What paet of customer service do you understand?

I had a great time at Cherokee this past weekend and I was tired when I got home.  A good tired, yes, but tired nonetheless.  I was glad my new security camera wasn't to be installed until Tuesday so I would have a day to get my head back into life.  I was looking forward to doing yard work too, as strange as that may seem but I do enjoy being outside.  Well, the rain took the yard work part out of my day as my grass will be high before I get a chance to cut it again.  Going to see my Mom each week and working out at the gym three days a week kind of eat away available time for yard maintenance.  I like doing it early when the day is cooler. 
  The other thing I had planned for the day was scheduled for 8 am.  We called them when they had not arrived by 9:30 and was told "Oh, we meant between 8 and 12".  Well, excuse me but if you meant between 8 and twelve you should have said that.   At 1:30 we called back as the serviceman had not arrived and were told they would be here soon.  A few minutes later I received a call saying they would be here between 3 and four.  At four thirty my wife called and explained to them that we no longer wanted the camera.  Then the company started telling my wife she didn't understand that service calls are done on a time range and not at a specific time. 
   
The company started offering her deals but she said no. The service man called and wanted to reschedule but she said no.  He offered to give her the security camera at no cost but she still said no.  He  tired to explain to her that she would receive a call 30 minutes before the service person was to arrive and she explained that didn't happen either. 

   If they could offer the equipment for free to cover their screw-up maybe they should have offered it for free to begin with.  Better yet, when they realized that they could not make the 8 to 12 window they had called and apologized and asked us if it would be convenient to reschedule for later in the day or for another day we would have been more understanding.  But no, they choose to keep us uninformed of what was going on thereby wasting our entire day awaiting their arrival.  I just don't think big companies know what customer service really means. 

Too little time.

I thought once I had finished the remodel of my Mom's house I would have more time to write and to study but it seems I have less.  I have two doctor's appointments tomorrow, one Wednesday.  Then I'm off to Hickory to visit Mom and then I'm taking a few days with the wife for our anniversary.  When I get back I'll have to do yard work, then empty cabinets and create empty space in preparation for the delivery of our new kitchen cabinets.  The day the cabinets arrived I have another doctor's appointment  and then it will be time to visit Mom again. 
  By the time I catch a break it will be time for the doctors to whack off my little finger and then after that operate on the other hand.  By that time it will be eye glass exam time so another out of town trip.  But when it is all said and done I may be able to type and to see what I'm typing.  And maybe I'll have some time to do said writing.   

You are compalinning about what?

Someone who regularly attends our church but isn't a member complained to the pastor that the Sunday School teacher invited her to attend Sunday School.  Say What?

Do you ever feel lke screaming?

  A friend of mine has some strange ideas when it comes to interpreting scripture, which is okay, but when a person begins any discussion with "you will never convince me" then he is right.  It is okay to feel strongly that your interpretation is the correct one.  For example there are those who believe that a person can lose their salvation,  I know husbands and wives can fall out of love and no one can tell me when a couple has crossed the line from love to disinterest or hate and the union broken.  That is why one should never take their spouse for granted.  Even if one does everything right in a marriage it can still fail because your actions don't necessarily dictate the response one desire from their partner.  I have read letters that state " I love my spouse and they do every thing right but....".
 We know when it comes to relationships we need to respond to our partner in the way they want to be responded to rather than by a set of rules.  And so it is with Christianity.  We are taught by scriptures that being a Christian is a relationship with Christ and not adherence to a set of rules, regulations, and laws.  My pastors favorite saying is "You must be born right and live right in order to die right."  That is like saying that you must toe the line or you could lose your salvation.  Just exactly what does one have to do to lose their salvation?  Our preacher and youth minister are fond of saying "if your salvation doesn't take you to church I doubt it will take you to heaven"  I am aware the bible says "not to forsake the assembling of ourselves together" but how many church services can one miss before their salvation is lost?  Is this what we should be teaching people? 
   There is a fellow in the church who claims that one can lose their salvation "and you can't convince me otherwise."   Personally I don't want to be in a relationship with anyone I can't depend on  nor do I want to be in a relationship with someone who lives contrary to what they profess to stand for.  One gentleman in the church believes when Jesus turned the water into wine he was providing alcohol to an all ready bunch of drunks.  Jesus is God and it is unfathomable that God would do things contrary to his nature.  It is made abundantly clear in the Old Testament that getting drunk is displeasing to God and an even greater displeasure is shown to the man who puts strong drink to his neighbors lips. 
  In spite of what God has claimed for 2,000 years he hates, in His first act as a man He violates His very principles.  The wedding was a religious ceremony and fermented wine was not allowed to be served.  Jewish custom did not provide for fermentation of the wine as we know it today. 
  I'm not going to run the biblical references for you but I will give you the scriptures. 
Numbers 13:23, Psalms 104:15, Nehemiah 10:37, Isaiah 16:10, Isaiah 65:8, Jeremiah 40!), and Habakkuk 2:15.     I think it should become clear that wine and grape juice can be the same thing as no juice of the grape is fermented wine while still in the grape. 

The truth about food safety

"One time on a 12-hour family road trip to North Carolina, my parents stopped at Bojangles for lunch. We walked in and saw that that the cashiers were handing out food (fried chicken and biscuits) without any gloves on. I thought it was absolutely disgusting and couldn't believe people were willingly accepting food from the hands of strangers. I sat in the restaurant and got back in the car for the remainder of the drive, refusing to eat anything from Bojangles. I think that was the worst experience — I was forced to smell fried food, but knew better than to eat any."


   Stupid girl.  Just because a worker is wearing gloves doesn't mean safe food handling procedures are in place nor does bald hands mean unsanitary.  Actually food handling gloves are for a customers benefit and has absolutely nothing to do with food borne illness.  Hands with gloves can go anywhere hands without gloves can go.  A worker can wear them when they go to the rest room, Lord knows how long a worker has worn a pair of gloves.  I've even seen cashiers with gloves on. 
  No, what is important is hand washing.  An employee can go to the rest room, take a dump, and come back to the service area and put on a pair of gloves while another washes their hands before putting on the gloves.  Which person do you want handing you food? 
  Not, gloves, hair nets and beard guards are for show, not for food safety.  

… Why This Man Proposed To His Girlfriend Completely Covered In Mud

Someone actually wrote this headline and the editors let it slip by.  I'm not sure who is covered in mud; the guy or the girlfriend.  I'm not going to read the article to find out either.

Tipping

  I like American Roadhouse Express because one doesn't have to leave a tip.  There are lots of things I don't understand about restaurants.  Why do they leave the guest check upside down?  What does tips mean?  I've heard it said TIPS stands for to insure prompt service but if that was true shouldn't the tip be given before the meal? 
  I'm a generous tipper but I base my tips on the quality of the service and not on the quality of the food.  What I don't like about tipping is the waitress in a popular diner where the meals are inexpensive and the business is brisk actually works much harder than a waitress or waiter in an upscale place but for much less.  Go to Golden Coral where it cost $10.00 for all you can eat and watch people tip.  The waitress is lucky to get a dollar out of most folks.  Go to Outback where it costs about $25.00 per person and she gets $5.00 per person.  The waitress at Golden Coral works much harder. 
   I don't think tipping should be based on the price of the food but the quality of the service.  It should be standardized across the board.  It just doesn't seem fair that a person can go into a restaurant and order a sausage and egg biscuit   and have his coffee refilled five times and leave his waitress a dollar tip (20% of his $5.00 total bill)  then later goes to a steakhouse for dinner where the wait person refills his drink once after drinking half a glass before his meal arrived and then offered a refill   after he finished eating and then drops a five dollar bill on the wait person (20 % of his $25.00 bill).  He got much better service at breakfast and based on how hard the wait staff worked the one at breakfast worked much harder.   

Tom Brokaw makes a controversial statement

Tom Brokaw makes a controversial statement during a commencement address when he stated that more guns means more terrorism.  While it is true that having a firearm empowers some people to act more quickly to settle a problem by using a weapon against another banning weapons will not prevent acts of terror any more than requiring drivers to have licenses and insurance will prevent traffic accidents.    

sick puppy

     I started on insulin yesterday after 3 months of extra high glucose readings.  The tip of my little finger has experienced some numbness of late and I'm afraid it is a consequence of dupredrens contracture.  In case you are unaware of what that is I'll fill you in.  It is a involuntary curving of the little and ring finger of the hand.  The little finger on my left hand has curved so much that the tip of the finger normally rests in my palm.  I can move it about half an inch.  I am experiencing some curvature in my right hand as well but it may never be a serious problem or it could curl rapidly.

   My concern is that the disease will cause an interruption in the blood flow to my finger so I'm exploring the possibility of amputation.  My father suffered from the same malady and because of his work it caused him problems so he had his amputated. 

  It seems some things that are minor inconveniences when we are young  can become serious problems when we get older.  I have done a good job of controlling my diabetes over the years but the older one gets the harder it is to stay healthy. 
     

