To sachet or not to sachet

One Sunday evening in 1956, there was a TV show I desired to watch but being it was a church night, there was little chance this 12 year old boy would get to see it. I was extra good about getting out of bed and being ready to go to services that morning, paid attention in bible class, sang the hymns extra loud, and didn't even fart on the hard and resounding pew while the preacher said his sermon. I even put my last personal dime in the collection plate instead of trying to sneak one out of it as was my usual labor. I was hoping my mom would soften and let me stay home to watch the first appearance of Elvis on the Ed Sullivan Show. I ate my chicken dinner and smiled and asked for seconds; I was a good boy. Promptly at four-thirty in the afternoon, my mom told me to get ready for church; I was devastated. I began all the whining and pleading tricks I knew, which were many, but she was unrelenting. Finally, a switch was applied to my legs all the while I listened to her say that some day I would appreciate what she was doing. Mom, I am 66 years old now, and I still do not appreciate what you were doing although I do not resent that you thought it was necessary. Anyway, I missed seeing Elvis; there were no VCRs in those days.
I missed a lot of good entertainment shows and many educational TV programs because of my mother's beliefs; in particular I didn't get to see the Davy Crockett series of shows on The Wonderful World of Disney, but all my chums did and that hurt worse than me not seeing them; Davy was one of my local and legendary heroes. I also loved good cartoons, and I still do. No Donald Duck animated shorts for me, though. I was God-fearing, but I was more mama-and-her-switch-fearing. My life seemed to me to have become a 'go to church and go to school' type of existence. Of course, my plight did have rewards. I always had more toys than did my pals, and more and better clothing, too. I had no older siblings so I didn't wear worn hand-me-downs. Another thing I had which so many of my peers seemed not to have was a wild imagination. Every hollow stump was a space ship or a submarine. Other boys wanted to play shoot-em up western movies or war movies, but I was living in my sci-fi thoughts, saving Thuvia, the beautiful maiden of Barsoom and fighting space pirates in a far galaxy. My summers were spent mostly alone in the woods and fields, listening to tiny creatures sing their love songs and eavesdropping on trees as they gossiped among them selves.
Another Sunday morning rolled around in another year, 1960 I think it was. I was plenty disillusioned with being forced to do something which I was becoming to not believe in as I was being taught. My mom awakened me at the usual hour to get ready for church, but I decided it was time for me to quit being her little boy and to refuse to go. Physically, I was almost as big as she and the few whippings had become no more than a nuisance. That day, I told her I was not going to church and we were soon having an argument of which I am still ashamed. As she was threatening me with earthly mayhem and ever-lasting hell, I was smart-mouthing back to her and somehow she decided to slap me upside the head as she had done a few times before; it had become her unwritten exclamation point. However, this time she had a sachet cream jar in her hand and when it hit just at the top of my right ear I went to my knees, nearly unconscious and seeing stars. It scared her as much as it did me and there was a bit of blood on my ear to add to her angst. Well, I got my wish and I did not go to church that morning and neither did she, but until the day I turned 18 years old, I never missed or resisted going to church. I know she did not realize she had the sachet jar in her hand and I know she would not purposely have hurt me. In fact, up until her death in 2002, we both still got a big laugh out of the events of that long-past Sunday. I always chidingly blamed her for trying to kill me be cause I was refusing to go and worship a man who had been killed by the people he loved because he was being a rebel, same as I. Anytime I was at her house and she was displeased with something I was saying or doing, she would go the her bedroom, retrieve the very same sachet bottle which she had kept as a reminder, and hold it in front of my face without uttering a word.
Since the day I turned 18 in 1962, I have not been inside a church building except for an occasional wedding, for too many funerals, and to make a random photo. My fall from the foot of Jesus to the dark side of the force was complete.
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Have a thoughtful Sunday, my friends.
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The Transformation: Alternate Universe

