Bruce down, but not out for sure.

I met Bruce in 1967, I was working part time at Dave and Joe's speed shop behind their american gas station on route 501 in Lancaster. About two or three miles from my parents house, I worked there nights and weekends. I usually had a part time job at a gas station in those days so I had a garage with a lift to work on my car. It was late fall, and it was cold, but not too bad. I was on the cycle as usual and bruce's car needed some work and he needed a ride home. Davie asked me if I could run Bruce home and I said sure since I was leaving anyway! Bruce did not have a very warm jacket on, but at that young age, we had good circulation yet and made the ride with not much shriveling. Little did I know Bruce and I would be lifetime friends. We started running around together.

Our first trip together was to the shore on my bike. We rode at night because we could make better time. I don't remember much about the trip down to Wildwood, but on the way home sunday night we ran late and stopped to catch 20 winks. We were startled awake by about ten guys and I thought that we were going to be in a fight. It turns out they just wanted to look at my bike, and maybe a race to see which was faster my bike or his car. We hung around there for about an hour shooting the bull and left without a scratch. We stayed awake all weekend having fun, but when we got home Sunday night Bruce had to work all night at the Sunoco station on Columbia Avenue. I stayed most of the night too. We spent a lot of nights at the gas station all night talking. When your young you don't need much sleep!

Another time Bruce and I were traveling route 30 into York and I was following a big t-bird and we went into some construction and the road dropped about 6 inches without any sign or anything. The t-bird bottomed out on the stone surface and we came flying behind and when I hit the brakes we were in mid air, no traction. Luckily we landed and had some bight to stop my bike! Another time a few years later Bruce and I went to Maryland to do some drinking. Their drinking age was 18 ours in Pa was 21. It was winter and we hopped from bar to bar stopping when we got cold. At 3:00 in the morning the bars closed. We were about 50 miles from home. It was a long cold ride home with no place to warn up. Needless to say we learned a good lesson again. Don't venture too far from home bar hopping when it is cold.

I did not hear from Bruce for a couple of weeks, Bruce and Dave and I meet saturday mornings for breakfast. I called every three or four days figuring he was busy. I was waiting at the eye doctor this afternoon and finally got ahold of him. Here he had a stroke at work at the Manheim Auto Auction and spent two weeks in the hospital. I am picking him up tomorrow he can't drive for a while and we are going for breakfast. Maybe after to get some vittles since he has to stay home and can't go to the diner every day like he likes to do. Yes I was at the eye doctor, I have a floater in my right eye. Old age strikes again, the fluid in my eye is coagulating and being not transparent in one place and I see a place where the light does not pass right and I see a mark in my vision. She said the retina does not look damaged, But I must go back in six weeks for a check again. Its bad enough this winter I had to battle Mother Nature a lot, now old man age is fighting me too. Like Mick Jaeger sings" Its a drag getting old" But it sure beats the alternative!

See my eye Doctor.    lesliebmillerod.com

The Michigan Madman

This is E.J. Potter in his glory when I saw him at York U.S. 30 drag way in 1969. He is riding his 327 cubic inch chevy 400 plus horse power motorcycle. Every guy who rode cycle in those days wanted to be like E. J. He traveled across the country putting on exhibition runs and got paid very well for putting on the show of our lives. He also had a jet car that roared down the quarter mile like a bullet fired from a gun. The night we saw him we talked to him in the pits. He was mad because it was cooler in late fall and the track was cold, he could not get good traction and was only turning in the low ten second bracket about 160 MPH. He spun the back tire the whole 1320 feet and it was not his best times. He made three runs that night and wore out his back tire from laying rubber the whole 1320 feet. He towed the cycle as it had no starter and he had to unhook the towline before the threw the in and out box to engage the motor so he did not run over his tow vehicle. He rode back to the starting line, turned the bike around and a helper and he put the bike up on its stand so the rear wheel was off the ground. He then put the in and out box in gear and the rear wheel spun from the engine and when the Christmas tree turned green he just leaned front and the rear wheel made contact with the pavement. All you could see was the front wheel and his helmet. Everything was hidden by the smoke from the rear wheel burning up.

I never got to see his jet car run. They used to put a junker car behind the the jet exhaust and when he fired it up the junker car melted from the flaming exhaust of the engine. That was exiting to a lot of young male egos! We ran our car that night. Nothing special that night for us. We wanted to see the Michigan Madman, and we got the show of our lives.

        

0 degrees,where is global warming!

I took Mary to work again, no snow forecast, but it is suppose to be 0 degree in the morning. I did not want her to get in a van that is 0 degrees inside. Besides I can clean the windows of the other girls that work with Mary. I like to help them out too. When it is that cold, it is hard on the engine till it gets warmed up. And you have no heat till you drive a good distance. It is almost 3/4 of the way home till you get heat for us. Mary does a lot for me, so this is one small thing I can do for her. Besides helping others out gives me a good feeling, like I can still help people. I am not as worthless as I feel sometimes. Being old and handicapped makes me feel like I am past my prime. I guess I really am past my prime, but I still have something to offer. We never run short of the feeling of being needed. It is a prime directive of feeling you are worth something yet. When I clean the driveway so we can get in and out of the garage it makes me feel I can still provide a service. I like to help the neighbors too. I am not worthless, I can do it!

A lot of people who are retired and handicapped like myself just give up and don't try anymore. I will never give up till my body refuses to move anymore. I will go to the gym again tomorrow. I go Monday,Wednesday and Fridays. I work out for about half an hour each day. Lately cleaning up so much snow gives me additional workouts. I will not go back to the habit of just sitting around like when I was first forced into early retirement. I just felt sorry for my self and did not care about keeping myself moving to keep my body in shape. I just gave up trying. I know now that was bad for my heart and brain. Writing this blog has helped my body and mind. I am using my mind to further my businesses and I will keep doing it as long as my body and mind let me continue. I am 65 years young and have a long life ahead of me. I have a lot to learn yet. I feel better now than I have in years. Keeping the mind and body busy in old age is important. Mary and I have a lot to do in the garden and yard over summer. When Mary retires next year we have a lot of places to go and see the states. Lots of things to do.

Retirement can be a great adventure if you can get out and do things. We plan on being busy and enjoy our golden years. They may not be so golden, but you can make the most of them if you try. All the pills I take, and the pain killers help me to stay active. My brain is doing better since I exercise it doing my business and writing this blog. Both body and brain need exercise every day to keep in shape. My shoulder that was replaced does not hurt as much since I work out three days a week. The Doctor told me the shoulder muscle was injured in my motorcycle accident. Using it helps keep it limber and not hurt so much. I have cut down on pain killers from every day to missing 2 or 3 days at a time. I think young too, and it helps me so I don't hurt so much. I know what the subconscious mind believes helps your outlook on life. When someone asks how are you, I say great so my mind hears and adopts how I feel. It seems to work for me, you should try it too!

Its two degrees outside.time for post about the beach!

Return to the days of yesteryear for a story about my trip to Bob's place at the beach. It was the spring of 1969. I was twenty one years young, I had just paid off the loan for my 1967 Mercury convertible and I was at the Honda shop looking at a new 450 scrambler. I got a loan to purchase my new bike, and took it home for the first time. Because it was new I had to take it easy to break in the engine right. No high RPM's or wheelies till I had 500 miles on the odometer. I took the 500 miles seriously and break in the engine easily, but not too lazily. I wanted a fast running bike. It was a double overhead cam twin with twin carburetors. Very high tech and very fast! I got my 500 miles on quickly, because I wanted to test the power to run fast.

