He called me Bud

For as long as I can remember my father called me Bud. I have no clue why. No one else ever called me that, not even my mom. It is not short for any part of my name. Regardless I was his Bud and I answered to it whenever he called.


My father passed on June 23rd after having heart surgery.


His doctor told him months ago he needed the surgery but he said he had things he had to take care of first. My sister was diagnosed with breast cancer. His step mom who he visited every day at the retirement home is 93 and had just been diagnosed with cancer. He and mom were discussing a remodeling of the den and living room. He was retiring from the church service program he had helped start 15 years ago and they were giving him a dinner. There was paperwork he needed to get together. And he told the doctor, "You only have one shot to turn 80 and he wanted to make it.


My sister had her surgeries and is doing great. No chemo or radiation. She feels blessed.
He started the remodel. Knocking out a wall to merge the den and living room and converting my old bedroom into a laundry room.
He had his retirement dinner. They gave him a plaque. His whole crew was there and he felt blessed.
Grandmothers cancer was deemed slow growing and that she would die with it and not from it so they are not going to do surgery. Last month he set me and my sisters down with all his financial info, just in case.


He told me a while back that everything was taken care of and he was going to schedule his surgery and he was at peace with it. His surgery was scheduled for June 10th.


He turned 80 on June 1st. The family gathered and we had dinner and cake. He played with his 3 great grand kids and found out 2 more were on the way.


I picked he and Mom up at 4:30 am on Wednesday the 10th to take them to the hospital for his surgery. The first report was that everything went perfect. Second report said the right side of his heart did not restart so they installed a bypass to help it. Wednesday night into Thursday became a marathon of code blues and bad news. He never woke up and on Tuesday, 13 days after his surgery, the Lord he was faithful to serve took him home.


His Church family was there from day one of the surgery through his passing. They have supported us and especially mom. His funeral was a celebration of his life of serving his God, his family, his Church, and his community and there were people of all those groups there to speak of his dedication to serve others.


Dear Dad,


You left huge shoes to fill. You raised me and guided me. I pray I can carry on your legacy.


Your Bud

Mythical Creatures?

Yes, I doubt his existence, but then again, Bigfoot doesnt have any clear photos of me either.

Man On The Edge

Hi folks!!!

Just in case anyone was wondering I'm still breathing.

You might remember this post. OK, kinda irritating but cute.

Or this one. Again irritating but I can laugh it off.

 

Or this one. Not much you can really do about these guys so you just pick them off.

 

But now, They crossed the line. They really pissed me off.
 

 

My garden is littered with half chewed cucumber carcasses and squash necks with no bodies below it. There are tomato skins and half eaten maters on top of my fence post and littering my yard. They have eaten about 1/3 of my bounty.

So I got this.

Might have worked a bit but it has rained alot. Maybe if you sprayed it in their eyes.

 

We tried Cayenne Pepper sprinkled on the plants.

 

We tried Foil on the ground around the plants.

Now it is time for extreme measures.

So I got A new sign.

 

 

 

Things just got real folks.

 

I Guess It's Time To Go

Did you see the article online about the family's car that burst into flames while driving through the lion's enclosure at a zoo? You Can See it Here. Talk about a bad day.

Well that ain't nuth'in!!!

I was at a car dealership recently looking at cars and when I was leaving the transmission on my car went out leaving me stranded, surrounded by hungry salesman. Well maybe that ain't as bad but it was quite harrowing. I barely got away with just a limp.

Those of you that have followed me know I like to fix things and that includes my car. I was on track to reach 250,000 miles on it. When I reached 249,5000 I was pretty sure I would get there till I picked up some takeout one nite and she failed to pull away from a stoplight on my way home. A simple running the shifter through the range got her moving again.The next morning on my way to work the same thing happened and as before a shifter shift and I was off. At lunch I went car shopping. Now this wasn't on a whim. We had been looking for a while. Three years ago we replaced the wife's van saying if I could get one more year out of my car we would replace it. Well three years later here I am test driving cars and stuck in the lot.

I truly hated to do it, I recently replaced the brakes and completely disassembled the steering column to replace the turn signal unit, but Goldy just wasn't going to hang with me much longer. Sitting in traffic in Summer I had to run the AC to activate the external fans while running the internal blower on high with the heat on high to keep her from overheating and the windows down to keep me from overheating. She recently developed a crack in her radiator so I had to keep adding antifreeze. She had around 80,000 miles on her tires. The aforementioned tranny issues and the lights in the radio were failing. To top it off the CD player was hit and miss at best mess'in up my audio book time. She was a great car tho.