My fall from life-everlasting on the Streets Paved With Gold to my present mindset of quip writer and beatnik poet was fairly precipitous, and a big part of the descent into perversion is due to science and science-fiction. Around 1955 when I was ten or eleven years old, my mom enlisted me into the Book of the Month Club, Wholesome Boyhood Division. One of my first books was about the hills of bonny Scotland where a boy and his border collie tended sheep on granddad's farm, and it was a pretty good read. A little later, I ordered and received a tome titled Danny Dunn and the Anti-gravity Paint, at least that is how I remember the name of the book. Anyway, it was about a boy and his pals who lived on Florida's Atlantic coast in an average American setting. Danny, while fooling with a hurricane or something, discovered a paint which nullified the effects of gravity. From there on, I ordered nothing but science fiction and hard science related books. My mom took notice of her budding Einstein (I thought more of myself as the handsome hero Buck Rogers type) and one day she bought me a sci-fi novel about a young man of the future who had just graduated from space academy on Luna. The cadet was assigned his first solo mission which was merely wrangling a huge thorium asteroid from beyond Mars to a Lunar orbit so the rock could be used to make nuclear devices to fight the powerful and evil empire of commies. Of course, the commies followed him there and there was much danger and brave deeds for our hero. Anyway, that space opera hooked me once and for all, but I cannot think of the name of the book. The main thing was that I was still going to church thrice weekly and living the good life of a semi-spoiled only-child (brat) in a pleasant country setting. In 1957, I journeyed into the seventh grade at a new school—Jonesboro High— which taught grades seven through twelve, and it had a great library where I read any kind of adventure story I could find including historical fiction and outdoor dramas. As I earlier wrote, at age 14 I became a card-carrying disciple of Jesus. If you were alive in the 50's decade, you well know the Big Event of the era was Sputnik; the commies had beaten the mighty U.S. of A. into space exploration and, of course, I wanted to become a spaceman defender of God, Country, and apple pie. About the same time I noticed a new novel on the library shelf titled Have Space Suit—Will Travel written by a man named Robert Heinlein. It and some woks by Isaac Asimov and Arthur C. Clarke all got me to seeing the universe as it really was; extremely ancient and indescribably huge and not as one put together 6,000 years earlier by a supreme being as I was lead to believe for all my life. I got to thinking the big thought: Who is God and where did He come from? However, these new revelations in my receptive mind did not allay my mom's determination that I should and would go to church on a regular basis. Nay, my friends, her heart was hardened much like Pharaoh's and her retribution for non-compliance was swift and terrible.
To be continued: Punishment by Sachet!
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Happy Birthday, Colleen!
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May your day be filled with Saturflies, dear hearts.
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 Loose Laces with attending photos can be had for free at this site.
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Chicken and I: A tale of woe and misunderstanding.

When I lived at home in my early to mid teen years, I went to church three times each week. I was no different than many kids growing up in the 1950′s, but I was just a few years ahead of my time in detesting and resisting authority such as was the norm in the next decade. As a teen, I hated school and even more, I hated being forced to go to church. At the age of 14, I was voluntarily baptized by immersion and became a Christian in fact; it was the thing to do and my mom was so proud; she would eventually get over the pride in my Christianity. Within two years, I was sick of the “you have to” portion of my my youth.

The act of going to church is the thing that eventually caused me to rebel against eating chicken. My dad did not have to got to church and I know of only a couple of time when he did so. He always said he would rather sit on a hot rock in hell than attend church services. I was learning. Of course my dad’s cavalier attitude did not go unpunished by my mom; his purgatory was cooking Sunday dinner for she and I while we were singing and praying and making other joyful noises unto the lord.

It was a pretty good arrangement to begin with, but my dad was not known as a creative chef; three Sundays out of four, he prepared fried chicken, chicken gravy, mashed taters, peas, whole-kernel corn, and brown-and-serve rolls. The one Sunday when he did not fry chicken, he made cubed steak with the same side fixings.
I happened to like chicken; I was country born and raised and it was a natural to eat chicken on Sundays at least once each month. The trouble began when I ate chicken nearly every Sunday for years and I eventually came to dislike it. In 1963 when Carolyn and I were dating, a local restaurant had a Thursday special on carry-out chicken and it had been a year or three since I had partaken of the fowl, so I gave it another try. We got our food which was bird, mashed taters, gravy, and a pair of biscuits and took it home to enjoy. Mine was dripping blood when I bit into it! That turned me completely against eating chicken and I did not have another piece until the mid-70s when I tried some of Colonel Sander’s offerings; again chicken, mashed taters, and gravy with a roll; I was not impressed and once more swore off that particular cuisine.