Photo controversy highlights black women in Long Gray Line

16 black women just graduated from West Point and posed for a graduation picture in dress uniform, complete with swords, and with their fists raised in the air.  They just didn't understand why the picture would be controversial. 
   During my high school days the band would play a certain song every time the football team scored a touchdown but after integration the song wasn't allowed to be played anymore.  If your relatives fought in the War Between the States and you fly a flag or put up a statue, or belong to an organization that remembers the contributions of those brave soldiers that fought and died in the war, then you are labeled a racist.  You can name any organization after the color of your skin except if you are white and not draw the ire of the community.  One can tell blonde jokes all day long but for goodness sakes don't call anyone "nappy headed" or you will find yourself out of a job and in a lawsuit. 
  I don't know how many women graduated with these 16 in the photo but I am willing to bet there were more and probably some of them were not black women but they were excluded from the photo.  maybe there is no cause to believe the picture was politically motivated but if all the non-black women had taken such a picture then I'm willing to bet it would have been labeled racist and heads would have rolled. 
  There once was a blog entitled "big pieces of chicken" and the writer of that blog complained
that at events at the Greensboro coliseum white did not come over and sit in the same sections black people were sitting in and said it was because white people were racists.  I suggested he swallow his racist pride and go sit in the section s that white people were sitting in that way he could demonstrate his willingness to break the color barrier and show himself friendly.  Racism  works both ways and so does the solutions. 
  When I had a part-time job at a convenience  store, sometimes customers started pumping their gas without using a credit card or pre-paying for the gas.  When customers do that there is always the possibility of a drive-off.  One evening after the sun had gone down, business was extremely slow and it had been a while since I had a customer but about the same time two people pulled up to the gas pump.  One was pump 10 and started pumping   gas without prepaying or using a credit card.  Pump 10 is the pump most likely to have a drive-off as it is futherest from the store and harder to see a license tag.   The driver was also young, the age group most likely to leave without paying.  That particular customer was also female, pretty, and dressed in a bikini.  The other driver was pumping gas on pump six and was a middle aged black male who had used a credit card at the pump.  Pump 6 was in direct line of sight to pump 10. 
   I wasn't interested in him as he had pre-paid via credit card for his gas but the other driver was a different story.  Besides being attractive she was a potential risk and for that reason I watched her to insure she didn't drive off.  Of course, the man came into the store and started accusing me of being racist because I was watching him.  I asked him to look at pump 10 and then decide who I was watching.  He left but didn't apologize. 
  All I'm saying is that what one looks at as racist isn't always so but sometime what one doesn't see is.   

Another stupid article

MSN has an article titled "23 foods we have been eating wrong our entire lives".  I don't know about you but I just open my mouth, shovel something in, chew and swallow.  Anyone do it differently?

A different South

     This isn't the South that I grew up in.  I grew up in the rural South where it seemed everyone went to church, policemen were former neighborhood bullies or those that were to much of a drunk to keep driving their cabs, where blacks had their own neighborhood and place, where ruthless bank robbers could be hero's but  most citizens were so honest stores sold newspapers on the honor system.  There were lots of things to like about the old South and there were a lot of things to not like also. 
   For one thing, why good church going people who believed Jesus died on the cross for everyone still found it justifiable to exclude a good portion of society from dignity.  Even if the races remained separate everyone deserved to be treated with the same amount of respect.  The majority had no cause to hate the minority.  Even so, the redneck, outhouse owning, backward living barefoot half toothless character of cartoons were far from what the average Southerner was like.  That idea is as far from what a Southerner truly is as the idea that a Yankee is an educated, tolerate, highly advanced form of life that can drive in three feet of snow with nary a problem.  Being more subtly about ones vices doesn't make them more virtuous. 
   Honestly, I miss the old South.  Not the part about separate but equal because there was nothing equal or fair about that policy.  Today even with integration the equal part just doesn't seem to exist.  It's been a hundred and fifty years since there were legal slaves in the country.  I believe it is past time both races forget and forgive that part of our heritage.  The part of the South that I miss was the part were family's stayed together and gathered at Grandma's house on Sunday's after church for a chicken dinner and a soda in the back yard under the shade tree. 
  I miss the part where strangers said hello to each other and were often seen stopping to help one another.  I miss the part where a man's hand shake and his word meant something.  I suppose that part of the South has moved on too and now times have given away  to an era of selfishness where people want to act like they want to act and one has to force them to behave, where people do illegal and immoral things but the people who are hated are the ones who stand up for what is right. 

National Association of the Easily offended

  I go to the YMCA for an arthritis exercise class done in the heated pool.  Sometimes one of the men who used the pool or the gym will come into the locker room and parade around in full nakedness as if I would really enjoy looking at their nude and wrinkled body, which I do not.  I know that some exposure will happen when people get into a confined area in which they have to shower and change clothes but there is no reason to walk to ones locker which is on the bottom and bend over while totally naked when their is a person sitting on a bench   putting on his shoes. 
   I totally understand that such behavior is offensive and can be avoided.  But that is not the kind of offensive practices I am referring to.  I am talking about intellectual intrusion where my thoughts or ideas are deemed offensive to you yet you feel that your thoughts and ideas are enlightened and
should be accepted by me.    I'm sorry about that but I have already been down the road where I questioned my beliefs, studied the alternatives, and applied them to my life and am sure of the results.  It is your right to disagree with me but not to call me names and bring hurt to me in one or more ways because my belief system is different. 

My parents didn't teach me that.

The red headed controversial alderwoman from Randleman, NC posted a video of a Negro man
claiming that it was white people that decided to call him black but he didn't see color.  Yea right. 
First of all, the term "black" was first used by the Negro people but then they finally decided on being called African-American but recently have decided that they would just as soon be called black so do not blame white people for that one.  Back then white people had a name for them that is not politically correct today. 
  Secondly, my parents didn't teach me to call people names.  I didn't learn to call people japs, or spics, or wetbacks, or any other derogatory name.  They did teach me the song, "Red, yellow, black, or white they are precious in his sight.  Jesus loves the little children of the world."  Do they get credit for that? 
  Thirdly, black people are just as prejudice as white people are.  White people just happen to be the majority and hold political and economic dominance  but if the situation had been reversed then we would be the oppressed ones. 
  I served in the military overseas and in areas that had never seen white or black people before a military base was put near where they lived or they happened to move to the area.  It certainly wasn't my parents that taught them negative things.  It seems many of them learned these things from observing the behavior of people. 
  I detest irreverent people but I like people that act descent.  I don't care what you look like or what color your are or where you are from.  I do care how you act.  
 

Fit Moms Chontel Duncan and Stacie Venagro Gave Birth to Healthy Baby Boys!

If the world, or least Americans, are not getting dumber and dumber my uncle's a monkey.  Read the above headline: two women give birth.  No, one woman gave birth.  It isn't possible for a woman to get another pregnant.  I believe in tolerance but I also believe in telling the truth.  Two women can not and have never been able to make a baby.   

Trump is afraid he will win.

 The election of 2016 seems to be coming down to the rejects of 2008: Hillary and the Donald.  Hillary is serious about being President while Donald Trump just wanted free publicity for his on-going business concerns.  This year it backfired and people thought he might be a good candidate. 
  Our system of government only works if the populace is educated.  I'm afraid the American population isn't as educated as they would like  to believe.  They can't get their faces out of their electronic devices long enough to pay attention.  Americans ability to express themselves via the written world has seriously deteriorated.  Computers, once thought to be the gateway to knowledge, is only a platform to watch movies and play games.  Many of the news stories on the web are now presented in video form. 
   It seems the American public wants to smoke as much marijuana as they want without being arrested for it, drive as fast as they want without being ticketed for it, party as hard as they want without being held responsible for their actions, want to be paid as much as possible for doing as little as they can, and if they screw up, they want everyone else to pitch in and bail them out without themselves having to face the consequences of their actions.  Americans want to live in an idealistic world were everyone is love, respected, and well taken care of but where everyone really means themselves. 
   Donald Trump is not Presidential material.  We live in a real world where we have real enemies and they want to do us harm.  They consider most Americans infidels and to be honest, they might not be too far off the mark.  But being an infidel gives no one the right to do us harm.  To survive as a  country we need to change some things.  Donald Trump is not the person to lead this nation to bring about these changes.
  

diet soda in the news: again

The article was titled "What diet soda is doing to your body"  and indicates that diet soda is bad for a person.  What exactly is it that is bad for a person?  Soda is carbonated water, sweeter and flavoring along with preservatives.  All soda has carbonated water yet it isn't regular soda or carbonated soda getting the bad rap.  Regular soda doesn't contain sugar  but corn syrup or corn sugar which diet soda doesn't have.  Diet soda has an artificial sweetener that regular soda doesn't have  but it isn't the sweetener that is getting the bad rap.  The other ingredients in sodas vary from drink to drink: that's what makes them different. 
  So exactly what is the problem with diet soda?

