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

September 25

Back to back comes to my mind as I sit here in the old recliner. Thankfully the chair back that the tender spot on my back is pressing against is soft and not too uncomfortable. Yesterday at the skin doctor visit, the doctor couldn't determine if a mole on my back was something other than what it should be so she cut it out to have a biopsy run of it. One would think that a little mole would only be cut off not cut out but I saw the chunk and feel the stitches. Nothing to worry about I'm sure.

Next thought is about the Alaska bridge to nowhere that isn't. Glenda's trip to the Lions club at Rocky Mount to play bridge with the old folks brings that up. That plus the fact that Rocky Mount is a nowhere place that really isn't. There is a sign on 'Y' highway indicating a small stretch as being Rocky Mount but no population listed on it and it is quite a ways from where the state maps have it anyway.

And the last typing point that I want to make is,..........well, It should have been somewhere above the first one. So much for nothing!
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If you come to a fork in the road, take it. -Yogi Berra

September 23

A person who specializes in something can be called a specialist. Then you have people that lobby called lobbyist, bicycle riders called bicyclist and ah, you know how it goes.

Anyway today we're going to visit a guy that makes huge dents in wallets which allows him to be known as a dentist. Usually only a routine check unless he has his yearly
neighborhood assessment coming up on his mansion in Florida, a Hummer payment or he needs to fill the gas tank in his automobile.

No, he is really a nice guy and doesn't actually bend us over a barrel. He just sits us in a chair and it's a thing that we feel needs to be done.

As we'll be in Jeff City a 'MOM' visit will be in order. Depending on the dentist's financial need of the day we may be able to take her to lunch.

Don't know about going to the senior center tho because they've raised their price to $3.00 now. Some of their food........well, I thought the value with the $2.50 charge was pretty borderline.

I don't know, does it read like I could be a cheap-ist? Or would that be cheap-ass? How does furgal-ist read?

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A "cheep" is a birdlike sound or peep, while something that is "cheap" can be a poor or very furgal person or only an embarrassingly stingy one.~Unknown

September 22

71 years ago last Friday one of our nice neighbors was crying and bawling around as he was slapped on the butt a couple of times. I'm pretty sure that he doesn't remember this nor do I know it to be a fact but Friday was Dale's birth anniversary anyway.

There is a good chance that 67 plus years ago I was crying and bawling around also. Heck there is a chance I was crying and bawling around yesterday. I've always been a bit sensitive and somewhat quick to tears. At one time I hunted and killed deer, squirrels and rabbits but not any more. Can't even watch a hunting show on TV now. Funny how some things leave you as you get older as other things strengthen.

You can get tougher as you age but the almost surprized realization of the fact that from the moment of birth the end begins approching can wimp you up pretty much. The death of an animal or person creates a pain.
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Even at our birth, death does but stand aside a little. And every day he looks towards us and muses somewhat to himself whether that day or the next he will draw nigh. -Robert Bolt

September 21

Gee, there are so many times in life when good is bad! Like last night, Glenda grilled a huge steak and a couple portabella mushrooms. What a meal! I certainly left nothing to store in the refrigerator, storing it in my belly instead. It was very, very good and that is bad!

As I've mentioned before, to eat I use this magic wand that has four prongs on the end away from the handle to pick food off my plate. I stick the prong stuck food into my mouth and ABRACADABRA, it changes into fat. Or a better way for me to look at it, I stick it into my mouth and it changes into stored fuel that my big body needs a lot of just to operate. Problem with that is I've stored way too much and the excess storage creates the need for even more fuel and on and on.

That meal leads to another problem for me and probably other people as well. Did you ever notice after a real good meal how you go around hungry for several days after? The memory just won't go away!

An example of how good can be bad but in this case I believe it might be a, gooder can be worser case!
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I went on a diet, swore off drinking and heavy eating, and in 14 days I lost two weeks.-Joe E. Lewis

September 19

A bunch of the eighty some buttons sitting here in the computer on my lap just awaiting my touch. We've had a computer for a long time and I just now noticed I don't know what every one of the buttons do and have never used them. As usual with nothing to say many buttons that I have used before will go unused today.