All went well until last winter when Carolyn decided she wanted some quick chicken and went to Wal-Mart deli and bought some pre-fried along with the ubiquitous mashed taters, gravy, and rolls. I will have to admit that is smelled good when she came in the door toting several cartons of instant gratification, and after she coerced me long enough, I agreed to eat a piece of leg and breast. It looked good and smelled great … at first. I took a bite and noticed something in my mouth felt wrong; the damned bird still had pieces of feathers sticking out of it! I am still pouting over the highly unsatisfactory “meal”. Carolyn and JJ ate the same as I, but theirs was fine and I came to the conclusion that chickens do not like me, so now I can only get even by eating their high cholesterol eggs. I never did like chicken gravy and haven’t tried it since I was small. I still love mashed taters, peas, corn, and brown-and-serve rolls, and I savor cubed steak; just no chicken, if you please.
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Have a Thursday!
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Leaves of brown

There was a male robin in the yard this morning; no lipstick on his beak therefore I suppose he was south bound.
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The leaves of the shagbark hickory tree across the street have changed from beautiful golden to brown; all since yesterday. Heavy rains last evening along with exceptionally warm Indian Summer temperatures probably caused the sudden loss of color.
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Happy Birthday, JJ!
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I am so tired. I get up tired and I go to bed tired but I do not have as much of the soreness which generally accompanies progressing RA. Maybe a couple more shots will get me back to my lovable old self; it takes four to six weeks for the medicine to fully work its magic; I missed three weeks and restarted Friday last.
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Have a Wednesday!
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Stormy weather

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Storms came through around 8:30 yesterday morning with straight-line winds said to be in the 80mph range (129km/hr). Some homes were completely destroyed, mostly due to falling trees, many businesses were damaged, and electrical power was out over the region; ours was off for 11 hours. Our house is somewhat protected by a small forest of big trees on the western, prevailing wind side, plus the house is partially below the street grade. Even at that, the noise was enough to cause my sphincter muscles to tighten so much that a hat pin could not have been driven between them with a sledge hammer. More huge storms are projected for today.
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Keegan is safely in Japan.
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I will take a Social Security cut again next year; my Bush/Cheney generated drug insurance premiums are again rising and so is the amount of my co-pay. Where the hell is Obama's health care reform? Gasoline prices are rising, all our required business insurance and auto insurance rates are increasing as are local taxes. Grocery prices are more than they were this time last year and utility costs have gone up. Medical prices have increased more than anything else, it seems, yet with all this, retirees do not get a cost of living increase, we did not get one this year, and only one percent is projected for 2012. Congress votes itself a fat raise every year.
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Have a Tom-Terrific Tuesday, my friends.
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My Saturday

Carolyn and I got up at 4:00 yesterday morning and missed seeing Keegan off by five minutes. Very disappointing; we were there at the agreed time, but the airport rounded up passengers and  put them in a holding area. We could see him and he could see us but there was no way we could give him a hug from 30 yards away. His dad and sister got to see him for two minutes. We watched his plane leave and turn for Charlotte and then we sadly drove home. He called his dad from Charlotte and again last evening from San Antonio; he was scheduled to be in Japan this morning, our time. Later last evening, he phoned his dad to tell him the flight had been canceled due to weather and the airline was putting him and two other airmen up in a motel. Apparently he will be in San Antonio until sometime tonight or tomorrow when he will finally leave for Seattle and Tokyo. He is very disgusted, but he did find the other airmen to buddy with which has to be making it easier on him; I know we are relieved that he has company. His new friends are both headed for Japan, too.
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I was and still am ill; the RA has me so sore I can hardly move. After leaving the airport, I returned home and back to bed. I slept a restless slumber for a few more hours, arose and decided I wanted to try to get some pics. Just after noon, I drove to Watauga Lake, but the colors there were disappointing. From there we journeyed across the mountain to Dennis Cove and found the color spotty at best; plenty of yellows but very little red and orange. The red maples for the most part were showing only yellow leaves. On up on Walnut Mountain we found only spots of decent reds, but hardly anything outstanding enough for shooting. We stooped on the mountainside and picnicked in the Escape; I was too sore to move about. We crossed the mountain and finally came to the abandoned church I love so much but the colors there were of low intensity. So off we went to the Christmas tree farms on Buck Mountain but it was late and I was shooting nearly directly into the sun and all my shots have lens flares. By that time, I was worn to a frazzle and we drove home where I returned to bed and stayed there until 10:00 this morning. I still fell badly, but not so as much as yesterday.
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Just writing this has me worn out, so I will bid you adieu until tomorrow; have a good Sunday, my friends.

