For the love of Dog

When I was young, I had a black fox terrier and chihuahua mix dog named Blackie.  I suppose you can guess why she was named that.  We lived in the country and the dogs were not kept in a pen.  They lived outside because my dad would have never allowed a dog in the house.  I didn't think of it at the time but they would find warm places in the winter time and cool places in the summer time.  I would keep ticks and fleas under control on them but they never saw a bath or a vet.  My dog served a utilitarian purpose of barking when someone came to the house, or alert me to a snake or other wild animal nearby.  Vermin control was important in the country and Blackie did that very well!  She was a sweet dog that had an aggressive streak towards anything that she thought meant her or us any harm.

Another dog we had named Gypsy.  She was Blackies mother.  She never really cared for Blackie and would  force her to submit at almost every turn.  Gypsy was the alpha dog.  This probably went on for a couple of years when one day Blackie turned on her.  She went after Gypsy as if she were possessed by something else.  The wounds on Gypsy very nearly cost her life.  It was then I had to give Blackie away to someone else as they could not live in harmony anymore.  You can't have two animals who are at each others throat every day.  I was probably seven or eight at the time so I didn't have a lot of say in the matter.  I just remember I felt like I lost my best friend.

I had several dogs in my life.  I remember Blackie, Duchess, Ben, and Mitzi.  All of them had their unique personalities.  All did have one thing in common...they were full of love for me.  Regardless of my situation, they were there for me whenever I would reach out my hand for someone.  Dogs have an incredible capacity to love with only wanting love in return.

When I married, I didn't have a dog for 25 years.  My wife is more of a cat person.  Now during that time I have learned to love cats as well.  We can all learn a few things in life I suppose.  I remember one day I told my wife I would like to have a dog again.  Now that didn't go over well at first but she finally relented.  I saw Charlie on Craigslist and the people were going to take him to the pound if someone did not respond.  I wrote them and learned that he was a Coonhound mix.  I had never dealt with a large dog before but I was willing to take that on.  He had those forlorn hound dog eyes.  So very sad but so very sweet.  It turned out the contact was a friend of my wife.  That was a surprise so she ended up bring Charlie to me the next day.  He had been named Nero but I picked Charlie because I thought it suited him better.

After 25 years it is amazing how much you remember and forget about having dogs.  Charlie was only eight weeks old so it came as no surprise that he gnawed on me or my possessions with those needle teeth.  Every time I came into contact with him was an experience in blood letting.  He had not learned to control his play to not bite so hard.  I began to think he needed a playmate with thicker skin and more understanding.  I began looking for a companion for him, on Craigslist of course, and one day I saw someone who had to Border Collie mixes in a nearby town.  I called and set an appointment to see them but knew I could only take one.  Lucy was only about ten weeks old and had the puppy playfulness to keep Charlie occupied.  Lucy is a Border Collie-Malamute cross so she is a bit bigger and does not know her own strength.  She has a sweet submissive personality but a playfulness which I have not ever seen in a dog.

After a couple of years together, I see that Charlie still causes me blood loss from time to time.  Lucy is  so active that I have trouble keeping her calmed down.  Then comes those times when all is quiet in the house and that come next to me and just lay at my feet.  They let me pet their heads and rub their bellies.  I enjoy it as much as they do.  They know when I am sad and try to comfort me.  They know when I am happy and they rejoice with me.  They are there for me even if no one else is. Though I will never have Blackie again, I have gained the love of another dog.  Their love is unconditional just as the love of God is unconditional.  I wonder if that is why the same letters are used to spell God and dog.  I just know that I have got my best friend back.

Defending My Own

There has been a lot of media attention on Paula Deen in the media in recent weeks. Now I consider her primarily as a cook and not a chef. Being born in South Carolina I recognize her as a very good cook. Having read the deposition of the lawsuit pending against her, I cannot see how what she said created such a furor.

Now a lot of , which are being politically correct, have dropped her from their affiliation. I for one, am aghast at the unmitigated gall of these companies. So what you will hear from me is how these companies have benefited me personally in the past. Take note, these are only my opinions.

The Food network was the first to drop her after many years of faithful service. Thank you Food network for being the watchdog over my morality and conscience. I do not think I could have done it without you. The second to drop her was Smithfield meats. That really distressed me the way she had tried to promote their brands. In a statement, the company said it "condemns the use of offensive and discriminatory language and behavior of any kind. Therefore, we are terminating our partnership with Paula Deen." Of course I know that recently they have been sold to foreign interests which do not represent the South as I

know it. http://investors.smithfieldfoods.com/releasedetail.cfm?ReleaseID=767743

Ballentine Books which published her cookbooks said: The publisher said Friday it would not release "Paula Deen's New Testament: 250 Favorite Recipes, All Lightened Up," which was scheduled for October and was the first of a five-book deal announced early last year.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2013/06/28/sears-drops-paula-deen/#ixzz2XsWpfDr8

The truth is that her cookbook coming up was enough to top Amazons best seller list. Their loss I suppose because someone else will surely pick it up. Me included.

Walmart, Target, Ceasars, QVC, Kmart, Penny's, and Sears have followed suit in dropping her brand. On one occasion or another I have had qualms with all of these stores.

Political correctness is the scourge of America. I will not, and cannot, continue in good conscience to follow these companies and give them my money. Their argument holds no water. I have read the deposition and not found it to contain anything that warrants this kind of fallout. Paula Deen is being railroaded and unjustly so. I plan to buy her books and support her because the simple fact is...she cooks better than most of us can. Now isn't that what I want in a cookbook?

