Spring Flowers

Good morning,
The remarkable thing about California was the year round sunshine and the abundance of water. That is coming to an end.
Here we have four seasons. At the moment things are in bloom and will continue to the end of summer. Then everything dries up and leaves fall. Forests are matted with leaves which decay. The season turns cold and cold rains turn to snow.

 Flowers my daughter and wife took care of this year.

Pesky Updates

Good Afternoon,

I reinstalled my computers system software this morning. I back up everything externally so there are only working files and photos on my computer which is a lot of hard drive space used.
Microsoft keeps updating and my computer gets clogged up with useless nagging (time to update). It takes a half a day to clear up files, back up files and replace the system. I always forget one password so I have to beg to be let back into the fold. When it is all done things are fast and nice (except for those pesky updates).

Pill Cocktail

Good morning,

I hear ringing in my ears, mom's TV and the trash pickup over at the bus garage. Being a school area trash pickup is about 3 times a week at the bus garage. 

My eyes are full of matter even though I washed my face with warm water (pollen). Our pool had too much chlorine in it yesterday so I had to replace some of the water yesterday afternoon; I will check it again this morning and if continues to be high I will replace more water.

I feel good mentally and physically; my age keeps me sore but I remember always being sore at Lock and Dam #50. I was always building muscle there. I loved working hard outdoors and near the water. I loved the water at the ocean and the cold streams in the mountains. I am glad we have a pool.

Another opinion about life in the United States in a photo at left. What happens to your body when all these hit bottom. I know I am guilty of taking a stomach pill, a vertigo pill and a old age vitamin pill plus my daily consumption of coffee.
Time to check the pool. The pool is better I may jump in this morning about 10.

Carlos Santana - Samba Pa Ti

Tolstoy and Morningstar

I was invited to come live at Tolstoy Farm by Sylvia Williams and I was invited to live at Morningstar Ranch by Ramon and Joanie.

Sylvia and Hew (back row center in white).
Some History about Tolstoy by Tim Miller

 Ramon and Joanie (bottom seated right)

Tiger Lily

Good Morning,

Well it is not going to rain today; it is clear outside here at home, the weather service reported wide spread fog but there is no fog here.

It is quiet and peaceful here where I sit and type. Fifteen years ago I was getting ready for work and dealing with whatever came my way during the day. Today I have no such need as I just relax and not worry at all. There are no armies coming over the hill with their swipes of anarchy.

I have been procrastinating in this last month by not doing what I am supposed to do. It is getting close to just being an ass and not doing what I am responsible to do on this planet. I have backed myself into a corner and I cannot seem to want to come out. I certainly wont be gay coming out but I will be free when I do.

Tiger Lily is sleeping right above me to my right and I hear whimpers coming from her. 

Checking the Pool

Good Morning,

I am outside on the at the moment. I have had grease or pollen in my eyes now for about a week; I constantly want to rub my eyes but I what will happen when I do.

Time to check the pool, I know it is cool; it was 76 degrees a couple of days ago; if it is 75 at this moment it will be about 80 this afternoon. Well the pool was 72, maybe OK for grandpa to clean the pool but a little too chilly to swim in.

I came in just now and washed the matter out of my eyes; they feel uncomfortable but it will just have to do.

Tijuana

I am not sure if this is the year my dad picked me up at my grandparents home.

He may of picked me up after my mother was declared dead which I think is 7 years. I was 3 when she went missing. So maybe in the photo I was about 11 and maybe living with them for less than a year. Sandy came after my dad's mom died; which would have been sometime in 1952.

Memorial Day

Good Morning,

67 degrees and rain this morning;I thought it would be clear today giving me a chance to mow. The grass had not grown much after my last mowing. But I am sure that the next time I mow the grasses will be high.

I feel good mentally and physically. Yesterday my right leg had a tingle in it early on (a sign to ease up and rest), today no tingle.

Today is Memorial Day a day I honor my mother's fight with my dad which she lost. My dad later showed up to care for me, no sign of my mom.

Divide and Conquer

Good Morning,

I have been working on NARFE Stuff this morning. I am a patriot, a vet and I have served my country very well. I have always been concerned about the elderly and how they were treated when I grew up in LA. Now that I am elderly I am concerned that our children do not give a rats ass about the elderly as they continually want the government to be smaller. Our government is only as big as our population; dictators, Kings and Queens have smaller governments. Look what happened when we gave the Iraq their freedom, anarchy prevailed and folks started choosing sides.

Our federal government has four parts. They are the Executive, (President and about 5,000,000 workers) Legislative (Senate and House of Representatives) and Judicial (Supreme Court and lower Courts) and Political Action Committees and Lobbyist.

