Tuesday, May 31, 2016

Good bye, May

Here we are heading into June.. and the summer..

I guess technically this is the end of Spring and the
beginning of summer, although it isn’t official until
June 25th

I love the Summer the best.  The warm weather,
the working out in the yard. The long days, and
even the shorter nights.

And as my years get shorter, the more I enjoy the
summers. Life just seems better in the summer.
More care free… maybe because we don’t have
any holidays to have to prepare for.

Memorial Days are planting flowers.. and that is
where I was yesterday… on the graves of my
daughter’s father, my second husband.  And
the King’s  sister, mother and father. 
And we put some on those who were in our lives
over the years.
A child who died tragically, my boss, who died
too young.  We walk thru the peacefully place
of rest of those we love. Remembering what
was.

Tomorrow.. June 1st.. is the beginning of the
New adventure/journey for the King and I, as
we start out retirement years together. I have
Been retired for 12, almost 13 years now.
And the beginning of Summer for us.  



 




Monday, May 30, 2016

Seneacquoteen Cemetery Memorial Services... 2016

..



 
This is the Man who ran it all...  When we first got there.. they were missing one person..
So they asked the King to help out with their practice... which he was honored to do.


It was great to see the women there as well...



It also was great to visit with friends...

Here is the real crew of riflemen... and the start of the program.


There was quite a few people there.. this is the 3 years... for it .


And of course it is hard for the little guys to stay in tune with the program.. so this one
found a way with the sun and shadows to do hand puppets..


Thursday, May 26, 2016

Retirement coming up.....3 days and counting...

Next week…on Tuesday… the KING retires.
So he has 3 working days left.  As Monday is
A holiday.

To be honest with you.. I am looking forward
to it.  I have a whole list of honey do’s for him.
Some of which he has added to the list.

We have the front porch to redo this summer.
He wants to put in a French drain for the front
of the house. As the water comes off and floods
the area just 2 feet from the porch.

In August we have a son getting married. We
have a good friend whose health hasn’t been
very good this year and he is in his 80’s. So
time spent there.   Also a trip to the oldest,
to see her new house. And also a stop by
for the day, another son’s place, as we have
not seen that either. It is a farm.

Then the rest of the year is filled with promises
of walking in the am.. and working on the 47
Ford pick up.

Money will be a little tighter, and juggling
getting health insurance lined out…
Yea, I think we can do this.



 




Wednesday, May 25, 2016

Fridays are not for me..

An old, old writing…
Found this among my paper work,
It was written in 2002, before I
Started writing a blog. And while
I was still in the work force. It’s title is:

Count me out next Friday….

I have decided I am not doing Friday’s anymore.
They just don’t work for me.
And it is a good thing I am not a believer of other
powers besides our Lord. Or I would be a nervous
wreck by this time coming Thursday’s.

Now you might think I am jumping the gun here..
But these last couple of  Friday’s have given me something to
think about. That maybe Fridays just don’t like me.
Which that is ok too, as I not fond of Monday’s
myself. 

What lead up to this thought is…

Last Friday, I called about my check..(never leave to chance about your automatic deposits) And sure enough it was there.. BUT only $81 worth.. it seems they over looked my vacation pay. And they have to mail it out as they only have one time only to deposit. Now that didn’t not make sense to me, but no sense going there anyway. Oh, I could have gone to pick it up.. 4 hour drive?? NOT.. so anyway, I went on my merry way, figuring that is not a problem. Just an annoyance.
At 1;14 I walked into my place of work, for a meeting that was planned last month. It was cancelled.. no word last night or when I left that morning at 6am.  You see I go to bed at 7am.. so to get back up at noon to go to a meeting that is mandatory is irritating… and just an annoyance. 

So I went to Wal-mart to look and buy some dishes that I really like. And they are a service of 8 for $20.. nice lighthouse dishes. I bring them home and wash the plates and dry them and put them in my glass cabinet. And then the little plates and cups.. so proud am I… then I get to the bowls.. 3 are broken… sigh… another annoyance. I take the bowls with box and receipt, to Wal-mart and the sweet little darling behind the counter tells me.. I have to go home and repack the other dishes and bring them back and she will trade me a new box. I asked her with all the nicety that I could muster up, you really don’t want me to go back home and take the dishes out of the cabinet and repack them and bring to the store. Oh, yes, she replies sweetly, it is store policy. My reply was NOT.. surely there is someone for me to talk to higher than you.. and I am still hanging by threads to my nicety. The other young lady who also is behind the desk ask what was going on.. when I asked for the manager by name. She told the sweet child to let me go get a new box and remove 3 good bowls and give them to me. She is a little upset but agrees. I go get the box, which by now I am wondering why did I have to go get the box, I didn’t break the dishes. Why me.. and this dang box was heavy and I was having to walk half the store with it. I get up to the desk and she takes the bowls out of the box, wraps them, and makes out paper work and has me sign it… all while she is complaining about how they would have to throw away the good dishes now that I have the bowls. Well, if she was trying to make me feel guilty.. ah ha ha.. you can never make a mother guilty. That is our specialty. We major in that. And I knew they would put them up the for display and sell them as single.

I get home.. and Ken’s time is not going any better. He order a propane tank. .. has been lining up this for 2 weeks. They put him off his 2pm appointment to 5:30pm. Small annoyance.. they get here
And I call him as he had to be at the church at 5:30 to set up for Awana. They look at the spot and the tubing and say to me.. oh, we can’t install this tank today. That tubing is illegal.. and who sold this tubing to him? The very same company that is delivering the tank. When Ken asked for the tubing and what tubing he should use… they gave him that one. Not the wrapped one which he was suppose to have. Now my mother did not raise any fools here…I looked a them and then him driving in.. and say.. glad it is you guys who are telling him that. I left. I went into the house.  Ken and the blue air followed him in to the house.. and the back out. They gave him the wrap and he had to redig up the tubing. Major annoyance.. Now that is just one Friday!

