Happy Birthday

December 27th 1925.Happy Birthday Daddy you will be 85 years old.It sure has been a long time Daddy I love and miss you.

Back from the dead

Back from the land of the dead.

Let me fill you in.Monday afternoon my life was saved.You Dear friend know who you are and I thank you from the deepest part of my heart.

Some background info.

For five days I could not stand the thought of food.I only wanted fluids.Ice water,Gatorade and 7 up.I was throwing up everything even some stuff that wasn't supposed to be there.Talking blood here folks .Felt like a bear had me in a death grip squeezing the life out of me.I was gasping for air.I had to go,go the ER.
Ambulance was called and in a few minutes with siren blasting they drove up.In the ambulance for the short ride to the ER.No pulse,can't find a heart rate the EMT in back with me told the driver.In the ER straight back no waiting and they started working on me.IV's,sticking me with needles,covering me with warm blankets cause my body temp was dropping.Oh those warm blankets where so nice.


Diabetic ketoacidosis was what the diagnose was.



Up to ICU for two days,then a regular room for two more days.Home now and really I feel good,just a bit weak.My friend said I was ready to checkout.I wasn't scared just disappointed.Saturday night before I was crying to myself,this is not fair,heal me or let me go.I was that sick.With all my other problems this wasn't needed.Like everything this to has a reason.I appreciate my Dear friend so much now.I will not be so hardheaded and learn from this.So my friend's,that is how my week is going.Feeling good on the mend and happy for another chance at life.

Queasy

Gee I have always hated this feeling.Queasy,like you are gonna throw up.I think it was the coffee on an empty stomach.Or maybe the virus or flu is still with me.I felt good when I got up but now,sheesh.I feel woozy and have a head ache also.I want to try staying up.Almost three days in bed and that gets old.Oh well will wait and see how this turns out.

Conbread

Cold buttermilk and warm cornbread.Man on man talk about good.Momma would bake cornbread,I still have the old black cast iron skillet,I would cut a slice of cornbread and smother it with mayonnaise.That was a treat and so good.Butter beans, peas,collards any type of vegetable goes good with cornbread.Just take a slice with a onion and that is good.Cornbread and potato salad.Does it get any better?Cornbread not that sweet stuff is a staple for us Southerners.At dinner that is lunch for some a big pan of cornbread would be baked.What was left over would be your supper.Sweet milk or buttermilk and cornbread.First class eating.

Buttermilk

Hi everyone.I have not been on the computer since Wednesday.I had some type of flu or virus or something.Went to bed Wednesday night and stayed there till this morning.Was not hungry at all so two days with out food or drink.I just could not think of food.Queasy I was.I am much better now I am hungry.I want or crave a taco pizza and Oreo cookies.I would love some buttermilk to dunk the cookies in but will settle for coffee.So that is the story from this end.

Do the right thing

Gee.How can people be so cruel to others.War,murder,abuse,on and on.What makes people want to hurt.Hurt someone and live with them self.We are supposed to be master of all domain,over animals but I think humans are the animals sometimes.Can animals murder?I don't know,guess it's possible.I know I am getting on one of those far fetched ideas.I have been dog bit and cat scratched but maybe that was my fault.I have been cruel to others with my words.I have remorse for it.Maybe that is what separates us from the animals.I have had this discussion with people.Would you kill to protect your family?I can't answer that till I'm faced with it.Maybe I would turn and run.Hope not.I like to think I could.I want to.Protect those I love.Could I be brave enough to help a stranger who was in dire need?A life or death situation?At times like that I am smart enough to say wait till faced with it.Just hope if ever in that kind of situation I could do the right thing.