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Friday

At last I am shot! Today I got the injection and then went on a scouting trip looking for leaf color. This looks like it will be a perfect weekend as the mountain sides are orange, red, yellow, and green. We will see Airman Anderson off early in the morning, and then I plan to see Watauga Lake and Dennis Cove. I will attempt to go over Walnut Mountain to the little abandoned church which I haven't seen since this time last year and from there by the Christmas tree farms on Buck Mountain. If I am not too tired, I will go to Wilbur as I haven't seen it since mid-summer.

Keegan was here on Wednesday and stayed awhile with us. Saying goodbye in the morning will be very tough for him and us. It will take two days for him to get to Japan; he must first fly to Charlotte, then to San Antonio, then on to Seattle where the Air Force will pick up the tab and fly him to Anchorage and then to Tokyo. We will dearly miss him.

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Have a great weekend, my friends.

Leaves and Lexus

 Loose Laces illustrated is here at this very spOt,
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Today the wind is trying to flog all the colorful leaves from the trees before I can get a chance to photograph them. Some of the trees, especially the shagbark hickory across the street, have colored about a week earlier than usual while others are about like they were last year.
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I am waiting for Carolyn to get back home with the Escape so I can go get my shot; I hope to hell I can get it but there is a chance I will not because I am still coughing a little bit. It has been 17 days since I had one, and I am certainly feeling it. Could be worse, though. Worst symptom: Totally tired all the time.
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Toyota is recalling more than 1.5 million cars in addition to the 10 million previously recalled. They will do all this, take a big tax write-off, give their executives fat bonuses, and act as if nothing happened. Wake up, World!
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Today's photo is another from Clark's Creek. The stream not only has the highest stepped waterfalls east of the Mississippi River, but I sometimes use this very rock and spot to take my quarterly baths; it should be sanctified. This shot was made during the worst of the drought but the water is usually about a foot (.3m) higher than this.
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Have a good Thursday!
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Photo stuff

It has been raining; a ground soaking drizzle. This should be the final push for leaf color in my area. Come Saturday, and after we see Keegan off, I hope to again hit the Watauga Lake area and the Dennis Cove-Walnut Mt.-Buck Mt. area. Laurel Fork in the cove is extremely photogenic and for someone who can do a bit of walking, there are several waterfalls on the creek. Sunday or Monday I want to catch Clark's Creek; it is where yesterday's photo was made.
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Megashot is quickly approaching the 1,500 member mark and is doing much better than expected. We have a new Wedding Photography community which I think will be much used; seems a lot of people want to learn the ins and outs of that genre. The Explore feature and contests could use a lot more entries. One of the surprising things that is widely used is the Critique Forum; it has been a big draw especially for new members. The forum is only three months old and already has more than 1,000 photos submitted for critique. I am not good enough of a photographer to help much there, but I do what I can. Flickr group administrators are begging their members to submit photos for critiquing but with little interest shown as a result. Flickr was never designed for such; it was a social site for youngsters from the get-go. Megashot can be used for socializing and probably is by some members, but it is more of a site for people whom want to share and learn.
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A tip from my own Megashot profile:
If you over-sharpen a photo a bit, a quick fix may sometimes be made by merely using your software "Despeckle" tool. It can remove some of the small highlights caused by sharpening.
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Have a Wednesday!

Pics and pigs

A cuter version of this blog can be found by clicking on this here spot.
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I am not a big fan of me using filters on my lenses, although I do have several of them. I have missed more good shots by having one on the lens at an inopportune moment than I have made "great" shots with them on. I have the normal protective ultra-violet filters, like everyone should use, on all my lenses. I also have a 52mm polarizer and a 62mm polarizer. I have a 50mm orange filter for shooting black and white when there are clouds in the sky. I have a 62mm .6 neutral density filter which I have never used and probably never will although I meant to when I bought it. Most of the filter effects can be duplicated with software, and I have a lot more control of the results. I also have three tri-pods; one has been with me for 30 years, one I have used twice, and one has never been used. I am a freaking pack rat when it comes to photo gadgets; I suppose it is because I had so few in the old days and had to make a lot of my own stuff.
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Not much going on in my metropolis; politicians are still politicians and fast food is still fast food and I am sick of both. We have several barbecue restaurants in the area including some franchised "chain" types. Of the four oldest ones, one is famous in the city and another is well known in several states as it is a favorite of NASCAR fans when the big race weekends are in Bristol. I don't like either of those, but the other two are smaller and have been around about as long as I can remember. I like my barbecue a bit on the sweet side and both serve such. The two which I do not like have a more tangy or bitter sauce and are more popular with local diners. I suppose I am just contrary when it comes to food; I rarely eat chicken of any kind, even if it is sweetly barbecued. Chicken and I have a religious "thing" going on. I will tell that story later. How do you like your barbecue?
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Hooray for little Libby!!!
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May your Tuesday telenergy be felt by all those you love.
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Nice weekend

