#4402917 - 02/01/18 07:46 PM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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Folks, We have a current temp of 54 warm degrees F. /12 C. this sunny morning. There is a 7 MPH wind. ...... Sorry I was called away, maybe you did not miss me? It is now 12:58 PM our time which is EST. My son called to brag he had dinner with the Governor last night. He and two other people. Well, you should know he is new to his job and as a mere mortal. He is not used to breathing such rarefied air in the presence of the politically powerful. He kept his mouth shut unless asked a direct question, Mostly the mayor of Durham did the talking asking he and his boss some technical questions about new projects. It was an informal affair. No big deal but it was a serious source of excitement for my son. Frankly I am not sure if it was the politicians or the very fancy and expensive restaurant that impressed him the most. The food was impressive. It was a favorite seafood restaurant of the Governor's. The present, recently elected Gov. is a very good man I think. He is a Democrat elected in a state that elected a majority of Republicans in the state house. So, he has a tough job ahead. He was an acquaintance back in my home town when he was practicing law there. We had a mall there that was the biggest in the state east of Raleigh. I was pleased to do him a favor or two for certain charities that he was fond of. No one I knew expected he would run for Gov. much less win back then. He probably wouldn't remember me now without an 8x10 photo , a recording of my voice and most importantly, a $50 memory enhancement. We had malls in the state capital so I was acquainted with a couple of governors through work. One very popular Gov. who served as chief exec. twice, being reelected a second time after already serving a full term, always seems to remember me for some reason. He was unfortunately, in my opinion, beat out in what became a nasty senate race by Jesse Helms whom you may remember from his controversial senate days. That two term Governor was from the county I lived in at the time. When not in Raleigh he maintained his family farm only 50 miles from Raleigh, and he was in residence there quite often. Back then I was just a mall manager. So I was a bit overwhelmed when I was working late one night the Governor of my state just poked his head in my office door . Our secretary/receptionist had gone home a couple hours ago. I was alone and I had not herd the Gov. come in. I stood instantly. He smiled broadly as if we were very close friends all our lives, then asked me if I would do him a favor? I instantaneously agreed, of course. He did not want mall security contacted. Maybe I should have anyway. I followed him out of our offices and walked with him through the common area. We were just making small talk. He seemed happy as could be. I, of course, was still in shock. He had not one state trooper with him, no bodyguard, nothin'. Just big, strong me. Unarmed. Not even the little .380 our chief of security always had tucked in his sock. Don't tell anyone. That is a secret. Finally, the Governor revealed our secret mission. It was his mother's birthday. As the stores were all closing, he wanted me to help him buy a birthday card. Why, I'd probably get a medal for this. We continued chatting as if we actually knew each other and as if he cared what I had to say. I was almost convinced of that when we arrived at the Hallmark store. The gate was down, most of the lights were off, the store was closed. The checkout was right there at the front of the store. So we could see a young girl was checking and closing out her register. I called to her through the gate. Fortunately, the girl recognized me. She hadn't a clue who the man with me was. I found that out later. Without a single question she raised the gate and the Gov. rushed in and headed straight to the stacks of cards. Before he returned, the young girl asked me (in a whisper) who that man was? Really? A two-term governor and she did not realize who he was. I told her. That was sad. Shortly, the Gov. returned with his choice and paid for it. We walked back the way we had come but at a faster clip. There we folks who passed us without any notice and a few who took notice. No one stopped us to chat. Soon we were back at the door to our offices and the Governor shook my hand as if I'd done him a great favor then passed though the exit doors and was gone into the night. Perhaps to a gala birthday party for his mother. Of course he thought no more about it but I have never forgotten it. Some of you no doubt wish I had because I have told this story more than once. I apologize if you've read it before You really are free to just skip it you know. LeRoy tells me I should apologize if you just read it for the first time, too.
