Jimmy's Opinion

This is it

2018-12-18T12:00:00.000-08:00

I hate to say it folks but this is going to be it for Jimmy's Opinion.

Everything is going good in our lives right now, but the stresses of everyday life is a hand full right now. I just wanted you all to know that life is good and that we are happy. We both wish you a Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays whichever is appropriate, and hope the coming New Year is the greatest ever for you.

I have really enjoyed my time with each of you and want you to know that your advice, understanding, concern, sense of humor, and most of all your friendship has been greatly appreciated, heck when I started this I thought for sure that I would be my only reader.

So for now I want to say Thank You for being who you are, and please don't ever change a thing about yourselves. I can't say if I will be coming back or not but for now I will just leave the answer as this...

Parking in a real driveway

2018-12-03T07:41:00.000-08:00

Some people love apartments and city living with all of the hustle and bustle and noise, and others love a nice house with a real driveway, mailbox on the curb, and the peace and quiet of a rural area. I am one of the latter. And against everything that we raised our kids around, my daughter loves living in the city with parking on the street or in a parking garage. I didn’t raise her this way, just saying.

I like stepping out my front door and seeing my truck right there in the driveway, or at worse having to open a garage door and back the car out. At my daughter’s apartment I open her front door and see miles and miles of duplicate doors down a long hallway with elevators somewhere down the line, I can’t ever remember which way they are located, yeah I know, the old country boy coming to the city situation…

Every time she has moved from one location to another I have strongly suggested that she find a place with a real driveway, I hate parking garages! I don’t like forgetting where I left my car, it’s not like I actually forgot where I left my car it’s just that all those cars stuck inside a parking structure kind of blend together.

This is why I can't find my car...

Then when you have two structures side by side with several levels serving the same place, man I get lost just thinking about it! Now throw in "Resident Parking" behind a gate that opens with a sensor, separating the cars that belong from the ones belonging to visitors of the residents, or shoppers for the surrounding businesses, yes these cars are caged in where they can't escape. I've only been inside that cage once…without my car!

My daughter lives in a very secure building, she has a sensor to open the gate to park her car, and one that opens the gate to gain entry into the building, and it also signals the elevator buttons to work, without that sensor you can push those buttons from now until doomsday and that elevator will not work.

I once followed a man through the gate and strolled over to that elevator thinking that we could surprise the daughter by showing up at her door, only to find myself essentially trapped on the first floor because without a sensor I was stuck, I couldn’t even take the stairs because guess what? Yep those doors were for residents only too. Our daughter just smiled when the elevator doors opened when she finally showed up downstairs to save us.

Her building to me looks like miles of concrete hallways where everything is the same; I can't get my bearings when nothing appears different. Upon leaving from a visit once, Cindy and I went down to the parking garage without supervision from our daughter, she did open the elevator door for us to get on, now she told us that all we had to do was push a button for the parking garage and step out and walk to our car, easy enough…Right?

We did just that and stepped out of the elevator and began the search for our car, when we finally found it the only problem was it was on the other side of a chain link fence that went from floor to ceiling. We were trapped inside the residents parking area with no sensor to open the elevators, doors, gates or anything, I laughed and asked Cindy to call our daughter to come down and save us for the second time that day, but on this level of the parking garage we found that there was no cell service. Cindy and I were seriously trapped, we had accidentally pushed the wrong button in the elevator, we later found out there is one for the parking garage and one for residents parking.

It took about forty five minutes of walking, checking doors, and pushing buttons before we found a gate that was unlocked, (where is a security officer when you need them?) this unlocked gate took us to the other side, where we began a long walk back in the direction we just came from in search of our car.

Recently our daughter got a job offer in another town a couple hours away from where she now lives, this is a good thing in my opinion with what she has just been through, this will give her a fresh start I'm hoping. As soon as she finds a place to live, the company that hired her is going to move her stuff up there and we will be able to take the grand dogs home to her, yes we are babysitting until she gets a place…

The other day she sent Cindy pictures of a place she had applied to rent, “it's really nice” Cindy was telling me, and they are charging a reasonable deposit for the pets too. After Cindy got finished oohing and ahhing over the pictures she passed her phone over for me to take a look, a tear rolled down my cheek when I saw that our daughter is going to rent a small house with a real driveway and everything.

A real mailbox next to a real driveway!

I think when we go to visit I'm going to just sit on her front porch and admire that piece of concrete that most of us call a driveway, because after all this is her first real driveway with a mailbox and everything!

Have you ever been lost in a parking structure? What type of place do you call home?

Things that dogs do

2018-11-12T12:38:00.000-08:00

Mmmmm that sure smells good she said as she walked up to the smorgasbord of goodies they found laid out in front of them, he agreed with her but before he could say anything he found himself diving in for a taste just as she raised her head with a large steaming bite in her mouth.

Our Granddog Zyla sampling a fresh pile.

My question is, Why do dogs love eating horse poop? I know there are a lot of arguments on the safety of eating horse poop, and of course the smell, and most important is why does your dog run straight to you and give you a kiss right in the face after you call them off of a steaming pile of fresh manure?

You have to admit that horse poop is only as good as the horses diet. With our horse Flash, the dogs are simply eating recycled alfalfa with a little bit of weed thrown in, not the illegal in most states weed, but the grows everywhere you don't want them to grow weeds. Dogs look at it like this, just who can resist a freshly and naturally baked pile of number one alfalfa and weed all squished together in a pile of #2.

Some people say that dogs eat horse poop to cover the human taste in their mouth, if this is true then why do dogs jump into your lap with that old horse manure aroma on their breath and invariably “slip you the tongue“, nothing like a dog tongue sliding into your mouth after they have been munching on road apples!

Dixie giving Cindy a kiss

And speaking of taste I am not sure which is better, eating poop to cover my scent, or slipping me the tongue to rid the taste of horse poop in the dogs mouth?...

A lot of dogs are natural turd hounds anyways, they eat any old turd including their own, but other dogs with more refined taste limit themselves to only indulging in a good pile of horse manure, you know eat a while then roll in it.

And speaking of rolling! What is up with rolling on the most disgusting thing you can find?

To mask their own scent I have been told. An instinct that comes from way back when dogs were wild and had to sneak up on dinner, you know roll in the antelope poop to mask your scent from the herd before you attack. I don't understand how rolling on a dead bird is going to help a dog sneak up on a bowl of Mighty Dog today, but whatever it takes I suppose. The only thing I have seen gained by rolling on a dead bird is that the dog gains himself a bath! Then after the bath he immediately goes outside and rolls in the dirt, go figure...

Photo Source

And what about their bladder voiding practices? Just how in the world can a dog pee that much? Take a male dog for a walk and he will hike his leg and pee on everything in his path, and add another dog into the mix and you have Dueling Pee-Pee’s being played out to the tune of Dueling Banjos. One dog pees and the other comes by and takes a squirt right on top of it, then moves on to the next trail of yellow liquid rolling down the back of your favorite garden gnome.

This game of covering one another’s pee continues it seems until everything in the area has been properly marked and marked again, it is then that the dog with the fullest bladder has been declared the leader of the pack.

We once had this little game of Dueling Pee Pee's going on in our yard and the ending spray of pee came when our female poodle walked up to the tree a male dog had just marked, hiked her leg and accurately covered his latest pee marking attempt with one of her own, she was immediately declared the winner.

Has your dog ever farted and then jumped around to bark at the squeak that just came from behind? Our let one slip out and then moved away from you like you did it? And one more question, Just how many times have you falsely blamed one on the dog?

We love our little dog Dixie, yeah I love Cindy too...

You just have to love a good dog though, set aside their farting, peeing, pooping, and culinary habits and what is left is a pretty loveable character. Kind of sounds like someone you know, doesn't it?

What kind of things does your dog do?

WFW- The gift of caring

2018-11-09T08:10:00.004-08:00

Words for Wednesday is a fun challenge for everyone, it's been awhile since I have participated so I thought I'd jump in this week. All you have to do is take the prompts provided and use them any way you want, be it a story, poem, or whatever, the purpose of the challenge is for us to write something and have fun doing it.

Elephants Child is providing the prompts this week, if you join in please drop by and let her know so we can all enjoy your offerings too.

This weeks word prompts are:
enclosing, purpose, care, patch, jamming, shame

And/or
bent, organic, mangle, textbook, gravity, excuse

The gift of caring

There is nothing Textbook about taking Care of an aging parent, when you accept this task you simply do the best that you can. Your Purpose is to make sure they are happy and that their daily needs are attended to.

The Gravity of this undertaking can be enormous, and it is a Shame that the responsibility sometimes falls into the lap of only one sibling, as it has with my wife Cindy. There is no Excuse for the fact that only one sibling has time to make sure their parent’s daily activities are taken care of, while the rest barely have time to ever even pick up the phone to check in on them.

As most of you know Cindy and I moved to California about ten years ago to help out with her Mom who was struggling with Alzheimer's at the time, we lost her Mom seven years back and now our days are filled with the adventures of keeping her Father out of trouble, which is a blessing I am glad that we are a part of.

Our little Patch of earth here in SoCal revolves entirely around making sure Ray’s remaining days on this earth are never lonely or where he finds himself doing without. Our days however are spent Jamming everything into place without forgetting what is on the schedule next. You know things like feeding him his favorite breakfast every day at exactly the same time only to find out a year later that he all of a sudden never really liked the taste of eggs…

His Mangle of gray hair had to be combed and kept in place exactly right, and then he wanted to grow it long for some unknown reason, so long that the balding top actually blended into a gray strand of hair falling down the back of his neck and Enclosing around the tops of his shoulders, this all looked good until Cindy Bent his favorite comb trying to remove a tangle, this is when Ray decided that he wanted a “Kojak” and now I shave his head about once a week.