A bit of light reading

I am going to pick up today where I left off last post just because I am so obsessive compulsive. Not going to talk about book readers much today though. I thought I would focus on some of the books I have read lately and those books I plan to read soon.

When I got back into the “reading thing” I decided I wanted to read some spooky stuff. You know....tales of the macabre and ghost stories. I am not that big into slasher tales but I like a well told spooky story that makes the hair on the back of your neck stand up. I started with “Dracula” by Bram Stoker. I have seen every Dracula movie there was to see but had never taken time to read the book. I was not disappointed. Then I read some stuff by Dean Koontz, Algernon Blackwood, H.P. Lovecraft, Stephen King, M.R. James and W.W. Jacobs. Most of this reading material is in the public domain and easily obtained. My next post will cover where to get classic books for free.

For some reason I had my fill of horror and quite by accident it overlapped with True Crime genre. I started reading about Jack the Ripper, Lizzie Borden, and then I bought a copy of “In Cold Blood” by Truman Capote. Thus far, it is one of the best books I have read. I really like it when a writer can capture your attention and hold it. You know the kind of books that are hard to put down? This was one of those books for me. I did come across a couple of books I wanted to share links with here. Well...maybe three. :) I just think these are books and authors you would enjoy.

Jerry Bledsoe is a writer from North Carolina who was once a writer for the Greensboro News and Record. A very good writer in the True Crime genre. Alas! Not all of his work is available for my Kindle yet. Bummer. :(

Kennesaw Taylor is a humorist from Georgia. I found him quite by accident looking for something to read. His humor work puts me in mind of Lewis Grizzard but he has a style that is definitely his very own. The book I read by him had nothing much to do with humor though. The book is titled: “Informally Educated: A True Tale of Child Abuse, Survival and Murder.” This book is the story of his childhood and it will bring tears to your eyes with what that boy and his family had to endure. I read this book in one sitting. It was that good!! Fortunately a good bit of his material I can get for my Kindle.

While I am still reading some of the True Crime books I have diverted a bit of my attention to the Humor genre. I will tell you something that tickles me just as much as the humor books do. Mark Twain has been dead a hundred years now and his autobiography is number two on the New York Times Bestseller list. :) Now that is what I call a comeback!! I would like to read this one for real. If you have...don't tell me anything about it. I want to read it for myself. :) Do yourself a favor and check out the links of the authors Amazon page. I am sure you will find something you like. That should do it for my December reading list. :)

To Kindle a fire

A few months ago my daughter told me she would like to have a Nook for her birthday. My response was: “What on earth is a Nook?” Turns out to be one of those book reading devices. Now I balked at this idea at first. When I learned what the price of these devices were I balked a lot. “Do you know how many books you can buy for a $150?” I just didn't think it was worth the money it would take to get her one. Then I came into a bit of extra cash and decided it was just a book reader...not a Mercedes. Long story short...I bought it for her.

Now something happened after I got that thing for her. It was something I didn't expect at all. I liked it!! I wanted one for myself. It was cool to be able to carry a hundred books at a time that weighed less than a pound. Not only that, but you could change the font size of the book you were reading. You didn't have to look for special large print books. One book did it all. Everything was in black and white including the pictures. This thing read books, pictures, music files. It even had wi-fi and a web browser. It was really a cool gadget! It was about this time I started shopping for myself.

I reviewed several different eReaders: The Nook, Kindle, Sony, Kobo and etc. While they are all a bit different in how they navigate, they all do about the same thing. So it is really a matter of preference and the availability of books for them. There is still only one problem with them. The price. All of these devices are worth no more than say....$119. That is just my opinion but it is an experienced opinion. I have been buying electronic stuff a long time. Anyone who knows me will know that it takes a lot of time and about two sticks of dynamite to blow me off my wallet. However, I did finally break down and get myself a Kindle. I have to admit I love it and have done more reading lately than I have done in years. It has kindled a little fire in my heart for reading again. (Pun intended).

Prices right now are pretty low for some of these eReaders because of the Christmas shopping season. So if you like to read or know someone who does, it may be worth your time to look at these devices. If you buy one for someone as a present you may as well get two....Just so you won't be jealous of theirs. :)

The Good Old Days

I am wondering how many times I have heard the phrase: “I just wish we could go back to the good old days.” Someone usually says this when they are thinking of something wonderful that happened in their past. Perhaps it's because things aren't going so well at present. So I decided to compare the good old days with present day and see what I could find.

My dad's family is from northeast Georgia. My mom's family is from the upstate of South Carolina. Both sides were in rural areas and life was very similar for them in many respects. They lived on farms. To put it better, they lived on someone's farm and worked the land for them. The term is “sharecroppers.” Eventually both sides got their own place to work. You wake up early and have to go milk cows to have milk to drink and cook with. You take the milk and churn your own butter. You plant and work a large garden to have vegetables and raise livestock if you want meat. Now all this means you are having to do lots of manual work. Cows have to be milked and beans have to be plowed and picked. Eggs have to be gathered and cooked and animals have to be butchered and preserved. It's not easy work! If you wanted to go to the bathroom...it was about a hundred feet from the back door with a well beaten path leading to it. If you wanted water...you dropped the bucket into the well and pulled it up yourself. If you want it hot...you put it on the stove. You had to chop wood to keep warm and to cook. I did know some who had access to coal for heating. For cooking...it was always wood.

Life got a bit better with houses being wired for electricity. Stoves and refrigerators helped take a lot of the work out of it. Washing machines took over what a wash bucket and washboard once did. Houses were fitted with plumbing for running water and you no longer had to trod that path to the outhouse. It eliminated the need for chamber pots in the bedroom. Most of us would panic if we had to use what they had to use then.