 Yesterday was a bust; a beautiful sit at home day. Carolyn worked yesterday morning and when she came in we drove to Fall branch to finish up there but she could not get into the building. They changed the locks without informing her so we wasted more than an hour and a 50 mile round trip in gasoline. In some of her accounts, every time an employee of theirs who had access to keys and alarm codes quits or is dismissed for some reason, they change the locks. Carolyn was already sick with this croup and flu like I have, and she was mad and sick at the same time when we returned to JC.

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I still haven't had a shot; I continue coughing and having flashes of feeling badly and they will not give me the methotrexate when I have any kind of infection. It has been two weeks and I am beginning to hurt. R.A. is a catch-22.

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Have a good worsh day, my friends.

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Just Another Sunday

Jerry finally came by yesterday and we got the van fixed. I had the choice of buying a $50 Chinese made battery or a $100 American made battery. Can you guess which one I chose?
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We went into the hills and river valleys after Jerry left, but autumn afternoon was quickly fading. The colors were spotty at best with small patches of brilliant reds and yellows but mostly still green. At 4,500 feet elevation, the top of Unaka Mt. looks like it is close to peak, but it was difficult to tell from several miles away. Buffalo Mt. at 3,000 feet elevation is still mostly green. Did not get any photos.
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Keegan didn't come over last night, so I suppose he will probably not be staying with us before leaving for foreign duty. It is ok; we know he has a life outside of family and needs to enjoy his last few days at home.
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I hope I am well enough tomorrow to get my much needed shot; it will be two weeks since I had one and I am beginning to feel the effects. I will take my last antibiotic pill today and hope for the best.
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Carolyn has to work today, and later I will take her to finish up two more of the buildings that she didn't get done Friday because of the van problem.
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Have a great Sunday!
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Autumn coming down

I feel well enough to get out and make photos today, but one of the vans is broken and we are sitting at home awaiting Jerry to come and see if he can fix it. Can't go out tomorrow because Carolyn has to work. Peak colors in the mountains will probably come late next week and will last only a few days, however it is supposed to rain between now and then and that could mess everything up. The colors are best photographed in early morning and late evening; I hope Mark has some good luck this weekend.

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The Blogger Loose Laces is still being regularly spammed; this particular post is the worst one and I deleted a bunch from it a month or three ago. It is not the only post to receive ad blessings; one from about a week back got hit just after a few days and there are many more. Blogger is still slow compared to Wordpress; I just wish I could find out why Mark's comments must be approved by me before appearing on the new Loose Laces.

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It is beautiful outside today.

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Have a winsome weekend!

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Happy Birthday, Alice!!!

Happy Birthday, Alice! My friend Alice is now as as old as I, and neither of is is a senior citizen; we is just us.
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Keegan came by to see us on Wednesday and is supposed to spend the night with us on Saturday or Sunday. As far as I know, he will fly out of Tri-City airport at 5:00am on Saturday, the 23. He will lay over in Cincinnati and fly from there to to Seattle, and from Seattle he will leave for Japan. He has to pay his own fare from here to Seattle and the Air Force will pick up the tab for the remainder of his trip. At present, he is trained for Military Police work, but is still taking classes in physical therapy and vocational rehabilitation which he was training for prior to joining up. He is also working at the local recruiting center and tomorrow has to be a judge for an R.O.T.C. competition at an area high school. The best is that, according to him, he may have a date for tonight. He takes after his daddy in that department.
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I need to get into the hills for photos; I think the peak color will be next week but I need the Pentax in my hands and my eye absorbed by the scene in the viewfinder. Photography is a disease; hopefully an incurable malady.
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Have a frivolous Friday!
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Thursday thoughts

Loose Laces now on Wordpress.

