The 4th Avenue Blues

After Many Mild Mornings, the Biting Cold Returns…

2012-02-01T07:23:00.001-05:00

Maggie and I set out on our walk extra, extra early this morning. I woke up to use the bathroom and was wide awake afterwards. I lay in the bed for a short time and just decided to get up and get going. It must have been around 3am when we left my front door into the dark gloom facing us. I regretfully have to report that the viciously brutal cold and biting wind was back with gusto. We’ve had so many nice and warm mornings lately in-between these seasonal changes. We walked much faster than usual today as well anxious to see how Maggie fared. She did great. I mainly just wanted to stay warm by keeping up the pace. Maggie wanted to take in all the early morning sights and sounds. She was really protective of me this morning as well and I told her I would growl and bark for her too. I had on my super nice fleece pullover that I washed last night via the washer and it was still fluffy and warm from the dryer, It smelled great and was much needed comfort on our chilly walk.

Be a Man and Don’t Use People…

I’m not much to toot my own horn or brag, but this guy just gets my goose. “The Homeless Guy” was remarking proudly on his thirtieth year after becoming homeless the other day. I would tell him to be a man and don’t use people should be his next shining improvement. Oh, and being homeless is so not cool! So many people have put and poured so much time, money, and effort into the guy it is amazing. He is always back to square one sitting in another coffee shop with his laptop. I’ve told myself many times about the guy that I have learned how to be a 1st class lout and could make it homeless easily. He say’s it is hard. I don’t think sitting all day with your laptop on the Internet to be hard.

Calls of Concern…

“Did Johnny call you?” my mother asked me last night via the phone as I lie on my side on the rug covering the floor putting a bird feeder together that my sister bought for me the other day.

“No,” I responded. “Why?”

“He was going to tell you how sorry he was about all the anxiety he caused for you,” mom told me.

“Interesting,” I said as I leaned up from the floor to put the phone down. “The fickle winds of change surely have changed quite vastly lately. Dad would never think of doing such a thing months ago.

Well, it is 7:00 am and time to get ready for volunteering. I just know I am going to need a very long nap when I get home around lunch. It is going to feel so nice. I think I might get take out Korean as well this afternoon.

Anxiety and Dark Gloom Rising…

2012-01-31T12:49:00.001-05:00

“What’s wrong, son?” dad asked me last night as we had sat on my couch for a few minutes.

Dad was patting me on my knee and I was crouched up in a ball of anxious mental pain on the couch squirming and looking pitiful. He was telling me what all went wrong on the wedding trip and how his “almost $56,000 BMW” nearly got stolen by the hotel valet service drivers. Maggie was also vying heavily for my father’s attentions as well which was also making me nervous. Maggie can be one dauntless little dog when she sets her mind onto something.

“Pet her, dad,” I said quickly and anxiously about Maggie. “She is not going to quit unless you give her some attention.”

“This is why I don’t go on trips with you all,” I then told my father having to stand up on my feet nervously and impatiently walk and murmur around in my den. “Just a mere mention of all such social hell scares me to death.”

I walked into the kitchen to pour me an ice cold glass of milk then nervously smoked a Vantage cigarette. I took a long drink, a smoke, lean on the kitchen counter, and then sat back down in my den as my hands shook slightly.

“Your face! You look stark white!” dad said remorsefully for telling me all that.

“I was having trouble even before you arrived,“ I replied kindly and not to make him feel so badly. “I’ve had cold sweats and terrible intestinal cramps of the vicious kind all day.”

It’s Grocery Day! Ah Yeah!

2012-01-30T13:18:00.001-05:00

Yes, it’s Monday again. Ah, Sunny Monday. A day of thriving and living easy. An old week of volunteering has passed. A new week starts. A day of culinary excess and full, warm bellies welcomes us into another week or possibly a good nap. My stomach is grumbling something terrible today. I have to really fight the urge to just go buy more groceries when I get hungry like this, but I want to live within my disability’s means and save my own valuable hard earned savings. You never know when they might release that upgraded “Sandy Bridge” Intel processor for my computer that I just can’t live without. Gotta keep that cpu cache grand.

I am getting my usual fattening, calorie laden. and filling fare -- stuff like Marie Calendars TV dinners and the such to keep putting on those pounds and to make sure all things are easy for my mother’s shopping routines. I faltered last week diet–wise, big-time, and I am sure my father will want to weigh me tonight with his judgmental yet concerned eye. He’s been driving around with some newer scales on his backseat just to be diabolically crazy as we all can be. He will say that I am looking bony. Charlie says we are all crazy in our own strange way. I will just be glad to see him. Mom will also call within the next hour to see if I want to make any changes to our grocery list. I will tell her to get me a pound of cheddar cheese. Let’s doctor those TV dinners up some!

Charlie’s Here!

2012-01-29T05:44:00.001-05:00

On this visit, Charlie brought me 8 regular Cokes, a gigantic ice cold sweet tea from McDonald’s, lots of junk mail, and a Captain D’s four piece fried fish plate for which the smell of fried fish about drove Maggie crazy. Maggie will sit on the couch next to me licking her lips while watching me eat until she gets a morsel.

Did you notice Charlie checking my mailbox? He does that every time he is over here. Charlie hides his bills from his wife so they come to my house clandestinely. He doesn’t want to get in trouble with his wife, Janice, about spending too much money. Charlie still ranks as one of Maggie's most favorite of all her visitors. She really put on a show yesterday barking crazily at Charlie’s arrival. It made this father of a fur-kid very proud.

Sometimes, I feel coddled about my father getting someone to watch over me like this in his absence. I sometimes also have to remind myself, too, that dad and Charlie Just care even though I am almost 40 years old. The diversity in meals certainly is very nice as well.

http://youtu.be/XfXJH8Xwb3A

A Quiet and Stable Afternoon…

2012-01-28T16:13:00.001-05:00

There is not a sound in this house other than the usual haunted house sounds that are frequent in my home, pops in the attic, knocks and bumps on the wall. If my fridge decided to take a break then we would be absolutely quiet. I am waiting on Charlie to arrive. He said 4 pm was when he would be here. I am going to try and get a video of us all. Watch Maggie put on a lackluster show now that I want her to do something like this.

Hi Ho, Hi Ho, It’s is Off For a Walk We Go…

2012-01-28T04:38:00.001-05:00

By decree of me, King Andrew, I now proclaim a day off for everyone in my life! Wouldn’t it be so nice for that to be handled so easily? I certainly would be popular then among the office drones and the jet setters.

Maggie woke me at the butt crack of dawn with her “someone’s in the front yard” bark which is very distinctive from her other barks. I went and made sure both of my cars were locked. I then turned on all the outside and inside lights. Now, it is 4:26 am and I can’t go back to sleep. I think this is some ploy or chess move by Maggie to get me up and going so we can go about her walk. Ah Bless! All she had to do was to urge me on or give me all the signs.

About my father, wasn’t that so off the wall, odd, and zany for him? It is like something out of the Twilight Zone. He has spent most of his life keeping me from drinking and getting drunk and there he goes and gets drunk. Dad and mom are on a trip to Cincinnati for a wedding. Hopefully we can solve this mystery when he gets home. Charlie offered no explanation about what happened the other night as we sat in my den and talked and I didn’t dare ask.

In Charlie's capable Hands…

It’s the little things in life can make living such a difference that Charlie so personifies. Charlie will bring me something to eat tonight with some sodas as Maggie goes nuts at his arrival. I always say Charlie can spoil you. You definitely don’t want to be on a diet when Charlie is around which is a good thing for me. Why do I attract of all of these people who try to feed me? Maybe I can get up a video up today of Charlie arriving and how Maggie reacts.

Interesting Times in Andrew-ville…

2012-01-26T10:34:00.001-05:00

Pull up a barstool everyone. Grab a beer. I’ve got a sordid and interesting tale to tell. This can be filed in the strange, but true category. Dad, Charlie, and Horsefly came over very late last night. I was already in the bed and quickly put on some shorts and my favorite Powder Milk biscuits t-shirt that seems to outlast time. Maggie was barking very maniacally with anticipation by this time. Dad was drunker than shit to put it very bluntly, but very appropriately. I didn’t believe it until I smelled the alcohol on his breath when he hugged me. I thought he was just being silly as he can be at times. I can't ever remember dad being drunk in my whole life. I was relieved Charlie was being the supervisor of the whole affair. Charlie and I were very kind as dad gave Maggie some TLC. Maggie acted like she didn’t know who he was – this strange smelling human that had taken over my father’s body.

“I’ve come to see my other daughter, Maggie,” dad said with a flourish of a grin as he drunkenly told me and boisterously walked into my home. “The one daughter who loves me no matter what I do.”

We did our normal routine of fixing Maggie's food and water. Charlie got us all in the car as Charlie and I wanted some sodas and candy bars at Fat Albert's before they closed. Charlie said I had read his mind when I mentioned candy bars earlier. He wanted a king sized Snicker’s bar and that’s what I had as well along with a giant Sprite cola. Charlie, like me, has a terrible sweet tooth.

“That will put some meat on your bones!” dad said snarkily chuckling to me as we got back into Charlie’s car just minutes before Fat Albert's would close.

“My traction control for my car is going out,” Charlie told me showing me the light on the dash. “How much would that be to get it fixed?”

“Probably about a $1000 dollars,” I told Charlie honestly.

Charlie said he almost fainted. I told him to shop around and that Anti-lock brakes would be about the same as well. Charlie has 230,000 miles on that Chevrolet which is as strange as this blog entry may seem. 230,000 on a Chevrolet?

I was very worried about my father, though. I know all too well the intoxicating effects that alcohol can provide and the dangerous way it can infiltrate your life and loosen your tongue. What would make a nondrinker drink like that? Mom said she was going to kill him when he came home for worrying us so much. Mom said dad got drunk at a wedding a few years ago and that was all she could think of as far as my father being intoxicated.

Putting Feelers Out There…

2012-01-25T08:02:00.001-05:00

I had an interesting computer job offer yesterday. I would be giving computer support over the Internet and/or phone. I put some resumes out in cyberspace to see how it fared, Did you know that certain jobs are checking your credit now days? That’s going to screw a lot of people over with just stupid and innocent credit mistakes. I don’t have bad credit. I just don’t have any credit at all and am having to reestablish my credit. They screw you if you do and they screw you if you don’t.

Walking Matilda…

Mags and I slept very well last night. It got down to 70 degrees in here (very chilly for us) so Maggie was as close to me as she could get. I love going to sleep and waking to her being right next to me. I was lying on the bed and said, “Walk?” Maggie jumped to attention in an instant as I smiled like a dutiful puppeteer and his strings. We were soon headed on our daily foray around the neighborhood. 0 to 60 is a good speed to describe Maggie some days. Yes, we had to dodge a few squirrel waffles today as well. Tis the season for squirrel hari kari it seems.

And the Title is…

2012-01-24T08:46:00.001-05:00

We shall carry on forward from here it seems. I don’t keep up with how many people still read anymore. Maybe I should. Just to see 10 to 15 people still reading and commenting urges me onwards as before. It is like a blog boost. Used to, when I wrote about George and the Gang, the blog was interesting for my readers, but very dangerous for me. I knew I had to make some big changes or there where we were going to be big problems long term for the future for me. I had to move out of that out of that dangerous life into another less exciting and more sober life.

Someone asked about that delicious sausage everyone raves about around here. It is Clark Bro. Sausage. A little locally owned butcher and cheese monger makes it in Roanoke Alabama makes it near here. Delicious stuff. I’ve been known to overindulge in that sausage. You fry and Maggie and I we’ll eat it.

“Why are all the Coldplay songs on Pirate Bay piracy proof?” a man just asked as I was reading the Coldplay message boards this morning. I just had to laugh. Certainly a first world problem for sure. “There is always iTunes I wrote back to the man.,” I hoped he would see it soon. That’s what I spent my Christmas iTunes money for – Coldplay mp3’s.

Volunteering in the Rain…

2012-01-23T09:58:00.001-05:00

You can hear the rain loudly pattering on the Literacy Center’s roof as I write this very stormy and wet morning. It was really coming down as I drove into volunteering a short while ago. I was having trouble seeing to drive which often happens often these days – another reason to get that Lasik eye surgery done and soon if I can come up with the incredible amount of money. Dr. Brazil the other day told me that I need corneal transplants as well. The sounds drastic, doesn't it?