Grocery store parking lots

People are amazing.I liked just sitting in grocery store parking lots waiting on Momma to do her shopping.All the different stories with a person to go along with it.A sniplet of life parking lots can be.I was shocked once.A woman was smoking a little cigar and walking hand hand with another woman.The guy who I could tell was homeless.Wearing all his clothes.Several shirts and pairs of pants asking me when the Liquor store open.She was always around.I never knew her real name but most here in LaGrange know who I am talking about.She pushed her son around in a shopping cart.I never knew the whole story maybe I don't want to know.Buddy can you give me a quarter was what she always asked.Wonder what happened to them?Then there was the interracial couple pushing a baby carriage.From my seat I could see black couples,white couples turn and stare at them.Yep a grocery store parking lot is like a window of the world.You can learn a lot.

Oz

Wizard of Oz.I don't like that movie.Well not so much the movie but one song in it.Somewhere over the rainbow.Here is the story.There was a place here when I was a kid called Hanson's drive in.It was a Sunday evening and that is where Me and my folks where.Momma said when we get home we where going to watch The Wizard of Oz.I knew nothing of the movie.I was 6 years old.Sure enough we watched it.Now why I don't like that song.Everytime I hear it it brings tears to my eyes.I always remember Momma and Daddy and eating hamburgers at Hanson's drive in.Some say that it should be a good memory.Maybe it was but it makes me cry to myself.

Old is now new

Today would be a good time to just sit around the roaring fireplace.Feet propped up and a large hot cocoa in your hands.This house has a fireplace and old chimney still stands.Only thing is it has been covered up with paneling.All the mill houses had fireplaces cause they where built in the 1920's.This is how I figure it.Back years ago when the city started offering natural gas to people I guess it was more popular than keeping the fireplace.So when homes where remodeled the fireplace was covered up.Now a fireplace in all new homes is a must.It is the style.Just like hardwood floors.Use to be carpet in every room now everyone wants hardwood floors.I guess it is true.What ever is old is now new and everyone wants it.

Shadows on the wall

Glimpse of my past maybe.I see shadows on the wall.The fireplace is crackling and the smell of burning wood fills my senses.Staring at the glowing fire I am in deep thought.Trance like I stare.I catch myself doing that.What is it .Is it really a glimpse from my past or am I just daydreaming.It is like being hypnotized by the flickering lights on the wall.It does not scare me.Wish it could be taken further.See what it's all about.Maybe my past or maybe something else.I just want to know.

Old red truck

One of these days I am going to write about Daddy's old truck.I have pictures and will add them to the story.1984 Ford F150 it was called an Explorer back then.Red with a silver top.Georgia Bulldog colors.Silver stripe down the side.It was the only new vehicle he ever bought.His retirement truck he called it.He had this thing about money.He liked spending it and Momma didn't.Many a time he would tell me no need for your Momma to know how much this cost.Best I can remember she did not say anything about his new truck.Maybe she was lost for words.When he died in 1991 the truck only had 27,000 miles on it.He only drove it to work.Maybe to Macon a few times or the big farmers market in Atlanta.The first time it was washed I did it.Leave it with me Daddy I will wash it.He fell for it I just wanted to drive around a bit in his new truck.I did wash it.I was in the bed of the truck and it was all soapy and wet and whoops down I went.Fell hard.This is true.Every time I drove the truck to Alabama something would happen to it.Once it caught on fire with me.Leaves down in the cowl of the truck burst into flames.Made it home but it would not crank so had it pulled in.Water pump went out on one trip.Transmission on another trip.I wrecked the truck twice.First time it was totaled by insurance company.I told them I wanted the truck fixed and they did.Gosh I had it painted solid red and talk about pretty that old truck turned heads.More than once a pretty woman would come up to me and say nice truck !After the second wreck which by the way where not my fault the old truck never did drive quite right but that was ok.It was Daddy's and that was all that mattered.Like I said there is a picture here of it and soon maybe I will add it to this story.Oh I almost forgot the moral of the story.What ever happened to me when driving tho old truck it always got me home.Kinda like Daddy and the old truck where watching out for me.That is what I like to think anyway.

Remember?

Most likely today in history is forgotten.I asked a younger person if they know what December 7th was.Their answer was it's Tuesday.Well guess they where right it is Tuesday.Seems that day that will live in infamy did not.1941 about 7am,Hawaii,Pearl Harbor.Now do you remember?