The pool temperature was 68 Degrees.

41 Degrees This Morning

Good Morning,

It is cooler but without the breeze but 41 degrees is very close to a frost. I always planted my tomatoes in late May because the ground was good and warm by then but I do not know about this May as my pool has gotten cooler every day.

I feel good this morning; I used to post about how mom felt but mom got very sensitive about me speaking about her  so I stopped mentioning anything about her. Anyway I feel good mentally and physically. If you need to know about mom you will just have to call. We spent the day yesterday just loafing and then we went to mom's PT.

Chilly Outside

Good Morning,

It is hazy outside with a temperature of 49 degrees, we had to turn the heat up last night because the cold front blew in cold winds. It is comfortable now 72 degrees inside. I feel good mentally and physically, I am easing up on the caffeine. I had a pain in my lower intestine and I think the sensitivity to caffeine made it hurt.

I have plastic teeth, hearing aids and glasses; mom is a little more bionic than I with titanium bolts in her back and a titanium knee plus hearing aids and glasses (no plastic teeth).

Why would I have a dream about changing Turner Classic Movies with a game controller

Weed Puller

Good Morning,

After we got back from Paducah, I mowed; the lawn needed to be mowed it looked wild in a dandelion sort of way. I remember pulling up Dandelions with one of these when I was young

. Now they are part of the lawn. I do not want to pull one or kill one, they are there, just one of the grasses we have in Western Kentucky.

Bright Sun

Good Morning,

What would you expect on a day like this, mild temperatures, blue skies, bright sunshine? Yes it is pleasant in Western Kentucky at this time in our lives. How are you and where are you? Is it as pleasant a morning for you?

I feel good mentally but I am not sure physically; I will know more as the day progresses. It could be like a cold and pass.

Look at the sun, it is bright.

WEB

Good Morning,

I have been busy working on the websites this morning. They are tough but satisfying as to helping the public know what they need to know.

I noticed that the Federal government have cut back on it's information highway. It used to be 24/7 but now it is 8 hours per day Monday - Friday (no updates on the weekends).

Damp Kitty

Good Morning,

I feel good mentally but I have a lower bowel problem; mom says I am constipated but I do not know?

It has been raining everyday this past 3 days; I checked the rain gauge and it said 1  1/2 inches in the tube. I will measure it again about noon. 

The pool has cooled to about 75 degrees. The outside temperature is about 70 degrees and the inside temperature is about 72 degrees. I took the photo at left to show you the dampness and I looked in the photo and mom's kitty is coming home after a visit with our neighbor.

A Mile Stone

Good Morning,

Another morning, another milestone; I find that rather remarkable. Out of these eyes there is a particular point of view, with colors. I am very happy that at some point in time my parents love life was enough for me to be conceived. What happened after that was in their minds.

Mulch a Little

Good Morning,

It looks nice outside; Our Tiger Lilly came to the window and meowed. I thought she wanted in. No she wanted us to come out and play.

It rained yesterday so my mowing did not get done; today I will mow; yesterday I mulched a little. I do heavy layers of mulch. 

My father taught me how to make the soil fertile by using different types of soil, sand, clay, mulch, grass clipping, seed shells, limestone (salt size), cow manure and potting soil. You mix equal amount of each into a wheel barrow and mix. Keep meats out and vegetable scraps in (dogs will dig up meats). Make sure the manure has sat in a pile for a while and decayed a little. You can buy bags of each at most hardware stores or you can it at home by collecting what you have available.
0830
Went out to move my brush pile; I mowed a place to place it and I noticed that the grasses are too wet to mow, I will wait until 10 AM to mow; that will give the dew some time to leave the area a little.

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Monday Morning; I Wonder Why

Good Morning,

I feel good this morning mentally and physically; the world and god have been kind, I wonder why?

When you are young you wonder and the mind wanders. One place one religion gave me was, "God is Omnipotent". In our Catholic School it was explained to me what that word defined and during a search at home for the word other words came up. As in unrestricted, unlimited and it had visual light ray that went on and on to a distant point of light. We draw a star that way.

I noticed as a boy of  10 years of age that all the points were going back into infinity and I realized at some point I would have to draw a line or a point (reference point) as in:

-________________________________0________________________________+

You may notice that I drew the line and I placed the zero in the middle and you may notice that in each direction I can go on forever.

So I thought, where is God?

Was it I who placed the zero in the line or was it the figure that Michelangelo painted? Or was it in the Chalice, on the cross or the dove flying in the sky?

The lion and the lamb were in the garden of Eden and look there is the dove and the rays of the sun.

Different folks drew those illustrations and different folks had their personal point of view.

