Magnolia Trees

Around 2000 (give or take because I cannot remember for sure), I dug up 10 small Magnolia trees from my parents front yard in Chapel Hill, NC and brought them to our home in East Tennessee where I transplanted them...  all ten lived and are now about 15-20 feet tall and since I planted them about 10-12 feet apart, they have grown together and formed a privacy fence which was my intent from the beginning.  It was also my intent for the trees to be loaded with flowers because my wife loves Magnolia flowers and I wanted her to be able to sit on our back deck and see a wall of white Magnolia flowers which never happened to the extent for which I had hoped; still, looking over at them from our screened-in back porch, I have counted about 30 beautiful flowers this morning.

Some of the trees are wider and taller than others but that does not bother me near as much as the leaves that fall to the ground and have to be constantly mowed up to keep from killing the grass.  Our acre of land is slightly sloped from the front to the back as is the land of all our 12 neighbors forming a low but angled area behind all the houses for proper water drainage...  which over the last 20 years has worked perfectly.  Sometimes, our grass in the back sloping area looks healthier than the grass in our front yard but I suppose that is to be expected as well.

Just An Opinion

Since I am not an expert in any field other than being retired, I am in a perfectly good position to offer an opinion about the current situation in the US of A and for that matter around the world as we begin to  come to terms with this PANDEMIC that CHINA released on the rest of the world because of unsafe practices in one of their research labs...  even though they do not want to admit it.  Interestingly, what the rest of the world should understand is the simply fact that any country that does not have the FREEDOMS that one finds in the US of A is going to keep SHIT from its citizens because they do not want their citizens to know what it is that they are doing...  HOWEVER and with that said, the US of A still does a pretty good job of hiding shit from its citizens anyway, especially if our government perceives that the citizens will have an adverse reaction.

BUT, this is not what I wanted to write about today or this morning or whenever...

I have this strange feeling brought about by recent events that AMERICANS will be back to NORMAL or back to a NEW NORMAL no later than JULY of this year even though it will take much longer for everyone to be re-employed as companies will move slowly and cautiously...




States will reopen
Cities will reopen
Counties will reopen
Companies will reopen
Schools will reopen
ETC...

THEN...   in the FALL...   ALL HELL WILL BREAK LOOSE... when the Pandemic re-inserts its fangs into our economy again because,

AMERICANS stopped taking precautions!!!
Americans don't think they are going to have a heart attack until they do...
Americans don't think they are going to contract cancer until they do...
Americans don't think they are going to have a serious car accident until they do...

IN THE MEANTIME,
Americans act like they cannot be touched...
Americans eat whatever they want to
Americans drive as fast as they want to
Americans drink as much as they want to
Americans don't like preventive medicines

It does not take a BRAIN SURGEON to see that Americans are headed for one disaster after another...  and, will never appreciate what they have, until it is gone or has been taken away from them...  then and only then will they BITCH LIKE A STUCK PIG...

Coffee Drinkers

Well... did ya???

Vacation Time Has Officially Begun...

MEMORIAL DAY WEEKEND officially opens the new vacation season and LABOR DAY WEEKEND officially closes the current vacation season...  or, at least that is the way it used to be when I was in elementary school, middle school, high school, college, and grad school...   but, the last time I was enrolled in any kind of educational program (aside of certifications) was 1981, some 39 years ago...  and, these days it appears that schools are out before Memorial Day (instead of after) and have reopened in August before Labor Day (instead of after).  So, vacations start and end before they did in my day...

Like all HOLIDAYS having to do with the advent of WARM WEATHER (of course if you live in the extreme southern part of the USA, you are basically warm all the time...  but, that is not part of my analysis), families and/or friends typically get together and GRILL OUT with hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken, steaks, and maybe fish...  with potatoes, baked beans, french fries, chips of all sorts, a variety of dips, chili, cold slaw, corn (off and on the cob), potato salad, vege casseroles (or whatever) and home made ice cream and a various assortment of cakes, pies, candies and cookies.

NO...  I did not forget the ALCOHOL...  which typically flows like Niagara Falls and includes all sorts of beers, wines, spirits (vodka, gin, bourbon, scotch) but also non-alcoholic drinks like: soft drinks, lemonade, tea (sweet and unsweetened), and water.

Games are also typically played at events like these and can include:  softball, football, soccer, tennis, basketball, volleyball, horse shoes, bag or ring toss, pool, croquet, and bocce.

HOWEVER, this year, my wife and I were not with family or friends nor were we at any kind of public gathering hosted by the city or resort, but at home working in the yard since the expected rain failed to arrive.

We spread several bags of small white rocks around, emptied large bags of mulch and spread it around the flowers, dug up several plants to thin our the flower beds, put up a 2 foot fence made of lattice board around the tomato and cucumber plants, and replace rotten or warped boards on the floor of the deck.  We started around NOON and finished around 5:30 pm.  Tomorrow, unless it rains, we will spend a similar day outside.