Not so buddy

Just read an article on MSN that was entitled "He retired at 33, so can you."  Sorry but I passed that milestone 35 years ago.  My brother retired yesterday  but the rich brother is still working.  Go figure. 

neighbors yard

  This is what I have to look at everyday.  The shed in the backyard is not finished and the fenced lot on the right of the house is for yappy little dogs.  He has an untagged yard machine which he rides on the streets, blocks the road with excess vehicles and broken trailers, and is constantly swapping junk
but is always bringing more than taking. 
  Bot only is the place an eyesore the man is drawing disability but is constantly working, building, tearing down, loading and unloading junk.

A different kind of march mdness

    March is known for St. Patty's Day and for March Madness, the NCAA Basketball tournament.  It is also the month that One Way Baptist has it's annual revival services.  This year the speaker was Danny Castle from Shinning Light Baptist Church in Morganton, NC.  He was one of the best speaker's I've ever heard.  But more than being able to deliver an interesting and entertaining speech, he was able to present the gospel  in an appealing way. 
   You missed the services this year but we are having him back next year so mark your calendars for next March.

Revival services at One Way Baptist

  Danny Castle from the Morganton area is the guest speaker at One Way Baptist.  Although I am the longest attending active member of the church having missed only a couple of services (not Sunday morning services but all services of the church) my pastor and I have very different tastes when it comes to "good preaching".  It seems the louder and more flamboyant a speaker is the more holy our preacher thinks he is.  Flaying od the arms, hacking, and screaming at the top of ones lungs does nothings to enhance a mans message.  Granted, these types of preachers can generate excitement and garner a lot of whops and hollers  but rarely have anything of substance to say.  The ones I dislike the most are the ones that have speech impediments that make them hard to understand.  It seems though that this type of preacher is the type preferred by my pastor and it also seems the more animated, the louder, and the worse the speech  impediment the better the preacher likes it. 
  I will agree that a message should be delivered with a degree of enthusiasm so that time seems to fly by and your interest held but I also think the message should have a beginning, a body and an ending and to have gone somewhere.  Some preachers can spew out well worn phrases for an hour and never actually make a point.  One preacher carried two handkerchiefs, one in each hand, and wiped his face constantly as he spoke, using one hanky to swipe his brow and the other to wipe his lips.  He would start on his cheek wipe down and the across his lips and then down to his chin.  He has the required speech impediment   and wiping his lips made it impossible to understand what he was saying.  That made for a long evenings  and to be subjected to that night after night was a little more than one soul could bear. 
  I have been looking forward to this weeks revival services with dread especially since the preacher seemed to be so excited about the proposed preacher.  It would be a big shock to everyone at the church if I wasn't there but I had already informed my wife that if this preacher was anything like the last three preachers that had been booked for our revival services I was staying in Hickory and not coming back until all the work there was done and I was serious when I said that. 
  I was pleasantly surprised last night.  Danny Castle is one of the best speakers I've heard in a long time.  I will be back tonight.  

Remodel complete

  I picked the tops up from Lowes Tuesday morning, purchased some liquid nails from Wal-mart and glued the tops down.  I had the project complete by 7:05 am.  I was then able to visit Mom to have breakfast with her.  I then brought her to her house to see the finished project and to do some cleaning.  She was very pleased with the results,  She said my younger brother, who saw it Sunday, was pleased with the results also. 

Remodel almost complete

    I'm going to Hickory tomorrow and pick up the counter tops.  Once they are installed the remodel will be complete.  Of course there is still plenty of work to be done, the hardest of which will be the clean-up.  I have an out building to paint, grass to plant, and  china cabinet glass to replace and furniture and stuff to arrange and window to wash. 
  There is, of course, things I wanted done I couldn't get done like the flooring in the kitchen and bathroom replaced, a dishwasher installed, and the yard professional landscaped, and the stumps ground, but some of that will come in due time.  I had the money to get all the undone stuff completed but because of time constraints most of Moms money went to pay the Bryan Center and Omnicare.  If all the money had been available from the start and I could have paid for everything up front then I could have completed all the necessary projects. 
   I know Lowes refused to replace the bathroom and kitchen flooring but I could have found someone to do it.  But things are were thy are and I did the best I could under the circumstances.  The house is much improved and I believe all the work and aggravation   was worth it to get the final results. 

Upholding science at the expense of religion

    In todays paper one of the feature guest writers extolled the virtues of science while depicting religious institutions of being close-minded and pig-headed, believing in miracles where non exists and he has every right to feel that way and to say so publicly.  But that doesn't make him right.   
  First of all, what the leaders of the Roman Catholic Church did has no reflection om the teachings of the Lord Jesus Christ.  True religion is having a relationship with Jesus Christ  and not debating the value of religion over science or denying the accomplishments of science.  What scientist have been able to prove in no wise contradicts the scriptures.  What some scientist conclude about what they believe but can't prove, however sometimes sounds more foolish than what is taught in the scriptures. 
   During WWII a German Doctor operated on hundreds of Jews without them having need of an operation and without them having the benefit of pain killers all in the name of science yet I would not hold him up as an example of what science is about yet secular people like to hold up the ungodly popes of centuries gone by as typical of the Christian attitude yet these popes were not Christian at all.  The crusades were waged by the Catholic church against Christians because they choose to believe the teaching of Christ was that salvation was through Him yet the Church wanted people to believe that only the Catholic Church could grant salvation. 
  The secular world disallows creation to be taught in school yet they teach a theory as fact.  Who is being close-minded and pig-headed.  If an idea cannot be proven as fact then it should not be taught at all or opposite and/or opposing views should be allowed. 
  I'm sure the writer is willing to dismiss claims of miraculous healings as just consequence but exactly how many consequences in a row does it take for one to think there may be a divine hand in things?  Impossible things do not happen to one person often yet when the impossible happens over and over and over again for years on end then does that prove mere luck or provide a cause to believe
in divine intervention? 
  While the writer mocks the early church and modern day believers he conveniently leaves Christ alone while is the only wisw thing he did. 

Trump for President

    It seems the Donald is doing a good job of getting people to turn out to vote in the primaries and to vote for him.  The trouble is, Donald Trump doesn't really want to be President.  It's all a joke to him and I believe he is as shocked and the RNC is that people are taking him seriously.  Lately he has been doing things and saying things to derail his campaign but no one seems to be paying attention.  In the last week or so he made the statement that he would not be surprised to lose the nomination and this week he bragged about the size of his manhood.  The President of North Korea might be interested in that but the rest of the world does not care. 
 

Black History Month

The year was 1966, the year after I graduated from the last all-white high school in my home town.  I was home from college and I saw an article in the newspaper about busing.  The writer, a local parent, was objecting to busing because, the writer claimed, that busing the black kids across town to attend the formerly all white school was a dangerous thing to do.  The kids got less sleep, might not have time for breakfast, and all the miles spent on the road in a bus increased the changes of them being in an accident.  In response I wrote the following article which was read on WBTV Charlotte.

   "I don't know if busing is a good thing or a bad thing and I'm not for nor against it.  I do know that the writer of the article against busing is blowing smoke.  While on the surface it may seem like he has legitimate concerns, the truth is he isn't concerned with the safety and welfare of the black students.  He just doesn't want his white kids to go to school with them.  If the writer and his friends were really concerned about the safety of the children then where were they six years ago?  I lived just a few blocks from the black high school yet I had to walk almost two miles to school every day for three years then walk the same two miles for another three years to catch a bus to the white high school yet no one was concerned about me.  Is the writer now claiming he cares more about the black kids then he did the white kids that had to be bused across town so they didn't have to go to school with the black children?  I think he needs to be honest about the real reason he objects to busing.

Profession of faith

A lady at the church had been praying for her grand daughter when she heard a TV preacher say something that upset her, indicating that her prayer's were not getting through to God.  She called me really upset about what this man had said.  I assured her what she heard was just a Haggiism and not biblical truth.  Last night her grand daughter came to church and midway through the service this lady's prayers were answered.  Be careful who you listen to.  If it isn't scriptural the man may be a servant of the devil. 