There is nothing Organic nor exactly proper about being a caregiver for anyone, Being a caregiver is an underrated job and not one for anyone who doesn’t want to give 100 percent to the person that you are caring for. Caregiving is not for the weak and caring for your parents is something we all should do, but caring for anyone who has nobody is the greatest gift anyone can share. Parent or not there are a lot of people out there who could greatly benefit from the gift of caring.

Have you ever been a caregiver?

A doctor’s guess

2018-11-06T12:14:00.000-08:00

Hello everyone, first off I want to thank you all for your well wishes, words of encouragement, condolences, advice, and most of all your thoughts on my last post. Your input means the world to me and I want to thank each of you for that.

Life goes on, and so on we go!

An important lesson that we learned concerning medication in the last couple of months I want to share with you. Cindy's Dad Ray has been referred to a pain management doctor to help control his chronic pain, this doctor has run Ray through the mill on his medications. And in an attempt to lower the dosages (because the State says so…) adjustments have to be made.

Ray’s medications have been flip flopped so much that we have lost track, and Ray’s pain level has increased to the point where it was unbearable for him. Cindy suggested to the doctor that he should return Ray’s medications back to the original dosages, because at those dosages the pain was at least tolerable. The doctor had a better idea instead “We will just add this many milligrams of drug XYZ to his regimen, this will help with the pain” he said. This should have been our first clue of potential problems arising because Ray was already on drug XYZ!

The doctor's solution to this was prescribing another medication that he felt would help, he checked Ray’s medication list and called the new prescription into our pharmacy. Cindy picked up the prescription and began giving it to Ray as prescribed three times a day, and at the end of day one Ray said he was feeling a bit better, the morning of day two we found that he had slept all night long, Cindy woke Ray up after lunch and gave him the mid day dose.

After supper Ray fell asleep in his chair and at bedtime we attempted to wake him for his nightly pill regimen and to get him into bed, it took literally an hour just to get him out of his chair and into bed. (Ray is a big man so needless to say this was not easy!) We decided that either his condition was declining so rapidly that we were losing him, or the medication change was affecting him negatively.

We withheld the new medication and monitored him throughout the night. Ray began improving and upon investigating the new drug we found that Ray had been prescribed a very high dose of a muscle relaxer, needless to say we stopped giving this medication and the first words out of Ray’s mouth when we got into see the pain management doctor was “You know Doc, if I was able to get out of this wheelchair I'd be kicking your Ass right now!”

The moral to this story is that you should always have your Doctor explain what each new medication is, and to read the description of each one before beginning to take it. Funny thing now is the doctor has adjusted all of Ray’s medications back to where they were at the beginning.

The not so funny thing is that Ray is not so trustworthy of medication time now, we almost have Ray convinced that this was really not an evil plot that we came up with to kill him…

Cindy tells him “I promise we weren’t trying to kill you Dad”, as he begins to question each one of his pills at each and every one of the times she gives out his medications.

Can't say I blame him though, and I have found myself counting my own pills when I dump them into my hand from the pillbox. It doesn't hurt to keep an eye on her because we have been married for a long time now…

Have you had any medication mishaps like this?

By your own hand

2018-06-25T10:31:00.000-07:00

Just my opinion

This post is written without any research whatsoever, it is simply my opinion about a serious situation that we are dealing with, and also one that has absolutely no answers in the end, so bear with me and understand that even if I am not entirely right about some conditions that all of this is just my opinion and how I see things.

Depression is a serious issue, one mostly misunderstood by all of your friends and family because you can hide it so well. At times you can be really suffering inside and no one around you knows that there is a problem, simply because you choose to put on a brave face, smile, nod your head and act like everything is normal.

How can you be so happy when around everyone you love, and at the same time be so unhappy with life, how can you be so organized and meticulous in your job and business dealings and at the same time leave everything that you profess to be so important to you completely alone wondering what actually happened, and why did you think that leaving this world behind was the correct answer to the question.

If you feel depressed and sad and have a problem inside your soul making you miserable, Please Find Someone To Talk To! I know some problems seem minor to everyone but you, and you may feel embarrassed to share these feelings, but by God they are important to you! So ask for help because we will understand.

It is better to talk about how you feel and to share your fears than to allow those feelings to make you so hopeless that you think ending it all is the right answer. Ending it all is never the right answer in my opinion, there are therapists out there who are happy to listen to you and suggest solutions, there are also doctors who can prescribe anti depressants that can and will actually help, but most importantly there are friends and family members who love you and simply talking to them can remove a huge weight from your shoulders.

Don't hide your feelings and if you feel depressed please reach out for help rather than hide within yourself. Leaving this world by your own choosing, and leaving your loved ones behind wondering why really sucks, this is a selfish act in my opinion and with this said I'm going to stop and hope any of you who need to get something off your chest will see that the act of sharing your feelings is a lot closer to fixing your problems, than killing yourself will ever be.

If you are feeling suicidal please talk to someone rather than pretending to be happy, our daughter is now a widow with no answers because the selfishness of hiding the pain of some unknown demons inside and ending it all was thought to be the right answer.

Sorry to dump this on you but I just had to say it.

Where is home?

2018-05-10T12:24:00.001-07:00

One kid in California, another in Montana, and three more in New Mexico along with a grandbaby! My whole family is still in South Carolina, and that is where I was born, my wife's family is in Southern California and she was born here, but she is really close to my family in... Yeah it's like she and my sister are sisters.

(Image Source)

One of these days we are going to be forced to decide if we are going to make a move. Do we stay or do we go? This is where the question I am about to ask arises from. Where is home?

I know that home is where you are living, you know the old saying "Wherever I hang my hat is home!" and my hat has hung everywhere from both North and South Carolina, Texas, New Mexico, and California and I have not been completely unhappy anywhere I have ever lived, although home always tugs at your heart.

I have discussed my opinions with you on what to do if you find yourself living in an unfamiliar town, when I told you of My Home in the past, I said:

"Home is where I am right now and if I live out my life right here I will be home, also if I move anywhere else I will be home because that is where God has led me to go and live, Cindy is a big part of my life as you all know, and as long as we are together no matter where we are living I will proudly call that place Home."

So if we someday are forced to relocate, Where will our next chapter begin?

With family spread out so widely, how do you make a decision like this?

(Image Source)

My opinion is wherever we land we are going to be OK! If we end up moving, for Cindy and I all we need is a smaller place than we have now. One that is easy to maintain, somewhat rural with no more than half an acre of land, close to town so Cindy can get her fast food fix every now and then, a good healthcare system to keep Bentley (my defibrillator/pacemaker) in tune, and a reasonable cost of living in a low crime rate area. Does a town like this even exist?

We are not going anywhere anytime soon, but we feel tugged in so many directions, so many that we don't have a clue where we will land, but the question is always in the back of our minds lately.

If you had a chance to relocate, where would you want to go? A lot of you are already settled into your perfect place, but if you could do it all over again or if you are dreaming of "someday soon", where would you want to go to live?

(Image Source)

Tell me about where you live, and what the positives are about your area, and where you think the best place to retire may be. I have a list of locations that we are considering if we ever move and I'm curious if any of you would consider the same places as we.

What's your idea of the best location to live?

It'll grow on you

2018-05-03T07:09:00.000-07:00

Kudzu or Skudzu as some of the old timers called it when I was a kid is something that I miss seeing since I left the South. I know that most everyone that I grew up with, was raised by, ever saw, heck I'm thinking that everyone who is from the same area as me hates Kudzu! They fear Kudzu! Don't even want to see it, don't even think about bringing it into my house!

I love Kudzu myself, but my Granny Cooper is another story, she once had a basket made from dried Kudzu vines, and at first she was reluctant to even bring it into her house, but she did and it wasn't long until she was in a panic trying to dispose of it since it had started sprouting leaves and shoots that would indeed turn into vines, it was like this basket was possessed coming back from the dead. I would have loved to have had it for myself, but one day it vanished from it's spot on the shelf to never be mentioned again. The Kudzu basket was replaced with a flower pot that had previously sat inside the basket.

Kudzu is a vine that was brought into the United States back in 1876 from Japan, later it was introduced to the Southern United States to help prevent soil erosion, especially after the Dust bowl days, it was also used as a high protein supplement for cattle to feed on.

Goat eating leaves (Photo Source)

Animals and livestock are useful tools today in helping to control kudzu, in some places you can even rent a bunch of goats to come in and work on the problem, but it will take more than once to kill it off because kudzu does grow that fast.

Kudzu has nearly overtaken some of the Southern States growing at a rate of about 12 inches or more per day under ideal conditions, yes folks one foot or better per day this vine can grow.

I have mentioned Kudzu many times in previous posts and I feel sure some of you may remember the tales I am telling you now, but for those who haven't heard of kudzu, this vine seriously can cover everything in site if ignored. I remember helping my Granny cut Kudzu back from the edge of her garden, only to come back the next day to find new vines had crept in and completely covered the previously cleared ground.

Kudzu covering trees and vehicles

Most people I know see this vine as a nuisance, they work really hard to keep it cut back from their property, because it can completely cover anything that is ignored, like an abandoned house, cars, trees, actually anything in it's path in a short amount of time. This is why Kudzu is now considered an invasive plant.

Kudzu is fondly known as the mile a minute vine, or as the vine that ate the South, some have even claimed that kudzu will take root and grow on a concrete block with no dirt at all.

Kudzu using power lines to cross the road

Although I haven't seen this myself, I have seen a kudzu vine grow up a power pole guy wire, and then follow the power line across the street and then back down the opposite side to continue it's path of destruction. It goes without saying that most people are creeped out by this vine, and rightly so.

But with me I view it as a beautiful part of my past, a reminder of home, just a simple green vine with a purple flower, that even though it slowly covers abandoned properties, fields, cars, and houses, I still see it as part of my childhood.

I've told you the story before of when my cousin and I actually found ourselves in the midst of a bygone era so to say when we sort of fell into a property hidden underneath this vine.