Nature is serenading us with it’s rain dance and song after years of drought and many years of a lack of rain. I know my father is very happy of the rain we are getting now. He called this morning to tell me about this bounty in life as I had expected. He talked and talked with an air of excitement and jubilation in his voice. This should make for a very quiet work place for work this morning and today. I will spend my morning browsing the web and doing any odd jobs around the center that require my help.

Y’all, I am very seriously thinking about taking a good hiatus or pause from blogging for awhile. I am having terrible trouble thinking of what to write about lately. My blog must be terribly boring these days, and that has never happened before in my blog writing forays. I will take a little break and we will see how things go. I want to go out on a good note if I decide to quit. I really can’t remember when I started blogging, but its been over five years.

The Command Station…

2012-01-22T05:02:00.001-05:00

Ah, here I am at my favorite place in my comfortable command center surrounded by computers, mice and keyboard, and monitors -- my bunker as my brother affectionately calls it. My soma as Aldous Huxley would surely agree. I feel all is right in my world this beautiful, but very dark morning. It is 5am, misty, and Maggie and I are about to go on our walk. I put her flea treatment on her back about an hour ago and she has quit pouting for now. Sometimes, it can take her days to quit her pouting over this part of her life that is necessary for her wellbeing. She will quit itching and scratching like insanity in a few days as well giving us all some much needed relief, quiet, and comfort for all of us. It is tiresome to watch her endlessly scratch. When I get closer to the house after our jaunt, I am going to call the Waffle House and and get them to prepare to-go breakfast ham and cheese omelet plates for Maggie and I. Little Mags is going to be thrilled and elated when I leave and return with such a wonderful bounty of breakfast foods.

Dat Be Fried Eggplant…

2012-01-20T06:54:00.001-05:00

When dad told me last night that we were having fried eggplant, crescent rolls, and fried chicken for lunch, I was overjoyed. Dad used to grow eggplants in his garden for years. I actually got very excited like a giddy little child. It has be years since I last tasted eggplant. And no Paula Dean jokes by the way. Yes, we love frying everything and anything in the South, but not as much that we’re having epidemics in scope of health crisis and obesity here. All in moderation dears. She’s just one high profile woman in millions of physically fit southern ladies. The few who get diabetes I felt sorry for. I felt even more sorry for Paula when the press jumped on her and typically piles on when she is down like a pack of vicious and rabid dogs.

Yonder Bed We Do Harkin Thee…

Have you ever dreamt that your asleep? That is what I have been doing all morning – nodding in my command chair teetering on falling flat to the floor. I am ready to get home and get in the bed to gain a few more hours of shuteye.

iPad Adulation…

2012-01-19T09:32:00.001-05:00

I was sitting in McDonalds very early this morning eating their “Big Breakfast” platter which wasn’t very big. Why I didn’t just drive down a few more feet to the Waffle House which has a much, much better breakfast omelet baffles me as well. Maybe it was the cost of eating there and then a tip. I did get Maggie two .99 cent sausage biscuits as a treat which she devoured soon and shortly after my arrival home. She was a very happy dog and on her favorite perch dozing off which is the back of the couch and her favorite pastime when I headed to the Literacy Center.

I was about to leave for home and then head for volunteering when a older man passing by commented on my iPad which was sitting on the table and asked me about it. He was kind of overly friendly according to my sensitive mental illness nature and the walls I put up in protection and defense. He reminded me of the many boisterous Southern Baptist preachers I’ve met over the years – trampling all over your boundaries. .

“It is great for browsing the Internet and shopping online,” I happily chirped to the man and then I let him hold it. “I read most of my favorite magazines with it as well.”

“My, that’s surprisingly heavy,” he said with a broad smile. “It doesn't feel cheap as I feared.”

He said he was going home to convince his wife one more time that he just had to have one. I still say the iPad is America’s most serious and dangerous time waster.

Close Calls With My Dearest Mental Illness…

2012-01-18T11:42:00.001-05:00

Gluttony with comfort foods was part of the cure, and lots of Clonopin induced sleep as well when gluttony in front of the “news and views” television wouldn’t work. I am feeling much better today – bright eyed and bushy tailed as my grandmother would always say when I was truly feeling my oats. Sometimes, that’s just how the ball rolls for me – my brain induced miasmas. The amazing thing was that I managed to not miss any days volunteering which I feared very much would happen. I also didn’t get on my blog and moan and groan imposing upon you all about it as well. I am very, very pleased about that. It would just be so very easy to tell Pauline I am not coming in on a certain day with little repercussions easily taking advantage of her good natured demeanor and kind disposition.

Well, I need a gallon of milk, loaf bread, and some good old fashioned flirtatious encounters of the good kind to set me out on my right foot today. I am headed to the dollar store for milk and peanuts and then to head home to read all my favorite blogs and fix a comforting and nourishing lunch.

A Requiem for Me? Why, thank you!

2012-01-16T20:24:00.001-05:00

Feeling funny tonight in the old brain cage. I am not talking about standup comedy either. Got that weird feeling in my head that is buzzy, fuzzy, and life is going to implode into me and then hurdle out this mass of confusion, anguish, and brain droppings. Let’s hope it is a false alarm as it can often be. Soon as my father gets here then I am going straight to bed and into my warm covers. I want to call my father and say “chop chop” or the house will be locked and the lights will be off. I changed my locks on the house so he can no longer force himself inside. He has to play nice to get the rights to enter.

The Great 2012 Snack Attack…

2012-01-16T06:02:00.001-05:00

Today is grocery day, a very special day for me, and a day with an abundance of good food, good spirits, and good will interspersed between bouts of anticipation. I get thanksgiving once a week, every week, like in that movie Groundhog Day. I always make it easy for my mother so we get the same things every time. I am sure mom follows the same routines and route around Kroger as she’s done for months and maybe even years now. She will then pull up in front of my house and I will unload. Mom never gets out the car and I call her our curbside delivery. Maggie always wants to see her so badly, though. Maggie will yelp trying to get her attention and to get her to come inside.

“Don’t get me anymore hot sauce,” I told my mother last night as we coordinated our grocery lists. “I already have 8 bottles.”

I also have four bottles of ketchup and three bottles of mustard so this is obvious that this is playing into my mother’s obsessive compulsive disorder. All this and my 50 packs of cigarettes in the freezer. Dad says my mother and Charlie would buy six of everything if they could.

“Mom, I’m fine on condiments,” I told her. “Really, I am.”

“Oh, Mom? Don’t get me anymore of that whole grain wheat bread it was awful,” I told my mother in closing. “The whole whole wheat hotdog buns were even worse.”

“Your father said the same thing as well,” mom replied. “I just thought it would be healthier choice since you and your father eat so much bread.”

Dad says he drew the line when mom started buying diet ketchup. He said it was terrible. His first experience with diet ketchup was with a meal of calf's liver.

The Mice Are At Play…

2012-01-15T08:28:00.001-05:00

We better watch out for the farmer’s tomcat, but the mice are out and at play. I’m ready to have some fun. In this puritanically downtrodden nation I will probably get in trouble for having fun. Just don’t burn me at the stake as a heretic and a hedonist.

When my father was leaving last night, I mustered up some courage to ask him some questions before he was gone. I bluntly asked my father just what in the holy hell does he do at the pharmacy till 9:00pm and 10:00pm every night. He consistently works 12 hour days.

“I mainly just pay bills, mail statements, and watch TV,” He replied. “Charlie reconciles the registers. And horsefly paces the store with a new bottle of shaving cream every night.”

I scoffed a little, but hid it well. I’ve told him countless upon countless times that I like to go to bed around 8pm so he is really imposing upon my good will and nature. I also have bigger fish to fry than this so I will continue to ignore my father’s transgressions. I will just take the path of least resistance I will say, as I digress a bit, that I have grown fond of my fathers visits. I actually look out the window to see if he is coming most nights. Sometimes you just want to go to bed instead of waiting what seems like hours for a daily visit from a loved one, though.

Recently Discovered Gems of Music…

2012-01-14T07:31:00.001-05:00

The Horse Whisperer soundtrack is so lusciously melodic and beautiful. I’ve burned a copy of the soundtrack onto a CD and have been listening to it endlessly in the car. I love the track titled The Rancher's Wife. Such a broad and sweeping landscape for a movie and for real life. Vast and surreal as well.

I also found Coldplay the other day after seeing the band mentioned quite a few various times on my journey around the World Wide Web lately. The CD will grow on you and you will most likely love it more with every listen. At first play, I wasn’t very intrigued, but after the third or fourth listen, I was seriously hooked. If you don’t like modern pop music then you will probably not like this CD.

Soul Food!

2012-01-13T21:42:00.001-05:00

My Very Own Little Microcosm…

2012-01-13T10:44:00.001-05:00

Recently, a few friends from eons ago; early in the life of this blog tried to reach me and dropped a comment or two on my journal. I am so sorry that I didn’t take the effort to respond. I know I came across as rude, but I honestly didn’t know how to react. I will try to be better about follow up on email and blog comments. I tend to live in my very own microcosm clueless as to social etiquette. I’m am learning it takes two to tango and that you have to reciprocate to keep a friendship going. I really don’t know how I feel. I will say I feel conflicted about it all.

It’s Just Me and My Stop Sign…

2012-01-13T07:13:00.001-05:00

Thanks For the Walk!

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Imagine me standing around at 4am at the reflective stop sign down at the end of the very dark street near my warm, inviting, and wonderful home. It was freezing cold, we had walked two miles, and I wanted to get out of this bitterly cold, harsh, and brutal weather. Maggie is enthralled at whatever scent a dog has left for posterities sake on the pole of that stop sign (Fido was here most likely). I bet we stood there for at least a good five minutes as Maggie sniffed to her heart’s content. It seemed like we stood there for an hour, though. I kept rubbing my hands together and stomping my feet to keep them warm. Then I tugged on Maggie’s leash with my brightly lit and warm home as the prize ahead.

Incoming Messages…

I spent some time this morning getting all three of my email accounts working again. Twitter was sending me messages that they were going to suspend my account because my email wasn’t working. You wouldn’t believe how much spam was in those dormant accounts. One account, my Gmail account, had over 2600 spam emails in it. It was a mass deletion moment and a mess to clean up as well after all three had been neglected for over a year.

I also ordered Maggie two new medium sized Auburn football dog sweaters late last night. How well that goes over with Maggie we will have to find out. She may balk when I try them on her. Ah, the women in my life. They can make life so interesting. My father is going to be overjoyed that they are Auburn football related. He will be very tuned into Maggie and this dog sweater thing going on.

A Little Birdie Says…

Dad let the cat out of the bag when he told me Helen was cooking her meatloaf today. She is also cooking her delicious creamed potatoes and English peas. I hope my father gets Helen to make her biscuits and not her cornbread. The only addition was to get Helen to fix a big plate of pear salad. I love those things.

“Mom?” I just called, waking my mother up from a deep slumber. “Get Helen to put two extra helpings of meatloaf on my plate.”

I started to wring my hands and cackle like a mad scientist.

Hey? I Live Here, Too!

2012-01-12T10:25:00.001-05:00

Ah, So Comfortable!

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Maggie is going to single handedly destroy that couch in the photo above. It was my grandmother’s so it has sentimental value to me. Maggie sits or lays on that couch cushion like any self respecting cat would do in a sunny window. Except, she is a dog that weighs 30 pounds.

I woke up at my usual time well before dawn in a very sleepy and hungry stupor this morning – almost ravenous. I could’ve slept for an hour or more if my stomach wasn’t protesting so much. I took a long piping hot shower and then stumbled into the kitchen to get a small pan of water and a couple of ample pinches of salt boiling for some grits. I then put some of those Pillsbury canned buttermilk biscuits that I don’t get too excited about on a baking pan as well and into a preheated 400 degree oven.

“You know?” Maggie seemed to be saying sitting at my feet licking her lips and wagging her tail. “I live here too! Let’s eat and go for a walk!”

I didn’t forget about Maggie. She had some sausage leftover warmed in the microwave from yesterday’s breakfast, some cheddar cheese, and a few canned biscuits as well which she then proceeded to go bury in the backyard. That shows you what Maggie thinks of them as well. I was just too lazy or sleepy to make homemade from scratch biscuits this morning even though it is fairly simple.