Could it be that everyone was right in their point of view? Is God Omnipotent? Listen I wrote those words and someone had a vision and said, "In the Beginning" and wrote those words.

And then someone wrote:

We the people of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defence, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

Where were their heads at?  I think in a great place where the bible was not far away; as were a lot of great books with a lot of great thoughts/ thinkers.

Mothers Day

Haha, right before that 2nd picture Talon's loose teeth crashed into Tasha's skull when she was trying to keep him from being wobbly, and his really loose teeth were totally bloody (we didn't get a pic of that). One of them may not last the night. Someone said they thought they saw his tooth on the ground, but it was still in his head, haha

The gang after a surprise visit.
Had fun.
Talon thought he lost a tooth.

On their way to a surprise Mothers Day Visit

Mother's Day

Good Morning,
Thinking about mom's.

Lived with mom from 1941 to 1944

My daughter's Mother in law, my daughter mom and my daughter.

My step mother Margie from 1950 to 1954?

My step mother Gladys  from 1954? 

Dad married Helen, I am not sure when?

Cloudy and Rain

Good Morning,

It is 67 degrees outside and 70 degrees inside our home. I feel good mentally and physically. I did change the oil and filter on my lawn tractor yesterday plus do some work on the websites. Mom went to PT then we had an afternoon meal at our town's Italian Grill.

I plan to go into the pool today even though rain is in our forecast; if it gets wild I will certainly leave the pool.

0845

At about 0900 I am hopping into the pool to place my steps and clean the bottom again. Hopefully the rain will still be a ways off. I checked the radar and it looks good (not much movement).

1130

I cleaned the pool and put in the steps, it was perfect.

Normal Existance

There is a particular reason to be redundant and normal on this blog; I offer nothing but the fact that this human being in a particular place on the planet earth is living in peace with my neighbors and in peace with my particular being myself.

There is nothing special about each days post but the post itself saying, “Good Morning”; nothing high nothing low. There is a book called the bible that starts out by saying,” In the beginning”. I am not going to say something creative or spectacular like that; all I am going to say is that I live in peace on a particular spot and tomorrow will be new and different but just the same. 

I am lucky or I just placed myself in a colorful area of the planet which makes it easy.

A Nice Visit

Good Morning,

It is warm outside, a little pink in the light gray sky. I feel good in this quiet; mentally and physically. Our daughter came by yesterday with a truckload of flowers to plant; she and mom planted the flowers and they also mulched a little plus planted two or three pots with flowers. I covered on lawn mower top with duck tape and put the tires back on our cart which I had to take to our local tire and repair shop. After all that work we went to lunch.

In the mail mom received a new Fire Stick which I put up on mom's TV; last night I showed mom most of the details on how it worked with her Kindle.
0930
I killed some poison ivy and duct taped my hood on my lawn tractor; it runs a lot better now.

Drinking

Good Morning,

It is 56 degrees here at home outside and 71 degrees inside our home. I feel good mentally and physically. At my grandmothers home in Pasadena my grandmother and grandfather did not drink nor my aunts living in our home. But my two uncles living there did drink and after work would come home quite drunk. My father drank his ale daily but seldom was drunk enough to notice. All the streets around LA you could see the winos around everywhere panhandling for a cheap bottle of wine. When I moved in with my dad he did have some card game smokers at first and those folks got drunk but I did not see that at third street so maybe Margie put an end to those games or maybe it was Tony Stuppy (Gils step father) who put an end to those games. The third street home was Tony's which he rented to my father.

At that time in my life I hated drinking and smoking and vowed not to be that type of human being. I may be mentally cruel but I do not drink or smoke. I flirted with drink in the service and I did the same with smoking but did not smoke very much until I got married. Our home in Marion was without drinking and drugs but we did smoke.
I did not mind at all Marion being a dry county. I grew up with filthy winos laying or sitting drunk on street corners and I did not like that. Things changed when I lived in poverty after I dropped out. Drinking and drugs were not my thing; religious philosophy was where my head was and still is.

Cleaning the Van

Mom washed the van and now is inside it cleaning the windows. That is not saying much if you just read this but mom had back surgery in January.

We have a chore to do in town and when I get back I may jump into the pool. The solar cover is doing it's job and warming the pool.
1150
I had to go to plan "B" as mom wanted me to edge the flowers up front. That led to plan "C" because the lawn cart's tire blew up. I had to take the tire off and go get it fixed (they had to order the tire).

1345:

I am painting with epoxy porcelain paint my hand rails on my steps and a cat dish that rusted when vinegar ate the stainless steel plating off the pan.