I have been accused of talking too much a time or two in the past but if that ever happened there was another live person or two involved. My strong beliefs reacting to a stimulating word or two from another may have caused extra words to spew....If it ever happened.

Anyway sitting here with me, myself and I fails miserably to kick out a firing up word or subject. Kinda nice ain't it!
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Without ambition one starts nothing. Without work one finishes nothing. — Ralph Waldo Emerson

September 18

Man'o it sure is foggy here this morning. Why it's so foggy it keeps the motion detector that we have at the garage sitting off the chimes we have in the house. Soupy I'm saying, if you'd throw a few veggies out the door we'd have instant vegetable soup.

On one of Glenda's dog walking jaunts she picked up a large marble sized green thing and brought it home. I told her I thought it was a persimmon and stuck my two front teeth into it. The shrinking and puckering reaction of my lips and gums pretty well confirmed that. For further confirmation I walked down and looked at the tree. It is along the road at the first house down the hill into our neighborhood. Funny we've never noticed it before in the fourteen years we've lived here.

We're retired so won't try to market it butt....er but.....I'm positive that a hemorrhoid sufferer could peel the skin off one of these little persimmons and after inserting it in the problem area like a suppository would quickly discover a huge relief.
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"It costs to be stupid. The stupider you are, the more it costs." - Sherrill Brown

September 16

I understand that the city of Jefferson and Mom's house is to be expected to appear some time down the life's road we'll travel today. It probably will include a meal at the senior center too. Better food and a lot less expensive there than at the freehaha buffet given to us up at the money trap in Boonville.

53 emails this morning and some contained no happy. Matter of fact three of them, two from relatives and one from a friend had enough negative information in them to tamper any emailer's delight. Certainly did mine anyway. Right now I'm working on re-instilling it but it's coming slow.

Pretty chilly here this morning but a person can't let the weather or any other type influencer dictate their mood or restrict their happiness. Keep a good attitude and a smile on your face. What ever will be will be and when you look back it will be, whatever will be was. Even if you're able to lean it one way or another, in the end it will still be, whatever will be was. Gosh, don't we hate it when a typing topic won't surface for a half-assed readable note?
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"No cause has he to say his doom is harsh, who's made the master of his destiny." - Johann Friedrich Von Schiller

September 15

Somewhere I've heard "Great day in the morning" and it sure is so here. I think everyday here is a great day in the morning but unfortunately as the day wanes so does a lot of the great.

I suppose that the mornings great has something to do with a good nights sleep and jumping up refreshed. After the creaky achy joints loosen up a little you're fired up and ready.

You jump right out there into the day with your mind popping you along as the near worn out body tags along making a huge effort just to keep up. As the day proceeds the constant willing on of the lagging body begins to diminish some of the minds 'great day' leaving rest the paramount thought on your whipped mind.

I don't know if the above has any merit or not but I can tell you that knowing I need to mow the lawn today has already sucked some of the great out of my morning. And besides, if I want to type a note I've got to come up with something.
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Oh youth why did you con me into the passing lane and push me so speedily down the road only to abandon me?~Unknown

September 13

Did pick up the new sixty dollar plus window for the garage door yesterday. It sure was a heck of a lot easier to install than the old one was to break out. But, a man has got to do what a man has got to do.

Biggest plans for today is typing this note. I suppose I only mean the hardest chore so far, there is never a plan to it. It could be that the lack of a plan is what makes the chore so hard but we've already came down here several lines without one so what the hey. I'll just continue to typtoe thru the typeface, err, tulips for you.

Our forecast was for a lot of rain (6.6" by Sunday night) beginning a couple days ago but so far we've only received about three tenths inch. A cold front was supposed to slip in too but 75 degrees at 5:20 a.m. doesn't make it seem so.