As Slow as Molasses or is it Just Norton?

“I installed Norton Internet Security on my laptop last night and my computer has been acting slow and funny since then,” Miss Pauline told me this morning with a frustrated looking frown on her face.

I groaned on impulse. Those anti-virus programs often cause more problems than stopping them. They are terrible resource hogs as far as a computer is concerned. It took a while to get all of Norton off and then to install Microsoft Security Essentials. It has been smooth sailing ever since.

Good Tidings of Joy Greet Us…

2012-01-11T13:42:00.001-05:00

“Sweetheart, we can’t go for our walk,” I told Maggie who forlornly sat at my feet looking up early this morning. Maggie had made it to the front door looking up at the leash sitting on top of the piano. “We don’t walk when it’s raining so heavy. We'll both get pneumonia.”

It was raining especially heavy well before dawn. It was hard to get out of that warm bed to that comforting white noise outside into a very chilly bedroom to get in the shower. Poor Maggie, she looked just like a child whose parents told them that Santa was dead or their Christmas has been cancelled. I compensated by cooking Maggie and I a good hearty breakfast.

I was sitting there at my kitchen table eating a piece of very crispy bacon as Maggie wolfed down her food. Maggie wanted my leftovers as well. Then the rain suddenly stopped like someone flicked a switch. I waited about 30 minutes and then Maggie and I were on our way after I washed the dishes. Dad kept me up so late last night that I was constantly yawning during this morning’s walk, though.

A Day That Just Wasn't Going to be…

I just have left the hospital about half an hour ago. Mom is getting a colonoscopy. I was glad to see dad sitting the the waiting room when I arrived. I mainly just wanted to see if my mother is okay. A show of support if you will.

“What do you say about your mother and her healthcare?” Dad asked me in the waiting room down the hall as I sat down beside him.

“My mother is a health care insurance company's worst nightmare,” I replied.

Dad chuckled and grinned. “That about sums it up! She'll have every and any medical test that is suggested to her by a doctor. There is no leaf left unturned.”

Show Me Yours and I Will Show You Mine…

2012-01-10T22:44:00.001-05:00

Pretty Boxes My Precious!

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“I haven’t seen what you ordered for Christmas yet,” my father told me tonight inquisitively. “Christmas was helter skelter so let’s have a gander and see. Those computer parts sure are expensive.”

I showed my father my two new giant high definition Samsung LED – LCD displays, the 2/5 Ghz wireless broadband router, and my new 12X ASUS Blu-Ray burner.

“It's like you’re speaking a different language,” my father replied about my computer speak or so he says. My father knows more about computers than he lets on, though. His pharmacy has slowly been brought into 21 century piece by piece.

Dad was running really, really late tonight – much later than normal. I was getting perturbed and aggravated, and was about to lock the door and head to bed. I was sitting on the edge of my bed taking the shoes off my perpetually cold feet when he knocked on the door. Of course, Maggie went bat shiat bananas at my father’s arrival. It will take me about an hour to get her calmed back down now and in the bed. I have some tricks in my armada of things to control Maggie's behavior, though – It’s just your plain old back scratch she enjoys so much and is addicted to. I think it calms her and puts her to sleep every time.

Pieces of the Puzzle Fall into Place…

2012-01-10T10:48:00.001-05:00

Pure fun and a nicety is what I call it, but I’ve been blatantly flirting with one of the ladies who is a co-manager of Fred’s Super Dollar Stores lately – the one in the shopping center where George, I, and the gang used to hang out everyday years ago. She instigated it, but I say we are just were getting to be friends. She will just grin ear to ear super vigorously and say a warm and kind hello as I walk into the store usually first thing after I’ve left my volunteering duties. (I’m hooked on Fred’s .99 cent can of roasted peanuts). It makes me feel overjoyed, but I would never, ever have the guts to ask her out. I’ve had my fair share of sheer flaky and pure disaster dates and girlfriends these past few decades. Flirting is just fine by me and it is fun.

“Do you ever get off from work?” I asked her yesterday very kindly and sincerely out of concern.

“It doesn’t seem like it, does it?” She told me as she chuckled and rung up my purchase. I got out my wallet to pay. “I am off tomorrow, though. And it’s the day the supply truck usually delivers so I am excited! The supply truck is a royal pain in the rear. It is like having to do inventory every week.”

She will always give me one of the most sweetest and sincere smiles I have gotten from a woman in years most occasions. I love her very curly chocolate toned brown hair and the subdued perfume she wears as well. None of that gaudy and overcoming stuff that some women sometimes slather themselves in to catch attention. Her smile certainly and immediately draws in enough attention as it is.

The Last Two Ancient Computers Say Goodnight and Exit Stage Left…

Our last two Dell computers arrived today. I was overjoyed and excited to get them up and running – to see what kind of mettle they were made of. It was like I had personally gotten the Dell’s instead of the Literacy Center. I think of them as my own property protectively. We are going to give away all these old computers to an organization that badly needs them such as the local GED mentor and tutoring program. I’ve got most them running decently again. Their lifespan is a shot in the dark though. You will never know when they are going to quit after all those years idling dutifully overnight in our computer lab. We are no longer living in the 20th century but firmly in the 21st technology wise now.

Jack Frost Nipping at My Heels…

2012-01-09T07:21:00.001-05:00

One of the nicest and fortuitous things about walking so early in this small town before dawn is the lack of traffic in these earliest hours of the night and morning. It is so peaceful and quiet. Sometimes, I may only see one or two cars total during Maggie’s and my jaunt, and they are usually Police “Interceptors” which gives me a feeling of security, safety, and comfort. This morning was one of those quiet and reflective moments with the only sound being that of me walking in my fleece lined jeans as they chafed me lightly and Maggie's rabies immunization tag tinkling around her neck.

The writing well is running dry for the moment and I am running out of time as well. I’ve got to tell you all of Charlie’s and my father’s antics last night. They were both over last night at the same time unintentionally and there was some serious shenanigans going on.

My “Bunker” as my Brother Calls it…

2012-01-08T09:08:00.001-05:00

I had a bird’s nest of all kinds of wires under my computer desk which was a mess so I got busy organizing them. I started on all the shelves to the right of this photo, but will finish those tomorrow after volunteering. There is a lot of old computer hardware that needs to be thrown out, but I am having trouble parting with it. This room looks so much better and may just become the prime hot spot for wasting time as it is so livable now. I can’t stand clutter and my ex-wife was the clutter queen so I’ve had enough of that. I swept and then mopped the hardwood floors as well. I love the scent of pine--sol and freshly mopped floors.

Nice, Quiet, Down Time…

2012-01-07T17:49:00.001-05:00

Isn’t that’s what weekends are for? For taking it easy after a stressful week – for doing just what you want to do and nothing more? Dad and I were some pie baking fools today. The pie baking brothers was our new moniker. We had a grand time. Dad got out his late mother’s ancient recipe box from the kitchen cabinets and we made two pecan pies and one buttermilk pie. I love a good buttermilk pie. I smiled broadly, taking it all in, as dad pulled it out of the oven. It’s crust had grown flaky and golden brown. It’s similar to an egg custard pie and not at all what you would expect taste wise. People think, “Oh, sour milk pie. That’s not good.” It is coyly sweet, with just a little bit of tartness and sharpness on the tongue, and oh so delicious.

Well, I am still cleaning house unfortunately. I have my computer room, or “the bunker” as my brother likes to call it, in much more presentable and in an organized shape. I was thinking about putting some photos up on the blog. You can see my two new monitors (and the color discrepancy between them as well). I am trying to get them calibrated, but it’s in no way a reason to send them back to Newegg. I’ve so enjoyed having the two of them working together. I oddly feel complete with my new monitor and the screen resolution and real estate it affords me.

Sickness Abounds Here and Yonder…

2012-01-06T18:40:00.001-05:00

Everybody is sick with colds and the flu in my circle of friends and within my family. Even Helen has caught a cold and was hacking hoarsely this afternoon.

“Baby?” Helen asked me sheepishly over the phone earlier. “I hate to bother you, but will you come and pick up your supper plate of food? Your mother feels like she can’t drive.”

It takes me about five minutes to drive to my parent’s house. I hopped in the car and headed over with Winger blasting on my car stereo quite loudly. Ya gotta love hair bands for a drive with the windows rolled down on a sunny feel good day. Helen then handed me a very heavy plate of spaghetti and meat sauce, a bowl of salad with ranch dressing and lots of cherry tomatoes, and two gigantic pieces of garlic Texas toast. It was truly a treat.

I’ve had my fair share of mental issues now and in the past, but I can’t ever remember having a cold or the flu for at least the past decade. I’ve been very lucky on those regards it seems. Dad constantly has colds being around all those germs and sick people in the pharmacy every day. I will knock on wood with the highest hopes of diverting any nasty germs headed my way.

Ready for Bedtime…

2012-01-05T20:13:00.001-05:00

It’s been a strange day today – absolutely surreal with a perceived hue or aura surrounding me and the world like the soft color of pastels. The day also seemed to drag on like pure molasses being poured out of a Mason jar and I spent many moments looking down at my watch itching to get home to fix my abandoned lunch languishing on the kitchen counter that I forgot. I volunteered this morning with nothing notable happening except getting two new Dell computers and setting them up, and then I came home to do some long neglected and unwanted chores like vacuuming, tackling the dirty dishes in the sink, and laundry. I am not very domesticated so today’s exertions surprised me and pleased me as well.

Maggie's been very anti-social today preferring to sleep all day on the couch in the den where I seldom tread these days. I have a lot of empathy for her and her mood today. Sometimes you just have to say to hell with the world, let me get in my soft covers, sleep, and hide. Television has no draw over me any longer as well. I don’t have the patience to sit there and watch it for longer than 30 minutes. If I have it on, it is for the light white noise it creates. I turn it on mainly for Maggie as she seems to enjoy it.

I got all my many Christmas decorations put away in the computer room closet this afternoon. The wonderfully lovely sharp smell of pine pitch and needles has been replaced by the musty odor of stale cigarette smoke once again. I just have to carry the quickly dying tree to the road before I am confronted with a massive dead tree needle falloff disaster to vacuum up. My father will say something about it tonight I assure you – about the terrible bad luck I am going to get into in the upcoming year.

I am Such a Wuss! Just Not Built of That Kind of Toughness and Nails Most Men are Renowned With it Seems…

2012-01-04T05:36:00.001-05:00

I just have woken up around 5am. My shower was one of the fastest I’ve ever mustered – in and out and then dried in a few minutes. I am already running very late with my usual routines. The first thing I did was to put two Jimmy Dean “breakfast bowls” out of the freezer and into the microwave to eat for Maggie and I, and I then checked my wireless weather station in my den after reading some very nice blog comments I missed yesterday.

“18 degrees?!?!” I moaned and repeated to myself after a choice bit of profanity as I looked at the small liquid crystal display screen. Maggie also lay dutifully at the foot of my feet now and watching my every move. You could just feel the brutal cold rolling off the window in here, my drafty computer room. Maggie realizes I think that cold mornings similar to these are like a crap shoot for walking days – absolutely like rolling snake eyes with dice.

Maggie was still happily and blissfully wagging her tail – her good luck gesture for such mornings. I didn’t tell her, but we will go walking this afternoon when temperatures have moderated quite a bit. I don’t think my cold adverse constitution could handle such a bitterly cold early morning walk such as this one. I’ve also got to get Maggie a couple of much needed dog sweaters for such occasions as well in which I am feeling hardier and more robust and do decide to take the plunge.

As Cute As Pumpkin Pie…

2012-01-03T09:30:00.001-05:00

“Sir? Can we pick up pecans in your back yard?” asked one of my pint sized Korean neighbors very early this morning after knocking on my door.

She seemed to be around 4 or 5 years old. She was dressed in what looked like a pink artic looking parka and was having to translate into English for me what her English deficient mother was saying to her.

“I’ll let you do it if you promise me you won’t let my dog out of the fence,” I replied with the utmost in importance. “Whatever you do, don’t let the dog out of the fence,” I reiterated one more time for good measure. She shot some rapid fire Korean at her mother and then told me she would look after my dog. The mother was shaking her head “yes” as well with a vigorous and friendly grin.

