Old Man's Ramblings

Broiled Salmon

2007-08-08T20:24:00.001-07:00

Broiled Salmon
Originally uploaded by sisudave.

Just to show it wasn't a fluke, I cooked again tonight. Ate a little later than usual. Just as I was all set to get things going the power went off for an hour. Then I broiled the salmon and as soon as I finished supper and got the dishes washed the power went off for another hour.

We have had 3 days of temperatures over 100 degrees. With our high humidity, the heat index has been up in the 105 range. Maybe 104 tomorrow. It has been so long since it has rained I don't remember what it looks like. If it ever does and I recognize it, I'm going to take a picture of it.

I can't imagine those troops in Iraq with probably 65 lbs of gear in multiple layers trying to survive in the Iraq heat even though they are a lot younger than me. Lets get the hell out of there and bring them home now.

I just put now some lemon pepper with garlic and onion and a little salt on the salmon. Sometimes I drizzle on a little olive oil, but that usually smokes enough to set off the smoke alarm and I didn't want to have to open all the doors and windows tonight. Peel the squash and remove all the seeds and cut the flesh into chunks. The skin and seeds really give a bad texture and I think a kind of bitter taste to the squash. Therefore I only eat my squash. Use a lot of butter(well really smart beat margarine) and salt and pepper.. The rice I use now is Uncle Ben's Ready Rice. Slit the bag and 90 seconds in microwave and perfect everytime and they call that cooking. Plus there are several varieties available, too.

Here's the stuffed peppers I cooked awhile ago.

My Favorite Flower - Sacred Lotus Lily

2007-07-11T20:36:00.000-07:00

A Memorable Date For Me

2007-07-11T20:18:00.001-07:00

Hibiscus Hibiscus coccineus
Originally uploaded by sisudave.

While we were working at the church today, three pickups arrived laden with potted flowers. One of the parishioners is getting married this weekend and are having reception at the new huge church hall. They also set up these table and chairs and large pot of flowers in the patio (it's a brick maize)in the medieval garden. Pictured through grape arbor - my job today was primarily pruning and tieing up the grape vines.

Today would have been my Mom's Birthday. Also was the date my Pop died. Mom didn't listen to music, I think because she was told she was tone deaf and thus didn't get scholarship to go on and become a teacher which was her desire. Pop liked music and listened to Opera. I don't think many except our immediate family would know that about him. He was also very fond of watching Marguerite Piazza, netting covering her cleavage and all in those days, on the Saturday Night Sid Ceasar/Imogene Cocoa TV Show.

If you didn't see this on the news recently you must watch. This guy and the moment is great.www.youtube.com/watch?v=o7glOGq82xQThis is a video about a young man by the name of Paul Potts, a mobile phone salesman from South Wales, Great Britain - his dream is to spend his life doing what he was born to do.

Hudson - Rust & Crust

2007-02-27T20:37:00.001-08:00

Hudson - Rust & Crust
Originally uploaded by sisudave.

There are two Hudsons, both rusted out, parked right adjacent to each other behind fence at auto junk place Rte 25 south side of town. Since vehicles are packed in so tight this is only real shot I could get.
I rememeber when I was a kid and these came out. My friends father who lived in same apt. building as us got one - think it was their first new car. All previous ones Jimmy used in his construction business. I was fascinated as first car I saw where you stepped down to get in the car. He used to sleep it off in the car Sunday mornings after Saturday nights at the Knights of Columbus. Man a couple blocks over from us was the Hudson Dealer. They had 3 cute blonde girls and all us kids played over there. They were one of the first to have a TV and invited all us kids to watch lots of times. I especially remember Ed Sullivan Show, as one of the first ones.

Ou neighbor, Dominick, on the third floor was the first in our apartment to have a TV. No cable in those days so he had big antenna attached to side of wall up at the roof. They were real good about having us kids upo to watch TV,too. Remeber Lil al;ways had treats, like popcorn, also. In those early days they had a lot of big events on the TV and I particularly remember watching The Ringling Bros. Barnum and Bailey Circus. Even though had seen the real thing in New York , that was still a tremendous treat. In those days people troed to all kinds of things to enhance their picture. I think Dominic put a big magnifier on his. Of course in these days we would say YUK that just distorts the picture and it was already snowy enough. But we all thought it was just a marvelous thing.
My brothers were older than me. They decided they wanted to get us a TV. My father was against it. I don't know why he was funny about things some time when it came to his family. I never did figure him out completely, especially in that regard. he used to work extra besides regiular job to make his "drinking" money. Always turned the regular paycheck over to my Mom from day they were married. he didn't care anything about managing it and always did other things for his own pocket change. only he kept in in his shoe and he would often take his coins out of there just to show us kids how much change he had. I couldn't ever figure out how he could walk around wuith that money in his shoe - he probably didn't and just use a little slight of hand in fromt of us.
Anyway my Mom appointed me to sneak over and see if Pop was watching TV at the Bader's which she suspected. They were the people who owned the bakery across the street where he worked and spent a lot of time with them. I remember they always had a small table in back room of the bakery with a bittle of booze on it. I think that was part of Pop's and the bakers salary. I think she had told him that if she found out that he was watching their TV she would let the boys get us one. I don't remember the outcome, but do know that Gus and Herb went to see Mr Asherman (another Baker) who owned the Apartment building and Mrs. Asherman said "sure the boys can have a TV." Hooray for her. I always thought it funny that after Mr Asherman died, the Mrs eventually married again, to Gus Anderson - not my Pop. but another man with same name.
I remember evry day running out of Washington Sciool and looking for the antenna on top of the roof. Finally it was there and our lives, as with most other Americans coming into the TV age, were to change and never be the same. Our antenna was put up on the chimney o higher than Dominics. That made him mad and all I ever remember about him from then on was complaining that our antenna interferred with his reception.

Weskora Hotel - Ossining, New York

2007-02-18T17:37:00.001-08:00

Weskora Hotel - Ossining, New York
Originally uploaded by sisudave.

This is a vintage penny postcard. I received the site in an e-mail from a friend today where I found this:
www.rootsweb.com/~usgenweb/special/ppcs/ppcs.html
My Hometown, Ossining, New York.
I never saw this hotel, and never saw a picture of it until now. It burned long before my time, but I heard about it. My folks were young married couple living on Broadway(hill to the left where you see other buildings), probably about 1925.. They lived at the bottom of the hill which would have put them right behind the hotel.. It must have been one of the biggest fires in town. My Mom said they were up all night long making coffee and my Pop taking it to the folks battling the fire..
So in my time there was just the old brick parking lot with a diner at the back of the property. The diner couldn't have lasted there long either as was gone by time I was in High School, but was around when I was a kid. A bunch of us kids in the Washington School area hung around in Cardinale's Liquor store. A guy named Tony took care of the place for the Cardinales. Tony was crippled(I think from Polio) so he couldn't go away to the service in WWII like so many of the other young guys. We used to play rummy in the back room. One day he sent us to buy sandwiches at the diner. We had BLT's. It was the first one I ever had. It was Delicious! I can remember running home to tell my Mom about this great sandwich I had. I have had lots since but I always hold the mayo..

They Want Your Pits

2007-02-05T21:38:00.001-08:00

They Want Your Pits
Originally uploaded by sisudave.

If you find a pit in your Cherries, OregoN says to send it to them and you'll get a surprise in return. I mailed it in today. I told them it is not really a complaint by me as I don't mind. In fact, I suggested they try marketing cans of unpitted cherries. I'd like to see the cherries not mashed and no problem spitting out the pits. Then you could imagine you were eating fresh ones right off the tree.Probably not a good idea for the tart ones that you make the pies out of though.

Cherries generally don't grow or produce well here so you pretty much just see the ornamental cherry trees. in South Carolina.

Apparently I have the gout and now taking a pill for that, too. Also one for pain if I have another flare-up, but haven't needed. I always understood it was a disease of Royalty (King Henry VIII) so have been eating lots of the Royal Anne's, but also Bing and making pies out of the tart red cherries. Cherries are supposed to be one of the comfort foods for gout so I have been eating plenty. No problem as I love them - just wish they were cheaper.

Last Day of 2006!

2006-12-31T07:55:00.000-08:00

It's beginning to look a lot like springtime, everywhere you go.

Pink tulips at Bi-Lo. Nice to see the fresh spring-time blooms, even if just in the grocery store of bulbs forced into early bloom. You realize that spring can't be too far away and only a couple of months of winter to endure. But, at my age I'm not rushing it, and just trying to enjoy the delights that each day can bring.

Neighbors giant pine tree suddenly died last summer. He kept saying he was going to have it removed in the Fall. I kept waiting for it to fall on my house which was just 30 feet from it. Fortunately just a week after winter began, a crew showed up yesterday morning to remove the tree and a couple others.

That was a long way up there. It was dark day and light rain when I went out to take pictures. Rain drops kept falling on lens. It never got any worse and they continued cutting all day.

TIMBER!!!
Originally uploaded by sisudave.

TIMBER!!!
First part of trunk on way down. About three BULKY guys on ground, including neighbor's grandson, steering falling limbs and trunk as they came down to avoid power lines.
I slept a lot easier last night with that tree out of there.

I don't usually involve myself with New Year's resolutions, but one I am going to make and try very hard to keep is top update this blog more regularly. Hope everyone has a safe, happy and prosperous New Year out there, yah hear.

All This Just For a Piece Of Apple Pie

2006-10-27T14:19:00.000-07:00

Here's the final product of my trip to the mountains. I like to go up to North Carolina every year to get the apples. There are so many varieties and good prices in the stores nowadays, but I guess just going to the source helps get me in the mood, plus the chance to see some beautiful scenery.

As soon as it comes out of the oven, I sprinkle the top with a mixture of sugar and cinnamon. Another trickin making delicious apple pies from watching and learning from Mom. She used to let me poke the vent holes in the top. Being the kid that I still am, I put my initials , or something special, in the tip crust before baking.

Don't think I would bother making pies which I love so much (eating them not making them). When my Mom was still around and couldn't do it anymore, I made a couple with the crusts from scratch while she directed me. Sure made me appreciative of all the work she went through to please us for so many years. But it was an awful mess with flour everywhere plus I don't have much working area in my little kitchen.
Even comes now with a free spice packet. I didn't use this time as didn't know if I would like as much as my own. I also add a couple tablespoons of flour over the apples and a few pats of butter as Mom did and sometimes a skip the lemon juice. I use three varieities of apples, figuring at least one has to be to my liking. Up north we mostly had McIntosh to use for pies. I've tried them from the grocery stores sometimes, but they don't seem to be as I remember.
The glass jar that I keep filled with sugar and cinnamon mixture to sprinkle on the apple pies is from my childhood days. Amazing how a few things made it through all the moves and still serviceable after all these years.

When I went to Greenville the other day, I didn't know for sure I was going to head up to the mountains, but as my visit to the VA clinic was brief, just to check on a date, I proceeded up US 25 and sure was nice to cross the border into North Carolina again. When I first came here, everytime I went out for a ride and crossed the border into North Carolina, I had a sense of being back home in New York. Guess in those days I was more homesick then now, but the terrain there is so much more reminiscent of home then here in the Piedmont area, which I have also come to appreciate as my adopted home.

On route 25, as you enter North Carolina, you are greeted this time of year by a large planting of Winged Euonymus alata, Winged Euonymus shrubs in the medium along the highway, which are clothed in their brilliant scarlett fall leaves.The Name derives from the corky ridges that appear along the stems of this plant. I saw a lot of this shrub in this part of North Carolina, even seems to be one of the favorites planted at residential properties. I stopped in Hendersonville for my favorite pizza buffet at Mr. Gatti's and then just a short trip to Edneyville on Route 64 to the apple warehouse.

Jimmy Nix and Son's Apples
There are lots of places just along this route and in the environs of Edneyville selling apples and many a lot fancier, but I always seem to buy all or most from this place. Guess because they are friendly, offer a good price and all apples always fresh that I keep coming back. This year they were $6 for 1/2 apeck and $9 for a bushel. I got 3 half a pecks, but guess I should have got a bushel and a peck. It was cold, windy and sunny up there today. Think temps were in the 40s. At first it was just Jimmy Nix, now it is Jimmy Nix and Sons. I was told he was still getting along, but with all kinds if ailments. I remember as long as I have been going there he always had bad back problems.
Bought 3 varieties,. Now I'll have to get busy making some pies.Always bought some natural cider here, too, but because of the stomach problems I had I'm being extra careful for awhile.

P.S. The stomach seems to be all better. The Dr. has ruled for now that my problem was probably from parasites from contaminated muscadine grapes the I overlaoded on from the grape arbor at the Medieval Garden. Even though the tests were inconclusive from quick recovery when I started the anti-biotics and the circumstances that seemed to initiate the problem seemed the most likely conclusion.

After my purchases there was still time before setting off for home so visited about my favorite Main Street around anywhere in Hendersonville, North Carolina by heading back West on Route 64. You can see all the bears that are on Main Street besides the one here and see a photo tour on my picture site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sisudave/

For bearing with me through this blog, I offer you here a special treat - a stress reliever sent to me via internet by my friend, Paul. Hope you enjoy it as much as I have. It really works. After clocking on the site, just run your cursor over the piccture. You don't have to click on anything.

http://www.nobodyhere.com/toren.hier

I made the big loop around the twisting, winding mountain roads soaking up the beautiful fall colors on my trek home. Sure glad I went that day as was planning to go todfay and it is prett wet and soggy out there today, not letting up at all. We surely need the rain in these parts.

Here is a sampling of what I saw:

We'll I think I got my money's worth on this trip. Now if the pie tastes as good as it looks coming out of the oven, I think I'm all set for a relaxing weekend of watching sports on TV and puttonmg a few more calories into my diet.