The air is cool and fairly quiet today after thunderstorms cruised through the area last evening; it certainly feels like autumn outdoors.
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My buddy Mouse came by this morning; he was on his way to pay respects to the family of an acquaintance who died. We got caught up on B.S. and mostly cured the world's problems. Mouse is a hardcore Republican and a church-going Christian, but I generally overlook those faults. He and I have walked the walk together in the past but are now pretty well relegated to talking the talk.
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Not much happening, but I did go out front and make some pics of Carolyn's mums. The yellow one was brought to her as a gift by Kim when she came up for some shooting in Bristol and she bought the white one herself. I am still feeling badly, but not so much as I have been.
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Have a good Thursday!
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All most there

I gave in and went to see the doc this morning (Wednesday) and after a thorough five-minute examination she said she was treating me for bronchitis which was on the edge of becoming pneumonia. With pneumonia, I usually get a series of steroid pills but with bronchitis I get antibiotics. The miseries come and go so I thought I would stop by and say hello while I am feeling decent. Hello.
Hope I can resume regular posting and answering your comments tomorrow; thank you all for caring.
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Autumn hurrieth

This blog may also be read on Wordpress.
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Late visiting robins are on the lawn, refueling on worms and bugs as they say goodbye to the soon-to-be barren hills. I've read that autumn moves southward at an average of 15 miles per day and the migrating birds are still ahead of the curve. One thing these late travelers need be aware of: raptors are also migrating in mid-October and we are on the edge of a major flyway for them; the robins can easily become a meal.

The leaves are quickly turning; for awhile I was thinking they may be late in coloring this year; the several trees I can see from my window are visibly changing from day to day, even from morning to evening. They may peak a bit earlier than usual. Last year, the high mountains peaked at around the 18th, the mid-level hills around Watauga lake peaked around the 25th, and the 1800 foot elevation where I live was at prime a few days later. Get those cameras ready.
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I am feeling better this morning, but "better" is relative; the OTC meds are still keeping me more than usually stupid. The time away from the pc has allowed me to do some extra reading; I have finished three full novels since getting the Droid and am in the middle of a short story collection plus I am reading Algernon as I wrote about yesterday.
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Have a wild worsh day!
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Algernon

New and improved and available worldwide! Loose Laces is on Wordpress!
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The weather is too beautiful for me to be sick ...
I am still unable to shed this flu and the over-the-counter medicine is keeping me groggy. I must have some of last year's flu vaccine left in me; I've been sick since Tuesday but it is not hitting me as hard as it does most people. Maybe the shot I got on Monday last will prevent more such problems. I may have to take a few days away from blogging and such. I am once more reading Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes. Because it is listed as "science fiction", many people do not read it but there is very little science involved in the story itself.
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Be well, little Aga ...
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Have a good Sunday, my friends.
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John Lennon--Imagiantion and Reality

Slow to middlin'

New and improved! Loose Laces is on Wordpress!
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Not much happening in my little corner. I have been moderately sick with coming and going sinus problems since Tuesday evening, and now Carolyn is feeling poorly. I hate to be sick on a holiday weekend. If possible, we are going to drive to Wilbur tomorrow or Sunday; haven't been there since spring.
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My friends, thanks for reading my stuff and for following me to Wordpress. Blogspot posts are still being spammed and the going is still slow and erratic there.
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Have a super weekend!
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Toxic speeding

Loose Laces on Wordpress HERE.
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Carolyn got herself a speeding ticket while returning from work this this morning; doing 47mph and a 30mph zone. It is the same road she travels everyday and the same one I've warned her about for years. The cop gave her a break and charged her with 12mph over which saved her $50. The fine is normally $10 for each one-mile-per-hour over the limit. Of course I am the one whom catches the brunt of her disdain for over zealous policemen. My life gets shittier more interesting by the day, it seems. Yep, I’m in a ratty mood today.
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The deadly toxic sludge spill in Hungary has reached the once beautiful Danube. This is similar to what will happen inside the mainland U.S. sooner or later; it is not "can happen", it is "will happen". There are thousands of holding ponds scattered across the country containing everything from nuclear waste to common sewage and every kind of poison in between. Very few are inspected by the government on a regular basis, instead they wait for a disaster to occur before snapping the verbal whip. Just like the Exxon and BP incidents, the American people will easily put it out of their minds as we go about our blind ambitions. Big Brother will take care of us; Uncle Sugar will do us right. Wake up America!
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Have a fruitful Thursday, my friends.
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Happy 37th Wedding Anniversary, John and Milly!!!