This Friday, last night… I almost made it thru it a without incident. In fact, Friday gave me the false feeling that all these were well. I work the night before as they need coverage for one of the gals who had an accident. So worked Thurs. came home Friday. Slept a little.
Ken came home.. he was sick.. he was fine by noon. Except his leg hurt. I went and got some money and took our grandson down to the sub store, he get his sandwich and went home. Everything is good. They go to Awana looking sharp.
In my mind the sound of them returning home from Awana. Then a blood curling scream from our grandson.. Ken yelling and crash of glass sound all in one moment time. Now I don’t know about you.. but to be woke up like that… I just can’t stroll out and say.. hi, guys, what’s up?
I ran out asking as I went. .WHAT THE HELL IS GOING ON HERE??
They both looking towards the dining room, eyes like saucers.. and I slowly looked over there.. to see my new dishes… on the floor.. broken in what appears to be a million pieces. I now have a service of 8 plates, 8 small plates 1 bowl,..2 cups.. oh, yes, my other favorite dishes.. that was near them.. well I have 8 plates..8 small dishes..2 bowls and 2 cups. I looked at it and I said.. well, THE LORD GIVETH AND THE LORD TAKETH AWAY.. and started to pick up the big pieces and Ken got the garbage can from outside. And the vacuum cleaner… that is when I decided maybe Fridays don’t like me…so next Friday.. count me out.. I am sleeping thru . So you all have good Fridays   and I will see you on Saturday..

I retired the next year.. and Friday’s decided to leave me alone.   

 


Tuesday, May 24, 2016

New computer blues

My old computer shit the bed...went Democrat as my uncle 
use to say. So I researched and researched and came up 
with what looked like the best deal for my budget. 

So early Monday morning.. UPS comes up and drops off
my package.  I took a bit and then open the box.  I looked
at it. Took deep breathe and open the computer.  The
instructions so to speak that they send with it..That even
with a magnified glass was hard to read. Luckily it was short. 

So another deep breathe and I turn it on.  I followed the
questions and answer part fairly easy.  Then it was time
to open explorer and set up mail box. That took a few 
repeated steps, going back to the old machine which
I was clinging to like life line. 

So there I was.. I had mail set up.. kind of. No toolbar
damn if I know where or how that comes up. As I
want to add to my email address.. Used help, and
it keeps telling me to use the toolbar.. Where the 
hell is the tool bar? It is under tools.. well, if I don't 
have a tool bar.. I sure the hell don't have tools. 
Skip that for a while. 

Went to explorer.. found Facebook.. look up
password. Tells me that is an old password.. 
That I had changed that 8 weeks ago. So go
to reset... put in old password.  Now I have 
Facebook.  

Put in my blog, that was easy. Oh, but I 
have not figured out how to get icons on the
desktop. They have something called pin tiles. 
Deep, deep breathe... 

I think it is time to bring in the big guns. 
Some one younger than me. But at least
I am not drinking the wine yet.. so there
for not drunk.  lol. 

Electronic is not my forte. I am actually
proud of myself, that I have gotten this far. 

Monday, May 23, 2016

When I was a kid...what do you remember?

We have all hear the stories that our parents
told us, of when they were a kid.. You know
“walked 5 miles in the 6 feet of snow to get
to school”….brag, right?   And then there is
the I worked for a nickel a day when I was a
kid.. etc..  Of course there were some true
stories of gas being 10 cents a gallon, and
stamps being 3 cents and only getting a
75 cents  an hour for wages with no bennies.
And etc… all true..

I can say.. gas was 15 cents a gallon, and
we got free stuff with fill ups. Free pitcher
with 8 fill ups with free glasses as you got
those fill ups. And then of course, there
was green stamps and blue chip stamps
they gave and when you filled up the books
with them .. you got free merchandise you
sent away for. Some cities actually had
a store in their area.  I never was near
one.  Also there were cigarettes that gave
coupons on their packs as well as their
cartons, the you redeemed for free stuff.
And my first job was paying $1 an hour.

We did have to walk to school or
to the bus stop but it was only about
a mile. And yes it was in the snow..but
if it was over 6 inches.. they cancelled
school.  Yes, we did have party lines
for phones. And you had to count the
rings to know if it was for you. And
yes, there were whistles in town to
let you know there was a fire some
where.. You looked at your chart on
the wall next to the phone to see
where it was by the number of times
the whistle went off.. Two shorts, one
long and etc.. 

Chicken was 21 cents a pound with hamburger
being about the same..  Can goods were about 10
cents a can for the standard 15 oz.   Yes, we all
at least everyone we knew, had respect for the
President of the United States.. and you probably
knew your guy in Washington DC.  Not that we
all agreed with them, but respected them.

That kids respected adults. That you were glad to
get a job.  That most went from high school to jobs
or the service. Only the ones with well off parents
went to college.   Rarely was any credit given. Only
thing you had on payments was your house if you
were lucky enough to buy one… and maybe a car.
But stores were cash only…

People pretty much had respect for each other.
Stealing? You went to jail. No plead bargains.
And you got in worse trouble when you got home.
It truly was a different world then…. I remember
It all well…

My question is.. what is it my kids remember?
And most of all.. in 30 years what is the hardships
that the generation that is in school now going to
remember?