A Small Rant!

I did it! I finally just did it! I hit the "Off " button on the TV!!!!!

Most of the time I watch the National news around suppertime, but tonight, I could not believe the crud they were spewing, so enough, is enough! I have known for sometime that what they consider news, are items that they hope, will destroy a persons character and credibility. Integrity, it seems is a thing of the past in the news business, (if it ever existed,) so they just throw it all out there and see what sticks to the wall. Whatever sticks, gets the big headline story.
Well, they can spray their slanted ( news) at the American public all they want to, but I sure won't be listening !
"Pop eye" Said it best....".I can't stands no more."

The Way It Used To Be !

Being an old geezer. I suppose gives way to thinking about the journey of some 75 years, some of the events that took place. and how they affected my life. So here we go!

After my Step-Dad got out of the Merchant Marines,(1950) we moved to western Michigan. He was from that area, so it was the best thing for us as he could find work up there.

What makes the story interesting is that they bought a home, right in the middle of a Dutch community! Now I'm talking about first generation Dutch, with all of the old customs of the Netherlands still in tact. For me it was culture shock to the max!
There was an old grandmother that on Wednesday would bake some of the best sweet rolls you could imagine. My Dutch playmates knew all about this and invited me along. I did not know that the shoes were taken off at the door of any Dutch home, so here I go, shoes and all to sample the goodies.
When the old grandmother saw me, I thought the wrath of God had descended upon me!
She grabbed a broom and was shooing me to the door, I am sure she used her best Dutch cuss words until I was out of the door. Only then did one of my friends come out and explain the custom.
Long story short, after taking off my shoes, and with my socks full of holes, did I get a sweet roll!
This Wednesday tradition went on until we were all in high school. I wore better socks on Wednesday's!
Our neighborhood was spotless, even  in the winter. In the fall and spring all of the Dutch neighbors would scrub their houses down, leaving them all gleaming white. No other color was used, just white houses. The street washing was a big event that took place in the early spring. The whole neighborhood turned out with brooms and buckets of water. We as a family, soon  learned their customs and went along with the program. We were not Dutch, but when in Rome........

Sunday's were truly a day of rest. After they got home from The Dutch Reformed Church in the neighborhood, the curtains were drawn, and you saw no one until Monday morning, no kids, no one was out! So like them, after we got home from our church, you were stuck inside for the duration!

Dating was another set of rules. Dutch girls did not date boys who were not Dutch! However there were plenty of German, Lithuanians, and Irish girls to choose from, so it was not a big problem.

Visiting the old neighborhood a few years back, it had all changed. The old generation had all died out and their traditions with them. The new generation had moved on and scattered.
The Dutch people that I grew up with were clean living and moral, and many of their values stuck with me just through exposure to a different way of life. Great memories that I would not trade for anything! We now live in Tennessee, culture shock, Naaww!!!!

Smokey Mountain Travels

Finally decided it was time to come down off of the ridge and get a new perspective on things.

So we packed up the Pilot and hit I-40 East headed for the Smokey Mountains. We had made reservations to rent a cabin, way out in the mountains, out from Pidgeon Forge. We had seen the picture of the place on the internet, but had no idea just how remote the place was. We followed the directions we had been given and the road(?) kept getting narrower and narrower and very steep with plenty of curves up the mountain side. We finally found the owner, got the key, and more driving up the mountain, almost to the top where the road ended, and there was the cabin! This place was deluxe! Everything you could want, including bears, eagles and all of the other animals that live in the mountains.
The owner had given us a short tutorial about the bears, as well shared with us a picture of a huge black bear that was seen about 50 yards from the cabin a few days ago......great! I am no fan of bears, so listened to the owners words carefully.
We settled in for the week, and only made one trip into town for provisions, yes, back down that steep narrow road!
We did take a day and went into Gatlinburg, as I wanted to see for myself the fire damage. I can't imagine what it was like to look up and see the fire all over the mountain tops. It will take years for the trees to regenerate,and the people who lost everything to re- build. The town itself was not harmed, just the area's going up the mountain right next to town. We pretty well left the junk shops alone, as everywhere was wall to wall people, so back up to the cabin we went.

One day I was sitting on the porch and got to thinking, what would happen if a disaster struck and there was no way out. We could last maybe a week with the food we had. The thought of hunting for food, was almost laughable as all I had with me was the .380. Maybe a turkey, but certainly no big game! It was a sobering thought. Hats off to the preppers!

Finally, after a week of peace and serenity, it was time to pack it up and head back towards middle Tennessee. Over all, it was a great adventure. Would I go back and spend a week with the bears, well, No!
Our Dachshund, Toby, was glad to see us after a week of boarding. He walked right into the house like he had never left! Some dog!

We had a lot of catching up to do, Lawn, Wash and Grocery. Speaking of grocery's, boy, the prices just keep going up, even China*Mart is keeping pace with Kroger and all of the rest. On a fixed income, this is becoming a challenge! If we ate high on the hog, we could cut back, but there is no more cutting to do. I guess I had better learn to love SPAM again, and the many ways you can fix it!!

That's about it from here on the ridge, where women are huge, the men skinny and their kids will break into your car!

Mundane Rambling!