I did get her going again and visited the Toyota lot next door where I found a deal. OK, it wern't a deal or a bargain. And, I didn't like the color. I didn't even buy the car there but it gave me a bargaining chip.

I called another dealership and after 5 hrs of haggling we settled on a price and here I am. With Payments.

I hate I couldn't make my quarter million mile goal. I did get close. Yea, I gave up a 3/4 full tank of gas but I got a full tank to leave with.

 

Here she is driving away

 

Here she is still driving away. "Sniff, Sniff!!"

Good Bye Goldy

Here is what took her spot in the driveway. Starting at 11 miles on the odometer, On my way to another 250,000 miles.

Overheard On The Radio

My morning radio show was talking about this weekends TV choices.

The two highlights he hit were the "Walking Dead" and "The Winter Olympics". One he says is about a group of people trying to survive in an apocalytic type of world. The other one is about zombies.

What's My Name??

I love to sing. Especially Christmas songs. And especially the Christmas classics we sang at Church.

However, I am not so big on "Little Drummer Boy" that they seem to play every freak'in 15 minutes between Thanksgiving and Christmas. "Feliz Navidad" is getting on may last nerve a well. But I digress.

One Christmas season I joined a group from Church to go caroling at the children's center not far from the Church. As we sang one young lady walked over to me and grabbed my leg. One of the counselors came over and took her back to her chair. She came back. He drug her back. She tried to come back again. He held her and she struggled to get free again the whole time we sang. After we finished one of the counselors told me I looked a lot like her dad. It kinda shook me up.

The next year we traveled to the Thompson Center retirement home. We start singing and one of the ladies grabbed my arm. Then she asked me, "What's my name?". Well, I didn't know her name.  She asked me again, and again, and again, each time getting louder and more forceful. Finally a worker pryed her fingers from my arm and calmed her. I never did get her name but I didn't go back either.

If someone comes to your house to sing carols, Know this, It aint me.

Sad to say but I haven't been Christmas caroling since.

Look'in A Bit Squirrely

We learned something new this year. Squirrels aint good pumpkin carvers. Efficient maybe, just not artistic.

 

The wife thought she would do a little Fall yard decorating prior to Halloween and Thanksgiving so she bought a small bale of straw, some fake plants and a couple small scarecrows. And added two obviously delicious pumpkins. She set it up for all to see at the front corner of the house. It didn't take long for our furry neighbors to take notice.

 

Peter Peter Pumpkin Eater chewed through it. Not sure if it was his wife or not but one climbed inside to eat the seeds. Last I saw they were all doing well.

 

They didnt mess with the second pumpkin until we hauled the first one off. They chewed the top of that one until the stem fell off.

 

We will prolly have volunteer pumpkin plants popping up all over the yard next Spring.

 

They ate the neighbors Mums.

 

Soon they will be knocking at the door collecting protection money.

 

I hope all you and yours have a Blessed Thanksgiving Day.

Arrrrrrg Gimmee That Booty

I have mentioned before that Little A made the Pirates cheer squad for football at Middle School this year.

Soooooooooooo!! Here we go.

The girls did well at the football games this year. We met the other parents and as a parent you had to do time in the concession shack for one game. Luckily the nite I worked slinging hot dogs it was cool because it was really hot inside over the grill. 

The girls spent long days at the dance studio and practiced hard after school. We had a good time attending the games. The cheerleaders always put on a good show.

But we didn't always get to see it.

This couple showed up at half time. I was a bit ticked. But they were elderly and the sun was really hot. Luckily our team never got near midfield and lost by a bunch. So we could see them stuck down near their own 20 yard line.

I also mentioned last post that they competed in a Cheer Competition last week.

It was the local county cheer championship. I was not prepared for the parents of one team. We sat dead center of the gym then they filled in around us. Then one woman started passing out cowbells to the team parents. It was loud and a bit annoying but they did cheer for every other team as well.

All the teams did well. Some were better than others. A few drops here and there. In the end the Pirates cheered their way to 2nd place. Good job girls.

Well now I am going to mention that this weekend they competed in the Cheer Sport Championship.

It was downtown. I don't like going downtown, but getting in and out weren't too bad. There were a billion girls and most girls had two parents there plus some siblings. That makes like a gazillion people with spirit. But that was brought back down by the event staff that was hired from Grumpy Guards R US. I know they were there to keep the girls safe but hey dudes, Cheer up.

While the County competition was good the Regional brought in some much better teams. Our team changed their routine to move up a notch because they didn't have anyone to compete with at their level. My girl weren't thrilled because they had only practiced it twice.

In the end the Pirates were able to pull off 1st place with an energetic and almost flawless routine. We did not win the overall session. An older team did that with a pretty amazing routine. Congrats to the Pirates coaches.

