Note to self

I might have messed up. I just mentioned to Jilda late last week that we should do more planks in yoga class. If you're not familiar with yoga, a plank is a pose that looks kind of like a push up except your body remains "pushed up." This might sound easy and indeed when you do it for let's say 10 seconds, it is easy. But I might have chided her a little and asked her if she was afraid to do the planks.

She got the evil look in her eye and said, I think we might be able to work a plank or two into the routine on Monday night.

I thought she would have forgotten about my fun at her expense, until this morning when she said "are you ready for class tonight? We're doing something special."

Now I'm fearful because if the planks don't do me in, the rest of the class will most likely drive a stake through my temple if they have to do the planks too.

I have an uneasy feeling about this class.

NOTE TO SELF: Keep your trap closed!!!!!!

Sunday Stuff

Jilda and I've been in the studio working on some new singer/songwriter songs. It's been a while since we've recorded so it took us a while to get up to speed.

Only when it was about time to go did we get comfortable and start making some progress. Oh well.

On the way home tonight, the fog was as thick as a veil and in places we slowed down to a crawl.

I'm not sure why, but each time I drive in a thick fog, I see tons of frogs on the road. Maybe they are there all the time and I just don't see them but tonight I saw a herd of them.

I think we are going to run up to Nashville to visit with friends next weekend. It's been a while since we've been to music city so we're excited. We've met some new friends who live there so it will be nice to see them again.

Have a great week.

Writing

You'd think as much as I written over the years that it would get easier but I can tell you, it hasn't.
Once I get a topic, I do fine but I find that I spend a great deal of time tapping my keys and staring at the ceiling.
It would be easy to say, "I think I'll take a sabbatical." But I'm not going to. My friend Dale Short worked with Jessie Hill Ford some years ago and Dale said one of the best pieces of advice he learned from Ford was this: "Long after your love of the English language, and your self-respect as a craftsman, have been exhausted, you will be amazed by what you can achieve as a writer on pure damned spite."
As I look back over my recent posts, there seems to be slim pickin's. But I've talked to a lot of writers and all of the go through slumps.
I feel like an onion that needs another layer peeled away to get at a newer, fresher layer.
Maybe a change of venue would be helpful. We haven't had a real vacation in a while. Our friend Jan Andrews wants us to visit her in Brooklyn, New York. We both have been to Manhattan, but we've never visited Brooklyn. I had not idea how historically significant Brooklyn was until I read 1776.
A lot of the early battles took place in Brooklyn. In fact, had a few things gone wrong, America might still be loyal to the Queen.
Anyhow, I hope you all bare with me when I get my head screwed on right.
Have a great Saturday.

A Matter of Time

I've hit a plateau in my weight. I dropped down from around 223 down to 209 but I'm hovering there. I really want to maintain a normal weight below 200 pounds, but that's easier said than done.

It has been many years since I weighed less than 200. Years of eating a little too much. It was routine for me to eat seconds almost every night. Jilda is a great cook and it seemed sacrilege not to eat twice as much as I needed. Neither of us do that any more.

But to drop another ten to fifteen pounds will take some time. I didn't gain the weight overnight so it is unreasonable to think I could lose it overnight. I'll have to focus and increase my level of activity.

It's just a matter of time.

Problems with Google

I could not get into Blogger last night to do an update. I'm not sure what's going on. But the proplem is with other Google sites as well.

I was able to get to other sites like Yahoo and others so it appears to be an issue with the Goog.

Last night was the season opener for Bulldog football, and when I left at halftime they were down big. I'm hoping they recovered in the last half.

I shot pictures that I plan to post on DoraHighSchool.com, but I won't be able to get to it until tonight.

Have a great Friday.

Peep Find a New Mom

Now this is interesting. I wrote a few weeks ago that the mother of our peeps was killed by a hawk. The little chicks have been a little lost. The rooster kept an eye on the little ones, but they were pretty much left to fend for themselves.

The only remain female hen we have started setting on her eggs about the time the peeps lost their mom.

