Stormy

And: Blondie had large cataracts removed from both eyes. She can now see better than I can, but they are still in the healing stage, she has an appointment with an Optometrist July 6 and we'll see what happens from there. Thank you to all who inquired about her condition.

This all started on Monday 8 June, 2015. We were using her truck because the transmission is going bad in my car. I took Blondie to Midland for a doctor's appointment, when we were done there, we went to Pet Smart to pick up some food, halters, leashes, etc for our dogs, truck was running fine at this point. As I started out into very heavy traffic on the frontage road for Loop 250 at Wadley Avenue the truck started bucking and sputtering, finally just going dead. I put on my hazard flashers, raised the hood, had Blondie call AAA for a tow while I went back and flagged people around. Two young men got out of their truck and pushed us up onto a raised area separating two flows of traffic. After about 30 minutes or so a tow truck arrived (one of those flat bed trucks) while they were loading the truck, my Nephew and his wife drove by and recognized our truck. They took us to meet my Sister who was in town taking my Niece to her doctor, so from that point we were on the way home. Left the truck with a mechanic and told him to fix whatever was wrong. Friday, 12 June we were told that the truck was ready to go, they'd replaced all spark plugs and plug wires (1996 Ford Ranger 4 cylinders use two plugs per cylinder). Blondie called everyone we know and everyone had plans for the next few days, except one friend, he said he could take me to Midland on Monday, 15 June, we agreed. Saturday 16 June, this "friend" tells me that he can't take me because someone wanted him to fix a leaky pipe on Monday (why not Saturday, right?). We did some internet searches and made some phone calls, I caught a bus Sunday 16 June at 10:45 AM, going to be in Midland at 2:45 PM, she called a taxi cab, they were going to pick me up at the bus stop at 3:00 PM. No such luck, about 5 or 6 miles out of town the bus blew a tire and we sat there until 4:30 PM when a tire repair guy finally got us on the road. Got to Midland about 8:00 PM. Stayed at a Hotel overnight, picked up the truck and headed home, got home, decent night's sleep, decided to head for El Paso about 2:30 PM, made reservations for two nights at a Hotel. At this point, everything was going great, all the way to El Paso the truck ran fantastically well. Got inside the El Paso City Limits and BOOM, the truck quit on me. After sitting there thinking about things for a few minutes, a car pulled up next to us, he said he was a mechanic and could he look at our fuel filter. I said Why Not? Fuel filter was good, he had me crank it a few times and then said he was fairly certain it was the fuel pump. He followed us to the Hotel where we had reservations for two nights. Just as we got therte the truck died again, I barely managed to get it into a handicap spot next to the Lobby Portico (no power brakes or steering), went in, registered, told Desk Clerk what the problem was, she said "No problem Sir, let me know if I can do anything" Mechanic says he will be back around 2-3 PM to replace fuel pump. Blondie has an appointment with eye Surgeon for 9:30 next morning. We go to bed . . . eventually. Next morning, we catch a cab to the appointment, eye surgeon says "Oh, this is bad, we need to fix it right now, let's go" go in and cut off the lens of her left eye, cut off the cataract (Doctor said it was HUGE), then tells her to be there at 9:30 the next morning to do the other eye. We get back to the Hotel, wait . . . wait . . . wait some more, finally at 4:30 Blondie calls the guy, he says "I've had a small problem, I'll be there in an hour or so". About 7 PM he calls us and says he's on his way. About 9 PM he shows up with his wife and a car full of boxes (I still have no idea what was going on with him, didn't ask) he gives me some long song and dance, I tell him, again, that I can't hear but here's what we'll do. I'd given him $100.00 for following us to the Hotel and to buy the fuel pump. So I told him that from this point on, that $100 was his,and that I'd expect him at the truck at 12 Noon the following day, that I had AAA and the Pep Boys right up the street had worked on my Crown Vic and I would call them if he wasn't there. Next day (Thursday), he shows up, we go get the pump, he installs it, truck is running fine again. Friday, I get up bright and early and head for Fort Bliss, stop on the way and get my High and Tight touched up, go to VA and got one of my hearing aids fixed . . . sort of. Started for home, got to the Border Patrol Check point about 60 miles out of El Paso . . . that's right, truck died. Called AAA, truck picked us up, took us to a shop, guy says "You're out of gas" I say "HUH, my gauge shows a 1/4 tank", he says "You're still out of gas" goes and gets a 5 gallon can, puts it in the tank, truck fired right up and been running like a top ever since. AND THAT'S HOW I SPENT MY SUMMER VACATION

Shirley Goodnest A mom was concerned about her child walking home from school by himself so she asked a neighbor who walked her baby every day to follow him to make sure he was safe. One morning the boy was walking to school with a friend when the friend asked "Do you know some woman is following us?" The boy said "Oh that's just Shirley Goodnest. His friend said "Who is Shirley Goodnest and why is she following us?" The boy said "My mom always reads the 23rd Psalm to me every night and in the 23rd Psalm it says 'Shirley Goodnest and Marcy will follow me all the days of my life'". "So I guess I'll just have to get used to it." :>)

Thanks, DarrinzEr, Although the next holiday here is Father's Day, that's tomorrow, June 21, 2015

That is quite interesting. I didn't know half that much, thanks for sharing, Henry.

