Saturday in the Valley

I woke up this morning to the sounds of rain outside my window and felt the immediate congestion inside my head specifically around my sinuses...  one of the pitfalls of living in East TN.  But, for me the advantages out-weigh the disadvantages...  especially at my age where sights and sounds are worrisome. 

As an English major in College, I am very familiar with the symbol of rain in literature...  and, is omnipresent in both prose and poetry to create the proper mental environment among the readers and the critics.  Whenever you have literature present, you have a whole host of critics who like to criticize writers for not writing as they would have expected them to write.

But, college has been behind me for over 50 years and I simply don't give a shit anymore what the critics may or may not think...  Rain, is a necessary evil in the South, especially in the Valley where a little rain is so necessary for survival.

I just mowed my lawn and with this rain and lots of sunny days after the weekend, no doubt I will have to mow my lawn again once maybe twice before the week is over...  While it is not that annoying to mow since I daydream while mowing, it does take time and money...  and, gasoline is not necessarily cheap anymore.

Once it warms up a tad, I plan to put on a sweatshirt and go out on my screened in back porch and listen to the rain for an hour or two...  for me, it is just as relaxing as sitting in my hot tub for 20 minutes.

Unfortunately, I only started learning to relax after I retired in 2015...  perhaps, if I had learned to do this earlier, I would not have experienced a heart attack...  who knows?

Sundays in the Valley

Being retired, it is sometimes difficult to differentiate between days of the week and days of the weekend but since so much of my life revolves around doctor's appointments, treatment appointments, other appointments, and THINGS TO DO...  I find it absolutely imperative that I keep an open calendar with me pretty much all the time nowadays...

So, today is Sunday and for me it is a day without exercising as I need to give my body and it old muscles and tendons a chance to rest a little...  because, the exercising starts again tomorrow and goes through the entire week including Saturday which is down downstairs on our own stationary bike and treadmill.

But Sundays are also SPIRITUAL DAYS for me as I reflect upon all the spiritual gifts that I have been given, including my diseases as well as my ability to think and formulate opinions many of which are based upon my interpretations of what I perceive to be true or at least reasonably true in my limited way of thinking.

For instance, I am a BORN AGAIN LIBERAL actually I was never unborn from that philosophy and oftentimes my family and friends have referred to me as an irritating REBEL...  in the sense that I really do not like to obey the rules, especially when the rules do not apply to all situations as we try to force them to apply.

However, I am also a conservative in that I believe in being debt free and having no debt at all in addition to believing that it is business not the worker that create growth opportunities for the economy.  Workers, as I have come to realize throughout my 45 year career are an EXPENDABLE COMMODITY like electricity, heating and air, and paper for the Xerox machine...  even though labor perceives itself as being a tad more critical than that.

Even management and all its levels are expendable when it comes to generating a profit, earnings, and a dividend for shareholders or stockholders who have infused the business enterprise with capital.   

BUT MORE IMPORTANT is our Government.

Our Government should be SMALL and it should NOT TELL US what to do with our lives or with our bodies, especially females.  If females want to have an abortion and for whatever reason(s) they should be allowed to have that abortion...  BUT THE GOVENMENT SHOULD NOT PAY FOR IT...  that is a cost that should be the responsibility of the female, even if she was raped...  unless she can force the rapist to pay for it...  and then, our government should get involved to provide a free legal defense for the female.

My breakfasts are usually taken leisurely since I have been retired but on Sundays, sometimes Saturdays, I like to reward myself with an Omelet, breakfast potatoes, and pancakes from our local PERKINS restaurant who does an EXCELLENT job in preparing these three items.  I usually wash it all down with a POT OF COFFEE.

However today was not a Perkins day and I prepared myself a small cup of grits with vege sausage, and a 1/4 cup of shredded mixed cheese and an English Muffin and washed it all down with a pod or two or three of McCafe Coffee with two spoons of Sugar Free Cappuccino Mix...  and only two spoons as when there is more added, the balance of taste is off a tad.

I eat this quickly prepared breakfast was watch the AQUARIUM SCREEN SAVER that is provided by my ROKU box free of charge...  actually, most everything is free of charge once you purchase the box and works incredibly well if you have an internet provider.  In our case, it is Charter which is now Spectrum and is the one responsible for those stupid commercials which are easily remembered which is kinda the point I suppose.

I will remain in this vegetative state for most of the day, writing and posting thoughts on my blogs, until I realize that the sun has disappeared and it is now time for me to relax in the hot tub...