It is sad

I have no earth shattering news today.A cold day but sun is out.Least there is no snow like some are having.I know,in my old age I'm a fuddle duddle.Don't care for the snow,glad when the Holidays will be over.Yea ! Things back to normal what ever normal is.Snow is like life.It's pretty at first then it melts and is an ugly mess.Piled up on the side of the road mixed with dirt and trash.That is the way alot of us sorry to say will end up.Not piled up on the roadside but put away.Put up out of view,out of sight out of mind sorta.Things are not like they use to be.Families took care of each other.Now if you can't keep up off to the nursing home they send you.It is the best thing for ole so and so,they will be better off ole so and so will.Right.Fool yourself.Say it long enough and you will convince yourself that the right thing was done.A throw away person.Thrown away like a newspaper that is ragged and used up.Like a old pair of shoes.It is sad.

Give them strength

It always frightens me.Always has.I am talking about sirens.Ambulance just went down the street and it means trouble for someone.A man said once that he hated to see the hearse stop at his neighbor's house but glad it didn't stop at his.I could not pronounce siren for the longest,it always came out as sardine.If one of my folks was out away from me and I heard a siren I would almost panic.I just knew it was coming for them.Still when I hear one I automatically pray for who ever it is going for and I pray for their family to give them strength to face whatever comes there way.

All we had was our imagination

I spent Sunday in bed.Nope wasn't sick.Was not mad at anyone.I just had no dire need or reason to do otherwise..I watched some old movies on TV.Some I liked.It was just a day to lay in bed and think.Oh shoot I forgot to think.I sometimes think to much.Keeps me up at nights it does.Thinking about this and that.I know sometimes it's hard to switch off the brain and relax and sleep. My old body can be so tired.To tired to move but the brain won't cooperate and just keeps spinning.Wide awake staring at the ceiling.I can look out my bedroom window and see trees and the sky.With out much trouble I can make out designs,people or things in the tree branches.Same way with clouds.I guess everyone does this.I guess this was the way cavemen entertained them selfs when not hunting or being hunted.I think that is one thing kids of today are missing out on.Imagination.They have computers,cell phones,I pods etc to keep them busy.All we had was our imagination.

I know nothing

I know one thing.I was smarter as a kid than now.I could pick up a leaf and tell you what type of tree it fell off.Take a rock any rock and tell you it's name and history.Same way with birds.Knew all their names.What happened I don't know.Now I know nothing.

Santa knows

When I was a kid living on Juniper Street there was a store called Browns.It was just a neighborhood store.The old CoCola ice box had the coldest Cokes.Always ice in them.The store is still there but I think ownership has changed hands a few times since I was a kid.Walk into the big brick building.On the right hand side.On top of the meat counter.There it was.A Christmas present to die for.In a box,clear front.It was a rife.No not a real rifle but a plastic play army gun.Every time I was in the store I would stop and look.Wow that would be great if Santa brought that I thought.Now this is what I haven't figured out after all these years.How did Santa know I stopped and drooled over that toy.Well I must have been a good little boy that year cause that is what Santa brought me.

No white Christmas

I have never seen a white Christmas.Been close a few times.Have been through cold Christmas morns.But no snow.Why does anyone want a white Christmas any way?If I was a kid warm sunny weather would be ideal for being outside with your toys.Each his own as they say.Maybe this is not right.Memory maybe is getting cloudy.But it does seem like in past years the weather was colder.Don't get me wrong it is cold right now .My fingers are freezing.We had gas space heaters as a kid.We also used coal for the fireplace up in the country.Never did the heaters stay on at night.Those first few steps on an icy cold floor sure got my attention.No carpet back then.Just a bare wood floor most likely painted brown.Or sometimes those linoleum floor coverings.No white Christmases in my past but some cold ones.Maybe there is something to that global warming.Sure could use a little of it now.