Being retired...  we both tend to forget about some of the holidays that we so much looked forward to when working...  C'est la vie...

Remembering... as a Vietnam Era Veteran

Coolin' Off Baby...

Donald Trump is Still President???

MEMORIAL DAY 2020

Memorial Day is an American holiday, observed on the last Monday of May, honoring the men and women who died while serving in the U.S. military.

Visiting the Cemetery

Today...  my wife and I drove up to the cemetery where her son from a previous marriage is buried and I sat in the car while she walked the short distance by herself to put new flowers in the holder by his grave stone.  Before she left the car her comment to me was, "I don't guess you are going since he's not your son...  ya know, by not going you are disrespecting my son..."

I just sat there in the driver's seat and did not say a word, nor did I say a word during the ride back to our house...   but, while I did not say a word, I continued to think about what she said and reminded myself that when we went to visit her mother's grave site, I did not get out of the car...  and, she never said a word to me about it...  and, I have not visited the grave sites of my parents after their deaths even though we have been to that area several times to visit my sister.

This has nothing to do with her son...  I believe that she is finding one reason after another to find fault with me or criticize me to lay the foundation for divorce or for her to have an affair both of which I wish would happen so we can finally be done with this marriage.  Ironically, our marriage turned SOUR almost immediately after she retired about 3 years ago...   which says to me that we don't have enough in common for us to spend all this time together...  it was easier to tolerate each other when one or both of us was working.

Sadly...  and, this is looking back on 22 years of marriage (27 years of living together), we should have never gotten married in the first place...

Ending or Beginning?

For some, this may be a stupid question but does Sunday represent the beginning of the new week or the ending of the old week?

I guess my Bible training leads me to believe that it is the ending of the week because God made the world in 6 days and rested on the 7th day, giving me the impression that Sunday is the end of the week...

Yet, most if not all calendars have Sunday as the beginning of the week with Saturday ending the week...  of course that could just be to separate the two "S" days from each other.

WHY EVEN WORRY ABOUT THIS SHIT, YOU MIGHT BE THINKING RIGHT NOW?
And, that is a valid question...
But...  for me, it is still of concern because some of life's details influence the way I think and how the week begins is important, especially since the work week begins with Monday.

Monday begins...

Sunday ends...

CLEVER

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BOOGIE DOWN

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Click on white triangle twice then click on [ ] in lower right to enlarge to a full screen...

Isn't It Weird?

Here I am sitting in a lounger in my living room waiting for my wife to finish what she is doing so that we can continue watching DCI Banks on HULU and I am thinking about how the people with lots more money than I do are living during the COVID-19 Stay at Home Orders.  I am retired, living on a fixed income and each day when I wake up, I have several cups of coffee, write stuff on my blogs, have breakfast, exercise, and maybe do a little work outside, eat lunch, write stuff on my blogs, eat dinner, then watch some kind of series on the TV.  Sometimes, I leave the house for doctor's appointments or chemo treatments and sometimes we get takeout for dinner, but that is basically it.

How are the celebrities living during COVID-19 in their multi-million dollar mansions and their private jets that can fly them anywhere in the world?

These celebrities probably have cooks to prepare their meals or maybe all their meals are takeout and if they are can you imagine their food bill each month?

Do these celebrities have heated swimming pools some of which may be enclosed inside a protective all glass shelter?

Do these celebrities have ranches with horse that they can ride all around their 200-300 acre property or maybe 2000 -3000 acre property?

Do these celebrities worry about the bills that need to be paid at the end of the month since they are not working...   I guess not, because they are living off their interest...  hell, their monthly interest is probably more than the average American earns in a year.

I suppose that 10% of the American Population is financially WELL OFF, leaving 90% of the population TERRIFIED because the longer they remain out of work, the greater the risk that they will have to file bankruptcy or more out of their home or get their vehicle repossessed.

These 10% people are experiencing COVID-19 much differently than the rest of us are experiencing it...   I guaran-damn-tee you...

Mending the Deck

There are 20 - 8 foot sections of railings that surround the deck in my backyard which surrounds an above ground pool, a gazebo, and a hot tub.  There is a flat piece of decking screwed in on top of each of the sections and I am in the process of replacing those top pieces.  Our deck is over 10 years old as is our above ground pool and hot tub and for all intents and purposes, all of it has lasted longer than I thought it would.  We stain the deck every 3 years so I suppose that is why it has lasted as long as it has.  While all those top boards do not need replacing, I am replace them all anyway so it will look the same when it comes to staining them next spring...  it is best to let wood weather for a year before staining it, we've been told so that is what we do.