Today we have our TV's and our music players. Cell phones can go anywhere with us and we feel lost without them. We reheat leftovers in the microwave and complain that it takes all minute! We truly live better than royalty did just a couple of hundred years ago. We travel in hours what it used to take days. If you are cold or hot you go to the thermostat on the wall. You turn it up...turn it down...or turn it off. In case you haven't realized it...these are the “good old days!”

The advances in technology have freed us from a lot of time consuming chores and hardships. They make our lives better is someways and worse in others. Too much idle time is not good for anyone. To try and fit everything under the sun in you schedule is just as destructive. Maybe more. It can make us very impatient. Just be thankful for what you have and use it wisely. We all have a lot more than we realize.

Update on my last post

Just wanted to give an update to you since my last post. I really appreciate the prayers everyone gave for Debbie's healing. This past Friday evening, Debbie went home to be with the Lord. It would be appreciated if you would continue to lift her family up in prayer during this time.

A Prayer for a Special Person

This is not my normal kind of post but this is an important post. Not often do I ask favors from people. I am asking tonight. I just wanted to tell you of someone who is special to me and my wife and why.

Have you ever met someone who touched your life in an unforgettable way? I am sure there is someone in everyone's life who is that way. I have been blessed enough to have several who have been there for me or those I cared about. A few years ago, my wife had a tumor on her brain stem. Things worked out well in that situation. During my wife's recovery there was a person who was there with food and moral support for us.

A couple of years ago I wasn't working regular and I had one of my bouts with depression. I had gained quite a bit of weight and most of my clothes didn't fit anymore. I have an odd size in pants and really had no money to buy new clothes. This person found and bought me several pairs of jeans. She would not take my money for them. This is the kind of lady we are talking about. There are other instances I am not mentioning. She did these things for many people...not just me and my wife. She is someone who knows compassion. She knows Christ in a personal way as savior. I am thankful for that.

Tonight as I write this, this lady has advanced cancer and is fighting for her life. Now I know the things God can do. I have seen miracles first hand. I have even experienced a few. Tonight I am asking a favor from you. Would you join me in prayer for this lady? Just an honest simple prayer from your heart for her is all I ask. Her name is Debbie and I believe she would welcome your prayers. I thank you from my heart.

Friendships in the Computer Age

I used to email and chat quite a bit in the past. Lots of things have changed in the past few months. I went from five email accounts down to two. One for business and one for personal. I don't have all of the instant messaging stuff running all the time now. In fact, I chat very little nowadays. Self-preservation has made me make these changes. I don't email or chat with the intensity I did this time last year.

My new job has me sleeping all sorts of strange hours. This is the main reason I had to make those changes. I woke up tonight after midnight. I did my usual ritual of checking my email and my Facebook account. I actually got to speak to a friend that I had meant to speak to ages ago but never had the opportunity. Had a pleasant conversation with her and got to know her a bit better in the process. I was glad I did. My gain there. :)

After this talk, I got to thinking. There are a lot of my friends on Facebook that have added me who I do not even know. Somehow this made me pretty sad. There are people behind the names after all. They have hopes, dreams and needs that I will never ever know about unless I get to know them. Problem is I have over 1500 friends. Most of my friends added me for gaming purposes. Some of the games I have stopped playing because I don't have the time now that I am back at work. I lost touch with some of the friends I became close to. This made me sad too.
 
I guess that its kinda like when you have a tiny bit of mayonnaise in the bottom of the jar and a large slice of bread. You don't have enough to go around and you spread it too thin. I have spread myself too thin this past year. Again, this made me sad. Now I can't change any mistakes I have made in the past. I can, however, do something about my actions in the here and now and in the future. So this idea came to post a new status:

I was just thinking wouldn't it be cool if all my friends chose someone from their friends list. Send that person a message telling them you are thinking about them. Actually treat that friend...like a friend. :) Just a thought.

While I thought this is a status truly from my heart, it opens me up to criticism for my neglect. Be that as it may, I decided to post it anyway. It's really all about the people and friendships after all. I guess all this to say I want to be a better friend. I want the quality of my friendships to be better. Not just on Facebook...in life! I am not looking for romance because my wife is all I have eyes for. My heart is hers. I am not looking for a best friend. I have one of  those too. Yeah, you know who you are. :) I do want to be genuine from this day forward and be what I can be though. Less gaming and more interaction. Will I lose friends? Probably so. I will gain true friends?  Hopefully. In the end...isn't that what it's all about?

Just a few words

I am not really sure how to begin after all this time. To start with I am no longer unemployed. That's the good news. The bad news is that it is nothing like what I did before. The work is detailed and quick paced so it has been a real learning curve for me. It still is a learning process and will be for quite some time to come. I work on the night shift so I sleep during the days...kinda like Dracula. :) Since December I have been putting in anywhere from 40 to 60 hours a week. That is starting to settle down a bit which is a good thing. I only start with that bit of news to get it out of the way so that I can talk about what I really want to say...that is...if anyone is still listening. No matter though, it's a cleansing process to my soul just to be able to talk about it.

When I left here last year, I was starting to get very discouraged. I threw myself into a lot of other things and a lot of situations that I wish I had not. Not going to elaborate about them but I got distracted from blogging, from my family and from my faith. Made a lot of bad decisions and mislead a lot of people. It has taken me a while to get my head together enough to even bring myself to talk about any of this. Like I said, I am not going to elaborate other than to say I spent a lot of time on social networking sites wasting my time and other people's time. I should have stayed out in the yard with my roses or something. I will say I that I am sorry for a lot of the things that I did. Again, this brings me to the final part of this post.

