently the only part I applied then was "Walk softly and carry a big stick" a statement I was told made famous by President Teddy Roosevelt. Well if it was good enough for Teddy it was good enough for me by golly! Trouble was my 3rd grade brain understood 'walking softly' no problem in snow & 'carry a big stick ' also no problem seeing how we walked through the woods to get to the sand pit. That 3rd grade noggin also knew that carrying a big stick was good for only one thing-- yep WACKIN BAD GUYS! Remember we wooped Nazi's the rest of the year. So down the hill on my sled I went with my Big Stick in hand. Made sledding a little cumbersome but worth the effort. Then he came. Not knowing his peril, Teddy said nothing about a warning, he pulls up beside me and instead of a handful of my sled he gets a nose full of my Big Stick.
I remember it like it was yesterday. He went off without his sled, crying while holding his face, through the woods towards the houses. I was a bit of a hero except to the older kids, they seemed to think I was gonna be in trouble. Trouble? Why President Roosevelt said it was the thing to do. No problem.
That is until later that night when Marine Major Daddy shows up at the door with his wounded offspring with the bandaged nose to talk to my Navy Chief Daddy. RICHARD! COME HERE! Did you do this? Yes Dad you told me to. Remember? "Walk softly and carry a big stick".
When Marine Major Daddy learned of his sons Bullying behavior & my Navy Chief Daddy promised I'd be punished the issue was resolved. I think I was not allowed to sled at the pit for a week or something minor as punishment.
Dad quit using archaic quotes to direct my behavior after that.
Platitude n. A trite or banal remark or statement, especially one expressed as if it were original or significant.
So what word should I use for sayings by famous people applied to situations by others suposedly to instruct the young. HMMMMMMM
Ah a story to enlighten.
In Brunswick Maine, our second time there, we lived in Base Housing. This was a little confusing because the Base was on the other side of town but still Base Housing. Everyone in that neighborhood was military of varying rank.We all walked to the same school, played in the same fields & woods. Our house was on the perimeter of the project which gave us, not legal, all of the woods as a playground. Into the woods and down a ways was the 'Sand Pit'. Most of the year we used it to recreate Nazi woopin battles but after it snowed it was our sledding place.
Hours upon hours down the hill ...trudge back up the hill..down the hill ... trudge back up. With the occasional snowball fight. There was no adult supervision there was no need. Well almost no need. I guess there's always a bully in every neighborhood. Ours was an older guy, older than most of us anyway. He liked to sled down beside you grab the side of your sled and flip you over. This got real old real fast. One evening I told Dad about it. The only part of the conversation I remember now and apparently the only part I applied then was "Walk softly and carry a big stick" a statement I was told made famous by President Teddy Roosevelt. Well if it was good enough for Teddy it was good enough for me by golly! Trouble was my 3rd grade brain understood 'walking softly' no problem in snow & 'carry a big stick ' also no problem seeing how we walked through the woods to get to the sand pit. That 3rd grade noggin also knew that carrying a big stick was good for only one thing-- yep WACKIN BAD GUYS! Remember we wooped Nazi's the rest of the year. So down the hill on my sled I went with my Big Stick in hand. Made sledding a little cumbersome but worth the effort. Then he came. Not knowing his peril, Teddy said nothing about a warning, he pulls up beside me and instead of a handful of my sled he gets a nose full of my Big Stick.
I remember it like it was yesterday. He went off without his sled, crying while holding his face, through the woods towards the houses. I was a bit of a hero except to the older kids, they seemed to think I was gonna be in trouble. Trouble? Why President Roosevelt said it was the thing to do. No problem.
That is until later that night when Marine Major Daddy shows up at the door with his wounded offspring with the bandaged nose to talk to my Navy Chief Daddy. RICHARD! COME HERE! Did you do this? Yes Dad you told me to. Remember? "Walk softly and carry a big stick".
When Marine Major Daddy learned of his sons Bullying behavior & my Navy Chief Daddy promised I'd be punished the issue was resolved. I think I was not allowed to sled at the pit for a week or something minor as punishment.
Dad quit using archaic quotes to direct my behavior after that.
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Radicals!
You gotta love radicals! They're so --- full of whatever. Sometimes a cause, sometimes themselves, sometimes misinformation.
I've been a radical before. It was so invigorating. Radicals usually cluster in ever larger groups which can be so empowering. And in such closed spaces quite often result in closed minds.
I try not to be closed off from opinions other than my own by seeking others that I know have views different than mine. They're rather easy to find. I just ask where do they get their news. If the answer is TV and news papers/news magazines isn't added then I can be pretty sure I'm dealing with a person that bases their opinions on information delivered in sound bites. We'll have different opinions I assure you. If they say Fox news we'll have radically different views.
I've a dear friend that believes Bill O'Rielly is the true fountain of all political truth & speaks to the truth at all times. That she reads some of her news makes her feel informed. Trouble is she reads what Bill says or says to read.
I can't fathom why so many that are at risk of bankruptcy are so opposed to reform. Their cries that government run health care will be a boondoggle is founded on what? Medicare/Medicaid, Veterans Administration, our military hospitals?
The American Journal of Medicine study says that 62% of bankruptcies in 2007 where linked to medical expenses. 80% of those had insurance.
Having health insurance is only a false sense of security. Unless you have Medicare/Medicaid, VA or Military. I have a State subsidized policy thanks to the tobacco settlement. It's good for office visits and small issues. Something big is beyond its scope.
It (reform) is going to cost a Trezillion dollars and create death squads! These are such a hoot to listen to.
Who was the first company that the government bailed out? AIG! The largest insurance company on the planet. It insures the insurers & banks. That was real inexpensive little move there wasn't it. Did that money spent increase your coverage? Did it reduce the cost of your pharmacy bill?
So socialism for BIG business is good but government provided health care is bad?
Zipidee :~(
I've been a radical before. It was so invigorating. Radicals usually cluster in ever larger groups which can be so empowering. And in such closed spaces quite often result in closed minds.
I try not to be closed off from opinions other than my own by seeking others that I know have views different than mine. They're rather easy to find. I just ask where do they get their news. If the answer is TV and news papers/news magazines isn't added then I can be pretty sure I'm dealing with a person that bases their opinions on information delivered in sound bites. We'll have different opinions I assure you. If they say Fox news we'll have radically different views.
I've a dear friend that believes Bill O'Rielly is the true fountain of all political truth & speaks to the truth at all times. That she reads some of her news makes her feel informed. Trouble is she reads what Bill says or says to read.
I can't fathom why so many that are at risk of bankruptcy are so opposed to reform. Their cries that government run health care will be a boondoggle is founded on what? Medicare/Medicaid, Veterans Administration, our military hospitals?
The American Journal of Medicine study says that 62% of bankruptcies in 2007 where linked to medical expenses. 80% of those had insurance.
Having health insurance is only a false sense of security. Unless you have Medicare/Medicaid, VA or Military. I have a State subsidized policy thanks to the tobacco settlement. It's good for office visits and small issues. Something big is beyond its scope.
It (reform) is going to cost a Trezillion dollars and create death squads! These are such a hoot to listen to.
Who was the first company that the government bailed out? AIG! The largest insurance company on the planet. It insures the insurers & banks. That was real inexpensive little move there wasn't it. Did that money spent increase your coverage? Did it reduce the cost of your pharmacy bill?
So socialism for BIG business is good but government provided health care is bad?
Zipidee :~(
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