My cousin Brian and I were picking blackberries and muscadines, when we found ourselves in a thick patch of blackberries, nice blackberries I tell you, big as basketballs...not really but they were nice ones, and after fighting our way through the vines we ended up in a batch of Kudzu, so we started kicking our way through the kudzu just to see where it would end up.

We should have known better because as fast as kudzu grows, if one of us had tripped then it would be possible that we would be completely surrounded by kudzu vines before you could get back onto your feet, wrapped up like a boa constrictor taking his prey...OK that wouldn't happen because kudzu doesn't move that fast, but it actually can with an active imagination.

The next thing we knew, Brian and I had walked into a green darkness, we were now walking underneath the kudzu. I felt like we were in another world. There was no sound other than our footsteps, it was like walking underneath a green canopy, in another world completely hidden underneath the kudzu vines draped throughout the tree limbs overhead.

Brian and I just kept walking, talking about how cool it was when we stumbled onto what looked like a driveway, I'm not sure if we had walked a mile or a few feet but what the heck, we turned left and followed the driveway.

Kudzu overtaking an abandoned house

At the end of the driveway there was an old grey looking clapboard house with a covered porch across the front, I swear that the rocking chair on that porch was moving backwards and forwards, I could almost hear it creaking. There was also an old Model T Ford pickup sitting right there next to the house, I still wonder what we had stumbled upon.

Brian and I looked at one another and back at the house, we again looked at one another and then at the Model T, back to each other and then at the rocking chair that was slowly moving back and forth on the porch. Then we did what any red blooded teenage boy would do in this situation...We both turned and ran as fast as we could through the vines back to the car and hightailed it out of there.

To this day I am not sure that I could find exactly where this little house buried in the kudzu is located, nor do Brian or I know exactly whatever happened to all of those fine blackberries that we had picked, because somewhere along the way they vanished.

If I had it to do over again I'd like to take a closer look at what we had found, but then again it may have been a good thing that we ran...

Dirt Wars

2018-04-14T08:36:00.000-07:00

Ok let me start this tale with a disclaimer:

The story you are about to read is true, the names have been changed to protect the innocent...and the guilty, mostly the guilty I suppose, because the only innocent bystanders in this whole story is Cindy and I, we are definitely not involved and plan to keep it that way. If you happen to feel this post is about you, then just think it could possibly be! You may be guilty of something so Grow Up and stop being a bad example for how to get along with your neighbors!

Our neighborhood is a rural area with houses spaced a decent distance from one another, most people have animals, anything from chickens and horses, to goats and sheep, or a mixture of them all. We all have been known to jump in and help out one another when needed just like neighbors should.

Just like kids fighting (Image Source)

That is until it all went to hell in a hand basket up the street:

Ole Wishbone and his family has lived on five acres of land since back before dirt was invented. Wishbone is now all grown up and in possession of said property, he keeps it really nice in spite of having a whole herd of horses, kids, dogs, and cars. In other words Wishbone and his family are excellent members of our neighborhood.

Now add in Festus and his cast of characters who moved in next door to Wishbone, they have been there several years now and mostly keep to themselves and stay really quiet. They do have an occasional weekend gathering of the full cast and crew, but to the whole neighborhood's surprise they have never been too loud nor have there ever been any problems whatsoever from these gatherings of the cast.

Ok suddenly Festus decided to build himself another house on the backside of his property, the only problem with this is there is a low spot right where he wants to build, and there are no utilities for that area.

Festus brought in a backhoe and commenced to dig a hole for a septic tank, this was early one morning and right on the property line with Wishbone's land which ended up being right on Wishbone's property, the backhoe scared one of Wishbone's horses running him through a gate and setting him free...this is where Festus should have shut down the tractor and helped to round up the injured horse, but he didn't, he just continued to dig. That is until Wishbone stepped in and stopped the whole shebang. As far as I know an apology still hasn't even been offered either.

That very weekend Festus had a gathering of the cast and crew, which is never a problem, but...yes you all know there is always a but and most times a butt!

Festus's crew started anchoring banners and signs to fence posts with string, they always do this but the posts are on Wishbone's property. Wishbone immediately requested that they untie the signs and to stay off of his property, knowing Wishbone this wasn't a request either and I am sure he was rude about it. This lead to a screaming match, insults, and a statement from Festus that Wishbone didn't even have a proper fence!

Good fences make good neighbors.(Image Source)

Cutting to the chase Wishbone has now installed a 6 ft picket fence on the property line, and not a new picket fence either, a used one that someone was taking down and disposing of, he installed this rickety looking fence, ugly side toward Festus's place and if that's not bad enough, yesterday large dump trucks began dumping loads of dirt next to the fence on Wishbone's property. Wishbones's wife said the dirt was free from a construction project and "All we are doing is building up our property to keep it from flooding our side when it rains."

OK to retaliate Festus stopped one of the dump trucks and had a talk with the driver, and for the rest of the day dump trucks hauled in dirt first to Wishbone and then to Festus, back and forth all day long. I'm telling you this is getting really deep and it has been a bit entertaining watching the trucks alternate from property to property dumping dirt.

Later on Ole Red our neighbor that gave Cindy her chickens and Little Joe who lives on the other side of Festus, were standing on side of the road watching the action. You need to know that with all of the dumping of the dirt on the other side of Little Joe's that if we ever get a big rain then Little Joe's back yard will be flooded immediately.

Little Joe then stops the dump truck for a little talk, which isn't always a bad thing because we always talk to most anybody in our neighborhood, but next thing I know Little Joe opens up his gates and in comes dump trucks dumping dirt...

They asked if we needed any dirt to which we politely declined!

Seriously if you have a problem with your neighbor it is easier to talk it out in a normal voice and try your best to eliminate any potential problems. You don't have to allow anyone digging a septic tank on your property and if you scare someones kids or animals, stop what you are doing and let your neighbors know so they can take care of their kids or pets. I had a tree trimmer who shut down their machinery and came to knock on our door, simply to let me know that he was scaring our horse. I moved the horse to another part of the property so he wouldn't be frightened and the tree trimmer finished his job. This is how responsible people act in my opinion.

Apologize especially when you are at fault, take responsibility for your actions, and keep your cool when approaching a difficult subject.

One upping someone does nothing but make you look bad, if they are doing something stupid then you try to one up that, just how smart are you really being.

Dumping dirt.(Image Source)

Once you start gathering dirt and continually try to make your pile bigger than the other guy's, just remember you really aren't solving anything and all that you are going to end up with is a big ole pile of dirt.

Pulling my own chain

2018-04-10T10:26:00.000-07:00

First off as most of you who have read my blog for a while know, I am not an electrician, not even close I tell ya! but this has never stopped me from attempting electrical repairs, sometimes with ease and other times let's just say have been rather Shocking! Do you need an Electrician tells a few of my experiences, and after you read this I have a feeling you will not want me to do any electrical repairs for you.

Most of the repair jobs I do are rather easy, and anything that needs done around our house I do myself rather than call anyone else to do it. I don't need no stinking instructions! Most repairs are simple, just take it apart, replace the broken piece, and put it all back together in the opposite order from which you took it apart, if there are any leftover pieces this just means that you didn't need them in the first place...Right?

My latest repair job was the light switch for our ceiling fan. Cindy always turns the light off at night by pulling the chain and leaves the fan running, yes folks she does this in the wintertime too, she will be lounging underneath the air blowing from the ceiling fan over our bed and I will be shaking and shivering underneath the blankets pulled up to my chin, with icicles forming on my mustache and beard! OK maybe not but the point is that the chain for the light on our ceiling fan gets pulled regularly.

Pulling the chain with no light coming on.

A few weeks ago we got up one morning and Cindy pulled the chain to turn the light on and nothing happened, then she pulled it again and there was a brief flash of light, and then after yanking the chain about 10 more times the light stayed on. This went on every morning with me promising to get a new switch to replace the obviously non working one, and yes I forgot all about it everyday after I flipped the switch on the wall to turn the light off as I walked out of the room.

Each morning I heard the chain being yanked over and over and over while Cindy cursed underneath her breath and then breathed a sigh of relief once the light remained on, "I'll replace that switch for you Babe" I would once again promise and once "Thank you" was replaced by "Yeah Right!!" I went down to the Big Box Warehouse Lumberyard/Hardware store and invested three bucks in a new switch, this was the easy part.

First I had to remove the light kit from the ceiling fan, and then remove the actual little porcelain doo lolly that holds the light bulb inside the doo hicky, this is done by removing a screw inside the bottom of the light fixture, and yes the wires were disconnected and the power was off to the ceiling fan. I know some of you are picturing me with a screwdriver inside a light socket with a brand new permanent curl being burned into my hair from the inside out...

After this was removed I had access to the old light switch, I unscrewed the nut holding the switch in place and removed it from the light kit, then I followed the wiring to the longest point and clipped the wires, I then ran the new wires up the tubing and connected them into place, I ran the chain through the hole, and connected the new nut to the new switch, everything was going great.

I got everything back together with no leftover parts, and just as I turned the power switch on and pulled the chain to the new switch, Cindy walked into the room to experience with me the ease of turning the light on, but nothing happened! I yanked it again and there was a flash of light, so I yanked it again and nothing happened. The fan was running fast enough to blow my hair back so I pulled the chain to turn the fan off and the light came on...

Now I went back to the drawing board, I turned the power switch off and took everything back apart and double checked my wiring, everything looked good but you never know so I undid everything and redid it again, I put everything back together and hung the light kit back onto the ceiling fan, only to find myself yanking that chain about 10 times to get the light to stay on.

I was getting ready to go and dig the old switch out of the trash and to take the new switch back to the Big Box Warehouse Lumberyard/Hardware store when I decided that it really wasn't worth it, I guess I could go and pick up an new light kit! But for some unknown reason I went into the pantry and got myself another bulb.