Since it is so close to the holiday and in case I don't get back on here again before that, Happy Halloween y'all. Take Care Until Next Time and Have a Happy, Dave

Spider Report for 2006

2006-10-19T13:58:00.000-07:00

Black Widow Spider

Latrodectus mactans

Photo - Clemson University - USDA Coop. Ext. Slide Series

UGA 1236024

My day was most unusual as it ended.
This was the last photo and story I posted tonight on my photo site. This is not my photo, but I was looking up info on Wikipedia.

Today Klaus and I worked at the Medieval Garden. Spent most of the time weeding tons of oak seedlings from all the beds on our hands and knees. . Then we sowed some perennial grass seed on a couple of areas and used some old hay(year old) to cover seed on some of the bare spots. We finished and were headed for MIG'S for lunch.Klaus remarked that he must have gotten into some fire ants as his stomach was itching. While driving he pulled up his t-shirt and a black bug fell out. He knocked it to the floor. Immediately he started having a reaction. Pain going up into his shoulder. Started driving faster and said he was going to the outpatient medical clinic for Self Memorial Hospital. He dropped me off and I jumped in my car and took off after him. When we were going into the emergency place he said now the pain was going down into his leg. I had to sign him in and they took him in right away. First they were going to just put him on intravenous for a few hours and let go. Then in about hour they decided to send him to the emergency room because of his age and some history to observe him for 24 hours. Finally decided they would keep him at the hospital until Friday Morning. I'm glad I told him to bring the spider into the outpatient clinic as doctor knew right away that he got bit by a black widow spider. Everyone else at Self Memorial Hospital was also delighted to see the spider. When the spider fell onto the car seat I noticed a red spot then, but figured it was Klaus' blood as could see the red area were he was bit, but, of course, I had no idea then what a black widow looked like or that they usually have this hour glass red mark. It will take me a while to get over this experience, that's for sure.

Big Oak trees grow from little acorns. It was seedlings produced from acorns likr this that we pulled out of the flower gardens

Klaus called his wife Carol from the outpatient Clinic. When she got there I came home and had lunch. They took him to the hospital by ambulance. She left the hospital to put gas in her car and get him supplies like toothbrush, etc. I met her at the Outpatient Clinic and drove Klaus's truck to his house and Carol drove me back to the outpatient clinic to my car. That was one weird experience. After all that I didn't feel like cooking supper so drove over to MIGS and picked up a Pizza and then came home and scrubbed myself down good. Not sure where that spider came from and how it crawled under his t-shirt as tucked into his pants. We think probably when he was handling that rotten old bale of straw that he picked up and put in his truck and then spread over the grass seed. I didn't handle too much of that as I was raking the grass seed into the soil. I was amazed at how quick the reaction to that bite occured. The Dr said the reaction to that bite is pain in various parts of the body, not necessarily where the insect bit and lasts for 24 hours. Some people can handle the pain, but others have to go to the hospital. I read in Wikipedia that people don't usually die from their bite as it is a small amount of toxin injected into the body. Only about 50 deaths because of such a bite have been recorded - I won't tell Klaus any of that as don't expect it would give anyone comfort to know. That is s0 creepy. I'll probably be paranoid about spiders now. You wouldn't think things like this would happen at the church - like Klaus always says when we work there - "we are doing the lord's work."

One of the flower, a Dahlia, in the bed of flowers in front of the Outpatient Emergency Clinic of Self Memorial hospital where I paced while waiting to hear of Klaus prognosis.

I remember years ago my Mom got bit by a spider. She went on vacation with my sister and brother-in-law to the boondocks of northern Vermont. When they were putting my niece and nephew to bed in the same room she was occupyong, she saw a spider on one of the pillows, brushed it off, but then couldn't find it. When she got bit later on as she went to bed, she summoned my sister to help her to the bathroom. My Mom was a tiny lady, under 5 feet and under 100 lbs. She fainted before she could get there. My sister who was much bigger and a strong girl and my brother-in-law could hardly pick her up to get her back into bed. Fortunately the wife of the owner of the cabins who resided on premises was also a nurse. She asked my Mom if she could take a very strong cup of Tea. That revived her and then they drove her to a French Doctor about 50 miles away up near the Canadian border. He treated her but said" We have no poisonous spiders in Vermont." My Mom begged my sister to put her on a train so she could come home but they refused and all came home together. At home my Mom visited our family Doctor and he said if the symptoms returned in two weeks it was a spider that bit her. Sure enough two weeks to the date the symptoms returned. I remember she had a rash. I don't remember whether it itched or pained, maybe both, but she was very uncomfortable. When she recovered she was never bothered by that again.

I believe that must have been the same time my father, two brothers and I were left at home to fend for ourselves. I must have started working that summer as otherwise I'm sure I would have gone with them. Of course, my Pop was in charge. He arranged for him and my brother Herb to cook the meal the first night and my oldest brother Gus and I would wash and dry the dishes. Then the next night we were supposed to reverse the rolls. It never got to the next night as then he decided we would all meet at the same time at a restaurant next to the Little Club on Main St,, where he frequented. That must have been okay with all of us as I don't remember anyone complaining. For me at that time, no matter where it was, it was a real treat for me to eat out.

Being of Swedish descent, this word to me means the salutation people give to each other when lifting their drinks and clinking glasses, like others might say cheers or salut! For most others nowadays I'm sure it just refers to a certain type of tobacco. Saw this tin on the street and took picture. Skoal!

My Pop was not much of an indoor cook or cleaner. He did clambakes for years for large groups like the Moose and Fireman. Then eventually he gave all his equipment to his brother, my Uncle Carl, who then carried it on for some years. I remember my brothers Gus and Herb would help Uncle Carl sometimes. Pop also liked in my early years to go on picnics after work to Croton Point and another beach, both on the Hudson River, and he would cook the supper on the outdoor grills. I only remember him cooking indoors once a year - a ritual he had, but don't know why. He cooked up goulash. As a spoiled kid I would never eat anything like that, but I do remember it smelling so good. So now I thought in my senior years I would really enjoy it. Checked with brother Gus but he said he had tried to duplicate Pop's recipe several times but could never come up to it. So I wound up buying a frozen already prepared Hungarian goulash that wasn't bad and price was right. My niece then gave me her recope but think I'll wait for the annual anniversary before I try goulash again.

Pop didn't go too much for the indoor washing and cleaning chores either. I remember on those few occassions he may have been called to do the dishes he wouldn't use the lux detergent or other soap my Mom may have had there at the time for that purpose. He would grab a big bar of brown Kirkman's soap. Mom always had that around , too, but I think she used it on awfully soiled clothes or something else. It was real strong and after using it on the dishes, even after rinsing, I could smell that strong soap and swear it must have lasted through another whole meal where I could taste or smell that soap with every bite. When it came to cleaning the floors, we had carpeting in the living room, but other rooms were either bare wood or linoleum, he would use this powerful strong smelling pine soap. That was some kind of industrial soap that they used to wash down the hallways of the six family apartment building where I grew up and my folks cared for. That carried some powerful scent for a long time, too. We paid the same rent as the rest of the families, but for the services we provided we had two more bedrooms than their apartments had.

I didn't go to see Klaus at the hospital today. His wife called this morning and said he wasn't feeling well and didn't want any company. I don't blame him. Said he had a better night after they started pumping morphine into him starting at about 11PM when he was in so much pain. As of this morning that had given him 3 doses. So instead I went out shopping. Went to some stores in Greenwood looking for a Spiderman's mask to give Klaus, but the closest I could find was a little kids costume and wasn't going to spend what they wanted just to get the mask. I saw the Spiderman movie and in the beginning the character gets bitten by a spider and that is what gives him his super human abilities so maybe Klaus will come out of this the next Superman. I saw this Mum at WalMart. More expensive than any of the other Mums, but I liked the color and "spoon" petals so much, I figure I can plant outdoors and propagate next spring to make a whole border of them,

Until next time, Stay Well and Have a Happy, Dave

Me and The Men In Blue

2006-09-12T16:22:00.000-07:00

Sewer Line Trail
Originally uploaded by sisudave.

I have been remiss in posting anything lately, so will have to rectify that. It has been a hot dry summer, but the last couple days have been much more comfortable so guess the worst of it is behind us now. Yesterday we went out on this sewer line. It runs parallel to the rock creek trail, but on the other side of the creek. The sewer line serves as an access to the trail at several points as a steel foot-bridge was built over the creek to allow more people to approach it from different areas of town. We gained access by going to the bottom of a hill at an apartment complex and drove around their dumpster. We don't perform any maintenance here since the trail was completed and we initially got rid of the Kudzu except now we go in annually to spray any new Kudzu sprouting up for the season so as to keep it in check. Metro performs whatever maintenance is necessary but they , too, only seem to bush-hog it once a year, clean up any trees and branches that fall across path and spray vegetation on the side to maintain a clear area. The path was pretty clear, very rutty and rocky but easy going as we started off. About a half mile down the trail the weeds were pretty thick and about knee high so couldn't really tell condition of ground under us. Just ahead I noticed a puddle of water, but Klaus put the medal to the pedal and we drove through that easily. Another 50 or so feet the tires were spinning and we found ourselves stuck in mud. When we climbed out of the truck, my first impression was that we were never going to get out of there and I didn't relish the idea of trudging through those thick weeds about a half mile either way to get out of there. (Snakes were dancing through my mind). Then I thought also that Klaus would never get anybody out there to tow his truck out of the mud unless he could impose on the Metro folks to bring in some of their equipment. We didn't have anything in the back of the pick-up except the 30 gallon spray tank. I watched for awhile as Klaus grabbed his hammer and started putting pieces of sticks from the woods under the back tires, before I joined him, just thinking all the while this is futile, but after awhile we had succeeded in building "bridges" out of the little pieces of sticks. My only contribution to the thought process was to slide the tank to the rear of the pick-up cab which we did, and, Klaus actually opened the tailgate and we set it on that, plus I climbed up onto the back of the truck to add a litlle more weight. After about 3 attempts we managed to get free of the mud and gunned the pick-up backwards down the trail to safe ground. The whole experience probably lasted an hour and I was physically drained by the emotion of it all.

But we pressed on with our chores and headed over to the trail to conquer a patch of Kudzu on the regular trail that we must have missed substanially as there were still some huge ropes climbing up into the trees. So we hacked our way back through the brush with are clippers and loppers and spent the next couple of hours scrambling through the brush trying to cut off as much as possible from where it was anchored into the ground and growing up the taller vegetation and trees. We worked back to the creek but could see that a substanial part of it had either traversed the creek to the other side or maybe that had been it's origin and came over to the trail side. There was no way to get to that so maybe this winter when things are dormant we'll manage to get that part cleaned out, too.

As we did so little spraying there was still almost a tank full of spray left so we headed over to a piece of property right off US 25 the Main road (Augusta highway) coming into Greenwood from Greenville. It belongs to Klaus' neighbor, must be commercial property and we had sprayed it a few weeks ago as a favor to him. So that was a good place to use up the spray to hit the spots missed from the last time. We had just about finished when this vehicle with a single occupant drove on the property and up to the truck. I saw the badge on his shoulder, but took awhile to recognize him. It was a Greenwood policeman who retired from the force, but then has gone back to work. I met him awhile ago downtown when he was covering one of the concerts at the County Bank Plaza. He introduced himself and as he got out of the car it was then I recognozed him in his uniform. He wanted to know if we had a business license to do what we were doing. He came back on the force to check little old senior citizens to see if they have business licenses as they do their volunteer work around the community. After talking awhile he remembered that he had been involved with Klaus over some Trail issue so then averything was okay and he got back in his car and left. I'm pretty sure these guys in blue are keeping their eyes on me.

It must have been over a month ago now on one of the infrequent rainy days of this summer and it was a Saturday. I had just finished eating my lunch and trying to think what I could do for the afternoon as had bee cooped up so much it seemed with all the hot dry weather and spending 2 or more hours every afternoon watering the yard and plants just to try to keep things alive. So then it came to me, hey, I can go to a movie matinee and see that "Pirate" show. There was so much hype reported on TV and the Internet that I thought that would be good entertainment just like when I was a kid and watched those swashbuckling exciting movies with the likes of Douglas Fairbanks or Erryol Flynn. So I checked the movie schedule on the computer and was in luck as movie would be starting in 15 minutes and only takes me about ten minutes to get over to the mall where this movie was being shown. So I grabbed my camera and off I went. Haven't been to this three-heater as often as the ten-movie theater as they don't have matinees except in the summer when kids are out of school. I bought my ticket and was directed to the left door. I had always gone in the other side before so this was my first expeience going in this side which I expected would be like the other side. I just took a moment and snapped a picture of a poster of a coming event and also the snack prices, noting in my mind that next time I would be sure to bring my own candy bar from home when I saw the prices. I walked straight to the back, looked to my left and all I saw was the exit sign and door. Straight ahead was a wooden door with a plain sign just saying "Pirates" on the adjacent wall. I thought that was a strange door to a movie theater, but since there was nothing else I opened it, and then I saw a steep set of stairs which I immediately thought was unusal entrance to a theater but I proceeded up the stairs and then climbed up them far enough where I could see I had entered either the projection booth or some kind of offices so made a hasty exit back down the stairs and out the door. Then finally I saw the entrance to the theater - it was all the way around the corner. So I got in my seat and they were still showing the coming attractions. As the movie was about to begin, the lights in the house were dimmed so I turned on my camera and made an adjustment to fit the screen in my viewer and then shut it off. I thought I would take a picture of the title when it came on just to have a record of my having gone to the movie. Well, the beginning was a stormy scene and just about the whole screen was black and when the title came on it was black also against that dark background. I clicked my camera on but then saw in the viewer it was so dark that I would never get a decent image so shut it right off again. It was only a few minutes into the film and I was still trying to figure out what was going on with the story. I suppose I must have been tapped on the arm, just know that something drew my attention to the aisle - I was only sittin a couple of seats in from the aisle. When I looked up to my utter surprise I saw two cops - one big one, gesturing for me to come out. So I did and marched up the aisle ahead of them. A thousand thoughts must have gone through my head, but just couldn't imagine how anyone knew I was there - I hadn't told anyone where I was going and it was on the spur of the moment. I think one of the first thoughts is that they must have seen me carrying the camera in and thought it was a bomb as I fit so well the profile - this little old, nearly 70 year old, shriveled-up man. As we got out into the light of the outer room I noticed two more men, one in uniform, who I supposed was the security guard for the mall, and a lady directly in front of me. She was the first to speak I believe and said "I thought you were filming the movie." I told her that the camera only took stills and it was then that I noticed the big cop already had my camera in his hands. I don't know how he got it, but must have asked me and I handed it to him. He knew how to check it out as he was playing back every picture on there. Fortunately there were only the two lobby pictures in there and a bunch of flower pictures I took the day before. I remember telling him I take mostly flower pictures. Then the cop was explaining to me about how people take cameras into movies and make a film of the movie and sell it on the black market. I don't know whether it was my stunned appearance, or dumb look or what, but I remember him forcefully saying , "Do you understand me?" To which I said I understood him, but my mind was still swirling about this whole thing. I kept thinking is that the way it is done - I would have thought people doing something like that would just rent a movie and make a copy on devices which I am sure exist. My heart was beating so hard I thought it was going to explode right out of my chest. I don't remember much else of what was said. But I do remember the lady, who it turned out was the theater maganger, and who saw me taking the pictures in the lobby and must then have watched me every suceeding minute before calling the cops. She said she could hold my camera so I could enjoy the movie. I said, no my car was right outside and I would put in in the trunk. As I marched out, I did apologize to the cops for any problem I may have caused and having had to bring them out there. Figured I better attempt to keep in their good graces. I had to go back in the theater as don't think I could have driven off as I just wanted to sit down for awhile and compose myself. As I re-enterd the lobby she said a couple of times, "Enjoy the movie, " Enjoy the movie". I just looked at her and said "you about gave me a heart attack" and I think she said the same thing back. The cops were still in the lobby, but didn't bother with me. I did try to get involved in watching the movie again. It must be me, but it was a big disappointment - all I could think of the main charcater is that he was doing a poor imitation of the guy that sang that song "Tip Toe Through The Tulips". Then it came to me, also, that the last time I had gone to the movies, I had resolved that I would just wait and rent it, if I wanted to see it bad enough, as, whatever that movie was, I either couldn't understand or couldn't hear the dialog. Figure in the privacy of my home I can blast the sound. I'm sure my Blockbuster card has expired. I use to rent tapes. I wonder if they still rent tapes or is everything on CD's now. I do have a CD player on my computer, but seems silly to watch a movie on a 17 inch screen when I have a big screen TV.