Space race

I read where a Russian rocket caring some satellites exploded or crashed in the pacific ocean near Hawaii.GPS satellites I think they where.The article mentioned something about a space race and that got my attention.I am old enough to remember the first space race between Russia and America.Sputnik the Russian satellite caused a big up roar.That tiny little thing way up in the sky sending out it's little beeps sure shook the United States up.I.There are two great movies about all this.One is called October Sky that has the Sputnik story in it.And another is The Right Stuff.Seems rockets,satellite and moon trips aren't as popular as they once where.Watching rockets blast off use to make the news.Now it is just so so news.I don't know which one of the rocket launches it was I can't remember.It was one of the original astronauts.At Southwest Elementary school they marched us all into the auditorium.Sat us down .On stage was a tiny b&w TV.We watched as the space launch took place.Back in those day in was big news and we all took notice.I remember where I was when man landed on the moon for the first time.On the 3rd shift,age 17,July working in the mill.It was exciting and something to be proud of.Sometimes I think that is what our Country needs now.Something everyone can agree on and support.We need another space race.

Son of lint heads

I have lived the majority of my life on what is called a Mill Village.

Always near by me I could lay in bed on summer nights with windows up and hear the clinky clank of the mill.My Momma and Daddy always worked in the mills.

Cotton mills,carpet mills,etc.

Textiles.

Seen them come home from work covered with cotton lint.Hence the word Lint Head.

A word just as derogatory as the N word.

Some took it on them self to look down on us hard working people.Maybe I should have said those hard working people.I never have worked a hard day in my life like Momma and Daddy had to.I was always lucky when it came to jobs.

We lived on the village.In a mill house.You know what the house I live in now is a mill house.It was built in 1925.Sold in the 40's after the war I think.I have been here 32 years this month.

Never was I ashamed to live what some call the wrong side of town.I didn't see it that way.I do know of some who deny living on the village in their youth.Why do that it is nothing to be ashamed of.

We well our parents kept us feed and clothed.They kept the other businesses in town operating by buying their products.At one time mills where the only place for people to work here in LaGrange.

People came from the farms in the country to have jobs.In the 1920's there was a strike here.Some wanted an union.Naturally the mill owners did not want it.I think the National Guard or some private police force was used to quench the strikers.The mill owners fired and turned out some out of their houses who where striking.

The owners did do alot for the workers.

To be fair.

They built schools,libraries,recreation facilities for the workers and their families.Day before I turned 16 I started working in the mill.So all said I guess the mills and mill village will always be a big part of my life and memories.

I think if Momma and Daddy had not moved around so much and stayed at the old Callaway mills they both would have had 50 years each at those mills.The mill a few blocks from the house has just about closed down if it hasn't already. Hillside Plant and at one time was the largest plant in LaGrange.

The village where I live is called Hillside.Yep it is hilly over here.So I am a son of lint heads.It really don't bother me.I know what and who I am.And I am very proud of my folks for working so hard.

They are heroes in my eyes.

I enjoyed that

I have a friend who said his Daddy swears that back in the 1950's he had a beer with Hank Williams at some road side beer joint.That is very possible.My brush with famous people has been very limited.I know a woman said she was stopped at a stoplight in Springfield,Ohio and who do you guess drove up next to her and asked for directions?It was Steven King the writer.Momma seen the train that had FDR's body when it traveled from the Little White House at Warm Springs.Ok this is my brush with famous people.Back in the 60's we where at the watermellon festival in Forest Park,Georgia.The high light of the day was Porter Wagnoer with Speck Green and some unknown woman named Dolly Parton.I did see Jimmy Carter and Rosalyn when he was Governor of the Great State of Georgia.It was at a NASCAR race at what was called Atlanta International Raceway back then.They flew in on a little helicopter piloted by a Georgia State Trouper.This I got a kick out of.One Of the Carter sons tried getting on the helicopter as it was leaving.Just the pilot on board.No matter what that pilot was determined to keep that Carter boy off.The Carter boy fussed and pitched a fit but the pilot flew off without him.You know what I enjoyed that.