This fine blog now on Wordpress.
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Please click on title.
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We were supposed to have our first frost of autumn this morning but it didn't happen in the low hills where I live; however the mountains look to be glistening along their peaks. The sky began clearing yesterday in late afternoon but the temps never got out of the low 50s. Snuggle-bunny weather.
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I spent most of yesterday doing quarterly tax reports for Feds and State agencies, wrote them checks totaling more than $1500, and now I must scratch around to come up with money to cover it. Oh, well, it's all in Carolyn's name and she will be the one to be prosecuted if the checks bounce. Of course I will be persecuted by her if anything goes wrong.
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The good people of Johnson City, Tennessee are now enjoying the same level of household income that they did in 2004. I am happy to see Obama and the boys doing their jobs. It still mystifies me that Joe Average did not see the truth behind Obama's and McCain's breaking their virtual necks to get to Washington from the campaign trail to vote FOR the Wall Street bailout. Good old Joe A. is just now figuring out that those miscreants were in the back pocket of of Big Finance and Big Business from the get-go.

The good news is that the Great Recession ended last summer, but we Average Joe hillbillies are a bit slow in the cranium and haven't grasped that realization.
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Wordpress is messing with my mind; I have it set to where a person leaves one comment and I approve it, it will automatically approve all that person's comments from then on. It worked well with Mark's comments and then Jola's and now Tammy's. Now, it is making me approve all of Mark's; ain't no problem for me but it can be disconcerting for the commenter.
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I just found an inch long (25mm) hair growing on my forehead between my eyebrow and where my hairline used to be. Geezers are strange.
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I did turn the furnace on last evening for a few minutes; the fireplace is a lost cause as the pilot won't stay lighted.
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Have a good Wednesday while I do some writative worsification.
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Baby, it's cold outside ... and chilly inside

Loose Laces is moving to Wordpress; click HERE to see the wonders.
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Another dreary winter day. It is 46°F (7.8°C) as I write this at 11:30am. I was hoping to go to the Headtown cemeteries where much of my family is buried, pay some respects, and make a few photos. I would like to get one more photo of the house in which I was born and also the one across the street from it where I lived most of my teen years and where my mom lived until her death in 2002. Maybe the light will improve later in the day; it is only a 10 minute drive for me.
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JJ and Carolyn are working on the gas fireplace, trying to get it going for one more season. It is mostly for show, but it does provide some heat when there is no electricity to make the gas furnace operate. It was very useful one winter in the late 90s when a heavy snowfall had us without power for several days. Most of my family was camped out in various rooms of our house.
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The cable company sure is taking a lot of time and resources hooking up TV in the house across the street. Two vans were there all day yesterday, and this morning there are two bucket trucks along the street. The neighborhood has no overhead wires. One guy is working on the access panel in my front yard, and I hope I don’t have to scold him. Three times since I’ve lived here the cable company has managed to gut our phone lines, the last time as I was standing and explaining to them that they were about to cut my phone lines. Stupid is as stupid does. Another time, they had to replace the cable which is buried along the street at the edge of my front yard. They brought in their Ditch-Witch, dug their trench, replaced the cable, half-assed covered it up, and drove off into the sunset. They left us with a muddy mess all along the curb and when we called them to complain, they said they hired a contractor to do the work and that we would have to contact them to complain. We ended up back-filling the ditch and resowing grass at our own expense. I told them to never set foot on our property again, and they said they could use the right-of-way anytime they wanted. I told them I could fill their asses with rock salt anytime I wanted. I freaking hate Comcast as they have been an arrogant bunch since coming into the area. If I had another choice of cable companies, I would get rid of Directv satellite service and have cable installed.
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Have a Tuesday!
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Feeling piggy

Loose Laces on WordPress

• Saturday as Carolyn was loading her van with food and other stuff for the party, she managed to lose her balloons which she had just paid seventy-five cents each to have filled with helium; she watched $10 drift slowly eastward
  
• Autumn didn't last long; seems we have jumped straight from summer to winter and I still haven't had my autumn bath
• Got my shot today which I missed Friday and as an extra added bonus, I got a flu shot; not just a regular run-of-the-mill flu shot; this had Swine Flu vaccine in-oink-cluded
• For the weather to have been so perfect Saturday, it sure changed for yesterday and today. Sunday was plumb gloomy and Monday has been almost as bad; much like skies of deep winter
• The Lady Volunteer basketball team had their first official practice. Said assistant head coach Holly Warlick, "We are in great shape. Running the ball and scoring quick!"
• Beekeepers visited my neighbor's house yesterday morning and removed a swarm of honeybees from behind the siding. The air was cool and they were easily handled
• Carolyn made potato soup with cornbread today; the heat from the cooking is all that kept me from firing up the furnace and I may do so yet. I need to turn on the gas fireplace logs and see if they have another winter left in them. I pigged out on—oink—the soup
  

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Have a good worsh day ... what is left of it.
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Pews

Photo of my aunt Iva (in pink) whom I consider as another mother to me

The family get-together was held in a small meeting hall behind a country church on Dry Creek Rd. I sat in back on the only pew, the rest of the area had tables and chairs. The bench had padding on seat and back, but within 20 minutes I remembered why I quit going to church; those darn pews are the work of the devil! My butt and back were both hurting.