I smiled in a humanitarian feel good moment, as they got busy picking up this year’s bumper crop of pecans and I left to go volunteer. Our Korean neighbors from overseas have almost single handedly revitalized the local economy with the Kia automobile plant that is out near the interstate. They can pick up my pecans any day.

The iPad: a Look Back On This Previous Year…

Well, I have been a very proud owner of an Apple iPad for well over a year now. I still love it as much as the day I turned it on for the first time, and use it often more than my super uber computing monster rig in my computer room. I mainly use it to browse the Internet and “window shop” at many of the computer hardware centric and news websites I follow. It is also my defacto source for reading magazines and weather information. The only aggravating thing about the iPad is the built in and woefully inadequate software keyboard (your mileage may vary). It is almost impossible to blog with my clumsy and overly large hands and fingers, but it is good at using Twitter as those messages are concise and short (just like texting with a cellphone).

What worried me most when I first purchased my iPad was the lithium ion battery. They tend to have a “memory” after you have charged the device several times and the charge times grow ever shorter and shorter. I was worried that this was going to be the proud owner of a $500 non-functioning piece of junk within a year. Apple proved me wrong as the battery is still going strong with up to 10 hours of usage at a time until you have to recharge.

My Shift at the Ole Grist Mill Begins Again…

2012-01-02T05:06:00.001-05:00

Well, it’s back to volunteering I go this morning, I am sure I will have a few new computers to install and I look forward to that. It has been a nice few days off, but I’ve also learned that I need some direction in my life and my volunteering position provides that in abundance – this sense of wellbeing and purpose. I am hoping that some day this will turn into a paying gig, but I know not to get my hopes up too high. It certainly will be a grand reference if I can keep doing a good job as I am. I am trying to make myself irreplaceable.

I got up pretty early for me, but Maggie and I went to bed around 8PM. Maggie is already back in bed after our walk, but that doesn’t stop her with keeping up with what I am doing -- the nosey soul that she is. Every time I walk by my bedroom door Maggie raises her head and looks to see what I am doing or if I have anymore food. We had buttered strawberry muffins this morning and they were delicious right out of the oven if very hot. Maggie thought they were the best things since sliced bread. I think she carried a few outside to bury them for a rainy day. Oh well, whatever floats your boat dearest Maggie.

You’re Coming if I Have to Drag You!

2012-01-01T11:17:00.001-05:00

“Come eat New Year’s dinner with us!” Charlie pleaded with me over the loud pops and booms of fireworks in the neighborhood. “I am not going to take no for an answer.”

I mulled it over and over and decided I would go. I really have been kind of lonely this week which is very odd for me. Janice is cooking the traditional Southern New Year’s day meal which is supposed to set the tone for the new year. She always cooks a pork tenderloin as well that is seasoned just so and is delicious. She also cooks the traditional black eyed peas and collards which represent this new year’s wealth. The more you eat, then the richer you will get in the upcoming year.

“What time are we eating?” I asked Charlie warily, looking pained.

“Be over at noon,” Charlie said, looking pleased with himself and on toppling the gargantuan task of getting me out of the house for a social function.

Well I better put on some spit and polish and get this old crazy soul ready to go. I am going to wear some of my new Christmas clothes and try to look spiffy. I just pray there is not going to be a big crowd which is truly wishful thinking on my part. Grin and bear it, Andrew. Grin and bear it!

Man Versus Chicken…

2011-12-30T20:59:00.001-05:00

…and the chicken lost. Cluck! Yes, in the good spiritedness of if you can’t beat them then join them, Horsefly and I had Zaxby’s chicken fingers again tonight. I am content in getting them as a hot plate of food is always a joy to receive on a bachelor’s cold out of a can diet. It is like a salve to my troubled mind and yummy to my tummy. Charlie explained tonight that Horsefly gets very sick when he eats hamburgers. He can't digest them well and will throw them up in the car. Not a nice scenario that conjures up. Long Live the Chicken Finger!

Tomorrow is Horsefly’s late afternoon journey to the cinema in Auburn. I offered to take him for Charlie, but Charlie was fretting that it may get Horsefly off schedule and off kilter. Charlie is going to mull it over tonight and let me know in the morning. Charlie usually hires a friend of my mothers to do it, but I felt I owed Charlie a favor and I understand Horsefly’s modus operandi and language well. I wouldn’t mind taking Horsefly every weekend if Charlie would let me. It would mean dinner and a movie for me. What I owe Charlie for all he has done for me is more valuable than all the gold in the world as well.

“Be free around 4PM,” Charlie added as we walked outside to Charlie's car. “I will call you. If I let you go then don’t smoke in my Chevrolet!”

And believe me, Horsefly would love to tell Charlie we were smoking as we drove down the interstate in Charlie’s car. I can hear him cackling softly as I write this. What fortuitous drama to be had!

Calming the Passing Storm…

2011-12-29T15:37:00.001-05:00

I feel much better and more stable this afternoon – able to focus mentally and on tasks at hand. I just knew those anxiety attacks were coming back to haunt me and to make life miserable for me again as they did for so many countless years. It made me very paranoid, timid, and cautious this week – afraid of exertion. I was just afraid period to the point that my nerves were frayed. I’ve tried so very hard to hide it. I’ve been feeling rather mentally interesting as my father likes to call it for lack of a kinder or better word. I am glad they are still in San Diego to miss this valley in the journey of the hills and dales that make up my life.

I slept in late this morning with the sun already up when I awoke despite Maggie periodically waking me up for her walk. Maggie and I are often bounding through the streets that make up our lower middle class neighborhood well before dawn and with just a soft sliver of light is on the horizon. We ate a quick breakfast/brunch and headed out the door on our rounds. I’d say Maggie and I walked around two miles. I know we don’t walk very far, but Maggie is cool with it so I am too. It was another brisk and cool midmorning as well.

Down with Christmas and Down with the King!

There seems to be a Southern tradition to take down your Christmas tree and all your decorations before New Year’s Day. Mom would take ours down Christmas night despite the cries and protests of us saddened kids. Charlie told me last night that I needed to get out that tree or it would cause terribly bad luck in the coming year. OH NO! I wouldn’t want to cause a rift in the space-time continuum with my lackadaisical approach to getting my Christmas tree out of the house. In all seriousness, though, I will probably take it down New Year’s Day.

Enter the Realm of the Charlie…

2011-12-28T21:06:00.001-05:00

“Horsefly’s in the car so I can’t stay long,” Charlie told me as he vigorously walked to the front door of my house with arms full of various things. Into the warm light from out of the dark cold. “I promise to spend some time with you and Maggie tomorrow.”

Charlie brought a big bag just filled with culinary oddities and other assorted gifts. We had 8 regular canned Cokes, 2 packs of Doral light cigarettes, 1 Big Mac and fries, and a gigantic cup of sweet tea on ice. Charlie then checked his mail and heartily guffawed when the AARP sent Horsefly some mail, and then he was on his way. I was hoping he would stay awhile. I just wanted to shoot the shit with a fellow crass male for a few – dispel this doom and gloom I was feeling about to overcome me. Maggie receives the Happy Dawg Award for giving Charlie one of his best Maggie greetings yet, though. I about couldn’t hold her excited self inside as she chomped at the bit to get away from me and to go meet Charlie at the door.

“I loved the shirt you got me for Christmas,” I told Charlie before he left. “It goes great with my leather coat.”

“I thought you would like that,” Charlie replied, looking proud of himself. “I looked at it in Dillard's and it had your name written all over it. I am going to buy you some more in the next weekend or so. I am going to get your father some as well.”

Unconsciously Ridiculously Happily Capricious…

2011-12-28T12:40:00.001-05:00

My one and only real goal at the beginning of last January was to be less capricious and flighty with my efforts on the blog and in my general online relationships with my readers and friends. I’ll let you be the judge, but I think I’ve done pretty well for the blog capriciousness except for the social aspects of blogging and being online. That’s when I realized why I disliked Facebook so much the other day. It is so normal to be so sociable online. It is called social media for a reason. People are what make the Internet the interesting digital behemoth it is. On the other hand, it was not normal for me to be so social and for this I balked and stumbled, and then failed. It was like a social outing from hell for this damaged goods of a person. I also have a very hard time discerning what should and shouldn’t be shared online. Digital boundaries, you know? This can lead to so many online social faux pas on my part leaving long time online friends balking with bewilderment and hurt feelings.

Long Story Short…

Maggie can read my feelings and discern my emotions I think sometimes. Ah, bless! She’s been my one constant companion and supreme protector on the couch with me all afternoon as I piddled around the Internet with my iPad. I think she can sense that I am borderline depressed. At least, I feel like I am going to crash at any moment. That’s when I got up to go listen to music for awhile – a change of venue, and then onto my computer in this computer room. I just couldn't stomach Headline ~~News~~ and Views any more in the den on the TV and their macabre display of mediocre news, videos and images.

Posthumous Computers…

2011-12-27T15:21:00.001-05:00

“Next time, let me build Janice a nice computer,” I told Charlie as we rode across the Chattahoochee back into Alabama after lunch.

Janice’s computer is a Wal-Mart branded eMachines computer and she has had nothing but troubles with the thing. I remember when Charlie bought it last year. I moaned. I’ve fixed my share of them including this morning. I’ve heard a lot of conflicting things about these computers as well. Some good and some bad. Someone wrote on the blog last year that they loved theirs and that the purchasing price was great. I suppose they are okay if all you do is browse the Internet and check your email with an occasional game of solitaire .

“Or? Let me pick out a computer for her,” I happily said to Charlie, ready to spend someone else’s money doing something I very much enjoy, Computer shopping. “Or go to www.Newegg.com and check out some of their prices on prebuilt and/or barebones computers.”

“I’ll see you again tonight when I bring your supper,” Charlie told me as he seemed to be mulling it over as we pulled up in front of Casa de Andrew. “Arby’s or Captain D’s?”

“Arby’s please,” I said politely as I then ran from Charlie's Chevrolet to my front door and burst inside to cheat the cold Northern wind’s chance to nip at my face and extremities one more time.

SSDs–The Wave of the Computer’s Future…

2011-12-27T10:21:00.001-05:00

Mark my words. That’s the next big thing in computer technology. Solid State Drives. There will be no rotating and fragile disc hard drives anymore and speeds for data throughput will go up very drastically and through the roof. I still can’t afford them, though, like any new technology, and like any computer technology period the price will go down a lot in the upcoming year. Any decent and new SSD hard drive is in the $300-$400 price range and they don’t hold very much data compared to a traditional platter type hard drive. The early adopters will help to weed out any problems, though, making the technology and firmware in the drives more robust over time.

Friends That Won’t Steer You Wrong…

I think it was Val of Golden to Silver Val who told me several years ago to gradually allow the temperature in my house to drop and I would get acclimated and save money. For three weeks, I’ve had the heating and air on 80 and I am now down to 72 degrees over quite a few weeks and I am proud to report that Val was right. I just have to wear some heavier or warmer clothes like long sleeves or a sweater to stay comfortable. Showers are still extremely uncomfortable, though. I can be in and out of my shower like lickity split. Better that than the sound of my checking account hemorrhaging money.

In Charlie’s Capable Hands…

2011-12-26T12:20:00.001-05:00

Charlie ran here by Casa de Andrew to deliver a Christmas meal late last night and to give Maggie some liver treats she adores, but she rarely gets. Horsefly and Janice were in the car so Charlie was in a hurry. There was a macaroni, mushroom and cheese casserole, pineapple and cheddar casserole, and some leftover roast beef from our meal the other night, lime and cottage cheese congealed salad, traditional butterbeans, creamed corn and baked almond and mushroom chicken in a sour cream and butter sauce. To top it all off was Janice’s cornbread which is very rich and creamy with a crisp crust (I love the crispy crust). Maggie was about to go ape shiat crazy until I fed her half of my plate. I was totally stuffed and slept well despite fears of indigestion. I know I would gain weight quickly with such rich and tasty fare to eat all the time.

Charlie just dropped by again this afternoon to give me two regular cokes and another present. I better go open it now or Charlie will get his feelings hurt (It’s a long sleeved cotton blue shirt from Dillard's). I just put it on and It does fit me quite perfectly.