Eat a green thing

What for breakfast.I have can peanuts here at computer.I have chocolate chip cookies also.I was thinking laying in bed some nachos would be good.That was my plan.Yesterday this was what I ate.Two tacos,one Mexican pizza and for supper some chili from Wendys.I know junk huh.Today would be a good day for some collards and cornbread and instant mashed potatoes.Instant mashed potatoes are better than homemade plus a whole lot easier and quicker but that is just my thinking.There was a gallon jar of homemade pepper sauce here somewhere.Neighbor gave it to us about 5 years ago.Never been opened.Yikes that stuff might have turned into rocket fuel by now.Bet it has a punch but sure would be good on the collards or turnip greens.My Grandma Smith ate collards.Ended up in the hospital.She was about dead.Doctor told her not to eat that stuff.Feed it to cows not humans he said.He was doctor smart but not country smart.Greens are good for you and taste wonderful.Heard a comedian on TV say his Mom told him to eat a green thing every day.So Think I will take her advice and eat a green thing.

Thank you Susie !

We got cats.We got kittens.Plan was to adopt them out.Well one was.The rest are still here.They just might stay cause I have become attached.Last night it was real late or real early I don't know.My left arm hurts sometimes and it did last night.It woke me up.The pain was bad.From my shoulder down to my fingers it ached.My fingers where numb.Tossing and turning I thought maybe I should wake someone up.I held out it was way to early.This is what happened.The smallest kitten,a black calico who I call Susie got into bed with me.She went under the covers and was laying on my hurting arm.She was so warm and just a purring.You know what?I think that little kitten knew what pain I was having and decided to help.And she did.My pain did go away.Susie little kitten I thank you so much !

Things all southern

Things all Southern.There are many.Grits with butter,swimming in butter with salt and black pepper.Strik-o-lean,delightful.If you don't know what it is it's salty strips of meat,looks like bacon but is what is called fatback,just in strips.Take strik-o-lean,gravy,mustard and cut up onions and you have a meal fit for any country boy.Dip your biscuit in the gravy mustard and onion mix and yum yum.Might be best to soak the meat overnight because it is so salty.CoCola.CoCola it's called not pop or soda.CoCola covers all soft drinks from a to z.Some one may offer you a CoCola but don't be surprised if it's not a coke.Krystals and Crispy Creme doughnuts.If the South had those two items back then I think the Civil War would have ended different.Kudzu.Now that has been called the South's secret weapon but I think it was imported from Japan just for one reason.Stopping soil from being washed away,yep I know there is a word for but I tried spelling it and spellcheck was no help.Red Georgia clay.It will ruin your bluejeans quicker than your Momma can slap you.Officer Don and the Popeye club that crame on in the 50's and 60's from WSB TV.Stone Mountain now that is one big rock.Double Cola.A strong soft drink.Peachtree Street.Every Georgia town has at least one some more and yes it can be confusing.Peanuts in your coke.Shoot there are more many more but my brain and fingers are tired.Till next time !

Simple as they get

I think well I know that dysfunctional fits me to a T.Always,my entire life I felt like something was out of wack.Never fitting in.Never like others.But maybe that not all that bad.Some I'm glad we have nothing in common.How many people in the world are there?God made us all different.That I am happy for.All those billions of people and everyone different with their on way of doing things.Their own opinions.It sure would be boring if everyone was alike.Like what Henry Ford said you could get his cars in any color you wanted long as it was black.What that meant I have no idea.Maybe it was a metaphor.A big word huh.I know people who can say those reader digest words,those 50 cent ones.Who are they trying to impress?Me or themselves.I walked into the lab at the water plant one day.Just me and the first shift operator.Just to make conversation I asked if that was his brief case.The proper word is attache case he said.Ok I said to my self but brief case would have served the purpose as well.No big fancy word was needed.I stutter sometimes.Know some words I can't pronounce correct.I have been know to even get tongue tied so I keep my words simple.Some folks put on airs I think.I hope never anyone thinks that about me.I am as simple as they get.

