SMOKE AND FIRE

Note from Kathi: Jim started this post the other day, then found out that the two who were killed in the fire were members/friends at our church. Jim simply could not finish posting. Here is a link to a video with our pastor from the news.
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I've been listening, and watching the slurry bombers all day to day. And the fire rages on. They have found two people who lost their lives, and that is so sad.

This fire has burned several miles of forest and homes. And with all of the beetle-killed trees it is a wonder that the whole west side of the state has not gone up.

Quote of the week: 3/26/12

"You can only be young once. But you can always be immature."

Dave Barry,
American author and Pulitzer Prize - winning humorist

JUST A LITTLE RANT (I promise)

It's Thursday afternoon, I still haven't had my Maypo for breakfast. But I have had, I think, just a bit too much coffee. And there is still sooo much stuff to get done. And not enough hours in the day to finish things up.

Plus, Kathi and I have bowling tonight. And then, up before the birds, and get to Mom's to set up for the yard sale. We are really hoping that we can sell the big ticket stuff. Like the gun safe, rototiller, snow blower, a 5000 watt generator. And all them tools.

We even put together for the person who is always looking for a bolt, washer, screw, nail, or whatever, by having all of that in a five gallon bucket. The whole bucket..... 3 bucks. Come on, you know you need it. How about some nuts? The kind you eat. Five bucks for a quart jar of pecans. They are something like 11 bucks a pound at the stores here.

Then on Saturday, the sale continues. At the end of the month, we move Mom. What's a fella to do!

After that, I need to tackle my garage. It's time to get the PortaBoat out and get ready to go fishing. (I'm wanting some smoked fish, real bad.) Plus, I have a few places that I want to check out for some metal detecting. Then I need to get the mower ready, and put away my snow blower. And check the ATV. . .

Time for another cup of coffee. We also need to do something with our garden. And and and. Deep breath. All the fun stuff, like firearms and such have been sold. Mom was surprised at the money received. That helped with her new condo. I'm also playing catch up with my blogging buddies. Lots of things to read. And I'm behind.

I will catch things up. I promise. And after we get all of this "stuff" done, I can take a breath or two.

Also, I'm going to go and do a demo ride on one of them three wheeled things they call a Spyder. That's how they spell it. That will give me something to blog about later on .

OK, I feel better. I'm done ranting. . .for now.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE SAUCER?

As I was having my second cup of coffee, I wondered whatever happened to the saucer? It used to be that if you had a cup of coffee it was served on a saucer. And we don't really use a cup any more -- it is more like a mug.

If you go out to eat and order coffee, it comes in this "cup" that looks more like a little mug. I mean, I don't mind. . . it holds more than a cup, more like a cup and a half. But, as a child, I remember adults having coffee and it was served on a saucer. It seemed sorta classy. And it kept the coffee confined to the saucer if you slopped a bit out of the cup. Plus, it was a place to put a spoon if you like cream or sugar in your coffee.

I remember a grandfather, from my Dad's second marriage, who had coffee with every meal. He would pour some of his coffee into the saucer and let it cool a bit before he would drink it from the saucer. It didn't seem like bad manners. It was just something he did, like eating peas from his knife. There was always a saucer for coffee and hot tea.

If you went out anywhere to eat and ordered coffee, you got your coffee in a cup with a saucer. It was easier to carry. No burnt fingers. My sister has about a million teacups with saucers. They all are pretty and dainty, and she never ever uses them. They just set in a display case. Some are worth money. But the everyday cup and saucer? We hardly see them at all these days.

Maybe it's because of when we started to see flying saucers. They decided to do away with the cup and saucer and just have this mug thing instead. I have a few of my great grandmother's cups with saucers. They, too, set in a cupboard. I get them out every now and then. Maybe for a cup of hot chocolate on a wintery night. Or for a cup of real percolated coffee, and I think back to when families still sat around a table to eat, drink, converse, and be a real family.

I've found a place to eat that serves your coffee cup on a saucer. The cup is a little over sized, like a mug. It's good coffee. And the food is like moms used to make, when we were kids. I can close my eyes, smell the coffee, listen to the voices around me, and the tinkle of the spoon against a cup, and I am transported back to my childhood to a time that brings memories of family setting at the kitchen table, laughing, talking, and drinking their coffee. I hear the sound of a cup being placed back on it's saucer, and the room smelling of fresh perked coffee.

Maybe it's time to bring back the cup and saucer!

Quote of the Week: 3/19/2012

"Let us make a special effort to stop communicating with each other so we can have some conversation."

Judith Martin
"Miss Manners," American writer and etiquette authority

SO MUCH STUFF!!

I spent ALL day Wednesday at Mom's. We will have a yard sale next week. I never knew that my Dad had so much stuff.

