December 31

We're not superstitious so to speak, but if there is a way to walk around a ladder instead of under it, we do it. Tho they have no rational basis we wouldn't want to intentionally defy any superstition. You never know!

Like the ladder thing, consider the shape of an open ladder; a triangle that signifies life to some. When you walk though the triangle, you are tempting the fates. You may also awaken spirits that live within the triangle (including evil spirits who may not be happy with the disturbance).

That, 'you never know', is why we pay attention the the following:

The first visitor at your house on New Year's Day must be a male or you'll have bad luck.

Don't do laundry before 6 p.m. on New Year's Day or you'll wash someone out of your life.

You must eat black-eyed peas and collard greens on New Year's Day. Black-eyed peas for luck, collard greens for money.

On New Year's Day, put an egg and a dollar in a bag, throw it out the window of a moving car, but don't look back. This will bring good luck.

I can't remember what the Pickled Herring does or prevents for you but I'd say eating a bite can't hurt.

I'm not sure how Glenda and I will stay awake until midnight so our plans are to ring in the new year watching the New York bash on TV. We can do that at 9:00 our time then go to bed.

I imagine I'll be in a pretty weakened state come Friday or Saturday and probably should stay close to the house. I plan to eat two or three cans of collard greens myself and I'm positive the results of that will flush me out pretty good but we really could use a little money!
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It is the customary fate of new truths to begin as heresies and to end as superstitions. -Thomas Henry Huxley

December 30

Not much else going on around here. The most pleasurable and exciting thing that has happened so far today is watching the sun come up. Did you ever notice how quick that happens. First you see a tiny bit edge up over the trees across the way then wamo bamo it's all up staring at you like an evil eye. If you look away when it first starts it's move, you can miss the whole thing. It changes the whole world in a blink.

To me, when the sun gets up, a new day has officially begun. When it's cloudy and the sun is obscured, it's a free day. One of the days where you read or such stuff. They are so nice you don't even care about an official start.

In case you're thinking, because I find so much pleasure and excitement in the raising sun, that maybe I ought to get a life.........shame on you! I have one! That is the main reason I find so much excitement and pleasure in seeing the sun rise another time.

Dory has plans for a haircut today. She also for me to drive her there then around to a few stores. Boy it sure feels good to be wanted. When I get a haircut I have work done on both ends the second being when I pull my wallet out of my back pocket to pay. It doesn't work that way with Dory, I guess its safe to say carrying a purse can kinda save wear and tear on your rear.

NOTHING TO SAY STOPS ME ONCE IN AWHILE BUT NOT EVERYTIME!
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Whether it is the best of times or the worst of times, it is only time we have. -Art Buchwald

December 29

A good looking day beginning here. The cold has left us alone for now, thankfully giving me another 'who cares' line to type.

I think the mile walk around the horn may be in store for me again some time today.

Going to town isn't a given today but the probability of Glenda going and draging me along is pretty high.

I always thought one liners were supposed to be funny. Failing that here, I went ahead and added a few more so the funny wouldn't need to be.
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It is better to have enough ideas for some of them to be wrong, than to be always right by having no ideas at all.~Edward de Bono

December 27

Well, let me think. Yesterday I took Glenda for the free buffet in Boonville as to be her Christmas present from me to her, and because I went along from her to me. Of course I gave the most!

Doing it this way we prevented our giving from being a burden or sadness maker for the other. Giving a person a gift places a burden on the receiver to try and find a gift for the giver in return. That or ending up being deeply saddened that you didn't have a gift to retaliate with.

You know what is said, "give and ye shall receive", isn't always the case. For me tho, it was true yesterday when I hit the four duces on a duces wild nickle machine twice for $50 each. Then after the free buffet where they finally ended up paying us to eat, I hit a Royal Flush on another nickle machine that paid $200.

A nice warm 70's day that turned out even better than warm as I was kinda hot at the machines!

At 5:16 here this morning it was 63 degrees which could be another good day if it wasn't for the nasty storms in the forecast that includes a tornado watch.
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The curse which lies upon marriage is that too often the individuals are joined in their weakness rather than in their strength -- each asking from the other instead of finding pleasure in giving.-Simone de Beauvoir

December 24

40 degrees here, apparently the nasty weather is going to miss us again. So if we don't get to Jeff City tomorrow it won't be the weather's fault but because of Glenda's cold or flue that she can't seem to shake.

This little home made wish may take awhile to load then you may need to play it more than once to get the music in place. The sound might need to be pretty high too. Sorry about that.

Click or double click on this http://webpages.charter.net/wymers2/christmas08/default.htm Or you may need to copy this and paste it in your browser then click go...........


Have a Very Merry Christmas!

Glenda and Larry

December 23

My tired old head has a semblance of a memory within or at least that is my understanding. I can't imagine how it does all it does, storing things without a conscious thought and then years later finding it in the blink of an eye among all the millions there and immediately putting it up front when you think for it.

Like anything else a fault can develop that might be only temporary or it can lose a stored memory forever. Also pulling one up several times over the years it is possible to sweeten it up just a little each time till a bad memory can turn out to be pretty good.

When I started this I only wanted to say that my memory is something like a cracked record or maybe it is a cracked record. Anyway, I thought about all through the years trying to find if I've ever been happy to see a 31 degree temperature but the old memory wasn't able to put one forth. Leaves me unable to say for sure that I haven't but I was damn glad to see it here this morning.

It doesn't take that teen, sub-teen or subzero crap to stick a useless large wish foremost in your mind. So large that it could disrupt and interfere with a lot of other things you might want to give attention to. Tho I have noticed that a freer mind hasn't helped much with the note.

Hum, looks like I have again successfully typed up a fair sized pile of nothing.
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"If at first you don't succeed; you are running about average." - M. H. Alderson

December 22

A nice but cold day we were having yesterday when dusk began infiltrating, preparing our little nook of the world for darkness which messed with our day pretty much as it does most days about that time. It seems like the lessening of natural light allows some of the enthusiasm for the day to evaporate. As it leaves it somehow mellows a person which turns grins into yawns and strong thoughts of a fully reclined position begins to dominate. It usually doesn't take long for it to become strong enough to put your body to bed.

I've noticed as I've aged that my eyesight can be tricked into passing the message to the decider that it is dark when it may not be. This can cause the decider to have me in bed quite a bit before real time dark and it happens more often than I want to admit. This problem does allow me to wake fairly early which is my most favorite time of the day, followed closely by going to bed.

Also yesterday Glenda finally decided that she didn't feel all that good and was coming down with something. She has been saying maybe for a couple days but she is more positive now. I can't see too much wrong with her but how she might feel is a different matter. Not that I can't slip in a feel after she goes to sleep but that darn Mikey begins to growl when I do which wakes her before I can get a true feel of things. He never voices any concern when I scratch an itch on my body so how does he know that I'm not trying to scratch an itch on Glenda? I'm thinking the change in my breathing might be his clue.

These missives that I refer to as a n-o-t-e might only be an acronym as in, No Opinion Truthfully Expressed or maybe, Nothing Obviously To Envy. I don't know! Just trying to write something using my sick and unbalanced mind as my guide. I don't care how wild the ride the sick thing takes me on, I want to hold on and stay mounted for as long as I can. Yeah, I know there are those who might think that I was bucked off a long time ago but I'd rather think it's because everyone's ride is not necessarily the same.
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"Folks ride to and fro upon tigers which they dare not dismount. And with age the old tigers begin getting hungry." -Annon

December 21

Ooh, it is really cold here this morning, 8 degrees with a stiff breeze making for a sub-zero wind-chill factor. Inside looking out a window it doesn't look all that bad with that big old sun shining giving us a nice bright day. It is a big surprise to walk out into that nice sunray filled weather to find it so very cold. Very cold can cause strange things to happen.

It has been fairly cold for a while now so with that naturally comes a huge pot of chili. Chili has got to have a lot of beans, onions and a few other gas producing contents that can greatly increase one's carbon footprint. I'm not too embarrassed to tell you, I'm one of the one's. Sure glad there isn't a workable plan to tax for it yet!

Anyway, I was out in the cold earlier and encouraged by the gas producing chili that I had eaten, I allowed a bit of flatus to escape from my body. You know, once in awhile an escapee may be a little wet and this one was. Wow! It teamed up with the extreme cold and flash froze my cheeks together. Good thing I wasn't too far from the house because of the tiny little steps I had to take to get back inside, any longer the frost could have bitten my butt.

Boy, Missouri is a great place to survive!
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"Creative minds have always been known to survive any kind of bad training."-Anna Freud

December 18

Gonna drive out spin around in a white like cotton, gonna drive out spin around till they holler hey. Nah, we did go to Osage Beach and our road to the main road was covered and slick then the main road was still partly covered but a problem we did not have.

It is said that it may mostly melt today or then it could just add more ice. Depends on this or depends on that, all this might or might not kinda makes you want to wet your Depend! ----- If you happen to be wearing one.

Isn't the computer one of the greatest way to communicate? Even if you have nothing worthwhile to say you can still say something without any interruptions like what happens on the phone or when face to face. Then too, if you don't like what someone is saying you can simply delete it without the senders knowledge thereby completely eliminating any possible animosity occurrence.