Looking this over made me think of an old cowboy.........Slim Pickens

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Swedish proverb: Worry gives a small thing a big shadow.

September 11

Ain't got time to oil the hinges Nor to mend no window pane..............I'm just kidding around about this. Heck, I like everyone, have all the time I need for just about anything. It is only a minor matter of arranging or rearranging my priorities.

One of my many peeves is the one where anyone say's "I was going to do that whatever ...but I didn't have time." Bullshit! I correctly contend it is all a matter of 'want to's' which is called priority and how high on the list you place the want to.

I also have big problems with, 'to tell you the truth' and I'll be honest with you'. These always create the question in my mind, are they getting ready to lie to me or have they been lying all along.

All the above came to type because I didn't want to type this morning but forced myself anyway. I've got other things that were higher on 'want to' list but gave in and grudgingly rearranged things.

Reads like we both lost doesn't it.
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Too many people overvalue what they are not and undervalue what they are. ~ Malcolm S. Forbes

September 10

I'm really not sure what normal is but believe myself to be near so. In my case, which would probably be near true with others, is the astounding power of the negatives over positives.

For example, grade school should have been about eight years of happy times with the topper being the graduating to the next grade every year. Why is it then that if asked about my grade school memories the first things that come to mind are the terrible belt spankings I received. The first one by the principal on the high school steps when I was in the first grade at Mansfield. All I did was jump out a window at the recess bell so as to be the first one to the teeter-totters.

Next would be, while still in the first grade, I took Gary to school with me for a days visit and during a recess had him on my shoulders fighting another shouldered up pair. The other team won but in our fall Gary received a broken collar bone.

A couple more grade school memories in the forefront would be the really nasty spanking by the superintendent in Norwood where the bruising bought my mother and aunt in to talk with him. All I did was throw a snowball. Then the beating in Mountain Grove for skipping school, but I may have been in high school then. There were about five of us and we got to choose the paddle. Got to choise from four paddles and before it was over decided we had made a very poor choice.

All this just to say that yesterday is one of those, please forget days, that will probably stay with us for a long time. That is all I'm saying about that.

Humm, I guess that is all I'm saying this morning about anything.
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Whipping and abuse are like laudanum; you have to double the dose as the sensibilities decline.-Harriet Beecher Stowe

September 9

It looks as if a lot of the lake doesn't realize it's over as it appears that some of it is attempting to escape the torment of being impounded or dammed and then being tortured by the big boats, the PWC's and the speed demon's. The escape attempt is in the form of vapors or better know as fog, lifting off the surface of the lake big time this morning. I think some of the rising moisture will probably hang around then in retaliation, try to catch a lagging boater or two to dump on.

Seems to be quite an abnormal bunch of fish jumping out there this morning too. I believe they may be jumping in glee as there are no boats and were very few yesterday. Now for the rest of the year and way into next, the fishes biggest worry will come mostly from the fishermen. Happy times are back for all the lake dwellers.

Can't enjoy it much today as Dory is still tired from beating the weeds down along both sides of our road clear to the top of the hill yesterday and doesn't want to cook today. That can only leave us with cold cereal for breakfast and a late free, ha ha, buffet in Boonville. Late always means no supper.

If there is anything interesting that I know it is playing hide and seek in my mind. It's hide appears to be a heck of a lot better than my seek so the end is near. Of course there is always that almost guaranteed possibility that I know nothing that would be of interest to many anyway..........
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The happiness of your life depends upon the quality of your thoughts: therefore, guard accordingly, and take care that you entertain no notions unsuitable to virtue and reasonable nature.--- Marcus Aurelius

September 8

Well, it's past time for another note and I suspect most thought the absence increased their chances of the day being better. I say that the elation of no Hunky notes, the coffee getting cold, a car that won't start and the usual sad news on the TV has nothing to do with the happy in your day. Your mind is the answer. You can let it guide you along with the outside influencers or you can control it.