“I’m going to come by every night to check on you.” Charlie told me before leaving and after a hug. “I might even bring you some treats.”

I am sure that for Charlie to say that means he is going to bring lots of treats and meddle in my business some. I am not complaining mind you at all. Despite my social anxieties, I still crave human interaction and someone to talk to. Especially someone as trusted as Charlie. I can let my hair down some so to speak.

The Inner Sanctum…

2011-12-25T07:04:00.001-05:00

The night before last was a rare treat at Charlie’s house. Charlie’s wife cooked a pot roast in her crockpot with potatoes, onions and carrots, and some of her famous and fabulous cornbread. Then we passed around our gifts from under Charlie's Christmas tree after each eating a piece of a coconut cake my father baked and gave to Charlie. I will be the first to give it to dad. He bakes really good cakes. Horsefly paced the room enthralled with the can of shaving cream I gave him. Horsefly was especially giddy with excitement. Nobody could ever say that Horsefly was ever not festive.

Janice also had some computer related problems that were easy to fix. Her email had stopped working and it was a simple repair. She thinks I am some kind of computer whiz kid. It really is common sense to be honest or a process of elimination.

“Do you have an email address as well?” Janice asked, wanting my address.

I told her I used it rarely and it had been about had been about a year since I even checked my inbox.

Charlie and family got me a suede leather jacket. It was so soft and comfortable. I thanked them profusely and then gave Janice a hug.

“Don’t wear it in the rain! ” Charlie told me very excitably with warning.

Christmas has arrived…

Charlie was also caretaker of mom and dad’s Christmas present's for me was well. I was just thrilled I could get New Egg order last night and that it had shipped, even though it was Christmas Eve. It was going to be a blue, blue Christmas without them. These gifts will keep me enthralled for days or possibly weeks. I was especially interested in that ASUS Blu-Ray optical drive I received. Now I can burn 25 gigs of data, music, etc. on one disc for safe keeping. It takes about a dozen minutes to burn a disc though. Kind of slow, but it was the fastest drive I could find on New Egg. Patience young grasshopper and thou shall not make drink coasters!

Dawn On Christmas Eve…

2011-12-24T07:30:00.001-05:00

A Stay at Home Kind of Day…

2011-12-23T09:07:00.001-05:00

It’s very cold and nastily misty outside this morning. The perfect conditions for Scotland or in which to get wet and catch a cold. I will be safely ensconced in this, my little hermit’s abode except for Maggie’s walk. Much computer time will be had in the next few days as I watch the holidays come and go. I will be ready to get this overly festive blog template off and install one about New Year’s as well. (Scrooge!!!)

I elected to eat Christmas dinner with Charlie and his wife tonight which I reluctantly agreed to after telling Charlie I need to stay home. I actually, quite strangely, look forward to that tonight despite my aversion to social get togethers. Charlie has a way of making you feel at home and welcomed and his wife in one hell of a cook as well. I bought Horsefly a bottle of shaving cream just for this kind of occasion. He will be thrilled. Charlie let the cat out of the bag when he started to talk bout the jacket he was giving me for Christmas. I smiled when Charlie did that.

Silent Night, O Holy Night…

2011-12-22T22:31:00.001-05:00

The day is quickly winding down for me. My fuel tank is on empty and I feel so very tired and worn threadbare. How did I ever work a 9 to 5 job I will never know. I guess it was beer fueled determination. I should’ve been asleep hours ago is one mitigating factor for my tired irritability. Maggie is already sound asleep following our usual schedule. Soon, I will be following in her footsteps as well. Maggie will only wake me up once in a blue moon situation when she has to potty. Most times she is so quiet that I didn’t know she had left. She will be laying next to me, though, when morning comes.

To my cherished and esteemed friends and blogging cohorts, I wish you the best and good night. Sweet dreams and may your dreams come true and with Godspeed. I will talk to you all again early in the morning when us night owls escape our iron shackles and they let us fly free for awhile.

Diarrhea of the Keyboard…

2011-12-21T20:58:00.001-05:00

That sums up my day yesterday between dad’s and my little terse dealings with each other. I should never antagonistically write about him in that way. He’s my father and I love him, my rock of Gibraltar, and shouldn’t write in the heat of the moment as well. Without him, I would never have a home. And what did I do, but get on a public blog and bitch and moan about it, airing my dirty laundry for the whole wide world to see. I thought that exposé part of my journey as a blogger was over with. I Imposed on your sensitivities and feelings as well. I apologize and will try to tone it down a bit. Sorry!

Misty Mornings…

2011-12-21T09:08:00.001-05:00

Marvelous Maggie and I had a very and most pleasurable walk through our usual haunt that is our neighborhood this morning. Maggie was really strutting her stuff with her head held high proud to be on her walk. She loves to meet and greet with the neighborhood canines as usual. I’ve gotten quite fond of them myself.

I was up very early as is my usual custom these days. It was a whole lot warmer today than yesterday as well. Almost 6o degrees. It was also very misty which was a novelty for this weather obsessed fanatic. From here on out, Charlie is our caretaker as he has already took mom and dad to Atlanta's Hartsfield airport this morning. So far, my Christmas gifts haven’t arrived as well. Christmas is getting close and I am getting very nervous. I do have quite a few gifts under the Christmas tree already to placate me until my main gifts arrive, though.

“It may be after Christmas,” dad said bracing me for the worst the other night as my heart sunk low in my chest.

“Let’s hope it comes today,” Charlie told me as he called me on the way back from the airport and we were talking about it. “We will drive up to LaGrange and get it ourselves if they don’t deliver by tomorrow.”

I had told Charlie the online tracking info said it was in LaGrange at the distribution center which is about 25 miles from here.

Not So Good News for Weigh Day…

2011-12-20T10:06:00.001-05:00

Every other Tuesday morning is the day my father weighs me upon arriving at the Pharmacy. We do this about 15 minutes before the pharmacy opens. I stood upon the scales as my father proceeded to put a dime in the coin slot. I was praying so very, very hard that I had gained weight. I had my fingers crossed. I weighed the very same as I did last time two weeks. Damn! No loss and no gain. My father was very visibly and very verbally disappointed in me.

“Well?” I said for hopeful comic relief with a sheepish grin. “At least I didn’t lose a bunch of weight to look on the bright side. I was hoping I had gained some poundage.”

My father kind of glared at me menacingly with a fed-up look on his face and told me to keep trying. I was just devastated – tears almost forming at the corners of my eyes. I had tried so very hard to put some weight on -- eating everything in sight. I slinked back to my car feeling like the worst and most terrible human being ever – the dregs of humankind. I parked behind the hardware store next door trying to gather myself enough to drive home.

Charlie Loves Maggie and Maggie Loves Charlie…

2011-12-19T11:20:00.001-05:00

“Charlie?” I feebly and meekly asked last night as all three of us sat on the couch. “If something would ever happen to me, would you take care of Maggie and the house? You would treat Maggie as if she were a queen.”

Charlie was giving Maggie one hell of a back scratching. I smiled as Maggie looked in total ecstasy. Her tongue was hanging out of her mouth in delirium! lol

“Let’s not talk about something so morbid with Christmas and the holidays coming,” Charlie Told Me with a nervous smile. “You know she would be in capable hands, but you are the one going to last far beyond me. You may be needed to help me take care of myself and Horsefly some day.”

“Eat your supper before it gets cold,” Charlie then said as he got up to leave.

I think Charlie was getting a little depressed at my somber mood and somber questions last night.

Charlie had brought several roast beef sandwiches and curly fries from Arby’s which was a nice before bed treat for Maggie and I. I gave him a hug and called it a night as well. I fell asleep sometime after setting my Model Railroader on the bedside table.

A Look on the Bright, Sunny Side of Life…

2011-12-18T16:59:00.001-05:00

Are your children and you ready for Christmas? I was eating part of Maggie’s Christmas gift this afternoon (aren’t I terrible?). She finally got a piece and went wild afterwards. We’re saving the rest of the rather large box of Slim Jims for Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, though. I don’t think most people like Slim Jims. I enjoy some Slim Jims, and the occasional pickled sausage from time to time as well. I’ve also been known to eat a pickled hard boiled egg at odd moments. I don’t do pickled pig’s feet, though. That’s were I draw the line as far as adventurous food goes.

I know I am ready for Christmas this year. It is going to be a very nerdy Christmas @ Andrew’s Casa in a few days chocked full of computer hardware and jargon. Dad was looking at some of the stuff I ordered. “You sure you want all this stuff for Christmas?” he asked me with a dubious and skeptical look on his face. “I don’t even know what most of this stuff is!”

I smiled, but dad has become 10 times more knowledgeable about computers than he used be. I am always startled when dad pulls up the weather radar on his iPad and shows it to me. It’s like a good kind of shock to my system. My mother continues to show no interest in computers and anything related to them. She just continues to go lay in bed all day.

Ha!!!

2011-12-18T16:36:00.001-05:00

Our Weekend is Off to a Swimmingly Good Start…

2011-12-17T05:53:00.001-05:00

Maggie’s walk is done and I am about to get breakfast started after a quick shower and shave (I’ve just about made a daily habit of doing this ritual since I have started volunteering) I am just cooking scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, bacon, and some instant grits that I am trying to get rid of. Real grits take time, but taste so much better and much creamier.

It was a much milder this morning than yesterday making it a pleasant stroll through our neighborhood. I stayed up late last night wrapping all my presents and watching bad and awful television as Maggie got into the Christmas spirit. I’ve already got something really neat for my Fur-Kid as a surprise (a big box of gigantic size Slim Jims). Every new item was a cornucopia of interesting and new smells to Maggie. Maggie’s part bloodhound I do think. She just doesn't have the stature or reputation of let’s say a German shepherd K-9 unit would have.

Earlier this morning on our walk, I was listening to Amy Winehouse’s last album – her Back in Black album on my venerable iPod as Maggie and I passed the old Loosier's grocery store steering clear and away from the main thoroughfare. Why do these wonderfully and extremely talented and eclectic lives get snuffed out so young? It was very sobering to think about it. It seems as if this great talent and the addictive side of the brain are close, linked, or are one. I’ve done a lot of drinking in my days and you would have to drink a butt load of alcohol to pass out and die from drinking it. You tend to pass out or become comatose before you can drink anymore of that swill to cause loss of life. My heart goes out to Amy and let’s hope she has some peace no matter where she’s at.

Snap, Crackle, and Pop…

2011-12-16T09:20:00.001-05:00

Last night, I was lying in the bed patiently waiting on Maggie to stop her preening and snorting. Things were awful busy on that side of the bed let me tell you as the whole bed rattled and shook as she scratched. I was hoping she would settle down for the night soon and go to sleep. It also felt good to be wrapped up in my warm and soft covers as well. I could then hear the house emitting some interesting and loud noises as we both grew quiet as I put away the ever-present iPad – sounds that would scare kids to death as they were coming from the attic. It seems and sounds as if my house is haunted. My father told me this morning that it was most likely that my house was still settling on its foundation or it was the ice maker in my freezer. I chuckled in disbelief, but my father is most likely right. I’m not much one for the paranormal either even though I have listened to Coast to Coast AM for years out of amusement. I know ghost speak pretty well.

I Might Actually Get My Presents Before Christmas. We Hope…

I get my procrastinating ways from my father so I can’t complain about this too much as it comes natural to me as well. I will just procrastinate entirely too much as my father does. He told me last night that they ordered my computer parts from Newegg finally. I had to email the part numbers to Patricia at the Pharmacy a few days ago to get the ball rolling.

“Do you think the parts will get here in time for Christmas day?” I asked my father, worried and impatiently while hanging on to a glimmer of hope.

“I doubt that they will, son,” Dad said sheepishly with a pained look on his face much to my disappointment and bracing me for the worse case scenario. “Let’s keep our fingers crossed, though.”

Surely they can ship something eight days before Christmas. Dad said the overnight shipping would have been $85 dollars. OUCH! I looked on the bright-side as Newegg is one of the best and fastest shipping companies I have ever done business with. That will surely keep me content, entertained, enthralled, and infatuated on Christmas Day while the whole family is in San Diego.

Is It a Sign of the Times?