The light is now working.

I replaced the bulb and then pulled the chain and yes you guessed right, the light came on, and every since it has come on the first time and stayed on, I really didn't have a good answer when Cindy said to me "I guess it wasn't the switch!"

My advice to you and myself is if you ever find yourself in this situation, don't call an electrician, try changing the bulb first...

Bud guys and life

2018-04-06T13:53:00.001-07:00

Our Annual racing getaway was a blast, not so good for our favorite driver but a great getaway for us. Coming into this race our driver had won three races in a row and looked good for winning his fourth, but an early brush with the wall after bouncing off another car left him finishing the day 35th out of 37 drivers...

But so much for his bad day, as they say there is always the next race!

I love the fans, no matter who you pull for you always give the other fans a hard time about their driver, but I have yet seen anyone actually get mad at someone because of who their favorite driver is, I know in other sports there have been fights in the stands because a fan was cheering for the wrong team, but with NASCAR I have not yet heard of a fight because you picked the wrong driver.

Just as Cindy and I got to our seats (which were in the middle...go figure) we found our two seats were the only unoccupied ones, thus leaving us having to crawl our way into the mass of race fans...oops, excuse me, sorry, thank you, what?

This is when one man looked me right in the eyes and said "If I had noticed that you were a Kevin Harvick fan I never would have stood up to let you in!", "Oh yeah!" I replied "Who do you pull for?", "I like Kyle Bush!" he proudly said while pointing to his shirt. I took off my hat and held it reverently across my heart and said "I'm sorry, you know there are a lot of good drivers you could pull for, like the #4.", "Oh No, I will always pull for Bush, I know him personally!", "I'm even sorrier to hear that, you know most people wouldn't admit that in public!" After this exchange we shook hands, laughed and wished each other a good day. This is what I love about the fans I have come into contact with, you can give each other a hard time without getting mad about it.

Before the race we had a ticket package that included gathering together with other fans for free food, drinks, activities, and fun listening to our favorite driver answer questions from the crowd. This was a blast especially since we ended up having both brunch, lunch, and a snack before race time, and of course a couple of free beers for me and several Coca Colas for Miss Cindy.

During this time we got to take pictures with an actual race car and of course the Busch Beer girls, you know since Anheuser-Busch is the main sponsor for our team, last year I got pictures with them too, and the Budweiser girls the year before that, and at random times during the races there have been pictures taken with the Monster Energy girls, this girl, that girl and Cindy has always been a good sport about it.

That is until she questioned why there were girls everywhere having their pictures taken with fans, while I was standing there trying to think of a proper response to the question I had no answer for Cindy turned and walked away.

Cindy with her new friend!

She had found herself a Budweiser employee, a big burly Budweiser man, her very own Bud Guy! I have a feeling that the picture taking model tables have just turned! That's OK though he was a really nice guy and Cindy did like him...

Life has been running faster than the cars went around the track at this race. Since then we have been overloaded with doctor appointments, eye appointments, specialists, family gatherings, upkeep on the house, and very little computer time, you know Real Life as they call it. I want you to know that you are all part of real life too, and my not visiting or posting everyday is simply due to me being overwhelmed with things here on the home front right now, everything is OK and I will be popping in here and there and will post as I catch up with everything around here.

Patient with no patience

2018-03-25T09:26:00.000-07:00

Cindy and I took her dad Ray down to have blood work done first thing Tuesday morning, Cindy went into the building that houses the doctor's offices and lab to check Ray in, while I brought him inside from the car in his wheelchair.

"I got you checked in Dad, and you are the first one here so it shouldn't be long now." Cindy told her dad as she sat down across from me. And only a few minutes had passed before Ray started looking around and said, "I wonder what is taking so long?"

"It hasn't been long Dad, we just got here." Cindy whispered to him. "Just got here my ass!, I should have been called back already!" Cindy's Dad is not a quiet man anymore, he is hard of hearing and refuses hearing aids, so with this said when he speaks everyone hears him, you know like when E F Hutton used to speak, every head in the room turns to look his way.

"If they don't hurry, I'm just going to leave!", "You can't leave without me Dad, just relax it won't be much longer." Cindy told him just as he was starting to get agitated again. "If I'm first then why am I still sitting out here? They are probably back there having coffee!"

"What time is it! I'm about ready to call a supervisor!" He shouted, "Shhh Dad it is twenty minutes after eight.", "So how long have we been here now?", "I checked you in at 8:06am Dad" "Bull s*#t, we been here longer than that!"", Shhh Dad."

Cindy gets up and walks up to the counter, more to satisfy Ray than anything else, we have been in and out of this office so often that the whole staff knows us well. Cindy asked if there was any way they could tell us how long it would be before Ray was called back, and after checking with the lab she was told that they were having a computer issue. They no longer hand write lab orders with our medical group, the doctors instead key the tests that they want ran into their computers, so whichever lab you go to simply keys in your name and voila there are your orders, that is unless there are computer issues.

"Computer issues!, what difference does that make! You don't need a computer to draw blood!" Ray shouts. And now that there is a crowd of patients gathering in the waiting room, they are all paying attention to Ray.

A man checking in makes the mistake of coughing..."Oh my God, now we have sick people coming in!" He says and the crowd nods their heads. Cindy moves over one seat and appears to not know us.

"Just write my name down with a pencil, the computer don't draw the blood anyway!" A couple of people in the crowd speak "Yeah really!" in unison.

The crowd is listening and nodding their heads in agreement to almost everything he says.

Cindy slides back over and pleads with Ray to calm down "As soon as they get the computer straightened out, you will be the first one called, now settle down Dad, OK"

"Ain't no computer issue, give me a break! They are having coffee, I tell you!"

More nodding from the crowd.

"It's cheaper for them to drink coffee on the company's dime than to have to pay for it! I bet you that's what's going on!"

I could almost imagine the crowd of Ray's followers holding up their coffee cups and shouting "Dilly Dilly!"

"How long have we been here now, I'm seriously getting ready to leave!" He asks Cindy

"It is 8:30 now Dad, we have only been here about 25 minutes!"

"Oh, is that all...I wonder what's taking them so long?"

I was never so glad to hear the Lab Tech at that very moment open the door and call his name "Ray!"

Annual racing getaway

2018-03-16T09:37:00.000-07:00

For the third year in a row, at Christmas our daughter gave Cindy and I tickets to go and see the Auto Club 400 Nascar race in Fontana, California. She again has also added her services of staying with Cindy's Dad Ray while we are there.

And guess what? The race date is this coming Sunday!

My shirt, hat, seat cushion, and earmuffs.

We have some of our swag together already, including the new ear protection that I picked up for the both of us. I suggest that if you go to an event like this to make sure that you take some type of ear protection because not only is this a fun event, it is also LOUD!!

I have enjoyed car racing since I was just a kid, some of you will remember drivers like Bobby Allison and Coo Coo Marlin, and later on Rusty Wallace, Bill Elliott, and Dale Earnhardt. These were some of the men that I kept up with and pulled for back in the day. Now I pull for Kevin Harvick and have been really keeping my eye on Chase Elliott, the son of "Awesome Bill from Dawsonville" Bill Elliott, this kid is a respectable young man who you would have a hard time not liking.

These names may not mean anything to you, but racing is really a lot more than just cars going around in a circle. It is a passion to a lot of families, a livelihood, a tradition. Racing is what feeds a whole lot of people.

Behind every race car driver there is a team of mechanics who build their engines, a team of fabrication guys who piece their cars together, a car chief who makes sure everything is done to specifications, and a crew chief who calls the shots on race day to his team of guys who jump over the wall during pit stops.

These crew members change the tires and clean the windshield, fill the gas tank and make needed adjustments to the car, they do all of this in less than 15 seconds in a synchronized manner that will impress anyone who appreciates hard work and determination shown through teamwork, the reason for this is to get their driver back out on the track faster than 35 to 40 other teams, who are at the same time attempting to do the same thing.

Then you have the fans who fill the stands to cheer their favorite drivers onto victory, and not just the driver, because behind every driver there is a whole team, a family...Is there a point to this story? Not really, I'm just really excited to know that Cindy and I will be there for the Auto Club 400 this Sunday. The couple in the 17th row just before the start/finish line, we will be the ones with the brand new matching earmuffs.

Blurred race cars running over 200mph (Photo Source)

We will also be the ones squinting to see if we can pick out our favorite car as he goes by at 200mph. If you tune in and see us waving at the camera this Sunday, yes we are waving at you.

Which sporting events do you enjoy?

WFW - If I didn't know better

2018-03-14T09:09:00.000-07:00

Words for Wednesday is a fun challenge for everyone to participate in, just take the list of prompts and use some or all of them any way you want, the purpose of the challenge is for us to write something and have fun doing it.

Delores from Mumblings is providing the words this month, if you join in please drop by and let Delores know so we can all enjoy your offerings too.

This weeks word prompts are:

caper, scarper, trash, bedlam, seams, penny whistle
and/or
glum, charmed, pork, glossy, pride, trench.

If I didn't know better

The newspaper headlines would claim the CAPER went off almost unnoticed, the vault in the bank was emptied out over the weekend without a sound and with armed guards posted right outside the door.

The BEDLAM of activity began once the bank manager opened the vault on Monday morning and found that the contents of the safe were gone, it was actually cleaned to the SEAMS with a hole neatly opened in the middle of the floor, leaving an exit for all of the money to SCARPER away.

The GLUM looks on the guards faces as they were being questioned by the FBI showed their embarrassment, the PRIDE in a job well done for them had disappeared down that TRENCH also.

Investigators flooded the vault lifting fingerprints and taking both GLOSSY color and black and white photos of every angle of the crime. The bank robber in this case was definitely a CHARMED soul because he had vanished without a trace of DNA or evidence left behind.