I want to apologize. I want to apologize to the ones that read this on a regular basis for my absence. I apologize to my family for not being the father and husband I should have been. There was no lack of selfishness on my part. I apologize to friends who I neglected during this time. I apologize to those who met me during this time and were mislead by things I did or said. Most of all, I apologize to my God for taking my eyes off of Him and not following His leading even when He was giving me clear warnings. I have made peace with that part of my life. From time to time I will come here and post things as I have in the past. Not going to follow a regular schedule or anything...just when the mood hits. :) Most of my concentration will be spent on my other blog but I will be here as well. I would be honored if you would come back to visit me. It has been a crazy year but it has been one in which I learned a lot. There are a lot of mistakes that I won't be repeating for sure!!

A Quick "To Do" List

Since I have had so much time to think lately, I have pondered the questions around relationships. Whether you be male or female you are given a capacity for love and being loved. Lots of times I have found the biggest problems on this subject comes out of our own mouths and sometimes actions. We men especially need some help in this area. So I have comprised a do and do not list for those that may be challenged in this area. Thanks to my wife, Nita, who contributed to this post. This list is now in its complete form. :)

Do: Tell your lady that you enjoy her cooking and that you always look forward to what she prepares.

Don't: Tell your lady that the fork tasted better than the meal and not to fix that again. (Been there and done that. Big mistake!!)

Do: Compliment them on how they look when you are going out somewhere for dinner or out on the town.

Don't: ask...."Are you wearing that again?!! We need to get you some clothes!"

You also need to strike the word "fat" from your vocabulary. No words like "hefty", "big boned" or the term "very healthy." Try not to use these words at all. Everyone's life will be much better.

Do: Get creative and maybe come up with a little poem or note to be romantic now and then.

Don't: Give them this poem:

A peach is a peach
and a plum is a plum
but what is a kiss
without a tongue.

This will produce the best or worst results. Just depends on timing and mood. Trust me. :)

Do: Offer to take out the trash without being told to.

Don't: Ask her to take out the trash while you have a tv remote in your hand.

Do: Try to be helpful in the household chores paying attention to how she wants things done.

Don't: Tell her that you are out of shirts and she is getting behind on the job!

Little side note here. I believe when I got married some of my brain fell out between the altar and the car. I used to be able to find everything in my wardrobe. Now there are days when I can't find my clothes without yelling "Honey! Have you seen my socks?" The only way around this is to help with some of the domestic chores and try to put them away yourself. Remind yourself that you became brain damaged between the altar and the car. I speak as a bare foot man writing this.

Do: Notice the things she looks at in the stores. Especially jewelry, favorite scents and that sort of thing. Sneak away, get it gift wrapped and surprise her with it. Paying special attention to birthdays and anniversaries.

Don't: Mention how much an item cost or how much trouble it was to get. Nothing like....."I could have bought the entire mine for that!!" or "I thought of you when I saw that cheap thing." Never ever use the words "cheap" or "Pawn Shop" in the conversation. :)

Do: Realize that little things mean a lot. It doesn't cost a lot of money to notice what colors she wears most often or to write her a little love note and stick it somewhere she's bound to find it. A thank you note stuck under the dirty socks and underwear on the floor will be something she never forgets.

Don't: Mess it up by getting too wordy. That just seems fake. Keep it simple and sweet.

Do: Really pay attention when she talks to you. If you listen and show her by your actions that you did, she will love you for it.

Don't: Assume you know everything she would have told you if you really didn't listen. It will bite you in the end if you do.

Trust me guys!! I am trying to help you here! You may ask have I done anything on the "don't" list? Yes I have. Still do from time to time but I am learning as I go. In the end, it is all worth it. There is no substitute for having that special someone in your life and it is as much up to you as it is her to be aware of the little things. Treat all people kindly but treat the lady in your life special. :) You will benefit the most. I am sure there are other things that could be added here. Please feel free to comment and give any suggestions you may have!  Now where is that remote?

How I Spent My Vacation

Hi everyone!! Guess who? :) It has been a while and I am glad to be back on schedule now. I am glad to be doing this again because I have missed it terribly. I have missed all of you!! :) I would like to say the reasons I took a leave were all resolved but alas, they are not. Still, running away isn't helping so I have decided to return. Blogs tend to be filled with lots of things and in my case, very personal things that are close to my heart. I also tend to wear that heart on my sleeve. This post is no exception. When I stopped writing, I was truly discouraged. Now I hate to be a negative person and I didn't want that to carry over and just bring everyone down with me. I would rather be like an old hound dog that goes away by himself to lick my wounds.

I wonder if all of us come to a point in our lives that are like the crossroads. You know, a place in your life where you feel like you have to make life altering decisions and wonder what all you have done to this point has meant. I am at that place right now. Being out of work gives you time to think. I think some of that is needed but too much of anything is a bad thing. Some of my family and friends say I am going through a mid-life crisis. I shunned that idea at first but now think that may be just the case. Anyway, that was the reason for my departure. While I have been gone I have buried myself in my job hunt and my Facebook account. Some of that has been good and some of it not so good. I have met a lot of people there that are very special to me though. I consider them friends in the true sense of the word. I also consider the regulars of this blog my friends. Being away has given me some ideas for some new posts which I will start to work on soon. I don't know how frequent I will be at posting but I have decided to try and stick with it this time. Good or bad it will be what it is.

Now before anyone gets too concerned about me I just want to say that I still have a lot of nice things in my life. I just was concentrating on the negative too much. The job situation has not improved for me but I am not the only one in that boat at this time. Its really rough out there right now. You just about have to be in the right place at the right time and the market is flooded with younger and nicer looking applicants than myself. I Know that every dog has their day and I will have mine eventually. Just have to find the right place. For now, you are stuck with me. :) I have some computer posts I want to share and some on social networking as well. I still have a support system in place, a roof over my head, food to eat. As far as a job? Well three out of four is pretty doggone good!! :) You all take care and I will catch you on the flip side!!