Just put me in the freezer

Cold this morning.Temp was 27 degrees when I woke up.I am glad that seasons change here.Must be boring having one type of weather year round.Here in Georgia we get all four seasons.Fall is the most beautiful.Never met anyone who doesn't like fall.I know this sounds like the Chamber of Commence brochure but Georgia is a great place to live.Mountains to the north.Atlantic ocean to the east.Flat farm land down in south Georgia.I am a Georgia native.Born here raised here.Even got a grave spot here in LaGrange that is ready for me when I am ready so to speak.I have convinced myself that burial in the ground is not for me.Cremation is the way to go.I know some folks who have chose that route.I just don't like the idea of a six foot hole in the ground,in a metal box,inside a concrete vault.I have been by the graveyard and seen graves just dug filled with water.I know when a body is placed in a grave they take all the care in the world to protect it but it is useless.You will melt away so to speak.So cremation will get the job done quicker.Back to ashes from which we came.Plus it is a lot cheaper.Basic funerals are up in the $1000's of dollar range.I read recently cremation starts at round $1000 or less.I don't want a funeral.Funerals are one of the most stressful situations you can put a family through.Funerals are for the living anyway so I will save people money and stress and bow out easy and quiet.No big deal.Just say yep he is dead,that all she wrote,get it over with .I have one request.Wait till the fourth day after I have died before you cremate me ok.Someone told me that your soul hangs around for that long after you die.Something I don't understand.A golden cord,keeping the body and soul togather.So take no chances wait those four days.Plus this is another reason for no funeral.I never have seen a good looking corpse.I hear people say don't he look good.Don't they look peaceful.They are dead and where sick most likely before they died.Unless the mortician is a wizard they ain't going to look good.Plus I don't want no one looking down at me in that casket and saying that.So when my time comes there will be no funeral,no wake,no sitting up with the dead,none of that stressful stuff.Just put me in the freezer,wait four days and then cremate me.That is how it is and how I want it.

No winner

Have you ever been slapped without a hand being layed on you?I have.Believe me it hurts just as bad .Words or looks hurt.I am trying to make a compassionate effort to put myself into others people shoes .Their feelings.Think before I say something that might be took the wrong way.My joking is often took the wrong way.Got to stop that.The second something leaves my mouth often I have thought that did not come out right.I didn't mean it that way.I be Hatti never would I hurt anyone.I mean their feelings.My actions are not always good.Ok it is a fault I have.I won't pick no more.I don't need a fight.No more.I never win.No one wins.

The Captain,Mr Green Jeans,Bunny Rabbit and me

Saturday mornings.About 6am.In my PJ'S.A bowl of cornflakes and sweet milk.Sitting on the floor in front of the black and white TV.Just me.No one is up.Watching the Indian test pattern waiting for another day of excellent broadcasting to start.So it was as a kid.TV was so important then.Any given day I could ramble off the programs and time they came on.In my innocence I remember wondering if the cowboys on those Saturday morning programs ever had to take a bathroom break.Dancing in front of the TV I didn't know that it was a one way mirror and they could not see me like I could them.Captain Kangaroo,Mr Green Jeans,Bunny Rabbit and Moose.I never could make anything the Captain did with a shoe box and scissors like he did.

Life worth living

I wish that love could be bottled up and dished out when ever you need it.Everyone needs it.Deny all you want but we do.There have been times in my life where even JohnLee has needed love.Someone who really cares.Someone who is our best friend.Lucky are those that find it and keep it.Have you ever noticed a puppy or other small animal who has never been hugged,loved and how they turn out in life?They become suspicious of everyone,they don't trust.They seem so unhappy.Humans turn out the same way I think.So I rank love right up there with food and shelter for us to survive.Oh you can live without but it makes life worth living.