I just heard Maggie squeal loudly foretelling a parental unit or Charlie was here. “Who is it, girl?” I asked Maggie urging her onwards as I walked to the front door. It was my mother aka “meals on wheels” for her Helen Friday afternoon outing. She had brought a meal of Barbecued chicken, buttered dinner rolls, and lots of vegetables like colored butterbeans, summer squash, and Mexican corn. It was delicious. I just hope Helen will not be so harried about cash this year. Last year was rough on her and her family with lots of medical bills and bad health. My father said he was going to give her a nice bonus this year for doing such a good job. I was glad to hear that.

Christmas in the Red-light District…

2011-12-14T18:27:00.001-05:00

I like a Christmas tree with some balls. So I will put on some glass ball ornaments on the tree tomorrow. Tinsel is next. I ran out of steam tonight after decorating my tree and cleaning out my computer room closet (that is my version of Annabel’s garage). I had three computer cases, two LCD monitors, and volumes of Ethernet cables, computer speakers and assorted various wires in there. Now, I can hang coats and put up things neatly after Christmas. A lot of just junk got put on the side of the road, though. My Asian friends that live down below me immediately got to carrying some stuff home. Bless them for a tidy yard again.

Mom was busy and about today. Yes, she was having a big hair day. She wanted to see my Christmas tree when she stopped by with some laundry detergent. How she knew I was about to run out, I will never know. Mom can be so uncanny about sensing stuff like that. Last week, it was replacement shaving razors for my Mach3 razor. I won’t even tell you how much those cost. It’s ridiculous. I did learn you can make one razor last up to a year if you will just dry it off promptly after shaving. I also heard soaking it overnight in a cup of rubbing alcohol helps make them last much longer as well. I think it helps by keeping the blades from oxidizing and that’s my story and I am sticking to it.

Time For Xmas Now…

2011-12-13T14:02:00.001-05:00

Dad called me at the Literacy Center this morning. Something he never does and it made me worry for a moment there. I was worried that someone in the family had died or something along those lines. I walked outside where it was quieter to speak to him and so I wouldn’t bother anyone inside.

“Do you have a Christmas tree stand?” he asked loudly over the sounds of fast and heavy traffic on his end.

“And where do I buy multicolored lights?” Dad then further asked.

I told him that I did indeed have a stand. He had bought one years ago for me.

“Family Dollar would be a good start and a good avenue for the lights,” I then told my father.

When I got off the phone, I realized then that dad was buying my Christmas tree this year. I got very excited. Ah, Bless!

I’ve been a absolutely terrible horrendous procrastinator over this Christmas tree thing this year. I don’t know why because things have gone pretty well these days, and they're also so very beautiful and calming to look at.

For Mrs. Judy with the Computer Problem…

2011-12-13T10:12:00.001-05:00

First, I would download Microsoft Security Essentials. It is free and made by the people who designed your operating system. Just use Google or Bing to find it. Hopefully, this will solve your problem by doing a full or deep scan. It might not let you install it, though. The virus that is.

You could always try system restore. It is a long shot, but pick a recent restore point that happened around the time the computer started to act up. It will let you go back to an earlier time in the history or registry of your computer solving your problem. If the virus is poorly designed then you can do this.

If it doesn't help then we will have to go to more desperate and drastic measures. You will need your system recovery discs that comes with all new computers. Wipe the hard drive clean and reinstall windows. I know that sounds scary, but it’s really easy to do. It will just take a long time to reinstall Windows and this will probably worry you, but hang in there. That will usually nip ‘em in the bud whatever problem you are having and the machine will run like the day you bought it – breathing new life into your older or aging computer, and that virus will be history as well.

Play it Again, Sam…

2011-12-12T03:00:00.001-05:00

Can someone explain to me why I am up at 3am? Of course you can’t and I can’t either. It was another night of the tosses and turns so I decided just to stay up after 2am to write, and read my friend’s blog posts. Today, I have to write down what computer parts I want ordered at www.newegg.com for Christmas. Patricia, a trusted employee of my father’s, will take care of the rest. It is also raining pretty heavily this morning and this would usually put me into a slight coma. Just not today. Damn the torpedoes and straight ahead the Captain said!

I got out a tape measurer a moment ago to give me an idea on what size of Christmas tree to get. I’ve got to get a tree that is under 8 feet. Oh, I am so excited about this! It has been a long two years since Scrooge didn't have a tree. We’re booting Scrooge right out the backdoor this year -- Yes we are! Don’t let the door hit you on the way out, Ebenezer!

Two Peas in a Christmas Pod…

2011-12-11T19:55:00.001-05:00

“When do you want to get your Christmas tree?” Dad asked as we sat on my couch tonight.

“Oh, I am going to get it tomorrow later in the day at Ponder’s,” I replied.

“Get the truck over at your late grandmother’s house,” My father said further. “That way you won’t get all those pine needles in your Honda.”

I am very excited to have a live tree again this year. Last year, it just didn't feel like Christmas should without one. I missed that pine pitch smell that permeated my house. I’ve got to get to digging in my computer room closet to find the stand as well. I think I am going to buy new ornaments this year. Also, dad made me promise that I wouldn’t get my mother involved.

“She will get wild about buying you ornaments,” dad told me. “You will have the best and prettiest Christmas tree in the Valley that will also cost hundreds of dollars,” dad told me with a smirk.

I smiled at my mother’s grandiosity and proclivity to spend money. I know how ya feel mom! Sometimes ya just gotta shop till ya drop! Except, I get my willy’s off of computer hardware.

Forgetting About a Windfall…

2011-12-10T11:09:00.001-05:00

“Are you not going to Rodger’s Barbeque for lunch anymore?” my father asked sounding alarmed on a call from his busy pharmacy around lunch. “They just called and said they haven’t seen you in awhile and are worried. You still have $30 on your tab.”

I told my father I would be by there this afternoon. I had just eaten a big leftover plate Helen fixed for me yesterday and was full.

“I just keep forgetting about it,” I also told my father honestly. “I’ve got to integrate it into my schedules and routines.”

“You will definitely gain weight fast going over there to eat,” my father added with encouragement and showing his true colors. “Remember to keep an eye on the prize, and they need our business!”

I’ve decided to go by there when I leave the Literacy Center at noon, purchase a pint or two of barbeque, and store it in the freezer every few days for a rainy day. Ah Hell, I will probably eat it as fast as I can purchase it. Who am I kidding? I do have a certain weakness for their barbeque and Brunswick stew.

Along a Similar Venue…

I was in the Piggly Wiggly later this morning purchasing a fresh loaf of bread and some whole milk for my Frosted Flakes. I stopped at the aisle with items from what I call the poor-folks aisle. I looked at the Vienna sausages, grabbed a few cans of the Amour variety for two at .77 cents, grabbed some fish steaks in mustard sauce, and then looked down to find a big can of Poss’s Brunswick stew on a lower shelf near the floor. I just had to get a can and will try it later. I have never seen or heard of such a thing. Brunswick stew in a can? Will it be a travesty? Or tasty? Someone pass a soup spoon...

Tales of an Andrew and His Pseudo Philandering…

2011-12-09T08:12:00.001-05:00

I was chatting with my Vegan Princess late last night on MSN messenger. She had run a half marathon last weekend and said her legs still felt like Jell-O. She’s been walking everyday till they get to feeling better cutting back on her usually stressful exercise regimen. I have this strong feeling of correlation between religion and Veganism. I don’t mean to, but it seems that way. It has all the feelings and makings of extreme religiosity.

She’s been working everyday so her plate is full. I like her, but I wouldn’t date her. I admire her panache. Too anal and especially too health conscious, though. She would make me feel guilty all the time. I warned her that too much of a good thing can be a bad thing with the amount of illnesses she seems to be having lately. “Try moderation,” I told her as the pot calling the kettle black that I was. It seems like her body is revolting as she just keeps getting ailment after ailment these days especially in her joints. She even had a herniated disc in her back a few months ago.

Let’s Get Helen to Cook Something Good…

Dad and I ran to the grocery store last night after we went and put some gasoline in my car and his at Fat Albert’s. As we walked into the store, dad said pick what you want Helen to cook. We grabbed a grocery cart and I proceeded to get a big pack of tenderized steak for country fried steak, yellow saffron rice, fresh broccoli, makings for German potato salad, and the ingredients for Helen’s biscuits which was a box of Bisquick. That surprised me. We will be having fruit cocktail as well which pleased my father. We got some fresh bananas for the fruit salad. That was all the makings of an excellent meal mom used to cook when I was a young man. I can still taste her rice and gravy from all those years ago. Mom will love this meal as well. I hope to see her today and I will if she brings by my plate of delicacies ala Helen later this afternoon.

Fog Rolling Off the Chattahoochee…

I was walking in the clouds it was so foggy this morning that you could barely see a hundred yards in front of you. That was our extent of interesting weather today if you don’t count the cold. Maggie was having the best time of her life, though, as I watched out for errant cars in the foggy darkness. Sidewalks are our friend. I’ve gotten to be a smarter cold weather walker and have started to wear layers of clothes to stay warm. A few of you dyed in the wool walkers told me to do this. It is working fine so far. I stay pretty warm. Thank you!

Journey to the Meathouse…

2011-12-08T08:10:00.001-05:00

My great auntie Myrtis and I drove up yesterday to Roanoke, Alabama to visit the “meathouse” as she affectionately calls it. It was a spur of the moment type of thing. She called me, then called my father, and wanted to go. We got all kinds of good bargains yesterday. My father gave me a list as well. He said he would pay me back for all the costs when we got back home. All of us wanted that special link sausage that Clarke Bros. is famous around here for. They also have some of the best hoop cheddar cheese I have ever tasted. I bought three pounds of cheese. I am going to be eating lots of cheese eggs, cheese grits, cheese toast, pimento cheese, and grilled cheese sandwiches it seems. It will also kick up those bland Marie Calendar meals I eat everyday up a notch.

Don’t tell the nanny state that is the DMV that driving is still hard for me. I get paranoid we are going to crash and that something bad is going to happen. I get so very nervous as well. I also get this feeling that the car is not going to stop at stop signs and intersections which is very alarming. My heart was still thumping in my chest after I drove my aunt home. When dad or mom drive, I always get sick at my stomach as well. I have to close my eyes, lean back, and hope things calm down. Driving forces a lot of anxiety to fester within me it seems. “You drive like a crack addict,” I told my father the other night. “You are so jerky and in a hurry. It makes me carsick.”

Shower Them With Conformity…

Dad noticed last night that I was dressed very nicely, was clean shaven, and had the house very tidy.

“You’ve come a long way son,” my father said to me as he hugged me and looked around the room, “You look so nice. We are going to fix you up and tackle obstacle by obstacle. You looked like a homeless person for years.”

I vowed with much coercion to my father that I would never wear those baseball caps again. That was one of the biggest sources of contention between my father and I for years as far as my appearances are concerned. The hats about drove him crazy. “You have hair that is too pretty to be hiding it all under those caps,” he would vehemently say.

You Know What?

2011-12-06T16:22:00.001-05:00

My mother is a true force of nature to be reckoned with – like a dark storm on the horizon or a locust plague of biblical proportions. I will have to go pick up my newly sized blue jeans and shirts at the Tailor’s Thimble in a few days after our measuring visit today. There is only one true thing my mother is afraid of and that is my father. This dogged determination, which is so characteristic of my mother, will probably stay with her well into her senior years. That would be interesting to witness and ride along as it unfolds.

I drove down to my father’s drugstore this afternoon to weigh in which has become our habit. I’ve gained three more pounds. My father was ecstatic. I felt like a lard-ass. When 170 pounds arrives, I will get a new wireless mouse and keyboard for my computer. I have never been so determined about something in my whole life. I want one of those expensive Logitech keyboards that lights up at night when the computer is turned on.

I thought this self discipline of mine was one of most impressive things I’ve done in weeks or maybe months to gain this weight. It also feels good to have my often stern father bragging on me and how well I am doing. My father and I have a turbulent love/hate relationship, but it all comes out the wash as they say as we still love each other very much.