I've been trying to do this daily for about five years but the daily has been steadily slipping. I began a useless blog in 2004, it lists 1040 notes. Even at only 1040 notes, that is a lot of time wasted on nothing. A further complication is the fact that I hand pick each recipient everyday from our address book of over 270. I guess its just to say you're still in our minds and in our memories and a convenient way to force ourselves into yours. 'A forgotten man is a sad man indeed'.~Annon

No, I've never received a request to be added to the list, but I have had a few requests to be removed. Can you believe that in this day and age there are still some folks without enough computer savvy to know how to use the delete button. Of course it is impossible for folks to dictate what is sent them so THAT can absolutly be the only reason for a remove request.
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"Some memories are realities, and are better than anything that can ever happen to one again."-Willa Cather

December 17

What a nice restful few days. Sitting in a warm house surrounded by a lot of cold, accented by the color white provided by the moisture laden atmosphere. Who would want to give this peace up by attempting a trip to town?

Tho, I think the guys salted the hill, it's slicker than snot from here to there. Ice covered with sleet and some snow makes for some pretty nasty traction. Ice- four wheel drive and what do you do, spin all four tires instead of two.

The weather has added a couple pounds to my weight and some to Glenda's due to her using all this nice at home time to bake a heck of a bunch of cookies along with some peanut brittle candy. Sure is good stuff.

Now the answer to, "Who would want to give this peace up by attempting a trip to town?", Glenda does! Said she was so sick of being in the kitchen which I stupidly responded with, guess you could clean the bathrooms. Anyway, to make a long story short, I'm going to take her to town even if I have to call a wrecker to get us up off our road.

After my suggestion following her tired of the kitchen remark, do you know what she told me I could end up eating for my meals in the future? Whoa down there honey child.
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Food that tastes like crap will not diminish the possibility of overeating when one is hungry.~Anno

December 15

A great day weather wise was yesterday. We did have a very strong wind it was fairly tolerable because the temperature got up to 62 degrees. It did go down to 60 at 4:00 pm. Sometime later things changed. I'd say our weather went to hell which may not sound right but it sure does seem correct. The temperature was down to 18 at 1:00 am. At 5:00 this morning it was only 14 and has lost another degree since. A general cover of ice then to pretty it up some mother covered that with a nice and pretty to view, white sleet. Better be careful walking on that white trap.

Reminds me of some words in one of Claude Kings songs, "I sat down on a bear trap just this morning, it was camouflaged so I had no warning, I couldn't bear the pain when I ran out of chain, I sat down on a bear trap just this morning." May not be a 100% correct recollection but it's close. As far as that goes, who's to challenge me on it? I've not talked to anyone who has even heard of Claude King.

One thing about the weather, with a wind chill below zero, I won't get overheated when I'm out there scraping around. Good old Missouri sounds exciting doesn't it?

Yeah, I know there are some that have it a lot worse but I'm not going to feel sorry for them nor for us because we're all pretty well where we've chosen to be.

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"We can try to avoid making choices by doing nothing, but even that is a decision." -Gary Collins

December 14

A trip to Jefferson city is in the works for today. Need to take some stuff to Lena and then drive her to the grocery store to stock up a few vittles to feed off during the nasty weather that may or may not come. If we only half believe the forecast then we need to go today or else. What is said about tonight through Wednesday night, makes us believe that a not so very good driving experience would result.

The hard wind is pretty much out of the south right now so a better miles per gallon could result with it pushing us. If we stay until the next front comes in we might get a push back but I'm thinking it will come too late to wait for. Guess we'll end up losing our, 'drive in savings' while driving back against that said saver.

54 now but the man suggested that sometime during the night we would probably see a 35 degree drop in an hour or less time. Brrrr mother!
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"Often in winter the end of the day is like the final metaphor in a poem celebrating death: there is no way out." - Agustin Gomez-Arcos

December 12

Looks like we're going to Eldon for our usual Friday afternoon waste of $7.50. Where we try to roll a ball down a lane with a huge gaping gutter on either side. This setup along with a lack of talent is very conducive to a lot of unmentionable bad words. Personally, I allow very few to escape my lips but I can hardly control the quantity that pop into my head. Do you think it's necessary to ask God for forgiveness for bad words that come up in your mind if none of them include God's name.

24 years ago today was on a Wednesday and I didn't spend much more than $7.50 then but man, the happening of that day certainly created a tremendous daily cost ever since. I'm happy to say all the incurred costs have paid off. Sorry to say that the 24 years we've been rolling down our chosen lane even without the gaping gutters my lips have allowed some of those bowling alley words to escape but still not all that I've thought. My asking for forgiveness everyday has become a habit but along with that I include a heavy and meaningful thanks for all the blessings allocated to us.

Funny thing but I thought the man was telling us what he was going to say and what was expected of us and it wasn't until he said, "I now pronounce you man and wife", that I realized my error and the smile fell off my face. Wowee, we had been into the serious stuff!
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Don’t take yourself too seriously. If you can develop ability to laugh at yourself, you will be much more relaxed when given or giving criticism… Blessed is he who can enjoy his blunders. -John C. Maxwell

December 11

I don't know how we can afford it but Glenda says to save in the long run we must bite the bullet and have the oil and filter changed in the car. Further, she has assigned that costly boring task to me for today.

Meanwhile she'll be sitting across from different persons as they, without the music, play musical chairs and studiously engage in their games of bridge.

After I have accomplished the lowly but necessary task I'll return home to our waiting 11 pound Tomi and 28 pound Mikey. We three pets will sit around and await the return of our master which most usually is somewhere around 3:00.

I may crowd in a walk of the four dogs, the two at the end of my legs, Mikey and the neighbors old dog Buddy. May get some reading in too but you can pretty well bet there won't be anymore typing! You're welcome.

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Only one man in a thousand is a leader of men--the other 999 follow women. -Groucho Marx

December 10

A lot of shaking going on here! 27* with a nasty wind that is shaking anything outside real good. Doing it's best to shake any remaining leaves off the tree limbs and during my trip out it blew me to shaking and seemed to be attempting to shake everything off my limbs. Wouldn't that be a sight? An old man walking up the road naked with his old hide chill bump covered making him look like a walking blob of sandpaper. When that thought crossed my mind I returned to the house.

Going to make a 65 mile trip today so I can feed my bride a nice and tasty pre-anniversary buffet. Our 24th anniversary is on Friday but she wouldn't exchange the bowling for the buffet. And so that's the way it is from here.
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Every man has his secret sorrows which the world knows not; and often times we call a man cold when he is only sad.-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

December 9

Got up at 4:50 this morning just full of perky and the temperature reading was at 52*. It is now down to 47* and we're told it won't stop till it gets at or near 25*. I've noticed a personal perky evaporation that seems to be closely related to the downward movement of the needle on the outdoor heat/cold indicator. Heck, at this rate if it does get near 25* I won't be able to get out of my chair!

I suppose I may need to go back drinking caffeined coffee again. I have been pretty well without for quite a few days, drinking a couple three cups of hot tea instead. And with coffee you just stick your empty cup under the fill hole and push then walla, a cup of coffee. Sitting around for five minutes waiting for the hot water to make something drinkable out of the floating tea bag is a huge aggravation for no more than you get out of it.

I did think a little bit about just having a cup of hot water but decided rather than that I might as well quit so now I'm thinking probably coffee will be the get up beverage in the morning. If I can force myself out of this chair I may go make some now.
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"The world isn't interested in the storms you encountered, but whether or not you brought in the ship." - Raul Armesto

December 8

We've put it off for about as long as we could so an agreement has finally been attested to. We are taking the two little reason we can never go anywhere, (Mikey and Tomi), to Eldon to have them shot. Their once a year trip to the vet where they'll each get a rabies shot and whatever else the vet can think up to futher increase her huge income.

I think the rabies shot is a lot like the shingles shot that my doctor suggested I get. It's a shot to cover something that may not ever happen in my lifetime........................But, what if it does? Goodness sakes, shoot me shoot me!

Another great day here in Missouri! The great is not daunted at all by the clouds covering the sun and not letting even a tiny ray to peek thru. The great is not lessened any by the forecast of rain with the possibility of snow thrown into the mix either. Great is a mind over matter thing and I think we, as well as most every one else, have the power to make of a day what we want. We want our days to be great here!

Keeping ones mind on great never seems to work when I begin my note typing and maybe at a few other things as well but life is still swell and given enough of it I might be able to practice my notes into something better. Does that read a little like a plea? Gimme and I'll give....... Maybe my belief is just too weak.

Whatever.......I'm giving up on this one.
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The thing always happens that you really believe in; and the belief in a thing makes it happen.~Frank Lloyd Wright

December 6

If all male offspring's are called sons then Mikey, Tomi and I are the only ones visible around here this morning no matter how you spell it. It is not too cold here at this time but I think it could be a lot better if that big old heat producing sun would show itself too.

Those so knowledgeable folks on the TV keep hinting that by Monday night some cold and nasty could be upon us big time. From past experiences I know these hints to mean that we may or may not get some nasty and the 'may not' is the heavier of the two on the scales.

