CLEAN PIPES

When my sister and I were in grade school, she in 3rd grade, me in 1st, we found out that helping around the house could be fun. We would take turns ironing pillow cases, towels, wash clothes, and handkerchiefs. We would take turns running the vacuum and dusting.

'Course, sometimes these things would have to be done over. And Grandmother would say "thank you" and my sister and I would then go off some place to play. Grandmother would then have to do some of the things over. We thought that we were being such a help. 

Then, we were shown how to wash dishes. Dishwashers were not really an everyday item in a lot of homes back then. They were done by hand. My sister would wash and rinse, and I would dry and put away the things in drawers. Plates and such had to be put away by Grandmother. 

One time, just before Christmas, Grandmother got out all of her good plates, silverware, gravy boat, and platters. She let me and my sister wash them up. I think we did a pretty good job of it. While we were busy with the dishes, our Grandfather walked into the kitchen smoking one of his favorite pipes. He watched us for a few minutes while he drank a cup of coffee. He made a comment about how dirty his pipes were. Every year, my sister and I bought Pappy pipe cleaners as a gift. Enough to last him almost the whole year! 

Well, we had already bought the pipe cleaners a few days before, and Grandmother wrapped them up for us to put under the tree. Pappy let us wash his coffee cup. He then went down into the basement to watch some TV. As I was drying the last fork and spoon, my sister made a comment about Pappy and those old stinky pipes of his. She said maybe we should wash them for him. It was Christmas Eve, and he would have all clean pipes Christmas morning. 

Yep, we washed them pipes. We washed them so good that the black yucky stuff in the bowls was all gone. The stems were shiny. All of that brown stuff on the outside of the bowls was gone. I had a hell of a time drying the bowls of those pipes, and my sister and I blew so much air through those stems to get them dry, that we were dizzy. We put the pipes back in the pipe rack and couldn't wait for Pappy to smoke from one of his clean pipes on Christmas morning.

The next morning, my sister and I were up early. Like, 5 a.m. early. We tried to be quiet as mice. (Yeah, like that would have happened.) Everyone finally got up. My sister and I were bouncing off the walls. Grandmother wanted to eat breakfast first. So, my sister and I had cold cereal with milk. Then we had a sugar rush going along with it being Christmas morning. None of the gifts had been opened. Pappy walked into the room with a cup of coffee and sat in his chair. 

He sat the coffee cup down, and picked up one of the pipes. He packed it with tobacco, lit a match, puffed once, puffed twice. He had kind of a funny look on his face, puffed again, looked at his pipe, smelled it. Then looked at the match he had used, smelled it, puffed again on the pipe. He then took a sip of coffee and put the pipe in his mouth. Puffed a few times and set the pipe down. He didn't pick it up again until after all the presents had been opened. 

He didn't relight the pipe; he dumped out the tobacco and put the pipe back in the rack. He had another cup of coffee, then went in to read the paper and smoke his pipe. This time, same pipe, he puffed and puffed and got the same funny look on his face. He looked at the pipe, and then looked at his pipe rack. He picked up one of them, and gave it a smell. He then picked up another pipe and smelled it. He got kind of red in the face. When we saw those little veins on his forehead sticking out, we knew we were in deep doo-doo. 

So, my sister and I did what every kid on the planet did back then. WE RAN! He didn't catch us, which is good. We went right to Grandmother and told her what we had done. She gave us a stern look, with a bit of a smirk, and then a grin, and then a laugh. Pappy came storming into the room. madder than an old goose. His face and head were so red, I'll bet we could have cooked an egg. He calmed down enough to let my sister explain. At least she didn't put all the blame on me.

From then on, we never touched Pappy's pipes. He still got pipe cleaners from us every year at Christmas until his last one. 

QUOTE OF THE WEEK : 6/23/14

"You can't stay in your corner of the forest for others to come to you. You have to go to them sometimes."

Winnie the Pooh

A COWBOY QUOTE OR TWO

"Don't judge people by their relatives."
"Remember that silence is sometimes the best answer."
                         and
"Don't interfere with something that isn't bothering you none."

