Walking

I was able to accomplish something yesterday which I thought was going to permanently elude me; I walked without crutches or cane or any kind of aid. I also found out I have a very long way to go to get it done right. Just a few steps is a beginning.

Jeremy sent us a set of coasters with some of my flower photos on them. They are beautiful and we are very grateful that he thinks of us. Granny was all teary-eyed again. We love Jeremy and Courtney and wish we could see them.

It has once more turned winter in the knobs. Carolyn’s daffodils are just now out of the ground but this time last year they were in bloom. It is going to be a great spring!

Coming soon to a forest near you: Spring!

Olympic Ice Dancing and Skating: All contestants should be required to use Judas Priest music for their performances. It would darn sure even things out and make the event at least a bit more tolerable to watch. I was fortunate enough to see these guys in concert just before they made it big. I don’t remember which band they opened for but it was probably REO Speedwagon or KISS.

I am glad to see some smaller nations win many of the medals in these Winter Olympic games.  Jola’s Polish team has won four medals so far and all have been gold. Russia, Canada, and the U.S are doing well as is China, a country which will someday dominate  the games both summer and winter.

We are having a touch of spring-like weather this week but I don’t expect it to last long before winter again closes its icy fist on the hills.

The boys are doing well and not having a lot of winter sickness. Sammy and Mason were with us Sunday and all three were here yesterday.

There is a bill before the Tennessee legislature to cause the state to have daylight savings time year round. I am all for it

Leviticus 19:33-34
³³ When a foreigner resides among you in your land, do not mistreat them. ³⁴ The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself,  for you were foreigners in Egypt. I am the Lord your God.

Bad Grandpa

Thanks to Jeremy, we just finished watching watching Bad Grandpa. We both laughed our butts off. Thanks, Jeremy!

I succumbed to boredom and watched some of the Olympic events on TV. I saw curling, various skiing, speed skating, and some individual women sliding down an icy path on a board, an event known as “Skeleton”. Curling seems like a cross between a game of darts and a game of marbles we used to play as kids except the marbles a flattened, round stones. They must get dirty easily because there is always two people skating ahead of them sweeping the ice as they slide toward the circle and bulls-eye. None of it makes sense because if you knock an opponent’s “stone” out of the circle you don’t get to keep it. Carolyn likes figure skating but it is the ultimate in boredom for me.

We endured Wednesday’s snow storm but there is another due tonight. This winter is trying to make up for a bunch of mild ones we had over the past decade or longer.

Ready I Am

I’m ready for the snow storm! Got a candle, a one cell flashlight and extra battery, and kerosene for the space heater; I think there is a strike anywhere match left in the box.. I’m good for the duration.
It was sad to learn about Mark’s dog Summer passing. I was always glad he adopted an older dog from the shelter and he gave her what were probably the best years of her life. Like so many of her breed, she was a gentle soul and even tolerated cats.

I received an interesting comment on my Smokin’ blog from last week. Here is a link to a blog about ginseng and its cultivation. When I was young, I tried to cultivate some of the wild root but all I ever got was stunted plants that died after the first year. Ms. Woods seems to know how to make a good crop and has written a book about it.

A couple of days ago I saw my first robin of the year other than the local wintering flock. One lone male was scavenging in my back yard. Any sign of coming spring is a good sign even if it is tempered by the coming storm.

It has begun to snow as I write this.

Smokin'

I am happy that CVS pharmacy has decided to refuse to sell tobacco products any longer even though it is a huge financial hit for the huge company. Personally, I use a local, minority owned pharmacy for my prescriptions even though sometimes I pay a little more than I would at CVS or Wal-Mart. My long-time pharmacist is an immigrant from the middle-east and attends a Muslim mosque. Put that in your pipe and smoke it, Rush Limbaugh. I am a sixth generation Scots-Irish-German-Swedish American but it makes no difference because I am just plain happy I was born here and allowed to live my life in these East Tennessee hills of America. Brotherhood, y’all.