Last week I made an infrequent trip to WalMart. I was going to check on the price of goldfish. They put a storm drain at my friend's church which culminates in a rock enshrouded little pond, about the size of a bathtub. In a big storm the excess water collects there and if it goes over the top will just wash out to the road and down the gutter. I don't know why but it just seems that a couple of fish should be swimming in there. They didn't have any bright orange ones so I passed on the few they had and bought a couple other supplies. When I go there I always enter through the garden center to see what might be on display. As I went in there wasn't much, but a long bench covered with potted mums. When I went to examine them, they had all been spray-painted on the tops in orange and then had purple sparkles sprinled on them (Clemson colors). When I went back to the car I started thinking that would be an interesting, funny picture so I started walking back to the garden center. The old senior greeter was approaching me almost before I crossed the road and wondered what I was doing. I told him and he said, "Oh, I'm sorry WalMart doesn' t permit any picture taking on their premises. He continued, "I don't know why, but they don't allow it." I laughed and said it didn't matter. but I thought to myself - CHeeZe!

Think I am back on track now. Hope That's the end and I won't have any similiar reports to be talking about. One of the folks that comments on my photos said, I got to learn to shoot from the hip. I hope I've learned my lesson as I sure don't like confrontations like that. I'll leave you with a picture of a Banana flower. It sure perked up my day when I saw it as had no idea they came in pink- Hope it does yours, too.

Stay well and until next time, Have a Happy, Dave

Happy Birthday, Barb

2006-08-13T14:18:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to my favorite sister-in-law, Barbara.
Even if I had more than one, you would still be my favorite

WORLD CEASEFIRE - PEACE NOW

2006-08-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

WORLD CEASEFIRE - PEACE NOW

http://flickr.com/groups/mundouno_/discuss/72157594225272658/#comment72157594226423271

Black Ribbon - Stop This War

2006-08-01T11:27:00.000-07:00

Black Ribbon - Stop This War
Originally uploaded by sisudave.

This is Tatiana's Cardeal's idea.
www.flickr.com/photos/tatianacardeal/
Why don't we all change our icons for a while using this black ribon instead.
It is a way for us to say: stop the killing of civilians in both sides.
Stop this war.
Can you do this?
Save this image and then change your icon.
Simple as that

www.flickr.com/groups/mundouno_/pool/
"* MUNDO UNO it's a call for peace.
* MUNDO UNO means ONE WORLD.
* MUNDO UNO is a virtual protest against the madness of the war.
* MUNDO UNO is a way for us to say: stop the killing of civilians in both sides.

Shall we be ONE, one world, one face, one people to change this."

Uploaded by sisudave on 1 Aug '06, 10.39am EDT.

Flower of the Day or For All Days

2006-07-31T18:03:00.000-07:00

Calliandra emarginata - Powder Puff Plant
Originally uploaded by sisudave.

Calliandra emarginata - Powder Puff Plant.

Parks Research Greenhouse
Tropical evergreen shrub.
Member of the Legume Family.

My Trip of a Lifetime Aug3-15, 1998

2006-07-29T20:09:00.000-07:00

I won't go into how it came about, but I finally made it back to the Motherland, Finland, and partcularly, Oulu, Finland. My Mom had come here in 1923 as a young single lady who wasn't all that anxious to get uprooted from the place she loved. I'm sure many times she wanted to return and a couple of times actually planned her return, but it was never to be. So it seemed even more imperative that my brother and I were to go there.
So I flew to New York, met up with my sister-in-law, brother, their eldest daughter and her boyfriend and we embarked on our most momentous trip. Right off the bat I should express my extreme gratitude to our cousin's daughter, Leena, for all the arrangements she made for us to see so much of Finland, meet all our relatives and just to have a great time. She must have spent untold hours planning and arranging everything. I'll always be grateful to you, Leena.

We had a fun flight, and I'm not usually that fond of flying anymore. In trying to arrange special seating for my sister-in-law, we all got "bumped" up to first class. If you have never traveled that way there are some nice little perks to help make the trip enjoyable. Plus my silly brother and I got into a laughing jag over a couple of comments we made to each other about what our departed brother, Herb, would of thought of some aspect of our first class treatment until everyone else were about to disown us. Gus, Barb and I were lodged at the home of my cousin Antero (Antii) and Anneli. Lucy and Jim stayed with my cousin, Leena and her family about a block away. I went loaded down with a huge backpack and two suitcases. Jim had one small back-pack. These young people really know how to travel light. The first thing that struck me is that there and at every home we visited, everyone took their shoes off at the entry. I thought that was just a Japanese custom, but at least in our family, they didn't want to soil their beautiful wood floors. The first thing I have always done when I walk in my own house is take off my shoes - just that my feet always hurt I guess in my shoes and I always want to make myself as comfortable as possible. But I thought it was just me and I was surprised that others followed the same custom.
The sequence of places we visited and things we did in Oulu is not necessarily in the sequence that we did them. Most of the places we visited , we were accompanied by Antero and Anneli, their daughter, Leena, (our official guide), also our cousins Liisa, Leena and her husband, Jussi, and our cousin Pentii and his wife Laina(Now we affectinately refer to each other as veli and sisar). Also on some of the trips our other English Guide, Santeri, the ten year old grandson of Leena and Jussi. He had taught himself English by watching old Anerican Western Cowboy movies which they got on TV with subtitles in Finnish. He spoke very good English.. Most of the Finnish students take at least one other language in school, but he had not started on that yet.
One of the first stops was a visit to the Oulu Cemetery where our Grandma's grave site(Maria Kiiskila) is located as well as a lot of other family members. It was almost familiar to me as I had seen pictures of it before,but it was very well maintained with an abundance of red geraniums present at many of the grave sites. A guided tour by the 'principal' had been arranged at the school that my Mom attended as a child on Koulakatu St. (School St). The school is still in operation today, but serves students that have special needs. Then we visited the main area of Oulu and the Market Place which I had always heard so much about as it was probably visited every day for the family's needs. We saw beautiful strawberries on display there - they came from California. It really is an international world nowadays, maybe always was. I remember my Mom telling me that back in her days, most of the meat came from Argentina. After that we dispersed on our own for a couple of hours.
My Mom also grew up on Koulakatu St. (School St)#35 and it was only a short walk there from the Market. I knew that the place she lived was no longer there, but it still was nice to get a sense of her having been right there and then I traced the trip she would have made up to her school and then a little further to the Oulu Cathedral she would have attended. On the winter time she would ski to school. I suppose everyone in Finland does cross country skiiing to this day even if a lot of commuting is by auto. The beautiful Cathedral had just recently been renovated so looked in pristine condition and there was a nice young man on duty there to attend to 'tourists' like me, although I seemed to be the only one visiting there at that time. The state religion of Finland was and is today, Lutheranism, although a lot probably do not attend church. It was the church's job to keep the records of births, deaths, census, etc.
When we all got back together, we took a tour on the Potnapekka(miniature train tour) that included a stop half-way at Nallikari Beach, a nice wide sandy beach right there in Oulu. I particularly remember passing one area where Antero pointed out the homesite of the Store family. Antero and I started corresponding years ago when we were searching for my grandfather, Kiiskila, who had come to America in 1905 and then never heard from again after 1910. Antero was doing the genealogy searching in Oulu and we came to find out that my Great Grandmother was Vilhelmina Store and had come from Stockholm to Oulu. Pretty much of a shock for my Mom to find out she was 1/4th part Swedish.
Cousin Antii worked at the University of Oulu in some capacity involving the testing of the water. The Oulu River was at one time very polluted as it was the main tributary for the extensive logging industry for years. There must have come a time when strict codes were enforced to restore the river so I believe that was the area that was concentrated on the water testing he was involved . Thus we had a tour of the University and I, of course, took great interest in the Botanical Gardens located there. We also visited the City Art Museum, Taidemusea, a beautiful building inside that nicely displayed an impressive art collection.
While staying at Antero and Anneli's home I learned for the first time that they were both very musically gifted. Antero has been playing the Cello for many years (I got the music room as my guest bedroom) and think they both played the piano. They both also sang with the Oulu Chorus for many years. Antero had the real wood burning sauna so we had that special treat on Wednesday and Saturday nights. I liked that almost as much as a Jacuzzi. In that respect I don't think that was much of a treat for my Mom - she always made it sound like a kid here who hates to take his bath. They would go regularly to the city sauna and mostly what she talked about was her Mother dumping a pail of water on her head. They put on a big breakfast - had all the things we have for breakfast like fruit, juices, cereal but then also all the things we would associate with lunch like deli meat, boiled eggs and fixings for sandwiches. Then that way lunch was not a big affair - maybe more like stopping someplace for an ice cream cone. Leena had arranged for us to meet so many of the immediate relatives by visiting their homes and at each one we were treated to rich deserts usually things like strawberry short cake with whip cream - a wonder we didn't all gain pounds. Leena had also arranged a reunion that included all the families, the cousins, their children, and grandchildren and folks came from all over Finland to attend. It was rather overwhelming, but delightful, to meet everyone. They had rented a large hall, called Oulun Salo, on the outskirts of town. After all the festivities inside, we also had sauna in a separate building in back right on the beach at the North Baltic Sea. The sauna building also had a comfortable living area, a good supply of beer, a porch to relax on after the sauna, followed by a swim in the Baltic Sea.

All the cousins. Front row from left; Laila, Liisa Hiltunen, Leena Hilli, Aarne Aitto-oja(all children of Aunt Fanny. Back row; me, Antero Aitto-oja, brother Gus, Juhani and Pentii Kiiskila (sons of Uncle Karl). Missing was Eero Kiiskila who was living at time, but unable to attend because of ill health.
One afternoon and evening we got shipped off to cousin Pentii and Laina's home to visit with their family. We gourged ourselves on Pizza and then Laina brought out another big beautiful strawberry shortcake covered with whipped cream and decorated with strawberries. This time it wasn't just Gus and I but also Barb, Lucy and Jim who got hysterical about all this food that was coming our way.

From left to right: niece Lucy and now husband Jim, Antero's daughter, Leena, sis-in-law Barbara, Antero's son-in-law Seppo and daughter, Tuula, wife Anneli and Antero
On the first weekend in Oulu we traveled north to Rovaniemi to vist Antero's daughter and son-in-law, Tuula and Seppo. On our way we had a brief stop in Haparanda, Sweden so I could add that to the countries I have visited. Tuula served a special Lapland luncheon that included onion pie and salmon casserole. Then there was a visit to their beautiful new city crossing over their modern bridge and visiting the Museum, Artikum - The Arctic Centre, The Provisional Museum of Lapland. I had no idea until I visited there, that during the Big War, Germany occupied the city. As the Russians were advancing, the German's retreated burning the entire city. There were only a few buidings remaining. They had wreaked so much devastation on the peoples of this area. needless to say, even to this day there are many in the area that have a very low esteem of the Germans. It must have been a terrible hardship for the people left without anything and the pictures of the time are haunting. But it rose from the ashes and today is a modern city. The next morning we set out for the town where Santa Claus lives - Napapiiri. Besides Santa's home, there were also restaurants, gift shops and that is right where the Arctic Circle is located so the most memorable thing for me was to stand on the line marking that place. Also got my first look at live reindeer there - they were pretty ragged looking. I figured at the time it must have been the mosquitos as they looked half eaten up - the mosquitos are fierce there. I have a T-shirt with large Mosquitos pictured and captioned Mosquitos - The Finnish Air Force. But maybe they have a molting season.