BOOKS : What would you take with you?

If you had to leave your home, if you had to leave your bug out location, knowing that you would not ever be able to return, and knowing that, at some point, you and family and friends would have to start all over again to rebuild your lives and homes --

what books would you take with you, or have with you, to help you rebuild? Think about it, and let me know in the comments what books you would have.

ASKED BY A FRIEND - PREP

A buddy of mine called the other day and asked if he could ask a few questions about prepping. He has been "bitten," so to speak, and wanted to know what I thought. I told him that it is a good idea to do some prepping since we do not know if and when the SHTF, and that it is a good idea to be prepared for other types of disasters. He was concerned about firearms and what to get.

I told him not to worry about any new firearms right now (he has plenty). He would like to get an AR or an AK. He still has his pistols, shotguns, and hunting rifles and plenty of ammo. He also does some reloading. I told him these are fine for right now and that he needs to stock up on other things, without breaking his bank account. He has medical training, which is a plus for he and his family.

Now, we have done some camping, hunting, and fishing together over the years. He knows his way around the outdoors. I would trust him and we have had each other's back. He was worried and has been trolling the Internet for prepping. There is a lot out there, and plenty of things that you might need or think you need. But you need to look and take some of this with a grain or two of salt.

There is so much out there in terms of packs, bags, tents, tarps, tools, knives, kits, cookware, water purification, fuel enhancers, stoves, fire starters, pants, hats, and tons of other things that maybe you need. Or do you? I'm sure, a lot of us, are going to be using what we have had for years of camping and what not. And if/when the SHTF-- if you don't have it you will get it, if the need comes along, from somebody that didn't make it.

We covered quite a lot of topics and I gave out a few blogs for him to check out. He wondered if he got all of the stuff he and his family needed how he would be able to bug out if the need arose. You can only carry so much on your person. With what he has looked at and read, he said he would need a semi truck to move it all. So, we talked about having a bug out place, some land, maybe a cabin so he could store some of his preps there.

I feel for the guy. He has a lot to think about and lots more reading and such to do. He said he would be checking some of our blogs. He will try to cut back with his thinking that he needs all of this new stuff. 

'Course, there is some new stuff I wouldn't mind having my own self!

QUOTE OF THE WEEK : 6/16/14

"It is common sense to take a method and try it. If it fails, admit it frankly and try another. But above all, try something."
--Franklin D. Roosevelt, 32nd U.S. President

DID YOU KNOW?

Did you know that you can call a group of ducks a flock, a brace, a badling, a sord, a plump, or a waddling? If they are flying together, they can be called a string, a skein, or a team. If they are just setting in the water, you can call them a paddling, a raft, or a bunch.

Myself, I call them yummy to eat. 

Now you know.

Blast From the Past: Betty Crocker's 1970 "Foods Men Like" (A Kathi Post)

I'll bet you never knew that there were foods that men like. This little booklet from Betty Crocker from 1970 has 28 recipes that men will like when you want to "say 'Thank you,' 'Please' or 'I'm sorry.'"

There are some standard recipes, such as Chile con Carne, Blueberry Cobbler, Hungarian Goulash. 

I had never heard of a Jelly Omelet until I saw this booklet. Basically, you make an omelet in which you drop 3 T. of jelly into the eggs. That sounds unappetizing to me, and I am sure that it's not something my man would like.

I can imagine that Jim would totally like the Chocolate Cake, especially with an ice cold glass of milk, though.

It's kinda fun to look at what a food company in 1970 thought would be foods that men like, even if I don't agree 100%. Well, at least the booklet was free.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: 6/9/14

"The only good is the knowledge, and the only evil is the ignorance."

--Socrates, Greek philosopher

OW!

OW !  I have a in-grown hair. So, nothing for today.

NOTHING

Nothing for to day.

QUOTE OF THE WEEK: 6/2/14

"Laughter is, by definition, healthy."
--Doris Lessing, Nobel Prize in Literature recipient