This is not hard work other than moving the wood from one location to another...  I unscrew the old boards which so far has  proven not to very difficult at all.  Then, I lay the old board on the new board, draw a line at both ends if there is an angle, then I cut.  The new cut board is taken to where the old one was removed and screwed into the post at both ends to prevent warping due to temperature fluctuations and rain.

After the railing is done, there are 2-3 boards on the floor of the deck that need replacing but that is it and fairly amazing since the deck, as mentioned before, is over 10 years old.

EASY RIDER

1969 was the year and it was an important year for me in many ways because a few months before I had left college (end of Fall Semester 1968), enlisted in the USNR, gotten married, and was working a year before I had to report for active duty...

I was living in Burlington, NC and working for a company called Carolina Biological Supply Company (CBS) owned by the Powell's...  paying a little above minimum wage, they were one of the largest employers in the area...

My wife and I were living in a two-story wooden house that we ironically rented from CBS but if something went amiss, CBS would fix it immediately.  The rent we paid was consistent with renting a two bedroom house or a 1 bedroom apartment...  yet, we had three times that amount of space.  There was a huge open area on the second floor that I used as my art studio since I like to do oil painting and photography and it was there that I hung this exact same poster.

HULU

My wife and I decided to try a free 30 day subscription to HULU last week and while she is watching a sub titled comedy from South Korea, I am watching the X-FILES with Agents Scully and Mulder...  There are eight seasons of the show, so obviously I started with Season 1, Episode 1 and amazed myself because I do not remember any of those shows...  when it first started out, the shows focused on weird things happening and not totally on UFO's and alien visitors...  which I would not have thought or believed if I had not seen these episodes for myself.



My wife and I like watching BBC Detective Shows and have watched many on NETFLIX before started enjoying DCI BANKS on HULU.  I am not sure why, but I prefer watching BBC Detective Shows rather than American Detective Shows...  I suppose because they seem more realistic in that they do not always work out where good triumphs over evil which to me is more real life.  However, the accents sometimes are hard to understand and we are constantly asking each other what they said.  Their slang terms are different than ours as well like flat for house and lockup for storage building.

Nine Twenty Darkness

On my screen in back porch I sit
chair up against the brick wall
table pulled in closed with my
Lenovo laptop sitting on glass
staring out into the darkness
at what I know to be there
but cannot see save the street
lamps blazing brightly beside
the homes on the other side
some of which have lights on
inside with the curtains pulled;
Panera's coffee cup sits beside
me full of decaf and two spoons
of Cappuccino Mix for me to
sip on before it cools down as
my Siamese visits me but leaves

again when my attention strays,
leaving me alone as before with
nothing but my thoughts of a
day that passed too quickly by
as they all do these days, and
me wanting to slow them down
so as to enjoy them more knowing
that enjoyment was fleeting for
a reason that only our Creator
knows but decided not to share;
a bowl of fake flowers sits in
front of me as it has every night
in which I have been out here,
thinking of what I need to say
and now I want to say it where
it has not been that way before,
and always realize that the way
I see and think never change
and what I see and think will
never change in my lifetime;
still, the darkness is enticing
as it has always been, even
when as I young boy, I used
to enjoy laying on the grass
on my back and looking up
at a dark summer sky, making
up stories about the stars and
where they all came from and

why I was the only one who
saw what I saw or thought
what I thought when all the
stars like people had different
points-of-view with which
we all had to contend or at
least this is way I thought
when I was so much younger;
but, tonight is a different night
as there are no stars in the sky
just a deep darkness that shields
the stars from my view and
limits what I think i see and
why I think I see it, knowing
that what I think will never be
proven as ever being true...

22 May 2020

What Is The Good Life?

One definition of GOOD is "to be desired of..."  So, our question changes a little in that is should read:  What is the desired life?

Obviously, this is different for each one of us in that what is desired by one is more than like not desired by another.









Some may want to be:

• wealthy,  
• powerful, 
• respected, 
• faithful, 
• happy, others not or don't care and if they don't really care then do they care about something else or just don't see that option as being that important?

I suppose that many of us see the GOOD LIFE as being gifted with the kind of life where everything just seems to fall in place...  like,

• finding the perfect spouse
• working at the perfect company
• having the perfect boss
• raising perfect children
• having perfect health...   but many us aren't that lucky if being lucky is the right phrase to use here because some of us believe that there is not such thing as having good luck that it is often because people are just better prepared than other people.  And, I suppose that there is some truth to that, but I just can't help but think that luck does favor some people.

Experiencing the GOOD LIFE is also going to change with age and maturity and education and experience since all of those do in fact impact one's life and the potential luck that is associated with one's life.

Personally, I perceived the GOOD LIFE differently at age 25 than I did at 40 and differently again at age 60 and differently again at my present age of 72 because at this age, all I really care about is:

1. being able to pay my bills
2. waking up again the next morning
3. having a bowel movement
4. not feeling fatigued
5. having the desire to write
6. having unassisted mobility