Anneli and I standing on the Arctic Circle. Anneli sang like an angel. She had a lovely lilting voice and was always so effervescent. We lost her recently.From her demeanor one would not know the years of suffering she must have endured with her health problems.
Tuula and Seppo returned to Oulu with us to spend more time together. That was so nice as I feel so close to them all. Leena's companion had a big speed boat so we got to ride the Oulu River. Along the Oulujoki(river) we saw people at rafts along the shoreline standing in large steel cans that were submerged mostly in the water. They were washing their cotton rugs and stood in the cans so they didn't have to bend over. Of course they used an environmentally safe sudsing agent. Leena told me it had become a custom and she and Tuula had done it. Our destination was a visit to the Open-Air Museum at Turkansaari (Island) where there was a wooden church from the 17th century and other old farm buidings to visit. I have pictures of Seppo and Jim walking on a pair of stilts. Seppo did well, but Jim could only go backwards. I remember as a kid walking with them over on Market St with ease. Don't know whose they were, but at my age at time of visit, I wasn't even about to attempt it.
Another day we loaded up two cars and headed south to Karvoskyla, near Nivala, to visit the home of my grandmother and great- grandparents. Antero's father also came from there. Antero's mother, Aunt Fanny, spent a lot of time there with her grandparents and got to know Antero's father, Juho,there. So he took many trips back there to visit relatives and family on both sides. We stopped first in Nivala to visit the Church there where my great grandparents attended and the cemetery next to the church where they and my Great Aunt Lyddia are buried. I'm not sure how often my great Grandmother attended church as she had an eye gouged out and left blinded probably sometime early on in her married life. My Mom only spent one summer there, but to hear her you would have thought it was very frequently as it made such an impression on her and she had a lot of stories about that experience. So when my Mom was there, Grandpa took them to church and he read the Bible to Grandma. Grandpa was deaf so they made the perfect couple. he apparently was the greatest of guys - always happy, always cherry. Practically next door is the Nivala Museum which we also visited. It features a lot of the work by the sculpture Kalervo Kallio.There is also a portrait there of my great grandmother, Anna Yliniemi , wearing a kerchief and smoking her pipe. Mom told me that her grandfather grew two patches of tobacco as apparently they each had their own preferences as to tobacco. Since my Mom wasn't much of a farm girl, she was designated to work in the house and take care of Grandma. Mom couldn't get over how, even though she was blind, she could tell where my Mom missed a spot when sweeping the floor. Then she spoke of leading her out to the fence where she leaned on it and smoked her pipe and told my Mom to get "lost" for awhile.
Then it was on to Karvoskyla and to the home of our hosts there, Anna Liisa and Erkii. They have been family friends for years . All the homes in the area have names and their's is Ronkainen. It was there that I noticed that all houses - all buildings even multiple story buidings in the cities, have outside ladders attached to the buildings that lead to the roofs. Apparently it is a federal law and code that every buiding be so equipped. All places in Finland were wooden structures, they must have had a long history of building fires so this was a precaution to help the fire fighters when the need arose.After a lovely meal there, Anna Liisa led our contingent about a half mile back into the woods, passing a stuffed eagle serving as a scarecrow protecting a strawberry bed and an old junk truck which I don't know how it got out in that rough terrain, to an opening where my great grandparent's home, known as Pienela was standing. It is a cute red-sided wooden two room house with a a few stairs leading up to a little entry way. I'm not sure how long my great grandparents lived there. They were tenant farmers on nearby place and built this house as their retirement home on their property. My Great Aunt Lyddia cared for them in their old years and lived most of her adult life here. One more stop on our trip at the home of Aune and Erkii Sorvala's, cousins of Antero where we feasted on some more strawberry short cake and whipped creme. He had an old outbuilding that he had paneled entirely on the inside with white pine for his grandaughters. It was a beautiful job. Erkii was the only one I encountered in our visits who also enjoyed a smoke and I think he was pleased when I gave him my American cigarettes. Driving back to Oulu we saw several rainbows and tried chasing them down to find the pot of gold at the end. Somehow I just took it as a sign of our good luck to have had this wonderful opportunity.

Pretty little cottage with red siding in the middle of an open area. Mom always said it would be a good place to go and hide out as no one would ever find you back there. It is now owned by an American, but was told he hadn't visited in awhile.

Barbara, Jim, Lucy, and Antero. Jim and Lucy are standing in front of the door to the bedroom. My folks were little people maybe like hobbits?

Until next time, stay safe out there and Have a Happy, Dave
With August just around the corner I'll leave you with a calendar I created with Flickr Toys.

All In A Day's Work

2006-07-14T16:10:00.000-07:00

I was going to do this several hours ago. Suddenly I couldn't type anything into my computer, yet everything else worked. I tried every combination I could think of to unlock my keyboard, but nothing worked. So what usually seems to be the last resort, I turned off the computer and headed outside to water the backyard plants. It was time to do that anyway as our weather has been really hot and no rain. We're over a foot below average rainfall again for the year. Takes me about two hours to water everything in the yard - I walk around with the hose - no automatic irrigation installed. That is a pretty big chunk of time out of every day and it has been awhile now since I had a day off. It would have been nice if I could have at least started the blog then as had a lot of ideas and now after supper I'm feeling pretty lethargic. Figured I'd do what I can because in about an hour my computer starts doing it's preset Norton scan for virus, etc. and that usually takes an hour. I believe you can keep working on the computer while it does it, but I know it taxes me if I try to do two things at the same time so I figure the same for the computer.

One day, Tuesday, I must have perceived that it was not going to be as hot as the rest as decided early on to start pruning back my shrubs and trees. Have to do it annually to keep the place from becoming a jungle and some of the shrubs and trees I don't want to let just grow indiscriminately as want to keep in proportion to the yard and small house and don't want anything more creating potential problems. It took me most of the day except for breaks for lunch. Then I stopped for supper and as had a little bit more to "finish" up I went back outside and worked till 8PM as still light. I was exhausted - it's always a good kind of exhaustion from that kind of activity and you feel good as soon as you take a refreshing shower and wash the cooties off and check for the ticks - luckily haven't had any this year, but check anyway. I thought that night I would cork right off to sleep and maybe be good for 8 to 10 hours straight, but to my surprise I was so restless I just couldn't seem to go to sleep. Then when I did, it would be an hour later when I checked the clock again. Finally at three in the morning I had to get up and thought if I had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich, that would do trick. I was on a kick for that for awhile so hoped I wouldn't get hooked on that routine again. But it just seemed to be that one night and been back on regular schedule again. Maybe it helped not to think about the peanut butter and jelly again, because I used my last two pieces of bread from the freezer making it and haven't bought a new loaf yet. I usually keep a loaf in the freezer now for emergencies, but for my lunch sandwiches I use rolls. Anyway that is the what is pictured - the pile - my days worth of pruning. Still have a couple of other plants to trim up, but no hurry with those and not critical when I do it so can wait for some cooler weather. One thing, I remembered it was Tuesday because that's my garbage can and recycling out by the road and that's our pickup day in this area. My neighbor and I use to just leave our garbage cans out by the light pole all the time- it's the boundary between our two properties. Never caused anybody any concern and I didn't find it objectionable, but maybe about a year ago we both got notices from the city. It said that we had to remove the garbage cans and return to the residence before 9P.M. Failure to comply would make us subject to a $1,087.50 penalty or imprisonment not to exceed thirty (30) days. My neighbor was incensed by the notice and called the city to find out what it was about, Apparently some Greenwoodian was driving around neighborhoods and reported to the city because they didn't like it so the city had to send out the notices. No big deal as just roll them to the side of the house now, but I sure would like know how they came up with that exact figure.

I do know I drove to several destinations and took pictures during the week. On Wednesday, my grocery shopping day, I just made a big circle and paid another quick visit to the gardens at Park Seed as wanted to take another picture of a water lily which was just a bud and knew it would be open by then.

Last night, Thursday, they had free music after 5 at the County Bank Square and this time it was Small Drink (That's his real name) and he's known as the "Blues Doctor." He has performed at the Apollo Theater and at the prestigious New orleans Jazz Festival. He has been performing since the 1960s. That was a very entertaining evening - a witty guy and good singer. Had one of the best turn outs yet for the concerts. They continue at least into September. At the same time, across Main Street they were setting up for the trucks and trailers arriving for the Festival of Discovery this weekend. It is a Barbeque Cook-off Contest where people come , cook up their best dish, and turn it into a group of judges. The judges go to school and have to be certified. I don't know what the prize, but a lot travel all over the Southeast entering contests in different cities. A number of vendors will be selling their products and besides all the food there will be rides and Blues music from about noon till midnight performed by some different groups. Think this is the third year now and apparently get a pretty big crowd - I hadn't gone before but gettin kind of excited to check it out this year as walked around during the concert break last night and went back this morning taking pictures and talking to folks. First though I got to work at Klaus' church in the morning - he says he's got some irrigation fixtures that need repair, so we'll see how that goes. I'll be back in awhile to finish this off.
Took me a couple of days, but here I am again.

A pleasant part of my work this week involved making a cake. Don't like to heat the house up more using the oven this time of year and making the air-conditioner work harder, but this was a necessity. My sole blueberry bush produced a large mug full of fruit - not enough to make a pie, my preference. So, instead, one morning I prepared blueberry pancakes instead of my usual fare and then used the other half of the blueberries in this cake. I usually just buy whatever brand is on sale or the cheapest as figure they are all pretty much the same. This time it was Pillsbury Moist Supreme classic yellow premiun cake mix with 1 cup of pudding in the mix. I don't know whether it was that mix, the pudding they add, the moistness added by the fresh blueberries or just the time of cooking, but it tastes wonderful. The cake is soft and sort of spongy. Brought back memories of the big delicious sponge and chiffon cakes my sister, Ruth, used to make. When we were all growing up together, my sister was supposed to help my Mother out in the kitchen, primarily drying the dishes, but my Father thought she should know how to cook and all those things, too. There was a free-standing door post at the corner of our kitchen as the doors to the kitchen, dining room and hall all converged on that spot had been removed. Probably a safety factor my Mom thought of as believe they were swinging doors and with all us kids somebody was sure to get hurt if left there. This post was my sister's dancing partner. Oh, how my sister loved to dance. That was the era of the Big Bands prior to the Big War and the dance of the times was The Lindy. She was a Big girl and she put everything into her dancing. All this would drive my Mom about crazy after awhile and she would send my sister away. Maybe that was her way of getting away without having to help, but I don't think that was her motive. My Father was real concerned and would speak to my Mother about it saying .."She'll never learn to cook." My Mom said not to worry - that as much as she liked to eat - and she could pack it away with the best of them, she'd teach herself to cook. And sure enough she did. She didn't cook like my Mom who rarely had to refer to anything - she just had it all in her head and a feel for it and added all ingredients without measuring cups or things like that. Funny she had never had to cook for anyone either growing up, but as an immigrant to this country that's where the job opportunity was for the girls then. I think I heard that the Irish girls always became the upstairs help and the others worked the jobs like in the kitchens. She worked as a cook's helper and then a cook in the households of the rich. After Mom and Pop got married she continued the same type of cooking for awhile until my father told her, if it was all the same to her, he would just as soon prefer some meat, vegetables and potatoes for his meal - nothing fancy. So we grew up on a pretty plain diet of just that - oh, and he said maybe a piece of cake or pie now and then. So that was our staple and still remains that way with me today - no fancy stuff - just good food, but she never forgot and could make something special anytime. My sister, on the other hand, had to go by the cook book and measured out everything precisely and went by whatever the book said, but her meals were just as good as Moms and those mile high cakes were super. One thing my Mom didn't cook was Italian dishes. It wasn't real popular initially, but as us kids grew up it got to be the food of choice for a lot of people and those who weren't Italian would often find themselves seeking out Italian restaurants for their specialties. That's about the only ethnic food I like and sphagetti has replaced potatoes as my choice of starch. My sister learned how to cook Italian dishes from one of her girlfriends, Marie Argenio, and I think that is how I came to like it so much, particularly sphagetti, but I like it anyway from Marie's recipe to just tomato juice to even just some butter, nowadays, Smart Balance light spread.

The weekend involved going Saturday morning to Klaus's church yard to try and fix some broken irrigation valves - for the most part probably caused by the lawnmower running over them and due also that probably some failed to retract automatically like they should. The first one we replaced worked perfectly. After testing we didn't even have to make any adjustment. We tackled one on the corner and, you know, nothing ever works out like you expect, and, no matter how many different things we tried, could never get that replacement nozzle to do anything but a 360 degree spray and we wanted to just aim it at the lawn. Finally had to leave it and just let the excess water run down the drain. Shouldn't be any kind of a problem except some wasted water. Since that one took up so much of our time, it became lunch time. We had a couple more hours of work to do so I suggested getting some barbeque from the festival as the church is only a few blocks from uptown. So we drove over and as it was crowded and didn't find parking space, Klaus dropped me off to pick up the plates while he drove around the block and then met me back at the drop-off/pick-up point. We drove back to the church and ate in the convenience of their air-conditioned dining room and then finished up our work, or rather we finally just gave up. Did I tell you it is so hot here? I then watered my own yard, cleaned up, rested and waited for the evening to approach before venturing out to the fair. Most of the contestants had taken off by then except the vendors that sold their stuff. I was too full still from that plate, and as much as I wanted to sample a rib or two, I settled for some"home-made" ice cream and later a lemonade made with "spring water and fresh lemons." while I sat back and enjoined some good blues music.

So, now another week starts and I wonder what pursuits lie ahead. Hope I'll be prepared, but probably won't tackle a lot. The hot, dry sunny weather is to continue at least through Thursday and I guess we'll have lots of company as appears most of the country is experiecing the same.

Hope you stay cool, safe and happy, until next time. I'll leave you with a picture of a red hibiscus I took at a yard across the street from the church.

Have a Happy, Dave

Fourth of July Firecrackers

2006-07-01T08:21:00.000-07:00

Stands like this one are up on just about every street corner in Greenwood now.