I planned to go to Bob's in Vineland, New Jersey for a test of the new bike. I was cruising to New Jersey before I knew it. The bike ran great, lots of power. I had 1000 miles on the engine, and it was running great. I changed the oil every 500 mile like my other bike that was a very good running bike. I passed a car in traveling close to the Gap, and inside is the mechanic from the Honda shop. I waved as I blew by.  Later he told me that he knew I must have 500 miles on the engine already as I was going fast. I got to Bob's place with no problems and Steph his wife was waiting for me. Bob was still at work, when I arrived at 4:00 Friday afternoon. Bob took a job with Firestone Tire stores. When Bob got home about 5:30 in the afternoon, he admired the new bike. We reminisced about old times and adventures we had. Before we knew it, it was time for bed and we settled down.

Saturday morning we arose and got breakfast and headed for the beach with Bob and I on the bike and Steph following in the car. It was a very warm day, so I was in my swimsuit and shoes while riding around the beach. We took the bike to Higbee beach near Wildwood so we could ride on the sand to the water's edge. The picture of my new bike on the sand was hard to set up because I could not set the bike up because the side stand did not have a place to hold the bike up. I had to put my shoe down to hold the side stand so the bike would not fall over. You can see my shoe under the bike behind it. We rode around a lot that day. Bob is dark skinned, and does not burn. Myself on the other hand am light skinned and burn easily. You guessed it I got fried. The next morning I was red as a beet. I got blisters all over and was in pain. Sunday  and Monday I laid around all day suffering. Tuesday when I was to leave I was suffering a lot. Steph helped me rub hand cream all over my fried skin. I had a lot of blisters that broke as I was putting my jeans and shirt on. It was very painful. My ride home took on a painful pitch, especially when it started to rain about halfway home. It felt like someone was hitting me with a hammer every time the rain drops hit my fried skin. I never rode in swimsuit and no shirt again. The mind does learn from painful experiences

I rode down to Bob's on the bike later that fall. This time the only dumb thing I did was wash my bike before I left and later that Friday evening the temp. went down and halfway there my brake cable froze and I had no front brake. I stopped in an all night gas station and put the bike inside to thaw out the front brake cable so I could stop. On the way home Sunday it got down to 20 degrees, and I was glad I took along my winter riding clothes. Well another adventure stored in my feeble brain. I am glad to have such good memories, especially since at the time they were painful. Now they are good memories! Another adventure in the mind to remember that it was not so bad when I remember it later. You tend to remember the good parts, and forget the bad. At least that is how it works for me! You can tell my bike is new, still had cardboard temporary license plate on back. same size as for a car.

My 450 Honda Scrambler at the waters edge 1969, less than 1200 miles on the odometer. I was getting burned by the time I took this picture. But I was having fun and did not notice the pain right away.

Good times cancel out the bad stuff happening to you. And time cancels out the bad times you went through. We tend to remember the adventures as better than they were!

You can see my shoe holding the bike up on the back side.

Knowledge allows you to make more money in life.

Knowledge is a wonderful thing when you use it right. I have attended a lot of night school over the years. I have told you about my learning problems before. I cannot learn the way school was taught when I went to school. I graduated in 1966. I was pretty down at the bottom of the class. They told me I was not trying to learn. I needed help to concentrate and was not given any. Now days the schools must do what ever is necessary for students to comprehend the lessons in class. When I went to school, students like me fell thru the cracks.

I have excelled in my learning over the years as I taught myself to adapt so I can learn what I need to. Our daughter in elementary school had similar learning difficulty, and the principal drug his feet so they did not have to spend the money to test her. We paid to have her tested and found out what she needed. The principal called Mary and balled her out for testing Laura, because now they had to provide what she needed. I was having a meeting with the shrink who was having Laura tested and told her about the principal calling Mary and mouthing off because we paid to have her tested because the principal put off the testing till the end of the year to delay the findings. I told the shrink if I knew where the principal lived I would go to his house and tell him off. I really wanted to punch him in the nose. The shrink said you will not see him, she would take care of it. I went home and told Mary what the shrink said. We thought that was the end of it. Later that evening the principal called and apologized to Mary. It seems the shrink was on the board that approves money to the schools and had a say over the principal. That was my Ah Ha moment in learning the ropes to take care of people who think they are better than us. Sometimes the right word from the right person is better than a sock in the nose!

I have calmed down over the years and learned to handle my temper. Yes sometimes violence is not as satisfying as well placed help from the right person. I am not going to let anyone push me or my family around, but there is always a better way to handle a situation! I am learning, old dog learns pretty good!

This is one hundred!

Yes I have created one hundred posts so far. It is a milestone I never dreamed I would set in the short time I have been writing on my blog. And yes it snowed this morning again. Luckily it did not snow more than an inch, I pushed the snow with my shovel where the sun is not hitting the pavement and it is melting now. Mary is going to the foot Doctor today so I have the driveway cleared without using the snow blower. I like this kind of snow, not much work to clear. It is cold, but the sun is shining. All seems well with my life again, for now. The cold will continue into the weekend. And more snow is expected. As long as it is not a lot and the wind does not pick up again, the fight with Mother is not too bad.

I will have to continue my adventures on the motorcycle again. Enough has been written about my fight with Mother, I will talk about more fun adventures we have had years ago. Jeff and Heather will be coming home in April or May so he can get started with his seminary training. Heather renewed her R.N. license so she can get a better job when she and Jeff move back. I probably will go down and help drive the u-haul truck with their belongings to Lancaster. I know another eleven hour drive each way. But you do what is needed for your kids. Soon we must get insurance on the motorcycle again so we can start riding again. We had to cancel insurance because we did not have the money in November. Jeff and Heather like to take rides, and we are glad they are moving back home, not California. When Jeff gets his Masters of Divinity we will worry about where he gets a church then. I hope it is not too far away. It is nice having all the kids close so we can get to know the grandchildren. But we will survive whatever happens with Jeff getting a church. Like I said before all our children picked great life partners. I guess we taught them well.

The calm before the storm!

Yes I am waiting for the snow again. This is the worst part of the problem of fighting Mother Nature. When she strikes and I swing into action, I am not excited about the battle, I just do it. Waiting for anything is not my best way of handling any problem. My three year old grandson is the same way. Mary tells him to put his patience pants on when he gets like me. I know he gets it from me. So I cannot say much when something happens, because I feel the same way. I have no patience when I must wait. Especially when I am waiting for Mary outside the store in the car. I must admit I have gotten a little bit better with age. Just a little bit!

Waiting for something is worse than having it happen! You get all worked up, and might throw a fit that is worse than the problem. I know from experience worrying hurts you more than the problem itself. My mother was a worrier. She would get physically sick from worry. I saw it many times. I do not worry that bad, just enough to get my excessive obsessive behavior started. I must do things several times to get it off my chest! Check and recheck till I have done the same thing many times just to be sure it is O.K. It is not as bad as when I was younger, but it is still there. Old habits die hard. Since I have my businesses to keep me busy I do not repeat my habits as much as I did two years ago. But they are still in the back of my head. If you do not hear from me in a while, probably some shrink read my blog and put me under observation to make sure I am not dangerous. LOL

Yes writing this blog helps me get a lot of things off my chest. I thank Marcy many times for getting me started writing these posts to get my mind under control. My bi-polar has my mind going a mile a minute, and this blog helps to keep me sane. I think! Yes I do feel better each time I am done writing. I spend a lot of time promoting my businesses, and I am not thinking about my handicap, or not being able to handle a job outside the home. I feel useful again. When I was forced into early retirement I was really down and felt worthless. I feel better now, I am making money from home, and producing again. I feel alive again. And I will not let myself get depressed again. I have too much to live for to feel sorry for myself again. I am most of the time on my manic swing now. I do not have time to get depressed and I will not, again! Well Marcy, this is post number 99. I cannot believe I have written 99 posts in the short time I have been working on my blog. You knew what I needed to get  me fired up. I thank you for keeping me going. 2014 is going to be a great year for all of us. I know it! And of course thank you Lord for watching over all of us. Keep us safe and help all of us to do what is right in your eyes. We need you, even though so many are trying to shut you out of our lives.

