Not Bloggin but Tiling (149)

Gosh its been 9 days since I posted a blog..Shame on me this maybe my longest dry spell. But I have a good excuse. Been doing some remodel work on the house. Maybe my contribution to the "stimulus movement". Spending money to get this economy moving, sure hope it works, but even if it don't maybe the house will be nicer..Sweet Pea and I we been painting a couple rooms and now we have taken out a couple walls. My son in law Jeff and I changed the wiring around a bit too, Ya tear out a wall with a bunch of outlets and switches and guess what they have to go someplace. Now another son in law JR well he and his crew came today and fixed the dry wall on all those ceilings where those walls were..Gosh they are good, you can not tell a wall was ever there. But the last two days or maybe 3 as you kind of loose track of time when having this much fun, but anyway I have been installing porcelane tile in the guest bath..Man, what a job first tearing out the old vylnel and then muding in a cement board and then mudding in the tile. It is a tedious slow process and this blogger is getting tired of it already..Maybe its because I decided to lay it on the diagonal and not straight like anyone with common sense would do anyway..Well it will be my last diagonal tile job for sure..From now on it's nice straight rows and maybe that will help. Maybe my creativity is making this a lot harder than it really should be. Especially it being my first tile job in maybe 40 years..Used to do wall tile back then but never a floor with the cementing process...I went to a training session at Home Depot on this work and it really looked rather easy...Maybe I need to go to another session there when they have one..
Till then I will drudge away and do my best and will try and keep you updated here on the old blog as to the local stimulus for Tippecanoe County Indiana.

By By Winter..HELLO SPRING IN INDIANA 148

I had a good winter break from the worst of it I am told. Six weeks in a place called Naples, the 3rd phase of my yearly rotation of Corn then Beans and then Naples...It's is truly a good rotation that rejuvenates both my soil and my soul...

Sweet Pea came down for a couple very short visits, and the last of which was a couple days on the Naples beaches and then help me guide the motor home to Indiana. Stopping off to see her brother Mark Borton and wife Terry in Pensacola Florida. Pictures to the right are me and the birds in Naples, and then the view the Borton's have from there 16th story (maybe a couple hundred feet in the air) condo on the beach there...We will be going back for some beach time their in August it has been suggested.

But the main thrust of this blog is what's happening right here and now and that being Spring has sprung here in the heartland of Indiana...The first flower appeared shown at right the day before spring arrived...It was such a surprise to see it just out the back door...It greets me each year and is so delicate but it has guts to come forth so early while snow could still be in the wings...Matter of fact the worst snow I saw all winter was in lower Alabama not too far north of Pensacola on our way home. But soon as we neared Tennessee it cleared, and have not seen another flake since. Nor do I care too, so there Mr. Weatherman, let it be know Spring has Sprung.
Another sure sign is George Lumley has worked some ground on the ends of his field along 52 in preparation of NH3 application....Soon others will follow and the black smoke of diesel tractors will catch the eye of travelers along Indiana highways...Soon after that in very early May corn rows will appear as this years Hoosier Gold makes its journey of the Indiana summer....All of that will unfold right here on this blog...even maybe some sex in the corn field..and other headline grabbers as they come along...It's gonna be another great summer....

Hankolulu..........(147)

I want to put in a little plug here for a fellow blogger...Stan Hankins, born of great parents in Stockwell Indiana and now for a long spell a resident of Hawaii..I once sold his parents a automobile in my early years, and they have never held that against me. I think the new VW bug turned out to be a car they enjoyed...They now are both residents of the Indiana Soldiers Home.

Stan their kid, is almost a "shirtsleeve relative of mine"...and I say that with pride and respect as he is a brother to my niece Nancy's husband Glenn Hankins..so that makes him a shirtsleeve relative in my book...I know well three of those Hankins boys and they are all "good people"....this one called Hankolulu the youngest "Stan" is no exception...He is a missionary working with "Ambassadors for Christ"..He travels a lot all over the world proclaiming his commitment to this "lifes work", he was chosen for.

I hope you will visit his blog, maybe making it one of your "favorites as I have", and then visit him now and then and see what "the stockwell kid" is up to now. He visit's his family here a couple times a year and sometimes preaches at the Dayton or Stockwell Methodist Churches....I enjoy his approach to this task and his vision and words that lends him to be about "His Fathers Business"....

We share a burden of the "persistant returning dietary struggles"....He shed some of the waistline about a year before I and not only gave me courage but now keeps the pressure of achievement before me....