A few days ago when the sun heated up the day, the setting hen got off the nest and began nurturing the orphaned peeps. You could see them out under the azaleas and huckleberry bushes scratching and clucking.

This morning I got up before daylight to walk for 30 minutes and at the conclusion of my walk, I stepped close to the setting hen to make sure she was OK on the nest. When my flashlight hit her, I could see something dark that was too close to her. When I moved in for a closer look, I realized it was the orphaned peeps that were huddled in the nest with the hen. I've never seen that before.

I would have taken a picture, but I feared the flash would freak them out and I didn't want to chance it.

The new peeps are due around September 2nd. We'll have a yard full of chickens before you know it.

When the orphans get a little older, we plan to place them in a good home. We're taking applications now to adopt a WatsonPeep. Please include the last three years of your tax returns, your vaccination records, and three references along with an essay on why you think you deserve a peep.

Photo in the News

I had a picture in the Birmingham News Lifestyle section today. It was a picture of our friend Edie Hand with Joe Meador and Ronnie McDowell. It was taken on our trip to Memphis a few weeks ago.

I've written a story about Memphis for The Mountain Eagle and I'm hoping they will run the story with several pictures. This is why I haven't written much about the trip on the blog.

I've had pictures in the News before but I still get a kick out of seeing my byline in print.

Below is the link to the article by Veronica Kennedy.

http://blog.al.com/living-news/2009/08/edie_hand_joins_forces_with_mu.html

Cool Reprieve

I got up early this morning and made the coffee. The sky was almost moonless so I stepped out on the back deck to have a look at the stars. Even with no glasses, the sky was like a sheet of deep blue velvet with diamonds strewn over it. There was a slight breeze out of the west and it was cool on my face. The temperature was lower than it's been in months.

Just after daylight I made a bowl of cereal and ate it standing at the sink and looking down towards the barn.

Our four legged friend stepped from the underbrush and looked for low-hanging apples. When we walked yesterday, we picked a few apples and placed them under the tree. She quickly found the bounty and scarfed them up.

I've noticed that her stomach seems to be getting bigger. My nephew who is a hunter said that it was not uncommon for a doe to have an offspring in late summer.

I'll have to stop feeding them soon because the land all around us is hunted. I'd hate to think I lured an unsuspecting deer to our property to eat and then get shot on the way by a hunter.

I don't think the hot weather is over yet, but a cool reprieve has been nice.

My Buddy Ken

Each time my friend Ken comments on my blog, I start thinking about retirement. I worked with Ken for many years and he has probably forgotten more about the innards of computers than most will ever know.

He is the first person to ever show me the Internet. One afternoon when things got quite just before quitting time he called me over to his desk.

He clicked on a menu and all of a sudden I heard a modem dialing. It connected with Prodigy which was one of the first on ramps to the information highway.

Before that day, most of the things I saw on a computer screen was text and numbers. When the modem connected up to Prodigy he typed a word in the search box and all of a sudden links to some of the first websites on the world wide web came up. When you clicked on a link, several minutes later, pictures, graphics and words appeared.

He saw the fascination in my eyes and shook his head. "One day you will be able to find music, pictures, news, and anything you can imagine right on your screen. It will bring the world to you," he said. I knew immediately that he spoke the truth.

A few days later, I subscribed to Prodigy and I too was surfing.

So you may be asking, why do I think about retiring whenever I get a note from Ken? Well, it's because computers were always a huge part of his life and he worked as hard as anyone I've ever known, but when the time came when he could retire, he walked away and he's never looked back.

I talk to Ken time and again and he is as happy as a cat with a ball of twine.

The day is quickly approaching when I too can walk away and do the things I love. I would never wish away one second of my life, but I can definitely see advantages in giving up the day gig.

Delightful Day

The last two weekends have been delightful. I'm writing a story for the paper about Memphis so that's why I haven't told a lot of the details about that trip.

Today we were in Lynchburg. I don't know how the weather could have been better. Big pillow white clouds with a sky so blue that it would be difficult to describe.