"Johnny!!, it's time to come in now!", "Awww Mom, can't I play a little longer?", "Come on in now, and bring your little sister too, I have your favorite PORK and beans already on the table!"

Johnny walked slowly towards the back door with his sister skipping behind playing a tune on her PENNY WHISTLE. "After lunch you and Lucy will go out back and clean up that mess you've made!" Mom said to Johnny "Just look at all that TRASH blowing in the yard, if I didn't know better I'd say it was money laying out there."

Johnny grinned as he looked back over his shoulder out across the yard.

Because it's my job

2018-03-10T06:51:00.000-08:00

Coffee first thing in the morning is my go to drink, nothing fancy just a mug of plain old black coffee, but if I forget to flip the switch on the coffee maker then my coffee drinking routine is delayed, thus ruining coffee being ready when Cindy's Dad and I sit down for breakfast.

Cup of coffee (Image Source)

"Jimmy! You forgot to start the coffee!" And why is Cindy yelling at me? Because starting the coffee is my job. I get up before she does and she makes breakfast as soon as she gets up, if Cindy starts the coffee when she starts breakfast then the coffee isn't ready, if I start the coffee when I get up then it is. Besides she does make the coffee every night before she goes to bed so all I have to do is flip the switch, and she doesn't even drink coffee herself, so with that said I have no problem with starting the coffee each morning being my job.

Unloading the dishwasher is something else that I do, and why do I do this you may be asking, Because it's my job... Just how did I get myself saddled with a job like this? Every night when we come in from our computer time, the dishwasher is finished and Cindy walks right past it and sits down, I open up the dishwasher and begin my wifely duty of putting the dishes away.

You won't hear me complain though, because the first thing is we only run the dishwasher once every day, and second is Cindy cleans up after each meal and loads the dishwasher, this includes breakfast, lunch, supper, and any random snacks we may enjoy during the day. After supper she starts the dishwasher and it is ready for me to unload when I shut my computer down.

I could make a stand and refuse to unload it, but then again she is doing all the cooking and the loading of the dishwasher, and with that said I'm not ashamed to admit that I unload the dishwasher because it's my job.

One of my sons told a joke a number of years ago:

"How many men does it take to sweep the floor?"
"I don't know, how many?"
"None, because that's women's work!"

Woman sweeping while man watches (Image Source)

I don't necessarily think that is too funny! Because I sweep the floors in our house, I mop them too, and I even run the vacuum...Why? You may be asking, even though you already know the answer! Because it's my job!

Cindy does the cleaning and dusting of all the knick knacks and pretty pretties, the wiping down of the counters and stove, you know all of the above the floor stuff. I'm a whole lot safer cleaning the floors than her collection of pretty things, and whether you see doing the floors as women's work or not, I do them in our house because...Ok everybody all at once! "Because it's your job!"

I could go on and list a lot more things, like cleaning toilets while she cleans the rest of the bathroom, or folding sheets while she is on the other end folding the opposite side, or putting away the laundry that she washed and dried.

When I was still working, Cindy did the majority of the household chores without ever asking me for any help, except for taking the trash out, yes taking the trash out is definitely my job and always has been for some reason. I never asked why, I just figured the answer was..."Because it's your job!"

Photo by Marie-Sophie Tékian on Unsplash

But since I've retired it's only fair that I pitch in and help out around the house. The thing is, there are jobs in each of our households that have to be consistently done, some of them you always did and others were your spouses responsibility, while other tasks were always shared. End result is whether you like it or not, they still have to be done.

I don't really mind helping out with housework because I know somewhere within the fine print of the marriage contract, there is a line that reads "Jimmy you will do these things, Because it's your job!"

What is your least favorite household chore?

To print or not to print

2018-03-06T06:27:00.000-08:00

How often do you use a printer? It seems that it's all or nothing for us, our printer either sits there for weeks on end without being used, or Cindy finds a bazillion recipes to print out while I sit there with the photo paper waiting my turn to print out a picture.

A couple of weeks ago Cindy found a recipe she liked and hit print, the printer made the normal printer start up sounds and started pulling the paper in, suddenly there was a loud rattling sound like gears being stripped, and the paper wadded up sideways from being pulled by only one side.

Our printer being bad.

Paper jam! I was thinking, so I pulled the paper out, looked inside, and loaded new paper into the tray only to get the same result, "rattle, rattle, rattle, clank, clank, bruzzzz"

I did this like three times while opening all the little doors and cubby holes and looking into them with my flashlight, only to see nothing wrong but also not able to get the printer to work. This printer/copier/scanner is about nine years old so I made the hard decision to declare our printer dead, I pulled the plug and slowly closed it's lid with a sideways slide of my hand and stood in silence as the sounds of the printer shutting down slowly stopped.

"We need to pick up a new printer next time we go to town" I told Cindy, and a week later we still hadn't bought one, but I had bought us both a new set of ear muffs to protect our hearing when we go to the race this year, I got them online from our favorite site that sells everything from A to Z and these were supposed to be top notch.

Well folks in my opinion they looked like cheap plastic and hardly blocked any noise at all; they looked nothing like their picture. I made a phone call and was told to place them back into their original package and they would send me a return label to attach to the box, all I had to do was mail them back at no cost to me, and my money would be refunded.

"So you are going to mail out the return label to me today?" I asked, "No Sir, I have already emailed it to you, all you have to do is print it out and then tape it to the box." the representative explained to me. "Perfect, I'll get it mailed back today then." I said and hung up the phone.

This is when I realized that I'm not going to be printing anything with our dead printer.

A trip to the Best place to Buy computer stuff and more money than I had planned on spending later, we brought home a new printer/copier/scanner. With our old printer we were able to print from either Cindy's computer, or mine with no problem. I removed the old printer and hooked up the new one, added the ink cartridges, and loaded the paper, Cindy's computer sits next to the printer so I clicked print to get a test page from her computer first, this new printer is really quick and quiet also, it worked like a charm.

I stepped across to my desk and my computer is not recognizing a printer other than the old one at all, so I uninstalled the old printer program and again searched for the new one...nothing, my computer was now no longer seeing Cindy's computer either, so now I am troubleshooting the networking and home group settings, while trying to load the new printer too. A couple hours later and it was time to shut down my computer for the night.

A peek at my desk while I search for printer help.

The next day I had the same luck, now I am searching the web for a solution. I have a whole group of pages opened and am about ready to pull my hair out when Cindy gives our son Tim a call. Tim answers the phone and Cindy says, "Hey Tim, we have a new printer, Jimmy's having trouble, here talk to him." And then she handed me the phone

About forty five minutes later, after Tim walked me through the settings on both of our computers, check this box, unclick that one, write down that new password, now add it right there on the other computer, put your right foot in, take your right foot out, put your right foot in. All of a sudden everything started working like it is supposed to. I thanked him profusely and would have given him a big ole Man Hug if he had been here, our work was done so I gave the phone back to Cindy, and it was again time to shut down our computers for the night.

The next evening (three days later) I started cleaning up the cardboard and Styrofoam from our computer room. I picked up the old printer and started to stuff it into the printer box when I heard a rattle, thinking it was a loose gear I turned the printer upside down and shook it, a white piece fell to the floor followed by a red one, I shook the printer again and there was still something loose inside, so after a few minutes of opening all the doors and cubby holes and doing some more strategic shaking one more white piece fell out.

Good & Plenty Candy (Image Source)

I picked up the red and white pieces from the floor and handed them to Cindy, she looked at the pieces in her hand then over to the Good and Plenty candy box on her desk, and back to the candies in her hand, Oops was all she had to say.

While looking for something on her desk Cindy had evidently sat her candy box on top of the printer, and before she had a chance to pick it back up three little Good and Plenty's took it upon themselves to attempt an escape. Rather than jumping off the front side onto the floor like any normal escaping candy piece would have done, this trio of rogue Bad and Sneaky candy pieces jumped off the backside, thus trapping themselves inside the printer.

As you have now figured out, I have two printers that work just fine; one is just older and sweeter, and oh yeah, Cindy is no longer going to use the printer as a table...

What is your favorite snack while playing on the computer?

Oddball symptoms

2018-03-04T05:57:00.000-08:00

There was a man raking leaves in his backyard who decided to go inside and rest for awhile. He picked up a book and settled into a comfortable chair to read, suddenly he began to have pain behind both ears, a pain described as cold ice picks being shoved into both of his ears, when he could no longer stand the pain, and being prone to migraines in the past he went and took a hot shower, and planned to lay down with a pillow over his head to rest until the pain went away...

A woman with a toothache, went to see her dentist complaining of a terrible pain in an upper molar on the right side of her mouth, after an examination and completely going over the x-rays of her mouth there was nothing found to be wrong, but the pain was still there...

A man doing a treadmill stress test at his cardiologists office suddenly gets a leg cramp in his upper thigh and asks to stop for a minute, thinking it strange that his muscle cramped up after barely starting his walk on the treadmill...

What do these three people have in common? Some of you already know the answer, but for those who don't I'll give you a minute to contemplate the three scenarios, and I want you to know, all three situations really happened...

Ok I guess that's close enough to a minute so here goes.

All three of these people were having a major heart attack, yes I said major, there was no chest pain, no left arm going numb, and no falling out on the floor.

Pay attention to your heart (Photo Source)

The first man was me. This heart attack was On the ninth of January 2014, Ray stopped me from taking a nap and took me to the emergency room instead, there I got to ride in a speeding ambulance with lights and sirens blaring to the Cath lab in Palm Springs, California where a blood clot causing a 100% blockage was removed, and a stent was installed, the Cardiologist said "I'm surprised you made it here, you should have died at home!"