Hiatus

I know it has been a while since I posted anything here. I am sorry about that. I really do enjoy doing this an I have missed it. I have missed all of you. :)

Sometimes one's life gets complicated due to work or health or the lack thereof in my case. I have had a lot to say over the past few months and I still have more I want to share. I still consider myself young (at heart anyway) and look forward to life. Any post I would have made in the past few weeks would have been a downer post. Mostly due to my state of mind and I did not want to share those kinds of thoughts. "If you don't have anything good to say, well, don't say it." I was taught this from youth and while it may not be completely true in all cases, it is hard to let go of things we are taught as children. It is not my desire to make my bad day your bad day.

I will be on hiatus from this blog until at least Labor Day. I hope this will give me the time I need to recharge my batteries, so to speak. Lots of things to sort out and plans I have to make. I want you all to know that you mean very much to me and this is a difficult choice. The interaction I have had with you has helped me during a difficult time in my life and your comments and friendship mean a lot to me. It would be rude of me to not let you know I was going to be gone and why. I plan to make my best effort to my other blog, which I have neglected also. I don't plan to take a hiatus from that but the posts will be less frequent unless I am otherwise directed. The purpose there is far too important for me to neglect.

You can still contact me during this time though the comments or email. I may even be on AIM. :) Hard to shut me up completely. :) My email address and AIM screen name is on my blogger profile. See you all later.

How does your garden grow?

I have received at least two questions on the alternative gardening method that I was going to try this year. Today I will try to answer those questions. This has been a fun year to garden because of this experimentation. Let me start from the beginning. In March, my wife sent me an email that had a link in it to hay bale gardening. Yes, I still have hay fever. :) I don't know if any of you have ever heard of this before but it was an interesting subject to me. I always had a fascination with things that were unconventional and just plain odd. :) I told my wife that we would have to come up with some hay bales which was something that I just don't carry around in my hip pocket. Through a friend of ours who has some horses, we were able to come up with 8 bales of hay. I thought that would be good enough to carry out the experiment. Two of the bales were packed loosely so I ended up with six that I could use. I laid down some black plastic and put my bales over the top of them in a double row. Why did I put down the plastic? The short answer is that my wife told me to. :) She said she read somewhere that it would help hold the moisture in the bales longer. I angled the last two because I wanted too. :)



Now by the book, you are supposed to water the bales (it takes a lot of water) and add ammonium nitrate to them daily. Now of course I didn't do this. I watered them a little and put regular fertilizer on them and watered them down heavy to make it soak in. Ammonium nitrate is the better way to go. It is a regulated chemical and you will have to sign for it if you use it. This is the same stuff that those nut cases used to bomb the Federal building in Oklahoma City a few years back. That is why you have to sign for it. You can find it at a farmer supply type place. You could call around in your area and probably find it without too much trouble. Like I said, it is the better alternative for this type of gardening. You add the fertilizer and water daily for a week. I really think that a week and a half to two weeks would be better. The fertilizer generates heat like you would get in a compost pile. The heat has to dissipate so that you won't kill your plants.



I water these things daily unless it rains. I water them heavily because they have no way to hold on to large amounts of water. After the initial fertilizing, I fertilize with something like Miracle-Gro once a week. Now these are the results down below after a few weeks. I am growing yellow squash, tomatoes, eggplant, and pepper. Next year I think this would make a wonderful way to grow bush beans without having to bend over so far. That will take quite a few bales. I think an herb garden would be wonderful grown this way. You would just want to start the seedlings somewhere else first. This is a test, it is only a test. :) If you would like to know more about this subject from an expert you should check this link. This man lives in the same county I do but I do not know him personally. His videos are the most informative that I have found on the subject. If you want to do this right, it will be worth checking the videos out. My results are just OK. I think that is because I didn't do it exactly like it was supposed to be done. Going against the grain seems to be a weakness of mine. I've already started seedlings for the second wave of plants I will use after these are spent. I plan to do this until first frost. That's pretty much it and I wish you all a happy growing season! :)

Summer hunting season

I am still in the midst of a job search right now.  Not a lot has happened since I last wrote about this.  I have altered some of my techniques though.  I only try to make in person contacts now.  No more of this calling around stuff.  Online applications are not something that I am doing right now.  I find them to be long and tedious.  They are demoralizing to me.  I carry a copy of my resume´ with me and a list of my references.  If a company is not taking applications, I ask will they accept a copy of my resume´.  Most of the time they will but what I want to talk about today is the interview and the parts of the resume´.

