Trying to live....

and getting by .....so far.

When people ask me "how are you today?"

I generally answer, "I woke up this morning."

The nice folks are generally confused by this response, or answer "that's a good thing". They are correct, it is good, in fact, it's a requirement. I tell them that as long as you don't open your eyes to bright lights and concerned faces in the ER, it's a good day.

Everything else is gravy.

All of us will come to that day when we don't wake up, and that is the natural end of a long life.

Yes, there comes an end.

Be sure it doesn't get there before you have told your family that you love them, and you affairs are in order so as not to be a burden. Move on as an honorable person, and leave as good a memory as you can.

Happiest of New Years,

.... to one and all!

No!
Really!
We have all seen so much in the past year that was depressing to devastating to grim.
I hope for each of my friends, local and on the interweb, a year that they can look back on with nothing but enjoyment.

We haven't had one of those in a while.

The second tribute to TLOML

I've pointed out that TLOML is the strongest person I know. She has withstood life and some real bastards for a long time. She has the strength of character, if not the physical strength, to deal with things that would send me to the bell tower so to speak. If I can't do anything else, I have her back. I am not polite, many times. If you want a solution, I can make it happen. You might not like it, but a large hammer will change things.

This is my tribute to her, a Dragon on a string, only there because he wants to be.

Not much to look at, but a sure thing in a dog fight.

A very long day

Thursday was one of those that I sometimes have to deal with,but always dread. I have wanted to buy TLOML a car, not just any car but one that says what I think of her. We looked for a while, weeks and more for the right model, year, color.

You get the idea, details, details, details.

We finally found the right one, a Saphire Blue Jaguar XK8 with Ivory interior and a blue top.

The milage was low and the body is perfect. I went through my personal list of checks and tests and negotiated some repairs and helped with some others. They were all minor, one was expensive. None were deal breakers, just important.

The killer was the trip.

It was about six hundred miles away.

That means get up at 0230 and drive to a major air hub, fly, and wait in another hub for a transport. Then it's the mechanic thing until 1630 and a long drive back in an untested vehicle.

Untested no longer.

The thing rides like a sofa at 110 mph. I'm glad nothing flew off at that speed, I was so far down in the river swamp that I would never have been found if a tire had blown. Michelin's are speed rated for 130mph, so I had some margin.

I got home at 0130 the following morning.

The look on her face made it worth the trip.

Subject: Southern Girls (From The Love of My Life)

SOUTHERN WOMEN
Southern women appreciate their natural assets:
Clean skin.
A winning smile.
That unforgettable Southern drawl.

Southern women know their manners:
"Yes, ma'am."
"Yes, sir."
"Why, no, Billy!

"Southern women have a distinct way with fond expressions :
"Y'all come back!"
"Well, bless your heart."
"Drop by when you can.""
How's your Momma?"

Southern women know their summer weather report:
Humidity
Humidity
Humidity

Southern women know their vacation spots:
The beach
The rivuh
The crick

Southern women know the joys of June, July, and August:
Colorful hi-heel sandals
Strapless sun dresses
Iced sweet tea with mint
Straw hats and big sunglasses

Southern women know everybody's first name:
Honey
Darlin'
Shugah

Southern women know the movies that speak to their hearts:
Fried Green Tomatoes
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
Steel Magnolias Gone With The Wind

Southern women know their religions:
Baptist
Methodist
Football

Southern women know their country breakfasts:
Red-eye gravy
Grits Eggs
Country ham
Mouth-watering home made biscuits with momma's homemade jelly

Southern women know their cities dripping with Southern charm:
Chawl'stn
S'vanah
Foat Wuth
N'awlins
Addlanna

Southern women know their elegant gentlemen:
Men in uniform.
Men in tuxedos
Rhett Butler

Southern girls know their prime real estate:
The Mall
The Country Club
The Beauty Salon

Southern girls know the 3 deadly sins:
Having bad hair and nails
Having bad manners
Cooking bad food

Every body wants one, but not every body can have one.

I got mine!!!

A new thing for me...

I did something today that my dad advised against.

I got my first tattoo.

The industrial safety nabobs require that I remove my wedding rings each time I do hands on work. That in itself is not a bad thing because an accident that would merely mash a finger with out a ring will often amputate the digit wearing a ring.

The rings are important to me, the symbol of my commitment to the Love of My Life is more important than a finger, after all I have nine more.

My father’s wedding ring could not be replaced for all the money in the world.

So, I have to remove the rings, and I feel the need to bear the mark of my commitment, always.

What to do?

A wedding band, in ink, to replace the gold I have to remove.

Not too bad an experience, if you don’t mind putting your hand in a running blender and leaving it there until the "artist" says you can remove it.

I only had to ask for a break once.

Now I am marked for life as a married man.

The Big Kid

Janurary Sixteenth Thirty One Years ago he was born. My son.

Happy Birth Day!