Less than a year later the artery that contained this stent completely plugged up, plugged to the point that it could not be repaired during my open heart surgery. I had suffered another heart attack! One they call a Silent Heart Attack and now my only option was bypass surgery which repaired everything except for one area of my heart which is now nothing but a mass of non working muscle, this lead me to having a defibrillator installed due to the low ejection rate that my heart now produces... Now I have a new lease on life and also a safety belt that we call "The Bentley" installed in my chest, waiting to give me a shock if need be, seriously folks Life is Good.

The woman after leaving the dentists office went to the emergency room where she too was found to be suffering a major heart attack. She survived her cardiac episode as well, in spite of her non textbook symptoms.

The man on the treadmill obviously was in good hands at his Cardiologists office, his heart attack was spotted as soon as the leg cramp began, but had he been anywhere else when he got this cramp in his thigh, who is to say what the outcome could have been.

Weird symptoms? Yes, Textbook symptoms? Not even. So how do you know if you are having a cardiac event?

Symptoms of a heart attack can include; Pain or pressure in your chest. This pain or discomfort can travel to your back, down your arm or up the side of your neck into the jaw. You can feel like you are full, have a feeling of heartburn or indigestion, you may have a choking feeling and actually get sick to your stomach and vomit, these are just a few of the symptoms that you can have.

Symptoms of a myocardial infarction, coronary occlusion, or a heart attack in men is described as a crushing pain in the chest, but sometimes women describe their symptoms more like tight muscles, stress, heartburn, or even asthma like symptoms. A woman's chest may feel tight with unexplained nausea, cold sweats or unexplained dizziness and shortness of breath.

These are some of what they call the textbook symptoms and it is important that we pay attention to any of these and take action quickly! Delaying getting these symptoms checked can be deadly! The sooner you get help the better your chances of survival are. Get yourself to the ER or better yet call 911 or your emergency medical services.

Now there are oddball symptoms like my ear pain, my cardiologist tells me that I am his poster child for strange symptoms, and every visit rather than first ask me if I have had any chest tightness he asks "How are your ears Jimmy?" and my answer to this question is what lead to my latest stress test.

In addition to everything we have talked about for heart attack symptoms, be sure to remember the oddball symptoms also.

Some people have ear and molar pain, and even leg cramps. But seriously anything unusual that is not normal for you should be checked out. It's much better to get checked out for nothing than to ignore a cardiac event and to never wake up at all.

From the heart

2018-03-02T07:21:00.000-08:00

The new nurse called me back for my stress test on Tuesday; I guess that we should call her nurse J since she's not really new, just new to me.

She took me into a room and relieved me of my shirt, in other words she had me take my shirt off. Then she shaved each spot where the electrodes were to connect.

I'm not sure how many electrodes she was going to connect but she had a whole box full, and I was gaining more and more bald spots by the minute, I could see that there would be no hairy electrodes involved here today. I asked her if she was going to use all of the electrodes in the box, and she just laughed and continued shaving random spots on me, one line left a stripe going from mid chest to my hip.

She shaved a spot on each wrist and then on the inside of my left leg below the knee. Then she started sticking electrodes onto my body and my limbs. Nurse J was adding a gel to each electrode before sticking it onto my chest, I said to her "Please tell me that gel is not superglue!" she just grinned and replied "We can't have them falling off now can we!"

She placed one on my right wrist actually covering the bloody spot where I was now bleeding from her rogue razor attack, which she replaced with a band-aid when the electrodes were removed. Cindy told her that cutting my wrist was the razors fault not hers, needless to say Cindy likes her, and I have to say that I do too.

After this we went into another room where I had an electrocardiogram aka EKG, and then an echocardiogram aka Echo.

Not really me (Photo Source)

And then the stress test began, my target heart rate was to be at least 139 beats per minute, my heart rate just stayed steady, after five minutes and speeding up the treadmill and raising the incline I was still below 90, we never hit that 139 BPM heart rate until about 10 minutes later and I was hanging onto the bar with all my might and my feet were moving faster than I knew they could move, I felt like the road runner cartoon, you know with feet moving so fast that they looked like a circular blur.

Seriously I was starting to stagger and stumble at this speed, running is not something that I can pull off very well. "How is the speed Jimmy? Is this too fast for you?" The technician had the nerve to ask. I would think that me sliding back to where I was barely holding onto the bar with my outstretched arms, and leaping step to step like a toddler being dragged down the sidewalk by his Momma who is holding a bag of groceries on one hip and dragging the kid behind with the other hand, rushing to get home before the ice cream melts. This sight should have answered that question. But I just had to breathlessly gasp, "Nope, I'm good!" At the same time Cindy shouts, "I think you should stop Jimmy!"

Thank God about that time I hit my target heart rate and everything was shut down. Suddenly I was back on the table for another Echo and another series of EKGs. To make a long story short, I did have symptoms of pressure in my ears and a pressure headache.

My Cardiologist doubled the dose of one of my heart medications, and gave me the required lecture on using nitroglycerin properly when symptoms arise. I have a follow-up appointment in a month to discuss the results of the medication changes and hopefully will have no more symptoms before then, and if my symptoms do get any more frequent or worsen, then it's off to the Cath lab for an Angioplasty...

Until then I'm not going to worry about it, because in my heart I know that I am in good hands.

Stressing it

2018-02-28T14:49:00.000-08:00

Both Ray (Cindy's Dad) and I had an appointment with the Cardiologist at the same time Monday morning, and while waiting in the packed waiting room a nurse that I had never seen before stepped out and called a patient back.

Nurse calling patients Photo Source

"That must be a new nurse, I don't recall ever seeing her before." I mentioned, and Cindy replied "She is the one who will take you back for your stress test."

Jimmy: Stress test! I didn't know that I was having a stress test today!

Cindy: You're not having a stress test today.

Jimmy: You said that I was.

Cindy: I was talking about mine.

Jimmy: I didn't know that you had an appointment today too!

Cindy: Appointment? I don't have an appointment, What are you talking about?

Jimmy: You said that you had an appointment for a stress test!

Cindy: Nooo I said that was the nurse who took me back for my stress test last year!

Jimmy: No Darling, that is not what you said, you said one of us was getting a stress test.

Cindy: Your a doofus Jimmy!

Ray: What! Who's having a stress test?

About that time our favorite nurse, nurse M called Ray back, I first told you all about nurse M back in my post See you in six. We seriously like her a lot now. She lead us to a room with Cindy and I following along, I was pushing Ray in his wheelchair and making small talk with nurse M at the same time.

Checking blood pressure

She said that they were so busy that she hadn't even had time for her coffee yet, and when I tried to send her out for coffee she just laughed and started taking Ray's vital signs for his chart.

I said to nurse M, "When you go back out to the waiting room to call me in, just remember that I am already back here." She just looked at me for a minute and said, "You have an appointment today too?" I told her that I did and she said, "You get out that door and step on that scale so I can weigh you!"

I scrambled out into the hallway and asked nurse M while she was taking my weight if she was going to put me into another room. "No, I am going to go and get your chart and make it easy on myself, it's easier on me if I keep all of you together in the same room!" I'm still not sure if that was a compliment or not.

All of Ray's numbers were good and his part of the visit went really well, nurse M brought in the machine that they use to check my defibrillator with, she looked at me and said "You know the drill, why isn't your shirt unbuttoned yet?", as I unbuttoned my shirt I said "Well nurse M, I didn't want to start before you were ready. What would you have thought if you came in before it was my turn and found me doing this?" At this time I opened my shirt widely and flashed my bare chest at her.

She laughed and began sticking the electrodes into place "You sure have a hairy chest," she said "Your wife is going to enjoy yanking these off of you!" Nurse M and Cindy got a bigger laugh out of this than I did. Because I have sat and watched hairy electrodes being thrown into the trash one at a time while I gained new bald spots on my chest.

All of my numbers looked good the only drawback was some minor symptoms that I have been having. "I'm tempted to take you over to the cath lab, but I don't want to jump the gun yet." My Cardiologist said.

Will see another nurse tomorrow.

Guess what I was immediately scheduled for the next morning...Yes you got it right, a stress test. I guess I'll get to meet that new nurse after all.

And I still do too

2018-02-25T11:49:00.000-08:00

On the 24th day of July in 1997 I started wearing a yellow gold wedding band placed on the ring finger of my left hand by my wife Cindy. I have worn this ring every single day since then only taking it off once, after losing an argument with a nurse as I was going in for open heart surgery, I trusted only Cindy to guard this ring for me until I was cleared to wear it again.

Lately my gold band has started to get thin, and also egg shaped from my years of wearing it. I guess that wearing it every day is not that easy on yellow gold, or maybe it's just me that's not easy on the equipment.

My new penny and wedding band from Cindy.

This Valentine's day Cindy gave me a 1997 penny made into a keyring, with "I still do" and the date of our wedding 7/24 engraved on it, and with a heart around the year 1997 on the penny.

Along with this penny she also presented me with a new wedding band, so I can save my original gold band from becoming so thin that it breaks.

When we got married the choices for wedding bands was either white or yellow gold, I wanted a yellow gold band and that is what we chose. It wasn't long before my ring was scratched and scuffed and no longer new looking, but I still wore it everyday.

We had to replace Cindy's set not long ago and now our original bands and her first engagement ring are stored safely away together under lock and key... Yes the original ones are still that important to us.

I now know that yellow gold, although a preferred precious metal, is not as durable of a metal as is other choices available today.

Stainless, Sterling, and Colbalt are nice choices for a bright shiny look, and also less expensive than the precious metals.

Titanium and Tungsten are a lot more durable and come in a gray finish that I think is a more "manly" look, I'm not sure if you would agree, but I like it.

There are a lot more choices for wedding bands available now, a lot more choices than just the precious metals and the ones that I mentioned above. We all know and love the white and yellow gold and have worn these for years, but a lot of other metals are a lot more durable and look just as good.

My new tungsten wedding band. Love the beveled edges

Cindy made an excellent choice in my opinion. My new band is a comfort fit Tungsten that is resistant to scratching, breaking, or getting bent out of shape. Cindy really looked ahead on this one and got me something that is going to last a very long time, I won't be taking this one off either...