We got my Dad's "club house"/shed cleaned out. Tools. . . lots and lots and LOTS of tools. There are two G. I. pot bellied stoves. Garden tools, saws, hammers, car stuff. And then there is all the stuff Mom wants out of the house as she prepares to move to her new condo: pots, pans, dishes, silverware, cups, and a whole drawer of TOOLS. There is the big gun safe. Coleman stoves, lanterns, Coleman fuel, keys, locks. Worm buckets, fishing poles, lures. And TOOLS!

We got so much stuff, that I will have to be at Mom's before the sun comes up just to get everything set up. All I can say is, my Dad better be hiding behind Saint Peter when Mom gets to heaven. She says she is going to give it to him good.

Mom has also found a place to live. She bought a condo. If the big gun safe does not sell, she could always use it as a closet. 'Course, that means that I have to be the one to move it. So all I can say to all of you out there: DON'T HOARD STUFF! Someone has to go through all of it.

Well, unless you have someone in your family who you don't really like. Then they will be the one to have to go through your stuff and get rid of it. If that's the case, then hoard away!

I found all kinds of stuff that I can't do without and I'm sure that my Dad won't mind. So I've added to my own hoarding, by about 20 to 30 items.

Now if we can just get the weather to be nice on the garage sale day. We can sell a lot of stuff and add to other people's hoarding. You can never have too much, right?

DAD AND SON PROJECT

Okay, hush hush, top secret, behind locked doors.

My Dad loved the outdoors. He was always willing to show or help people learn about the outdoors and being more self reliant. That carried over into home life: gardening, canning, storing food, drying food -- all that neat stuff -- along with the hunting, fishing , camping, and just being able to do for yourself and others.

If you wanted to talk about firearms, he would talk your socks off. If you'd want to talk about farming, he could talk to you 'til the rhubarb was ripe. He knew all about canning, fruits, veggies, meat, bread, and who knows what all. (I should have picked his brain more.)

Well, the two of us had a few ideas. (Can you smell the smoke?) One of them, we had almost finished. Things are getting back to normal, sorta, and I am working on getting it done. There are some items that still need to be checked out, then it's about putting it all together.

I think my Dad would like this. It has been thought out. I hope that it will be of use to all of you out there in the blog world and beyond. So hang on. As soon as I finish up some things. I'll be blogging and putting up some pictures about it.

Stay tuned!

Quote of the Week: 3/12/2012

If you're enough lucky to be Irish, you're lucky enough!
~Irish Saying

THE MOVE IS ON

The last two days have been busy. Kathi had two days off from work. And instead of us spending it together, she was good enough to go with me to Mom's house and we spent the time packing up things from her house so she can move closer to family. Kathi helped pack up old quilts and other household things. I worked in the garage.

Man! I never realized all the "stuff " my Dad had. I mean, I know that he had tools and yard stuff. But how many sets of wrenches does a guy need? And what's up with all these pieces of wood? There are sticks, lumber, two by fours, plywood in different shapes and sizes, planks, chunks, slivers, and saw dust that he keep putting in bags. Now, what is a Ziplock sandwich bag full of saw dust being saved for? Well, fire starter, maybe.

And cardboard! Lots and lots of cardboard.

Fishing poles. I counted six that work and are whole, another 12 that are broken to the point that you can't even make them into pocket fishing poles.

One real good find -- well, he found it. Anyone need a kerosene stove with oven? Tanks and everything you need to set it up. He and his friend "saved it " from an old trailer and hauled it to their house when they lived in Arkansas.

How about some Coleman fuel cans? I've found about 15 of those. Some with about a cup of fuel, others completely full and never opened.

And garden tools. He has an old wooden barrel stuffed with them -- I mean, stuffed to the point that it is about to bust at the seams.

Oh yeah, and hand saws. We got a whole box of them also. Like 20 of 'em. Maybe he had a saw fetish. Mom about had a fit when I told her about all them saws.

We got enough done so you now can walk around the car in the garage without getting grabbed by a saw, or a stick, or a 2x4.

Kathi got lots done in the house. So, we are getting closer for Mom to move. Mom keeps saying that she is going to chew Dad's butt when she sees him again.

My Dad, on the other hand, is probably up there fishing, and camping, and hunting, and looking down here every now and then with that grin of his, winking at friends and relatives up there with him.

I'm just waiting for her to find that one item in the house that will make Mom, stop, look, cry, and put that smile on her face that my Dad always would talk about.

She will say, just like a hundred times before, "Dammit, Jim!" And then she would just laugh.
So, she is doing better and working towards moving on.

And I, well let's just say, the more of his " stuff " I go through the more I feel connected to him through those things, and they bring memories. . . lots and lots of memories. . . flooding back.

I'm finding that those memories will last way longer than, say, the material things.

If I kept all those things, I would have to have another house just to store them in. Or to show them off.

Material things will, one day, rust or break and turn to dust, just as we all will also. So, I'm going with the memories. They will last forever.

So, share your memories. It's like living forever with family and friends.

Quote of the Week: 3/5/2011

It was one of those March days when the sun shines hot and the wind blows cold: when it is summer in the light, and winter in the shade.
~Charles Dickens