Like it never happened!

I am alone again, Mary is taking a cat nap. It is tuesday night, about 7:30 pm and all is well. At least that is how it feels. I put the tractor battery on the charger so it is up for tomorrow for me to do battle with Mother again. The weather people are saying just a light dusting of snow tomorrow morning. But after so much snow and ice already, I am getting ready for anything. The mimi van has salt stains on it again from the last three days. I had it washed clean, but with so much melting snow puddles on the road it does not stay clean for long. The governor has sent trucks to the docks to pick up more salt for the roads. They are expecting a lot more snow and ice too. I have about 25 pounds of calcium melting pellets left, with no more at the store till who knows when. I have about 50 pounds of sand to hold me over and can get more if I need it. The sand works good for traction, and will get me through till I can get more melting pellets. Right now my drive and sidewalk is clean, like the snow never happened. Just a lot of brown sand over everything.

This feels like the lull before the storm. I am thinking about going to the shore this summer with Laura and Rich and the grandchildren and the grand dog. We will be sweating on the beach, and going to the boardwalk. I know it will get nice again, but I am down right now because of being inside all the time. I have a string of christmas lights over the arch between the living room and kitchen. They are LED's so they take very little power. I read somewhere over winter when you are depressed from being inside in bad weather bright colors chase away the blues. It has helped me cope with being inside. I keep them up all year, because over summer when It is really hot we stay in too.

Where have all the snowflakes gone?

Well it did not snow today after all. Thank goodness! Now they are saying it will snow tomorrow. Mary has to go to the foot Doctor tomorrow, so I hope it does not snow too much. I will put the battery charger on the tractor tonight  just to be sure it is charged up and ready to go. I check the oil and fill the gas tank for the expected battle tomorrow. Since you have now seen the suicide driveway you have an idea of my battles with Mother. I will be careful and wear my snow and ice spikes when I do battle every day. Any little signs of ice and I put the spikes on my shoes. I have been bitten twice by ice on the driveway and do not want to take another fall. Mary has off tonight and tomorrow night so I will not have to do the driveway till after the sun comes up both days. That way if I do run into problems at least I do battle in the sunlight! I will do the neighbors driveways and the circle. You know me, good neighbor Sam!

I like the driveway going down to the circle. I have seen a lot of driveways that go down to the garage door, that if you can't stop because of ice you crash into the door. I have an eight foot door, because when we built the house I had a service truck for my electrical business that was higher than six foot, the regular size door. I changed a lot of the specs when we built so we have a lot of different things from the stock house. Extra insulation  and many conveniences that other houses do not have. I wired this house, and installed a lot of different things. We also built a cape cod because I wanted my bedroom on the first floor. With my knees I figured I would have trouble with steps in my old age. And I do! I have a wood and coal stove tied into the ductwork and it saved a lot of money over the years. I have not used the stove for about ten years and now that we installed a ground source heating system I do not need the stove as are bills are a lot less. Running to the basement to load and stoke the stove is a young man's job.

Well I must get Mary to load some pictures I took to put on my blog. Marcy is helping me with putting the pictures on my blog. I am not smart enough to do it yet. I will be in the future. If you would have told me three years ago I would be doing this on the computer I would have said NOT ME! But this old dog must learn new tricks. And I will learn new tricks even if I think it will kill me! So far it has not killed me, just made me feel like I can learn anything I put my feeble mind to. And you can too.

Where is spring, when we need IT!

Yes it is Tuesday the 25 th of February and here we go again. Cold in the single digits and more snow coming, the polar weather is upon us again. A few days of relief in the 40s to 50s and plunge us back in old man winters frigid grasp again. Will spring ever get here? I know this summer I will be raving about the heat, but a little bit would be nice about now. At least we will not be too dry this summer with all the snow laying on the frozen ground. As long as it does melt too quick before it has a chance to soak in the ground. With Manheim only four miles away that always floods, I hope we melt little by little so no one gets flooded out again. We will fight Mother Nature as best we can. So suicide driveway has only bit me once this year. I will be careful, and I will survive like the song says. I have my tractor back, and am ready for most anything. I will take Mary to work if needed. Mary is tired of the cold and snow too. All we can do is battle, and get ready for another onset of what is coming. 

The kids are actually getting tired of missing school days because they realize they have to make up the days in June. My daughter Laura and her husband Rich got their income tax money back and bought a used snow blower to fight Mother's latest onslaught coming up. He had to use two vacation days so far because of snow days at work. It is hitting everyone this year. The heating days are in high gear, bigger bills because of the cold. And buying ice-melter and sand to put in suicide driveway add up too. It is the price we pay for living where we want to live. No matter where you live today it costs extra to live there. In warm climates there is the threat of storms, tornadoes, or drought like in California. And don't forget the states with wildfires, too. No place is safe from calamity anymore. We all have our devil to contend with. Mother Nature is not happy with how we treat her home turf, and she's fighting back. Or at least it seems that way.

Only those who see the invisible; can do the impossible!

Yes I am Raving again! It was over fifty degrees outside today. Our florida room was 72 degrees from all the sun hitting the big windows all round the room. I even washed the mini-van to get all the salt off and get ready for the next snow this week. We are suppose to get the polar cold too. I am ready for whatever Mother has in mind for us. I have seen the invisible all my life. The playhouse you saw in my last post was built from the blueprints in my mind. When I have it plotted out in my feeble brain, I can build it. I have always looked ahead in time to see the finished product when I am doing something. When I was trouble shooting a piece of equipment for work, as long as I had it in my mind how it worked I could fix it. I can't explain how my mind works, it has been that way as long as I can remember. Marcy you picked a good brain to work with. I just sit here at the keyboard and the post comes to me. Kinda scary when I think of it. Things I see along the road when I am driving give me ideas for a post. Well I made it all these years as an oddball mind so I figure I am not dangerous. My bi-polar gives me good ideas.    Sometimes I question my sanity; occasionally it replies, mostly in a good way.    Never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups. Congress you say?    Yes I know the voices in my head are not real; But they have some great ideas! The voices have done me good over the years!    

Looking for the invisible has helped me over the years. Mary sees them too. That is why we have built so many good projects over the years. What I can't see, Mary does.  I still say    When I was a kid; no wait I still do that.    I guess that is enough of my good laugh lines for now.

Mother will throw more storms at us, and we will fight them. We like living here, and will put up with what ever happens. We will survive and flourish. As long as I do not fall in the driveway again.

Go straight to Hallam

Of course here in Pennsylvania Dutch Country we pronounce it Hell-em. A cycle shop had "Go straight to Hallam" so it would be a catchy ad on their t-shirts. We have a lot of strange names for towns considering our people came to this country for religious freedom. It leads to a lot of catchy bumper stickers and custom license plates for the tourists to buy.

Tourism is a big business here in Lancaster county. Lots of people come here to see the Amish and the other plain people. They like to send a post card home with the Intercourse, Pennsylvania postmark, along with the other strange town names. We people who grew up here don't think of our names as anything strange. If you visit Hallam, go to see the shoe house. It was built by Mr. Haines. He was a shoe manufacturer who used the shoe house to let newly married couples take their honeymoon in it.

