BLAH

It's good that you can't hear my voice right now. I sound  like a cross between Andy Devine and Barry White, with a little bit of Popeye's girl Olive Oyl thrown in. I have a cough that rattles the dishes in the kitchen. And I should buy stock in Kleenex and toilet paper. 

'Course, to my way of thinking, a shot of Jack Daniels every couple of hours couldn't hurt much. Might even help some. Maybe some chicken soup, with a shot of Jack Daniels in the soup, and one on the side. The doctor says it is a combo of a bad cold and allergies thrown together. I'd rather have a combo from McDonald's. 

Maybe some Chinese food with that hot mustard they have. Oooh, some egg drop soup, with a splash of Jack Daniels. And a pupu platter. What is it they say? Starve a fever, feed a cold? Feed a fever, starve a cold? Aw, what the hell. Feed them both. But I must say, Kathi has been a real help. She keeps me on schedule with my pills and other meds. I seem to be a bit befuddled and I know that I have had a fever several times.

Also, I've answered the phone several times over the last few days and people think they have the wrong number. A friend told me it sounded like three people answered the phone at the same time. I called my aunt yesterday. She said she was sorry, but I must have the wrong number then hung up on me twice. I hate these springtime colds and seasonal allergies. They really mess with you.

So, watch yourselves. Stock up on your meds and allergy meds. And don't forget to also stock up on chicken soup and pupu platters. 

Cup of Joe for a Joe

Jim is feeling blechy, with a cold on top of seasonal allergies, so please read this post on our fundraising project to bring a little bit of home to deployed troops. Thank you. Kathi
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Those of you who are regular readers will probably remember that Jim's favorite nephew was killed in Afghanistan in 2010.

When that happened, we decided to adopt a soldier through Soldier's Angels. We have also supported the Green Beans Coffee's “Cup of Joe for a Joe” project in a small way over the past few years. It is a great way to say “thanks” to our deployed US troops by having a premium coffee delivered into the hands of a grateful service member overseas.

When the “Cup of Joe” project sent me information about collecting for a group donation, I had to say yes!

Sometimes, the troops who receive the coffee write a thank-you note in return. Here is one of the thank-you notes we received. (I removed the soldier’s name for her privacy) Mr. and Mrs. Noland, Thank you for your kind words and the COJ. We are doing great things in Afghanistan and will be back home soon! Take care, 1LT M---- R------, US Army

When we adopted soldiers, our commitment was to support them until their deployment was over. That was usually anywhere from 3 to 12 months. We have decided to support the Cup of Joe for a Joe project until the end of 2014 instead, for this year.

I hope that, as a group, we can provide at least 3,000 deployed troops with coffee by the end of the year. I hope that we can make a significant portion of that contribution by Memorial Day and the Fourth of July. Will you please help us meet our goal of 3,000 cups of coffee?

Our group will be a little different than other groups in that we don’t work at the same place, we don’t worship at the same place, we don’t go to the same school, but are united for this common purpose.

Each cup is $2. Please contribute $2, $20, $100, $1,000 – whatever you feel you’d like to contribute to this project to help our service members know they are not forgotten and that we appreciate the sacrifices they make for us every day just for being there.

We will share some of the thank-you notes that come in.

Thank you for supporting our troops in this way! Kathi (You can contribute through the link or donate button on the right.

Quote of the Week: 5/26/2014

"God sometimes removes a person from your life for your protection. Don't run after them.” 
Rick Warren, Pastor

LOVED ONES WITH FOUR LEGS

I would say that just about everyone has loved a pet of some kind. And, I would say that said pet was like one of the family. Also, I'm sure that there are a lot of people out there who have loved more than one pet in their lifetime. There are those out there who breed animals for profit and showing and for hunting. I have no problem with that.

I, myself, have had two wonderful dogs in my lifetime. My wife Kathi, has had at least three that I know of. We are dog people. Nothing against other types of pets, we just like dogs. My first wonderful dog was a little stray dog that was hanging around a college campus in Denver. When I got her home, and bathed her, and fed her, she slept for three days. 

She was part Terrier and Cocker Spaniel. She went with me everywhere -- camping, fishing (she would jump in after the fish),  and hiking. She once saved my grandmother from a attack by a German Shepard. She was hit by a car in 1980 on Halloween night. I buried her in our favorite spot up on the Gore.

You all know our dog Nugget. We have posted pictures of him more than once. On Thursday the 15th, our beloved Nugget had to be put down. I won't go into details, it is still too fresh on our minds. Just know that we were there with him when the end came. He was almost 13 years of age, and we had him since he was 6 weeks old.

You could look in his eyes and see that he seemed to have a very old soul. Plus you could see how bright he was. I swear that he could understand how we spelled certain words. Like truck, if you said truck, he would go bonkers and run to the back door with his leash in his mouth. He always went with us. If we spelled truck, same thing, bonkers, leash in his mouth, and right to the back door. He was loved and adored by family and friends.

Now, I'm going to say that I know there is a place in heaven for our pets. They will meet us when it is our turn to go. God gave us a soul and he gave animals a soul. 

Ever since I can remember, I have been able to see what are called auras, the life force around all of us. Nay-sayers, say what you will. I feel that it is a God given gift. I've watched family pass and have seen how their auras fade away. I've also seen it with pets and other animals. I have had people witness this ability.