As far as our blowing, err sorry, our bowling activity went yesterday, it only resulted in a bit of nothing new hot air and a pride subduing score on all three games. The only things positive were the exercise and the McDonalds double cheese sandwich. The 19 cent price increase in what used to be nice dollar sandwich deal makes it a poor positive but I kind of like them so I listed it.

I do think I could get more exercise walking to the mail box and the pride that I still can would swell my chest. However, that swelling could only be the result of my lungs expanding to their limits as they gulp in the extra oxygen that my body is screaming for. The mailbox is only a little over a quarter mile away but that last half is one mean hill!

Well anyway, I could save the cost of the $3.75 bowling and the $1.19 plus tax for the double cheese burger and still get some needed exercise.

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"It's a fine thing to rise above pride, but you must have pride in order to do so." - Georges Bernanos

December 5

A terrible thing! Somehow outside influencers of the negative mode have moved in and have taken possession of my mind and I can't seem to evict them. A what to do question is riding pretty heavy on my shoulders right now and so far I haven't been able to buck it off in spite of the combing of my mind including some recesses that hadn't been visited for a long time. The combing was a mistake because a couple of the visited places were of some memories that had been scrunched up and out of mind for good reason. Looking at them again only turbo charged the negatives that I am trying to shake.

Today is the old folks bowling/gossip session at the Eldon bowling alley and the memory of how I've been bowling is so strong it is close to un-committing me to the venture. Oh, I'll probably go anyway!

Sitting here seems to serve no enlightening purpose so I'm off to take Mikey and the neighbor's dog Buddy for a walk as I again count all of our blessings..............Good is overwhelmingly the largest mass so how can a tiny little bad weight so much as to tip the scales their direction?

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"It is a man's own mind, not his enemy or foe, that lures him to evil ways." - Buddha (Including bad thoughts)

December 4

Not a whole lot of shaking on around here despite the breeze trying to turn itself into a full fledged wind. I do think it may have already succeeded. It's darn cold and with that wind it isn't good at all outside. It's one of those 'freeze the mucus in your nostrils' kind of day.

Glenda is going to brave it to the old folks bridge game while I plan to brave it to the dock for one fish. I try to keep a fresh fish cut up in small pieces fish for Tomi of which I give him two a day.

Glenda has told me before that I never seem to be at a loss for words but it does seem like when I sit down here...............swish.......they're not there. Could it be most of my words are like blowing it out the rear? If I could type standing would that let the words flow freely. I wonder if that wouldn't only result in another crappy message from yours truly? I'm not going to do it. What few words I've been able to eek out so far are crappy enough.

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When one tugs at a single thing in nature, he finds it attached to the rest of the world. ~John Muir

December 2

Went to Jeff City yesterday to take Momma Lena to the eye doctor for a quick checkup. At least it would have been quick if the doctor hadn't encountered a problem with an earlier patient. As it turned out Mikey and I sat in the car for two hours waiting. Then a trip to Wal-Mart with Mikey and I waiting some more. All in all, after six hours sitting in the car with a short break for lunch we only covered 103 miles. I might could have been classified as a camper but as far as happy goes, it decidedly escaped the car not long after the first hour!

Today we /////l\\\\.. I may put up a few outside Christmas lights. It is pretty cold and windy but we do live in Missouri. Pretty cold? I guess cold can be pretty but most would find it as such only by viewing it through the window of a warm room with the flickering flames from the fireplace making pretty as well as adding some additional warmth. That doesn't sound like a bad plan to me.
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A mind, like a home, is furnished by its owner, so if one's life is cold and bare he can blame none but himself. -Louis L'Amour

November 30

What do we have when there is not a whole lot of anything going on here? You might think nothing would be the proper answer but that would be wrong. The interpretation of the question is where the problem Lies. When is there never a whole lot of anything going on anywhere? All around us nature is a huge and busy thing, it never stops.

Life is the same way. A human body has so many continuous things going on that it is too complicated to even think about. I can't help but wonder why I did. Anyway, the most humongous of happenings seem to be those things that we all kind of take for granted. Maybe a person should slow down and give it a little thought now and then.

Unlike nature, a human body will stop sooner or later so taking care of it in hopes of extending it's use for as long as possible should be a major daily consideration. But alas, things taken for granted get pushed around so much they get forgotten. Slipping in a little thoughtless body bad here and a little body bad there can possibly cause the natural consequences to accelerate. Whoa, what am I typing about? Get outta here!

When this fat abused body, that I've been using for over 65 years, is laying somewhere turning to dirt, where will I be? If you give all that a bit of thought the hereafter thoughts and daily prayers will surely abound. Tri-daily? Quadruple-daily?

Sorry, I just couldn't think of anything to type about again and after all, it is Sunday.
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Life is like an onion: You peel it off one layer at a time, and sometimes you weep.~Carl Sandburg

November 27

Yep, we're having turkey and all the stuff that goes with it and several relative's, including momma Lena, are going to be here to help us eat it. Hopefully that will help cut down on those extra pound producing leftovers.

I had always heard that fat people were always jolly and there came a time when a bit more happy was desired so I became fat........ They lied! They lied! Much too late, but I now believe that the grimace made as we try to move our huge bodies around has always been mistaken for a grin.


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In case you didn't know:

The Pilgrims sailed across the Atlantic Ocean and arrived in North America in December 1620. By the fall of 1621 only half of the pilgrims, who had sailed on the Mayflower, survived. The survivors, thankful to be alive, decided to give a thanksgiving feast.

The Pilgrim leader, Governor William Bradford, had organized the first Thanksgiving feast in the fall of 1621 at Plymouth, Massachusetts and the celebration lasted three days. He invited around ninety Wampanoag Indians and their chief, Massasoit to the feast.


Congress passed an official proclamation in 1941 and declared that now onwards Thanksgiving will be observed as a legal holiday on the fourth Thursday of November every year.


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"Thanksgiving Day comes, by statute, once a year; to the honest man it comes as frequently as the heart of gratitude will allow."-Edward Sandford Martin

November 25

After I wake, open my eyes and prior to arising, I blink a few times while the realization that the good Lord has granted me another day soaks into my still muddied mind. While still lying there I say a small prayer with 'THANK YOU GOD' being the hub. After accomplishing the getting up feat I usually feel the need to pause for an addendum to the prayer and ask for His help in enabling my old, over used, overweight, creaky and achy body to carry me thru the fine day that He has seen fit to bless me with. Grunts and groans, partly caused by the bones, will never be what kills me.

Blowing and burning has pretty well left us here in a leafless station over the sill. Looking out the window is a bare-assed looking world I'm telling you. We kinda live on a hill but don't live in a mansion and life here isn't loveless. Couple more little tiny bunches of nothing and I be satisfied enough to hit send.

I may go to Eldon today and pay a barber to shear me. It's been three months since I had it cut last and even tho I get it cut real short it is about time again. I'm debating on getting a regular trim but that would keep me looking pretty Eldon like or increase my haircuts to a lot more than four a year. Fourty four dollars per year is about all we can budget for my haircuts. Unless I could get Glenda to make fewer than twice as many visits to the hair parlor as my barber shop visits.
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The beauty that addresses itself to the eyes is only the spell of the moment; the eye of the body is not always that of the soul. -George Sand

November 24

Every morning I am forced to handle defeat at least once and at times more than that. Usually the first one is pretty readily handled as I put my socks and shoes on de feet. The big one that is on my mind right now is trying to defeat the 'no note today' syndrome.

Having nothing to say shouldn't be a problem as nothing is usually most of what the sent notes contain. What to do? What to do?

I going to say that even three of four lines can constitute a note so the syndrome has been defeated this morning.
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If you live to be one hundred, you've got it made. Very few people die past that age. -George Burns

November 23

Sun is shining big time but the wind is flying around out there pretty good as it looks everywhere for someone it can make believe that it feels colder than the real temperature of 34*.

Anyway the sun without any clouds to hinder it's shine makes nice an apt description of our day here. At least in the weather department. We and everyone else, at all times, need as much nice as we can get from any source. Good is everywhere but sometimes a man's eye is blind to it.

Ugly keeps rearing it's ugly head and sometimes accumulating enough good to tamper it somewhat can be a slow process. I guess the time it takes depends a lot on how ugly the ugly is.

As usual, most of our today will be spent searching for as much good as we can find in hopes of finding enough to overshadow any of that other stuff. Life is really something when you look around hard at it. No matter how big and nasty the ugly is that comes to visit, life all around you just keeps on keeping on without missing a beat. And the beat goes on.

May you be surrounded with bushels of visible good today.
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The truest lengthening of life is to live while we live, wasting no time but using every hour for the highest ends. So be it this day. -C. H. (Charles Haddon) Spurgeon

November 21

The least warm night so far this year with a get up temperature of 22. A breeze is supposedly making it feel a lot colder but unfortunately, I failed to get that number. I think the wind chill factor is kind of dumb anyway! If it's 22 it's 22!

Like if you have a pan of water heated to 212 degrees and it begins to boil, the bubbles make it appear hotter but if you had put on a sight blinder, stuck your finger into it before the bubbles, then again afterwards, I doubt that you would be able to determine which poke was the hotter. It is as hot as it was as the cold is only just as cold as it is. Huh?