Come and git yer firworks fer a Happy Fourth and sell a brate it wid a Bang.

One Down, Nine To Go

2006-06-30T15:10:00.000-07:00

I didn't work at the trails or church this week, but did work the primary election run-off for the Republicans. Only two seats being contested and even though our precinct is 95% or more Democrat, five of us still had to man the polls. We had two eligible voters all day long and they were a couple so came at the same time. The American Legion building where our precinct voting is located is right next door to Jerry's Greenhouses so , at least, I was able to pass some time looking at the flowers that were still there at the end of the bedding season.

Here's an Hibiscus that still hasn't been sold.

I know you are in suspense as to why I would have a Dog pictured on my site afraid of them as I am and not really an animal person. My working partner who I spend time with on the trails , at the parks and at his church has gone to Colorado for ten days. His wife's family is having their reunion back in her hometown. Usually he has a neighbor to take care of his animals and water his plants whenever they go away. This time the neighbor couldn't do it so they enlisted me. I went over yesterday to get instructions of just what needed my attention while they are gone. This is their old dog, Moxie. They have probably had him forever and now he is so old and feeble. I hadn't seen him in a few months as now Klaus usually picks me up rather than my heading toward his house as I'm on the way to most of the places that we head out to work. Old Moxie had lost so much weight and his hind legs have really deteriorated. He barely is able to walk and then sits down again after a short trip anywhere. I think when dogs are near their end that is how they often go - their hind legs just give in. At least I remember from our days back in Elmsford at the condominium, there was a man who carried his dog for awhile everywhere because he couldn't bear to have him put down. Today was my first day on the new job and was glad to hear him bark from inside when I pulled into the driveway and got out of the car. Didn't see him at first, but then found him propped up on a cushion looking out the front window. He didn't bark at me anymore. Hard to get his attention as he is stone deaf also. I'm beginning to understand a little about that, too. He didn't seem to want to follow me out the back door, so I closed the door and a while later he squeezed himself out the trap door so was glad to see he was able to manage that. He didn't stay outside very long before heading back out of the heat. I watered all the flowers in the backyard, all the container plants and did a couple other chores. I also put the bird food out - some in the feeder and the rest on the ground because the cardinals won't go to the feeder. The humingbird feeder was still pretty full so didn't have to mess with that. I'm also supposed to feed the cat. It was the cutest little cat, but when I went there yesterday, discovered that it is sickly. Looked just awful. They took it to the Vet. First suspected cancer but ruled that out. Decided it has some kind of anemia, but even if they went to the extraordinary expense to find out what kind, it would cost a fortune to try to cure so that's not feasible. Anyway the thing looks like it is about to perish. Today I didn't see the cat anywhere. I've heard that when it is their time they just go off somewhere to die alone. If that's the case, I hope he went outdoors somewhere and didn't crawl under the couch. I just hope neither one croaks while I'm on watch and then I'll have to go through all that of burying them. I'll be relieved when they return. Guess it is a good thing I really don't have any "friends" around here as so hard for me to just say no. Oh, there is a big ugly black dog that usually hangs out in their carport. Apparently a neighbor's dog but was always there whenever I have gone around. It wasn't there today so maybe it sensed they have gone away. I'm supposed to feed him a hot dog - right out of the refrigerator, if he shows up. Nine more trips to go - hope they all work out as well as today.

METRO Trucks Cleaning Out The Sewer Line

I was eating lunch yesterday. All of a sudden there was the loudest most horrific noise in the house. My mind immediately identified it as a tremendous wall of water - I don't know why but maybe because there were elements of gurgling and swirling that I was just sure I was done in before I had a chance to react even though this is perhaps the least likely place that a wall of water could hit. Instinctively, I guess, I dashed for the bathroom. To my great surprise it was dry. The noise was coming from the toilet bowl - not as traumatic as when it first started but could hear the rush of water and, peering into the bowl, it was whisper clean. I didn't even want to put my hand over the open bowl as thought it would just suck me right in as now I recognized it as a giant vacuum, not the surge of water I initially thought. I ran outdoors to see if I could discover where the noise was originating. The beginning of the sewer line is all the way down my backyard hill over in the corner of the property and then runs across the knoll of the hill down to the bottom passing between the backyards of all the houses along the way. I could hear that same loud swirling under the steel sewer cover so knew it must have been something to do with the sewer people up to something. I don't know if I had finished lunch but the noise continued unabated and I was unnerved so decided to leave and drive to town and do a few errands. I drove down the hill to see if I could see where the guys might be working and came upon these huge trucks at the bottom of the hill. I parked my car and one of the guys came over - the noise was loud so we were shouting at each other. I told him, "boy it was a good thing I wasn't sitting on the bowl when you guys started or I would have been sucked right down the drain and that would have been one heck of a way to end it all." He laughed and then showed me the big drill they were running up the length of the hill to cut the roots and were using the full blast of water from the hydrant to flush it out. He said by time they finished it would be super clean, but of course the roots will grow back into the line over time. I guess I wasn't the only one who got scared . He said a lady that lived on the street had called the office when she heard the noise. So I took the picture of the trucks and began to feel better and that my world wasn't ending quite yet.

I finally got over to the Legion Stadium to see a baseball game last night. Same stdium where Lander U. plays their ball games. I don't get the local paper except for Sunday so didn't know their schedule of home games. But in this Sunday's paper they showed a game for last night. They don't start until 7:30 so I got there probably at the start of the third inning. I don't know any of the players on the team, but recognize some of the family names you hear or see about. The batter here is Josh Lovvorn, the younger son of my heater/air conditioner guy. I've seen him over at the civic center over the years playing ball with his kids. Josh was also the catcher. Here he got on base with a single and later scored the insurance run with Greenwood beating their league rival, Walhalla, by a score of 5-4. They had a nice cushion , being ahead 5-2 at the end of the 7th and brought in the closer for the ninth. He retired the first two batters, then gave up a run and another run was scored on a errant throw, but finally got the last batter to strike out to end the game. Most of the kids in the American Legion Post 20 team are from the two Greenwood High Schools, Greenwood High and Emerald High. A couple players from a local private school, Greenwood Christian, and a few from area colleges and out of town high schools round out the team. I think Josh has a baseball scholarship to Anderson College, a two year college. His older brother played ball, also, and now works for the father. Their service man told me last time he was here that the daughter is the best ball player of them all. She is still in high school.

I hope you all have a safe and fun Fourth of July Holiday. I probably won't be doing much except trying to take care of two properties and those animals. If the heat gets to be too much for me, I can always cool off in Klaus' Swimming Pool. Until next time,
Take Care and Have a Happy, Dave

Hibiscus rosa sinensis in container at poolside.

This Is My! South

2006-06-24T21:13:00.000-07:00

This the "famous' Cheeseburger House over at the city line on Route 34 on the way to Ninety Six.

As hot and as dry as it has been, last week we worked at my friend's medieval garden and church grounds. Monday morning involved a lot of tiding up as the garden has been neglected for awhile. In the lawn, a zillion oak seedlings had sprouted so I used the hand sprayer with 2-4D - I think that is essentially agent orange, to kill them off. Then a lot of the perennials had out-grown their bounds and were hanging over the walks making it difficult to pass so we tied those up and cut some back. At the same time we collected and saved seed from the spent plants in preparation for next year's show and display. We pulled a few weeds and then it was about lunch time. Klaus always asks where I want to eat lunch and we almost always end up at Subway or Migs. But today we were headed for Ninety Six to visit a greenhouse/nursery there. It is called The House of Colors and acquired a couple of years ago by an sweet Oriental Lady who came here from Flushing, Long Island, New York. She's a member of the church and was donating plants for us to set around the beds and we were going over there to make selections from what she had left after the bedding season. So Klaus was wondering where we could stop that was on the way. I suggested The Cheeseburger House and I was almost surprised that he accepted. Since he had the slight stroke and a couple of stints put in his arteries, actually even before that, he usually wants to eat a more "healthy" fare of a salad, but I notice lately a switch away from that. You can only eat so much rabbit food.

It was when I first came here and we hired some young people from Lander to work nights and man the phones as we expanded our hours to take orders into the evening. One young guy, who was a character anyway, was always raving about this place, The Cheeseburger House, having the best burgers in town. I never heard anybody else say anything about it but often thought I should stop there and try them out sometime. Even more so lately as they started advertising on TV and talking about the same service and food being offered as when they started back in 1963. So here I was 30 years later about to fullfill that wish or desire.

As soon as we walked in the door I knew I was going to like the place and the atmosphere. There was a good lunch-time crowd and people also coming in for take-out. There was a bar, or counter with several stools and booths lining the wood paneled walls in the two rooms. Just about 9 booths so it was very cozy and the waitress immediately asked us what our drink order was before we got seated so it was there just about time we selected a spot to park. It was then I noticed the walls were decorated with old license plates from many states and a lot from the 1960s. There were also posters on the wall and a pretty good collection of coca cola stuff.

There was a poster of maybe my favorite movie. I always liked anything with Humphrey Bogart and Ingrid Bergman and I just happened to see this one again recently on TV. I think I enjoyed the character actors of the day as much as the stars. They were all such grest personalities. Ah, yes, they just don't make movies liked they used to. When I was a kid I was real star- struck at a very young age. I used to buy movie star magazines, cut out the pictures and put them in scrapbooks. I probably had all that stuff the whole time we lived at 97 Croton Ave, but when we moved as I was about 13 to much smaller quarters I had to leave much stuff behind. It had probably been a long time from those days so it's possible the scrapbooks disappeared before then. Just know I would like to see them now, but I still remember pretty much who all my favorites were and it was most of the big stars of the 40s and 50s - from Lana Turner to Marilyn Monroe.

This is what I got served. The Cheeseburger was pretty good. But, of course nowadays, with all the health scares, all the places fry their meat so much that there isn't much juice in them. So you can get better at home and even the whoppers and quarter pounders from Burger King and Hardees are better in that regard. You are certainly not going to have anything running down your chin unless it is too much ketchup you applied. The whole meal was just about $5.45 with a big helping of fries. If you passed on the slaw, you got an even bigger portion of fries. Refills on the diet coke were free and the waitress came and got the glasses and filled up again even without asking.

I paid Klaus my portion and as he went up to pay I walked out the door and took another look back first.

The girl in the green t-shirt was our primary waitress. I stepped outside and when Klaus didn't follow in a reasonable time I stepped back inside to see Klaus getting a big hug from some pretty lady. She didn't look at all familiar, but then realized it was someone who we worked with for quite a few years at Park. I still can't remember her name or where exactly she worked , but she left well before I retired to start up a house cleaning business, which I think she is still operating. Apparently I walked right past her as she was sitting in the first booth by the door. Think maybe her name was Kathy and one memory of her stands out. I worked Saturdays, but was very interested when Fuji came to Greenwood. They had an open house one Saturday and were even busing people from the civic center out to their facility and giving them tours of their place. So, perhaps, the only time I skipped work for a couple of hours and went to take the tour. If it's Kathy, then I met her on the bus and she along with her son and we went on the same tour of their plant together. When we were talking with her at The Cheeseburger House she was just talking about her daughter who just graduated from High School and was going to attend Lander. No mention of the son, but I hadn't even yet recalled that incident. At the end of the tour they were passing out helium -filled baloons of replicas of their dirigible so think I got 5 or as many as I could handle to take back to work and appease any of the ladies who missed me because of the "extended lunch".

We finally went on our way, picked up a bunch of petunias and begonias, enough to fill the bed of the pick-up truck and arranged to plant them at the church on Wednesday. Two other guys helped us that day and one decided to have lunch with us. As we discussed lunch places and had told him of where we ate Monday, he decided he wanted to go eat at the Cheeseburger House, too. So I was doubly surprised that Klaus was amenable again to going there. So after 30 years, now I was going to eat at The Cheeseburger House twice in the same week. I figured Klaus really liked being served by the pretty young waitresses. I got there first and was sitting at an outdoor table waiting for them to arrive. One guy pulled in the lot in his pick-up and walked past me. I thought he looked familiar so when we went inside he was sitting at the counter so I spoke to him and , sure enough, it turned out to be a guy who lives around the corner and up at the top of the hill. I had never met him , but saw him outside occasionally as I pass there every day at least once. He used to have a boat and I admired that the paint job was a match to his pick-up truck. I don't see the boat there anymore, but see he now also has a motorcycle and drives that, too. Had another good cheeseburger and soaked up the atmosphere. Even going out a big group of friendly construction guys were going in. It is apparently the place where a lot of good ole buys eat their lunch.

It seems all the rest of my time this week I have spent processing and loading pictures I took to my flickr site. Last weekend was Greenwood's Flower Festival Weekend. It is always held the third weekend in June in recent times. This was the first year I wasn't involved in anything so I could visit a lot of venues. Even when I was working at Park Seed I always had to work out there for the weekend so never got to see anything else. Now, especially that I got the picture bug, I really enjoyed seeing most of the home gardens on tours, spent a quiet Sunday morning taking lots of photos at Park Seed and got to the car show and the bluegrass festival and the craft, photo and art shows at the High School. There were a lot of other events I missed, but hopefully I'll still be ar0und next year to see them.

I hope you'll visit my photo site to see some of the pictures I took. It must have been well over 200 in total. A nice way to view them is to go to the few sets I have made and view them as a photostream. I hope you'll enjoy and keep coming back to see more. I'll leave you here now with a few of the pictures that are my favorites, well actually I like all my photos, so these are just representational.

Until next time, Stay Safe and Have a Happy, Dave

Water Lily in the Pond at Park Seed

I Want This One.

I wanted To Jump Into This Pool So Badly.

I'm Getting To Like The Way This Music Sounds.