So let me end this by saying to Hankolulu, "your blog is good, be bold and keep it coming." Here's to Hankolulu, and he can be found at www.hankolulu.blogspot.com

Clint will soon be a Texan (146)

My grandson Clint is about to graduate from Purdue Hotel and Restaurant Management School...Sure am proud of his accomplishment. Last night he was in charge of the Purdue Stone Hall Restaurant. Lots of us were invited to attend this affair to see how all this training falls into place. Sweet Pea and I really enjoyed the evening and the food....His Spinich/Artichoke appetizer was fabulous only topped by the special entree of Lamb Chops graced with special mashed spuds and baby carrots...

Well tell you what, I took the camera with me but when we got out of the car we were running a bit late and forgot it...Probably truth be known my tummy was in gear but the brain had slipped into neutral....OH, a couple Alabaster Beers were pretty darn good also...but I do regret not covering this story with a pic..if anyone took a good one send it to me and I will post it...

Clint is off to Austin Texas now after graduation...He says the hotel company he will be working for has about 25 hotels in the Austin area. He sounds excited and seems to be looking forward to becoming a Texan at least for awhile...Sweet Pea's son Jeff also lives in Austin..She said she likes the town so would guess in months ahead we will "kill two birds", with one stone and just most likely visit that Texas town. Good Luck grandson, use the Purdue smarts to the best of your ability and start climbing the ladder of success.....

Market Wedgies and the New Party (145)

I hope you all are starting to get used to the stock market action since the Make Believe Party took over...Man these "wedgies" we have been getting almost daily are starting to affect how my underwear looks on me...you stretch that elastic daily like that and things look a little saggy...I tend to agree however with the markets in its assessment of the new deal stimulus package. Rewarding those most unresponsible, doubling our foriegn aid dollars, throwing our grand kids money into black holes, man I don't know we could be in for a real life nightmare here...

I am thinking about starting a new political party...not sure what to call it just yet. But one that I think the country is obviously ready for...I think it will be kind of easy to win the next election...We will promise whatever we think the people may want. Weather we can do it or not makes no difference, we will just promise it. And whatever is currently happening that is a problem in the least we will be against that and promise change from all of that and see a new day just ahead...I think it is a novel idea, its bound to work....

Seriously, we probably are near a bottom I pray in this nightmare we call reality. Gosh I find myself awakening from dozing off at my laptop, swating at huge "no see'ems and yelling "SELL"...

As a student of the Contrary Opinion we surely will see a bottom soon..The percentage of people who are negative this market has to be in the high 90's...that should do it for no other reason. I sure hope so, I'm running low in underwear..well maybe my Under Armor stock will at least go up....

Hang in there....

Stop Smoking Now (144)

I just read this post by my deceased wife's Cancer Specialist at IU Medical center. Gosh I really feel for this guy as his words below explain how it must be for a Doctor who see's people all day long who most likely will soon die. I went to the Lungs for life Walk the summer after she died. I remember seeing Dr. Hanna there and he kind of looked away and we did not speak. I understand now how these many many people and families of those dying must affect him. I remember the look on his face when he broke her heart and told her to go home to die, but to embrace life until she does. It has to be something that would get to you for sure. And then his words below about seeing kids still smoking. Maybe this will help someone. JL


Dying breath
Posted by Nasser Hanna, M.D.
"Thank you, doctor." Hearing those words, I leave the room. Sixty minutes prior, I met a 41-year-old female patient and her husband. She had started smoking when she was 15 and quit when she became pregnant at 34. The cough that wouldn't go away was due to lung cancer. I tell her she will die from this wretched disease. While she appreciates my candor, her husband suffers in silence. She has two children, 6 and 4. Her 4-year-old asks me to "Make Mommy better." Mommy dies four months later.
These patients keep coming day after day, week after week. They keep dying. They don't want to suffer for too long. They come in all ages: my youngest is 19, my oldest 91. They never see it coming and when it comes, they wish it would go away. For most, it is too late.
Before I leave for the day, I sign another bereavement card. This happens most days of the week, every week of the year. As I drive towards home, I pass the IUPUI student center, lined with college kids lighting up near no-smoking signs. Another lost generation? Most will never quit. Tobacco will control their lives. It may already.
I can't sit idly by, for I've seen too much. A Greek proverb states, "A civilization flourishes when people plant trees under which they will never sit." Cancer-Free Lungs, an organization my wife and I founded, is busy planting trees. (www.cancerfreelungs.org) Won't you join us, or one of the other organizations fighting smoking?
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