And We Didn't Even Get Kissed !

A few nights ago, I was catching the national news on the TV.

They slid by the Social Security increase for this year so quickly, that I'm sure a lot of retired folks missed it.
I was bowled over by the 1.5% increase they said was coming. Now I have to try to figure out what I'm going to do with all that extra money!

The CPI figures the government uses,  is just another tool to screw old folks out of a reasonable increase of a few more dollars. We all know how groceries, property taxes and just about everything else has increased in price, and it's sure more than 1.5%.

It's pretty evident that the powers that be, would like to put all of us retired folks on an ice berg, and float us out to sea on a warm day! Their next big step coming in the revamp of Social Security! Boy, I can hardly wait to see what the dumocrats come up with. You can bet it won't be good, just more cuts and restrictions on people who can least afford it.

Generally, I don't blog about the government, at least not openly. Not much you can do until election time, just suck it up, tighten the belt and go on. But 1.5% is absurd, and a real kick in the pants to us old geezers!

Another Sunday Morning.

Another Sunday morning has rolled around, and after a busy week, I'm glad for it.

The house is quiet, no TV blaring, or some lawn mower off in the distance making a steady hum.

I like to use this time for just reflecting. To look back down the road that has brought me to this point.

The food stamp SNAFU, of the past few days reminded of an encounter I had when we were living in a small mill town in North Carolina. We had been transferred there and were very fond of the folks that we had come to know.

Coming home from work, the wife had asked me to stop at the town grocery store for a few items that she needed for supper. After filling the list, I headed for the check out counter. I could see there was only one elderly lady in front of me, and she had all of her items on the counter ready to be checked out.

They were quickly bagged, and she pulled out her food stamp booklet to pay for them. After that transaction was done, she placed five small metal cans of Tuberose snuff on the counter, and got out her change purse to pay for them. Out of curiosity, I asked her if that was her favorite brand?

She turned and smiled at me, "Mistah, one little dip of Tuberose, will take away all the problems in your world."

Later, I got to thinking about what she had said. For her it seemed to do the job! I remember as a teenager I tried a "dip," and could not stop shaking for the rest of the day. It sure made more problems in my world that day!!

A Brand New PC !

I must be the PC destroyer! The daughters old Dell that I had been using, bit the dust just like my old HP did a few weeks before. They were both old, and I am sure they were loaded to the max with old files. Anyway, yesterday I dug up a few jars out of the back yard and went and bought a brand new PC. This one has a seventeen inch screen, and plenty of speed and storage for what I need.
I am putting up with Windows 8, new tricks to learn, but not as bad as I had envisioned, so, once again I'm flying high on the net!

This past month has been wild around here. Started out with a quick trip to Michigan to visit the wife's brother and his wife. We drove the trip up at night, with very little traffic, but coming back in the daytime, it seemed like I-65 was a parking lot. Construction all the way back to the home place here on the ridge. It was a safe trip, despite one scare with a trucker who lane drifted on us.

I have been losing my hearing in my right ear for sometime now, finally figured I needed to see the EENT doctor to see what's up. After all the tests, seems the parts are just wearing out, and a hearing aid in the immediate future should help. What that boils down to is, I will have dig up a few more jars out of the yard to pay for one. Until then, it's "Huh, wha'd ya say?"  Just more of the joys of old age! 

We enjoyed having dinner with Dapper Dan, (The Cumberland Post-blog) and his lovely wife Joyce.
It had been a while since we both managed to get our schedules together. It was a great evening, good conversation, and the meal was fine as well. Can't beat good friendships!

The leaves here on the ridge are still green, our peak for Fall colors here is around mid November, so we still have a little more time to go yet, more grass to cut, and weeds to pull until a good frost will slow things down.

I enjoy spending time with my son. He is a Luthier, in other words, he builds and repairs acoustic guitars. He got a lot of excellent training from former Gibson guitar people, and what he can do with those skills baffles me. The contacts he has with many of the country music folks in Nashville keep him busy. A few weeks ago, I was in his shop and there was a guitar in for repair that caught my attention that had several bad cracks in it. Earlier this week I saw that same guitar, and you could not tell where the cracks had been. He amazes his old dad to say the least!

That should about catch me up with life here on the ridge. The rest is just day to day things that most of us deal with.

I think this new computer is going to do alright.