Back in town

    I made my weekly trek to Hickory.  Tuesday was more of a visitation day with Mom although I did do some remodeling to the new out building.  The building came with shelves  along each side from front to back but with a full run of shelves there wasn't a place to hang rakes, and shovels and other long tools so I took out half of the shelves on one side and hung those shelves above the other shelf on that side giving me a place to stack cans and bottles and also allowing me to hang the long tools.
   I also put a tamper proof hasp  on the door .  I was going to secure the hasp with carriage bolts but the ones I purchased were to short.  I also bought a can of window glaze to frost the windows so one cannot see into the shed but can see out. 
    Mom was feeling somewhat better after a bought with some kind of virus that severely effective ones digestive system.  I took her laundry home to do while she enjoyed lunch and we had a nice visit in the evening.  I decided to spend the night in Hickory because I needed to do some studying and with the impending bad weather I thought it to be much safer to stay as I had to be in Hickory for the inspector. 
   After breakfast Wednesday morning I refinished the bathtub (2nd coat) leveled the stove and dryer, washed all the dirty dishes, vacuumed, and cleaned the rug in the den.  After lunch I went to visit Mom for an hour or two.  I left there at two and headed to the house to pack up, load the car and head for Hickory.  I needed time to prepare for Wednesday night so the inspection would just have to wait for another day. 
   I got my car loaded up and then I noticed two cans of paint I had forgot to take to the out building so I did that and as I turned to walk to the car to leave I saw a man standing in  my yard.  It was the inspector.  If he was 30 later or if I had not put away the paint cans we would have missed each other.  I was glad to get the inspection over with. 
   Winds were rough and blew a big pine tree in Mom's neighbors yard across the street not only blocking the toad but taking down the power lines. 
  The trip home was safe and uneventful.

If this is our best, we really suck.

“I hear the phrase, ‘Make America great again,’” said Jackson, reciting Trump’s campaign slogan with a tone of disbelief. “This is the best America’s ever been!”

   Jesse Jackson claims America is at it's best at this very moment. 

  There is a bill in Charlotte that proposes that all public bathrooms in the city can be used by anyone claiming to be of whatever gender they choose.  In other words, a man can claim he is a woman and use the women's bathroom.  One might assume that men would not mind if women used their restroom but not so.  I'm not about to expose myself in front of a female even if she claims she is a man trapped in a man's body.  Is allowing our wives and daughters to subject themselves to possible lewd behavior the best of America?  I think not.
    Our country allows women the right to kill their unborn children by allowing the women to claim that whatever is growing inside of them is just tissue and is not human at all.  Jesse Jackson says this is the best we have ever been. 
   We have interpreted the constitution as saying we have freedom from religion and not freedom of religion and yet Jackson says this is the best America has ever been. 
  While it is true that America has never been without problems and even at our best we had glaring deficiencies, this is not the best America has every been  It may be the best America will ever be but it is not the best America has ever been.

Some delays, some success, and a tie.

   They cabinets I ordered back in December finally came in (the second time) but no laminate tops so they will be a three week delay.  Window World had problems with the large window so their installation date (scheduled for February 1 has been pushed back to the second week in March. 
   The out building has been delivered and set up.  To be honest, the hasps and hinges are designed to keep the doors on the building  but will have to be changed in order for the building to ne secure.  I am having it tied into the home alarm as well.  The front door and new storm door were delivered and installed.  I didn't notice until after the man left that the bracket for the deadbolt on the main door was set too high so the deadbolt wouldn't set so I fixed the problem myself.  The refinishing job I did on her 58 year old bathtub turned out good so I'm pleased with that.
   The success is I finally got Mom qualified for Medicaid.  It was really stressful combining all her accounts into one account, spending money  fixing up the house, trying to get the money in the annuity released, scheduling the workers, painting, moving stuff over and over, doing minor repair work and so much cleaning.  The most stressful part was that I had no idea how much money I had in the bank account plus I had no power of attorney to even write a check let alone obtain the information in order to balance the check book.  I finally had to take Mom to the bank.  But now everything is done as far as qualifying   Mom and in three weeks the house should be completed.
  There were a few minor problems I have to deal with on my own.  The truck delivering the shed got stuck so I had to hire the wrecker to pull him out of the mud and pay a walking fee, ($180.00 total)  I had to pay $89.00  for the laminate countertops and I will have to pay for the alarm system upgrades ($250.00) plus I'll have to change the hasp and hinges and paint the building out of my own pocket. 
  Now all the expense of running the roads between Randleman and Hickory will be out of my own pocket but you know, a man only has one Mom and he needs to do right by her.  After all she has always been there for me. 

I didn't know that but wish I did.

Fun Fact: After the first season, Davy Jones received a draft notice -- and starved himself for three weeks in order to fail the physical.

  That's Davy Jones of the Monkees.  I thought the TV show was stupid back then and I still think it is dumb.  I also knew that some, if not all, the band members were anti-Vietnam War.  So was I.  But I served two tours in Vietnam anyway and as a volunteer.  There are certain things one is called to do in life:  serve in the military, pull jury duty, and salute the American flag during the playing of the national anthem.  No, I had no wish to die and I certainly don't look forward to taking my own time to sit in judgement of my fellow man.  
   To intentionally jeopardize one's own health in an effort to subvert ones duty to ones country and put another woman's child in danger (someone had to take his place) is a criminal act punishable as cowardice would be punished by the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  You probably disagree but then you probably didn't have to fight in Vietnam because someone else wimped out. 

Obama says "Trump will not be President"

This is one case in which I hope Obama is correct.  Trump has ran for that office for many elections and is like celebrity divorces 5 decades ago: a mere publicity stunt and ego booster.  The people I'm most afraid of are the people who think Trump is Presidential material. 
   Many years ago George Wallace ran for President and the Prime Minister of England made the statement that American is such a great country that even a person like George Wallace could run for President but also such a scary place that a man like George Wallace might actually get elected.  Well, I feel the same about Trump.  He's a loose cannon.  Yea, he's cocky and thinks he has all the answers but all he does is spew the uninformed opinion  of the man on the street. 
   Obama claimed that all America needed to do was sit down with our enemies and talk out our problems and the Democrats ate that up.  Most blacks voted for him because he was black and Democratic regardless of what he claimed.  Well Obama found out what everyone else already knew.  One cannot sit down and reason with radical Islam nor can one negotiate with the likes of the leader of North Korea.  In other words, talk is cheap.  Reality is where we ought to live.   Much of what Trump says is based on our feelings and our frustrations.  Yea, building a fence   to keep the illegals out sounds good but who is going to pay for all that wire? 
   Half my neighborhood is made up of illegals.  Their yards are messy, they mistreat their pets, and they disregard local laws which, I suppose was okay in their homeland. but it really isn't here.  But Americans kill so many babies that if it wasn't for the illegals who would do the jobs they do?  The truth is the illegals are no more of a ban to our existence than the   Jews were to Hitler's Germany.    
Trump is using them to stir our emotions and cloud our judgement is much the same manner as Hitler did the Jews.  He is not the thinking mans candidate.

Halftime show

Seems like there is a lot of controversy about Beyoncé's halftime performance.  Things like that are one of the reasons I never watch the Super Bowl. 

Valentine's on the 7th.

    Have you ever tried to take your sweetie out to a restaurant on Valentines Day?  Long lines and impossible waits are the rule.  My wife and I stay home on that day.  Since her aneurysm she doesn't do well in crowds so it is best we not venture out that day anyway. 
  We usually go out to dinner after church on Sunday morning a couple of times a month.  Roadhouse express and a local Mexican Food restaurant are our usual places to dine but we had decided we would like a steak.  The best steak I've eaten was at the Texas Roadhouse in Hickory but that's too far to go.  There are some good places in Greensboro like the Outback or Longhorn but the trouble with most steakhouses today is that slap a piece of meat on a plate and call it a meal.  I'm sorry but I'm southern.  I like a potato and a salad with my meat. 
   I know there is a descent steakhouse in Randleman but for my money I'd rather drive to Archdale to the Pioneer.  I know most people think of the pioneer as a buffet place and it is and a second rate one at that.  Golden Coral has the best selection but Snyder Farms has the best food, by far.  The truth be told though, the Pioneer serves a good steak.  One gets your choice of baked potato or fries, roll or toast and a trip to the salad bar and the desert bar.   Most steak places give you a piece of meat and a hunk of hard bread and a sampling of butter.  The steak should be the center piece of the meal but  not the whole thing.   

starting the big push

   February is the big push to get the house completed.  What seems funny in a retrospective way is the fact that the thing I wanted most and that planted the idea for remodeling the house will be the last item to be installed. 
  Weather permitting, the driveway will be poured sometime this week and hopefully the windows and doors will be placed in the house.  The out building is scheduled to be delivered on the 18th and the cabinets are scheduled to be installed on the 23rd.  After this I have to call to have the range hood installed. 
  There are a few items I suppose I will have to fix at my own expense, like the sheetrock from the wiring but it will be totally worth it. 

All you can eat

  I still have tickets to the Pinto Bean supper.  Did I mentioned it is all one can eat?  Well, it is.  If you don't want to buy a ticket you can make a donation to the church. 
   You are welcomed to join us for our Valentine Dinner (couples only).  Spaghetti dinner with garlic toast and salad.  February 15th at 5. 

close call

I went to Hickory Tuesday with the need to spend $1901.42 to get the account down to the $2000.00 max but I only had one job left scheduled.  An electrician was supposed to move the stove plug 4 feet, a relatively simple job.     I know back in December I had the fuse box converted to a breaker box but the electrician doing that was not licensed and he told me that the box would not pass an inspection but he did wire everything back just like it was.  I never really thought any more about it until this job.  The electrician did mention it and would not move the stove plug if the whole job would not pass a building code inspection so I told him to go ahead. 
 So instead of a simple hour and a half job the electrician was there from 9 until 7.  He did rewire the outlets in the kitchen making sure one outlet was a GFI plug.  The bill came to $1900.00 so all that was left for me to do was go buy Mom the bag of Cuties she wanted  and I was done.  Just have to pull the bank statements and Mom can get her Medicaid.