And with that said, I still do too.

What is your favorite metal for a wedding band, and did you ever replace your original band or set for a new one?

A night in my bedroom

2018-02-23T01:00:00.000-08:00

"Jimmy do you want to take her out? Jimmy, JIMMY!, JIMMY!!", I hear Cindy's voice saying as I slowly wake up, Man I was sleeping hard, I roll over and look at the clock and the red numerals staring at me through the dark look like a fuzzy 3:23am, 3:24, JIMMY!!, "What is it Cindy?" I ask, "Dixie is crying I think she needs to go out." She tells me.

"Oh Ok" I say as I throw the covers back and sit up on the side of the bed, I have learned the hard way to sit up for a few minutes before I stand. Dixie is now snuggling up against me wagging her tail like she is really happy that I am there.

Dixie sleeping on her pillow right where my pillow should be.

Yes folks Dixie sleeps with us, usually at the foot of our bed, that is unless she gets cold then she moves up above my head, which puts my feet to hanging off the foot of the bed, but that is a whole different story.

"Don't fall" Cindy yells as my knee hits the floor, "OK, I won't" I say as I stand back up and feel for Dixie to lift her down to the floor. I hold onto the bed and let my hand slide across the top of the footboard of our bed, after that I can reach across and touch the door to the bathroom, where once on the other side and after waiting for Dixie and closing the door I can "Let there be light".

Dixie and I go to the back door where I unlock the fortress and let her outside to go forth and pee.

Photo by Nancy Guth on Pexels

But instead she stands there and admires the stars in the sky, that is until I remind her why we are now outside, she is fourteen so sometimes a little reminder is helpful, heck sometimes I need a reminder as to why I am just standing there.

After making her "pit stop" aka going pee we come back inside where instead of turning left to our bedroom, she turns right towards the kitchen where she drinks what sounds like about a gallon of water, I guess you have to replace what you let out.

Now I'm trying to coax her back to our bedroom, but instead she heads towards Ray's (Cindy's Dad) bedroom door to check on him. Ray gets up anytime from about 2am to 4am and sometimes Dixie decides to get up with him, but right now there is no light showing underneath his door, so to cut down on time I lift Dixie and carry her back to our room, I shut off the bathroom light and stumble into the darkness of our bedroom where the only light is the red numerals saying that it is now 3:48am.

I place Dixie back onto the bed and it is then that I realize that I too should have made a "pit stop", so I make a u-turn and feel my way back to the bathroom door. Folks I am terrible at finding my way around in the dark, but out of the goodness of my heart, I have practiced maneuvering my way into and out of our bedroom without turning on the lights, I do this for ~~Cindy's sleep health~~, ~~not to wake my bride~~, ~~for my own health~~, simply because it's easier not to wake her, I heard the line on TV once "Don't wake her, she'll maul you like a rabid wolverine!"...yes folks I'm scared of that possibility...

Seriously though she can walk throughout our whole house without ever turning on a light, myself I figure there is a reason that I pay the electric bill, and that is to keep me from snagging my toe on the furniture, or ending up walking unnecessarily into things, or even worse ending up walking into the wall in the dark. Yes folks normally I have no problem turning on the lights, or leaving them on. Except for at night in our room, I try my best to leave the light off when I get up, because Cindy works hard taking care of her Dad, so I do my best to let her sleep.

Once I shut off the bathroom light and start feeling my way back around our bed, Cindy says "Dixie is crying again, you want me to get her?" "No" I say, "I'm already up." So again I lift her off the bed, stumble my way to the bathroom door and wait for Dixie, I close the door, turn on the light and make my way to the back door where she is standing, I once again unlock the fortress and allow Dixie out into the backyard where she stands admiring the stars.

"Come on Dixie, What are you doing now?" I ask as she comes back inside and heads for the kitchen. I leave her this time to wait for Ray and I head back to our bedroom listening to the lapping sounds of Dixie drinking water, I have learned from past experiences that she is now going to plant herself against Ray's bedroom door until he gets up.

Photo by Alexander Possingham on Unsplash

I shut off the bathroom light, step inside our dark bedroom, and feel my way back around the bed. Just as I sit down and prepare to lay down Cindy asks "Do you want for me to turn on the light?", "It's a little late now, I'm already back in bed, and I didn't want to wake you!" I say to her. "Oh it's OK, I was already awake." She tells me. "Already awake! Then why did you wake me up? You could have taken Dixie out, yourself!" I point out to her.

Cindy then says to me, "Just look at the time Jimmy, you should really try and get some sleep." I could almost feel her smiling in the dark.

WFW - Always a target

2018-02-20T16:48:00.000-08:00

This month our Words for Wednesday is provided by our friend River over at Drifting through life.

The purpose of the words is to encourage us to write a story, poem, or whatever. Simply pick some of the words or all of the words and then go by River's blog and let her know so we can all enjoy what you have written.

This week's words are:

refocusing, theatrically, unimaginable, olive oil, footrest, relieved
and/or:
roughly, mythology, disconnected, expansive, campfire, singing

My story this week targets Targeted Advertising

Always a target

Online advertising? Some of these THEATRICALLY designed ads are really a pain in the...

I really feel violated, especially after researching a product on our EXPANSIVE world wide web, and all of a sudden every page I go to after that has a banner ad for the exact same product that I was looking at. Targeted advertising is what they call it and to me this is ROUGHLY the same practice as the telemarketers who continue to dial your phone number over and over, even after you have asked for your number to be removed or have added your phone number to the "Do Not Call" list. It's UNIMAGINABLE to think that this may be where some of the telemarketers get your number.

Stopping these online targeted ads is not as simple as kicking back with your feet propped upon your favorite FOOTREST, nor as easy as sitting around a CAMPFIRE holding hands while SINGING Kumbaya and telling fables and fairy tales. But actually getting away from the ads completely is indeed a fairy tale.

Finding the actual place to help get you DISCONNECTED from these targeted advertising nightmares is supposed to be as simple as tapping on the little sideways triangle at the top of the ad, and then selecting the ad choices to opt out of those targeted ads, my problem is figuring out how to hit the triangle without tapping the ad itself.

Targeted Ads are just like a dart thrown at you.

This can be done, but with my hand/eye coordination, the size of my fingers compared to the size of that little triangle, and the closeness of the links, my accomplishing this is sometimes a feat straight out of Greek MYTHOLOGY. And once there most of the time the page opened is more confusing than the ad.

Blocking the targeted ads is possible by opting out through links like the Network Advertising Initiative, or Web Choices. You have to do this on each of your devices and computer too, but the bad thing is when you clean out the stored cookies on your computer or device after that, you have to again go through the process from start to finish, because you are now a target once again.

REFOCUSING the ads is really all you can do, the ads don't go away only the targeted ads. Now rather than seeing the exact same shoe or noise cancelling headphones that you were looking at, now the ads have adjusted to every thing from OLIVE OIL, to those yogurts that help you ladies find relief within a week, I wouldn't be surprised to see a targeted ad that claims drinking castor oil can help a man to get RELIEVED a whole lot quicker than the yogurts.

I'm not suggesting that you drink castor oil, but if you hate targeted ads like I do, I suggest that you opt out through sites like I mentioned earlier, and don't download anything because that's a whole other problem.

Not necessarily a food blog

2018-02-19T00:30:00.000-08:00

First off all of you know that this is not necessarily a food blog, although we do like food and have been known to talk about it, Cindy and I have been known to sometimes review restaurants that we love, and sometimes even have a Mixed Review on those that only half of us like.

Cindy and Jimmy's sometimes mixed reviews

On my last post Guinea pigs...maybe? I mentioned an egg casserole that Cindy's Uncle Larry thought was fabulous even though his wife had never even made it yet. But to her credit she did possess the recipe.

I have been completely overwhelmed with requests for this recipe since that post, and to not disappoint the both of you who asked, here is my interpretation of Cindy's newly acquired recipe from how I took it, and also the actual recipe in Cindy's words as read from her Aunt Midges newly acquired recipe card.

And since Cindy has never made it yet I have no problem sharing the same recipe that Midge had never made before she cooked it for us. Because I am here to tell you that it was really good, and the recipe looks really simple even for a food taster/not food cooker like myself.

After I had to get down onto my knees and beg for Cindy to share her new recipe before she had tried it out for herself. I was sure that she would gladly give it to me, but at first she said No, there is no way I'm sharing this recipe so soon, but when I said Valerie asked about it and then Patti also wanted to know if we would share, Cindy said "Why didn't you say that in the first place!" And told me where she had the recipe secretly hidden right there in plain view. I hate to admit that I had looked for the recipe earlier when she was gone to town, but I never thought to look right there in plain sight.

Here is my take on what to do with this recipe:

Hearty Breakfast Egg Bake according to Jimmy:

First thing you do is to gather up the fixins, the day before you want to serve this dish.

You will need about a pound and a half of bulk sausage or ground turkey, 3 cups of thawed out frozen hash browns, 2 cups of shredded cheddar cheese, 8 eggs, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and about 3/4 cup of canned milk.

Be careful to not overcook the meat

Now you take the meat and throw it in a skillet, cook it up till it looks good to you and I'd drain off any grease. Now you put the cooked meat in a baking dish. I'm not much on hash browns but they are really good here, so this is where you layer the hash browns and cheese on top of the meat.

Take everything else and whisk it all together, you can get creative here with extra ingredients if you want, but I have been told to follow recipes the first time and adjust the next time, but I like green chilies so I'm tempted to add some into the mixture. Now you pour this mixture into the baking dish and place it into the refrigerator and leave it right there until morning.