I took the Honda Pilot to the dealership today for it's scheduled oil change. Not exciting news there! The dealership had been previously been owned by an "old money" family, who really looked after their customers, the new owners, are a group of people, who appear to only be concerned with the bottom line, and boy, how it shows! I kind of felt like myself and others were getting the "bums rush"
today! There is still enough of the old south, in people that they can pick up on this very quickly, and oh, how they love to talk about a bad experience! So I'll go with the times and just suck it up and go on. I think it's time to find another dealership. Honda makes a great car, this one being my third. The others had almost zero problems, and I kept them until I just got tired of driving them. I do still have a Ford Ranger that is 22 years old and runs great, has a few minor problems, but hey, 22 years is pushing the envelope!

I think I have put on a few pounds over the winter. Today since it was warm, I pulled out a short sleeve knit shirt to wear. I put my clip holster for the LCP on and when I looked down, it was pretty obvious what was under my shirt!! Glad jeans have big front pockets, so I just plopped it in there.
I stopped at the local market for a few items, and when I went to pay, looked down, and the pistol had changed positions in my pocket, and made a pretty obvious bulge in the front. Now I'm in my mid seventy's, and if someone happened to take notice of it, I would have gotten the "bless his heart" which is southern for "the old fool!"  I hope Wally*World has some bigger shirts on sale!!

The rest of the week looks like mulching the front flower beds, the grand son's soccer game, cutting the grass (lawn) and might even get excited enough to was the two vehicles. And so it goes!

Where Has The Time Gone?

It's hard to believe that it has been several years since I have posted anything. I still follow a number of other Bloggers work every day, and for the most part enjoy them all.....

So here we go!

I guess the main reason I had to let the Blog lay dormant for so long, was that the wife had a mammogram that came back with a lump showing up. Well, if any of you have been down the breast cancer trail, you will know what an anxious time is about to unfold. First the biopsy, then the surgery, then the chemo and radiation, followed by numerous follow-up trips to the oncologist. At this point, everything is clear. Now if it will stay that way for about three more years, we can call it GONE!
I have to say, she has been a trooper through out the ordeal, totally positive.

News of late...We have a new dog! We had a mini Dachshund about eight years ago, that had three vertebrae go out in her back, so we lost her. We had been wanting another one, but here in middle Tennessee it's very hard to find one. Three months ago we were able to find what we wanted through a small breeder. He is a black and tan smooth coat, AKC Dachshund. They make great dogs, but are very strong willed. You have to be more "Bull-headed" than they are, or you are in for one heck of a ride!!! He is house trained, so the rest is easy. I call him my sawed off Doberman, for he is very protective of us and will be a great watch dog for here in the house. It will be death from the ankles down for an intruder I'm sure!

So far this year we have been lucky with the storms. They seem to split apart when they get to the ridge, and then reform. We have a slab house (no basement) so if we ever do get a tornado roaring overhead we are S.O.L.,I do keep a tube of lipstick in our "Safe place" so we can kiss our ass good bye, should one dip down!

I have just about stopped watching the National news on TV. The politicians are like a bunch of kids fighting over a marble game. The local news is not much better. We have discussed cutting off the satellite feed, and going back to an antenna, but here in the hills, I don't think we would be able to see even the local channels. Still contemplating, but that hundred dollars or so a month might just start looking better all of the time.

Hopefully, I will post more often, plenty to write about!

WHAT'S NEXT !!!

Last week, our refrigerator went "Toe's Up" on us. Seems that just when you get a few bucks ahead the dollar eating phantom shows up!

We knew we were having a problem with the old Kitchen mAid, when a pool of water greeted us one morning, and the compressor ran all of the time because the fan motor was shot. We were lucky to get an honest repairman, who after giving the old ice box the once over, told us we not need to spend another dime on it, but just go get a new one.

So that afternoon we drove down off of the ridge to Lowe's where we got a great price on a new Whirlpool model with french doors, and the freezer drawer on the bottom. Stainless steel as was the better half's choice. We were lucky in that we didn't loose but a few items of food, in the transition from old to new. Our old ice box we had in Georgia lasted twenty years, so  I'm looking for twenty out of this one. I had to laugh at what I just wrote....in twenty years I will be 91 years old !

Our daughter who lives 50 miles away has been wanting me to pressure wash the vinyl siding on her home, so Saturday morning we make the trek with the pressure washer in the back of the Pilot.
We got everything ready, and the pressure washer would not build pressure because of some bad
"O" rings that had shrunk over the summer in storage! Talk about feeling snake bit!!!

Kinda makes me wonder, what's going to go bad next...nothing I hope, but should it happen, I know I can count on that 1.7% Social Security increase to get me through!!!!!

Today, the wife and I cut the lawn for the last time until spring. The weather guessers are calling for a big freeze over the week end, so that should stop it's growth. Yard work is done for the winter!!

RAMBLINGS

I started growing the "Winter Beard" about two weeks ago. For those of you who grow your own face warmer, you know the first couple of weeks you look pretty scruffy.

Every year I am shocked by how much whiter the beard looks, which reflects my 70+ years. I give it another three weeks until I start looking like the other old geezers at the local big box store. The cost of razor blades is also an added incentive!

The weather guessers are telling us that here in middle Tn., we can expect a whopper of a storm between 11:00 PM and 2:00 AM, Wind, lightning, and perhaps a tornado. Most of the time, the more they try to scare us, the smaller storm we get! We take the proper precautions any way, who knows they just might get one right for a change!