The Dell guy

I could live without it but never would I want to.Computers and the Internet.That is what the subject is.2000 I think was the year I got a puter.Heck I ordered it from the Dell guy on TV.Thank goodness there was a color coded chart showing you how to hook it all up.I am a man and men don't read the instructions.Least I don't.It went togather good,no problems and there it was may computer,sitting on my desk that I have had since I was 10 years old.So that makes the desk 48 years old now.I am getting off track now but that is the way my brain works.I have a few things left from my childhood.I still have my old shotgun,20 gauge Stevens.I have the old desk.Story behind it is my Daddy had a tool box built for him and the man who built it had material left over so he built me a desk.Ok so it is small and my big feet won't fit under it anymore but I like it contrare to what others might think of it.What else do I have?A Levi blue jean jacket I bought in Newnan,Georgia at age 16 when I first started working.I can get it on but no way will it button up on me.I think it shrunk don't you?No.I got fat.O k what was my subject?What was I talking about?Oh yeah computers.I still only know how to turn them on.Click on an icon and off I go on the WWW.My window on the world computers are.I can look up anything.I can and have made friends on the computer.I think really computers are a God sent instrument.They can be used for so much good.Granted there are some bad awful stuff on them but even without computers that evil would still be lurking in man's mind.Good or bad,computers,I am so thankful I took a chance and called the Dell guy and got one.

Rubbing dirt on my clothes

The only pill I take is a low dose aspirin.Most of the time I forget it.The bottle is sitting on the computer so I can be reminded to take it.Let me count.I am suppose to be taking 3 more pills each day but I just gave them up.One for my diabetes ,one for blood pressure and another for cholesterol.Oh I do take over the counter pills for pain every once in a while.Never in my life was I a pill taker.Never was I one to go to the doctor either.When I was a little boy if my Daddy told me to keep my clothes clean we had some where to go after getting home from school I took that to mean you are going to the doctor and that means shots and that means pain.I think going to the doctor was one of my worst fears.Honest it still is.I always afraid they will find something and me personally if I got something that is going to kill me I would rather not know.Just let in slip up on me I say.The doctor sent me to the heart clinic here for what do you call it...a sonogram or something like that.Anyway it is the ultra sound thing they do with your heart.I got a call that an appointment to see a cardiologist had been made for me.Heck I did not go.I do know that my ticker beats way to fast but what ever else is wrong if I don't know about it I won't worry right?Now back to when I was a little boy.Like I said if I thought I was going to be taken to the doctor and I do mean taken no way would I go easy I would run under the house.hide and rub dirt all over my clean clothes.Sometimes that worked other times well.People in my family die of two things.Cancer or heart attacks.Neither is pleasant.So these days I am just letting nature take it's course.I think that our lives have been planned out from second one of our life.What will happen will.Why fight it.Don't get me wrong,like my Daddy said when he was on his death bed everyone wants to live as long as they can.I sure do.I just don't want to suffer a long painful death.Make mine quick please,no time for me to suffer or be scared if all possible.Oh well it is something we all will face someday.I don't even know how I got on this subject.Gee hope I haven't depressed you to much.Ok enough of this thinking.Let's have another cup of coffee.

Ding ding

Good morning everyone.I'm in a mood today.Sheesh.Ever have one of those days when you first open your eyes you just know today will be....I will let you fill in the blanks.I can just pick up on others feelings without a word being said.That is not good most of the time.Some days I just want to stay in bed or least till I can't stand it anymore.Get me one of those little brass bells and go ding ding when I need something.Ding ding bring coffee.Ding ding bring breakfast with grits,hash browns,bacon,biscuits and ding ding keep the coffee coming.Yeah in my dreams huh.But it was a thought anyway.

My name was Johnny

It is getting late here.Sun is setting on whats been a pretty good day.Bit cold to me.Yesterday was warm in the 70's.Sure was glad someone turned the heat on when they got up this morning.Ok this is what is on my mind.My name is John.But forever people who knew me when I was a kid called me Johnny.But that was the name I used for the first part of my life.Even my social security card is signed Johnny.But now I am just John.I am old,sorta mature,well sometimes I am.But to all my friends and family who knew me from way back then you don't have to call me John,Johnny will work just fine.