Lancaster County and the surrounding counties are a great place to visit and see all the farms and other sights. You can go for a horse with a buggy behind ride and even stay over night on an Amish farm with no electricity. Some farms let you stay a couple of days and work with the people owning the farm. See plain living first hand.

The main Harley Davidson plant is in York, less than forty miles away. They give tours and have a motorcycle museum. When I had my electric business I did some work there. If you want to vacation here, you have a lot to experience.

We are about 40 miles from Maryland, and only about 140 miles from the shore. We have about 40 potato chip manufacturers close by. We grow a lot of food local too. There is a lot to see and do, so visit us when you can. You will learn a lot and have an enjoyable experience. If you can rent the movie Witness you can learn a lot about Lancaster County, with a Hollywood flair. Harrison Ford stayed here for about two weeks when they shot the movie. Some was shot in Philadelphia, too.

Yes I like it where I live. I have never been over 800 miles from Lancaster. But I will when Mary retires in 2015. The cold and snow right now are not great, but the spring, summer, and fall are great. I have put up with the winters for 65 years, so I guess I can for about 30 more. We don't want to move to warmer climates, because we would miss the kids too much. Family is what life is about.

Spoiled Rotten

Yes Mary and I give our kids a lot of love and a great place to grow up. You can see the playhouse we built. Thirty years ago it was one vacation week for labor and about 1000 dollars in material. You cannot see the skylights in the roof because of the snow. We put the side porch on about twenty years ago and made a place for us to sit and a picnic table for the kids.

About ten years ago we added the swings and sliding board. I had a great place to play with a shack that slept two growing up. I wanted my kids to have fond memories too. See the fireman's pole on the right side.

I have electric in the playhouse for receptacles and lights. I even ran a 220 volt line for electric heat. but it is not insulated yet so the heat is not hooked up yet. I built a shelf for firewood, and we kept coal on the ground. I have windows in the sides so the kids can open them over summer. No one has fallen off the porches yet. Now the grandkids are using it over the summer.

I have pictures of my suicide driveway so you can see why I call it suicide driveway. I am careful going up and down when it is icy. The brown stuff on the driveway is sand I spread on the ice for traction after I blow the snow off.

This last time I slipped and fell in the driveway was because I was using the shovel because the tractor with snowblower was being repaired. I got it back for this last storm and did not have to maneuver with the shovel.

My older boy Tim who works with autistic kids used to ride his skateboard down the driveway. I said before he is too much a daredevil like I was when I was young. He is 35 now so he has tamed down too. What we have built, and the kids played with is why we are not in a hurry to move now that we are older. Mary says when we can't climb the driveway anymore we can drive up and down. Our stick to it attitude has embedded itself on her too. We feel we can tackle pretty much any thing within reason together.

This is my faithful Voyager Nomad. It's sitting in the garage, waiting for nice weather so we can go riding again. I miss my iron horse over winter!

It cannot be done!!

The people who say it cannot be done should not interrupt the people who are doing it! This is my philosophy in life. Thank you spellchecker so I can use these big words. LOL I have tried a lot of big things in my life that were new to me. I have succeed at most of them. Some things I have tried I needed to ask for help to figure them out. Mary is the same way. Together we have done some amazing things. Like building the kids playhouse and remodeling the Florida room we made out of the back porch. At our other house we ripped ceilings out and put new ceilings in, and removed walls to make more room. In our first home, a single trailer, we built a porch roof. We even built skirting for the bottom of the trailer. In our second house we built a 10 by 12 shed with a playhouse on top. And a 15 by 25 foot back porch.

You do not know what you can do till you try. I thought I was not smart enough to pick up this computer stuff. But thanks to a lot of smart people who work with me, I am slowly being dragged into the twenty first century. I did not want to cancel the land line phone, but since we have I do not miss it. I did not want to finish the back porch, but we handled it easily, even putting linoleum on the concrete floor. We built two raised beds for planting gardens. With Mary leading, and myself following we have accomplished a lot in the 42 years we have been together.

Since Mary has forced me to quit diet soft drinks I am losing weight, and feel so much better. Except for two falls in suicide driveway I am not taking chances like when I was young. I have had a good life, but I am not ready to give up the living years yet. Lord willing I will be around for quite a while! I have a bumper sticker that says, Make the undertaker mad, don't die! I cleaned it up, but you get the idea.

To fund our retirement I have started businesses to make extra money. Remember Colonel Saunders did not start Kentucky Fried Chicken till he retired and did not get enough money for a good retirement. He was stubborn when people told him he could not make it in the business world. He just kept plugging away till he had his empire built. And thats what we in our businesses are doing. We are too bullheaded to quit till we make it. You just need to stick to it, and keep plugging away till you make it.

Life is a gift; unwrap IT!

Life surely is a gift, it can be revoked at any time. I am raving about this again, because I fell in the suicide driveway again. Ice was too hard for my metal cleats to dig in and give me traction. I did not land as hard as the other time I fell, but it was hard enough to compress my spine and pull a lot of muscles. I am living on pain pills, muscle relaxers and the heating pad. I did not get a lot done this week. When I am lying on the heating pad is the only time my back does not hurt. If you have back pain you know what I mean. I am struggling to sit at my computer, I can't stay in this position too long. I will overcome this recent problem like I have done over the years. Falling again, I lost that battle with Mother Nature, but I am still ahead in the overall war!

With so many things that can do us in, we must be careful on the chances we take. I always carry my cell phone when I leave the house, or are working in the garage. God has been good to me. I have a great family, somewhat good position in life, and lots of good friends. I have had a great life so far, and not ready to give it up. When I had my electrical business I had a contractor cheat me out of fifteen hundred dollars. He will pay up in heaven for all the people he cheated here in the living years. I do not hold a grudge about him, or the guy who tried to kill me on my cycle in 2002. If you carry bitterness it your heart it only hurts your health.

I have missed a lot of days at the gym, buy I figure my shoveling snow and ice work me enough. I will get to the gym when weather permits. We had the grandchildren over last weekend. Like I say it is great when they visit, but always nice when they go back home again. I must take pictures of snow pile in my front yard from the circle and the suicide driveway I talk about so much. Mary says when we can no longer walk up the driveway, we will go up and down in the van! LOL. We do not let anything take over our life as long was we can fight it.

Come On, Spring!

Picked Mary up this morning, and cleaned off the cars of the workers from night shift. I like to help when I can. I am still down because of this cold I have picked up again. It is four days since I fell in the driveway and I am starting to walk without much pain. I am tired from lying on the heating pad, but it has helped my back a lot.

Blew the snow from the suicide driveway, three neighbors' driveways and the circle. Tried to shovel my walk and stoop, but the ice underneath needed sand and ice melter. Got to be careful with ice melter as no more at stores, they are sold out. Supposed to get freezing rain tomorrow morning from 4:00 o'clock till 10:00 o'clock. Will take Mary to work again if she wants.

Today when shoveling walk I was pushing snow, hit a blob of ice and my shovel split the plastic blade and fractured it. Glad I have two more, as no more shovels at store. Please slow down ice and snow, give us a break! Whatever we did to you Mother, we are sorry. (Like that will help!)

We are at least getting some warm melting sun everyday. Just at night it returns to freezing and creating problems. We had a few easy winters and now is the payback. Other places are getting it worse. Please help us all Lord, so we do not get so many deaths in these storms. I know I am tired from the constant shoveling,. Those in worse condition need help to stay alive. When I shovel the walk, I rest in between when I feel tired. We must save energy to fight Mother another day.