Back to Hickory

Believe it or not, I haven't heard from the man I hired to pour the driveway.  It needs to be done this week.  I was finally able to get the checkbook balanced and I has more money than I thought so I'm going to purchase a storage building, pay for Mom's medicine and the driveway and I'm done.  Then I can notify David to get Mom's bank statements from October, pick up a form from the Bryan Center and deliver to the VA and my part is done as far as the money is concerned. 
  I'll still have to rewire the stove plug, be there when the windows are installed, the shed delivered, and the cabinets installed and hopefully the driveway poured.  Pray that the man does he job this week.    

Bought and paid for

I finally got my cabinets ordered but they won't be installed until February 23rd.  The windows should be installed within the next two weeks and I will prepaid for the new front door and storm door.  I am so ready for this to be over with.  Still haven't found an electrician to move the stove plug.  (It's not as easy as it looks).
  Since no one is willing to do such a minor job I thought I'd do it.  Cut the power, take the old box up and move it to a new location, buy a piece of wire to run from the existing wire to the new location, hook everything back up, turn the power on and wham, the job is done.    Of course things aren't that simple.  I was originally hoping that I could just unhook the old wire and move it to a new location.  Of course I would have to drill a new hole and plug up the old hole and maybe do a little crawling in a cold dirty basement but of course there was no extra wire.  Now I have to do a splice.  I go to the supply house.  What size wire?  I haven't a clue.  I know it's a six or eight but I don't know how to tell.  I do know a six is bigger than an eight but I have no idea why.  I have to  make a trip back home to get the instruction manual for the stove.    It's a sixty amp so it takes the number eight wire. 
   Something told me to get 4 1/2 feet of wire since I was going to move the plug four feet but I didn't.  Of course I was a half inch short.  I had to buy some caps but the only ones for size eight wire were the waterproof ones.  When I connected one end to the plugs I pulled my splice apart on the other end:  that's when I discovered the water proof plugs have a clear gel inside.  Makes it impossible to tape the splice together with electrical tape.   Make to the store I go to get some clamps to hold the wire together. 
  I get back home, complete my splice, turn the power back on and .....nothing. 
  I still need that electrician I can't find.  He has until the 22nd of February to not show up. 

Stress does turn ones hair gray

  There was an article posted on the web a few days ago that said that stress does not cause ones hair to turn gray.  I've never been one to let things get to me nor have I been one to worry about my hair.  Yes, I've been slowly graying but at 69 I'm just happy to have hair.   But trying to help Mom save her money has been stressful on me, something I'm not used to.
   It's a combination of things.  Mom, 90, is in a rest home or retirement home or old folks home or whatever you want to call it; the political correct word is assisted living facility I think.  Anyway at $9000.00 per month plus $854.00 a month for medicine it won't take long to burn through her savings.  The only choice she has is to go on Medicaid but she has to turn over all her assets except for $2,000.00 and her house, if she signs a waver stating she intends to go back home.  The only way I could figure out how to legally hang on to any of her money was to do repair work and improvements to her house, which is allowed.  But, things aren't always as easy as they should be.
  The stressful part for me is to find someone to do the work when it needs to be done.  I have to get the work done in time to file for Medicaid without running out of money.  My biggest fear was hiring a bunch of people to do jobs and they all show up at the same time.  I can't have a man refinishing floors while the window people are replacing the old metal windows with new ones  while a crew is pouring concrete for the new driveway while a big bucket truck and bobcat are running all over the yard while lumberjacks swing from my trees.  Needless to say, what do I do with all the stuff in the house that had to be moved out of the rooms to be painted when the people show up to lay carpet in the other rooms. 
  I have to write checks to pay bills from an account that I do not have the legal authority to write checks on   while trying to keep the checkbook balanced without access to the account while another brother has a checkbook to the same account writing checks to pay the normal bills which I have no idea how much the checks he is writing are for al the while trying to make the money, the deadlines, the work, come out together.  Gosh, one sometimes forgets things like income tax from the annuity that was cashed out.  Did I spend to much?  Will I have to scratch the last project scheduled?  Will finding out how much the taxes are jeopardize the filing for Medicaid in time to get approved? 
   Last week when I went to see Mom she said "your hair is turning gray".  It's taken years to go from the darkest brown to light brown with a splattering of gray but just a few weeks to go from graying to  gray with  a splattering of faded brown.   I do believe that stress causes ones hair to gray.

Massive blizzard paralyzes New York and Washington, 19 dead

I thought snow didn't bother Yankees--at least that is what they are always telling us southerners

Matt Damon says Hollywood must do more to support diversity

He could always quit and make sure a non-white person gets his job.

Remodling frustrations

I have been unable to write in my blog due to numerous trips to Hickory trying to repair and remodel
my child hood home.  Dad died 17 years ago and Mom is legally blind and almost deaf and as the years have gone by she became less and less able to keep her house up.  She likes pretty things, clothes and objects of décor and she knows who gave her what piece and how much was paid for it and she never sold or re-gifted or threw any of the stuff out and as a result the house became a dust magnet and harder and harder to clean. 
  Most people put up one set of curtains per window but Mom has three or four sets per window and she has been unable to take them down and wash them.  Her house did not have a range hood which left a thick coat of grease on everything in the kitchen.  Except for the kitchen cabinets and the outside of the house nothing has been painted.  New wall paper was put over the old, and the carpets were almost rotten because she was unable to properly clean because of her age and eyesight.  But there were not any problems that could not be solved.
   When I started this task it was done to protect her assets.  Her cash has to be turned over because she is in a rest home and she needs to go on Medicaid so can keep only $2000.00.  She is allowed to fix up her house however so the biggest problem was the range hood.  Simple enough, I thought.  I tried hiring several companies to do the job but got no response so I finally went to Lowes. 
The range hood wasn't a problem but it seems getting cabinets has been a royal pain.  Finally yesterday I paid for the cabinets and the range hood and cabinets will be installed by February 23rd or they are supposed to be.
  I needed my fuse box changed to a circuit breaker and after failing to find an electrician to do the hob I hired a friend.  I did find an electrician to wire for the range hood but now I need the stove outlet moved and can't get a response. 
  I had three trees I need removed and it took several weeks to find a man to cut them but he didn't want to do the job until February.  I did get him out there on Thursday of last week and he finished up yesterday.  (He couldn't work Friday because of the rain and was off the weekend)  His estimate was $6000 but the job ended up costing $9500.00. 
   I wanted a driveway poured but I'm not sure if the man I hired to do the job will actually do the work.  Someone willing to work was hard to find.  One company said to call him back in February.
He was the only company I could find to talk to.  No one else would even answer their phone. 
   I really would like to get a new driveway, a new front door, and the stove plug moved so I can get mu cabinets and range hood installed. 
  The floor finisher did a good job but didn't clean up his mess when he left.  The first one I hired missed two appointments so I hired someone else.  The painters I hired did a lousy job so I fired them and I did most of the painting myself.  I can't get the vinyl floors replaced because the house was built before 1986 so I'll have to do that job myself but I will be out of time before I ca do it. 
  I have enough money left to finish what I have started if I can get people to do the job.  That has been the most frustrating part.  It would seem in this economy people would be willing to work but it just doesn't seem so. 

Disappointed but not unexpected.+

A friend (?) was to help me out with a simple wiring job tomorrow in Hickory but instead of telling me he can't (or won't go) he choose rather to just ignore me.  I can always hire an electrician but friends are harder to find.  I wasn't taking advantage of our friendship as I pay going rates.   

Pinto Beans

One Way Baptist is having our 2nd annual Pinto Bean supper February 27th.  Take in or carry out.  $7.00 If you are local to Randleman, NC and need tickets call me.  336 460 9474

almost to tired to post

Had a flat tire in Statesville last night and I had to wait 4.5 hours for help. 

Too much money

    Mom has been wise in the handling of her money, paying all her bills the day she receives them, saving where she could and investing the best she knew how.  Even after Dad suffered through cancer Mom still had a nice nest egg for a 90 year old.   Trouble is, it is either too little or too much.  She never expected to go into a nursing home but it became obvious to even her she could no longer take care of herself.  It looked like she would not be able to give her children the money she had saved for them all these many years.  That is where I am trying to help her.
   The only investment she is allowed to keep is her home so I am trying to fix it up to increase the value of it so the cash she would have given to her children will be given to them in the form of home equity.  Hopefully some of the money I am spending on the house will return a value.  I know cutting trees will not increase the value of the home but it will make selling the home much easier.  Changing the fuse box to a circuit breaker box will increase the value of the home.  So will adding a range hood and new flooring.  I can only do so much living so far away and under time constraints to get things done and still be able to care for Mom. 
    This is not an easy task.  If Mom had know she could have spent the money while she was in the home and made life easier and safer for herself.  But she didn't know. 