Originally Registered January,2001 Member Number 3044
"Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed" - Edmond Gwenn, "The Trouble With Harry"
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#4402986 - 02/02/18 03:22 AM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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Folks, Dux: Congratulations to the betrothed. May their house be free from tigers and may unhappiness forever be a total stranger there. Congrats to you and Jayne as well. I imagine there will be the usual bachelor party and an after the ceremony reception booze-up. Someone should notify the local distiller well in advance so they can put on extra shift. Hmmm. We should check the HWH Handbook to make absolutely sure a Brit marriage pact sealed so romantically in the US is actually valid in the UK. No matter how many witnesses were watching from the observation deck of the Empire State Building. They may have to pledge their fidelity to each other again. This time on British soil where the wedding will actually take place. Up on the top of the Rock you say. There may be a city ordinance against getting engaged at that altitude. Check that out PDQ. There might be a fine or jail time. I suspect it might put a strain on the wedding if either or both members of the loving couple were extradited. If they are even half as happy in their marriage as my wife and I were for 40 years they will have a wonderful marriage indeed. I wish them all the happiness their hearts can stand. Looking for the pix to land in my rusty, crusty, frost covered mailbox, my friend.
Originally Registered January,2001 Member Number 3044
"Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed" - Edmond Gwenn, "The Trouble With Harry"
CELEBRATING EIGHTEEN YEARS and over 20 MILLION VIEWS on SNAFU's HWH thread- April 2019
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#4403011 - 02/02/18 09:45 AM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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McGonigle
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Congrats OldDux, on Jane and Dave getting ready to tie the knot!
Last edited by McGonigle; 02/02/18 09:46 AM.
Jens C. Lindblad
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#4403070 - 02/02/18 05:04 PM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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Folks, Groundhog Day has come once more. Don't put away that thermal underwear just yet. That little Pennsylvania rodent has predicted another 6 weeks of winter. I do not know if a US groundhog can predict the weather for other parts of the world. If so, Jens may be doing more pedaling inside than outside for a few more weeks. It might be that long before the Kingdom of Denmark begins to thaw. Dux shivering in Pembrokeshire may well have to deice the wings of his new plane before it flies. Hopefully, the proximity of the sea there will favorably modify the cold. I look forward to the green renewal and lush beauty of springtime but not the heat and humidity of our summer. That reminds me that before the powerful sun of summer climbs above me, I must do some shopping. I am almost out of industrial grade barbecue sauce. Yes, LeRoy, some folks do still use suntan lotion and sun blockers. I figure if it works for browning birds on a hot grill, surely it will work for me under a sweltering sun. I must keep a lookout for stray dogs attracted by the delicious aroma of browning flesh it is true. However, I can even lick my sticky fingers after every basting.
Originally Registered January,2001 Member Number 3044
"Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed" - Edmond Gwenn, "The Trouble With Harry"
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#4403137 - 02/03/18 12:01 AM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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Folks, Fittop: I reminded my bragging, name dropping son that while it is good indeed to meet and know famous, powerful people it is they who are famous and powerful and not us. Not just by being acquainted with them. He took the hint. I think his demanding new job may already be giving him stomach problems. Welcome to the club. Yet I believe he does seem to be well thought of by his superiors and is prospering in his work. I am proud of him. As for the prospect of catching some rays next summer without serious crisping, you do point out one of the minor flaws. Insects and stray canines do seem to be attracted to barbecue sauce. It may require some testing in order to...umm...get the bugs out. My grandmother once made me a colorful beach towel from scrap fabric. It looked to me like a blanket of Pansies on it. I wasn't crazy about it but my girlfriend loved it. It looked like Pansies to her too. Unfortunately, it looked exactly like that to the bees as well. Here in my part of NC, we favor a vinegar based sauce and a sweet, tomato based sauce in the West. I am sorry to say that the sauce I am used to and Uncle Bob used to serve at his marginally famous restaurant, did not work as well as I'd hoped. I saw a photo once of a sign post that was erected on Iwo Jima that proclaimed to all soldiers who saw it, with both words and an arrow, "Bob Melton's BBQ 6,000 Miles. Or some such distant mileage. The delicious sauce of the West concentrated around Lexington, NC, seems, at the moment, the better choice. It may require just a few refinements. Any bees or other bugs that attempt to land on forbidden territory must risk committing insecticide. Any stray Canine that tries to get in a single lick must yelp bloody murder, turn tail and run away as if the dog catcher himself were behind him with cattle prod and a net. I'll figure it out before the first Bare Breasted Tail Twitcher or Easy Nesting Nympho Bird arrives at our beaches in June.