How true, all good advice for everyone, not just people in business. I've heard it said "in order to have a friend, you have to be a friend"

Happy Birthday Star, if you're still ion Texas, I know some mens, want me to send a few over?

Happy Birthday Henry عيد ميلاد سعيد هنري : Let me know if this is wrong, I got it from Google translate

It also opens with open office writer, just open writer first, then go to "file" "open" then navigate to the story's download folder and double click or single click, whatever you do to open a file on your computer.

you can't Get anyone to do something they don't want to do and as far as making him want to come, he's known about it for years, but where he is, it's a bad time for him, I think, you could ask him is all I can suggest, see if he has any interest, I've never seen him express an interest in reading, have you?

California The Governor of California is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks the Governor's dog, then bites the Governor. The Governor starts to intervene, but reflects upon the movie "Bambi" and then realizes he should stop because the coyote is only doing what is natural. He calls animal control. Animal Control captures the coyote and bills the state $200 testing it for diseases and $500 for relocating it. He calls a veterinarian. The vet collects the dead dog and bills the State $200 testing it for diseases. The Governor goes to hospital and spends $3,500 getting checked for diseases from the coyote and on getting his bite wound bandaged. The running trail gets shut down for 6 months while Fish & Game conducts a $100,000 survey to make sure the area is now free of dangerous animals. The Governor spends $50,000 in state funds implementing a "coyote awareness program" for residents of the area. The State Legislature spends $2 million to study how to better treat rabies and how to permanently eradicate the disease throughout the world. The Governor's security agent is fired for not stopping the attack. The state spends $150,000 to hire and train a new agent with additional special training re the nature of coyotes. PETA protests the coyote's relocation and files a $5 million suit against the state. TEXAS The Governor of Texas is jogging with his dog along a nature trail. A coyote jumps out and attacks his dog. The Governor shoots the coyote with his state-issued pistol and keeps jogging. The Governor has spent $.50 on a .45 ACP hollow point cartridge. The buzzards eat the dead coyote. And that, my friends, is why California is broke and Texas isn't.

Sarah was in the fertilized egg business. She had several hundred young pullets' and ten roosters to fertilize the eggs.She kept records and any rooster not performing went into the soup potand was replaced. This took a lot of time, so she bought some tiny bells and attached them to her roosters. Each bell had a different tone, so she couldtell from a distance which rooster was performing. Now, she could sit on the porch and fill out an efficiency report by just listening to the bells. Sarah's favorite rooster, old Butch, was a very fine specimen but,this morning she noticed old Butch's bell hadn't rung at all! When she went to investigate, she saw the other roosters were busy chasing pullets, bells-a-ringing, but the pullets hearing the roosters coming, would run for cover. To Sarah's amazement, old Butch had his bell in his beak, so it couldn't ring. He'd sneak up on a pullet, do his job, and walk on to the next one. Sarah was so proud of old Butch, she entered him in the Dowerin Show and he became an overnight sensation among the judges. The result was the judges not only awarded old Butch the "No BellPeace Prize" they also awarded him the "Pulletsurprise" as well. Clearly old Butch! was a politician in the making. Who else but a politician could figure out how to win two of the most coveted awards on our planet by being the best at sneaking up on the unsuspecting populace and screwing them when they weren't paying attention? Vote carefully in the next election. You can't always hear the bells.

Well, to me "The Good Old Days" were the late 40s, 50s and early 60s, I can't recall anything before 1946 when my Dad came home from Germany. then most of the 60s I was in the Navy, as I look back at the Navy, it wasn't so bad. But it was no picnic, after 1969 it seems like everything is worse every year.

Just how good were the “good old days?” Folks on the western frontier led a hardscrabble life. They were wan with fever, gaunt, scrawny and peaked. Their children were sickly and fretful. Vegetables didn’t play a big part in their diet. They dwelt in primitive surroundings with lice, fleas and bedbugs. People settled close to streams and were besieged by flies and gnats by day and mosquitoes by night. Folks didn’t know about such things as spreading germs back then. Families ate by common platter and drank from common tin cups. Indigestion and dysentery was a common occurrence. Men bellied up to the bar and wiped beer foam from their mustaches with a common towel. Dental hygiene was non-existent. People brushed their teeth seldom if ever. At public eating places and stagecoach stations a community tooth brush, made from the bristle hair of some animal, would be shared by anybody who felt compelled to clean their teeth. Rolls of toilet paper we’re familiar with today didn’t come along until about 1880. Before that it was grass, corn cobs and other similar things. Shampoo didn’t come into use until the 1920s and soap was very hard on a woman’s hair so they washed their tresses only about once a month. All this begs the question;' were the “good old days” really that good?

That's . . . WOW!!!

Happy Birthday Dottie!!!

Happy Birthday Walter

yeah, nice to have that back

Thanks Dash, you too Happy Mother's Day folks

Dementia, I haz it 2 Happy Birthday, Patsy

Thank you all for your thoughts at this time.

Happy Birthday Patsy

Sorry Dash, I missed it in here, so Happy Belated Birthday

yup and one in the computer room