Full Moons and double rainbows

Dec. 25, 2015 was the first time in 40 years there was a full moon on Christmas day.  On my drive to Hickory yesterday I saw a rainbow in the Northern sky and as I drove on towards Winston-Salem there appeared a second rainbow.  Beautiful.
  Mom had on her Christmas sweater Debbie had given her.  We took Mom to her house and then took her out for some Christmas dinner which turned out to be at Arby's but Mom enjoyed eating something besides institution food. 

I had no idea how working late would make me feel

   I was in Hickory Tuesday and Wednesday while the painting crew was there .  I worked on raking leaves Tuesday and earned myself a few blisters for my efforts.  Wednesday I took the hardware off the kitchen cabinets to get them ready for painting.  I made the trip to the store to purchase all the supplies I would need to get the job done. 
   I left home at 4:30 for the two hour drive to Hickory and began work as soon as I got there.  I took my first break at 4 pm. because I needed to get hoses for the new washer and I picked up something to eat at Popeyes.  The chicken tenders were good and the buffalo dipping sauce was the boss.  I was feeling tired then but I really wanted to get the painting finished.  I had planned to paint one side of the cabinets and all the walls then get some rest and finish the job Friday morning but I wasn't about to sleep in Mom's room and the guest bed was made up so pretty I just couldn't mess it up because I knew I could never make it up correctly.  I normally sleep on the couch but I had it full of boxes so I decided to just keep working. 
  I really wasn't aware of the time as I worked.  I finished painting and put all the hardware back on the doors and even hung the doors and cleaned the kitchen.  It was then I checked the time and realized it was 2:30 am.  Too tired to sleep I decided to head for home and with the aid of coffee I made it home by 4:30.  I went straight to bed but I was so sore and tired that I found it hard to rest.  Saturday was awful and I didn't feel much better on Sunday.  Still a little off center today.  I guess I'm just to old to be doing what I did daily a decade ago. 

getting closer

Yes, that could mean the holidays, especially Christmas, but that isn't what I am referring to.  I've been trying to consolidate Mom's money into one account, spend as much on repairs to the house, and get her as close to $2,000 before the deadline set by Medicaid.  I just don't like giving her hard earned money to the government while the house she cherished for so many years crumbles around us and her children inheriting a dilapidated house that one would have to spend a fortune on to unload. 
  The hardest part is trying to hire someone to do the work.  So far I hired a painting crew and Window World.  I can't find an electrician to  change the fuse box to a circuit breaker, someone to cut down three trees, or a paving company willing to give me an estimate on a paving job.  Just try finding someone to fix a ventilation system  for a stove without a range hood. 
  By fixing up the house I can save some of the money for Mom's heirs but I really only have until the 20th to get everything done.  Can't even consolidate money or find companies willing to work in that short period of time.  I thought Americans have been begging for work in our sluggish economy. 
Apparently not.

wearable tchnology

     It has been a long held belief of many Christians that the number of the beast would be a number stamped onto ones forearm on forehead.  Sixty years ago people were not sure how this would be accomplished.  With the technology available then (remember there were no electronic calculators nor a mechanical  one small enough to carry around ) people thought a national ID card would be the way of tracking people.  Now, people are wearing technology.  Pets have microchips to track their location and some people wear pacemakers and other medical devices.  Dick Cheney had the wireless portion of his pacemaker disconnected to prevent hackers from doing him harm. 
   What if it became mandatory that in order to receive medical care on had to have a chip?  With government controlled health care now it would be much easier to require you to have an implant.  Once you had the implant there would be no reason the government could not force the use of that chip in order to purchase food under the pretense of protecting scarce resources and/or to prevent fraud of government programs. 
  The parts of the world that comprised the old Roman empire are becoming stronger, the United States of America has become morally bankrupt after turning its back on God, embracing Muslims while still at war with Islamic militants.  It seems now that Americans are willing to embrace any idea under the sun except conservative and Christian  beliefs.  It seems within the realm   of possibility that Christianity may be outlawed one day.  Preposterous, you say.  Did Jesus not ask "When I return will I find faith on the earth?"  the answer to which was no. 
   Some would have you believe  that Christianity is a religion of hate and intolerance but the truth is
Christianity is not a religion at all but a relationship.  If you understand that then you will understand that the changes are inevidentable, America will fall, but you have no reason to fear.  But if you don't know that then you have every reason in the world to be afraid.  If I were you I'd fall upon my needs and beg forgiveness and give your life to Christ and follow Him as closely as you can. 

Too busy

   No, I'm not busy as in Christmas shopping busy.  I'm busy taking care of Mom's affairs in Hickory.  It would be so much easier if I had the power of attorney but because of family reasons I don't so I have to do the best I can do. 
  I have been trying to get her financial affairs in order.  To keep from turning everything over to the state I can spend some of the money to do repair work to the home but I have a very narrow window to get things done.  Painting, replacing windows, changing out the fuse box for a circuit breaker, paving the driveway and cutting down three trees. 
  Wish me luck.
 

God Isn't Fixing This

      One newspaper featured the above headline in response to the latest shooting, this one in San Bernardino, California.  I suppose the paper is blaming God for the shooting as if God is going to protect us from ourselves.  It is obvious the newspaper doesn't know God.  It amazes me how people want to blame God for the evil in the world while living their lives as if God doesn't exist. 

Road Trip

     I used to dread going to Hickory every month because of the cost of gas.  It was about 240 miles round trip, gas was $3.00 or more a gallon and my vehicle got 21 miles per gallon on a good day.  The only thing that made the trip tolerable was seeing my mother but the trip wasn't a social call.  I took her grocery shopping, to the bank, out to lunch, and did yard work and repair work while I was there with little, if any, time for socializing. 
    Mom is now in a convalescence home and I still drive to Hickory and I still do all her yard work.  I don't get to take her grocery shopping anymore but I have been working hard trying to help her find a way to pay for the home.  I manage to spend a couple hours with her and I do go once a week, at least.  When she was in the hospital I went three or four times a week.  She is doing much better now and may get to go home if the doctors can find the solution to her last infection. 
  She is the delight of the nursing home.  Most residents are sad, lonely people who have either given up on life or life has given up on them but Mom, at ninety, is the most cheerful person there and her therapist says Mom is the hardest worker That is what a strong faith in Jesus will do for a person. 
   If one thinks that going to church is the same thing as having faith in Jesus then they don't really know Jesus.  He isn't a religion but a person.  There will be Pope's and bishop's and priests and preachers and youth pastors and song directors and Sunday School teachers and pillars of the church and winners of attendance awards and heads of committees and all sort of church people in hell.  Salvation isn't in what one does but who Jesus is.   Mom knows. 

Been busy

 With Mom in the rest home I've had a lot to do.  My two brothers share power-of-attorney but both live out of state.  One is busy building a house and the other just had surgery so it's hard for them to find the time to get the information I need to get Medicaid for Mom.  Finally got all the stuff together today. 
Had her new alarm system installed.  It is a wireless system.
  I could tell someone has been in the house.  I don't know if its someone with a key or someone who uses the lock box to get the emergency key but they will have a big surprise  next time they try to get in.  The combo to the lock box has been changed so they can't get the emergency key.  If they have a regular key they will be surprised when they try to key in the alarm code and discover it has been changed.  No one has any need to enter Mom's home since she isn't there now.  She may return one day but not for awhile. 

CPI Security: a rant

A few months ago my Mom, 90 years old and blind and deaf had her home broken into so it is important that she have the protection of a working security system.  In October Mom got sick and had to be hospitalized so the person that was paying for her cable and phone discontinued the services.  I cannot blame them .  The solution should have been simple enough: just have her system converted over to a wireless system so it would need neither cable nor a phone.  After a month of effort nothing has been accomplished except overpaying CPI.
   The semi-annual payment was due which my older brother had sent in the payment for but only my younger brother can authorized the new installation so he also sent in a payment along with the authorization to change the system.  Funny but they received the money but not the authorization.  He resent the authorization again but they can't find that either.  They didn't return his phone calls and only one of mine.  Things shouldn't be this complicated so I wrote to the President of CPI about the problem.  I have no qualms about cancelling CPI and having a different system installed but I shouldn't have to pay extra to do so and neither should Mom.   