Originally Registered January,2001 Member Number 3044
"Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed" - Edmond Gwenn, "The Trouble With Harry"
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#4403220 - 02/03/18 04:30 PM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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Folks, Our current temp here is 28 frosty degrees F. at 10:55 AM. The sky is clear and a hot sun is blazing down through the chill seemingly determined to warm us. Standing at my window, looking out on the winter world beyond, the rays passing through the glass were uncomfortably warm, as a matter of fact. It looks like another great day in Dixie. Yes, LeRoy, if I am not one I sure seem to be the new poster boy for dumb-ass. I have extensions that make me anonymous when surfing, prevent snooping by scripts and other stealthiness apps and add ons. Why then did I just complete several revealing survey pages for Consumer Reports? I agree, LeRoy, it makes no sense. Makes no sense.... unless I am a DA.
Originally Registered January,2001 Member Number 3044
"Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed" - Edmond Gwenn, "The Trouble With Harry"
CELEBRATING EIGHTEEN YEARS and over 20 MILLION VIEWS on SNAFU's HWH thread- April 2019
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#4403241 - 02/03/18 08:41 PM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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Folks, Fittop: The temp has risen to 37°F./ 3°C. here in rural Sims at 2:54 PM. The flu is a real concern this year. I worry about the family. Two are EMS first responders and will surely be exposed at some point. I have not had flu in decades and like that just fine. Before I was married I caught the Asian Flu and came down with it while working the late shift on a Saturday night at the newspaper. We were just waiting for some box scores on the AP wire. I made it home somehow that night but do not recall the next 24 hours at all. I was totally out of it. Nasty, nasty stuff. Looking back, a number of my wife's relatives died from the deadly Spanish flu of the 1918 Pandemic. Five hundred million people died worldwide or about 1/3 of the planet's population. Six hundred-seventy-five-thousand Americans died of flu. This year doctors see more of the Influenza A-H3N2 than any other strain. Any year that is the dominant strain is a very bad year. Stay out of crowds. Wash your hands often. Don't go near the known afflicted if possible. Common sense can still save you becoming infected. All the coughing during and afterward is what I hate. I suspect I would not like passing away either. Here's a head's up for watching something new on Netflix. It is a new series (1 season) titled "Altered Carbon". It's a science fiction drama set in the very distant future that reminds me a little of "Blade Runner". "The wealthy are now immortal and the poor are pawns" we are told in the preview. Minds can be transplanted intact into new bodies. People can be put in stasis for hundreds of years and then brought back. The story as it begins in episode 1 revolves around a physically powerful male character brought back to life after 200 years in stasis inside the new Alcatraz. He has been revived when his sentence was finally over. The fellow's mind is now in a new body and the important sentence in his pardon/parole/release, whatever, leases him to an incredibly wealthy man who lives above the clouds like the proverbial giant in "Jack and the beanstalk". Turns out, the man wants our protagonist to solve a murder. His own. I enjoyed the first episode. Check it out if you like. I dunno pal, maybe I am not a DA, and I do thank you for your favorable endorsement, however, I can do a dandy job of appearing to be one now and then.