As of yet, I haven't had the first call back for an interview.  This is a first for me.  I have been in the workforce since I was 16 years old and it just feels so foreign to me to be out of work so long.  Now I haven't started worrying about this because in my heart of hearts I believe that something will turn up.  It may not be just what I was looking for but it will be something to pay the bills so to speak.  Now the resume´ writing has changed a little since I first learned to write one.  There is this part called the "objective" and that seems a little odd to me.  My objective is to get a job!  Now I can't put that on there can I?  It just doesn't sound professional.  So you have to come up with a sugar coated way to say the same thing.  This to me is stupid.  Now you know why I hate politics.  Things that should be so simple are made to be so complicated.  I think I will omit this.  The work history and education areas are OK I suppose.  I don't give more information than I have to there though because I want to explain more of this in an interview.  I just have where I worked and what I did and the hire dates.  I only go back 10 years unless the information from a past job is pertinent to the job I am applying for.  Employers generally only keep records 7 years or so on you.  Many times if you have been away for longer than that, they won't have a record of your employment.  This does vary from company to company and they may remember you anyway, but don't count on it.  Another part of my resume´ is references.  Work and personal references to be exact.  Now I will only furnish this on a separate sheet upon request.  I appreciate all of the people that said that I could use their personal information to help me to gain employment.  I don't hand that information out to just anyone and certainly not like giving away a free coupon or something.  I have a friend in a nearby city that is a manager of a company.  There is a special paper that you can buy just to print a resume´ on.  It usually is heavy milled and has a watermark on it if you hold it to the light.  My friend will hold the resume´ up to the light and if the watermark is upside down, he throws the thing in the trash!  He won't even look at the content.  I haven't told him, but I think it is stupid to let a potentially good employee slip through your fingers just because of a watermark.  I don't use this special paper anyhow. :)  Call me a maverick.  I may be an unemployed maverick, but a maverick, nonetheless. :)

If I can get to the interview, life will be good.  Interviews don't intimidate me because I can usually talk my way into a job.  The person interviewing is just a person like me and that is how I have always looked at it.  You have to have all of your ducks in a row when you go in there though.  Nothing really in my past that would hinder me so I am confident when I get to this part.  It is just getting to the interview that is driving me nuts right now.  Now I know some of you are going through the same thing and you all have a few different techniques that you use.  Perhaps we could compare notes and give each other a few pointers.  Anything to pass the time. :)  Hopefully, the next time I post about this will be about how I got the job!  I'll definitely post that when it happens! :)

Grandpa's Farm

Here in the South it is common to find family farms.  They are quickly becoming a past way of life.  It is difficult for many of them to make enough money from farming and they are simply going away.  Now and then you will meet someone that is good at it and you can tell that farming is in their blood.  I believe some people were just born to do certain things.  My grandpa was born to be a farmer.  When I was young you could find him out in the fields on his tractor or using a hoe to cultivate crops.  I am not talking about a garden, I am talking about 60 acres.  He worked it for the most part by himself without any help.  Sometimes my dad or my uncles would help.  My Granny would always be working too but that is a story for later.  Grandpa usually liked to do things by himself.  He loved the work he did on the farm.   He would raise watermelons, cantaloupes, and cotton.  Cotton was still a money crop in the late 60's and early 70's in South Carolina.  When I was in the first grade I would come home from school and pick cotton for money.  He paid me 3 cents a pound. :)  Do you have any idea how long it takes for a 7 year old to pick a pound of cotton?  It takes quite a while.  I think my friend and myself were able to get $2.75 to split between us one week.  That was a good week for me. :)  Well, in 1968 it was pretty good. 

Like I said, Grandpa would grow watermelons and cantaloupes as well.  There was this 20 acre field below the highway he would plant in watermelons almost every year.  Planting this type of crop near the road baffled me.  People would drive by and see this and of course some would stop and steal a watermelon.  High school kids were the most common culprit.  It was just a temptation that proved to be too hard to resist at times.  Grandpa knew every watermelon and cantaloupe that grew in his field.  He knew when someone had been there even if they had left no sign.  How he did this I do not know but he was never wrong about it.  One year there were these high school boys that would stop in the dead of night and not only steal but vandalize his stuff.  Grandpa would take a couple of boxes of shotgun shells and fill them with rock salt.  Sometimes he would just leave the bird shot in them.  He camped out in the middle of the field that night and waited.  Sure enough the kids came back and began to steal and vandalize his stuff again.  He could hear them talking about him mocking him and cussing him.  They didn't know that he was out there with them. :)  In our community everyone knew everyone else.  So these fellas were local and were calling him by name unaware that he was right behind them.  He jumped up and began firing.  Now in all honesty, from  the range he was shooting at, he couldn't have done much damage.  He didn't want to kill them.  He just wanted to teach them a lesson.  He did just that!  They jumped up screaming and hollering and got in their car and drove away.  The town doctor in Honea Path said that he picked shot out of their backsides all night long.  Even at that range he was a pretty good shot.  The town police were called and he told them that it was a county matter and for them to get off of his property.  They fussed a little but they did leave.  It was understood in those days that a farmer would protect his livelihood with force if necessary.  Grandpa never had those fellas steal his watermelons anymore.  He told me this story laughing so hard that tears filled his eyes.  My Grandpa was an interesting man to say the least.  He passed away in the mid 1990's at the age of 90.  I think about him often and smile.  One reason I smile is because of a question that I have.  Why did my Grandpa plant those watermelons so close to the road? ;)

Class Reunion

This year will mark the 30 year reunion of my high school class.  I really wish I were excited about this because I have not seen most of those folks since I left school.  However, I have mixed feelings about this.  I think everyone wishes they had been more successful in their career or perhaps had the perfect family.  Having good health at this age is always a plus.  You have a natural curiosity about what happened to the girl you were sweet on or the friend who had a plan to make a million dollars by age 25.  How many of us thought being 25 was old?  I know I did.  There were awkward moments too.  I remember when I got caught smoking on school grounds.  I knew I was in trouble but didn't see the need for all of the fuss they made over it.  After all, it was just a cigarette.  It was only a cigarette this particular time.  I didn't get into a fight in high school even though I came close a few times.  I had a problem with temper in grammar school and I got into a lot of fights.  After grammar school I told myself I wasn't going to fight in school anymore.  For the most part I was a good student. I did my work and if I applied myself there was a lot I could get done.  I wasn't a great student but I was solid  student. I still am.