Battle of the ex's

No, not that kind of battle.  While a sophomore in college my brother married a high school girl and she was just about the prettiest girl in town.  The only turn-off was she had a deep voice but she was pretty, slim, and had a very nice figure.  I haven't seen her in 40 years but I figured she must be a little heavier than she was then (aren't we all) and a little grayer but I wasn't prepared for what I saw. 
  She is probably in her  mid sixties but honestly she looks older than my ninety-year-old mother.  What a shocker.
   Seeing her gave me an idea so I checked a face book of one of my ex's children and going back 5 years I finally found a picture or two of my ex.  She was never a beauty queen by she wasn't unpleasant to look out.  She was tall and slim (weighed only 120 pounds) with long sexy legs.  She looked really good in those tight fitting jeans.  She and my brother's first wife are the same age, a few years younger than me and I do admit she looks about right for her age.  She still had flaming red hair without a hint of gray (but this is a five year old picture) but she had arms as big as my thighs and was so fat she would make a pig jealous. 
   I don't know which would be more embarrassing: to be seen dating ones mother or Petula Pig. 

tatoos

What is with the recent fad of writing all over ones body is permanent ink?  Some of it pretty and some of it is actually sexy but most of it is just juvenile and tacky. 

Muslims buy motel

There is a motel in Asheboro, NC that is no longer in business.  It was probably a nice place to stay at one time but one doesn't know it's there is on US 64 and there just doesn't seem to be a way to get to it off the old new 220 by-pass or what is now know as I 73-74.  The final selling price is far below what the appraised value of the property but people opposed to the sell were unable or unwilling to come up with a counter-offer.   People's objections to the sale based on emotional or religious reasons just can't prevail in today's money and political climate.
   Even though the Islamist in Asheboro purchased the property with the intention of making it into a Mosque and considering 9-11 and what is going on in the middle East and the potential threat to the local community by having a potentially hostile group in the mist of the city of Asheboro, denying the Muslims the right to purchase the property because of who they are is a bigger threat to our freedoms than the group would be even if they were known to have strong Anti-American feelings.  After all wasn't the 'New World" occupied and established because of persecution based on religious beliefs? 
   I know it's not quite that simple.  I think monetary reasons far outweighed religious freedom in motivating people to settle in this part of the world but religious freedom played a great part in the forming of this nation and the framing of our governing documents.  Many people claim to oppose Islam based on a religious belief that they do not themselves practice.  They have turned into people with the same mindset as the people whom the settlers of this country opposed and cited as a reason to rebel. 
  Kind of sad, really.

Example of Bad News stories

Man severely beaten by deputies in jail cleared of wrongful arrest

by WABC – NY 2:14 mins

The man who was handcuffed and beaten while visiting his brother at the Los Angeles County Men's Central Jail has won a major legal victory.

Buttered toast. Really?

An article on Yahoo proclaims to teach us how to butter toast as if that was a skill that will be life changing.  Really.  Do some of us need help buttering our toast.  Yea, I know there are those with learning disabilities, and some have aged out of being able to help themselves and then there are  those that are to young to make toast and I am sure that there are many who have physical disabilities but honestly those aren't the people the article is written for.  After all if one can't butter toast then I doubt if they can operate a computer, click on and understand the article. 
  Maybe if one wants to get technical I suppose there are people who can do that but still can't butter toast but if we are honest, we will have to admit the article was written for normal (relatively speaking) everyday people like you and I who fixes ourselves and maybe others toast with butter now and then.  I didn't actually read the article so I don't know if it was recommended that one use margarine instead of real butter and whether the toast was light, medium, or dark, but to tell the truth it really doesn't matter because putting butter on toast isn't like rocket science and doesn't require a technical article to accomplish. 
   I would rank the usefulness of this article right there with "the best way to tie one's shoes". 

Bad News Stories

It's not BAD news but bad stories about the news.  Sometimes in writing it is impossible to place the emphasis where it should be so that is why I want to make it clear that I'm writing about bad stories  as in poorly written or presented rather than stories that are about news that is bad. 

Exactly what I'm talking about is stories that are headlined like this " Twin sisters are found at the bottom of a well".  Your curiosity is peaked and you wonder how they got in the well, how old they were, and most of all, you wonder if they are okay, injured or deceased.    You click on the headline to read the story and there, in all it's glory is the entire story:  Twin sister are found at the bottom of a well. 
  Right above this story is a video and if you click to play this video you have to sit through a commercial and then some news reporter's talking head appears and in the background you see an out of focus video (ain't it fun watching a video of a video?) of an ambulance crew and police standing around and a woman crying on the shoulders of another woman and then the talking head says "Rescue workers at the scene where twin girls have fallen into a well.  There are no details about the welfare of the girls."
  Wow. 
  

I Voted

Yea, I voted in the Randleman election today.  Turnout was light and only three races were on the ballot.  One of the candidates is a fiery red head and has a temper to match and her agenda seems rather personal rather than for the good of the city.  A few years ago a tree from her yard fell into the church yard so I got there early and began trimming the tree.  Some other men showed up along with the pastor.  This lady showed up in her housecoat and started yelling at us for cutting her tree and then accused us of lying to her about cutting down some other trees on our property. 
   She said a non-existent person had told her we wouldn't cut the trees down.  She said we were destroying life.  But she never apologized for her actions until she saw me at NASCAR days and then only because she was running for alderwoman.  (The title is actually alderman so draw your own conclusions).    
  If she was truly repentant she could have walked from her yard into ours and apologized anytime in the past two years but then she wasn't running for office.  She claims our beliefs are so different she could never attend our church but I just wonder how she knows. 
   Anyway unless people know her I'm afraid they will vote for her as it seems she has gone all out to win this election.  I do have to give her an "A" for effort.  Maybe her opponent is over confident, broke, or not so smart but he didn't put half

Family Crisis

A few weeks back I took a call informing me Mom was sick and needed someone to stay with her so I packed an overnight bag and headed to Hickory.  I spent that night but couldn't spend the weekend so I arranged for friends to stop by and check on her.  I drove to Hickory on Monday but she had not shown any improvement.  I went again on Tuesday but I left a couple of hours sooner than I normally would which turned out to be a good thing as I found Mom in the floor. 

I called 9-1-1 and she was admitted into the hospital in critical condition.  After spending a week and 2 days there she was sent to a convalescent home.  Chances are high she will never go back home. 

Yahoo does it again

It's my fault that I still use Yahoo as my homepage but that may change soon.  It was bad enough that every other story was actually a video.  Now, every other story is a one liner and then there is a video one has to watch to get the real story.  I can usually get the story from the comments without watching the video but now Yahoo will completely change the story after about 5 seconds and one can't back arrow to it.  I am not being forced to watch a commercial in order to watch a video to inform me of what I am interested in.  I can always buy a newspaper and read an article as many times as I want and never have to read an ad. 

Mom doing better

My mom is being moved into a regular room from ICU because there is no treatment done in ICU that can't be done from a regular bed.  I'm glad she is improved enough to be moved although I know she is still in danger,  After all 90 year old people with pneumonia are in a precarious position. 

Serious delimna

Mom is 90 and recently got bronchitis and the doctor said she wasn't to be alone.  I spent Thursday and Friday with her and stopped in to see her Saturday after the balloon fest.  Tammy was supposed to be with her Saturday.  Regina was with Mom Sunday am and Christie was supposed to be with her Sunday pm. 
  I don't have anyway to take care of Mom, one brother tried and it was a disaster, and my other brother isn't able or willing.  I can't keep driving from Randleman to Hickory.  Neither my health or bank account will allow for that.   She refuses to leave her house and as long as she is of sound mind
she can't be made to leave.  So what am I supposed to do?  

Set-up for the future.

In December 2014 my younger brother decided to take Mom back to Georgia with him without consulting any of her children.  Now if he has asked me I would have advised him to get a small apartment near where he lived for her so she could be by herself yet close enough to check in on once in a while.  But no he took her to his home and dumped her on his wife to take care of. 
   I know she is his mother but he has been removed from her for so long he has no idea what it would be like trying to care for her.  But he is the rich one so he thinks being able to make money makes him smarter than everyone else.  In less than a month he bundles her up drives her to Hickory without stopping and drops her off at her house.  She has no running water, no food, no telephone, and no one knows she's there except him and he no loner cares.  People only discovered her whereabouts when they called wanting to speak to her and he claimed "he took her home." 
   No, he took her to a cold empty house with no way to survive on her own without notifying anyone.  Now one would think this saga would have ended there no his wife began making demands for payment of a stair climbing machine that David had purchased.  Mom refused to pay saying she never asked for the machine and never used it but once.  When she saw how much effort was required to pull her up stairs she refused to use it again.  David's wife said that if Mom refused to pay while she was living she would pay when she died. 
   Saturday David drove to Hickory from Georgia dropped off the stair climbing machine and went back home.  Mom's relationship with David is like King David's relationship with Absalom.  Even though Absalom rebelled and tried to dethrone David and would have killed the King if an opportunity arose, King David forever mourned Absalom's death.   Mom has forgiven David for all his transgressions and doesn't believe David will allow his wife to bill her estate and collect for the stair climbing machine.  Even though David is the executor of the will Mom thinks he will do the right thing.  Well so far he has demonstrated his willingness to acquiesce to his wife's demands.  She is an intelligent lady and she is also a trained accountant and I have no doubt that she will be paid for this piece of equipment, especially now that Mom has procession of it. 
   I get so tired of people trying to take advantage of old people, especially one's parents.  They gave you life and care while you grew into adulthood.  Shouldn't we at least him them respect in their old age?  David could sell the machine and he is well off enough to absorb the loss.  But the plan, I'm sure, is to dumb the machine on her and at her death to present the bill to her estate and collect payment in full. 