Originally Registered January,2001 Member Number 3044
"Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed" - Edmond Gwenn, "The Trouble With Harry"
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#4403379 - 02/04/18 05:08 PM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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Folks, We had a chilly night last night. Today is cloudy, wet and continues to be chilly. The current temp is 52°F./ 11° C. I hope today has been warmer for you MG. Pardon my writing of a personal matter. My old Grandpa is 132 years of age today. WOW! I wish him a happy birthday wherever he is. Don't do the math, he was born on this date in the Victorian year of 1886. Along with my grandmother, he saw a lot of change in the world as he lived well into the 1960's. She lived into the 1990's. He was better than most and as good a man as ever I have met. Grandpa suffered from a lack of formal education but never let that even slow him down. He arrived in our home town in the early 1900's without a large amount of money. He did have self confidence and some large ideas. Walking downtown one day, he stopped in front of a photographer's show window. There he saw a photo portrait of my grandmother. He went inside and learned her name and address. It had been love at first sight apparently. They met, courted and eloped together within a year. That was Grandpa, he knew both how to dream and how to get what he wanted. The marriage was a good one and lasted until his death. Grandma never remarried. Pa managed to build a small business that prospered even through the long, thin days of the Depression. They lived in a fine house on Falls Road. My mother and grandmother never went without. He was well respected in that small community still clustered around the cotton mill located for power by the river. Then one day in the early 50's, it came my turn to live under his roof. That was when my parents had parted company. Mom went many miles south to Florida. Dad went many miles north to Philly. And I went just a block west. I always had everything I needed including all the love my little heart could stand. They took me to church. They saw to it that I received the best education available. I owe them so much. I can still hear the squeak and crunch of that old wooden rocking chair in the living room. Pa sometimes allowed me to sit in his lap and hold his gold pocket watch as he patiently rocked me to sleep. Mostly, that was my grandmother's job. Him doing it was a special treat. I inherited that lovely watch when he died. I honor him today. Q: Why did grandpa put wheels on her rocking chair? A: He wanted to rock and roll!
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#4403454 - 02/04/18 11:43 PM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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Folks, He was already in his late 50's when I was born. I never knew him as even a middle aged man. Thank you for your comment. Family is important to me and I have so very few family members left. But that is the obverse side of the longevity coin. The longer you live the fewer members of your family you are going have still living. Mine live on in my memory like cherished photos you take out of an old box and polish every no and then. Today photos would be taken down from the cloud. I suppose that may be what my own grand children will do when I become a memory. I wonder. Perhaps that is the truth of life after death? Maybe you live again when someone remembers you? If so, my wife, parents and grandparents, and a few others live again every day.
Originally Registered January,2001 Member Number 3044
"Blessed are they who expect nothing, for they shall not be disappointed" - Edmond Gwenn, "The Trouble With Harry"
CELEBRATING EIGHTEEN YEARS and over 20 MILLION VIEWS on SNAFU's HWH thread- April 2019
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#4403580 - 02/05/18 05:15 PM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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McGonigle
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Gents,
We've been put in the freezer here. Daytime temps around 24 F and night-time temps expected to hit 14 F. On the bright side we've had beautiful clear skies.
My salute to your Grandfather, Roger. That generation experienced and witnessed a lot of far reaching events; Two World Wars, a Depression and Lunar Landings. Also the coming of modern industrial western society. Was it Dan rather, who coined the expression, "The Greatest Generation" about the generation that fought in WW2. I think the generation before that, did quite all-right as well. My late maternal Grandmother, born May 4th 1899 managed to build a business around dentiers, or fake teeth, which doesn't sound good in English at all. The Nazi occupation of Denmark was officially brought to an end by the capitulation of the German forces, and the message thereof was transmitted from London on the evening of May 4th 1945, it was quite a gift, on Granny's birthday.
Our dear departed living on in our memories; I'm visited in my dreams by the ones who meant the most to me. I start out, in the dream, knowing that they are no longer amongst us, but just before I wake up, sometimes I'm convinced that they never went away.