As I walk through the house and out the door I can see the many things that need repair and probably should have been repaired some time ago. I can take that downer among others and go sludging through the day or I can look up and realize I am still able to see the beautiful world about me and walk in it.

See the tree dropping all those nuts, trying it's best to propagate the species as the squirrels grab them up to eat? That poor tree isn't giving up and has been in this situation many times over the past fifty plus years of it's life. Another ring around its core is what will happen and that is a happy.

See the flowers poking their little buds out in an undying attempt to generate another? Happy has got to be there somewhere by knowing, or not, that it did it's ever loving thing.

Happy is only if you want it to be. It can be as simple as while sitting on the porch watching the big waves beating your dock to an earlier destruction then realizing that you have a dock and a porch to sit on and still retain enough ability to sort out some of the beauty to dominate the scene.

Well, to send a note you've got to type something..........Struggling Hunky
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"With the ability to recognize it, there is nothing that makes its way more directly to the soul than beauty." - Joseph Addison

September 7

Whada ya know? If you're reading this we all made it to another day of life. It's time to be thankful and count your blessings! When you're picking blessings out to be thankful for don't get hung up on anything that might not qualify in your mind. I've been told there is always some good in the bad and I believe it is so. Most would try to stretch a near good into being a real good because it is quicker and easier sometimes than finding the for a fact, the true good. Oh well, good is only a personal perception anyway.

What do I know about this? Ha! After 67 years I've seen bushels of both bad and good. I've had my parade rained on so many times that the rawhide on my drum will never be taut again. Now when I strike my drum I only get a 'glug' instead of a 'bong' or 'clackety clack'. I think that might be why some think I march to a different drummer sometimes.

We're all into another day with the mired in knowledge that we have the rest of our lives ahead of us. It is possible to miss out on some of it so you need to stay sharp.

I surly do dream a lot at night and when I wake in the morning I reflect on some of the dreams and if they seem good I go back to sleep for another one. If they weren't so hot I just go ahead and get up forgetting them. If it doesn't provide some satisfaction don't do it. I have a better chance of directing my conscience mind toward something satisfying than one of my subconscious dreams.

Why do I bother typing these at all? Oh, that's my question too.
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"The secret of good writing is to say an old thing in a new way or to say a new thing in an old way."-Richard Harding Davis

September 5

We ended up with four inches of rain and a faulty protection devise for our two buckets of scrawny tomato plants. The motion detector that turns the blaring radio on quit turning it off. We've got the radio tuned to an FM station because it was the best we could receive but the music they play sounds like something from outer space or something that has been run over three of four times. Anyway after dark that loud ugly music blaring constantly across the lake probably aggravated a few of the local cove dwellers before Glenda went out and turned it down.

I think the problem was caused of the two times break in the power yesterday. After screwing around with it for awhile this morning I finally turned it off at it's base, waited several seconds then turned it back on. Believe it or not, it is now working again.

Bowlin', bowlin', bowlin' Oldhide! Move 'em on, head 'em out Oldhide! Yep, today some local elders will gather at the bowlin alley again for their weekly little bit of bowling and gossip session that generally results in a few disagreements.

Most all are of the age where people have locked in beliefs, maybe double locked in beliefs which they will fight for. That age feels like they have earned the right to spew their right or wrong beliefs and double dare you to disagree. I guess it keeps your mind active.

Locked in like most are, they can stay their trail real well but seems to me it would get pretty boring when you won't get off the trail one iota which might enable them to observe a more beautiful view.

Ouch! Just had the painful thought, I'm that age............ Guess I don't want anyone trying to jerk me off my chosen trail is why I stay home.
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It's an indulgence to sit in a room and discuss your beliefs as if they were a juicy piece of gossip. -Lillian Hellman

September 4

Two of Glenda's girl friends invited her to accompany them on a trip to the gaming place in Boonville today. Good for me but unfortunate for her, she has a trip to Jeff City scheduled. Going to take mom for the quack doctors suggested visit to another doctor for a third or forth opinion about the pain in her back. Doubts abound here but you never know.