Lifelong Passion For Flowers

2006-06-06T14:01:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I even amaze myself. Sunday after I bought the funnies I was just cruising around town looking to see if there might be something to photograph. I've really become addicted to this picture taking since I joined that photo site, Flickr. I guess a lot of other people also develop the "flickritis"bug. I had gone back to the Episcopalian Church to look at their center court again. That's were I found and took a picture of a loquat with pretty yellow plum-like fruits. Since I found out that they were edible I wanted to go back to get a sample. Also that week had been working with a gardener planting petunias and begonias at the West Cambridge Trail/Playground. I mentioned it to her and then she said ," Did you see the flowers I planted in the memory of my sister?" Well, heck no, I hadn't remembered seeing that and she even said the plants were labeled. Still didn't see anything on my return trip, but did sample a fruit. It was pleasant tasting but rather bland or mild with a slight plum flavor. So I continued on down into the Mill village by the hospital and went around a block to return home when, low and behold, I saw a plant that I wasn't sure what it was, but knew I didn't have a picture. So I parked the car and walked across the street. It was a circular bed, maybe 4 feet diameter, filled with the plants pictured above. It was bone dry as we have been in a pretty substanial drought this spring, but did have a good heavy rain Friday afternoon and evening. Right away I said almost out loud to myself, "this is pickerell weed." Then I started thinking I don't even know what that is. Didn't remember ever seeing it before, didn't ever grow it myself, or have any idea where I heard that name. But sure enough when I got home and went looking through what gardening books I still have, found a picture of it and was a dead ringer for what I had just photographed. I suppose I pulled it up from the deep recesses of my subconcious mind. Perhaps read it in one of those gardening magazines I must have started reading as soon as I learned or perhaps I did pick up a few things in my college years and everything wasn't just a blur as I sometimes think. The botanical name is Pontederia cordata, Pickerell Weed. It is an aquatic perennial that grows in shallow fresh water and would be hardy from one end of the east coast to the other, north to south. The house where the plants were is empty right now, but there is a sign indicating that Emerald Baptist church is acquiring. Must be a long established clump so suppose it will take awhile before it dies out if it continues to be neglected and not furnished adequate water. I'm almost thinking of going back and seeing about getting a sample to save it from extinction. If you decide to add this plant to your water garden, be aware that it can be aggressive and choke out other plants. It might be best to keep it confined to a container and then sink pot and all under the water.

Perry's Statue of David - You can see the whole set of plants and ornaments around his yard here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/sisudave/sets/72157594155015745/
Funny, though, he hadn't seeked my permission to display my image in his yard, like so many others who did the same. Being a David myself, I have a special affinity for all David statues.

Perry is one of the first people I met when I came to Greenwood. He worked at the deli at Winn Dixie Grocery store. I had a heck of a time getting people to slice my ham and cheese thin - they didn't know that here. Just knew thick slabs and, as I tried to explain, he would say, 'Oh, yes, shavings." He finally got it right.We joked together a lot and his pastime was riding a bike- one of those guys that take it seriously with the helmets and uniforms and ride long distances and climb high mountains. He rode past my home nearly everyday and frequently stopped and we talked. Everybody here probably knows Perry as that was the primary grocery store for years and he headed up the deli and bakery. Then I moved to this place where nobody passes through and Winn Dixie has shut its doors so hadn't seen Perry in quite awhile. Wondered about Perry as he must have worked there over 30 years and what his plight was. Last week we delivered letters to people whose back yards back up to the trail. Well, actually I just went along for the ride and to provide support for my fellow working volunteer. When he had called I always hate to say no, but did manage to say that wasn't my thing as I really don't like to confront people and avoid going to other people's doors especially if there is any inkling of a dog around. The letters, prepared by him and reviewed with the police chief, asked them to be alert to people writing graffito on the walls at the trail and to notify authorities if they see anything suspicious. The walls of the overpasses that border the trail are being painted for a second time to cover it up at considerable cost, but labor is free, using that of a parolee serving his community service time.We delivered about 20 letters. As soon as we came to his house, I knew it must be Perry's even though I had never been there. I guess just from knowing him. Fortunately he was home. Had just come in from cutting 3 lawns and also was working now for Piggly Wiggly Grocery Chain so was glad to learn that and to see his place and take these pictures. As soon as I saw the small front yard just crammed full of plants and decorations, I knew somehow I was going to have to check out the back yard, too. He was very gracious and I took the pictures that make up the set. His garden features mostly foliage type plants, but I like them all for their color, texture, shapes and all interests. Flowering is always a bonus, but in some situations the foliage is the important part and ,I must say, the plants provide the framework for all his many garden ornaments, many whimsical.

I created this calendar using something called Flickr toys. It is a site that allows you to do all kinds of things with your pictures, like make calendars. I was going to do one every month, using the flower of the month. I couldn't get a decent picture of Lily-of-the-valley for May . This was a picture of a rose in the Men's Garden Club, a garden now maintained by the City.

My First Garden

We moved to 97 Croton Avenue, Ossining, N.Y. when I was 3 years old. It couldn't be too long after that when I made my first flower garden at the end of the garages behind our 6 family brick residence. I even remember planting annuals like zinnias, cosmos and nasturtiums - things with easy to handle seeds and easy to germinate. Must have read already something about organic gardening as dug all the soil out of this bed, went across the street to an empty lot and got grass and lined the bed with layers of that and soil to improve it. Arranged the rock border and even painted them. I must have had this bed for quite a few years - maybe not all the while we lived there as probably 13 when we moved away and by that time my interests got diverted briefly in my life to other things although I'm sure I continued to read the gardening books and magazines without any interruption. My older brother, Herb, by 6 years, and I had an arrangement where we alternated buying magazines. He didn't know anything but sports or want to know anything but sports. I would by a flower magazine and be there laying on the couch with it all turned around so he couldn't see the heading when he came in. Of course , being the big brother, he would walk over and just snatch it out of my hold, and then in disgust fling it back in my face when he realized what it was. We agitated each other unmercifully for all those years right up to the end. You could never let up. Nobody could understand how we could stand each other, especially his wives, but we couldn't have been closer. He's been gone almost 7 years now and I sure do miss him.

When I went off to college I had dreams still of becoming a great rose hybridizer. By the end of my freshman year, that idea had left my mind and I was just in a survival mode to stay in school. But the idea I guess never entirely left my mind, as now in retirement, I have done some crossing and growing out seeds from my resultant crosses. I'll leave you with one of the photos of my Daylily crossings as thought that is a good one for an amateur, like me, to try. I crossed Joan Senior, a nearly white Daylily with several mediocre reddish Daylilies. Think I planted about 90 seedlings and now I have a bed of mature plants. All fowers are red and some I really like as the red is so intense. I'm calling the series, Red, Red Wine, as the name seems to aptly fit the appearance.

Take Care and Have a Happy, Dave

Preparations and Hazardous Duty

2006-05-24T18:07:00.000-07:00

As I went grocery shopping today, I remembered the long holiday, Memorial Day Weekend, was coming up so made sure I got all the right selections for the occasion. Got a fresh jar of Nathan's pickles as starters and the bottle had an instant store coupon for $1 off Nathan's hot dogs. Nathan's brand was twice as much or more than the other franks, and still more, even with the dollar off. But, I figured, hey, it's a holiday so why not splurge. They had the same price for the hot dogs that are longer than the bun as for regular size. I got the larger ones, of course, but still trying to figure out how they do that. Maybe more air in the larger ones? Saw to it that I had the grey poupon mustard, hot dog rolls to go with it and even picked up some more strawberries at Aldi's Grocery as stopped there first for my breakfast cereal. Aldi just started opening on Sundays last weekend. The other grocery stores have been open Sundays all along. But now Aldi's had a sign that they would be closed Labor Day, but Bi-Lo will be open. That's one to ponder.

BiLO also had fresh corn for sale this week so it will be an old fashioned Memorial Day for me all the way. 5 ears for $1. I was thinking of buying the ones already shucked, but they were $1 more, and since I have done my share of shucking in my life, figured I could stand the cleaning up afterwards. We always spread out newspapers to do our shucking, but I had given every last paper to the recycling bin Tuesday morning. I had just saved this one newspaper clipping, but decided I couldn't soil it so soon. It was the story of my boss of bosses, William John Park, donating the organ he spent over decades building himself to his alma mater, Clemson. His son who is an associate Professor there convinced his father to donate the organ so students could study his work and refurbish the organ.

One guy probably spent 10 minutes at the bin pulling back the husk on every ear to check them out. I just loaded 5 into the bag, figuring if one was bad, I'd only be out 20 cents. As it turned out all were good, but I got one yellow ear when all were soupposed to be white. The yellow ears were on the other side of the counter, but I got the stray that got over there. If my brother and sister-in-law see this they will probably be so envious, as only met one other person who could possibly be fonder of corn-on-the-cob. That was a guy we met from Iowa, when my other brother, Herb, now deceased, and I were vacationing in Branson, Missouri. He was in the next motel room and all he could talk about was the corn they grew in Iowa and how it was the biggest and best anywhere. He hung out with us quite a bit as just had his wife and mother-in-law with him. They were going shopping for clothes, but he would much have preferred going with us. He was anice guy and they sure didn't come anymore country than him. If I remember right he drove a big rig for the highway departmet and ploed snow off the roads in winter. I don't know where my brother and I were headed as right now only rememebr we took about an hours train ride back into the monatins that was enjoyable and went to a great show one night.

A flickr friend invited me to join his new site, posting pictures of loading docks. That isn't the most scintilating subject for me, but thought I would do my best to help support his site. So before going to the grocery store, figured I'd find a few and take a couple of pictures to post. We go past the old cotton mill warehouse on our way downtown frequently as it is the backway avoiding the traffic. Most of the mill buidings have been torn down, but this warehouse surrounded by fence still stands. I have never seen any activity going on there, but have noted a sign advertising warehouse storage space for rent. Seemed like a good place to start and I pulled my car in side the gates which had all kinds of signs for employees only and all that stuff, but figured that applied to when it was a mill and I was just going to take a quick picture and out of there. Boy I was in luck because there was a Doritos truck there and figured at least it would add some color to otherwise drab picture. So I just stopped the car and jumped out with my camera. All of a sudden I noticed there was a lot of commotion and awful noise behind me, but I finished taking the picture. I felt rattled from all the noise and when I turned around there were two trucks, a small one and a big trailer rig that I was blocking with my car from getting through and two big guys standinmg there talking. I was embarrassed and figured maybe I was in trouble for trespassing so jumped in the car and did a quick u-turn to go out the gate after the smaller truck got past. Then as I was passing the second driver, I pulled up and started to apologize. He told me he had gotten out of the truck to tell the other guy it wasn't necessary for him to have blown his horn at me. I didn't know he had even done that and glad at least I had one good guy on my side as they were both big ole truck drivers. I passed on freely without passing out.

Being Sisudave, I persisted in my quest and drove around the corner to Paine Oil Company's loading dock since I noticed some colorful barrels and containers there. Since their place had big gates to pass through also and no parking on the street, I wasn't going to take any more chances. I went up a few buildings to the Nationwide Insurance Agency office parking lot as I got my coverage with them and after a career of 10 years service with that company, figured I would be alright. Walked down to Paine's yard. There was no one around, but a pickup truck was parked there. I kept going closer and closer and getting my shot framed just so, when could see activity out the corner of my eye. And, Oh My God, there was another massive guy approaching me who was not smiling. He asked me what I was doing, but think once he realized I was just this old crazy fool, he must have realized I was no problem to him. Turned out he was a nice guy and was just concerned figuring I was some kind of inspector. Probably concerned about his place as looks ike it could stand some extensive structura work.

I went next to Sneads Building Supply Company and got their loading docks in my sites. No problem there as the back of their property comes up to our West Cambridge Trail and you walk right past it. I wanted to go that way anyway as a couple of the bridges spanning the trail have graffito painted all over the supports. 5 gallons of the thickest and exterior paint Lowes has been purchased and one of the parolees will be given the task of painting over it as part of their community service sentence.

My next stop, and I should have skipped that one was the post office. Thought that might be interesting, especially if happened to catch a mail truck in the bay. I should have at least gone to the main p.o. downtown as that one is visible right from the road. Anyway I parked in the front and walked once again through the big open gates. Had to walk all the way to the end of the building as there was no loading dock in site along the side. All I saw at the beginning was a table where apparently some workers were taking their break. As I'm walking back one of the girls approached me. Not real menacing, but firm in letting me know that I was trespassing and they did not allow pictures to be taken when I told her what I was doing, but suppose she saw me anyway. When I acted surprised she told me they were concerned that somebody might take pictures of classified or secret stuff. What's going on at our Post Office anyway? I was a little shaken so put on my sadest old man's face and gave her my best 'I'm sorry' and started walking away heading out of there. She didn't come after me but I was a little worried for awhile that maybe I would be arrested or, at least, have my camera repossessed.

After I got home and got the groceries packed away, I was sitting at the table enjoying the apple I have after lunch everyday. I don't have a view, except for the road in front of the house about 20 feet away. So all to see is the occasional car passing by. By habit I look up at the reflection in a picture on the wall and can see the vehicle as it goes on down the street. All of a sudden I see a police car coming down the hill and turn into our street. It is not all that uncommon as they do seem to patrol once in awhile and I think a couple cops may also live in the neighborhod. The car passed the window and I automatically looked up into the reflection, but the car didn't show up in the view. Right away I knew something was wrong, but finally summoned up enough courage, got out of my chair and up to the window to see The POLICE CAR IN MY DRIVEWAY! In all the years I have been here, maybe twice I have had a police car in my driveway and one of those times is because I called them. My heart about bounced out of my chest and all I could think is that 'they're coming to take me away, ha ,ha, they're coming to take me away.' I bolted out of the door. It was a lady police officer, big, but appeared kind enough that I thought she would be easy on me so I gave it my best old man look. Turns out she was looking for someone else whose address was listed as mine. It is a name of someone I don't know and has never lived here, I don't think even before me, although this was a rental house for some years with probably a number of tenants. The name was familiar because I remember gettin some addressed to him here on a couple of occasions and just returned it to the post office. She was satisfied and left. I know I should have taken a picture of her car next to mine in the driveway, but at the time that was the last thing on my mind.

