My Fuzzy Friends

Growing up, I cannot remember ever not having a dog. I just always had one. My first dog was named "Penny". She was a Chihuahua mix. I don't remember much about her as she was hit by a car when I was four years old. I had another dog that looked just like her not long after that and we named her "Gypsy". She never was spayed and soon I had three more dogs. This thing of always having a family dog continued until I married and moved away. We never could get a cat to stay with us. I think that it must have been the dogs or something. At this point, I really didn't like cats all that much anyway. In high school I had a Pointer mix named "Ben". Now Ben was a cool dog. All of my dogs before this had been gun shy. Every now and then, we would go rabbit hunting or quail hunting. Ben wasn't too good at the rabbit hunting thing, but neither was I. However, he was a wonderful bird dog. He would point, and then flush out the birds. If it flew, I could drop it. I was always was a good shot with a flying object. I have yet to get a rabbit. :) After Ben died, my mom got a lap dog that she had at the time I was married.

After I got married, we were able to have cats. My wife had been a cat person all of her life. She had dogs as well, but she really loved cats. One cat led to four cats, and four cats led to twelve. That's when I said, "We have to get a dog." I knew, or thought I did, that dogs would make the cats uncomfortable. Perhaps, they would even run away. I know... I'm awful. So we went to the animal shelter and got a dog, a beautiful German Shepherd. Now he wasn't too happy to be there with us and he broke loose from his chain. Well, that was the last I ever saw of him. I looked for two weeks before I finally gave up. About a year later, we get this Lab/Chow mix that looked like a Lab, but was solid gray with a black tongue. This dog loved me. Finally, everything was going to work out. Two months later, someone stole her. We lived in the city at that time and we were in kind of a rough neighborhood. A neighbor saw her get stolen. Turns out it was the neighbor that stole her. They either sold her or gave her away to someone else they knew. For some reason, I could not keep a dog. I think it must have been the cats or something. Turns out, that the cats we had carried Feline Leukemia, and I lost them one by one. This was when I learned to be a cat person as well as a dog person. I hate to see anything suffer, and watching them get put down just broke my heart.

Now after twenty three years, we have five cats. They too tested positive for Feline Leukemia, so we have to keep them away from other cats that may be around. We take care of them the best that we can. We have lost many cats recently, one by one. I have long since learned to love cats. Eventually, we will lose all of them, and because they are all spayed or neutered, they can't reproduce. They all have trouble with any virus or infection. I may try to get another dog in a few years. After all of them are gone, of course. I don't want them to feel replaced in the time they have left. Perhaps another cat. Maybe even one of each. All of my former pets come to my mind as I write this. I don't know why I love these creatures as I do, but I do. I don't know if there will be animals in heaven, but I really think it would be neat if all of my old pets were up there waiting for me. I would really love to see them again. Yeah, that would be neat.

Hay Fever

Have you ever known someone that had bad allergies?  I mean, they would have an allergic reaction to the point that it was really a serious matter?  I am that way with hay fever.  It isn't a life or death situation like say, being allergic to peanuts or bee stings.  However, I have hay fever to a point to where I have flu like symptoms.  It is a lot like having the flu.  It only keeps me down for about a week though.  I had it worse when I was young, but now it is coming back like it did then.  I was working out in the yard Saturday and it was really nice out there.  I did not even think about the pollen count here.  Turns out, tree pollen count was very high, and last night, I lost my voice.  My nose resembles a malformed strawberry.  Now I have trouble sharing my words of wisdom with my wife. :) I bet she is devastated! :)

I take a new medicine for my Arthritis, and it is designed to weaken my immune system.  It works!  My immune system is what attacks my joints.  My arthritis is much better as of late, but my hay fever has gotten much worse this year as a result.  Benadryl helps, but doesn't do it all, and I get very sleepy as a result.  Other medicines haven't proved successful at treating the hay fever for me.  Cortisone may help, but I had to take Prednisone for 3 years.  I don't want to go down that path again.  I suppose I'm sharing this because I am seeking more information on the treatment of hay fever.  I thought that you guys might be able to point to some things that I haven't thought of yet.  Contact info is on my profile, or you can comment.  Whatever you prefer.  Gonna go now and talk with my wife about....Oh! That's right. I can't talk.