A trip to Eldon is laid out for around 11:00. As in most places there are a lot of nice people there some of which pay their own way while some other nice people are less fortunate. Then too, there are those who are happy with their welfare checks and food stamps and look for no more. Even tho some have less teeth than their Halloween pumpkin, I have no doubt many are several times happier than the folks trying to pay their own way. It's a mad Alfred E. Newman world. "What me worry".

Anyway, to Eldon to the wrong side of where the tracks used to be where we'll attempt to see some of that happiness for ourselves as we pass down the local alleys there and roll in the gutters a few times. Yep, another Friday bowling day with the oldies.
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"Only those things are beautiful which are inspired by madness and written by reason."-André Gide

November 20

Not a lot to be said about yesterday other than it's gone and today has taken it's place. We're given another chance to hopefully, make good in some way for us as well as others. You know that after a day is gone it's gone for good and it's impossible to go back to change anything. That might be a good thing to keep in mind full time.

A wasted day won't stop your body from aging nor the wind from blowing cold again. Too many wasted days could find a man gone without living a huge portion of his life or so old and decrepit that he can only sit and daydream or wish about things he should have or could have done. Geez! It must have been something I ate or something I read somewhere.

Glenda is heading out to the bridge game at the Lion's Club in Rocky Mount soon. After which she will return home so that I can drive her to Osage Beach to watch a school play. May not be too good of a play because to attend they are using a free thanksgiving meal as an enticement.

Cold with a hard wind making the chill factor down into the 20's and driving after dark sets me with a 'don't really want to go' wish. But.........I have very few choices around here.


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To the question of your life you are the answer, and to the problems of your life you are the solution. ~ Joe Cordare

November 19

It's such a pretty world today, look at the sun shine. It is doing that again here today and the wind has slowed to a nice breeze. Unfortunately the too cool temperature still leaves a bit to desire.

Isn't it just great that the weather's influence on happiness is so minuscule. Maybe it isn't a player in happiness at all, just a small factor in moods. I also believe moods only alter your thoughts for a time and possibly obscure the vision of happiness and doesn't change it at all. I don't know what I really believe but it was something to type.

This is a good looking day weather-wise but it doesn't sound too good for the rest of the week. Cold is coming and it is supposed to stay around for awhile. Ah, no sweat!

And........I'm not going to sit here any longer trying to sweat out a nothing note either.
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If people think that nature is their friend, then they sure don't need an enemy.~Kurt Vonnegut

November 17

Well what do you know? We're blessed with another brisk beautiful morning. 42 degrees and dropping, with a huge sun peeking thru the trees on yon side of the cove as it fights a probable losing battle with the clouds in it's attempt to dominate the sky.

A good nights sleep behind us that always allows you and your conscience to meld and repair most problems of the days past leaving you feeling clean and with a renewed vigor for the life ahead with all of it's cracks and crevices. Oh yeah, don't want to forget the crooks and cons.

Tho, we both are blessed with warm hearts our external areas can get cold. I'm the carrier of some excessive external areas, you know, like my arms, legs,ears, nose and my pointy little head, the holder for my nose and ears and my midsection. I can stand about three times the cold that Glenda can because of my built on heater. You know fat generates quite a bit of heat. Sometimes just hearing another mention that I might be carrying more than my share heats me instantly. Say, I may be a sensitive person after all.

I think I like this time of year because as a youngster I suffered from hay fever so bad that until the first frost I spent most of my days laying on the couch with a wet wash rag across my face. After the frost encouraged the ragweed's and such to give it up, out the door I went.

Glenda hates cold with a passion so she stays in while I go out of which I think my absence helps generate a little much needed fondness.

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Beginning today, treat everyone you meet as if they were going to be dead by midnight. Extend to them all the care, kindness and understanding you can muster, and do with no thought of any reward. Your life will never be the same again. ~Og Mandino

November 16

Gee! I'm thankful for the free 1-click answers program. Wouldn't be able to do as little as I do without it. I've even discovered the difference between aught and ought as well as further and farther. Yes, I probably learned that in school but my goodness, that was over forty nine years ago. And that was back when I didn't pay too much attention to book learning so I may not have ever known the difference. Too late I see the error of my ways. I've swam through life clear out here into the middle of old, only to discover that I didn't bring along enough real knowledge to keep me afloat. I've really got to kick to stay here.

The computer is a really good kicking exercise and I'm learning a lot through it but still not enough to float yet. Part of the reasons you get these messages is from my compelling desire to keep my head up without kicking.

Too much I've read on the internet this morning making me too tired to sit here much longer. There is no telling what you missed.....Happily I'm sure. I've found one of the ways that I can really bring happiness to most others is to type very little or not at all. Only selfishness and the desire to float without kicking makes me keep doing it.

I Like our animals too much to be kicking them around and Lord knows it turns out too painful to take any of my frustrations out on Glenda. Where does that leave me? Sending messages. Poor, uninteresting and sometimes a tad nasty but it is an outlet that relieves internal pressures and decreases tummy pains and the chance for ulcers. I don't eat at the computer either. That may have something to do with the fact that I can't chew and type at the same time.....Can't hardly type anyway but the most dificult time is trying to type while Glenda is chewing and she always seems to have something to chew about......."And I helped".
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"He is useless on top of the ground; he ought to be under it, inspiring the cabbages." - Mark Twain

November 13

After an incident in my earlier years, I may have been 9 or 10, where my mother had my younger bother and I each sing a song to some company she had there, I for sure knew I could not sing. She had brother Gary sing first. She and the company praised his ability where as after my attempt she and they made fun of my lack of the ability.

It is one of those memories that I wish would go along with some of the other forgotten ones but I've been unable to wrench it out of there no matter what. One would think that even a third degree burn could heal in 57 years.

Anyway, I discovered last night that I might be able to sing after all. Glenda was watching that Country Music award thing and as I walked by I remarked how terrible the singer was in my opinion, and she responded that the lady was a very good singer but not too good with that song. When we talked about how poorly Hank Jr. sang in Jeff City at the Palin thing she told me that he only needed some music to accompany him..............

By jingle jangle, if only I can just find the right song and add some music to it I may be able to sing after all! Not knowing, 57 years wasted! I might could have been a star!

Glenda is going to play bridge at the Bear Creek inn or something like that in Osage Beach today. That will put Tomi, Mikey and I here without a to do list and no one to boss us for almost five hours. I don't think that'll be too bad at all!

Just what I need to catch up with my on-line newspaper reading and think about maybe making a birthday card or two. I'm starting to get a little burned out on the cards. I want them to be a bit humorous and each an original but they've been turning out mostly dumb and all along the same line with only a few variations. In this case, if I can't do what I want I can quit! It is also one of those things too, that no one will notice anyway.
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The only thing experience teaches you is what you can’t do. When you start, you think you can do anything. And then you start to get a little tired. -Elaine May

November 12

That temptress Lady Nature is doing it again this morning. A view long enough to inflame our memories and desires of sunny summer days then quickly covering the peek with clouds. While some desire still remains it is told to us that before the week is out she will cruelly extinguish those flames by dousing them with some real cold, adding a little water then changing it to a white floating moisture. You might take the white floaters as an apology for the rest but with a thirty mile an hour wind swirling them around you would be mistaken.

I did manage to catch a good many Crappie again yesterday, cleaning my limit of 15. It is hard to believe how hungry those fish must be. Getting ready for the winter I guess. I looked over each fish I cleaned it and determined they were all from the Democrat school. I suppose the school of Republicans are just to smart to fall hook, line and sinker for the false enticements I presented. Of course I never went to Harvard.

It may read like fishing is a waste of time around here but it is far from it. If the fresh smells, the peace of the breaking day and the quite being interrupted only by the nature sounds isn't enough, there is Mikey who follows every cast and watches each retrieve with such an intensity that he literally shakes. When we catch one he may take a half hearted snap at it but then quickly he prepares for the next cast. He believes we'll catch a fish every time and that affects my faith. Keeps me fired for awhile but I always seen to give up before he does. If I could only teach him how to use the rod himself...............Best I've been able to do is teach him to man my bait fishing rod for me while I fish a lure with another rod.
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"Many men go fishing all of their lives without knowing that it is not fish they are after."-Henry David Thoreau

November 10

I'm going to tell you what.......Glenda and I have unknowingly thrown away, stomped on, hauled off and cussed tens of thousand of dollars in the past many years.

During a visit to the wonderful Wal-Mart store in Osage Beach Saturday we noticed many five and a half pound bags of, get this................crushed acorns. And they were priced at ten dollars per bag!

My goodness, our stupidity and complete lack of imagination has caused us a lot of aggravation over the years and now we learn it has also cost us a hell of a lot of possible income.

The use of such, was to pour the bag of stuff into a pile in an area where, from your stand, the enticed deer would come in close and into your view as they hungrily threw caution to the wind and rush in to feed on the treat.

Tho, the lawn, road and woods are running over with acorns these in the package are crushed! I suppose someone is certain that being crushed would be a big enough draw to encourage the deer to walk over thousands of pounds of whole acorns just to get to that little five plus pound pile. I don't know, every time we drive up the road we probably crush twenty five pounds of the things and have yet to see a deer cleaning any of them up.