Lynchburg feels almost like home. We've been playing the Old Time Radio Show for a few years now and all the folks we've come to know there feel almost like family.

Paul Jones and his wife Marilyn do the radio show from the Barbecue Caboose on the square in Lynchburg. Ken and his wife Samantha own the Caboose. Every time we go, there are people from all over the globe.

Jilda's sister Pat went with us on this trip and she'd never taken the tour of the Jack Daniels Distillery. The folks at Jack Daniels do an incredible job. The tours are very revealing and the tour guides mix history, science, and humor to make the hour tour zip by.

Our guide today what Ron. He had a baritone voice that boomed over the sound of whiskey machines. He told us things about the history of the distillery that I did not know.

We ate Barbecue at the Caboose and we had a Jack Daniels Truffle from the candy store on the square before we headed home.

Out of Town Again

We're headed back to Tennessee for a gig at the Old Time Radio Show tomorrow in Lynchberg, Tennessee. It's always a hoot to see our friends there.

For any would be burglars that are following my blog to see when we're going to be out of town, I wouldn't bother tonight.

We're leaving Astro inside and he has a toothache. He bites me when he has a toothache. I'd hate to see what he would do to someone breaking in. I envision hair, teeth and eyeballs all over the floor.

Take care and have a great weekend!

Chicks in Destress

We were eating support this evening as an old cold rain fell outside. I begin to hear a faint chirping sound. When I looked outside, all but one of the peeps were on one side of our fence and the other on the opposite side. They were soaking wet and confused.

I hemmed the wayward chick up in a corner between the house and the fence to the back yard and gently captured her and put her on the other side with her brothers and sisters.

When her feet touched the ground, they ran off together under the deck to seek shelter from the rain.

They have been lost since their mother was killed by the hawk. We feed them but it's as if they've lost their moorings and are adrift.

I'm going to build them a little enclosed area down behind the shed to keep them safe until they are bigger.

Bonnie the adult hen is setting on eggs so we'll have more peeps in a few more weeks. If I don't start finding them a home, we'll have a yard full of chickens.

I'm taking adoption applications now. Send yours in to avoid the rush.

Wednesday Stuff

The grass needed mowing before we went out of town last Thursday. I haven't had a chance to cut it since so it's tall enough to bail and sell as hay.

When I got home this evening I jumped on the mower and cut the back yard. By the time I was half finished, a gentle rain began to fall.

It felt good on my skin, but I could tell the mower began to strain so I finished up what I could and called it quits.

I had to push the mower in and out of the shed because Bonnie the hen is sitting. Her sitting box is about a foot from the mower so to keep from disturbing her, I pushed it out by hand and then cranked it once it was outside.

She didn't flinch.

Our little peeps are in the ugly stage now. They are growing quickly. Yesterday I saw them climbing up our huckleberry bush. They'll be roosting with the big chickens soon.

Have a great evening.

Senior Moment

I'm backdating this post because I had a senior moment on Tuesday. This is the first day since I started posting almost three years ago.

I was working on my column for this coming week. I had a column written but when I let Jilda read over it, I could tell she was hesitant. It was funny and well written, but it made her uncomfortable.

I scrapped the column I had completed and wrote an entirely new one. It was so late when I finished that I forgot to post in my blog.

So, let's just play like this column was posted on time.

