Goodbye Shorty

An uncle of mine just pasted away on Monday, January 21, 2013. Even though he lived an hour away from our family when I was growing up, our families were always close. His family will host a visitation of family members today, January 26th, 2013.

He was a true outdoorsman. Loved to fish and hunt. I was able to go deer hunting with him and some friends one year. We were hunting in the National Forest in Bath County Virginia. We stayed in a cabin used in the summer as a camp for girls. It was enclosed but did not have heat. Luckily it was not too cold when we stayed there and it did have a bathroom so we could at least brush our teeth and wash our face. There was no need for showering at the end of the day, at that time of year, thank goodness, as the water was cold only, no hot available.

As he aged he would drive to our farm and park his truck behind the old barn and wait for the deer to show at first light of day. This way if he got something he could drive to the kill site and load the deer right into the bed of the truck.

His son is five years younger than I. Even though we are first cousins, my daughters say we could be brothers. I guess brothers from two different mothers. My youngest daughter even shared a birthday with Shorty. She said they were birthday twins. As I said the family is close. He will be truly missed but I know he is fishing the banks of the river just off the celestial highway in the shade of a tree smoking a cigarette.

Goodbye Uncle Shorty. It was a pleasure knowing you.

Grandson

Last week my son-in-law posted a picture on facebook of his son.  According to my daughter, this is what happens when the father and son are left alone.

Oh, it is going to be so much fun when he is older.  I wonder what I might teach him and then send him back home to irritate his parents.

I think I like the idea of being a grandparent.  I can hear the parents telling me, "Don't teach him that!"

Snow Day

Friday was my snow day.  It was my scheduled day off so I did not have to worry about getting to work in the snow from the night before.  Since I had to clean the driveway of the snow, I had a snowblower that had not been used in who knows when.  Luckily it has an electric start, which cuts out the pulling and fussing and cussing.

After about ten seconds of pushing the electric start button it roared to life.  I was able to blow the snow from my driveway in about 10 minutes.  I looked around the immediate neighborhood and saw several more driveways that needed to be cleaned.

After about one and one-half hours a total of six drive ways had been cleaned.  The old snow blower worked just like new.  But the best thing about doing this for the neighbors was the unexpected thank you cards from the granddaughters from one neighbor.

Notice the left side of each card says "Hallmark"

What's that thing.

My wife and I met a couple of her friends one evening for her birthday dinner.  I decided to take my Flip camera to the event to get reaction from her friends.

I was amazed that one did not know what the Flip camera was and even asked "what is that thing." 

I am glad I do keep up with technology.  It is fun to catch people unaware and uninformed about the new technology.

Relics from my past

Now that my wife and I have settled on a builder for our new house, it is time to go through boxes and cull items we truly don't need.  We have pulled from the storage area and have isolated the boxes that need another look.

The kitchen boxes are ones that I surely don't have to peek in as that is the area reserved for the wife.  I have three boxes labeled old VHS tapes, DVDs, and oh my gosh, cassette tapes.  

I was surprised to open one box and to my surprise I found old cassette tapes from my college days.  You know artists such as "The James Gang", "Three Dog Night", "Jim Croce", and "Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young".  Oh how the memories flooded from the deep recesses of the brain.  Oh, that was truly a different era.

Oh, and there were VHS tapes from my daughters early days, "Casper", "Bambi", "The Sword in the Stone".

Then there is a box of CD's.  Beatles, smooth jazz artists, and country music artists.

Now for the absolute surprise of all, a box of 45's.  No I don't mean handguns but vinyl records.

These are my wife's.  She has had these way before we were married some 35 years ago. 

The decision should be relatively easy.  Throw away the VHS, cassettes, and the 45's.  I can transfer the CD's to the computer and add to my music library.  I do have a VHS to DVD recorder so that is my plan.  Digitize the family VHS tapes and then ditch them. 

As for the 45's, I had better not throw them out or my wife will throw me out.  She is still waiting for that old juke box to load the records.  I don't think we need to spend over seven thousand dollars for a juke box storage for the old records.  I vote to put the money into the new house instead!! 

Off Brand Sudafed

We had a young man come to the consultation window at the pharmacy saying he needed "Off brand" Sudafed for his mother.  Well, we stock the 4 hour, 12 hour and 24 hour strength. 

A little background on this medication.  People make crystal meth out of this.  Even though you can buy it over the counter, one still needs to present a drivers license.  The license is scanned at the register and it is checked by the state registry to make sure the purchaser is not over the limit.  The regulations on the drug is that you can only buy 3 grams every 10 days or 9 grams per 30 days.


He kept saying his mother wanted him to get the off-brand. He had no idea what it was he wanted so the pharmacist suggested he get the every 4 hour strength.  Since he didn't know, he selected that strength. 

Before he walked up to the counter we noticed that there was another male with him in the aisle where you pick up a card for the sudafed.  We figured that was the person that sent him to the counter to get the medication.    Evidently the other guy was over his limit so he sent the young to get the med.

The pharmacist made mention that the guy had a learners permit that he scanned into the computer.  He said he wasn't going to suggest to the kid he get the 12 or 24 hour strength.  He also said he wasn't about to give him a clue that the meth makers really liked the 12 or 24 hour strength.  He said he will probably be back to exchange once the other guy saw what he had brought. 

Within 10 minutes the kid was back at the counter asking to exchange it since he bought the wrong dosage.  Luckily there is a sign in the pharmacy that states "There will not be any exchanges or refunds for pseudo ephedrine purchases." 

Sorry kid, if you are going to buy for a crack head be sure what it is you are to buy.  I love it when you mess up a crack head.