Gardening and Pests

I just love this time of year! When winter breaks, I get outside with my pruners and garden tools and just have a good old time! I like to see the leaves return to the trees and the feel of the warm sun. I enjoy tilling up the ground and I love the smell of freshly turned soil. Perhaps, I would have made a fair farmer. I always keep my shirt on when I am outside, unlike when I used to live on the farm, because I try to be modest in public. I also want to keep the Shamu jokes down to a minimum. ;)


I have lived where I am now for about 5 years and it has been a real chore trying to garden. The plots where the houses are built were bulldozed to clear trees and the topsoil was taken as a result. Getting red clay to do what you want it to do is not the easiest thing in the world. Every time I see a tree service working on a yard nearby, I roll down my window and ask where they will be taking the mulch. Most companies have to pay to take it to the landfill, so they are glad just to come a few miles and drop it off at my house. I let it sit until the next season while it composts. My neighbors love me! :)


The only thing that I don't like about the area that I garden is the pests. Deer tend to like roses and I have to surround them with plants that deer don't like. Another problem is black widow spiders. I have gardened all of my life and I never recall seeing a place with the number of black widows around here. The other day I took one of the roses that I had rooted from a cutting out of the pot. This black widow came running across my hand but didn't stop to take a bite. I can't get away with not using gloves from here on out. Really bad what black widows can do to you. You can only take the anti-venom once in your life, or so I am told. I was also told that copperheads were really numerous in this area before all of the houses were built. I don't like snakes. So I keep a really sharp lookout for copperheads and cottonmouths. They are the only poisonous snakes that we have around here. They are on my mind when I mow for the most part.

Anyway, I plan to make use of some pretty unorthodox gardening techniques this year to keep me out of the brush as much as possible. I hopefully will have something to share if it is successful. The first flush of roses should start in about a week or so. Most of them are pretty small right now, but I hope to post some pictures when they start. Until then, sleep tight! Don't let the spiders bite!

The Job Hunt

I am going to share something personal today. At present, I have been unemployed just a little over two months now. This job hunting thing really stinks! I live in an area that has an 11.5% unemployment rate, and I am not the youngest or brightest person in the job market. I am, however, resourceful enough to know what strengths I possess. I have long since settled down and am not ever late for work or bad about being absent. Still, it is tough to go out there day after day and look for work and get rejection after rejection. A demoralizing process at best.

I used to work in the weave room of a textile mill. It was what my father did before me, and what my brother did as well. One out of every four people in South Carolina was directly employed or received their support from textiles in the early 1970's. I worked at this type of job from the time I was 16 years old until I was 40 years old. Not many textile mills around now folks. Most of those jobs have long since been exported. I did finally find a job after age 40 as an electroplater for a company in the packaging industry. Electroplating was neat work! I got to work with chemicals, perform analysis, and it sure was interesting to see steel turn to copper right before your eyes! It was great fun right up until the company I worked for closed. Still I am sure there is the "perfect job" out there for me. Not being facetious here, I really mean that! If I keep looking and hold fast to my faith, I really believe things will be all right. I think it is more of an issue of timing than anything else at the moment.

I hope this hasn't turned into a downer kind of post. It just happens to be on my mind at the moment. The work that I have done in the past is wonderful to remember, but it is a memory. Lots of work to yet be done! There is pavement to pound and contacts to be made. Never let it be said of me that I did not try. Whatever life throws at us can be overcome. I believe that with all of my heart. I just happen to wear that heart on my sleeve today. You would never have believed that I read Othello, would you? :)

A Few Questions

You know, some things in life just puzzle me. I am a very easily puzzled person.:) It is like there is some kind of inside joke that the whole world is in on except me. I don't always understand the reasoning behind the things that people do or say. Sometimes I wonder why certain things are. For example:

Why does the car that passes you on the road suddenly see the need to turn off onto another road, forcing you to slow down? Or worse yet, why do they slow down to less than you were going originally? Why do other drivers see the need to tailgate just as you are getting to where you need to make a turn?

Why do companies sell shirts, caps, and shoes to you with their name and logo and force you to advertise for them? Should we not get some sort of discount or royalty or something?

Why does it start to rain just after I have washed my car? Why didn't I check the weather beforehand?

How do sardines swim into the cans in such a neat orderly fashion? If a loaf of bread is green on St. Patrick's Day, is it just feeling festive?