Weather is a bit crazy which is getting to be the norm since we screwed up the stratosphere. Yesterday we had high winds which—at this time of year—normally means that spring is trying to horn in on winter’s time. No telling what it means these days but it is cold and gray today. Give it up, old man winter and allow baby spring to have its way.

Winter Olympics begin today but I won’t be watching much of it except maybe speed skating; I hate cold and darn sure don’t want to look at it on TV.

New “reality” series on TV about harvesting ginseng. I knew the plant was becoming rare but I didn’t know it was bringing up to one-thousand dollars or more for each pound. I used to sell a bit of it back in the day but the price then was seventy-five to one-hundred twenty dollars per pound and it had to be dried. It takes a lot of the dry roots to make a pound. The big prices these days are for fresh out of the ground product and nearly all that is harvested here is exported to China. I also harvested may apple root and bloodroot. I occasionally see ginseng plants when I am in the woods making photos.

In perfect harmony

This Coca-Cola Super Bowl commercial brings me unbound pleasure in the superb multilingual lyrics and the diversity of American cultures shown. The part which pleases me most about it is that it has pissed off so many conservatives, including rednecks, Jim Crows, and tea partiers. These jerks claim that all Americans should speak nothing but some form of English. Many think “America the Beautiful” is the national anthem of the United States of America. It isn’t. Some decry the ad because it shows gay Americans. Little do they know that the woman whom wrote this wonderful song, Katharine Lee Bates, was an American lesbian. I suppose that some folks lives are so poorly lived that they have to find someone to hate so as not to dislike themselves so much. To them I say “have a Coke or a Pepsi or whatever you prefer and enjoy whom and what America stands for and whom and what it really is above your lowest wishes and highest expectations”.

Of Mice and Windows

Keep on turning, Pete

"If you sing for children you can’t really say there’s no hope."

Finally got Win7 running like it should. It is fast to operate on the new solid state hard drive. The problem was my old Logitech mouse. For some reason it would not cooperate with the new system and caused me much grief by scrolling backward through my browser all on its own. Page after visited page sped by. A new Amazon brand cheapo mouse seems to have cured the problem. I also added two sticks of memory to the PC; it now has six gigabytes total.

I’ve had enough super-cold for one winter; it was at 0°F (-17.8°C) this morning. I want to thank my Canadian and American Yankee friends for sending us this bountiful frigid season.

Still haven’t seen baby Jaden and tomorrow is Mason’s first birthday.

Winter thoughts

I have Win 7 installed along with all my needed programs. I have one major problem which is probably going to cause me to have to redo the entire setup. It is so bad that if I finish this blog in one day, I will be lucky.

When I passed my first kidney stone, a nurse told me that I now know how it feels for a woman to have a baby. All I can say is that if having babies is as painful as having kidney stones, the world population would be a whole lot less than what it now is. Kidney stone pain is constant and can last for hours or even days. Mark recently passed two stones and I wonder how he feels being a mother. After passing my last stone, my buddy Fred asked me what I did with it. I told him that I pissed it away like I did everything else I ever had. All seven of my stones were barely visible and when they moved to my bladder I had no problem passing them.

Another snow here today with schools and many businesses closed. Carolyn probably won't make it to work tonight. This may turn out to be the first real winter we have had in many years.

New phone but same old me

I am mentally trying to prepare myself for a task that at one time in my life I rather enjoyed. Now, it is a dreadful storm cloud hanging over me. Because Microsoft is going to stop issuing security updates for Windows XP, I must install Windows 7 in my PC and reinstall all the other software I use. I also have to install a new copy of Quickbooks accounting software for Carolyn’s business needs. I chose to purchase a new hard drive, too. It is a solid state drive and I trust it will be much faster. All this is an expensive upgrade but it is direly needed as Win XP will be of little use in another month or so.  I have the new drive prepared to go into the PC and the software is due to be here today. I will need two long days of hard work to get it all done, that is if all goes ok. Now, to get myself psyched to get it done.