Jens C. Lindblad
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#4403602 - 02/05/18 06:59 PM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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Folks, It isn't as cold over here as MG reports. Not here anyway. Our temp at 1:00 PM is 46°F. / 8° C. There a few of those small cotton ball type, fair weather clouds floating about in the otherwise clear, blue sky. MG: Thank you for your comment. Quote: "just before I wake up, sometimes I'm convinced that they never went away." I like that. There are times, often of great emotion or strife when those lost to me seem close, guiding, understanding, commiserating. That calms and encourages me somehow. When I have a difficult problem I usually wonder what my wise, late wife would recommend. Sooner or later something will come to me that she had said before or done in a similar situation. That always helps. The older we are the more we are faced with our own mortality. We recall those who were dear to us and how they were when alive and were healthy and happy. Perhaps we wonder about life and death too at those moments? This may bring us and those passed away closer in some way? We recall the many obstacles they faced and overcame. We may be re-energized by their strength. Challenged to work harder and to follow their example. Memories of those who have preceded us to the "other side" can at times be so powerful they seem, though they are not physically present, to live. We think of them as being as they were but now they just unseen as if simply moved away. Maybe for many the hope of seeing them again brings comfort as we face our own uncertain future? Our family never faced an occupation as did yours. I am ever thankful for that. I pray we never will. May every May 4th that you mark in celebration of your dear grandmother be free. Q: What's the easiest way to remember your wife's birthday? A: Forget it once! Q: What do George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, and Christopher Columbus all have in common? A: They were all born on US holidays.
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#4403614 - 02/05/18 07:56 PM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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McGonigle
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Gents,
Roger, Thank you for your comments and your very practical advise on how to remember a wife's birthday.
Regarding dreams and reminiscences of a long life's many moments; I was very pleasantly surprised when I read John Irving's latest book; Avenue of Mysteries. I will not reveal too much but I was struck by the novel's protagonist who, like me, is visited by people from his past, in his dreams. Irving's note on how hypertension medicine has the effect of taking away or blocking his dreams, struck a chord with me. As a user of the same type of medicine, I share the same experience.
Jens C. Lindblad
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#4403616 - 02/05/18 08:00 PM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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McGonigle
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I just remembered this story I heard;
Two women, co-workers meet by chance in a shop for clothes. They start doing the girl thing of commenting the clothes from the shop that they try on: "This suits you well", and "no, that doesn't look good on you". They're quite honest and frank and really have a great time. Finally, one of the women mentions; "No, that dress looks absolutely awful on you". The other replies; "...but... those were the clothes I wore when I entered the shop".
Last edited by McGonigle; 02/05/18 08:01 PM.
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#4403818 - 02/06/18 04:26 PM
Re: Here's what happened (Continued)
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Folks, Sunny, 46°F. / 8° C. at 11:00 AM. A lovely winter's day. MG: Apparently, that problem I experienced last Saturday was entirely caused by Malwarebytes. It seems millions were affected if they had that program running on their systems when it was auto updated. Most computers crashed and when rebooted they hung up. I was lucky, I figured out or stumbled blindly upon what was needed to fix the problem and got my system running again. Malwarebytes apparently followed up with a patch that didn't work and then another that did. I understand this situation has caused not only consternation by users of Malwarebytes but also those in the tech service industry. It seems Malwarebytes has not contacted their subscribers and is taking no responsibility for the inconvenience and/or any expense due to losses of data that their update caused. Many tech repair and support people who recommended the program for their repair customers are now being held accountable by those unhappy clients and the tech people do not like it. If it happens again, I will let my yearly subscription expire and not renew it. I may even uninstall it. This has not happened before, not to me anyway. That was a funny story MG. One of those "Athlete's Tongue" stories. A contagion of the toes normally, caused,in this case, by this lady putting her foot in her mouth once too often.
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