Anyway to Jeff should be some what less expensive than a trip to Boonville. Maybe she can use a couple bucks of the savings to buy us another chance at the Missouri Lottery, or the Powerball. It isn't enough to just save money you need to invest it! I left the word wisely out because I didn't think it belonged under the circumstances.

3.3" of rain so far, still raining and only 64 degrees here this morning. As the wind whines around trying to find something to dry up or someone to irritate it sometimes catches me outside wearing my hearing aids. Strangely, through some quirk, the wind coupled with the battery powered hearing amplifiers in my ears create a tiny pain in my ass. I just don't wear them if it's very windy.

Habits are what personal character is made of, and they basically come in two varieties: good and bad.
Experts in human behavior say it takes 21 repetitions to break a bad habit or to establish a new one. That means if you do something every day, after three weeks it will become an almost automatic response -- a habit. Continue for another 21 days and you will have established a lifelong habit. That's six weeks to change your life.

I now see why I try to send a message everyday even tho I rarely have anything worthwhile to say...........I've stumbled myself into the CREATION of a bad HABIT!
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If a man has enough horse sense to treat his wife like a thoroughbred, she will never turn into an old nag.~Unknown

September 3

As I look out the window I see that we're getting some of those five inches of rain that is forcast. I'm thinking I must have heard this yesterday which would have made today tomorrow at that time. I know that tomorrow never comes and the yesterdays as well as all of the todays are constantly changing but.............now where was I? Heck, 'right now' keeps changing too! I guess it's true that the only constant in the world is change.

Sometimes more than none is good which could lead us to sometimes more than one could be better. I made an error yesterday and somehow lost yesterdays note four times before I could get one sent. Even then I got the subject numbers wrong. After reading it I see that the forth one wasn't any better than the first one and in truth probably wasn't any better than none. Everyone knows how sorry a person I am so I don't think there is any need to apologize so I won't.

I think most would find a little note a relief from all of the daily received jokes that constitutes most of the bulk of everyone's in-box. At least I know I appreciate getting notes instead of jokes. Most of the time any joke someone receives, he'll/she'll get it four or five times then a couple of months later here it comes again.

Now that I think about it, I see that these notes could qualify as a joke and everyone did get yesterdays at least four times............I give up!

I'm just like half the people you know.... Remember, half the people you know are below average.
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Old age is like climbing a mountain. You climb from ledge to ledge. The higher you get, the more tired and breathless you become, but your views become more extensive.-Ingmar Bergman

September 2

I've been around a great many females over the last 67 years and have learned a few things about them and at the same time realize that I still have a lot to learn. I'm fairly certain that when I or the mortician close my eyes for the last time there will still be a million unanswered questions left there to rot. Won't make any difference then and doesn't make a whole lot of difference now......But

One of the traits that I think I've figured out is that after they've known you for a period of time they would rather not have a real conversation about anything with you. They want you to listen a lot but for goodness sake keep your mouth shut! Long ago I came to the conclusion that Glenda was fairly typical of her sex and of course she has known me for a period of time.

Knowledge is one thing but putting it into practice is another of which on this I come up pretty short on. I have but to thank the long ago acquisition of Mikey and Tomi, for their presence contribute greatly on keeping our keel as even as it is around here.

What or what did you say are some of the words uttered from my mouth more than any others around the house here if you don't count cuss words. The most common, around 89% of the time, reply to my words are either I was talking to Mikey or I was talking to Tomi. Kind of confusing are the most used words the other 11% of the time, "you never talk to me anymore!" .........Go figure.

I aim to type a note one of these days without using the I, me, I've or I'm. Hum, wonder if I can do that.
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I'm supposed to have a Ph.D. on the subject of women. But the truth is I've flunked more often than not. I'm very fond of women; I admire them. But, like all men, I don't understand them. -Frank Sinatra