The cowboys

I was and still am a fan of Cowboys.Movie cowboys.TV cowboys.The Lone Ranger who was sponsored by Colonial bread on TV where I lived.Sugar Foot.The Virginian.Gunsmoke.Never did out draw Matt on those Saturday Nights.Hop Along Cassidy,Gene Autry,Roy Rogers the list could go on.I seen where True Grit has been remade with Jeff Bridges playing John Wayne's part.I would like to see that movie.310 to Yuma the old version and the newer one where excellent.There are so many good cowboy movies and TV programs no room here to mention them all.See the picture above?That is The Cisco Kid.Setting up the story here so bear with me.The Central Georgia State fair is held or was at that time in Macon.Luck be it while visting my Daddy's sisters we always went to the fair.The Cisco Kid was to be there.Oh boy I was excited.I waited and waited but Cisco never showed up.A devastated kid I was.But I got over it and no hard feelings are held against him.But as Pancho said at the end of each program.Ohhhhh Cisco!

The swinging bridge and fat man's squeeze

Vacation at Rock City.I was a boy,just a kid my folks and the Calwells and their kids went to Chattanooga,Tennessee.Riding around the mountain was scary for me.Glad my Daddy was driving.One little slip over the edge you go.Off to Lookout Mountain we went.Rock City.You can travel the country side in the South and see painted on peoples barns See Rock City.Still to this very day you can see it.There was the swinging bridge.Momma forgive me and bless your soul she crawled across the swinging bridge.She was terrified.It was a swinging,high above the tree tops.Even after I had grown up I teased her about that swinging bridge.Now,.there was a cave.It had what was called fat man's squeeze.Me in my young thinking just knew Daddy would not make it through fat man's squeeze.Much to my relief he did.Fat man's squeeze by the way was an opening between 2 walls of the cave.There was Ruby Falls,another cave.But what got my attention was the bears.They had bears and never had I seen real live bears.I remember seeing the Chattanooga Battlefield being a civil war history buff even at that young age it was sacred and amazing ground for me.So this a quick roundup of my trip to Rock City.See seven states form Lookout Mountain they say.

Don't mess with country folk

It was a scene out of the old west.

Daddy was working for a mobile home place delivering and setting up mobile homes.This was in the 1970's.He was going to Sand Mountain,Alabama to pick up a mobile home at the factory.I went along for the ride.What a ride it was it that sawed off truck.It was like a regular 18 wheeler but shorter.

It was a long round trip but that is not the story.

We had barely got out of LaGrange,on US 27 just before Franklin,Georgia when on the right hand side of the road we seen for lack of a better word a posse.There where hundreds of people standing on side of the road facing the woods.

They had rifles,shotguns,pistols any type of weapon they could tote I guess.One lone Georgia State Patrol car was parked on the shoulder of the road.What is wrong?Daddy asked a man.Seems 2 desperadoes had robbed a store near by in Hogansville,Ga and they had been chased into the woods where everyone was waiting.

Waiting with their weapons ready for action.The Trouper was in the woods.Dogs where in the woods also.I never knew if the dogs where to track down the robbers for capture or to drive them out of the woods to face that angry mob of  all ages waiting with their guns.

I think it would have been smarter to surrender to the Trouper and dogs rather then face those people ready to enforce some Southern country justice.

Today is not the day

There are some things I won't write about.Just to personal for the world knowing.Only a very few people have heard my true story and that shall be the way it remains.Maybe someday I will put into words what I am thinking of.It is nothing dark and sinister.I have not murdered any of my wives and buried them under the house.Nothing like that.What I am thinking about was no great sin on my part.Nope I am not a spy for the CIA  Nothing that exciting.Knock on wood it's not about being in prison.I would never make it there.That has always been one of my fears.Prison.The big house.The poky.Slammer.What ever you want to call it has been a life long fear of mine.Oh and I have many fears.Another story for another time.Nope what I am thinking about is really not about any of those things.One of these days when subject matter is short,maybe I will write about what is on my mind.But today is not the day.