Why don't the cats clean their own litter box? Could it be lack of education? Are they just lazy?

Why will a doctor or dentist chastise you for something concerning your health and charge you money to fuss at you? If doctors and dentists were truly good at their jobs, shouldn't their parking lots be empty?

Why is chocolate not considered a vitamin? Does it not deserve a food group of it's own?

These are the questions of life. Perhaps they are just the questions of one that should get a life.:) Two things are certain, however. I don't have all the answers, and I have way too much time on my hands.

The Redneck Geek Recommends...

From time to time, I like to work with computers. I am talking about actually taking them apart, and tweaking them out like some geek hotrod. We have 4 of them at the house right now. Well, actually we have 7 but I don’t count the ones not in use. I have 2 dead blueberry iMacs with OS9. An older Gateway with Windows XP, and 4 Compaqs. I used to really love the Macs. It just got to be too much of a price tag for me. However, Apple has the most intuative and elegant operating system of all. I don't work on computers for money, I do it because I want to. I’ve always tried to keep from turning my hobby into a job because I think that I will begin to dislike doing it. However, I may have to rethink this soon. You would never know it from looking at this page, but I used to use Dreamweaver and hand code html when I used a Mac. I designed quite a few web pages for people and churches. Just not that much into it these days. My daughter has far surpassed my abilities with web design and css.

I recently bought my wife and and my daughter a computer of their own. My daughter is 17 years old and I was hoping that she would be able to use it when she goes to college. My wife’s computer was bought so that she could have a place to keep her documents and recipes while checking her email from time to time. She gets a ponderous amount of email. Enough that it would drive me crazy. I got them a laptop of their own because I love them. Besides, it keeps them off of my computer. :) I have a laptop that I use with Vista on it and I have this “Linux Box” that I had to reformat this week. Cheap computers are the only ones that I buy. You can do what you want here, but I get inside the guts of all makes and models. Some of the hardware is better in some of the premium models, but not always! At this point in time I only require a dual core processor, good power supply (the most important part!), and a gig or two of ram.

Now for software, I do not use Internet Explorer unless some web page makes me. I use Firefox on all of my computers. It is just safer. Firefox is default on any operating system I use. I use Opera as my feed reader, because l think it has an elegant interface. Email clients tend to be too buggy for me so I just stick with web based email. My preference for operating systems is Linux. Linux is a free (most cases, not all) operating system that is really nice. There are several hundred distributions of Linux. It costs nothing except a little learning curve and works very well and fast. I don’t recommend Linux of any kind if you use dial up. It is a lot of aggravation to get working with a dial up modem. The only reason I use Windows at all is that some of my hardware is not compatible with Linux. Now with a broadband connection, Linux is a great OS! Best part of all is that Linux doesn’t need any security software. Companies do make it, but that is to detect Windows malware that may have been picked up. Windows based spyware and viruses do not affect Linux. It has no native viruses that I am aware of and I have been using it for several years now. You can even run it from a live CD to give it a test drive. I know that Ubuntu will send you a CD free for the asking. I will talk more about security software that I use for Windows later.

With the information that I have given here, and a dollar bill, you may be able to get a cup of coffee. If this information is useful to to you...then I think that's great! If not, well, I'll try harder next time around. This may be all you want to know about computers from a redneck with a thick southern drawl. :) Happy computin' y'all!

Fear

 My wife was the editor of her college newspaper and she was a newspaper reporter shortly after we married. She is an amazing writer when she has the time and opportunity. She is a very gifted and intelligent woman. I only say this because I am trying to lay the groundwork for how articulate, intelligent and wonderful she is. She can face almost any crisis situation with much more control and resolve than I can. The only exception to this is when she knows that she has to go to the dentists office.

A few months ago I noticed that she looked to be in pain when she bit down on something. She did go to a dentist and he said that there was some infection and she could either have the tooth extracted or try and have a root canal.  He said the root canal would be no guarantee of saving the tooth and it may have to come out anyway. At any rate, she had to take care of the infection first. Well, she took the antibiotic and never went back to the dentist. I would ask her about it and she didn't really want to talk about it. "I'll take care of it when I'm ready." That was the best answer I got. Some of her siblings also have this pathological fear of dentists. I am not really sure as to why.  Last week I told her to call the dentist and set up an appointment. "I really didn't like that dentist. He had an attitude." That is what I got this time. Folks, I consider myself a patient person, but this was getting ridiculous.  Finally we set up an appointment with another dentist and everything is set. Now I went with her to this appointment for fear that she would put it off like the last time. Or worse, skip out on the appointment all together. Long story short, everything went well and the offending tooth is now gone. :) Truly, I am proud of my wife for facing this fear.