I am glad I do not have to drive for work anymore. The six miles Mary drives to and from work are O.K. as she does not have to go too far. Those six miles are dangerous enough! Everything we do we are taking a chance to leave the living years. Life is precious, and can be taken away at any time! Please be careful, there are enough ways to die. Don't take unnecessary chances. God is watching over us, but your life is your own decision. Use it wisely! I know I realize how stupid I was, but now that I am older and wiser, maybe older but not much wiser, I cherish my living years more than ever.

Well enough of my soap box dialog. Love your friends and family. Ask for help in your down moments. Help those who need help. And live every day like it is your last! You never know when it will be!

Thank you Lord for every day I am still in my living years.

Healed at Last!

Well It's monday, and this morning Longenecker's picked up my tractor to repair it.  I thought it would be over three hundred dollars and take most of the week. They surprised me by bringing the unit back by 4 thirty the same afternoon. The trouble was the fuel line being hard and not passing the gas right. I am ready for tomorrow's fight with Mother Nature again. I can clean the driveways and the circle again. I will be back in the fight one more time. I must take Mary to work again, as they are talking 2 to 5 inches again tonight. It was $121 dollars to fix the tractor, and it now runs better than ever. I can live with that!

Before they brought my tractor back I was at the Dentist. Dr. Dave, as he is called, zugdental.com has been my dentist since about about 1985. I like the practice, they take real good of the patients. Dr. Dave and his wife raised the money and volunteers to build a play ground in Manheim. I gave four days labor repairing electrical tools when I had my Electrical Business.

I feel more whole now that I have my toy back. I missed not having the tractor snowblower. Especially since I fell shoveling the suicide driveway! My cleats were not digging into the ice, and I went down on my bottom, and spent most of the weekend with muscle relaxers, pain pills and the heating pad on my back. I have enough trouble with back pains without aggravating the problem more. I did not get a lot done since Thursday night as I was laid up with pain. But I am back, and not ready to give up my quest to make money from my businesses.

It is going to keep snowing till spring, and maybe a little after spring officially comes. We can do nothing but prepare for the battle. I am reloaded and ready to conquer the elements again!

MOTHER socks it to me again!!

Well I was clearing suicide driveway will my shovel since my tractor is not running, and we had a light snow I could push. I was careful, and had my ice spikes on my shoes. I was almost done when my feet slipped and went out from under me and I went down on my can. This time my feet did not go up in the air so my crash was not so bad. Luckily Carl from next door was clearing the bottom of my driveway with his walk behind snow blower and he helped me up. I did not smack the back of my head. Luckily I am just sore and not hurt bad. I will have to be more careful and throw down sand and snow melter as I walk up and down to clear ice and snow. I am not a cat, but I am running out of lives. Thank you Lord for watching over again.

We are really getting tired of this weather. Snow collapsed the roof of our NBC TV station so it is off the air. Two farmers lost barns because the roofs collapsed. Snow is very heavy when it is wet snow. The snow last night is light, and is blowing roads shut tonight. Glad Mary is not working tonight. When I picked her up this morning I cleaned the windows of the people who work with Mary and one girl asked if I work there. I said, "No, I am just trying to pick up a hot nurse named Mary". She laughed and she thanked me for cleaning her car. I said, "I know you guys are tired from a long shift, and I like to help people".

I will go to my Lazy Boy and try to rest my hurt muscles from the fall. Besides the grandkids are here and Kallista wants to use this computer.

Whoever is making Mother MAD; Please STOP!!

From my last post, make that a 1-2-3-PUNCH. It is going to snow at least five inches tonight. That means three snows in three nights. And each time it is snowing less thankfully. We can keep after so far, but the snow days the kids lose are more and more. The cost of fighting Mother is adding up too. Just tried to do suicide driveway and tractor won't run again. Must get it picked up to get carburetor rebuilt. Just what we need, another big repair bill. Mother has beat me this time, but the war is not over. Will get neighbors to help me out. I will beat mother another time. You watch!

Mary has to work tonight, another fun morning picking her up. She has off Saturday and Sunday night and we had hoped to pick up the kids. If we can't get theToyota out of garage will find another way to get them. We need the Toyota for the number of seats. Will get their mom to bring them over if we have to. Just a little set back, but costly! Anything happening anywhere in the world happens to affect our pocket book. We americans get stuck paying for everything. At least that is the way it seems to me. I am down right now because I can not finish my snow blowing job. I will be up again soon. I don't stay depressed like I used to.

I AM DOWN, BUT FAR FROM OUT. The setbacks don't mean I will give up. I will fight harder because of them. We are losing good neighbors, Carl and Carolyn. Carl has some health problems and can't go the steps on his bi-level anymore. They need to get a rancher. We all hate to see them go, but we understand their problems. I have trouble walking and going the steps too. That is why we built a cape cod.

They will pick up my tractor snowblower on Monday. Hope it does not take too long for repairs. I must rely on neighbors till I get it back to help with driveway. Luckily we have good neighbors. I move the snow while they are at work. Since I am home I like helping others. When Kevin thanked me for doing his driveway, I said I will need help sometime. I just did not think it would be this soon. LOL

Well I will take Mary to work tonight. Not suppose to start snowing till 12:00 o'clock so dropping her off at 9:00 o'clock should be easy, not like thursday night when snow was blown sideways, and visibility was about 100 feet. I don't like driving in bad weather anymore, because I am afraid of the jerks that drive fast and reckless in bad weather! People take it easy when it is dangerous to drive. You are not in that much of  hurry you need to risk everyones life!

We have had quite a few easy winters the last couple of years, so I guess it is about time to make us work removing the snow. Be careful shoveling, the news was reporting people having heart attacks removing snow. I pace myself and try to push more than lift. Sometimes you must throw snow, but I rest in between lifts. I'm trying to live righter than I have for 65 years. So far it is paying off. I feel better, and am losing weight. Only 70 more pounds to go and I will be at a good weight for my height. Mary keep pushing me toward living my life like I should. I will learn by the time I am about eighty or nighty years young. LOL

Mother hit us again! 1-2 punch!

Yes Mother dumped twelve and a half inches of snow on us. With winds over 25 mph. It is blowing so hard against my garage door it is blowing the door in so that I can see daylight coming in on top and sides. Have not seen that in the thirty one years we live here. Neighbors got together and helped everyone shovel out. I went out about twelve thirty and started snow blowing. One swipe down my driveway and my tractor quit. The neighbor boy I helped and he did not help us before blew the snow from my driveway and circle. The township arrived soon after I was stalled and plowed good this time. Every one helped do Carl's driveway since he was still recovering from his bad spine operation. They are selling their home because Carl can't do the steps anymore. Hate to see them go.

Got my tractor running and pulled back in garage. Tried to take spark plug out, did not have right socket and called Carl to see if he had one. He came over and pulled plug. Said it looked O.K. and adjusted carburetor. He works on lawn equipment so he knew what he was doing. He said the 10% alcohol in gas today is hard on small engines. That is the trouble. I put some injector cleaner in gas, hope that helps. It is running now. I am ready for Mothers second punch later tonight. It is raining since about 4:00 o'clock so now that is dark again everything will freeze. It will be bad taking Mary to work at 9:00 o'clock tonight. But more fun when I pick her up at 6:00 o'clock tomorrow morning. I will just take it slow and we will make it.

News said watch for puddles on road, when sun goes down they will freeze. I know only too well from my experience on my driveway two years ago with black ice. Mother got me that time good, I will not give Her another change. I wear my ice spikes when I suspect slippery areas. I got gas in my Astro van last night about 7:30 and slipped on ice at the pump, but I did not fall. He was looking over me again. Thank you Lord! Some of the people who had no power for over a week were restored, and then shut down from this latest storm. Got to be tiring to be without power again! Luckily we did not have a problem. Pray for all the people out in this weather doing their job to keep us warm and safe. I worked outside repairing equipment so I know what it is like. Yes I worked in bucket trucks too. I know what it is like in the wind and bad weather.