Now a shout out to the Routines that brought the house down. Two All Star teams with special athletes came in to compete. They were comprised of physically and developmentally challenged kids. When they hit the stage their faces lit up and they were ready to roll, literally as the routine included wheel chairs and tumbling. Some kids did their on moves while some performers required someone to stay with them throughout to help and guide them through the steps. Major kudos to those people that made the commitment to help bring that joy to these kids. Amazing job kids.

If you had ever told me I would enjoy going to a cheer competition I would have laughed. But I admit I did.

Great Job everyone.

Get Outa Town

Thing were crazy here the last couple days. Working some OT to get a blade scanner reconfigured and out the door. Completed some side work and delivered it. Moving daughter, again.

The youngest is done with cheering the football games for this season so this morning we went to her 1st Cheerleading competition. I obviously didn't watch the movie "Bring It On" enuff. Especially the competition part of it. I was not prepared. Anyways we finished that and then went to move the oldest daughters washer and dryer.

I am whooped. So whats a guy do to rest? Hit the road Jack.

We got home late so now I am packing. I fly out tomorrow morning for Buffalo, NY. Balmy destinations are options this time of year in the industry but I didn't get to pick. I should be there about 4 days. The forecast for tonight? 60% chance of snow.

I've never been there. Any suggestion for food joints??

Y'all have a nice Sunday.

SS

Overheard on the Radio

On my ride in this morning, Captain Jim of 103.7 WSOC Radio read his Facebook status of the day.

"Yesterday, Kris and Bruce Jenner announced that they were filing for legal separation. It must be a sign of end times when Kim and Kanye have the most stable relationship in the Kardashian family. It was also rumored that Bruce is filing for whatever is opposite of child custody."

Thats all I got, y'all have a great day

BTW, Only 76 Shopping Days left till Christmas.

Citizen's Arrest, Citizen's Arrest!!!

To me those classic words always invoke images of Gomer Pyle trying to give Barney a ticket.

Last Night I was Gomer.

We were dropping the little one off at Gymnastics. The wife needed to go in so I just sat in the car playing Sudoku on my phone. As I sat there a car pulled up in front of me. One of the 3 men inside got out and walked over to a utility pole in the parking lot. He lifted the base cover to expose a pink package which he retrieved. He carried it back to the driver of the car and they did their little thing whatever it was. In the meantime I took a picture of the license plate. The man replaced the package and returned to the car and they drove off. I thought about it for a bit and because there are a lot of kids and moms here most nights, I called the cops. I explained what I saw and she dispatched an officer. It wern't long before he showed up and I shared the story again. I pointed to the pole and he lifted it up. Sure enuff it was still there. He removed it, very un-CSI like and opened it. Much to our surprise inside was a list. He said I know what this is, It's a game. And it was. It was part of a Geo-caching game folks play. I was so embarrassed and apologized for wasting his time. He laughed but thanked me for calling regardless. I am glad it turned out to be non-criminal but I was awful red faced.

Have Phone will call, I will do it again.

Playing Hide the Potty

Early this week this week the wife was having some medical issues and her doc sent her to the ER. There she had to drink some crappy contrast dyes and was hooked to an IV. As we all know, what goes in has to, well....... so she had to grab the back of the less than modest hospital gown and sprint down the hall to the nearest bathroom hoping it wasn't occupied. After a stint in the ER she was moved to an observation room. It was a smallish room and immediately after arriving she panicked after realizing the toilet was missing .

 

 

Or was it??

The nurse was quick to introduce us to the Swiss Army Knife of hospital room cabinets.

 

There are curtains that pull around for privacy.

 

The upper left door also houses a small shower head.

 

Never found the button that exposed a shower drain.

 

BTW she is doing well.

Simply Counting Down

Only 99 shopping days till Christmas.

 

Better git at it.

 

 

This has been a public service announcement from Simply Suthern

 

 

Rah Rah Ree, Kick'em in the Knee, Rah Rah Rass,

We take Credit Cards and Cash.

Well,  Little A starts middle school this year. Sixth grade, Wow, time has gone by so fast. She recently had to have her shots and get a physical for sports. The nurse confirmed what I already knew but the wife denied, she is officially taller than her now.

Little A decided she wanted to go out for school Cheerleading. She went to a two day cheer camp during the summer and had a three day try out this week.

Thursday night she found out she made it, Friday morning we found out I may need a third job.

An email arrived congratulating her on her accomplishment with a schedule for uniform fitting and practice and a list of things she we will need to purchase. Monday only, cash or credit card. Then another list of fees that you can make payments on. In all fairness we knew it wern't going to be a cheap endevour. This aint our first Cheer'odeo, College girl cheered there too.  But WOW, things have changed(it's been ten years), I whined about it then too.

