My Son decided to come and visit us this year. "Do you have a place for us?" He asked. "Yes, we do!" was our answer. 

So we decided to clean up Allison's room for him. We had an account in town, so we decided to lay some carpet in that room. I moved all the furniture out of the room; took up the old carpet and took it to the dump. I looked at the old padding, and it had blended into the subfloor, they were both flat and smooth.  I went to the local store and found some padding and a carpet remnant that would fit two rooms. I placed the padding down and Kevin, Allison and I laid the carpet over the padding. I went looking in town for a carpet stretcher and found nothing, so I made a carpet stretcher.

The photo is what we did ; the computer is the only thing that stayed.

 Now I have repeated what I did to that room, and I am working on the next room. I am down to the bare floor and I must lay some TAC- strip around the room, measure the room and place the padding and carpet down.

 

 I had a bad case of poison ivy. My arms were covered with a rash; for a month, boy did it itch, until November 15, 2023, then it just stopped.

I had been through this before when I washed my face in a creek in 1966, that had poison oak just a few feet from me, apparently the leaves were in the water. I washed my face and hands and brushed my teeth there. 

I looked like the creature from the Black Lagoon; Doris Clark took it upon herself to treat and comfort me. She later became an aid at a local Hospital.

Doris Clark

Doris and Kyle

Congress is Dumb in this Area of Thought

 Politics and the EPA

Congress is dumb in this area of thought.

The EPA has stopped the movement of goods on the Ohio River. The EPA was very strong when it was respected as a helpful area of the government. Today it is mostly ignored giving it the power of a new sheet on a bed or a new piece of paper on the hood of my truck.

When the new dams were built on the Ohio River portions of the dams were built to help industry move cargo over the dams during very high elevations at the new dams.

The EPA created a law stopping dredges of placing the dredged material on the banks of the rivers. So where did the dredges place their waste. Well, it was deep water and deep water at the new dams was under the weir. The weir was built to help industry move goods during high water. If you look at the new dams. You will notice that under the pass (the pass is the weir at each dam (Pass meaning, “pass over”)) at each dam is an Island created by dredged material. The islands under these dams have large trees on them making it almost impossible for industry to move cargo over the “Pass”.

Congress is dumb in this area of thought.

Politics and the EPA.

A Little Pain

 

Some pain came back to me this morning. I had bought a net to cover the bed of my Red Pickup. I was putting it on last night and it got dark. I was looking for a part and it was dark. So, I decided to finish the project in the morning. The next morning, I waited until the sun provided some light. It was a little chilly and I dressed in Jeans, a shirt and blue sweatshirt with a zipper in the front, I cleaned the mud off my shoes in the garage, then came in and polished my shoes. I do that every morning, sometimes I must glue the seems back together with ShoeGoo, then I wear another pair of work shoes. When I was ready, I went out to my truck. The school teens were driving their vehicles down our road to school. We live 200 hundred yards from the school. I went out to the truck and inventoried the net parts and looked at what would work for me and what I did the night before was inappropriate. I started over and it was a little chilly. I had worn gloves when I went out, but I could not manipulate the fine black net stretch cords. When I finished the project, I banged my hand against the truck bet and the pain came to the forefront. I knew what it was it was early stages of frostbite. A pain very familiar to me since I had worked a dam #50 during the ice storm and freezing river. I came into the house and went to the kitchen sink and filled an ice cream bucket with warm water, leaning toward hot. I placed both hands into the water and stood there for 5 minutes warming the water as needed. After 5 minutes my hands were back to a normal feeling.

I worked on a database for a half hour then went out and chipped my large stack of wood with my woodchipper.

I still have my books still at Amazon to sell. I also have my art work for sale at Fine Art America.

My artwork on a women's tank-top. 

A Triple Play in Softball

 Jimmy Hatcher loved to play ball. Jimmy and I would play catch with a softball while I was living in Cynthiana. I also attended his slow pitch softball games at the local parks. Jimmy played very aggressively at either the shortstop or third base positions, and I was privileged to see him make an amazing unassisted triple play. Jimmy was in the infield at third base with one man on second and another on third with no outs. The batter hit a line drive on the third base line that looked impossible to catch. Jimmy ran, dove for the ball, and caught it before it went into the outfield. One out!! As he fell, he scrambled to third base before the runner could get back to tag up. Two out!! He stood and saw the man from second base trying to turn and head back to second. Jimmy, always fast and aggressive, had no trouble catching the man before he could get back to tag up. He caught him about 10 feet before he reached base. Three out!! Unassisted!! There was a roar of applause from the crowd and a lot of back patting after that unusual play. It was very nice indeed.

My Mowers Over the Years

 When my wife and I first arrived in Marion, Kentucky, I decided not to mow our yard and create a Personal Habitat for the creatures in our yard. I found out very quickly that mosquitos in Kentucky can get very big and draw a lot of blood from your body.

We decided to go to Sears in Paducah and buy a Lawn mower.

Craftsman Magnesium Push Mower

 I started mowing and we were rid of the mosquitos. When we moved out in the country we decided to get a riding mower because the area we had was to thick and too large for a push mower. So we bought a mower like the one picture below from the John Deere Dealer here in Marion.

John Deere 68 Riding Mower

When we moved back to Marion are small riding mower could not handle the wet grass and wet areas in our yard. So we went to Paducah, Kentucky to the James Sanders Nursery and bought a bigger and stronger riding mower a John Deere 111 pictured below.

It was a mule and handled the wet swampy areas with ease. I bought a rubber maid cart, a rototiller and a grass catcher and my garden was being helped, but it was not the garden I had on Belleview in Marion. I added everything to the clay and it help but it may never be fertile. The mowing clutch on the 111 decided not to work sometimes and it became a nuisance, so I decided to get another mower. My next mower  was a John Deere LX 176 Pictured below.

It was just as nice as the 111 but not as sturdy, it was not the mule, but it was just nice and it mowed well. Somewhere along the line I cracked the hood when I ran into some bushes, I worked the mower very hard and the hood finally fell off and staid off.  I glued the hood and duck taped the hood but the vibrations just made it fall off. Something happened and I decided to get a bigger mower. The X300 was the machine I bought and it was a mule like the 111. the X300 is pictured below.

It was a very good machine until this year. I worked it very hard and it finically dropped a push rod and it was never the same after that. It would run for an hour then quit. I was always 50 feet to the shed and had to push it back to the shed. It wore me out so I begged Laurel to get me a new mower. So I have this now, a zero turn hot rod , a John-Deere-Z320R-Z-Trak, pictured below.

It mows well and fast.

Remembering Diane

 A few days ago I was thinking of Diane, she died February 20, 2022. When my dad moved in and lived with Diane's mom, and I soon fell in love with Diane. I had no clue as to why I did at that time, but now as time and history tell their story it is not hard to understand. At that time it was a problem because she became my step-sister and being in love with your sister in my mind was a sin.

My mind at that time was in turmoil, and I was a nuisance just being near other people. 

Anyway, I miss Diane.

She kept in touch with me wherever I went, and she did the same with everyone in the family. I had lost in touch with Ron and I asked where he was, and she gave me his story and address. Just 5 years ago, I asked her about Emory, and she sent me a photo of him and his address.

Wherever she is, she is improving the world around her.

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The Delicate Realm of Being

 

The delicate realm of being, wrapped in one's skin.

You are careful to caress the emotions of others.

To coax comfort.

To sway being across the mind.

The pleasant hello.

Swell the ego with love and comfort and let them walk free.

Have a nice day.

***

May the Wisp of the Holiday Spirit Swirl Around your Home and Being.