      

Good Cop/Bad Cop

    I just saw an article on the meltdown of a little girl who blames her "Barbie" for her nail polish disaster and wonder how is it that's gets national exposure when some really heart warming stuff goes unnoticed.  I know we see stories abut bad cops all the time and occasionally one about a good cop: like one who purchased a pair of shoes for a homeless man without any or the two policemen who bought a buggy load of food for a family living in a car.  But what about the average person, the me and you people, who work hard, pay our taxes, and whose only contact with the police is when we get stopped for speeding?  Isn't there any angels of mercy out there that would just give us a little hope and faith in our fellow man, someone to give us a helping hand, a smile and a little encouragement?  
     Well, for one lady who had always been a hard worker, never even got that first speeding ticket, and now is entering the last days of her life, her turn has come.  She is ninety years old, almost deaf and blind but still managing to take care of herself.  It all started with a tragedy when someone burst out a window in her house to gain entry and steal.  Yes, they were eventually caught and normally that would have been the end of the story.  MPO Vang of the Hickory police department came over to the ladies house on his own time and at his own expense and repaired the damage to the window.  MPO Roberts also did her part by helping this lady get back and forth to the bank helping her recover the $900.00 that was stolen from her. 
   Those act alone are commendable and they were as the ladies son wrote letters to the city, the local paper and to the police department about the good deeds.  But even policemen with hearts of Gold have families and needs their downtime to pull themselves back together.  They have received their accommodations and one who think it's time to move on.   Yet, on Wednesday these two people came over to the ladies house and cleaned broken limbs and debris from off her roof and cleaned out her gutters and raked her yard. 
   You may feel like it seems the vocal majority of Americans do and cops.  But there are good ones out there and then there are some that are truly special.  Officer Vang and Officer Roberts are two angels in blue.

"I'm a Christian" death sentence

    It is rumored that the Oregon shooter asked people what their religion was and if they replied "Christian" he killed them.  If they answered differently he either wounded them or didn't shoot them at all. 
    Herein lies a dilemma.  If you consider yourself a Christian and someone points a gun at your head and asks what your religion is and you deny being a Christian in order to save your life, will Christ deny you?  But what if you answer you are a Christian and you really aren't, what then. 
   I know the likelihood of you, me, or any one else being in that situation is very remote but it did happen to those college students overseas about a year or so ago, it did happen in Colorado at that high school and it is believed to have happened in the recent shooting in Oregon.  Those people had no idea it would ever occur to them. 
    There are thousands of people murdered in the USA every year.  I have two friends that have had children murdered and back in 2000 when I was living in Greensboro, NC I was acquainted with  all the people murdered in that city that year but two.  How many people die in automobile accidents?  Add to those who die suddenly of heart attacks, industrial accidents, sports injuries, or some freakish method that one would never dream of, and you have a lot of people who die each year that had no idea when they got out of bed that day it would be their last on earth. 
    80% of Americans claim they are Christian, 50% of Americans belong to a church, and only about half of those attend church at all.  Many people think as long as their name is on a church roll somewhere, or they have been baptized, or they acknowledge that Jesus was a real person they are a Christian.    Are you sure you are One? 

Who is a terrorist?

Some people complain that whites who commit shooting at work, schools, and colleges are referred to as mentally while people of color are called terrorists.  Why? 
   I don't suppose it has anything to do with skin color or lack thereof but the motivation behind   the crime.  If a person commits a mass shooting or bombing like was just happened in Oregon or what happened in that movie theater or the college in Virginia and the reason for committing that crime is revenge or anger or just to see what it was like the shooter or perpetrator is classified as mentally ill.  But if the person who di such acts commits those acts  does so in support of a movement or greater ideology espoused by an organization or country  then that person who be a terrorists. 
  The two men who did the Boston Marathon bombing did so not because marathon runners bullied them but because they made easy targets and the act was in support of their Muslim beliefs.  They felt they were part of a greater cause.

Will gays go to hell?

    It seems many well meaning people who consider themselves Christian claim if one is gay they are condemned to hell.  It's a shame that so many people think being a Christian is abiding by a set of moral codes and being a good person and nothing could be further from the truth.    No one is condemned to hell  because of what they do or who they are.  Hell is not a place of punishment for doing bad things.  Hell is a place of torment created by God for Satan and his angels.  However, man is a sinful creature and God cannot condone sin.  He has declared that no sin shall enter into His presence.  Only sinners will go to hell.  The scriptures declare that None are righteous, no not one.  We all are sinners and if one claims he is not a sinner he is a liar.  So how does one escape hell?
    It certainly isn't by attending church or reading one's bible or by telling people their lifestyle will send them to hell.  None of us are good enough to make it on our own.  It has become popular today to make salvation too simple.  Many people today believe that because they accept that God is real that they are heaven bound.  Others think because they joined a church or was baptized they have made it into heaven.  Well, that isn't true either.   The scriptures tell us that there will be many who will claim that they did so and so in Jesus name and therefore are qualified to enter heaven and they will be told to depart because they are not known. 
  No one gets into heaven by being moral or good or by attending church or anything else one thinks that they need to do to feel righteous.  They can't get into heaven by following or preforming rituals. 
The only way to enter into heaven is by having a personal relationship with Christ. 
   It is true that the Bible looks upon homosexuality as a sin but it isn't grave or serious sins that condemn one of hell.  There is only one sin and that is the sin of unbelief.  It is equally true that if one accepts Christ as their Lord and Savior that they will no longer have a desire to sin but have a desire to live their lives as Christ would have them live it.  We will still make mistakes because we are still wrapped in this body of flesh.  If one continues to practice sin after claiming to have become a Christian then there is something wrong with their claim.  If they still sin but have a desire to follow Christ then that is evidence of salvation.  A sinner doesn't become a saint at conversion   any more than a fetus because an adult at birth.  It takes time to grow into maturity both as a human and a Christian. 
   One cannot interest another in Christ by condemning them but by showing them the love of Christ. 

High School reunions

    My classmates just celebrated our 50th reunion with 168 (out of 435) in attendance.  I declined to go.  High School wasn't the best of experiences for me and it seems the people I was close to either didn't graduate or haven't been heard from in years.  My very best friend disappeared in 1966 when he joined the Navy. Going to the reunion would be pointless to me.  I see no benefit to hanging around with a bunch of old people I don't know and will only see every five years for a few hours. 
   Honestly I would rather remember them as the young vibrant people we were back then rather than what we have become. 
  

Talking about funny signs

  Really, we weren't but our sign maker at the church has made another funny one.  Actually they are never intended to be funny but the man can't spell and is to lazy to find out how to spell a word correctly.  One Way Baptist is having a revival from Sept 14 through the 18th starting at 7 pm. 
Our signs now read "revival 14 thu 18".  That's all.  No time, no date and I have no idea what thu means.  It's funny but a pathetic funny. 

Hassles, delays, and other irratating stuff

Hassles are things that should be easy but turn out not to be, delays are things that should be happening now or very soon but won't be, and irritating stuff is every thing else that doesn't go as we think they should go.  Life has been like that for me lately. 
  I suffered through some losses (including the most recent stock market slide) and because of the loss of my vehicle I had to get another one.  I no longer hand a way of towing my trailer so I sold it to pay for the denture brined I broke.   My newer vehicle had some dings and dents and chips on it so I though a little tube of touch-up paint would do the trick. so eight days ago I went to the dealership and ordered a tube for my car.  "It'll be here in a couple of days, probably closer to the end of the week (that would have been Friday).  Well, I'm still waiting. 
   The same day I had my rider mower picked up by the repair shop hoping I'd get it back by Friday.  The same thing is wrong with it now as it was this spring, just on the opposite side.  In the spring I got the mower back the day after I dropped it off but that place no longer repairs mowers so I sent it to a different place.  I questioned the mans ability when he put the mower in reverse and slammed it into my brand new car, then claimed there was transmission trouble because he had to put it in 8 to get it up the ramp but I always mowed in setting two or three and use one to put the mower in my utility building which is as steep and much longer than the ramp to his trailer. 
   Stopped in the shop yesterday morning and was told they were going to start repairing mine "right after lunch".  I honestly don't believe they have. 
   I like to play Sugar Crush but I'm not reading and signing a 41 page document to continue to play (I'm on level 206).    
  So, what's bugging you lately?