A fairly cool sunless day with a nasty wind blowing will probably help us become more familiar with what is within the walls of this house including the old recliner most of the day. I did catch quite a few Crappie yesterday that I probably should bite the bullet and clean after while.

I can see me now, a bullet between my teeth and a knife clasp in my cold shriveled up fingers as I shakily hold the fish to the board and begin filleting it. I always use an electric knife and will today, but due to the shaky body stuff I might not need to plug it in.
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Always acknowledge a fault. This will throw those in authority off their guard and give you an opportunity to commit more.-Mark Twain

November 9

Cool 35* here this morning which wouldn't be too bad if it wasn't for the nasty depressing look of cloud covered skies and a stiff wind pushing the cold under you coat, down your collar and slapping your face and hands with it.

If variety is the spice of life, you can certainly get plenty of spice out there this morning. One plus with the wind is it is keeping most of the leaves off our road and decks. One negative is it piles bunches into any little crevice where they become a lot more difficult to move when Glenda deems I should.

A laze around day is in the making with some reading as we crowd in a watching of today's NASCAR race.

It should never be considered disrespectful to type about history or of things that still may be and I surly mean no disrespect by forwarding some of them along nor by adding the thing below! It's just that the current times have inspired me with a want for more knowledge about a few things and the computer allows me to learn.

But....but if my sharing some of my learning's offend you, do right and delete the damn thing! No need to come hollering back at me about it! Quit hiding! Ignoring the world and things that are, or avoiding knowledge of the past can only hinder greatly all of our futures.
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Something you may not have known. I don't know if it still holds but in the past coloureds were ranked, 'according to their ostensible percentage of ‘white blood’. They were classified by degree of mixed parentage. A ‘quarter-white’ was thus a sambo, a mulatto was ‘half white’, a quadroon was ‘three-quarters white’, and a mestizo was ‘seven-eighths white’.'

November 8

Jeez! I thought when the president elect was decided the political crap would slow down but it seems just the opposite has happened. One thing I'm really sick of is calling the new president elect an African American. The first African American president and on and on. The fact is, he is not an African American! He is a mulatto or as they call such a mixed race person in Africa, a Bastard! Oh, and mulatto is not a nasty slang word, it is the word for what he actually is.

Lets just get on with it and send me my share of the rich peoples money as soon as possible.


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Dictionary: mulatto

n., pl. -tos or -toes.

1. A person having one white and one Black parent.
2. A person of mixed white and Black ancestry.

mulatto The word ‘mulatto’ is derived from the Arabic muwallad, which originally referred to persons who were not ‘genuine’ Arabs, especially individuals born of black-white ‘misalliances’. The word mulatto first found its way into Portuguese, and then into almost all European languages, as the term for offspring of mixed European (Caucasian) and African (Negroid) parentage. (Only Afrikaans used the word ‘Bastard’ for such persons.)
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We blacks look for leadership in men and women of such youth and inexperience, as well as poverty of education and character, that it is no wonder that we sometimes seem rudderless. -Arthur Ashe

November 7

Bowlin', bowlin', bowlin,' though their feet are swollen, keep them oldies bowlin,' Oldhide! Yep, I rejoined the other oldies and went back to the bowlin game, at least for awhile. Like everyone else I can put up with about anything I want to but my want to is sometimes absent. That, and I can't bowl worth a hoot has been keeping me at home on Fridays. Like a lot of my faded memories the memory of why I quit has faded so I'll go back a few times to have it refreshed. Like an email we got, 'Now that I'm older I thought it was great that I seemed to have more patience ........... Turns out I just don't give a shit!'

We had some strong winds with lots of thunder and lightning Wednesday night. The storm brought us seven tenths inch of rain and I think the whole thing together had the trees dancing and swaying to the music and stripping like mad. Most of them now appear to be standing there mostly nude with their bare limbs and trunks showing. I do believe the bulk of our leaf moving is over.

Nothing is really over until it's over and I think this note just made it to the second over.
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Don't let yesterday use up too much of today. -American Indian Proverb

November 6

Sen. Obama's lynchpin policy is a climate change bill that would cap emissions such as carbon dioxide, methane and other greenhouse gases and tax those that doesn't meet the standard. Obama contends a transition to a lower carbon economy will create up to 5 million jobs and the new taxes would bring in millions of dollars in new revenue. He will use all of his new presidential political capital to try and force a contentious greenhouse gas bill through Congress.

I sure hope that I misunderstood what I think I heard this morning. Along with all things becoming more costly as the producers pass on their new tax hikes to the buyer, as Obama restores the Clinton-era tax rates, raises the tax rate on long-term capital gains and qualified dividends, takes away your 401(k) to dole out to you later along with it's possible three percent earnings, he is also going to add a new tax onto all greenhouse gas emitting properties. The list I heard this morning was long and almost unbelievable! It may take awhile to work out the taxing details and implement the tax for some items, such as wood burning stoves and fireplaces, leaf burning and more but the thing that really got me was a new quick tax stuck on some food items such as pinto beans, navy beans and even cabbage. Lord help us!

A trip to Columbia and the cancer doctor for the six month check turned out beautifully as Glenda and I had suspected. The doctor was proud of her health but still wants to keep the appoints every six months.

I'm not going to go into our 'after the appointment' activities much, other than to say we drove west and had a huge buffet with ribs and many other good things. And it was given to us at no charge what so ever. However, after the meal we strayed somewhat from our walk out the door path which was a mistake, tho not too overly costly.
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The urge to gamble is so universal and its practice can so pleasurable that I assume it must be evil. -Heywood Hale Broun

November 5

Yesterday's 9:40 am poll visit had us in line behind seven or eight people as the full fledged hard nosed Democrats got our signatures on the line and gave us our ballots and a pen we were to use for marking our choices. Had to use that and only that pen or your vote wouldn't count.....oh yes, and don't fold your ballot.

While standing there one of the gentleman workers came up to Glenda and told her that she needed to zip her coat up to hide the McCain/Palin shirt she had on. Yep, it's not legal to wear such stuff within 25' of a polling place in Missouri. Stupid is as stupid does and I guess someone might have voted differently after seeing the words on Glenda's shirt.

I guess the guy was only doing his job but I'd bet it was his big black Suburban parked, as you came onto the lot, with the huge democrat signs on it for Obama.

After we got up there to sign in we were told where to sign by an email exchanger to whom I know is a for sure, 'elect a democrat no matter the cost or consequence', type person. Then we were given our ballot and received instructions from the lady that had been a delegate at the Democrat convention.

After that we moved to one of the chairs along all the folding tables. There were a few cardboard things that could give one some privacy but not many. We all sat along side one another to mark our ballots and most, as Glenda and I did, discussed which or who before making the mark.

A very causal atmosphere which made the guy having Glenda zip up her coat to hide the words, duty or not, a total asshole in my mind!

My good feeling for the day was in walking out the door knowing that Glenda and I had killed the two previously mentioned ladies votes and helped Missouri become a, for McCain/Palin, state.
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The biggest danger for a politician is to shake hands with a man who is physically stronger, has been drinking and is voting for the other guy. -William Proxmire

November 4

I did forget to mention something pertaining to the Palin visit yesterday in Jeff City that probably really shocked some but was only a confirmer for me. Hank Jr. can't sing worth a shit! He sang, or did the words to the National Anthem without music...My lands! He should never do something like that without some music to cover for him. By the way he is in a couple of the pictures, guy with the cowboy hat on and a shirt with the number 58 on it.

We have a pretty full time job now. It takes a daily rout of the leaves just to attempt staying ahead. ("It depends on the tree's species and age, but a mature, healthy Oak tree can have 200,000 leaves.") We have 16 healthy Oak trees right close dropping a portion of that 3,200,000 plus, ground and road covering leaves everyday. We also get the gift of many many leaves blown in from the woods behind us as well as from the neighbors trees. Glenda has a thing about letting them lay as mother nature intended so we'll move them out again today so we can move the next day/night drop out tomorrow.

Moving the leaves is a non-thinking time allowing the worries of our future a much needed rest. Others have a different way to rest their worries I suppose and they may be using it full time. As we're hearing about how many people, that are evidently without a thought, going to bow to the smooth talking teleprompter reading liar and thoughtlessly vote.
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"Thought means life, since those who do not think so do not live in any high or real sense. They could be tomorrow, irreversibly where they mistakenly thought they wanted to go.." - Amos Bronson Alcott

November 3

Sunny and bright is the weather here this morning as well as our outlook. Now the usual game begins where many sources try to pull you down from your high. As soon as some folks recognize your spunky mood they do their best to pull you down below the level of their rotten mood that they're carrying around. I'm sure their bad mood was developed because they were unable to fight the influence of others with a bad attitude. It is all in ones own head but the daily game is to put a positive slant on it before you allow it in so as to protect your high.

I don't think I've ever had a real or serious thought in my life and I don't see any reason to try pulling one out now. I know the recipients of these messages get tired of all the nothing but that is about all I've got up there. Stupid is as stupid does and here I sit trying to beat out another nothing.