Have you ever known someone from your school who you recall their face but you can't remember their name?  Someone who for the most part was quiet and seemed to fade into the background without being noticed?  In fact, if it were not for an old annual sitting around you wouldn't remember them at all?  That person was me.  Most of my friends were a year of two older or a year or two younger.  I connected with people who were not necessarily classmates.  The classmates I really cared for moved away during my high school years.  This was not their fault it was just the way things worked out.

Now I am 30 years older and have lived a lot of life.  I have lived much of it for the Lord who I love so much and have given my life to.  I have lived it for the family whom I am so devoted to.  I lived it for an industry which was pretty much run out of this country.  I have lived it the best I knew how to.  So I ask you today, what is success?  Is it only finances and a great amount of friends?  Is it just rising through the ranks in your career?  I think it is much more than that. I think success is to look back and not be willing to change a thing.  Success is such a deceptive topic.  Success is truly relative to the person.  So many things in life depend on circumstances that are beyond our control.  I haven't made my mind up completely if I will be going to this reunion.  I would like to see some of those people.  I know that none of us are the same person.  I know  I am not.  However,  there was a lot of hurt in those days too and the feelings from the ghost of high school past are the most haunting of all.  It brings up memories of things which happened in my life when my life wasn't good.  The reunion isn't until October so I still have a little time to mull over these thoughts and feelings I am having.  I will talk to the Lord about those feelings and then make up my mind.  I will let you know what I decide.

The journey

Today I wanted you update everyone on my continuing saga of losing weight.  I started walking a couple of months ago and I have regained my wind and my distance.  I have to admit that I haven't been the most faithful at sticking to the program.  I am going about twice a week instead of everyday.  I am going to have to change that part.  There is something therapeutic that happens inside of your head after you walk the first mile.  I have in the last couple of months lost about 10 pounds which is just OK considering that the last time I started walking, I lost 30 pounds in a little over a month.  That was 15 years ago though. I really wish that I had maintained what I had then with some exercise.   Hindsight is 20/20 though.  I am not starving myself this time either.  I eat pretty much my normal diet and cut out the second portions.  I have eliminated any drinks and most food containing sugar which is probably a good thing.  I am drinking only water, coffee and green tea.  The occasional diet soda.  I mean the very occasional diet soda!  I don't particularly like the taste of the sweetener they use for those.  I think I can keep up with these kind of changes on a permanent basis.  That is what I think it will take to keep the weight from returning like it did the last time.

I can't say that after losing only 10 pounds I have those ripped abs of steel!  Not even a 6 pack to be seen.  I suppose my belly resembles more of a 2 liter bottle of soda covered with a shirt.  I think I will keep it covered with the shirt for just right now. :) However, something is going on with my body.  I notice that I am able to wake a little quicker as of late.  I have a little more spring in my step.  I know that my attitude is better!  Right now I am going to put on my walking shoes and go out while the morning sun is shining.  So I will continue this little adventure of mine in another month or two to let you all know where I am at with this. 

Spring Flush!

I have been like a kid in a candy store the past week! My roses started their Spring flush. Now I have neglected them over the past 3 years because I could not work with them due to arthritis. My new medicine hasn't cured it, but I can do things a lot better this year. I had 8 plants that I moved to a special part of my garden. This is my rose hospital. These plants were alive, but just barely. I put them in a place that gets full sun for most of the day. It is just a better place for them. It is next to the woods so that I can toss the less fortunate out there. I lost most of my roses through neglect and I lost one to stupidity. I tried to use some fertilizer that was too strong on my beautiful Knockout rose and ended up over doing it. I burned it up! Now I only use a water soluble fertilizer. I was able to take some canes from it before it completely died and had many offspring from this one plant. Let me show you some of the roses in my garden this year.

Above is an antique rose that I grew from a cutting. This is a three year old plant. My mother in law brought this rose back from Ohio with her to North Carolina when she was a teenager. That is the way I understood it. My mother in law will turn 90 years old this year. I am sure this was a popular garden variety rambler in its day. I don't know the name of it. This rose has the classic rose fragrance. I will be taking more cuttings of this one this year.

This rose is a rugosa called "Sir Thomas Lipton."  It stands about 4 feet tall as a three year old shrub. It blooms several times through the year, but the Spring flush is the most vibrant. Believe it or not, this is a bad year for this one. I have seen this rose with so many blooms that you could barely see the foliage. It has a sweet clove fragrance.

This is a floribunda rose called "Europena."  It was mislabeled as a "Mr. Lincoln" hybrid tea. It is a small compact little rose and a good companion for annual bedding plants.

This is a "Mr. Lincoln" rose. A hybrid tea with long stemmed red fragrant roses. I wish that I could get a field of these to bloom in February for Valentine's Day! I have trouble getting this one to live! I thought that it had died last year and it came back to what you see here. It requires pampering and it will grow up to about 6 feet tall. Kind of ugly as a stand alone rose because it is gangly in appearance. Better suited to the back of a rose garden to hide the long gangly canes. One of the best fragrances in the rose world!

This is a "Sunny Knockout" rose that I bought this year. It will grow to about three feet tall by three feet in diameter when it is fully mature. I love all of the "Knockout" varieties because they bloom continuously through the growing season. No fragrance here though. That is the only fault that I have found with this rose. These blooms start out vibrant yellow and fade to a cream color. 

The last rose that I want to show you is called "Pink Grootendorst."  One of my favorite rugosa roses. Hardly any fragrance, which is unusual for a rugosa. Grootendorst also comes in white and red varieties with the same bloom form and carnation appearance.