The next morning or afternoon you take the dish out of the fridge and set it on the counter for at least half an hour before cooking it. Don't be tempted to cook this dish cold! Cindy has suggested something about an explosion of cold egg if you do this, I don't know if she is kidding or not but I don't think it's worth getting egg on your face to find out, and you have waited since yesterday anyways so you should be able to make it another thirty minutes. Just set it on the counter and walk away.

After the proper wait time you now uncover the dish and place it into the oven. Cook it at 350 for a little less than an hour, or until it looks good, you can check it with knife and when the blade comes out clean and not slimy or wet when you poke it into the dish, this means it's done.

Now let it cool on top of the stove or on the counter for at least ten minutes before cutting it, it should be ready after you place it on the table and gather everyone around, you know just getting everyone sat down at the table will take more than ten minutes.

This is supposed to serve 8, but you know as well as I do this all depends on the portion sizes, and how many helpings everyone takes.

Now for those of you who want the proper version that Cindy provided, this is what Cindy's recipe looks like.

Egg Casserole ready to eat.

Hearty Breakfast Egg Bake

Ingredients:

1 1/2 pound - Bulk pork sausage / or Ground Turkey

3 cups - frozen shredded Hash brown potatoes (thawed)

2 cups - Shredded cheddar cheese

8 - Eggs

1 can - Cream of mushroom soup (10 3/4 oz)

3/4 cup - Evaporated milk

Directions

Cook Sausage or Ground Turkey, and transfer to a greased 13" x 9" x 2" baking dish.

Sprinkle the meat with the hash browns and cheese.

Whisk the remaining ingredients together and pour over the top.

Cover and refrigerate overnight.

The next day when you are ready to begin the baking process:

Remove from refrigerator 30 minutes before baking.

Bake uncovered at 350 degrees for 45 to 50 minutes. It is done when a knife inserted comes out clean.

Let stand 10 minutes before cutting.

Yield: 8 servings.

Now for the best part, serve it up and enjoy!

Cindy also was the one who suggested adding green chilies, onions, or other similar ingredients to taste as an option.

I hope you enjoy the recipe and if I were you I'd most likely use Cindy's recipe over mine, because as I said earlier I'm more of a food taster than a food cooker.

Guinea pigs...maybe?

2018-02-16T17:43:00.003-08:00

Cindy's Uncle Larry (Ray's Brother) invited us over to his house for brunch; his wife evidently has this fabulous recipe for an egg casserole that she wanted to make for us.

We were already supposed to go over to Larry's for this brunch twice before, but Ray had gotten sick and we rescheduled, then Ray ended up in the hospital, and we had to postpone again. Now that he is home and everything is going well we have once again gotten the invitation from Larry.

"Egg Casserole?" Ray asked, "I've never heard of such a thing. Is that kind of like a custard?" Larry just shook his head and laughed before answering.

Ray giving Larry Bunny Ears in this photo taken a few years ago.

Now just to kind of set the mood a little, the relationship between Larry and Ray is your typical big brother/little brother loud and constant one upping, arrogant, and always poking fun at one another situation. Ray is the oldest brother in the family and about 10 years older than Larry his younger brother.

"Noooo! It's not like custard!" Larry exclaimed, "It's an egg casserole with sausage, cheese, and hell I don't know what's all in it but it's good!" Ray gave him a look and said, "If you don't know what goes into it then why do I want to come over there and eat it?" "I'm not making it!" Larry answered, "Midge is the one who wanted to cook it for you, and I promise it is really good."

Ray smiled at him and said, "Well alrighty then that's different, if Midge is making it, I'll be there." "OK then, we will see you all at the house Monday at 11am" Larry said as he walked towards the door to leave. Ray rubbed his stomach and said in a weak voice, "It all depends on how I'm feeling on Monday."

Larry stopped and turned to look at his brother and said. "Oh come on Ray! You are going to be there! We really need for you all to come over for this brunch, Midge has never made this egg casserole before and she wanted to fix it for you before she makes it for any of our friends..."

Ray told him that we'd be there "If I don't croak first!" Cindy leaned over to me and whispered, "I'm beginning to feel like we are being used as guinea pigs."

Monday came and it was time to load up and go to Larry and Midges, I attached the wheelchair ramp at the back door, and got Ray wheeled out to the car. On the way there Ray said to himself as much as to us, "I sure hope that this stuff they are making is good!" "It's going to be fine Dad." Cindy assured him.

Midge had prepared a brunch consisting of the Egg Casserole, Apple Muffins, and our choice of drinks. This is when the fun began.

Ray said to Larry "How about a Mojito! You know that you have been promising to make me a good Mojito!" "I never promised to make you a Mojito, I don't even know how to make one!" Larry replied. Ray asked him "Well why were you bragging at the house about how you made Mojitos for your friends and that they loved them, did you use all of your champagne on your friends?" Larry just looked at him blankly for a minute and then said "Champagne? You don't use champagne in Mojitos, you use Rum!"

I never claimed that we know how to mix drinks, so Cindy and I were just smiling and nodding our heads about this time, because Ray rarely drinks a beer much less anything else.

Ray: "You said that they were made with Champagne and Orange Juice and your friends loved them!"

Larry: "That's not a Mojito that's a Mimosa!"

Ray: "I don't care what you call it all I know is that you said you were going to make me one!"

Larry laughing as he was walking out of the room, "Let me see what I have, I'll be right back."

After a few minutes Larry came back into the room carrying a tall glass of what looked like Orange Juice and sat it in front of Ray. Ray smiled and said, "Finally, I got my Mimosa!" Larry laughed and said "I have to confess that I am out of champagne, so I substituted Vodka instead."

The apple muffins were great, and the egg casserole was so good that Cindy had three helpings and asked for the recipe. Ray never finished his Vodka laced Orange Juice aka screwdriver, nor did he ask for anything else either. On our way out the door to go home Larry spoke up loud enough so Ray could hear him "I am so glad that Ray liked the casserole, now we can make it for our real friends!" Ray just smiled and pretended that he never heard a word.

God you have to love family...Don't you?

Man of many hats

2018-02-11T15:43:00.000-08:00

I have always loved hats, not the kind of love where I always have to be wearing one but almost.

Jimmy with a hat at 2 years old.

One of the earliest pictures I have found of myself putting a hat onto my head is just before my second birthday, I shared this with you back in a post called Just turn around.

I have always owned a cowboy hat of one sort or another, you have seen several pictures of me wearing a straw hat. A straw cowboy hat is a must have for me, they not only looks good any time, they also keep the sun off of your face and neck when the sun is blaring down upon you.

Another must have is a waterproof leather or better yet an oilskin "Aussie" style hat that keeps your head dry when it rains. This hat also blocks the sun, works as a water bowl for your favorite four legged friend, and even looks good as a hat. I love this style of hat that has many names, Australian outback, pinch front, tear drop, and some even say that Indiana Jones wears this hat.

My old pinch front straw hat.

Whatever you call it this is the crease I prefer, even on my straw hats.

I have worn many hats over the years. I bought myself a purple and gold ball cap from my high school sometime around the beginning of my junior year, this was our school colors and it went really well with my matching purple windbreaker. I looked good and blended in at school very well, but stuck out like a sore thumb everywhere else I went.

When I first moved to New Mexico at age 18, all the guys around town were wearing "Worley Mills" ball caps. They were good looking hats and to look like everyone else I acquired myself a bright yellow and blue cap with the Worley Mills logo on the front, just like everyone else, I looked good in that cap for a short time.

I needed to find myself a job, because helping my dad out at a gas station just wasn't a good source for spending money. So I got up early one morning, showered and shaved, put on the nicest shirt and the best jeans that I owned and of course my good boots, on the way out the door I grabbed my new Worley Mills cap because it was the only clean cap that I had at the time.

In those days when looking for a job you didn't get on the internet to look for work, as I have been told is the proper way now, besides Al Gore hadn't invented the internet yet. There was no filling out applications online and waiting to be contacted, instead you actually went places and filled out job applications in person, by hand, and hoped for an immediate interview. If you didn't get an immediate interview then you went back another day to check on your application and to show interest in the job, a lot of times you were hired on the spot...

One place that I applied for a job was Farmers Co-op Elevators, this is a silo/elevator grain storage facility that also sells animal feed. After filling out an application and waiting for the manager to go over it, I was called into his office for an interview. I got the job! I was hired right then and there, I was to start immediately! The Manager liked me, I had done good! The manager handed me a brand spanking new Farmers Co-op ball cap, and then gave me my first task as a new employee, I had to dispose of my Worley Mills hat immediately, like right now before I left the office, because they were the direct competition, located right across the tracks.

This is the only time in my life that I have been hired by a company while displaying their competitors advertising, and also the last time that I applied for a job at a place I knew absolutely nothing about.

Jimmy holding Grandson wearing a straw hat.

I introduced my grandson to his first straw hat when he was just a little guy, and he wore that hat until it was too small for him, so next time we are together I have a date to take him hat shopping, just because I can.

Why do people wear hats? A good ball cap is designed to keep the sun out of your eyes, seriously folks the proper way to wear a ball cap is with the bill straight out in the front over your eyes, this the only way that the bill will do it's proper job of shading your face.

I have seen a lot of people now who wear their ball caps backwards, or sideways, or even cocked to the side just a bit with the bill over one eye, I guess this is either a choice for style or they woke up early and just didn't get their hats on straight that day.

Photo by Duffy Brook on Unsplash

Hats are also worn to help keep you warm in the wintertime, they help to hold the heat in your body by keeping your head warm, and as I've mentioned they also block the hot sun during the summertime to help keep you from overheating.

Hats are worn for fashion, style, as protection from the elements, and as personal protective equipment at work, and sometimes completely wrong just because you like it that way.

Over the years I have worn many hats, from hard hats on the job, ball caps to advertise my favorite school or racing driver, to straw hats for no reason at all. I just simply like a nice looking hat, and like my old jeans sometimes a cap that is old and broken in.

Do you wear a hat and what is your favorite style?