Will RAVE more when I have Mary safe at home in the morning. Marcy thank you for giving me this blog to vent my pent up emotions. I feel better when I get my thoughts down on paper. Because I can complain to my blog, I will not become a crazy old fart. At least not as soon! LOL

Well Mother is throwing her second punch. It is 8:00 o'clock thursday night and it started snowing again. They expect 4 inches this time. With all the rain on the road freezing now it will be fun. I am taking Mary to work soon. I will write again in the morning. Go ahead Mother, keep piling it on, we will fight what ever you throw at us.

Unsupervised

I am currently unsupervised, I know it freaks me out too! But the possibilities are ENDLESS! When Mary was at her sisters over night and I was alone it was not a good night for me. I realize I am alone at night a lot while she works, but that seems different. Without my partner in life I know I would not last long in these living years.  It happens a lot to older couples that when  one dies the other follows not to long later. You get used to someone being there and when they are not there it upsets the other person's will to live. My mother lived pretty long after my dad died, but she did not do good. Her health deteriorated not too long after my dad died. She just lacked the ability to go on. That seems to happen to us sometimes. Some people live a long time after a spouse dies. They even remarry and have another life with the new person.

I don't know if something happened to Mary if another woman could stand living with me. Mary said she would not get married again. I even wanted to renew our vows years ago, and she said no. She said she only wanted to marry one time! And I always do what Mary says. In forty two years she has not led me astray. I tried it my self several times but she brought me to my senses.  If you have a good life partner tell them how you feel. Like I said before I don't want to be laying somewhere dying and wish I had told my loved ones how I felt. When you are gone it  is too late to show your affection! 

No I am not on my soap box preaching again. That is my younger boy Jeff. He is the one going to seminary. I just want to offer you a chance to make your loved ones know how you feel. A few of my friends tell me it amazes them how I can write such profound posts. I wonder what they are talking about because I just sit down at the keyboard and this stuff just enters my mind and I write it. Just like when I was working as a mechanical and electrical troubleshooter I just figured how to fix the machines that were broken. I thought everyone had this insight people tell me I have. Marcy told me today I have a gift of gab I guess you would call it. Like she said it helps me to get this stuff off my chest. I feel better about my self and the world around me.

I hope the people who read this learn something to make their life better. I know writing this has improved my life. Well I must go get my battery charged up for my fight with Mother tomorrow with 12 plus inches of snow plus 25 mph winds. It will be fun!!      

Please Mother give us a break!

In  24 hours we are suppose to get snow again. Please Mother, enough with the cold, snow and ice. We get the message. You are mad about how we are treating your earth. They tell us we might get more than twelve inches. We already have more snow than all last year. So many people in York have no power for almost a week now. They will have a hard time when this new snow hits us. I am ready with the tractor with snowblower, the sand for traction and the calcium melting pellets. Mary works thursday night when the worst of the blizzard is suppose to be over. Hopefully the roads are plowed when I take her to work at nine at night. Suppose to have 25 mph winds. It will be interesting driving. This reminds me of the snowstorms when I was a kid. Yes they had cars back then. The 1950's.    When I was a kid:: no wait I still do that.  

Pray for the east coast, that we get no deaths from this storm. I will fight Mother till my dying breath. Most of the people affected by the storm feel like I do!  I just hope it does not come to that. Somehow we will survive. Thursday morning I must take Mary to therapy for her sore heel. I figure we will have  at least 6 inches of snow by then, 9:30 in the morning. We will make it if they are open. My astro van has all wheel drive and is great in the snow. I will let you know how it is going if we don't lose our electric. We did not in the ice storm so I hope we will be O.K. I have a propane torpedo heater and I have a converter to plug in my spare battery in the garage and it is charger up. So I can at least heat the house. And my coal stove in the basement I haven't used in about ten years I can fire up.

We will survive this fight with Mother! I am too stubborn to give in. And Mary has to get to work to take care of the old people. We will survive like the song says.

Give us your best Mother, we are ready!!

I've finally had it!! I QUIT!!

Yes I never would have thought I would say I QUIT! But I have quit diet soft drinks. It is about two months since I had a can of soft drink. I used to drink three or four cans of the dreaded stuff every day. I feel so much better since I am decaffeinated. I will drink some diet soft drink if we go to a restaurant, once in a great while. But I swore off the dreaded caffein at home. Especially since Mary said she will not buy them anymore. I drink a lot of water now. I feel so much better. Once in a while I get a slushy when I pick up the kids for a sleepover. But that is it. Yes I miss the cherry pepsi, but I can survive this.

I also QUIT trying to get my adrenaline fix by acting stupid. Yes I am an adrenaline junkie. The last fix I had was trying to get out of the way when that jerk tried to run me over when I was on my bike. I acted without thinking and avoided the accident. But I was thrown to the asphalt and suffer the consequences. I am not fearful of riding my bike anymore. I will ride every week when It gets warm again. I don't need to go far. Just get my bad vibes released by cruising around Manheim. I need the tension releasing of being free again.

I even have been going to the gym three times a week. I need the exercise to loosen up my arthritis and help me get into shape. I also have done a lot of shoveling the snow and ice. That helps me stay limber. I am even started to eat better too. My body is wondering what is happening. I have a new saying to guide my life.    What doesn't kill you makes you stronger::EXCEPT for bears. bears will kill you!    Also my second guide to life is    Always give 100%:: unless you are donating BLOOD!  

There are other things I will be quitting in the future that are not good for me. I just don't want to shock my body too much right away.

When I was young!! So long ago!!

When I just graduated from high school I said I have my whole life in front of me, what should I do now. I never realized I would get old. I remember riding cycle. I stopped in a line of bikes in town one evening. Whet I hit my rear brake my tire was on a smashed flat coke can and my bike spun around and went into the parking space like I tried to do it. My heart was racing a mile a minute. I just smiled like I planned to do that trick. Everybody was exited at my new trick. I was just glad I did not dump the bike. He protected me again! You do not realize the many times the Lord protects you from your dumb actions. He has kept me alive all these years. I guess he has some more  plans for me yet.

These years I have stumbled across the world on my feet, most of the time I have been lucky! I have a good partner in life, three wonderful children and their three good life partners for them. Life has smiled on me most of my life. I am 65 years young, a little handicapped, but not worse for the wear I have brought on myself. I can still handle the yard chores and dig us out of the snow and ice. After 42 years of knowing each other Mary and I still get along most of the time. We know when the going gets rough, we have each other to lean on. I chose wisely when I partnered up with Mary. I knew the first time I embraced her  we would spend our lives together. Even though it took her another year to find out herself!

Well we are getting ready  for another snowstorm. They say between 2 and 14 plus inches. Boy talk about covering your rear!  We just got back from the foot Doctor. I had my quarterly trim and checkup and Mary ordered her special shoes. Her heel is acting up again! It was three degrees this morning. Suppose to be minus two tomorrow morning. Will make the blowing and plowing easier with the cold, but not easy being out in it! I will fight Mother, and clear suicide driveway, circle and my two neighbors driveways. If need be, I will clear out to the main road so I can take Mary to work thursday night. We do what we have to.

Every two weeks we go to wall mart for about a third of our groceries. We were going to go thursday but since the snow starts wednesday night, we will go today on tuesday. I have sand and calcium melter for my fight with Mother. Like always I am ready for the battle. Will rest up today, I went to the gym yesterday and will go again tomorrow. Since I go to the gym three days a week my arthritis does not bother me as much. The shoveling lately helps too. My back does not hurt much when I shovel now. I take my time and do not lift more than I have to. You do learn with age, and pain! Please pray for us, some of the people from last weeks storm still do not have power yet.