A trip to the wizard of eyes in Jeff City today. I and Momma Lena both have eye checks scheduled. I doubt my stop will amount to much as I still don't wear glasses. Tho there may have been a time or two that I wished I could have read a traffic sign a bit sooner but no big deal I say.

Just watch the two of them when they do their preaching. It appears to me that McCain talks from the heart with very few notes while Obama is reading from a teleprompter, words from another persons hand and mind. Only on the so called rope line without the prompter, do we get an inkling of what he is as in the words to Joe the plumber. He even has forbidden a microphone near him as he greets and shakes hands! Good grief man!

I would ask why there are still some folks thinking about voting for Obama because I can't come close to fathom why! He says he will bankrupt the coal industry, he is against drilling for oil and gas and doesn't think nuclear power is something that he will ever approve.

My God! He will have us ridding horses and heating with wood.......except he'll tax that greenhouse gas crap and make it unaffordable too. What are we supposed to do pray tell? With Reid and Polosi in place we're going to be unable to stop the ruination and demise of America. WHAT IN THE WORLD ARE THOSE FOLKS THINKING?

Audio: Obama Tells Paper He Will Bankrupt Coal Industry... Even the use of a fireplace will come under a huge carbon or greenhouse gas tax making it too expensive to use!

Be sure to vote but as you do pray that those non-thinkers, following the Judas goat, will have at least a one time thought of there own and realize their near mistake in time.


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Our lives are not determined by what happens to us but by how we react to what happens, not by what life brings to us, but by the attitude we bring to life. A positive attitude causes a chain reaction of positive thoughts, events, and outcomes. It is a catalyst, a spark that creates extraordinary results. -Anon.

October 31

Well what to type? About lunch yesterday maybe. We had a nice Chili cheese steak sandwich left over from a trip to town earlier in the week that would make someone a nice lunch and it did. I'm not sure that Glenda has taking care of her man at the top of her list all the time. She took the cheese steak to her bridge game for her lunch and left me with a can of sardines in mustard sauce and a banana. Maybe she was thinking of my overweight body huh?

The can of sardines held three tiny fish that were three bites each, making me about to open another can but a heater repair person called and I had to leave to get him into Ruthie's house to repair her problem.

It turned out she needed a thermostat replaced but getting it repaired didn't do much to satisfy my hunger for food. By the time I got back home another can of sardines didn't sound worth the effort, so I just gave up the eating idea.

I'm thinking of going bowling with her and the old folks today. I told Glenda that I plan to wear our Jesse Ventura mask into the place just to see if anyone notices. She said, "oh, you want to go incognito". I said, "no, I'd rather stick with a costume above the waist."

Anyway, HAPPY HALLOW-CANDY-EATIN-WEEN!
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There is nothing funny about Halloween. This sarcastic festival reflects, rather, an infernal demand for revenge by children on the adult world. -Jean Baudrillard

October 30

The below was sent to me by one my near daily note fans---- err, I mean recipients. After noting my struggles and failures over all these years she finally worked up the gumption to make an attempt to help me....I think.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------Writing Advice

In promulgating your esoteric cogitations or articulating your superficial sentimentalities and amicable philosophical or psychological observations, beware of platitudinous ponderosity. Let your conversational communications possess a compacted conciseness, a clarified comprehensibility, a coalescent cogency and a concatenated consistency. Eschew obfuscation and all conglomeration of flatulent garrulity, jejune babblement and asinine affectations. Let your extemporaneous descants and unpremeditated expatiations have intelligibility and voracious vivacity without rodomontade or thrasonical bombast. Sedulously avoid all polysyllabic profundity, pompous prolificacy and vain vapid verbosity.

If you are really interested to know, the above means: "Be brief and don't use big words."
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Anyway, 'brief' should be the easy part but the 'don't use big words' is lost on me. I've never had any to not use.

Another good day going here as are all our days but today will be a little bit special because of the weather. A 73 degree spring type day is the forecast. I guess it's mother natures way of giving the flowers and other growing things a last meal of warmth and sunshine before they face the finale of their execution.

Sure hope this was brief enough!
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Death being the last thing that most people want makes it the only absolutely guaranteed want in the whole living world!

October 29

I've had five cups of coffee this morning but they are failing me. My eyes are darting around pretty quickly but the lubricant hasn't been enough for my mind, it still can't seem to shift out of four wheel low. I'd better just be thankful for any forward direction and it has helped me see what it's like to be nothing but a big lug.

You may not have paid any attention before but you know coffee makers have a number for the number of cups it will produce. Our's has 12 on it but only produces 7 of a regular every day coffee cup. A liquid cup contains 8 oz and I guess a regular coffee cup holds 13 or 14 oz. I doubt that anyone uses an 8 oz size. Wonder why they do it that way? Kinda like gasoline with the .9 cent charge on every gallon.

I had a quickened heart just while ago! I looked out and for an instant thought the fogged mind was affecting my vision. I grabbed a sheet of paper with writing on it, could read fine. I can see now, the problem was another very foggy start of the day.

Not really fog but due to the frosty conditions the last two night there is a foggy like happening as quite a bit of the lake rises in the air and floats off toward the south east and a warmer world. We're staying around here again this year which makes me think old mother nature is making this process so visible to be like a poke as she laughs at us.
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Happy sails to you! Just don't allow a fickle wind determine your happy!

October 28

A common everyday happening yesterday struck me very quickly with three things, fear, scared and worry, and all at the same time. FEAR: A feeling of disquiet or apprehension. SCARE: To strike with sudden fear. WORRY: To feel uneasy or concerned about something.

I know it isn't anything pretty to talk about but anyway. After my business yesterday I picked up the bucket of scooped up lake water and poured it into the stool to rid it of it's contents. As I sat the bucket down I looked to see if the flush was good enough and what I saw turned me white! Two little black things swimming around like mad.

Giving birth wasn't a thought but what in the world kind of terrible problem exists within me was very much a color me pale, bug eyed blood pressure raising thought!

Even after a closer inspection revealed that evidently I had inadvertently scooped up a couple small minnows didn't allow my color to come back immediately. What a terrible mind rendering happening that was doubled because what all we old folks worry about the most seems to be our health.

A new well pump installed allowed us to get our water back on late yesterday afternoon but who can say it will never happen again. None of us are capable of more than nudging fate but in the end we have no control of it what so ever.
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Unease, anxiety, tension, stress, worry — all forms of fear — are caused by too much future, and not enough presence.-Eckhart Tolle

October 27

Whatcha gonna do when the well runs dry, you gonna sit right down and cry? Nope, I'm walkin, yes indeed and I'm talkin bout going to the well to see. A scary walk it was too. We've joked a lot about these very tall trees that line our road and drop huge limbs every so often, dropping one down on us as we walk by. A good chance was missed last night around 9:15.

That chance came to pass while the wind was blowing around thirty miles per hour, give or take and about twenty minutes after we discovered that we had no water. A flashlight would not have helped but that is all I had as I walked to the well house to check things out. Noticed there was no pressure in the water tank and the pump not pumping right away. Flipping around on things, all I could get to fire up was the light which quickly indicated to poor dumb me that the problem wasn't a lack of electricity. Nothing to do but take the, tho I walk through the valley along the road, walk back home.

Drinking all that diuretic coffee isn't too bad for me because I can always slip outside for relief. The wind is still doing a good job of moving the air which results in taking a necessary precaution as to which direction you face. Some other daily's caused me to think back to a visit to old Mexico several years back where an old man would step into a just used stall with a bucket of water to flush the stool. The memory was brought forth as this old man was doing the same thing with a scooped up bucket of lake water this morning.

We have contacted the repair guy and are now awaiting his call to advise us his schedule for covering our problem and making us happy. Hope along with soon are two words heavy on our minds.
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"We are happy when for everything inside us there is a corresponding something outside us." - William Butler Yeats

October 26

Kind of red sky, a stiff breeze and 55 degrees. It looks cold outside and I don't plan on verifying that anytime soon. Well I do need to take out the scooped up glories that I retrieved from Tomi's litter box. One quick throw and zap, I'm back in the house! I'm telling you, around here you never run out of stuff to do and neither does Tomi.

Three cups of coffee and all of them missed kicking me in the rear. I guess they didn't make it that far as I can hear them sloshing around in my gut as I walk. Pretty quick I'll be eliminating them via the normal manner that bypasses my rear, no more slosh slosh.

I know you find all of this interesting! I'm sorry about that! I really do like the life we lead but it certainly supplies very little fodder for an interesting subject.

Too much of a good thing can be bad as too much of a bad thing can't hardly make any good but doesn't necessarily need to be all bad either. With that, I think cutting this bad short will provide more good than bad. The end is always the best part and is always the easiest part to do.

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You wake up in the morning, and your purse is magically filled with twenty-four hours of un-manufactured tissue of the universe of your life! It is yours. It is the most precious of possessions. No one can take it from you. And no one receives either more or less than you receive. ~Dr. Thomas Arnold Bennett

October 23

Sitting here thinking, 'a lot to do about nothing' as is the same dilemma I face every morning if I try to do a note. Believe me when I say I know a heck of a lot about nothing and very little about a lot. Nothing new to you if you've read any of the notes I've sent in the past. No surprise but it does seem pretty well that this note is following the same track.