This experience has made me wonder why we are so captive to a phobia of any kind.  In most cases that thing or act that we are so afraid of never comes to pass.  If it does, it can usually be dealt with head on and resolved.  I used to be afraid to ask girls out directly for fear of rejection.  I wish I had that one to do over. :) These fears keep us from living our life to the fullest.  Am I alone in this or do we all have these things that scare and intimidate us?  I suppose the biggest fear that I have is to not try because I was afraid. That would surely be the biggest tragedy of all.

Khris' Poetry

I have read a lot of blogs in the past month. I mean a lot! This is a whole new world to me that I never knew existed before now. What is a feed reader now? ;) For the most part, I am impressed with how well they are written. The others? That's a whole different post. I am genuinely impressed with how heartfelt you all are. Some things have been shared that have really stirred my heart, my thoughts, my very being. Since most of the readers of this will be other bloggers, I wanted to let you all know that I respect what I have read so far, and if I have commented on another person's blog, it was from my heart. Now that's the end of the serious stuff. If everyone is ready, let's have a little fun.

I have come across blogs on life, cooking, travel, philosophy, etc., etc. The blogs that I have the most difficult time understanding are the blogs on poetry. I guess I always thought that I could write poetry. In the fifth grade we were required to create a limerick. The one that I made up went like this:

There once was a guy named Slim
That wasn't very trim.
He wanted to try it,
so he went on a diet.
And that was the end of him.

Pretty cute for a fifth grader huh? The fame of that one carried me all the way through middle school. :) By the time I got to the tenth grade, I decided to come out of retirement. A friend of mine and I came up with a poem that was supposed to be the base of a song. It went like this:

When I die, bury me deep.
Put a jar of honey at my feet.
Put a big hot biscuit in my hand,
And I'll sop my way to Glory Land.

That one, took me all the way to graduation. :) I later found out that this was a rewrite of a traditional minstrel tune. This friend and I rewrote the theme from the "Beverly Hillbillies", but since this is a clean blog, and I am a Christian now, I must refrain from sharing it. After this, I retired for good except for the occasional songwriting attempts. I won't torture you with those. Needless to say, I really don't have the skill it takes to write poetry. My thought processes just don't run that deep. I truly do admire those that can do it, and I don't mean to offend those that write it. I'm just havin' a little fun. :)

I just wish that I had paid a little more attention in English class. However, I would always end up in the class with the pretty girls. If I had it to do over again, I would....definitely pay more attention to the pretty girls! :)

Happy Easter!

Happy Easter everyone! Springtime is a perfect time for Easter. It signifies the true end of Winter and the true beginning of Spring. It is a time of new life and renewal, Easter bunnies and egg hunts. The joy and laughter of children as they frolic in their finest Easter clothes. The priceless look on their faces as they see their Easter baskets. Truly, it is a special time of year. Personally, for me, it is a day of rememberance for a risen Savior. The One who gave his life so that the world could live. The fact that He took his life back up is what makes this a joyful occasion for me rather than a somber one. So today, be happy! Celebrate life! Be joyful with the ones you come in contact with today. Easter is a time of new beginnings, for new life, and a second chance to start all over again.

The Return of Arthur

Today has been an overcast day here in NC with a band of thunderstorms moving through. I used to really love a good thunderstorm in the warm weather months. There was just something invigorating about it. Now, however, I dread these systems because it brings with it and old enemy named Arthur. Arthur Itis. Arthur and I have never really got along all that well. I would just as soon that he leave forever. He usually just brings a lot of pain in my shoulders, hands, hips and knees. He is just one of those ungrateful house guests that you can't wait to see go. He always arrives unannounced and stays for an indeterminate time. I think it will be a relatively short visit this time, but one never knows. I had not planned to post again to this blog until after Easter, but he has infuriated me so that I just had to get it off my chest! So Mr. Arthur Itis! Will you please leave this place? Be sure not to let the door hit you on the way out!