Ol' Buddy's On Facebook Part II

I’ve written about my faithful dog Ol’ Buddy in the past. The response was phenomenal. Apparent-ly, a lot of folks love their pets and enjoyed what I wrote.
It seems everywhere I take Ol’ Buddy, his reputation precedes him. Even people he’s never met, greet him like a long lost friend.
When I travel without the little critter, people ask, “How’s Ol’ Buddy?”
So I decided to put the pooch on Facebook. Ol’ Buddy and I were a little hesitant about going “virtual,” but within the first few hours, he had as many Facebook friends as I did.
All of a sudden, he’s getting friend requests from people we don’t know. He’s being asked for his paw-d-graph by fans. Soon he’ll be ready to negotiate terms for his first book. He’s also lobbying for a convertible the next time we buy a car.
Ol’ Buddy is mindful about his postings on Facebook, because he doesn’t want to overload people with too many Buddy-ism and puppy humor. So he only sends out a couple of updates each day.
Ol’ Buddy doesn’t talk for just anybody, nor is he a very good typist, so I have to do the interpretation and updates for him. But I’ve learned through our private conversations that he is wise beyond his years, and he’s excited about sharing his take on life.
For instance, Jilda and I were recently reading a story in the paper about all the drugs being given to kids to modify their behavior. Apparently, there are a lot of young ’ns out there who have behavior issues.
Most people who spend time at shopping malls or grocery stores can testify to this fact. Almost every time you go, you see examples of kids careening down the aisles wreaking havoc. My mama would have whipped me with a rose bush had I behaved this way when I was a kid.
As we sat drinking our coffee and reading this story, Ol’ Buddy became interested. After a few grunts and a scratch or two, I realized what he was saying. “Some kids don’t know how to behave because they’ve never been taught. Their folks let the television do the babysitting and the kids eat too much junk food. Heck, fresh roadkill would be better for them than most of the stuff they eat today,” he explained. That put a nasty visual in my head, but I had to agree that there was truth to what Ol’ Buddy said.
He went on to say that decent food and three days in obedience school would do a world of good for these kids.
Ol’ Buddy also had advice about another issue that’s in the news. “I know I'm just a dog, but here is what I think: any politician that runs around cheatin’ on their mates at the expense of the taxpayer should be neutered. Heck, I’m single and I got neutered for chasing a Pomerania and I didn’t even spend anybody’s money!”
I thought to myself, now this is a different approach that just might encourage politicians to behave too.
I asked Buddy what other advice he planned to share with his new Facebook Friends. He recommended that folks always stretch when they get up in the morning and never miss a chance to take a nap in the afternoon. Never pass up a chance to go to the bathroom, you never know when you’ll get another chance.
You need to keep the varmints run off you property. Don’t growl unless you’re ready to bite. Lay out in the warm morning sun whenever you get a chance. Always be loyal to your friends. Take time to play every chance you get and chase a few butterflies. Drink a lot of water and never use a bank that doesn’t offer your pup a treat when you go through the drive-thru window.
You can find Ol’ Buddy on Facebook by searching for Ol’ Buddy Watson.

RIP Mick

I lost my cousin Mickey this weekend. We were already in Memphis heading to one of the events when I got the call. Even though I knew it was just a matter of time, I was saddened beyond words at the finality of the call.

I have an image of Mick when he was about six years old and he was standing only a few feet from where he was laid to rest today.

His father had died suddenly of a heart attack at the age of forty and we were standing by his graveside. There was a look of sadness on his face that seared an image onto my brain that will be with me always.

I'm not sure if it was because he lost of his father so young or some other factor, but Mick has struggled most of his life. A few years ago he made his peace with God and it was as if a great load were lifted from his shoulders.

His brother Bruce preached at Mickey's funeral and I have no idea how he did it. He said Mick was ready to go. It seems he spent much of his final time here in prayer for his loved ones.

I wish I had found a way to spend more time with Mick, but I cherish the time we did spend together throughout our lives.

Too Pooped to Pop

All,

We just rolled in from Memphis. It was a remarkable few days. If I tried to write about it tonight, I know I wouldn't do it justice so, I'll write more tomorrow.

Right now, I hear the pillow calling.