This is not all of my roses, but I have to stop somewhere with this post. :) I wish these roses had been in better form this year, but that will be something to work on throughout the season. I have yet to deal with the Japanese Beetles, on whom I will show no mercy this year.  I am glad that I was able to have any roses at all to show you all this year. That in itself is somewhat of a miracle. My wife calls this my "therapy." I suppose that she is right. Perhaps I will go outside after while and have a group session. :)

Dearly Beloved

The day I got married was a happy day in my life. That day, I slept until noon! :) I was working a swing shift and I was adjusting to being off for a few days from the night shift. Usually I could make this transition pretty well but this time it took a couple of days. I woke up that day with a lot of happiness and didn't have a care in the world. I had to be at the church at 5:00 PM and the wedding would start at 6:00 PM. So what does a bachelor do on his last day? He wastes time doing a lot of nothing. I did this well until about 4:00 then I realized that I had forgotten to buy the bridal bouquet. "Oh No!" was the first thing out of my mouth. I called the florist to see what time they close on Saturday and they said 4:30. I said, "Could you do me a favor and see me at 4:45?" I told them my situation and they laughed at me, but did agree to this. They put this little bouquet of daisies and roses together for me in about 20 minutes. It was very nice but I had to pay through the eye teeth for it because of my forgetfulness. I also kept them after their normal hours. It was then that I was aware that the time was now 5:15. I noticed that I was starting to wring my sweaty hands.

"OK Khris, time to get it in gear!" So the church was about 20 minutes away at this point. I was dressed and had the bouquet and got there at about 5:45. The traffic didn't cut me any slack. So now I have this bouquet and give it to the bridesmaid and they take it back to my future wife. The preacher, my best man, and I all go into this little room in the back. "Man am I glad that's over!" Then these two proceed to tell me how it isn't over and what to expect. The preacher had laryngitis from a virus and was barely able to speak. About then my legs started to shake. The shaking happened right before the hyperventilation. I haven't been nervous the entire day and all of a sudden, I am terrified! The next thing I knew, it was time to stand at the altar. We proceed out and everything has begun. I was sweating, my knees were shaking and I was just a nervous wreck! My brother was my best man and I could see him smile at me. That was encouraging! He used to only smile at me before he beat me up! How comforting! The music started and I saw my bride. She was the most beautiful sight that I had ever seen in my life. She had the bouquet that I had almost forgotten and her father was walking her toward me. I remember the vows and I remember the introduction of the new couple to the congregation, but most everything else is a blur. The associate pastor had to deliver the final prayer because the preacher had lost all of his voice just after he pronounced us man and wife. I also remember seeing my car as we left the church. It was pretty well made up. All sorts of things written on it and all manner of debris on it. That did not really bother me, it was a Ford and not really a good looking one. This was an improvement actually! :)

Now my bride had woke up at 6:00 AM on the day of our wedding. She had a million things to do before the wedding. She had a lot of family in from out of town and it was very chaotic for her. By the time we got to her apartment after the reception, she was exhausted. For that matter I was too. I would like to say it was a very romantic evening but we were both so wasted from nerves and everything else that we just slept. We had relatives and well wishers over until almost midnight. She had this little twin size bed and we both tried to sleep in it. When I woke up, she was on the floor. She told me there just wasn't room on the bed for both of us. So much for the romantic wedding night. One thing is for sure. It was truly a memorable day for a lot of other reasons. :)

To Mama

Happy Mother's Day! I hope that today will be a joyful memory for all of you. Today I want to share memories of my mother. Some are very happy and others, not so much. My "Mama", was the third of eight children. She grew up on a farm when the predominant crop in the fields in South Carolina was cotton. From what I remember her speaking of, it was a lot of hard manual work. She had six sisters and one brother, so all of them had to work in the field. They were sharecroppers. My father's family was too, but that's a story for Father's Day.

Mama met Dad in the late 1940's and they dated for two years before getting married in the early 1950's. My brother was born first and I followed in 1961. I remember a happy childhood for the most part. Dad worked in the textile mill and Mama was a housewife. My brother and I loved each other, but we fought constantly. I don't mean argued, we fought! I developed a sharp tongue and a foul mouth as well as a quick temper. The temper part plagues me to this day, but I have gotten a lot better at self control. We were poor, but we didn't know it. I had good parents, we weren't abused or mistreated. Spankings were considered the norm if we misbehaved. It wasn't abuse, we knew the rules and penalties. Mama never spanked me with her hand. She would make me go get my own "switch" off of a small tree or bush. She would use that. I learned that getting the biggest limb I could get worked best for me. She would feel real bad about hitting me with something big. :) If you got a wimpy switch, that just made her more angry.

When I was ten years old, Mama got sick. She cried all of the time and thought people hated her. She became withdrawn and fearful. I had no idea what was happening, but Dad had to do something. That's when Mama was diagnosed with Schizophrenia. She spent a lot of time in the hospital and the rest of us just did the best we could with sharing her household duties. This is where I learned to do a little cooking and other domestic tasks. Folks, no one can replace Mama! No one can say the right word when you are hurting, and no one will ever love you like your mother. After all the hospital time, medication, and shock therapy, she did get some better. Schizophrenia is not something that gets cured. Not yet at least. Life was different after that, but I always loved her just the way she was. The only thing I can recall that I didn't like was that if she thought someone wronged me, she would let them have a piece of her mind. That proved to get me into hot water with a lot of my friends and others that I knew. It was just how she perceived it.

I lost her in 2001 to congestive heart failure. I miss her more than I can say, but I have so many happy memories of her. I hold them close to my heart and mind. If your mom is gone as mine is, do something today that you know that she would have enjoyed. If you still have your mom, tell her today how much you love her. Don't let it go unspoken. Do what you can for her even if she drives you a little crazy sometimes. Remember, no one! loves you like your Mama.