As with me, something amiss in the old noggin makes scooting down a well beaten path the only way to go. Click 'create mail', type a few meaningless words, over working spellchecker quite a bit, then going to the address book to choose from the huge list of relatives, friends and acquaintances to whom I want to send nothing to. Then I click on 'send'.

Luck, being only the natural consequences of habitual positive behavior, leaves us no earthy explanation as to why this little nothing happened to appear listed in your inbox.
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"Never make a defense or apology before you are accused." - Charles I

October 21

We have a round the horn trip scheduled for today. To Osage Beach for some things then to Eldon for a few more which will include a stop at the library. Good reading weather is almost upon us.

Halloween is almost upon us too, so we need to pick up some of those trick abating treats. Not that we expect to have anyone appear at our door giving us the ultimatum but I wouldn't mind having a few treats for myself. Sweets can help you become more lovable as in softer and more cuddly.

You know overweight people usually breath more heavily in about any type activity. In some instances that heavy breathing can be mistaken for extreme passion and could quite possibly inspire the other to great heights.

I have a lot more theories than this but we've got to head for town now.
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The most that one can claim for any theory is that it has shared the successes of all its rivals and that it has passed at least one test which they have failed."- Sir Alfred Jules Ayer

October 20

Tried the old fishing thing again this morning. I'm sitting here to tell you the catching was really great but the keeping hardly bumped the needle. Later when fish cleaning time rises up on the list in my mind of things to do I might be thankful for that.

Only three keepers out of 24 caught doesn't come out as very good in anyone's book, except at cleaning time. It isn't to say that catching small ones doesn't allow for a little thrill but it quickly gets old.

For some, it takes longer to get them off the hook than it did to catch them. Wrestling them little rascals around always leaves you all smelled up with nothing to show.

I probably have a few more morsels of thought in there but there isn't a tooth pick within reach so I guess I'll leave'em stuck for now. I might have let that happen too many times in the past which could partly account for my rotten dirty old man mind.
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"A little neglect may breed great mischief." - Benjamin Franklin

October 19

Sitting here with the chairs footrest opened up, Tomi in his usual position asleep on it between my legs and the computer on my lap I gave my mind the task of coming up with some words. The kind of words that can be put together to fashion what might be deemed as a humorous note, or maybe even a somewhat humorous note.

After sitting here for quite awhile I realized that funny had been present from the moment I had sat down. Funny I try this almost everyday and funny too, nothing came to mind again.
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"Get well cards have become so humorous that if you don't get sick you're missing half the fun." - Flip Wilson

October 17

Had to make a decision early this morning............Do I want to type a note or fish?

Ha and wow! The fish were biting like mad. I caught several and some were those nice 12-13 inch size. Stupidly stopped when Glenda called me to breakfast as when I returned they were gone. I did spend some time frothing the water with that little lure but to no avail.

For me, bad luck they quit bitting, good luck I caught a few before they did. For you, bad luck I managed somewhat of a note, good luck there isn't much for you to read.
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“The difference between a philanthropist and a liberal is that a philanthropist is generous with his own money.” —Jack Kelly

October 15

How can I type how strongly and literally sick I am of all the political crap on TV and received on the computer! I hate it! I hate it! I hate it! However at the same time I realize that life as we know it hangs in the balance. That is what keeps me watching, reading and worrying. The knowledge is also what causes my fingers to hit 'forward' then 'send' instead of immediately hitting the delete button after reading some of them.

I am of the opinion that those who watch only the biased news stations or hit the delete button without reading the contained information are the same people that will group together and bring our nation to it's knees. I'd say 'woe be them' but unfortunately it will be 'woe be every last one of us'. That is except for Obama, Pelosi, Reed and they're cohorts will be on a huge power ride. The largest most powerful 'do what you want' and to hell with the lowly peasant's and what they want or need, ride ever in history.

The drill now, drill, drill, drill won't be for oil because they'll shut all the oil producing areas off again. The drilling will be up our rear as they dig out any money you might have via more taxes that no matter who is taxed higher we all damn sure be paying it as they are passed on down in the cost of everything. 40% of the people that pay no taxes at all will be getting checks from all those poor suckers who do. I have no doubt that 40% will begin to grow and grow.

I quit on this for now! If you apologize for something does that mean it should bar you from doing it again? Okay then, I'll not apoligize for sending all that important but boring political stuff.
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"An apology? Bah! Disgusting! Cowardly! Beneath the dignity of any gentleman, however wrong he might be." - Baroness Orczy

October 13

Here I sit again struggling to stick some kind of note together. Sometimes it is easier than others but the results are always pretty much the same. 'A lot to do about nothing' is the phrase that comes to mind......But, ' I don't care if I do die do die do'.. Heck, I want the afore mentioned word die to mean fail in this instance except, 'I don't care if I do fail do fail do' just doesn't zing like die.

As I think about it, death can never be consider as a failure anyway. Dying is a preordained process that begins with birth, usually continuing over a considerable period of time and always ends when the cessation of all life functions come to pass. Living the life with a known destination can never be consider as a failure when it is finally reached.

I should scrap this and start all over but my desire for any of it terminated in a fitful death just before I began typing. The fitful was what enabled me to get what I got with just barely enough left to click the send button.. I guess we can all be sorry about that.
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It is only possible to live happily-ever-after on a day-to-day basis.~ Margaret Bonnano

October 12

I'm here to tell you we live it the nuttiest neighborhood I've ever seen and that doesn't include any of the inhibitors here in our little hooch nor any of the neighbors. Some of these I might be able to count, as well as a bunch of the boaters but without them, it's still the nuttiest ever.

To walk up the road, the sidewalk or the porch, it's like walking on marbles except most of them crunch and break. If an acorn tree needs to be fifty years old before it produces an acorn crop then our trees must be a hundred or a hundred fifty years old because they seem to be double and triple cropping this year.

Can't tell you how many walnuts and hickory nuts there are that join with the acorns making it almost dangerous to walk out there but there are many. The safest way I've found, is to use the blower and blow a path as you walk. It's a little aggravating at that because blowing a nut up a small grade doesn't make it stay there. Take the blower off it for another and it will roll right back to where you blew if from.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained and this note like most of the others prove that even having ventured one can still end up with nothing.
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Many aspire to change the world but few realize that everyone accomplishes that goal. Each day you live you are changing something.~Anon

October 10

Can't believe this 'Acorn' thing that keeps coming up on our TV's! I've checked every one of them and they each had the same'O same'O. We've looked up a few things on the computer about the organization too. One of the places that have a pretty good account of it is at http://www.rottenacorn.com/downloads/060728_badSeed.pdf A link that I've sent to some before.

Good night, it will be only after the election that the many thousands and thousands of ineligible voters will be discovered. You know, like dead people and even a complete football team being registered in a couple states.

Acorn has registered up to 1.3 million voters across the US so far. Personally I think if the voter can't be validated by election time the vote shouldn't be counted. I'm saying this is a very serious problem! Sitting around on our butts not doing anything can possibly create a terrible situation for all of us in the future! Maybe not for all of us, being old and closing in on the end might help some cash in before we're required to pray to Allah.

An interesting blog........ http://www.everystudent.com/wires/radical.html?gclid=CPmI953snJYCFRJdxwodJj6kng

After awhile its, 'turn the TV off', hoping for a little time to quit worrying about the most likely misappropriated election only to have a big bang every few seconds as an acorn falls from one of the oak trees. What a reminder!
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"Instinct is the nose of the mind." - Madame de Girardin

October 9

Turn on the computer, click 'send and receive', read messages and three newspapers, forwarding a few choice readings, everything clicking in my head just fine and at a good pace until I hit the 'create mail' button.

I can't figure out if it is the window that opens or if it is when my fingers touch the keyboard, whichever the door to the mind flat slams shut. Every so often it is shut so hard that it bounces open just enough to allow a quick nothing note to be typed as it did this morning.

On top of that, the barge just went by with the rip-rap rock to be placed along the lake side of Struebbe's seawall. Not many things go on around here and I try not to miss one when it happens.........Got to go down the street now!
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Great minds have purposes, others have wishes.~ Washington Irving

October 8

Heading to Jeff City chop chop. Going to take friend Ruthie to catch Amtrak. Won't see her again for about seven months unless she sends us a picture. Look out Yuma here she comes.

Appears to be, on this fall day, a real stand up day in the making. Unlike some of our younger years we have learned to better appreciate every day we're blessed with and take nary a one for granted. A meaningful prayer of thanks after I close my eyes at night and when they open each morning are one of my better daily endeavors in my opinion.

Say, believe it or not a real word of interest, which I think you will appreciate, comes to mind ! Bye
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One of the most important-and most neglected-elements in the beginning of the interior life is the ability to respond to reality, to see the value and the beauty in ordinary things, to come alive to the splendour that is all around us. -Thomas Merton

October 7

Well, I did get the weeds cut yesterday but only on the south lawn as the other two didn't look to need it yet. Took extra care to chop up all the fallen leaves too.

Afterwards I came in for a grilled cheese and a cup of tomato soup then went back out to rake the hay. Just that quick, the green cut hay was already covered with a nasty looking brown covering of newly fallen leaves.