Thank you for reading my blog. I hope I have influenced some people to never give up. Fight as long as your body holds out! Be bullheaded like me But learn when to run, so you can fight another day. Ask the Lord for help when you need it. Also ask people for help when you have a problem.

Sometimes I question my sanity; occasionally it replies.

I don't need no stinkin HELP!!

I know I felt like that when I was young. At eighteen years old nothing can hurt you, and you will live forever! How wrong can we be. I am lucky I survived my early years. A lot of my friends were not so lucky! When you need medical help you or some innocent bystander will call  911  and the ambulance arrives to scoop what is left of you to take to the hospital. I know it happened to me several times. Yes I don't need no stinkin help! Except the time my motorcycle accident occurred in 2002 when I was laying in the middle lane of a three lane highway just over the crest of a hill. I was lucky enough people stopped so no one ran over me. I was glad for the help of the two women medics that cut my clothes off to check if I had bad injuries. Or the people in the hospital who put me in the machines that looked at the inside of my body to see what was broken or damaged. Yes we all need help sometime. For medical emergencies we need help from dialing   911   to get medical help.

Especially with all the cell phones in use now, and no phone book to carry with us it is nice to have  411  to call to get us a phone number when we need it. You can get help faster with all the people having cell phones today. I'm sure when my motorcycle accident happened someone called from a cell phone and got the ambulance there faster. In the ambulance I woke up for a few seconds and told the medic Mary's phone number. I said she is an RN so tell her how I am. I blacked out again. I didn't want Mary to worry about me, but I am sure she did.

The last number I have to tell you about is the United Way help number. It is  211  for financial help. If you are having trouble paying bills especially for heat over winter they will tell you who to call. They have an abundance of helpful agencies to make you feel better, and give you the help you need. If you are troubled and need help they will talk you thru the many places you can get help! Do not be afraid to get help when you need it. Since my accident I realize sometimes you need help. Lastnight after the snow stopped I did my driveway, circle and Carl and Kevin's driveways. Both my neighbors helped me with snow removal when I needed help. Kevin yelled thank you when he came home and I was shoveling my sidewalk. I said, hey you helped me when I needed it. And I will need help sometime again. It's good to know we help each other when we need it! If you dial   211  any where in the 50 states it will hook you up to your local United Way.

Medical help  911

Phone number informaton  411

any other help  211  

Remember these numbers when you need help. They will be there to offer assistance!

Beat Mother one more time,AGAIN!! Prayer?

Yes I have the suicide driveway and the circle open again! It was about two inches this time. But the temp is about 16 degrees. Suppose to go down to single digits tonite and maybe 20 tomorrow. I prayed for no more snow and warmer temps. I know God does not answer all prayers, but you don't know if you don't try. We will fight whatever Mother throws at us. Other than the ice storm last week it hasn't been something we can't handle. Some houses in York, about 35 miles away still not have power. That is five days so far. Glad that is not us. Pray for them. Those kind of prayers get answered.

I am back in my fighting mode. Will try and make it to gym tomorrow. Has been a week and a half since I worked out other than shoveling snow. I know it will be hard starting over again, but I will do it! We fighters never give up. Maybe lose a  little bit, but we carry on. We never give up. Too stubborn to fail. Stick to your guns,well not guns but you get the idea.

I made it to the gym today. It was hard, but I made it. Roads are mostly clear. We need this good sunshine between snow and ice storms. Get a break and a chance to remove snow and ice. Like Mother gives us a break to recover before she hits us again. We will fight cold and snow all the way to summer weather. We are a tough people when we have to be. We will not back down and surrender. I like that in the human race.

Thank you for helping me carry out my mission to help others in need in trying times. I know I had a lot of help when I needed it. 

If you need help, ask the Lord to help you. I know I had a fight with God after my father died, but I am smarter now and realize death is not his fault. He gives us free rein in the living years. What happens to us is decided by our actions, not His. I hope I have helped you get smarter by the ups and downs I have suffered. Knowing an idiot like me, at times, can survive and keep a positive attitude that you can too. Stop back, I get smarter every day! At least it seems that way! LOL

Sick as a dog!

Yes the last two weeks I have not done much on my blog site or my businesses. Why is the saying sick as a dog. Do they get sick more than humans?  I have a virus, so a trip to the Doctor will not help. I must stick it out while my body fights this sickness. I take a lot of generic nyquil and sleep a lot.  I will fight this, I beat it before. I have a dry mouth from all the anti-histamine I am taking. I am not my usual self, no smart remarks come to mind. It is Sunday and we expect another snow storm. No matter how I feel if it snows I will take Mary to work. I will also scrape the windshields of the nurses in the parking lot of the home while I am waiting to pick Mary up!

I must help others. It was instilled in me by my parents. I am sleeping in front of the television a lot. I cannot sleep in my bed yet as it causes pain in my shoulder that was replaced. The muscle was injured in my motorcycle accident. It is one more thing I have learned to live with! My arthritis I have struggled with  since I was about 7 or 8 is not troubling me as much at this time. The other hurts come and go. I have learned to ignore them as best I can. You young people will learn when you are older. Your injuries never leave you, they just accumulate.

I am not writing this to get pity from you. I want to let you know how I cope with life's ups and downs. I and Mary are fighters. We don't wait for life to give us anything because it usually does not. You have to grab what you want out of life. Not cry because you do not get it! Work for it. Ralph Waldo Emerson said. "Once you make a decision, the universe conspires to make it happen." I believe that with all my being! Mary and I have had a good life, because we make it happen with the Lords help. I talk to God every day, yes I got over my Dad's death. It was not the Lords fault he died. I realize that now!

It is almost 5:00 0'clock Sunday afternoon and everything is white again. I will clean suicide driveway and take Mary to work. Since I can't do anything about the weather, I can still complain about it! Since I missed 5 days going to the gym, shoveling is good exercise. Mary is soaking her feet, her heel is acting up again. It hurts her to walk, but she will not miss work! I am going to the foot Doctor for my four month visit in two days. Mary said she will go along and get her special shoes to stop her heel from hurting when she walks. Like Mic Jagger says,"Its a drag getting old." But it beats the alternative. I am feeling better right now. Hope this virus works itself out of my system soon.

Damsel leaves Old Knight with rusting armor!!

Yes Mary is gone, She just left and I miss her already! I don't like being left alone! No we are not splitting up. She went to visit her sister Shirley who lost her husband two weeks ago. They were together 55 years. Mary is staying overnight because it takes an hour to get there. It is in Lenhartsville PA. Near Hamburg PA. I will write about the weird PA names later. I am glad Mary has a chance to unwind and visit with family. She needs the getaway from us. The grandkids are coming over tomorrow night. We will have our hands full with all three of them. We love when they come over, and we love the next day when they leave. We spoil them rotten, and then send them home to mom and dad! You people with grandkids know what I mean.

Yes I am leading a bachelor life for 24 hours. Parties,wild woman and all. Yea like that would  happen! I am doing my computer business, getting some supper and watching T.V. I want to see Jay Leno for his last show tonight if I can stay awake. Must rest up tonight to keep after the little bullheaded grandson tomorrow. And keep his sisters from fighting too much. So I probably won't be able to use my computer much while they are here. One of the things I must put up with for being a grandpa that spoils them rotten.