Gratitude

This is a story that I heard in a church I attended many years ago. This has been on my mind a lot lately so I wrote it down to clear my head more than anything else. I don't recall who told it to me or I would credit them here, but it is a story worth sharing.

Once there was this fellow that worked at a factory. He didn't make a lot of money at his job, although, it was an adequate living. As he left the building to the parking lot, he noticed there was a dollar bill laying in the drivers seat of his car. Puzzled, he looked around to see if there was someone there, and he picked up the bill put it in his pocket and went home. The next day, the same exact thing happened. “Someone is doing this just for me!”, he thought. This continued for a couple of weeks. At the beginning of the third week, there was a five dollar bill on the seat. Smiling, he picked it up and put it in his pocket and drove away home. This continued for about a week. The next week, it was a ten dollar bill everyday for a week. He was very excited about this! He was already rushing out to his car everyday just so no one would see that bill on his seat and steal it from him. Right on schedule, the next week there was a twenty dollar bill on the seat. This continued for four days. On Friday that week, he hurried out to his car and there was a one dollar bill on his seat. He was puzzled again. Confusion turned to disappointment, and then to anger. He put the dollar bill in his pocket, slammed the car door and drove away angry.

This story was told to me a long time ago to teach me about being grateful. I wasn't the man in the story, but It could have been me. Sometimes it is me! How grateful am I for the things I receive without asking for them? When life's twenty dollar bill turns into life's dollar bill, can I be thankful? If you noticed, he did nothing for the money, except to pick it up. He wasn't grateful at any time for the money, he was just glad to have it. The family and friends that we have are gifts. Any wealth, prosperity, or health are gifts as well. We should endeavor to do the best that we can with what we have. We get all sorts of blessings we don't deserve or ask for and then get angry when the blessings are taken away. Tell me, what are you thankful for today?

A rose by any other name

Gonna do something a little different today. I have a secret passion. Gardening! :) I like to grow things, water them, watch them grow, and make little plants from big plants. I have mixed emotions as well as talents with this hobby. I have 2 thumbs, one green and the other brown. I'm pretty good at getting seedlings to grow, or taking cuttings and making them thrive. However, unless something is pretty hardy, I will usually see it die away. I am not not real good at taking care of plants that need pampering. I grow roses and other things, but this post is about my roses. At one time I had about 18 or so growing in my yard, but that has now turned into about 7 or 8. Most of them are not looking too well at this point. I decided about 2 years ago that I would only deal with shrub or rugosa roses from here on out. I like the blossoms on hybrid teas, but cannot give them the attention they need. Here are 4 of my roses I have pictures of.


This is a small shrub rose called Tweety. This was always a pretty rose, but small and prone to all kinds of problems for me. Just stayed sick the whole time I had it. Blackspot was horrible and it died after 2 years.










This is a hybrid tea called Ruffles. Prone to blackspot for me and cane borers were a problem. The bloom here was over 5 inches across. This one died down and came back true from rootstock. Currently in critical condition.













This is called 21st Century. Another hybrid tea rose. Pretty golden rose, but it's century ended after one season. Blackspot was a nightmare.















Now, I show you the pride of what was my rose collection. A shrub rose called Knockout. I got this before it was released to the public because my wife knew someone that worked in a commercial nursery getting them ready for debut around here. Bloomed continuously through the growing season. It took 2 frosts to kill all of the blossoms in the fall. It would be fine today if an over zealous gardener had not used too much fertilizer. That would be me folks. I burned it up and did a good job of it. I did, however, manage to clip off all the canes from it and it turned into 18 little roses. I have it's little brother growing in the same spot this day, but much smaller right now.

I have several more roses in my garden. Some do well without any work at all, like the Knockout. Some won't die even if I wanted them to, like an old antique rose down at the bottom of the garden. Just a figure of speech folks, I don't want any of them dead.