Nugget, you touched so many people and their lives. And we will see you again when the time comes, Little Man.

Quote of the Week: 5/19/2014

“Until one has loved an animal, a part of one’s soul remains unawakened. ”
- Anatole France, French Poet

Jim talks about Marc's love of pineapple-upside down cake

Jim talks about his friend Marc's love of pineapple-upside down cake.

Another video: Jim and Marc Get in Trouble with Marc's Mom

Jim tells a story about how he and Marc got in trouble with Marc's mom for throwing snowballs at Marc's sister Tracy.

(ps -- I love the expression on his face here. He cracks me up! -- Kathi)

YEP

Yep, nothing for today.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK:

"Like a welcome summer rain, humor may suddenly cleanse and cool the earth, the air and you."
--Langston Hughes, American poet

On Best Friends

Jim talks about his first best friend, Marc. 

My (Kathi) apologies for the not-so-great quality of the video. Next time we'll do this on purpose and I'll do a better job. 

SPRING CLEAN

Spring cleaning has begun.

STASHING STUFF: II

For years, a lot of people did not trust banks. Grandma might stash her egg money in a mason jar then bury it in her flower garden that she could see from her kitchen window. Or granddad might bury some of his earnings, from selling hogs, in the hen house. The chickens were his alarm if someone or something was around the hen house. 

Sometimes, they might stash some cash in the root cellar or maybe out by that old truck next to the barn. Some might hide valuables behind a loose brick in the fireplace. One such occurance happened years ago in the town of Central City here in Colorado. One of the store keepers needed a place to stash some of his family's treasures. 

Against one of the inside walls to his store that was all brick, he found 4 loose bricks. He managed to remove the bricks and found that he could place a metal box on end in the wall and could then replace the bricks. Once the bricks were in place, he checked from several different angles and you could not tell that the bricks had been removed.

The store owner did not tell anyone in his family about his stash hole. In it he placed some of his wife's jewelry, a diamond necklace and matching earrings that had belonged to the wife's mother, a couple of stock certificates to one of the mines outside of town, some gold coins, and a pipe and a gold pocket watch that had been his father's. Years went by and his business was good. Then the flu epidemic hit the town. 

His wife caught the flu and passed. A few weeks later the store owner caught it also. He never told anybody about his stash. Years later all of the shops that were on main street were remodeled. Some opened as ice cream parlors, rock shops, or a little burger joint. Tourists came to Central City to pan gold or go on tours.The store from our story here was opened as one of them stores were you could buy cowboy hats, rubber tomahawks -- you know, the kind of tourist trap stores. 

Anyway, at the back of this store they had a glass case set up. In it was the contents of the metal box that had been in the wall for all of those years. The new owners wanted a bigger store, so they bought the shop next to them, and busted out the inside wall to make a large walkway between the shops. They found the box and contents. I must have been around 7 or so when I first got to see this stash.

Now its gone. Gambling is now the thing of Central City.

Another good place to maybe stash some of your stuff might be in your laundry room. Laundry soap has come a long way since I was a kid and the packaging has changed also. Tide, and some others, now have these little pod things with soap and brighteners and such. Most people buy more than one of these plastic containers. 

Why not, after using up all of those pod things, stash some of your goodies in the plastic container? Place it right back up on your laundry shelf with all of the other laundry goods you have. The containers are of a good size. You should be able to load it up pretty good. Just don't load it so heavy that you can't pick it up. When you need to stash things, try to "think outside the box." I've thought of some other places to stash things. But I'm going to save those ideas for now.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: 5/5/14

"I've always tried to go a step past wherever people expected me to end up."
-- Beverly Sills, opera singer

STASHING STUFF

Just about everybody stashes stuff around the house, in the garage, or shed, RV, truck, car, or even at work. People have a pretty good sense of how to go about stashing things.

The things that get stashed are varied also. Kids, might stash their favorite toys, CD's, books, and who knows what else. As a child I stashed one of my favorite toy pistols, a German Lugar, that I still have to this day. A few old Hot Wheels cars that have seen better days. Some marbles and other items that I cherished as a child.

Today though, we stash other things, that are more valuable. Coins, paper money, stocks, bonds, gold, silver, paintings, books, maps, firearms, and ammo. The list could go on and on.

Some times we go to great lengths to stash and protect our things. There is the story of the old couple that stashed thousands of dollars in seal-able plastic bags and placed the bags in ice trays in the freezer of their refrigerator. They had filled the trays with water, put the mechanism that you pull up on to break the ice cubes out on top of the plastic bags. They had filled so many trays, that there was no room for anything else in the freezer. If I remember right, the little freezer in the fridge held like $20,000 dollars or so. 

They found other stashes around the house, in the basement, under the stairs, in the garage, in tool boxes. All told, these old folks had close to $300,000. It was back in the early sixties, when I was told about it.

Stashing stuff of value can be a good thing as long as you can remember where you stash things.

A good little stash would be to take a empty pepper can, pop the lid off, rinse it out. let it dry, and you could stash cash or jewelry in it. Now, people I know buy several cans of pepper at a time. When you stash some of your stuff in one I would put that stash right back up on the shelf with the rest of the cans of pepper and other spices. That pepper can will hold quite a bit of cash. And the lid will pop on and off, so you can get to your stash in a hurry if you need to.

That's just one little idea for a quick stash. Next time, we will check out a bigger type of stash.