Wild and Wacky Day

Today has been a blur. Jilda and I came to Memphis to help our friend Edie Hand with her international launch for the new book she co-authored Ronnie McDowell and Joe Meador. The title of the book is "The Real Elvis".
It's Elvis week in Memphis and the place was buzzin. We started the day at Audubon House which is the house Elvis bought his mom and dad when he became famous.
Mike Curb purchased Audubon House and donated it to Rhode College in Nashville. The idea was to keep the house as close to original as possible.
By 10:30 there must have been two hundred people there. The list of celebrities was too long to tackle just now.
Edie was filmed as part of a documentary on Elvis' life and friends.
I took MANY pictures. I also shot some video with my flip phone which is pretty cool. This photo is of Tyler Dean (Ronnie's son) with Ronnie and Bill Medley singing backup on one of Elvis' hits.
We also got a VIP tour of Graceland. It was Jilda's and my first tour and walking down the long hall of the trophy room which contains all the gold and platinum records was a humbling experience.
I'll do a better post when my head stops buzzing

No wireless Connection UGH!!!!! iPhone won't let me post to the.body of blog

Reconnected with an Old Friend

We hooked back up with our old friend Dale Short today. We haven't seen him in over two years but he's back now and he looks great.

We shared a few homegrown tomatoes with him. The best of the tomatoes are gone now. Most of the vines have died down, but he was glad to get a few of what we had left. He loves tomatoe sandwiches as much as I do.

Jilda put up loads of vegetable soup and a several quarts of tomatoes that we will enjoy after the summer has turned to fall.

There is no meal better in the fall and winter than homemade vegetable soup.

Speaking of Dale, he makes an oyster and artichoke soup that is scrumptious. We've only had it a time or two but we're hoping that we've reconnected that we can convince him to whip up another batch soon.

I'm taking a few days off to recharge my batteries. We're thinking about a road trip. I'll let you know if it happens.

Dog Issues

I pulled an all nighter last night on a problem in Southfield, Michigan. I don't even know anyone in Southfield so why the heck am I on a conference call with a hundred and fifty people at 2 a.m.

Anyhow, this morning I walked out on the deck to get some fresh air. It was hotter than the breath of Satan with a fever. I came back inside and stretched a little to stay awake for my morning meetings.

Jilda had a lunch appointment with one of her friends and while she was gone, I began to hear thunder roll in the distance. All of a sudden, I have four dogs that want to get into my skin and hide behind my liver. They are all a bunch a sissy's when it comes to thunder.

I scolded them all but they wouldn't budge until the thunder and lightening subsided.

This evening a gentle rain is falling and my eyelids are getting heave just sitting here listening.

Happy Tuesday.

Ol' Buddy's On Facebook

Well it's official. Ol' Buddy Watson is now on Facebook. He don't flood his friends with updates, he just says what's on his mind once or twice each day.

Sometimes it funny, sometimes it serious, and sometimes it comes from left field.

This evening he shared a quotation - "If there are no dogs in heaven, then I want to go where they went." By Will Rogers.

Ol' Buddy and Will would have been great friends.

Lazy Sunday

We drove out to see our friend Kaye and Jamie's new house. They lived in Florida for many years and decided to move back to Alabama.

Their house is stunning. They have a huge yard and what appears to be an olympic sized swimming pool.

We had our swim suits laid out, but drove off without them so we couldn't swim today even though the water looked so inviting. Jamie whipped up some pizza's from scratch and they were to die for.

It's gotten late and it's back to work tomorrow so I'm cutting this post short.

Have a great week.

Flossy's Gone

Flossy was a warrior mother at heart. She took guff from nothing or no one. She weighed about five pounds soaking wet, but she looked a lot bigger when she was mad.

She had seven baby peeps a few weeks ago and she was very protective of her younguns.

A dog that lives down the road and roams the neighborhood ran up in the yard last week. Flossy apparently commanded the peeps to stay put because they squatted in place and Flossy ran away from the peeps out into the open.

Normally she would simply have flown over the backyard fence with our other two adult chickens, but she would never have left the peeps to fend for themselves.

The dog started after her and she fluffed out her feathers and had this guttural clucking sound and she tried her best to peck the dog's eyes out.

Jilda saw the altercation, snagged up the BB gun and put a small piece of copper on the dogs be-hind. It got the message and left the yard post haste.