An Andrew Type of Christmas…

2011-12-05T18:15:00.000-05:00

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Kranky and Krazy…

2011-12-05T13:04:00.001-05:00

It has started and the games and insanity will begin in a few moments. Mom is on her way over here after a very frustrating phone call between us two. Mom is fixated entirely on getting the bluejeans she bought for me taken up some at The Tailor’s Thimble in downtown West Point. I don’t want anything to mar my favorite day of the week, and I certainly don’t want to be at the tailors as they measure me. This is a sacred day for me. Mom will win, though. She always does. She’s as tenacious as a bulldog. I should just concede defeat.

Let’s Have a Good Moment of Reverent Silence for my Mother and Grocery Day…

2011-12-05T10:59:00.001-05:00

My most favorite day of the week and I truly felt brave as I told mom just to pick things she would want to eat herself. I wanted to be adventurous so badly for a change. You could tell mom was peeved and wasn't very happy with me for imposing on her like that. It was too nebulous and she wanted to get our standard and normal fare which is comfortable for her, and then to get the hell out of Kroger as fast as possible. I acquiesced and told mom to just follow our usual routine. She sighed very loudly in relief. I hate grocery stores (social and mental overstimulation) and buying groceries so mom is a real trooper for doing all that for me. I don’t let that escape me, but I’ve gotten hotdogs, frozen TV dinners, Pop tarts, and Vienna sausages now for months. So much for culinary adventures.

It Is Beginning to Look A Lot Like A Beautiful Christmas…

2011-12-04T18:00:00.001-05:00

I just spent all afternoon long over at my parents house decorating for Christmas inside and out by request from my father. He says I have an “eye” or “flair” for it. Mom and dad’s house looks completely gorgeous now. I will have to upload some Christmas photos soon in the next few days. I wish I could convince dad into using the prettier colored lights instead of just plain white. I guess that is just the kid in me coming out. Mom sat on the couch and supervised the whole time according to my father. That made me snicker jovially. Those two are a match made in heaven if I have to say so myself. Opposites surely do attract at times. (sarcasm)

Now, I am hoping dad will stop by on his way to the pharmacy tonight and will be willing to grab a few cheeseburgers. I want to get my two Christmas trees as well tomorrow. One for the front den and a smaller one for the back bedroom. All this Christmas stuff and decorating is contagious. I love sleeping to the soft glow of all those pretty little lights. I think the excitement of it all excites our pets as well. Maggie was awful spritely tonight when I got home after doing her customary smell check of me for food and then cats. I think all the feel good endorphins must be emanating from us more festive folks.

Helen’s Meat Loaf and Me. A Missive…

2011-12-03T15:31:00.001-05:00

Oh, how I love you dear Helen’s meatloaf. I love you long, long time. I liked to have driven the Mag-dog crazy this morning with my culinary ways. She was prancing and antsy around the kitchen in anticipation until she settled down to beg. First, I slathered two pieces of toasted Cobblestone Mills white sourdough bread with ample and generous amounts of Blue Plate mayonnaise. The whole time Maggie was sitting or begging on the floor as all these wonderful smells were cascading down to her nose. Two pieces of meatloaf on paper plates in the microwave for a minute or two and I had meat loaf sandwiches ala Helen. See? Even our finest furry little friends like meatloaf!

What’s a Saturday to Ya?

I just took a quick drive over to my parent’s to get some noncarbonated lemonade. Mom gave me four cans in a sack. She said that I would enjoy them, but that they were just too acidic and mouth puckering for her. Sounds like a food adventure to me which I grew excited about. I walked out of my parent’s house with lots of new books to read that my mother said I would enjoy as well.

Earlier, Maggie and I went on our rounds walking the neighborhood with much milder temperatures than what the night holds in store for us most days. The traffic was aggravating, though, in the day. I think we should stick with nights and grin and bare it as far as the cold goes.

Odd Andrew -- Am I a Hoarder?

2011-12-03T09:08:00.001-05:00

For years, my father used cigarettes as a leveraging tool for disciplining me since he had control over my finances. I vowed to never again get caught between my father and satisfying my addictions – caught by the balls and squeezing as they often say in the South. All these are cigarette packs as mom gives me two packs a day with my six Cokes for the day. I am building up or hoarding a supply incase dad wants to play hard ball again some other rainy day. A friend, Barry, told me to store them in the freezer and they will last for years. I bet there is 40 or 50 more packs of cigarettes in there. Helen is the only person in my real life who knows and has seen this other than me.

Shhhh…

2011-12-02T16:59:00.001-05:00

I have a little secret and will share it in the morning.

Hard Times Befalls Upon Meals On Wheels…

2011-12-02T15:59:00.001-05:00

Mom just called me a moment ago bawling her eyes out crying. She sounded so pitiful over the phone – all snuffles and sniffles on this end of a cordless phone.

“What happened?” I asked, terribly and extremely worried.

My first conclusion was that someone in the family was sick or dying the way mom was carrying on.

“I knocked the passenger's side mirror off my car coming over to your house with your supper.” she told me. “I hit the garage door.“

“Your father is going to kill me!” mom then said even more despondently.

This is nothing new for mom. Dad will try to blame it on her age lately saying she no longer needs to drive, but my mother has been doing this kind of thing since I was a small child.

When dad arrives in a few hours. I will test the waters to see if mom told him. And if he has, see what he is going to do about it. Surely, dad will get mom’s car fixed and I will try to be her advocate.

For Tee

2011-12-01T16:55:00.001-05:00

Helen’s Deviled Eggs Ingredients:

7 large eggs, hard boiled and peeled
1/4 cup mayonnaise
1 1/2 tablespoons sweet pickle relish
1 teaspoon prepared mustard
Salt and pepper, for taste
Paprika for garnish

I like to have never gotten this recipe from Helen. Helen doesn't cook with cookbooks much, but mostly only out of her memory.

A Patently Boring Life…

2011-12-01T03:12:00.001-05:00

Life's been very quiet and serene. It is almost uncanny, and that’s a nice thing coming from a guy who saw almost constant drama, tears, and distress, mental and perceived, for many years if not decades. My life revolves around the simple pleasures these days and it’s about time. I almost feel as if I am finally retiring from my drinking and drugging days. There are some hardships along the way, but nothing a little positive attitude and time won’t resolve. Watching Maggie’s comedic antics helps as well.

For You My Maggie, Make a Wish…

I never thought I would get up the gumption to do it despite a helluva heavy frost and ice-cold temperatures this morning, but I successfully took Maggie on her walk this morning and that was a major, major accomplishment when factoring in the temperatures. Boy, was I reeling as that first frigidly cold air hit me in the face as we walked outside and down the slippery steps. We had the heaviest frost since last year and it was almost invigorating if not misery inducing. I should have been a dark skinned dude who lived in a tropical environment for all it’s worth. Can you even get the internet on small tropical pacific islands? If not, then I don’t want to live there spoken like a true first world citizen. Somebody turn up the heat and pass around the pizza!

Too Much Chicken, Eh?

Charlie was telling me last night how glad he was for having Zaxby’s open a restaurant in the Valley. Charlie has brought me several chicken tender plates and they were pretty good.

“Horsefly will only eat something if it has chicken as the main dish or ingredient” Charlie said with a scoff and then a grin. “I am just glad for an alternative to Kentucky Fried Chicken. KFC was just too greasy, and Jim Bob’s was too far a drive.”

Old Man Winter. Don’t get me down…

2011-11-29T09:32:00.001-05:00

I don’t want the after holiday’s blues that can often inflict us more morose and downtrodden folks. I’ve also been thinking of good, incredible, and nice things with Christmas coming and all the nice meals and gifts that will be had and eaten. I have so many cool computer parts that have been ordered from Newegg.com as well. I will be literally ripping and tearing the wrappings off those gifts like Randy with his dirigible on A Christmas Story. Christmases have always been a big deal in my family as for most others as well. My father loves to lavish his family with interesting things and gifts that please them such as the Confederate money being given to my brother this year. This always used to be mom’s role in the family until it started to cost too much as mom got out of control mentally. Mom was the better of the gift givers, though. She always knew that special thing you wanted or what was in style or on sale.

Dear Charlie,

I am sending God along with you to watch over you. Charlie told me he loved me last night. I think it was the first time for me to ever hear Charlie say that profound phrase to us kids in the family. Now, it will be standard practice. We have set a precedent it seems. I do love the dear man so very much. He has been like my father’s brother all these 30 years and much more like an uncle that my own blood kin.

Leaving On A Jet Plane…

2011-11-28T03:55:00.001-05:00

It is exactly one hours driving time barring traffic from my parent’s house to the gargantuan, scary, and monstrous Atlanta’s Hartsfield airport, the busiest airport in the world. I won’t say I wasn't elated to not have this task. I was deeply relieved. Lately, my nighttime driving skills haven’t been their best. The glare, even with contacts, is terrible. I will eventually have to bite the bullet and have eye surgery on both my corneas to keep driving I fear. The dreaded Lasik laser surgery is what I think it is called. It will probably cost thousands of dollars.

I was honestly sad to see my brother and his family leave. I have missed them despite the thousands of miles between us and the ease of just a quick phone call.

“Get you a practice in the Valley so I can drone on to you about my bowel movements gaseous and solid,” I told my brother with a hearty laugh.

My brother burst out laughing as well belying his usual stoic manner.

“I have plenty of willing and ageing Veterans that already do that,” my brother told me.

Back Down to Earth From Floating On Cloud Nine…

Today is my first week back at volunteering in as many days. Miss Pauline told me we would order two new new Dell computers today. I already have what I want to order forwarded to my email account at work so it can be pulled up easy this morning. It took a hour of mulling over choices in what to get when I finally decided. I hope she will be as excited as I am about what she is ordering. There’s nothing like that new computer smell as you take it out of the box.

Quite Literally Meals on Wheels…

My mother and I were going over what to get grocery wise last night. She keeps a list of what she buys for me to make sure she can get it next week as well. We usually buy the same thing every week for mom’s sake. You don’t want to rock the grocery boat I have learned.

“Mom?” I asked pleadingly. “Get me more of those Hebrew National Frankfurters.”

“You're obsessed!” my mother told me. “Absolutely obsessed.”

Mom grumbled some about them being very expensive and that I already get me enough to last a week. I smiled knowing she would surely get me some anyway. She always does.

Maggie + Little Ones = Good Fun…

2011-11-26T03:27:00.001-05:00

Maggie and I were both reluctantly and alertly standing at my front porch sweating bullets is what you would see arriving at Casa de Andrew yesterday afternoon. Maggie instinctively knew that something very big was happening by my demeanor. Then, Maggie started to bark loudly and joyfully as she could hear the extremely distinctive throaty sound of the engine of my father’s BMW X5 coming around the corner at the intersection down the road.

“Do a quick cleanup,” dad said hurriedly with urgency over my phone and they soon arrived. “The whole family is coming over to visit you!”

I have never been so frantic and so very excited in my whole life. Lots of frenetic energy going on. A lot of nervous apprehension as well. My brother, sister, and their four kids came over to my house in a two car entourage to see “Uncle Buck” as my brother likes to affectionately call me. Maggie had never been around children that much, if at all, and it worried me. She did swimmingly well, though. Maggie playfully roughhoused with my nieces and nephew. It is a very good and pleasant memory that I will enjoyably carry for the rest of my life. I have never seen Maggie play so much as well. Her and the kids got in the backyard and did some running and playing and tossing of Maggie’s favorite toy. My Maggie definitely has some puppy left in her yet!

The Later Night Version of Charlie…

I had been asleep around 3 hours when Charlie awoke me by knocking on the door. Him and my father never sleep it seems. Of course, Maggie went ape shiat bananas fearing nefarious things in the dark of night. Maggie was quietly asleep snoring next to me when Charlie knocked.

“I know you get tired of all that home cooking,” Charlie told me laughing goodheartedly. “Here’s fries and a Big-Mac.”

I didn't have any more room in the bottomless pit that can be my stomach at times .Especially a Big-Mac and fries. Maggie ate well last night. We just won’t tell Charlie, shall we?

Zingers and Ding Dongs…

2011-11-24T06:19:00.001-05:00

Shortly after regaining control of my finances, I almost went hog-wild. Money? Freedom? Autonomy? My precious!

My earliest memory after wrestling back control of my finances was sitting in the parking lot of Fat Albert's and eating Zingers and Ding Dongs I had just purchased -- all things mom and dad wouldn’t let me have when they had control of my finances. They were divine and decadent. Almost too sweet. What supreme freedom! For that memory, I am so very thankful.