I’ve been needing a new phone for awhile; my old Droid X has become obsolete and stretches its resources just to make a phone call. I found a new HTC One on Amazon for $30 based on a two year contract agreement. I’ve been using it for a couple of days and it seems to be much better suited for what I have to do. I hate the contract, though.

Enough for today except to say it is again super cold here.

Carry on

Sammy naps with new brother Jaden

Welcome to Jaden Michael, brother of Sammy and Mason. All are well except Mason has a cold.

So far this has been as close to a normal winter as we’ve had in a long time. Not much snow but the season is still young. First sub-zero degree day in several years, thunderstorms, sleet, and lots of rain have been the norm. Our electric bill is more than $200 for the first time ever.

Our government is still in shambles because of weak “liberals” and overly zealous tea-partiers. The voting people are too lethargic to try to do better. Amen

And When I Die was a popular song during my electrician apprenticeship.

Bits and pieces

Roku now has Youtube … again. Please post videos of your lovely selves so I can watch you on big screen tv.

Speaking of tv, my Samsung DLP tv stopped working yesterday. Mason tried to fix it.

I had a great time with the boys yesterday. Sammy wallered (wallowed) me good.

Nice. mild weather here after sub-zero temps just a few mornings ago. I can tell there is a little more daylight in evening so I suppose there is hope for spring to come.

Another of my friends from back in the day died on Dec. 26. We had a bit of falling out and he disappeared for many years. He was in Chattanooga where his sister lives when he died  I remember he and I sitting in my old pickup truck drinking beer and smoking fine weed. Another friend from back when’s wife died a week or so ago.  He an I also had a falling out and I have seen but little of him since he got married in mid-eighties.

The bloody morning after

Marijuana has been legal in Colorado since the first of this young year and the world hasn’t stopped turning and the polar ice caps didn’t finish melting. What have we become? Allowing gay people to marry and allowing legal pot smoking, we are bound to be a nation who must bear the wrath of God. We even allow men to have long hair and women to wear pants and shorts in public. We got down from our camels and invented automobiles which is surely an abomination. We put away our clay tablets and sharp sticks to invent paper to write on; unheard of in the days of Moses. We even buy most of our clothing from an atheist Chinese communist nation. A huge part of our oil supply comes from a part of the world whose ubiquitous religion vows to destroy Christianity. We are in debt to countries who hate us. We allow our kids to carry assault weapons to school and kill students and teachers. Our largest corporations are wholly or partly owned by foreign companies who pay little if any taxes in the good old U.S.A. Used to be politicians would deny being owned by Big Business but now they are open about it and proud of it. What is to become of us? Only God knows.

I hate the quality of tomatoes at this time of year.

The way it was, 2013

Following is a link to my New Year's post on Wordpress. I am lazy today.

https://looselaces.wordpress.com/wp-admin/post.php?post=4776&action=edit

'Twas the night before Christmas

Watch full screen with sound if possible

Sugar Plums

Merry Christmas, My Friends!

Figgy pudding

I doubt there has been a bluegrass band that hasn't played this classic Salty Dog Blues at one time or another.

On the way home from rehab last Tuesday Carolyn nearly hit another deer.

I am off from rehab for a couple weeks. The soreness in my knee is keeping me from doing anywhere near my best. It is keeping me from using the cane except on a few days when it isn't so bad. The knee is still not straight but I am working on it.

Carolyn fell while at work Friday morning. I think she has a sprained clavicord with possible complications.

Carolyn all of a sudden decided to make candy for the family for Christmas. Chocolate, peanut butter, and a mix of the two. Delicious.

I am down to 223 lbs from a high of 278 lbs two years ago.

Need to buy tires for the Escape and do some more work on it. Leak from oil pan and tranny fluid needs changing.