Friday Morning in the Valley

Another day...  another dollar...  as my dad used to say...  and, when I heard that and obviously remembered it, I did not understand his sarcasm but I do now.  Pay raises are a necessary evil in that when one receives more money, one has to pay more taxes, and what I always experienced was that my insurance costs also went up, leaving me receiving not much of a gain.

The only way to BEAT THE SYSTEM is to receive SUBSTANTIAL pay increases of $10,000/year or more and the best way (I found) to achieve that growth in pay was/is to leave the State and move to another State.  Not necessarily UP NORTH (if you are in the South) because with that increase comes a higher COST OF LIVING situation...  which negates the increase.  But, move laterally...

I moved from NC to TN in order to receive my SALARY INCREASE and actually moved from a higher cost of living to a lower cost of living without realizing it until after the move...  plus TN has no STATE INCOME TAX effectively boosting one's salary by 7%...

Saturday Morning in the Valley

As mentioned before, I am living in the Valley of East Tennessee nestled between the Great Smokey Mountain on one side and the Cumberland Plateau on the other side which prevents, at least most of the time, bad weather from entering our area unless it comes up from the Gulf of Mexico.  We get more rain than snow or sleet and seldom does it remain in the lower 30's for more than a week or two during our brief winters; although, Spring is no longer a gradual transition for us and quite often are there periods of Blackberry Winters lasting for a few days in our area.  However and generally speaking, the climate is damn near perfect for someone like me who can no longer tolerate the moist cold weather or the humidity of the hot summers.

During our first 5 years of retirement, we traveled somewhat every other month, sometimes every month but recently and not because of COVID-19 and the Pandemic have curtailed our traveling but because we have had some bad experiences in international airports with our luggage and the logistics of finding the right location that it has become a hassle for us and taken away most of the enjoyment...  plus, 8-10 hours in an airplane is rough on our bodies and passing through many time zones has been difficult for us to adjust on either side of our destinations.

SO...  in the Valley we remain... in our modest home...  1200 square feet upstairs and 1200 square feet downstairs with a weirdly measured acre lot, 4 bedrooms, 3 full bathrooms, open concept kitchen dinning and living room, and exercise room, den, and 3 garages with a screened in back porch and a front porch that spans the length of the house.  In the backyard is an above ground 28 foot round pool that is 12 years old with minimal signs of wear and tear.  A wooden deck surrounds the pool with enough extra space for several lounge chairs and a 12' X 12' gazebo and a Hot Springs 12 year old hot tub near the shady side house wall.  Under the screened in back porch is an enclosed 12' X 15' storage space with siding.

My wife and I and our 3 cats are comfortable and want for nothing except maybe less space to have to keep clean as we have been throwing stuff away about every quarter now that we don't need in case we ever get the nerve to sell this house and move into a smaller one that is more suitable to our needs and that is only on one floor because eventually we will not want to go up and down any stairs.

Saturday morning in the Tennessee Valley is like any other morning in the Valley for us now that we are retired.  Our cats wake us up around 6:00 am each morning for a treat and after returning to bed (we alternate who gives the treat) we continue to sleep for another 2 hours or so...  coffee for me and it varies for my wife from hot chocolate to juice to diet Pepsi while we check our messages on the internet and as I post articles and other stuff on my blogs, she surfs the internet for all sorts of things like clothes, vacation deal, items for the house, deals on movie tickets, to health issues as we both listen indirectly to FOX NEWS on cable....  our cats have gone back to sleep.

Nighttime in the Valley

The weather man or woman or person told us today that there was going to be rain in our area and SIRI confirmed but it never rained although the humidity remain even after the sun went down and it got dark.

The Valley is peaceful...

The Valley is at ease...

The Valley is silent...

Everyone is at home following the self-quarantine order...

I am in my home office, sharing it with the cats and their bowls of food and if my Siamese knew I was in here, he would be howling for attention...  he would also be clawing me trying to get my attention.

Piper, his name, was not socially conditioned when he was young and does not trust humans as much as other cats; but, for some reason he has bonded with me rather than my wife.

The underside of all four of his paws is completely black with no splotches which we were told is an indication that he is a purebred Siamese cat....  he has a long body and long legs and literally HOWLS whenever he enters the room or in the mornings when he has decided that I have had enough sleep.

Piper is more affectionate than I would have expected but he still does not want to get that close to me after 7 years other than curl up on my lap.  Recently, he has been showing me a lot more recognition and attention.