It was pretty windy but still makes me think it might be too expensive to move all the leaves out this fall. Heck, we might just leave them where they fall for now Because of the way things are going and with the increasing cost of energy, including electricity we may need to bundle them to use in the fireplace for heating and cooking.

I've already stashed a cache of jalapeños to use in helping keep my hands and feet warm as I dig through the snow for the leaves. Just rub my hands and feet good with one before I put my gloves, shoes and socks on. Whee, warm it is. I used to use a lot of them back when I deer hunted. If you get a bit chilly inside, since it was used on your feet, just hold your nose and eat the remnant's, works very good to warm you. If you're a little sleepy, not holding your nose tends to perk you up too.

Nope, nothing comes to mind again this morning. That should probably say nothing comes from the mind not to it. I still have a memory but my steel trap mind doesn't turn any loose very often.

And in case you've never taken the time to think about it, unless you happen to observe the splattering plop it's might nigh impossible to tell bullshit from cow shit.



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My God! The English language is a form of communication! It isn't just crossfire where you shoot and get shot at! Where you've got to duck for your life and aim to kill! Words aren't only bombs and bullets -- no, they're little gifts with some containing meanings! -Philip Roth

October 6

Another great day beginning here at the Lake of the Ozarks on the banks of Lick Branch Cove. We're hoping all the great extends clear to your inhabiting area too. The talk of rain tonight and tomorrow here doesn't even promote a blink. I think we could use a little but what do I know? A lot of little bits we could use some of which I suppose we can do without. Like we could use a little more rope but no job and poor luck at the lottery keeps our rope pretty darn short!

I do know I probably should mow down some of the weeds that we call lawn before it rains. So, gotta get out there and make some hay while the sun is shinning.
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"The day of the sun is like the day of a king. It is a promenade in the morning, a sitting on the throne at noon, a pageant in the evening unless hidden by the rain clouds." - Wallace Stevens

October 5

What a start to our day yesterday! When I came downstairs I discovered that one of the washing machine hoses had busted. What a wet mess! It was one of those things that seem to flat out require some work whether you want to do it or not. Retired or not, fate still holds a hand in your time allocation.

Went to Versailles to the apple fest after the initial cleanup of the water problem. Think it was a bit smaller affair than some years in the past. Don't guess it was a complete waste of time but sure wasn't anything to write home about.....Don't know why I mention it here other than to take up a little room which might help you think you received a full note.

Well, the cap on the chunk of meat that the dermatologist took from my back was a non-cancerous Seborrheic Keratoses. Said it wasn't a sun grown growth but it is something that runs in families. So now we know. Don't know about the thing she took off Glenda yet but really don't believe it to be cancerous either.

Picked up a couple new hoses yesterday so need to try getting things back together pretty soon. We may be poor but we try to stay clean.
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"Circumstances do not make the man, they reveal him." - James Allen

October 3

Another day is under way in which thankfully, Glenda and I get to participate in again. My little contribution may not mean much to a lot of people but it sure means a lot to me.

Glenda has bowling plans for this afternoon while Lardy Larry plans on hanging around here. I might even mow the lawn but the urge will need to grow quite a bit for that to happen. Besides, Tomi isn't very happy if I'm not sitting in the old recliner where he likes to lay between my knees while I'm all racked back.

A misty foggy morning, just right for book reading. I've got three here to read and I'd better get started. Bye....
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One of the lessons of history is that nothing is often a good thing to do and always a clever thing to say.~Will Durant

October 1

It was God's will and another day happened upon us and a beauty too I might add. 55 degrees to start with a slight breeze to irritate your hair some making you aware of another seldom thought about blessing. A full head of hair is good and with it comes about the only true bargain in life. The fact is, I pay no more for a haircut than the guy with the small head band of hair nor more than the men with less than that.

At $9 a cut I try to extend the intervals between. Like, I tell the barber to cut it close to a crew cut but leave a little in case I want to comb in a part. This allows me the pleasure of not visiting the barber shop but only once every three months. $36 for a years worth of haircuts when, as he tells me, most men get their hair cut every two weeks. Heaven sakes man, that comes to around $234 a year! That also doesn't include the wear and tear on the vehicle nor the cost of the fuel used to get there and back.

"Nothing says lovin like something from the oven" but it should be warm and my heated mind can't even warm up a plausible thought.......again.......Err, I guess you've already noticed?
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"I keep the telephone of my mind open to peace, harmony, health, love, and abundance. Then, whenever doubt, anxiety, or fear try to call me, they will keep getting a busy signal and soon they'll forget my number." - Edith Armstrong

September 30

To the hills in the City of Jefferson today. Hills that is, working fools and moving cars. Unlike down here and in Eldon where you're either retired or on welfare and while driving behind some folks on 'Y' you're tempted to get out and walk up to them to see if they having a problem. So we're loading up the truck and moving to Mary Lea. Doctor Mary is going to remove a couple things from Glenda's skin during the noon appointment.

Afterwards a visit to Mom's and then a stop at the library and the grocery store for a few staples then back home. Don't need much because of so many of the little tomatoes on our scraggily vines are ripening. That and the huge abundance of the Coral Mushrooms. They are just popping up everywhere and we just happen to be the kind of people that will pluck them and throw them into a skillet. They sure are good. We've shared our mushroom wealth a few places and have some packaged to share with some folks in Jeff City including Uncle Charles.
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"If you have only one kind word in you, type it then send it to the people you love." - Maya Angelou

September 29

He was a big guy and certainly knew how to talk tough but, 'a little bitty tear let him down' spoiling his act. I'm talking about the guy who came to take our satellite down. He got here and after at least an hour of preparation and tough talk he climbed the tower attaching three ropes to better stabilize it and then cut the lower guy wires off.

After quite a bit more talk he was back up the tower only to discover his plan 'A' wasn't going to work. A piece at the base of the pole the satellite was attached to had been welded in. His helper sent him up in a bucket, a reciprocating saw to cut it loose.

Sitting up there about thirty feet trying to cut it loose he disturbed a nest of wasps nesting in the base of the pole. One of the varmints got him right near his left nostril above the lip. The natural continuous and largely involuntary lacrimation process stimulated by the autonomic nervous system, teared him up pretty bad as I'd say it would most folks. Anyway, after we sent up a can of wasp spray of which he used to pretty well negate the hostilities he climbed down.

After some moaning and groaning with a lot of talk mixed in he reclimbed the tower taking his ropes loose, climbed back down then proceded to spend and hour and a half loading his stuff back up. Told us he would be back after a frost to finish.

Left us with a mess and huge doubt that he will return at all.
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The intensity of the pain depends on the degree of resistance to the present moment.-Eckhart Tolle

September 27

Thank God we're blessed with another day even if it does have an unsightly beginning. By that I mean it's too foggy out there to see much. I'm sure it'll dissipate like it did yesterday turning into another great day.

We've had this huge satellite dish on a forty foot tower beside the house ever since we've lived here but it may be coming down today. At least a guy said he would be here this morning with that intension. May keep some of the town as a permanent ladder to the roof of the house and garage, don't know yet.

We used that big old thing for several years in conjunction with an antenna for local stations then went to a small dish and now we're on Charter Cable.

As usual there is nothing on my mind but I do believe I still have some of the fried Coral Mushrooms hanging around in my belly that Glenda fixed for supper last night. I picked a large Wal-Mart sack full yesterday leaving more than I picked. Don't believe we need anymore this year either.

Good tidings to you! No, it isn't necessary to live on a beach to get them but for real good ones you probably need to get them from somewhere else besides this note.
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The greatest achievements were at first and for a time dreams. The huge oak sleeps in the acorn.-James Allen

September 26

A new day can begin without sunshine and we're proving it here this morning. The sun will probably make a belated appearance sometime this morning because the chance of moisture is so very slight. The fog is so thick that walking in it feels like it's drizzling.

"A stitch in time saves nine." Changed the bandage on the place where the mole had been and discovered six stitches making about forty five something saved. Should be happy about saving the forty five but can't hardly get my mind around what it is I've saved.

Glenda is going bowling with the elder folks which gives me another chance to lounge in the recliner and read. If it would rain or just stay cloudy would help that sit a lot. With a sunny sky, guilt sometimes interferes with my minds interpretation of the words of the books story. My tiny little mind can't handle many sneaky foreign thoughts wondering about therein.

I've always done a lot of minding and should have it down pretty pat after 67 years but I'm not sure the old mind has been with me full time. Anyway, I have in the past, tried to mind my manners and do to some degree still. I usually mind Glenda and at times lots of other folks, even if I doubt it is the right course for the time or not. I really mind others that don't even seem to try being courteous. I mind some of the direction that I get from Glenda. I mind some of them, even a lot of those I mind. Quite a few in fact I mind while I mind them.

I'm not sure but after reading this I think I must have been through another spell of mindlessness. The note seems to have suffered but there was no pain for me nor was I able to tell that it was absent. It must be a pretty common occurrence in my life. I'm going to follow my mind.....I'm outta here!
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Love and time-----those are the only two things in all the world and all of life that cannot be bought, but only spent.~Gary Jennings