The Marion Cafe

Good Morning,
Laurel and I stopped by the Marion Cafe to have some breakfast yesterday.We had a great time visiting with Thom and his Mom.

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Particular Place

Good Morning,

I have a particular place to be as I am accustomed to this place and I call it home. Every day I place my being here; it is comfortable and it handles the heat and cold very well at the moment. That may change but as of today it serves me well as a home. Out west you can stay outdoors comfortably but here the heat will bake you and the winter will freeze you. Man has run the bear and mountain lion away or they stay clear of the shot gun and Kentucky long gun. Dogs were a problem but laws keep them penned in town and shot if they turn bad on the farms.

I hear and see on TV where wild men terrorize neighborhoods.

What's the Point

When I go to a television show or an Internet site you show me an add instead of what I want to see. Is someone paying you to do that?

There are places on the planet that do not have a pop up card popping up in my face when I open the back door.

1030
Washing clothes and dishes at the moment. Later today it is NASCAR for my pleasure and a lot of ads on suits and cars.

My Aunts Kay, Marta and Virginia

Good Morning,

It is 53 outside our home and 69 degrees inside our home. 200 years of thinking forward and openly, we as a nation have moved forward and provided me with a little bit of heaven. I feel good mentally and physically. our flowers and grasses look trim and beautiful.

My cousin Dee called and said my aunt Marta wanted to talk to me on the phone. Of course I did all the talking. I arrived at my mothers home in Pasadena when I was 3 and Marta was 25. On the phone Marta was as nice and nice as she was always was with a great sense of humor. Nothing had changed between us after 60 some years. After all we had lived within the same household for 7 or so years.

A Story About Marta

I just talked to Aunt Marta on the phone. Marta was always fun to be around with her great sense of humor.

A Story about Marta: 65 years ago in Pasadena California my hair was long in a Buster Brown Look which was the rage in those days. I had dimples and looked cute. So one Halloween Marta and her sister Raye dressed me up in a 5 year old Easter Dress mildly painted up my face and put black patent shoes (Mary Jane's) on me with white socks so I looked like Shirley Temple.

We went trick or treating and they told everyone everywhere we went that I was to shy to dress up in a costume. We had fun that night with a lot of great laughs and I filled my bag with treats.

Aunt Marta's sense of Humor.

My aunts Kay, Marta seated and Virginia.

Chrome-Cast and Fire Stick

Good Evening,

It has been a nice lazy day for us.We cut our DirecTV in two to use Chrome-cast and that is what I have been doing. DirecTV is becoming a infomercial and collecting money machine (nickle and dime machines). I watched a movie on Netflix without any tomfoolery and I am moving at this moment toward watching a TV program on it now.

Our next step is to put a Kindle Fire Stick on Laurel's TV in her room.

I Have a Problem with Small Engines: Ethanol

Why Use Ethanol Free Gas for Small Engines?

I have a tendency to leave gas in mowers; I do not always do as I am told to do by the manufacture of my machines and I have ruined many small engines for not doing what I should. 

By using Ethanol Free Gas you can make it easier on yourself as less water in your small engine does help it more than automobiles. 

Although these blended fuels burn cleaner than pure gasoline, the ethanol absorbs moisture from the air. Over time, that water can separate and drop, along with ethanol, to the bottom of your fuel tank. This is when problems like corrosion, stalling and engine damage start.

In your auto you move the automobile gas plus gas stations remove the water from their tanks. Gas floats and the water sinks to the bottom of station tanks. It is easy for a station to have a fuel truck come by and pump the bottom of their tank and take it back to the dealers million gallon tank where the water goes to the bottom of their tanks too. Gas stations normally sell the top portion of their gas tanks to keep your gas ( hopefully) water free.

Tough Chore and I am proud of Mom and Allison

Good Morning,

37 degrees here at home in Marion. I was kind of worried when mom watered her flowers yesterday because of the cool temperatures this week but I looked out and they look fine; maybe I have to look out after the sun comes up?

Today I mulch a little, go get mower gas (no corn or grasses). I need to find a pliable hose or I may take a black hose and put it up front; questionable?

I feel good mentally and physically; I wear the back belt when I mow and that does give my back more time to recuperate from other tough back chores; it seems to work great. I do have a man that comes twice a month to weed eat our yard and that helps a lot. Mom and Allison are doing the flower projects once a week.
0940
The plants are OK. Well I mulched and found and placed the hoses where they need to be; checked the pool (needs to be shocked again and clarified) and it is still 65 degrees down deep (it is warmer up at the top; closer to 70).  Maybe when it gets closer to 70 I will hop in to place the steps in; first I will throw the steps in, then jump in then anchor the steps with weight then step out.