Walkin' and talkin'

Mason is walking and Sammy is talking

Shiny tinsel

Old time Christmas card

My first Christmas which I can remember is one where I overturned the Christmas tree. I was probably three or four years old and my uncles had gone into the fields and brought back the top out of a red cedar tree. It was as tall as our ceiling and I remember it was decorated with glittery tinsel and shiny red and green cellophane garlands which were common in those days. It also had colored lights on it that were fairly good size and got hot enough to burn a little boy’s skin when he grabbed hold of one. The bulbs were all the time burning out and my mom kept a supply of replacements on hand. Flashing lights were unheard of in homes unless the people were filthy rich. I recall that one day after a few presents had appeared beneath the tree that I could not stay away from it. I was warned many times about messing with the tree but most of the admonishments bounced off my ears and I was soon deep under the branches looking at the pretty paper on the packages. Sure enough I made a wrong move and the entire tree with ornaments, decorations, lights, and glittery tinsel tumbled over. I was unhurt but scared of consequences such as being listed as naughty by Santa and not getting any presents on Christmas or by getting a spanking. Naturally I began crying and my mother came in and scolded me which made me cry worse and soon she was hugging me and wiping away tears. Yep, I owned her. She made me sit in a chair while she and my uncles returned the the tree to upright and redid the decorations, including lots more shiny tinsel. I had sense enough not to mess with the tree anymore and my family had sense enough not to put any more wrapped packages under it until Santa Claus came. Neither of us wanted to get the jolly old elf putting coal in our stockings. I don’t recall any of the presents and toys I received that year or most other of my young years however I am sure that being the spoiled only child I got well more than my share.

My mom used to read me this story several time before Christmas each year. It is very possible it was from the same book which is used here because I seem to remember some of these illustrations.

Merry Christmas!

Warriors of peace

I have been fortunate enough to live in an era when some great and wise men took control and led their people to a higher way of life. The three I remember most are Mohandas Ghandi, Martin Luther King, Jr., and Nelson Mandela. All three lead demonstrated that civil disobedience is more powerful than any police state. Although Mandela used some sabotage in his early struggle against apartheid South Africa, all three men are known and revered as men of peace. Sadly, people like this come only rarely. Yes, I am glad to have breathed the same air that they breathed.

Sammy and Mason will have a brother whom is due to be born in February.

Have a great Thursday!

Always a song to sing

I well remember the day the music died. However, it has died and been resurrected many times since Buddy Holly’s untimely death in 1959. Actually, the music never dies; it has an underlying heartbeat which cannot be stilled until the last person who can hear it and feel it is gone from this earth. Singers and musicians only translate what the deep music is telling them and every living soul has a different song to sing. What is your soul song?

It seems I am to be a great-grandpa again. I hope this one is a girl.

Damn, I dislike winter.

I hope my Lady Vols and Mark’s Uconn Huskies restart their rivalry. Uconn is at the height of their success and are the major test for any other women’s basketball team. The Lady Vols are no match for the Huskies at present but things between the teams seem to even out over time.

Have a Tuesday!

Happy Birthday, Keegan

The boys are growing faster than I am prepared to cope with. Mason is ten months old and has  just two teeth yet he is taking his first steps. Sammy has his first little-boy haircut and looks like a little man.

We have been renting our modem from the cable company but it went bad Saturday. Carolyn tried several times to contact customer service but was put on hold until she gave up. We finally sent JJ to Wal-Mart to get a new one and it works much faster than did the old one.

Rainy, cold days in the hills. I hate the gloom of winter more than I dislike the cold.

Not doing much blogging lately; sore and stiff fingers are discouraging.

My rehab is winding down with only a few weeks to go … if that much. I am reaching a point where I am not gaining. The knee is still ten degrees from straight but it will be up to me to get the remainder done.

I hope Carolyn finds time to take the boys to see all the Christmas lights at Bristol Motor Speedway.

Have a great week, my friends.