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If ever there was a perfect early autumn day, it was yesterday. All day long the air had a snap to it, the skies were blue, and the hills were completely free of the usual “smoky mountain” mist. As I drove to the supper, I saw my favorite persimmon tree was loaded with the gold and orange fruit, awaiting a kiss of frost to make them delicious. Later as I returned toward home, I stopped atop a country hill, got out of the car, and looked at the stars; such clear seeing is rare. Toward the southern horizon, the Milky Way showed its splendor in patches of dust and stars. It was the best night time sky-view I’ve had in about 10 years as the uncountable points of light all twinkled in the brisk evening air. A religious moment? Oh, definitely, but not in the sense of awe in a spectacularly divine creation. It was a perception of cosmic harmony and of elation as I felt I was a part of it; yes, even a necessary—if momentary—part of it.

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At best, the Droid camera sucks. I used it at the supper, and not one decent photo did I get. I tried changing every setting I could find and none worked worth a damn. I am seriously thinking of returning it to Verizon and asking for a replacement or money back. Other people were snapping camera-phone photos and most of their 3mp shots were much better than my 8mp undertakings. The best shot i got is the one above of my aunt, and it took a lot of processing to make it presentable. My first Kodak Brownie of 1950 was a superior photography instrument than is the high-tech Droid.

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Have a great Sunday, my friends.

Apple butter and I

I am feeling better so far this morning; mostly sneezing and dripping. I didn't attempt to get my shot yesterday but will give it another go come Monday.
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Our grandson Jeremy should be here from Atlanta very soon; he and Courtney will stay with us tonight. It has been more than a year since last we saw him.
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Very chilly this morning at 40°F (4.4°C); frost will soon be nipping in the valleys and the mountains most likely got a taste of it overnight.
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The shindig for our grandsons won't be until 7:00pm today; I wish they had planned it for earlier in the day. Of course, they had to consider some of the folks will be attending the Apple Festival in Erwin and the Storytelling Festival in Jonesborough. Speaking of the Storytelling Festival, tonight is ghost story night and is the most popular part of the event. Many local people have ceased attending the festival because of outrageous attendance prices. Tourists seem glad to pay the $100 or more for the three day event. If I could walk well, I would attend the Apple Festival and buy a year's worth of homemade apple butter.

Oh, Apple Butter; how do I love Thee? Apple butter makes a great icing when baked onto a yellow layer cake. Yellow cake made with apple butter mixed in and baked is superb. Those are two of my grandmothers deserts; she didn't make a lot of sweets, however. A fresh, hot biscuit with cow butter and apple butter is a grand breakfast for a country kid. Instead of maple syrup, try warm apple butter on pancakes. Instead of jelly, mix apple butter with your peanut butter for a scrumptious sandwich. Apple butter on toast is another good breakfast. Yep, I like apple butter, but not the dark factory stuff found on grocery store shelves; it ain't fit to feed a pig. However, I do sometime eat it out of desperation. I like apple butter made with centuries old recipes handed down through generations; the kind lovingly cooked in a brass kettle over an open fire. It is a tradition which is fading from the hill people as the youngsters want instant gratification from the nearest Wal-Mart.
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Have a great Saturday!
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Sniffles still yet

Loose laces is now at this link.
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I am feeling very poorly today; someone has passed along their cold and flu to me. I probably caught it via email virus; seems like anything is possible these days.
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I still must get my shot and I must act like I am not sick or they will not give me it. The stuff weakens the immune system and that is why I catch everything that goes around. If I don't get the shot, I will be in bed for a week or more with RA; I am just now getting over the last one I missed nearly two months ago; it is a Catch-22.

Here is a travelogue put together by my friend Jikido-san. He is one heck of a good photographer and I would like to get him on Megashot:

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Have a wonderful weekend, my friends.

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