Fast forward to Thursday. I was drinking coffee and I heard the chickens sounding the alarm. I've had the birds long enough to recognize the difference between there normal clucking and the sound they make when they are frightened.

I walked out on the back and Bonnie & Clyde were under the deck. There were no dogs in the back yard, but I caught a glimpse of a hawk out of the corner of my eye.

I ran back inside and got the BB gun and started firing in the direction of the hawk to scare it off. Apparently I got close with one shot because it flew off down toward the barn.

We missed Flossy Thursday evening. The peeps were under the front porch but Flossy was no where to be found.

I thought she might be giving the youngun's some space, trying to get them to step out on their own. But she didn't return Friday.

When I walked down to the garden today, I found her remains. We didn't see what happened, but we think she did the same maneuver with the hawk that she did with the dog.

She ran away from the peeps and out into the open to keep the hawk from killing her babies.

She sacrificed her life for theirs. RIP Flossy

Tomrrow's Gonna Be a Hot One

The air was still as a vacuum this evening when Jilda and I walked. The air quality was in the orange category which means we should probably have worn masks.
We hadn't made a full loop before my shirt was as wet as if I had swam to my current location.
We cut our walk short and made a decision to walk in the morning after our coffee and before it heats up.
Weather man says it could get into the upper nineties tomorrow. I'm excited. Tomorrow is packed. I have to pick up my lawnmower that's being serviced in the morning, then we go to Birmingham to pick up Jilda's car (DON'T ASK), and then we pick out a new dishwasher to replace the one that died last week and finally we head home where I expect to have a great time installing the new appliance.
I'm hoping the alignment of the planets move into a more favorable alignment before something else breaks.

Moon Shot

I was restless last night so I got up in the wee hours of the morning. I poured myself a glass of sweet milk and scarfed up a gingersnap cookie. Standing at the garden door, I took in the view to the south.

The moon was full and cast a glow over the field between the house and barn. I stood for a long while taking in the scene and letting my mind wander. I wish my camera was sensitive enough to capture a picture. My old camera had a 'bulb" setting which left the shutter open for extended periods letting the ambient light bathe across the film capturing the low-light images.

My digital camera doesn't have that setting so I took a mental picture which is probably better anyhow.

When I went back to bed, I closed my eyes and savored the midnight snack, and the moon shot in my mind.

Times they are a Changing

I took a walk this evening and you can really get a sense of the changing of the season. The sumac leaves are turning a beautiful shade of red.

Soon I'll begin to hear tree-frog choirs and cicadas. When I was a kid, I used to become anxious when I heard those sounds because I knew it would not be long before the start of school.

From where I lived in Sloss, you could also hear the cadence of the Dora High School drum core practicing their riffs.

Soon we'll begin to feel a nip in the air in the late afternoons and know that it's time to plant turnip greens.

These days, school starts back so soon that I'm not sure what signs they go by. My young great nieces and nephews don't spend enough time outside to get a feel for what nature is telling them.

Anyhow, this year is silently slipping by. I wrote a check today and wrote 8/5 It is hard to believe that the year is almost 2/3 over.

Y'all have a great Wednesday.

Less, Later

I got a welcome surprise when I stepped on the scales this morning. I'm down to 210 pounds. I know that's still heavy but at one time I weighed 223 (and maybe more).

All I've done is push away from the table instead of going in for seconds. I'm drink more water and fewer brewsky's. I've upped my exercise to an average of 30 minutes a day of brisk walking. Many days I walk 45 minutes to an hour. I feel great!

I know it's easy to backslide. I've seen it happen to so many people. I'm not saying it won't happen to me, but I can tell you that it is my intention to be mindful of my weight.

After all, what good is retirement, if your not healthy enough to enjoy it.

More later - or maybe I should say less later.