I am happy to share this with everyone. Just don't tell my buddies about this. They believe men should be macho, and I don't think growing roses will be as big with them as the fish I caught. Gardening is a great stress reliever though and I wish I could stay out there more than I do. I plan to really get to work on it this year and maybe... just maybe, I will get something to last till next year this time. :)

Goodbye to a friend

Earlier this week, while I was getting ready to take a bath, I noticed a lot of hair in the bottom of the bathtub. Now I know that it is normal to see a little now and then, but this was enough to fill the hollow of my hand! First thing I thought was, "Why is my wife losing so much hair?" I was alarmed. We have been plagued with many health problems the past few years. She has Multiple Sclerosis and I have Rheumatoid Arthritis. She also had a benign tumor removed a couple of years ago near her brain stem. So when I saw this, I guess I just thought the worst. After talking with her combined with the technical "looking in the mirror," I have discovered that it is my hair that I held in my hand. I am relieved that it is no dire heath issue. While I am very happy for her, I am really bummed out about the hair loss. I am a child of the 70's and my hair was a big part of my life. No pun intended. I would wash it, comb it, even talk to it if it messed up on me. Folks, there is a lot less to talk to or about these days. I keep it a lot shorter these days, but still try to be well groomed.

I suppose this too is part of the aging process, and somehow I will come to terms with it. Just kinda hurts to know that soon more hair will grow from my ears and nose than the top of my head. Everyone, I suppose, has a feature that they consider their best. My hair was mine. I also have resolved that I won't wear a hairpiece, no matter how tempted I am to do so. Don't want to get to be an old man and have more of me on the dresser than in the bed when I go to sleep at night.

At the current rate, I would say about 5 years, maybe sooner. Perhaps balding will provide that distinguished look for me. I hope so, and time will tell. To my hair I have some final words: au revoir old friend, au revoir.

A Love Story

When I was 23 years old, I had not dated for a couple of years. I was just tired of the routine, and to be honest, not finding anyone that suited me. When I would find someone that I liked, they had issues with me for one reason or another. Sometimes the parents didn't approve of me. Sometimes they would meet someone they liked better. This kind of thing gets very old! Very fast! So I just stopped dating altogether. Still lonely, dejected and just not happy about a lot of things in general, I picked up the newspaper. In the classified section there was this small advertisement about a computer dating service called "Dateline". Now I had seen these ads before and told myself that I didn't need that sort of thing. Matter of fact, I had seen those ads for quite some time now. Just a small 3 line ad. No bells or whistles or anything. For some reason, I had this strong desire to find out more about this place and I mailed them for an application. About a week later I got the application and filled it out and sent in the $25 fee. They claimed to match you up with someone according to your likes and dislikes, faith, and all kinds of criteria. I was honest when I answered, but didn't really think they could find someone for me within the 100 mile radius that I had chosen. Turned out I was right. They found 3! :) I lived near Honea Path, SC and there was one woman in Gaffney, one in Columbia and another in Lexington just outside of Columbia. Pretty good for 25 bucks! I was planning to make my calls the next day and get the normal rejection kind of thing that I had grown so fond of. Turns out, one of them called me first. It was the one from Lexington, SC. I was surprised how pleasant she sounded. She was intelligent and very well spoken. I was impressed and we soon set up our first date.

One Saturday in October, I went down to see her. I got lost about 5 miles from her house and had to find a pay phone. She gave me directions and soon I was there. We talked for a while and I took her to lunch. By this time I was thinking, "What a bargain for 25 bucks!" We spent the day walking and talking and laughing. I really liked this woman. We spent all day together and after supper I took her home. I had a long drive ahead of me so I kissed her goodnight. She actually kissed me back! Most women didn't usually kiss on a first date. Most guys will always try though. It was worth trying! This was the opposite of rejection! How did that happen? I don't really remember too much about the drive home except for this floating feeling I had all the way home. I was infatuated with her at that point, not in love. That came a few months later. When it happened, it just kind of sneaked up on me. Strange thing is that I never heard from the other 2 ladies that Dateline had set me up with, nor could I ever get in contact with them. That never bothered me. Really, I believe that our meeting was preordained. Anyway, I got the one that mattered. Now I believe, with all of my heart, that there is someone for everyone. It is a far better thing to have what you need rather than what you want. I am very blessed that I got both! I do not believe in luck at all. I believe in providence!

This computer date has since become my wife, the mother of our daughter, and all that I could ever want or desire. I think that I truly got the best of the deal. I got her and she only got me, and I can be a difficult person to be with at times. Even though our meeting was unconventional, it was meant to be. I love her with all that I am. I told that to a dear friend of mine this past week. It is more true today than it was yesterday, but not as much as it will be tomorrow. And it only cost me 25 dollars! :)