I think after today, maybe I should have learned my lesson and stick to taking pictures of my flowers. I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

Have a Happy, Dave

Here's a Memorial Day Poppy Picture For You. Took it at a retired Lander Professor's house over on E. Laurel earlier this month.

A Long Day For An Old Man

2006-05-17T21:31:00.000-07:00

Yes siree, I'm one tired out old man tonight. It has been a long day. Klaus and I had discussed going out to work on the trails today, but I didn't think we had really firmed it up. Well, I had just gotten out of bed, made one fast trek around my yard to check for bunny damage to my plants and back in the house for my cereal and banana. There was Klaus ringing the doorbell. He went on to the park and I had a hasty breakfast and probably over there in about a half hour, not that I like to rush around first thing in the morning. Usually if were going to do something, I get up at least an hour early so I can move at my seniorly pace.
First thing on the agenda today was replace a slide.
A week ago we had to dismantle this slide at the park as the slide would not glide smoothly- in fact you had to strain to move it. We found that one of the top wheels had come off as the bolt had sheared the threads right off. Had to take it to the Welding shop where they refilled the hole and reset the bolt and wheel, Unfortunately they set the wheel a tad higher than it was before so when we tried to reinstall it, it still hardly moved and turned out it was rubbing on the top inside of the rail. So back to the welding shop it has to go. Shame we didn't get it finished this time as had a lot of hands available there today. The inmates from the Greenwood's Correctional Institution were working at the park digging holes and trimming grass. We are lucky the city has taken on the job of cutting the grass and they seem to keep increasing the scope of what they do. Greenwood really needed that Playground/Park so I'm hoping they will take it over eventually so it will be sure to live on as a permanent city facility
Our next project there was more successful. We set in three more engraved bricks in an area where all the bricks that people have purchased for $35 a commemorative brick to help support the park. Of course all of these jobs that you expect to take fifteen minutes to complete usually take a lot longer. This would be an easy chore except that the plain bricks filling the area that have to be removed to place the engraved ones in, don't budge very easily. The bricks have ridges in the sides so when laid tighly together really lock in well.

Besides the city workers there was a group, one of the Bible Schools, that had reserved the pavilion at the playground this morning for a couple of hours. before they got down to business they had some fun time on the playground.

Most of the kids at the West Cambridge Park/Playground take their shoes off when playing in the area. I guess they'd rather be barefoot in the sand. Can't blame them as I'd be the same way if it wasn't such an effort for me to take my shoes off and put back on again. I suppose the Mom's don't like all the sand the kids must drag home, but I like that base compared to the others they use. The kids sure have all kinds of fun in it - it's just like a day at the beach and you can't beat that.

Then we went down to the Entrance to the Heritage Trail on South Main to paint the two wooden signs there. Over the years the elements have really taken their toll on the signs. They are still legible but if something wasn't done you can tell it will just be a matter of time before they deteriorate beyond the point of saving. Someone told us to try Thompson's water seal on them so that's what we brushed on. That liguid just soaked into the wood as quickly as it hit the surface and no matter how much was applied it just kept soaking it up. Looks like maybe that will be a yearly chore.

Then for or last tasks of the day we headed over to Magnolia Park to repair some more playground equipment. I should have taken a picture of the first thing we attempted to repair. It is sort of like a submarine periscope, but is mounted at the top level of a multi-tiered piece of playground equipment. We got it all cleaned up, including removal of a wasp nest inside, but it still doesn't rotate too smoothly and the little munchkins must have bent some of the parts that you cant really see anything looking through the periscope. We did much better with a little steamless shovel with a seat. One of the handles had fallen off because the bolt and a couple metal rings had come apart. We found the rings in the sand and fortunately had a bolt to serve as a replacement and got that working properly again. So by then it was a late lunch at the sandwich shop. Got home about 2, leaving me enough time to get ready and go over to the court house for a two hour class for us poll watchers for the upcoming June 13 primary elections. That is one of my few paydays a year so don't mind that at all. Get $50 for attending the training class today and then another $50 for working election days. That's a long 12 hours+. They are expecting a runoff election as some positions have multiple candidates so have scheduled a run-off election for June 27 - another $50.

After the class that ended at 5, I still had to do my Wednesday grocery shopping as get that senior 5% discount today. Every little bit helps. Then it was home , rushed to unpack the groceries and fix a quick supper of a warmed up chicken breast and a salad I had to make after getting all the fixins at the store. By the time the news was over at 7 I had finished and then went out to water the yard until it was getting dark, about 8:30. Washed the dishes and then it has been computer and TV baseball watching time. The Braves pulled out another win tonight - that is the third in a row come-from-behind win, the last two in extra innings after they tied game in bottom of 9th. Tonight's hero was Chipper Jones - looks like he is about back in his old groove. He smashed the game winning homer in the bottom of the 11th with two men on base.

Now I better get myself off to bed as want to be in fairly decent shape tomorrow for my regular Dr appointment at the VA tomorrow morning.

Hope there won't be too many days as busy as this one although it did feel like a productive one and hope I'll be able to carry on like that for quite awhile when the need arises.

Take Care and Have a Happy. Dave

Here's todays flower. A lovely lily growing and blooming in front of an old house, cared for ny a grandmother, on Edgefield St. Greenwood.

My Life In My Gems

2006-05-15T21:09:00.000-07:00

This isn't where I planned to start, but have been working too hard already just to get these pictures posted so here goes. These are my jasper gems, or the ones I still have in my position. The jasper rocks came from a fittingly named place, Jasper Beach. It is located at Bucks Harbor Maine, the next peninsula over from where we rented a vacation cabin for ten years from Mrs Alley in Jonesport, Maine. Sometimes would spend nearly a week looking out the window with fog so dense you couldn't see the car to get to it, let alone drive in it. But most of the time we lucked out with great weather. I think I miss those vacations in Maine more than I miss my hometown because nithing satisfied me so much as the serenity and beauty of the area. The insurance job I had in those years was so stressful, probably brought on by myself as I didn't like the role I had to play, but stayed with it because everytime I thought of leaving I either got another pay raise or a promotion. So I stuck with it for ten years putting aside as much money as possible to buy my dream business, a greenhouse operation, but that's a story I not prepared to write about, and perhaps never will. Anyway Jasper Beach was this wonderful place were as far as you looked right or left it was a wide beach made up of primarily egg shaped rocks, like the ones they must have used to make those Pet Rocks . The Beach was so different and so unusual from other beaches I knew and usually deserted. Stayed there for hours, mostly just relaxing and contemplating. The spaces between the larger rocks were filled with smaller ones, much of it jasper, that even in its unpolished state glistened when wet and had a slick, greasy- smooth feel. The rest of my time was consumed collecting the best specimens of jasper I could find plus I'd cart off bags of the larger rocks. By time I had to drive back home, I would have to put the suitcases in the back seat as the trunk would be filled with rocks and also some bags of peat moss I would dig in the area myself and seaweed collected on the beaches. These items I used for my rose bushes back home. Must have worked because I grew some beauties, especially compared to the frugal results I get here. At the end of Bucks Harbor there was a Air Force installation but I don't recall ever seeing any troops around. Never did any swimming there as that water was soooo cold. I would remember wading in and in that crystal clear water seeing my feet and the part of my legs under water starting to turn blue. Over in Jonesport, there were a couple of places were the water pooled up and sitting in the sun must have warmed it some as that would be tolerable for swimming.

In that time period, one Christmas my brother had bought a rock tumbling machine for one of their sons as a Christmas gift, but then decided he was a little too young for such a gift so, instead, I wound up getting it. That started a new hobby for me for maybe a couple of years. The machine was just a little motor with a couple of belts you could put two pint size cans. You filled the cans with rocks and water and a gritty material and let that motor rotate the cans continuously. Even though the cans had a rubber liner it still made a racket, so in the daytime I set the machine in my bedroom while I was away at work and then in the kitchen at night as couldn't sleep with it. All of the apartment was wall to wall carpeting, except the kitchen. As the rocks tumbled in that gritty mixture, gases would build up so periodically you would have to open the cans to let the gas escape. Of course, it was just a matter of time when once I forgot to open and vent the cans. It would be while I had the machine in my bedroom that they 'blew' up. It couldn't have happened in the kitchen where it would have been messy, but cleanable. No, it erupted over that carpeting and that grit penetrated those fibers that no amount of cleaning and vacuuming would remove the large stained area. I still managed to produce quite a bit of jewelry and glad to still have a few pieces left that I can occassionally take out of the draw and fondle. The lagest one on the bottom is my favorite and has the least flaws so I have it on a chain. Occassionally I'll wear it for awhile, but eventually, like with all jewelry, I find it 'bothersome' and have to remove it.

All the items of 'jewelry' - what consists of my 'gems' is in the above picture and probably pretty well represents the history of my life. The top row are pins I got for service in my business career. The one on left was for 10 years at Nationwide Insurance and next three are for anniversaries at Park Seed. I never got a pin for the intervening five years between Nationwide and Park Seed when my brother and I owned a greenhouse/nursery operation ,which although unsuccessful was by far my favorite career.

The second row are the gems from my educational career. The first pin on the left was for NASC Student Council. I only served in that capacity in the 8th grade. Our 8th grade was in the high school so probably got to go there a year earlier than kids generally did in other school systems. Now they have Junior and Senior High schools so the distribution of the classes must be completely different. The next item is my Class of 1954 high school ring. I don't think I wore it much. My hand must have been miniscule then as I consider them even small today, but that ring doesn't even fit over my pinky now. It always bothered me having small hands, primarily because I could never palm a basketball. The last two pins were for scholarship at Ossining High School. I was a pretty smart kid, or so I thought. Then as I advanced in years I realized that I didn't learn a heck of a lot - it was just that I was very good at memorizing. And that ability steadily eroded over the years, leaving me with the knowledge that I haven't learned much for all my years . But being smart never went to my head as , for some reason, all the smart kids that Ossining produced seemed to wind up in the Class of 1954., thus I was only rated 21 I think on the honor roll and that was with a 90+ average. I didn't get any pins or awards in college, but I managed to get a diploma. I remember when I got it being astonished by the size - like a big poster. I thought that was going to be tough to manage carrying it around on job interviews. The only pin I got was one my folks payed for as I joined Theta Chi fraternity lambda chapter in my freshman year. That's the pin pictured between the first and second rows from the top with the crossed swords. That may be the most precious gem as it is encrusted with small jewels, although the Park Seed pins are supposed to be embellished with small real rubys. I didn't bother with a College school ring, but did buy a Beer mug with detail painted on it which some girl, much to my dismay, quickly took into her possession.

The rest of the gems pictured were from my military career. I was a draftee. I had hurt my knee in senior year of college so when I finished up in June it was still pretty weak so I didn't feel I could try to move up my time for serving. I worked for a local florist about a year until the Army go to the point where they needed me. I tried to tell them about my bad leg, but they ignored that. The lapel pins are from basic training at Ft. Hood, Texas, 2nd Armored Division. It was mentioned enough that I couldn't forget that it was War hero and movie star, Audie Murphy's Division. In the middle was the Marksmanship badge. You had to get that to get out of basic. I'm sure whoever was scoring must have helped me some as I couldn't hit the broadside of a barn. I did enjoy sitting in the pit working the targets and raising maggie's drawers when someone missed the target completely. The red badge with the three bars on each side is the Good Conduct Medal. I don't rememebr getting it, but it says so on my papers. I was inducted in Jan, 1960 and served most of my active tour in Verona, Italy. At first we were the 110th Aviation Co. and then we merged with the 202nd Transportation Co. to become the 1st Combat Aviation Co.(Provisional). We were stationed at an airfield, shared with the Italians, in Boscomantico, nowhere but the boondocks 9 miles on the outskirts of Verona. The bus took an hour to get to the main post each way, so spent most nights at a little bar on the other side of the runways run by an Italian girl. I was a clerk in the orderly room and grateful for the chance to get overseas and see a little bit of Europe. Some of my touring plans got waylayed when after saving up nearly 30 days leave time, I suddenly got called home on 30 days energency leave when my Pop had his first heart attack. At the bottom are my dog tags which I drag out every now and then as it is the one place I know that my blood type is recorded - Type A. In those days the term of service was really 6 years - two years active duty, 2 years active reserves, 2 years inactive reserves so my official discharge date was Dec. 1965. In reality my last duty was in March, 1962. I would have been home for Christmas because of the holiday schedule, but in October my tour was extended 4 months because of a crisis. Now I can't even remember what it was but think it was over the Berlin Wall. Probably because of that extension of active duty, I never got called up for the two week active reserve duty. One of my friends who was in about the same time, got called for 2 weeks active reserve duty almost immediately after he completed his active tour. I sweated it out as knew I would never be able to fit in my uniforms if I got called up and the prospect of buying a complete set of uniforms was most unappealing.

There was a section in our local Sunday newspaper, Readers Choice Awards, where they announced the winners in a recent poll to pick the top local businesses in different categories. My eye was quickly drawn to an ad by a businessman who thanked the readers for picking him no. 2 and that he wouldn't rest until he was no. 1. It made me sad, not that he didn't come in first, but that he was still going to try for no. 1. You see his business is right in the main part of town and everytime I pass his store I'm reminded of a sad episode in my life.

Several years ago I brought My high school graduation watch along with another watch to be repaired. In due time I got the other watch, but my prize watch, a Hamilton , was never returned. I would have understood, I think, even if I had gotten an apology or somebody saying they were sorry that they lost my watch, but it was never forthcoming. I made several trips to the store in pursuit of my watch. Everytime it was like they didn't know who I was and then would go through an extensive unsuccessful search of the store. Most of the times it was one of the clerks conducting the search and then they would decide it just had not yet been returned as they had to send away for repairs. Perhaps it was the last time I inquired and that time the owner even put my name and telephone number and information down on his pad, but I never heard anymore from him. It just kind of surprised me because he had done other repairs for me, like a cuckoo clock for $50, and at one time his daughter had worked briefly with me at Park Seed, plus at one point I had told him I was his guardian angel, and , I understand, he is also a man of the cloth. I suppose I should have complained to the Chamber of Commerce, took him to small claims court or some action, but I guess I just kept hoping he would do the right thing and come forward. It brought back the memory everytime I passed the place all these years. The last few months the windows of the store were plastered with signs going out of business and announcing sales. I thought and was elated, well at least when he is gone, I won't be reminded so frequently, and now to see in the ad that apparently isn't going to transpire is very disheartening.