When It Rains it Pours

I’m sure you’ve heard the old saying “when it rains, it pours.” Well, this week I got soaked to the bone.
It started when I logged onto my business bank account and discovered that there were several charges from a site I didn’t recognize. When I checked Google, I found it was some kind of online dating service. There were three charges which totaled almost a hundred dollars.
I immediately called my bank and canceled the card. I also filed a report so that I could get the money back into my account. It was kind of a pain, but I’m glad I caught it quickly.
Later that day Jilda called me at work to say that the dishwasher stopped draining. Dollar signs flashed in my eyes.
Dang, I thought to myself, I could use that hundred dollars the dating service ripped off to buy a new pump for the dishwasher.
A guy at work joked that I could repair my dishwasher by buying her a new pair of latex gloves.
I knew Jilda would fail to see the humor in this so, I conveniently forgot to mention his mirthful suggestion.
Jilda drives an older Volvo that has been paid off for many years. We both love Ingrid (that’s what Jilda named the car) and normally when we travel, we take the Swiss beauty.
A while back we started having to add coolant on occasion. The air conditioner also acted up time and again, so we decided to take her in for servicing.
The repair shop called that evening with the estimate and I gasped so hard that I almost sucked a pencil down my windpipe.
“WHAT IS THE DEAL HERE?” I thought to myself, I’ll have to knock off a bingo hall to pay this repair bill!
One of the guys at work suggested that we take advantage of the government’s deal where they give several thousand dollars for your old gas guzzler.
The money would go toward a new American-made vehicle that is more fuel efficient.
When I read the plan, it said the government would have the older car crushed and sold for scrap.
Though we bought her car several years ago, Ingrid actually looks almost new. The leather seats are showing a little wear, she could stand a little wax, and steam cleaning the engine would probably be a good idea, but she’s by far the nicest car either of us have ever owned and we can’t bare to let her go.
So I dipped into our emergency fund for enough cash to cover all the unexpected expenses.
I could get upset and focus on this run of bad luck, but the truth is, I feel blessed. Not because I’m having to dig deeply into my pocket to fix all the stuff that’s broken, but blessed that I have a decent job and I’ve had the good fortune to be in a position to stick a little money back to cover these things.
When I look around, I realize that there are so many who don’t have the luxury of paying for emergencies. A lot of people would either have to drive the car until it died, or put the repairs on a credit card and pay astronomical interest rates.
I believe the old saying that says the Good Lord doesn’t give you burdens that you can’t bear, but I do wish the rain would go away and NOT come again another day.

Just Another Sunday

We had Steve and Judy out today for a practice session. We'll be playing the Old Time Radio Show in Lynchburg soon and we're getting our songs together.

Afterwards we ate dinner. Jilda had picked some fresh flowers in the garden to go along with the fresh green beans and tomatoes. We had a roasted chicken stuffed with fresh basil, rosemary, and thyme. She also whipped up one of my favorite dishes. It's small bundles of green beans wrapped with lean bacon and baked in the oven. She whipped up some of her special batches of mashed potatoes. We had a type of bread that looks like French bread, but it was smaller in diameter.

She poured out small dishes of olive oil with fresh herbs.

They haven't visited in some time and while we ate, we saw the humming birds feeding on the flowers on the deck, a young rabbit hopped up into the back yard and looking the place over. Our peeps made an appearance and before we finish with dinner, a young deer ambled up to the apple tree to check out the crop. It was a good day for watching critters.

For desert we had brownie and homemade ice cream. After we finished and we were sitting on the couch listening to music and talking, she announced that she was moving in.

We sent them home with tomatoes, okra, and other goodies. If we keep this up, we'll have to build additional rooms on our house.

Computer vs The Rickalater

The computer really didn't have a chance. I had my mind made up and it was a matter of time before I fixed it or it wound up as a boat anchor.
Fortunately, for me, I managed to back up my failing hard drive and restore it to a new one. The old hard drive was running out of space so I made sure it would be a while before that issue came up again so I bought a 1.5 trillion byte drive.
I'm going to reformat and test my use it for my off site backups. I realized during all this aggravation that I have backups of my data, but if the unthinkable happened and I some how lost my house, I'd at least have my data which represents years of my life.
So, it's on to bigger and better topics for Life 101.
Have a great Saturday evening.