Beautiful morning

We woke up at the usual hour, the coffee and the paper filled in around the recorded Tivo from the past month. I used some left over Tomato and Mozzarella salad to make an omelet, aromatic and quite tasty. The sky is blue and the birds are trying to shriek the leaves off the trees.

Noisy little buggers. Cheerful, even so.

I am going to help the Olde Farts Club (Law Enforcement Assn.) set up for parking the world at the county fair.

The Love of My Life is running around the house naked, decorative that is! Actually she is going to shop for the grand daughter's birthday celebration, after she gets finished dressing.

I have to check screen sizes for wide screen TV, the local channels are going to HD format soon and ALL our current screens are regular digital signal.

All this is of course much ado about nothing.

Actually most of life fits that description, we get so wound up in it that the quiet Sunday mornings escape us, that is a real tragedy.

I need to monitor the wind and wave report, the fishing season is here and the Kings should be in. If I can get a fishing partner to go along, six large Kings would stock the freezer for the winter. Bottom fishing in cold water would supplement that nicely.

Why Daddies are a little nuts

Our youngest is getting married. This is the most important day of her life, she will be in the spotlight. Actually I think she will BE the spotlight, and the rest of us will wither and fade from her light. All eyes should be, and doubtless will be on her. I went with her to try on dresses yesterday, it only took four tries, she only let me see those few.

Her father has never gone with her to buy one of those important dresses, prom or formal, either for college or high school. I my considered opinion that is incredibly foolish. Those are such important moments that he has let slip by.

If anyone has the words, tell me how stupid is that?

This picture is not "The Dress", I don't want dunder head to see it too soon.

7-20-07

This is the love of my life, if God calls me home tomorrow, I will go gladly, having been married to such a wonderful woman for eleven years as of this date. I hope the Lord in his mercy and wisdom will allow me many more years to enjoy and love this mysterious and enchanting creature. Below is my poor gift to celebrate this anniversary. Eleven red and one white, one red for each year and the white for my hope of one more year.

I would adopt this one

Two illegal aliens, Ralphel Resindez 23 and Enrico Garza 26, probably believed they would easily overpower a home alone 11 year old Patricia Harrington after her father had left their two story home. It seems the two crooks never learned two things, they were in Montana and Patricia had been a clay shooting champion since she was nine. Patricia was in her upstairs room when the two men broke through the front door of the house. She quickly ran to her father’s room and grabbed his 12 gauge Mossberg 500 shotgun. Resindez was the first to get up to the second floor only to be the first to catch a near point blank blast of buck shot from the 11 year olds knee crouch aim. He suffered fatal wounds to his abdomen and genitals. When Garza ran to the foot of the stairs, he took a blast to the left shoulder and staggered out into the street where he bled to death before medical help could arrive.

I am so glad one daddy taught his little girl to take care of her self. Other wise some of our "hard working neighbors from the south" might have done something that stirred up a little hate crime. Like Daddy doing the job to avenge his little girl.

I blatantly stole this one from the skipper from BMEWS. I wish I was an IT manager so I could be the first to hunt down the good news clips.

Great News

A young lady that we have kind of adopted called today, she had lost our number and like the rest of the world, is insanely busy. A few years ago she and the love of my life worked together. She was a slightly tragic figure, very attractive, but lots of trouble with the men in her life. She wanted to love someone so bad, but attracted the kind of guys that had to be players and wouldn't return her love. A common story, I know, but sad all the same.

I was a stand in for her dad, he had little good to say to his only girl, things were strained and painful for her. There were a couple of times that I put on my daddy face and discussed options with the NCO's of boyfriends. We will say I made an impression, and didn't have to follow up.

A couple of years after she came into our lives, her luck improved, she met David. A real person and someone who loved her as she needed to be loved. Life took it's course and they were married. One of the greatest compliments I have received was when she asked me to give her away, if her father couldn't make the ceremony. My luck wasn't good enough and I had to pass that honor to the man who deserved it. I still remember.

Today, four and a half years since our last meeting, she called. She is five and a half months pregnant with her first son.

I can't think of a person who wants or deserves a child so much.

We shopping for baby stuff soon. Baby Camo, baby fishing rod, sling shot, pellet gun, dogs.

My Baby Loves Me

The Love of my life brought me this chocolate covered strawberry. I know she loves me because it didn't have even a nibble mark, and I know how much she loves chocolate.

It's that or she ate several before she got home.

P.S.

I have been asked nicely to indicate that she who must be obeyed has had no treats since 2-19-07 .This was her idea.

Buddy Day

I have just spent 45 precious minuets with my youngest grand daughter. I had a wonderful time, I'm ready to go again. I am proud and pleased to say she was the best child in the class. I don't say that often, and tonight it's true. She played quietly and politely in the center of a whirlwind. I was the only male relative able to go with her. We did something, but I can't tell you until later.