While no one item was really expensive(except maybe the shoes) the list is long.

Realllly long.

I do brakes, water pumps, oil changes, welding and appliances repair. I take Cheer bucks and pompoms.

Oh, could I interest you in an Entertainment Coupon book good for places around here only.

We are very proud of her.
Gooooooooo Team!!!

Overheard at the Cookout

Our youngest invited a friend over for our 4th cookout. It was a small affair. My son and his wife, my SIL and her hubby and the three of us. My other two girls had to work. The little girl called and asked if her parents could come and if there was going to be any drinking at the party. Our answer was yes they were more than welcome to come too, but no, we would not be drinking.

Yesterday at party time they dropped the girl off. I was kinda surprised they didn't stop. She came in the door and I asked if her parents were coming. She said no, they were going somewhere to get drunk.

We are a wild bunch. Hot dog, hamburgers, sweet tea and corn hole.

BTW:

Yesterday morning I read an article that said I was cooking my hot dogs wrong. How do they know? Phone taps, reading email and now this?  It suggested spiral slicing the wiener before throwing it on the grill. Some of you guys may have already done this but I had not seen it before so I tried it. And dang if it didn't turn out pretty good.

This ain't my pic but mine turned out just like these. It cooked through quicker without burning and it helps hold the condiments on the dog. Just slide a skewer through the wiener. Spiral cut down to the skewer then remove the skewer. Easy Peasy.

 

Hope all you guys had a Wonderful Independence Day.

Over Half Way There

For those of you who (failed/or stratigically planned not to) take down your Christmas decorations, you are now officially more early than late for Christmas.

 

Only 181 Shopping days till Christmas.

Does it Count?

I've stated before in a post that I don't read. Here, Lines 5 and 6. Well, obviously I can read or I would have issues while visiting you guys posts. I just mean I don't read books. Well I read books but not the novel type, or most other types. I usually just waited for it to come out in the movies.

Fortunately that has changed. Last year we were discussing movies at work and I mentioned wanting to watch "The Hunger Games" to my boss. The wife aint a fan of any type of action movie so I never got around to seeing it. He said he had it on Audio CD's so he let me borrow the discs.

Well I kinda got hooked. I have a 50-60 minute drive each way to work so I have plenty of downtime. Normally the drive is just a sing along but now it is Story Time. In the past year I have read 14 books, or have I?

I mentioned that to the wife and her sis the other day and they claim it doesn't count as reading.

Is there something about paper that makes it better?

Just curious.

I was amazed at the difference between the movies and the books.

SS

Overheard in the Restaurant

A co-worker and I went to lunch the other day. He took me to a new Thai restaurant. Two ladies sat in the booth behind us.  One was discussing her recent problems locating a place to live.  One facility would not allow dogs over 100 pounds. Another would not let her install a fenced area outside. She felt they should for a 160 pound dog that tends to nip people. The other woman said she had not had any problems with her Leopard Gecko.

I dont believe I would introduce the dog to the gecko.

Tea Party Gone Wrong

Everyone loves a tea party. Well for this story at least lets pretend anyways.  My daughter had them. I blogged about one a while back. Well now that I looked back and that was like 2 yrs ago. Sheesh, time flies.

Recently, the son was at his inlaws when his wifes niece invited them to her room for a tea party.

She was serving cookies and cupcakes and of course tea(actually it was Coke).

They enjoyed the cookies but passed on the beverages when they noticed the tea pot turned out to be her moms Neti Pot.

 

Cant blame her. They do look similar.

I See The Light !!!

Like most cars nowadays my new daughter in law's car has the plastic lens covers over the headlights. 

And like most all the others they have oxided and turned milky, limiting the lights at night.

But never fear, There is Hope.

Recently when the weather was nice I thought I would address the problem.

A little water, elbow grease, and a handy kit from Walmart and Voila!!!

 

Good as new!!

The photos do not really show how bad they were nor how clear they turned out.

I have used this same product before on our previous Dodge Caravan with the same results. 

It's quick, about an hour overall.

There may be better stuff available but this has the best results of what I have

 personally seen used.

 

Dont buy the stuff that just wipes on. It doesnt address the oxiding issue. This kit includes two grits of ultra fine sand paper to wet sand the surface. As you start to wet sand the water turns yellow like the pollen in Spring because of the oxide coming off. It also comes with a polishing compound to polish it as well as a sealant that makes them look new. As a precaution, I used blue paint tape to mask around the headlight to protect the paint from the sand paper.

 

Have fun. Drive Brighter.