Yes there are some funny names of places in this part of Pennsylvania. Up near Hamburg is Virginville. In Lancaster county is Bird in Hand, Paradise, Blue Ball and of course Intercourse. Strange names for a people who settled here for religious freedom. We get lots of visitors to see the plain people, Amish and mennonites. And to send postcard home with the weird post office stamps. You can send someone a card home postmarked from Intercourse. People come here to get horse and buggy rides. They like the locals who say, there goes a horse with a buggy behind. Yes we live in a strange place some would say. But being here all my life it does not seem strange to me. I am sure there are a lot of places in our great country that seem strange if you were not brought up there and are used to it.

I will leave you to ponder this chapter, and maybe want to visit Lancaster County. See the movie Witness with Harrison Ford. It tells a little about our fine county. Come and visit, you will learn a lot about our customs, and the people who live a different lifestyle. The amish with no electric, but now they have phones out in a small booth away from the house. And John who did all the work on the outside of our house who is Amish, does not drive but owns several trucks for his roofing and remodeling business. He and his brother dress plain, like the amish in the shows.  They ride manual scooters, but then he has a cell phone and computer for his business. Sorta like the old, and new merging to run a business. Because land for farming is disappearing, the plain people must adapt to make a living. I know they are doing a good job at making their place in the working world. You do not see any poor plain people. They are a working people. They make their place in life.

Fighting Mother again!

It is tuesday night. We met our older boy Tim for his birthday lunch at a Chinese restaurant at 12:00 o'clock today. We buy all the kids and their families a birthday meal. Tim's wife Sarah could not get off work to join us. We stopped at Weis market on the way home for bread and milk. Yes we panic when it snows too! It is suppose to start snowing about 10:00 o'clock tonight. I will have Mary at work by 9:15. It is suppose to snow four to eight inches. News said the plow crews will leave a couple inches of snow on the roads so the half inch of ice coming at the end will not stick to the road. It should be less hazardous that way. Wish we did not have to venture out, but nurses must take care of the sick and the old people like Mary does. She is third shift supervisor at the home. I will battle Mother Nature getting Mary home in the morning. Then battle again to get the suicide driveway and the circle clean. At least I can wait till daylight to blow the snow.

Mary and I are the kind of people who take work seriously! We do what we have to. That is why I am taking Mary to work. A couple years ago I was bringing Mary home from work, and the usual 10 minute ride took over an hour. We got stuck. Luckily a farmer came past on a big tractor and pulled us out. I put my tow chain in the back of the van, he had no chain. We had no cash to give him something so I gave him my chain. Wish I had it yet.

I will get Mary in the morning no matter how bad the weather is. Just hope her replacement makes it to work in the morning. I will give you the rundown how I do in the morning.

Well it was a coating of over four inches of slush on the ground at five o'clock in the morning. Mary called and said no one called off, so she should get off at 5:30, I can pick her up. I scraped a path down suicide driveway and left to rescue my fair maiden. With my ice spikes on. I drove about 20 or 30 mph so I did not slide too much. There was pools of water on the road. But the driving was not too bad. When I got to the home I started scraping the windows of cars so the other night shift girls could leave without scraping their windows. You know me, always trying to help. The night shift male nurse came out, and scraped some windows too. As I was scraping the last car Mary came out with one of her nurses and said she was coming home with us. She lives far away and did not feel like driving that far in the bad weather. She is upstairs sleeping now, after she and I talked for about an hour. Allie slept a little, and I took her back to her car at the home at 11:00 o'clock. She has about an hour drive in this weather so it is good she rested up.

I will take Mary to work tonight again because when the sun goes down everything will freeze again. The white knight in rusty armor strikes again! I will continue fighting Mother Nature. You know me, never give up till they put me in the oven and turn me to ashes and Mary gives some to Bob to spread in The Bermuda Triangle!  LOL  True!

No more please!

Mary just called and let me know she got to work safe. I have to know she is O.K. this kind of weather. Since if she were late they would call her phone and I would never know she is in trouble. Better safe than sorry later. It will be fun in the morning when everything freezes again. I and many more people are tired of this constant cold, then warm a day then two, then cold and snow constantly changing. But since there is little we can do but complain we go on. We do not have it as bad as some. It was 35 below in the dakotas sunday. I don't know if we could survive that low. I'm sure we would.

I am warmed up from my two and a half hour ordeal of digging out after our eight inch show fall. It went better than I thought. I blew the snow, while the kids played in the snow. The neighbor kids had a good time. When I finished the snow removal the township truck came back and plowed snow in front of my driveway again. Always happens! Just took the shovel and pushed the little in front of the driveway so does not turn to ice for Mary pulling in the morning.

I am glad I have the tractor with the snow blower on front. Walking that much, especially on suicide driveway would be terrible. I can blow a lot of snow without strenuous activity. I pulled my astro van out from its place on the circle and blew the snow away so neighbors could park too. I need the tire chains on the driveway to make it up each time I blow the snow away. I am marking the new driveway, but it is the only way I can do it. With the wet heavy snow I could not shovel the entire driveway. Not gouges, just scrapes. Shoveling the sidewalk and stoop were hard enough. I am glad they are not that long, and I took my time and used small shovel fills so I did not life that heavy. Like I say, I am dumb, but not stupid. I learned my lessons when I was younger.

We get one day break, then another snow storm and cold weather. The cycle repeats.Than two day break and snow on the weekend again. The cycle repeats. Mother is testing our guts again. But she will find we are ready to fight her with every ounce of strength we have. We are a tough lot us eastern coast people. We choose to live here and take what she dishes out. We will survive as the song goes. Just every now and then we fuss about it!

Marcy is putting my pictures on my blog. Wish I had some snow pictures to put on. Will have to take some. The snow hill in front of my house is almost eight feet high. The plow keeps pushing it higher. Then when I blow snow from the circle it lands on top and piles up. Would be a great  place for kids to dig a snow fort tunnel. 

Mother is upset again!

We have five inches of snow on the ground now! And it is suppose to snow over three hours yet. Than it is suppose to snow two other days this week. It would not be so bad, but Mary works at night. Her driving at night I get worried about. She is a good snow driver, but she has to put up with idiots on the road too. The snow is suppose to quit about three in the afternoon, so I have enough time to clean the driveway and circle as long as the roads are plowed she should be O.K. I just am getting tired of her being put in a dangerous position driving. I take her and pick her up when it is really bad. But she does not want to run me out too much in this weather. If she would go and come home when it was daytime I would not worry so much. As long as she has her cell phone and let me know she got there safe I am O.K. with her travel.

I will fight Mother Nature till I can't anymore. I will not let anything beat me as long as I am able to do the job of digging out! I have the tractor snowblower ready to fight. And I shovel the walk and stoop. It is only about twenty feet I have to shovel manually. I take my time and rest so I don't throw my back out like when I was young. Having to go to work at 9:30 at night and come home at 5:30 in the dark is gruesome. That is why I worry about her. Our older boy's birthday was yesterday,groundhog day, so we were going to meet him for lunch today. We must make it tomorrow. No use of us taking the chance today. See I am not as reckless as I was when I was young. The first time Mary stayed at my parents house when we first dated was new years and it snowed six inches. I was out on the motorcycle four hours in the snow. I guess Mary thought I was nuts, going out from eight o'clock till twelve o'clock  in the morning

The neighbor that I opened his driveway three times son was home today. He opened his space. When the township plowed the circle they pushed the snow in the way of mine and my neighbors driveway, and the kid only blew his up to the edge of his property. Left ours blocked. Luckily I can do it with my tractor. Nice to know I will get no help from them. Some people are real jerks!

It is two o'clock in the afternoon. Snow is suppose to stop soon. I am getting ready for my fight with Mother. I will not back down. I will clear the circle and my neighbors driveway. Old dog will do what I have to. I will keep going. I feel good when I am done. I can still do my job. Just a little slower.