Well, enough dwelling on that. The watch in the picture is not the treasured Hamilton, my 1954 high school graduation gift from my parents. I can't remember the price but it was expensive for them. It was my first watch. Probably for a lot of my peers it was their first watch, too, as that was pretty much the standard graduation gift in my time. By time the next generation of my nephews and nieces came along, the standard was more like a new car. I'm not sure what it is now - I guess maybe a cruise and vacation to a place like Aruba, but maybe now parents will start rethinking watches.

The identification bracelet I'm modeling on my wrist was purchased at the same jewelry store as The Hamilton. If my memory serves me right the name of that jewelry store on Main St. was Griffen Jewelers. Sometime in my high school years, identification bracelets became the in thing. I was delighted to get this as a Christmas present one year. In those days I was "Murph." probably nobody knew me as or called me David. It was a nick name given me by my oldest brother when I was probably about 4 years old. My father used to cut our hair, correction: shaved the hair off our heads with a pair of clippers. He did it down in the cellar in one of the spooky rooms. You sat in what we referred to as "The Electric Chair." It was the one of only a couple of pieces of furniture my Pop built and it was so ugly she wouldn't have it upstairs. Apparently there was a comic strip character named baldy Murph and he was rubbing my head and calling me "Murph." It was either that or the story one of his best friend's dog's name was "Murph" and he thought that was approproate for me. Either way I don't know why I let myself live with that name. It was probably through College before I dropped it. I don't see my friends and aquantances much from those days, but there are some who still know me as Murph. When I got the ID bracelet I rushed right down to the Jewelers to have my name inscribed on it. To my great dismay and chagrin they inscribed it 'Murphy.' I wasn't Murphy, I was Murph. They should have given me a new Id bracelet with the correction, but they wouldn't do anything. I should have been warned then to never trust a jeweler. The bracelet lost appeal almost instantly and I hardly ever wore it. The fad must have died pretty quickly also as I don't remember anyone sporting them on their wrists.

The ring on my finger in the photo is of much more recent origin. I purchased it for $19, I think, from Home Shopping Network when I first retired. I had nothing to do at that time except watch shows like that and get hooked as I waited to get my fortune, my profit sharing, released by Park Seed. I bought all kinds of things I didn't need, but when the announcer would say they only had a few left of an item, then I would just have to call and and order it.

I have always had lots of rings in my life. Anytime I went to a carnival, fair, cheap consignment shop or places like that I would always pick up one of those rings. I always figured if I could get used to wearing a ring then I would buy a good piece of jewelry. So far that hasn't happened. I bought this ring about 6 years ago now and just started trying it out. So far it feels good and my finger hasn't turned green. Now I have finally conquered that materialistic attitude I carried around for so many years that I don't want a costly piece of jewelry and too cheap to spend the money on something like that. Have to admit though I try to avoid going to the consignment shops and stores just so I don't fall back into any bad patterns.

The watch in the photo above is my current watch, a $6 WalMart special - you know, the place where the prices are always going down. Someone on the internet was asking if the prices are always going down, then why aren't they free by now. I had really gone to WalMart just to get a new battery for my previous watch, which was a $10 special and hadn't lasted a year, but when I saw the price, I figured a new watch probably would cost about the same as battery for the one I had. I still like the other watch and keep it thinking maybe I'll get the battery anyway as it matches my computer. They both have blue lights. I think why I bought the computer is I was taken in by the blue light bars on each side of the processor. Otherwise I'm sure I would never have bought the computer the store used as their display model and knowing they were about to be going out of business. Think it turned out I was probably their last customer. I like the computer and just hope it keeps going. Pretty sure it is older than my original computer. It's a AMD Athilon (TM) Processor 604 mhz. I never heard of it before, but somebody told me that was a good one. Here's a picture of that watch and the processor. Aren't they pretty.

The bars on the processor actually glow much brighter than the picture shows - all the way from the top to the bottom, brighter than the light on the watch above.
Have a Happy, Dave

First Strawberry Shortcake of The Season

2006-05-13T08:04:00.000-07:00

I finished up my lab work at the VA Clinic Thursday Morning and have been pigging out ever since. Not only did I have to fast 12 hours before going to the lab, but I have been trying to be careful what I have been eating the last couple of weeks - no steak, french fries or ice cream. I just want my tests to look good so they don't give me any more medications. It has been a woeful time, but I have made up for it in good fashion. This was the only time I didn't have to wait at the lab so was out of there in probably less than ten minutes. The technician told me I picked the right day because the same time the day before they were already an hour behind. I headed straight to the Waffle House where I savored a waffle with syrup and a side of sausage. I would have then headed into Main Street, Greenville for a couple of pieces of my favorite Pizza, but wanted to find my way to the ballpark ticket office and find the free parking area. You can see pictures of the West End Field and details of the baseball game on my flickr photo site(http://www.flickr.com/photos/sisudave/). Had to settle for a piece of Pizza at the park. Think it was Papa John's - not my favorite kind - I guess I am just not used to"better ingredients, better pizza." In the car on the way home I ate a Trail Mix Fruit and Nut Bar. Saw them at Aldi's grocery the other day. First time I tried them - 6 bars to a package. Boy! was that good. Crunchy and chewy - just what I like. And besides, I think that should be real healthy stuff.

Since then I have been pretty good about what I have been eating. Been making mostly big salads of lettuce, carrots, celery, onions and tomatoes with Light Italian dressing. Last night I grilled 6 chicken breasts outside. I like to make my own sauce to baste. I eat pretty mild tasting food. My taste buds just can't manage those hot, spicy, macho foods. I love chicken wings, but never order out, because, even when they say mild, they just burn too much. Usually mix ketchup, whatever salad dressing I have on hand (never eat those creamy dressings), some olive oil and vinegar - once in awhile add a little Worcestershire Sauce. Creamy sauces, creamy vegetables, creamy soups, Alfredo this and that, are sissy foods and I don't go for them.

I had bought fresh strawberrie Wednesday, just before going to the lab - the first of the season. Bi-Lo grocery store had the strawberries as one of their two for the price of one specials this week. I am a sucker for those two for one deals. The nice thing about Bi-Lo is that you don't have to buy two of the items - they give you the discount even if you only buy one. Try to do all my shoppinjg on Wednesdays as get 5% senior discount that day. Taking advantage of all the sales and discounts, my savings are really adding up fast this year. That way I'll have more money to spend at the gas pump.

I cut up the strawberries into bits and add sugar. I use Splenda for all my sweetening now, except for this one thing. I found that the Splenda does not release the juices from the strawberries. So use sugar. Remembered at the last minute when shopping that needed something to put the strawberries on so just grabbed a package of those

dessert shells as they were right near the check-out counter. Dessert shells - somebody came up with a great idea there. You can see in the picture that the Whip Creme is a little soupy. Previously my niece made a big issue about having to go with the real whipping creme on desserts and the aerosol can stuff just didn't measure up. I told her that made too much for me and couldn't really save the left over. She said to freeze it as that is what she did. So I froze a couple of containers full after whipping it up. Last time I used it I couldn't wait long enough for it to defrost so ate frozen whipped cream. I didn't care for that too much, but she said it tastes great that way. To each his own. So then I put the frozen whipped creme in the refrigerator over night before using on my first strawberry short cake of the season. The result is what you see in the picture. Tasted just fine, but visually I like to see my whipped cream formed in peaks - it is just more appetizing looking that way. So next trip to Bi-Lo's next week I'll get the Real Whipped Cream Aerosol can so have it at the ready in my refrigerator.

As Julia Childs used to say, "Bon Apetit." Everything I know about food I learned from my Mom and Julia.

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms out there, and, guys, just remember your day is coming soon. Maybe I should start campaigning for Single Guy's Day. I just don't get any respect.

Have a Happy, Sisudave

Flower Picture For Today - a 'Strawberry' Roses from my yard.

Sewing Chore

2006-05-08T18:20:00.000-07:00

Sewing Chore

As a retiree I don't have a lot of chores, but being single, I do have to take care of myself. I probably don't do it too well, but, hey, I get along. Sewing is one of those things I don't like to do. Usually it just involves sewing back buttons that seem to be forever popping off. I don't know why that happens to little old me. It reminds me of one of my favorite Sunday cartoons I read faithfully as a kid. We bought 4 newspapers on Sundays( New York Daily News, Daily Mirror,Herald Tribune and Journal American) and my dad worked as an auto mechanic. I don't think he ever made more than $3,000 a year and did it for 30 years at the same Ford dealership. In those days all I read was the comics, my brothers read all the sports pages I'm sure, don't know about my sister and Pop, but my Mom read all the papers during the weekdays when she was down on her hands and knees scrubbing the floors.

Anyway, the comic strip in this instance, was Smiling Jack. I remember it was about two guys - one with black hair and one blonde - they were pilots and now I don't know what else the story line was about. But there was another character in the strip and probably looked like I do now only younger appearance - must have been part of the ground crew and he had somewhat, okay he had a pot-belly. In the illustrations it would show him walking around, the buttons popping off his shirt, and several chickens walking around him catching the prizes as the buttons popped off.

My sewing chore this weekend was repairing this pair of pants. I didn't want to consign them to the backyard only set yet, so thought I would try and get a little more use out of them. Knew a patch wouldn't work here so got out the old needle and thread. Probably about the only thing I have left that was Mom's was her sewing cabinet and some of it's contents. I guess the spools of thread in there are probably 50 or more years old anyway. I always thought just about all spools of thread wre cotton - seems to me the word they used was mercerized- and the brand name was Coates&Clarke. I was surprised to see when I got this spool out into the light of my patio (it was too nice a day to sew inside) that the spool was a Cortecelli. I don't know if that's good, but sounds sophisticated, just like the names they always give to fancy chocolates which somehow is supposed to make the chocolate taste better. Funny, but all chocolate seems pretty good to me, especially if it is milk chocolate. And then the bonus of bonuses - it says warranted 50 yards spool {a} SILK. That's nice, real nice! I always like to have everything next to me silky soft. The other bonus is that I'm so pleased with this macro shoot of that pretty small spool came out so clear. I'm getting good.

The job I did is pretty good,also. I know it doesn't look like much, but when you turn the pants, right side out, you can't tell it had ever been ripped. Now all I'll have to remember is not to squat and ruin my hard work. Shouldn't be to difficult to avoid doing at my age.
Have a Happy, Dave

Chores - Ironing

2006-05-07T18:48:00.000-07:00

Chores - Ironing
Originally uploaded by sisudave.

People hardly ever comment on what I wear. However the other day when I was wearing this T-shirt, two people asked me if I had been to Antigua. I haven't been there, but then couldn't remember who gave me this t-shirt in the first place. It had kept preying on my mind, but I didn't have a clue and couldn't even think of anyone I ever knew that went there. Finally after it went through the washer and dryer and I was about through ironing it, I noticed that it was a promotional shirt from the Goldsmith Seed Company advertising their Antiqua African Marigold seeds. It was one of many t-shirts I got over the years working at Park Seed Company. As was most often the case, I usually ended up with the large size. For years they were tucked away in an obscure place because I always considered myself a little guy and surely didn't need to be wearing anything larger than medium. It's funny with t-shirts. The amount of material that goes into making the two sizes is so disparate. They are so much larger in every respect. I figured I would never know what to do with all that extra material.

As my clothing supply has diminished over the years of my retirement and I have done little to replenish it, I have come to start using the large size t-shirts I had stashed away. Now that I have gotten used to them, everytime I go in my dresser draw I look for these plus size t-shirts as I have come to find out how comfortable they are and who cares about looks anymore at my age.

When I was on vacation some years ago and we were in a souveneir shop in Hollywood, my sister-in-law, could not believe that I was picking out medium size t-shirts. Was she trying to tell me something? Most of the time at work, I didn't wear t-shirts, but we did dress casually. When I started working on Saturdays, what we wore was real casual as only our Dept. would be working so usually just wore t-shirt then. I remember one gal commenting that I just wore tight t-shirts because I liked to show off my nipples. I thought that was a pretty funny comment at the time, but still I had no clue that anyone seriously would think I was wearing t-shirts a size too small.

The big drawback is that they take so much longer to iron. I know a lot of people don't bother doing that anymore, and it is one of the least favorite of my chores. I am so used to having ironed clothing that it just doesn't 'feel' right not doing it.

All this ironing got me to remembering when I was a kid growing up in a three story, six family apartment building. We had something that I bet few places have nowadays and probably even few at that time. In our large kitchen was a narrow door that when opened revealed an ironing board folded up and came out of the wall like a murphy bed. It wasn't just one ironing board, but a little miniaturized one that folded out on top of the standard ironing board. It was used to iron the sleeves.
I'm not sure now whether my Mom used it, but i must have thought it was something else. I can even remember getting joy in folding everthing back up and closing the little closet door at the end of the chore.

I sometimes think I could not manage without a steam iron. When the water starts to run out, it doesn't seem to matter how hot I set the iron, it won't get the wrinkles out. Mom didn't have a steam iron at first. She always used a moistened kitchen towel, layed that on what she was ironing and then ironed on top of that and you could see the steam being released from the towel. Even after she got a steam iron, I don't remember her ever using that feature, if it was something that needed the steaming , out would come the damp towel.

I must have really been impressed by the whole process. I don't remember it, but the lady who lived across the hall asked me 'what I wanted for Christmas' and I replied, 'an iron.' I guess she was a little surprised by the response and she told my Mom and then she bought me that as a present. I don't remember it or remember using it.