I hope you all are having a good Thanksgiving. Dad said he is bringing me a big plate of food this afternoon. I told him to double up on the turkey, cranberry sauce, and dressing with my fingers crossed.. Hopefully, mom will fix and bring my plate for me to get a true bounty. My mother the cornucopia? It has a nice ring to it. Don’t you think?

Let Us Bow Our Head and Pray…

2011-11-22T17:08:00.001-05:00

In thanks to it going over a year without that very literal prick in the ass that was my schizophrenia medications. My buttocks look like the surface of the moon. All pocked and cratered. I bet that was not something you want to visualize in your mind. I will digress and call it a night.

It’s Okay. Be That Way! I Shall as Well!

2011-11-22T06:16:00.001-05:00

The traffic on most blogs must plummet on weeks such as this and they often do. My visits and traffic to my journal have been totally abysmal lately which is what I expected. My subject matter has been pretty milquetoast as well fueling this mass exodus. People are having fun in the reverie of life and spending time with family members. That’s how life and families should be.

Charlie has been by every night bringing food, drinks, and checking on me much to Maggie’s elation. Charlie also has to check his mail because it comes here so Charlie’s wife doesn't find it. That always tickles me and puts a smile on my face. Janice, Charlie's wife, brought crockpot pork chops and rice last night. It was supremely delicious. Along with corn bread and glazed carrots. And you want to know another secret about Charlie's wife? Janice makes the best damn cornbread in the Valley. It will melt in your mouth. (Tee, I am not forgetting about your request for the deviled eggs recipe).

The Changing of the Guard…

2011-11-21T05:20:00.001-05:00

Dear Charlie paid a very whirlwind and surprise visit late last night. I was so glad to see him. Horsefly had yet to get out of the bed as he sleeps during the day. Charlie was going to give my hair a good cut and trim. He said he had told my father he was coming as soon as he got the chance. He also brought enough KFC to feed a battalion of soldiers. My eyes and mind were most intrigued, though, by the giant cup of sweet tea Charlie brought. I was so thirsty and I was also so very glad my house was clean and tidy. Charlie is a stickler about both such things. He would have cleaned my house if it were Charlie at the helm and it needed it.

The nice thing about Charlie is he does all the talking and you can just sit, laugh, and listen. He’s a small talker’s dream come true, The topics vary from the weather to the quality of children's schools. Charlie even talked about his job and the severity of it which he never does.. I admire the man for what he has to do. I am definitely a follower and not a leader. I know my strengths and weaknesses.

Music From the Hearts of Space…

2011-11-20T15:14:00.001-05:00

I love that program on public radio. I love most ambient type music. This ties into my loving most movie soundtracks as well. So much more beautiful than Lady Ga Ga could ever belch out. Long driving trips to college would be spent listening to Hearts of Space on that lengthy journey on the interstate system. At the time, much of this kind of music was hard to find. The internet is your oyster as they say now about music.

Ambushed!!!

I just called mom inquiring about leftovers from Friday’s meal.

“Come and get them,” mom told me weirdly happy. Almost a forced sounding happy. Mom can be a kind of monotone lately until you can give her something to worry about.

Mom didn’t tell me social hell was in store and that there were more than 5 cars in the driveway. I skedaddled out of there as fast as could. It was like wolves' bane and I was the wolf.

Everybody’s Running Late These Days…

2011-11-19T08:41:00.001-05:00

Helen was finished with supper around 4pm yesterday. An hour after she usually gives a plate to my mother to bring over to me. Mom was grumbling about it, but I was just glad to get the food, and you didn’t hear a peep outta me for Helen being late. I was just worried mom had been in a fender bender.

I took a photo of the meal, but it didn’t turn out so well. It has this greenish tint to the photo. My photo skills seem to be degrading for some reason. Lack of use? I paid tons of moolah at www.newegg.com for my Canon camera and need to learn to put it to good and effective use. It certainly would liven up the blog that’s for sure. A picture says a thousand words or so they say.

Helen cooked a delicious meal last night. It was piping hot as I got it out of mom’s floor in the backseat of her car. We had baked center cut pork chops, turnip greens, squash casserole that was nice and cheesy, baked sweet potatoes and okra. Helen also prepared her family famous deviled eggs (my favorite part of the meal). I can just feel my cholesterol increasing as I think about eating those. Especially the deviled eggs. .

It’s Raining Biscuits From Heaven…

2011-11-18T14:24:00.001-05:00

Not quite sure what Helen is cooking today. Dad mumbled something about pork tenderloins and baked sweet potatoes. I will try to get a photo up at the surprise meal if I don’t gobble it down as fast as it arrives here.

Cravings and Waiting…

2011-11-18T12:35:00.001-05:00

I stopped by the illustrious Piggly Wiggly after volunteering. I wanted more Vienna sausages and Ritz crackers. I got home and two cans were so, so salty I couldn’t eat them. I was so disappointed. Bummer. I really was bummed and heartbroken as my social anxieties were acting up pretty badly today and acute to be honest. I didn't want to have to get out in the public again. I got back in the Honda CR-V and went and bought a different brand (Libby) than my mainstay usual repeating the process. They didn’t taste nearly as good as the Amour brand, but were okay. Better than nothing. You want to see some frenetic begging then eat a can of those sausages while Maggie watches on. It will drive her bat shiat crazy. I have never seen her so social barrier breaking and fence bounding that that. She usually finds her way in my lap before all is said and done. And I am such a softy for her that she usually gets what she wants.

Thursdays are dad’s craziest and busiest day at the pharmacy. He has to work a 10 to 12 hour day. He was running super late last night, later than normal, and I was getting very frustrated and aggravated, but I hid my feelings. I wanted to go to bed early, but I know the pecking order all too well. I had no bullets to fight this battle with.

“I am having more computer problems,” he said of the pharmacy as he drove somewhere in his car. “I’ll be there as soon as I can.”

He brought me a large fountain drink from Fat Albert’s in reconciliation. “Don’t sweat the small stuff,” I kept saying as he arrived. “Learn to fight your battles wisely.” My therapist would tell me to put things into perspective.

Breaking Dawn…

2011-11-17T07:17:00.001-05:00

Very chilly on the last leg of Maggie's and our walk this good autumn morning. It is always the coldest before dawn I noted to myself as Maggie and I walked past George and Mrs. Florene’s house on the way home. I haven’t heard from them in so long. I missed them very much.

I had bundled up in heavy clothing and was very glad to get back to a warm and welcoming home to shed some clothes and get breakfast started. Maggie and I walked 3 more miles this morning. Maggie reluctantly came inside not wanting this very chilly excursion and fun to end. Aggravated, Maggie then went outside in the backyard and proceeded to give us a fine round of obnoxious barking. Maggie was acting out and having another one of her Tourette's induced predawn back yard barking sessions. I quickly corralled her back inside before my neighbors could declare war on casa de Andrew.

What’s For Breakfast…

Mom had bought me some of those White Lilly muffin mixes and I baked blueberry muffins this morning. They were really good and those warm muffins hit the spot here in Frost crag. I also fried some bacon. I want to try the strawberry mix tomorrow morning with some fried sausage.

Charlie to the Rescue???

I want to add ceiling fans in every room and have been browsing the big box store prices last night and this morning. I am not sure if I can put one in myself, but I am going to give it a good try, though. Charlie will probably help me next weekend. I had my best ever utility bill last month and I think the fans will help with this even more so. I was very proud of that achievement.

Figuring It Out, Fighting the Capriciousness…

2011-11-16T16:04:00.001-05:00

I must have that deer in the headlights stare and look on me after today. The false tornado sirens have gone off intermittently all day today despite my brain badly needing a nap pronto which was impossible with all the racket. The weather just doesn’t bother Maggie as well . Doesn't bother her one bit. I’m so glad she isn’t scared. It really is a much to do about nothing affair that usually falls far, far flat of the predictions. Have you noticed my 180 turn around opinions on the weather as it matters to me this year? I guess I am just a jaded old cantankerous fool it seems.

Paranormal Maggie…

2011-11-15T14:00:00.001-05:00

Mom? Maggie’s shooting those lasers out of her eyes again.

Where is your God now?

The Curse of the Neurotic Dog…

2011-11-14T22:00:00.001-05:00

Dad was telling me tonight how he could make Maggie mind. Poor Maggie is what I immediately thought. He’s been trying to corral me into his school of thought all my life.

“She would be very amenable to it, “ dad told me as he rubbed Maggie’s belly. “We’d have her doing tricks by next weekend.”

“Dad, you would make that dog a nervous wreck in a few days, “ I replied with a chuckle and he would if he would. “She would be neurotic mess and she is my best friend and not a plaything.”

I had been asleep all afternoon and this greatly alarmed my father – me sleeping during the day. We had to do a controlled substance survey through the house. Of course, no controlled substances here. Nothing breaches more of my civil rights than that. It just kind of steals your thunder. You know? Two steps forward and one step back is what my therapist would tell me. Just keep going forward is what I say.

Tail Between My Legs…

2011-11-13T09:55:00.001-05:00

As Charlie’s Horsefly would say, “Everybody bowls a gutter ball sometimes.”

That would be Maggie's best solution to a bad hair day -- knowing when to take your cards and fold them to go home. I am having a tough day that I’m trying to muddle my way through – trying my hardest to get comfortable and stay upbeat. Then I thought that this is how the ball rolls sometimes. Even “normal” people feel this way at times I say to myself trying to consul me and my battered emotions and mind. Inside my mind is going a million miles to the minute, though. I wish I could just go to sleep and wake up refreshed tomorrow.

Dad comes around 4pm to 5pm every Sunday afternoon and we all go get us a burger and fries. Maybe that will perk me up somewhat. My and dad’s relationship has so improved so much that we love to spend time together and laugh about our own antics and my mother’s. I never thought I would say that in a million years.

Small Town Etiquette…

2011-11-13T06:37:00.001-05:00

Maggie was driving me crazy this morning about walking so I obliged despite my misgivings about walking in the predawn cold.“Y'all doing okay this morning?” a police officer just asked Maggie and I as we stopped for a short break at the stop sign down by the elementary school. He pulled up in his new Dodge “Interceptor” and asked the polite question. We talked a few moments about the dangers of drunks on the road this time of the morning after drinking all Saturday night. I wanted to know all about his patrol car such as engine size or zero to sixty speed. He was more worried more about my safety than anything.

“Just be careful,” he said in closing as he drove off.

I thanked the officer very profusely. I am always worried that some stupid shiat I did drunk and blacked out from my dark and murkily unknown past will came back to haunt me. I shudder to think of that so I am so relieved when a policeman heads on his way without further investigation.

Tumble and Fall…

Mom fell very badly yesterday walking up the stairs from the foyer and the laundry room. She didn’t have any broken bones and that was a big relief. Her hand that broke the fall was a terrible color of black and blue, though. It looked terrible. We thought she was going to have to wear a cast. Dad and I both agreed that mom needs some more help with daily tasks and that possibly soon she will not be all to drive. .

“You were right!” my father told me over the phone. “She got manic and fell down.”

“She cycles like me,” I told my father. “High and lows. That’s why she was talking so fast on the phone.”

Haircut Backwoods Alabama Style…

2011-11-12T04:39:00.001-05:00

One of my biggest and most entrenched and deeply hard to overcome phobias is that I have never been able to get over my fear of the intimacy of being with a barber. Charlie has been my and Horsefly's hairstylist for years – for as long as I can remember. Charlie has truly been a angel sent from heaven for me over the years especially with regards to this phobia. I would probably look like Grizzly Adams if it weren’t for him. Would you like a red headed grizzly bear at your wedding?

“Let Rhonda cut your hair Monday,” my mother pleadingly said of her hairstylist stirring up the pot yesterday afternoon.

“Mom, I can’t take all of that going on. I am happy with our current arrangement.”

I said that very brusquely with a leave me alone tone to my voice. My mother still is of the school of thought that Charlie doesn’t cut hair or very well for the matter. I am so happy. Isn’t that what matters the most? I could go out and get a Mohawk and then my mother would fully faint distraughtly. Be careful with what you ask for.

Such A True Companion and Champion Through and Through. I Deem Her Brave Heart…

2011-11-11T21:11:00.001-05:00

Maggie’s a little dog, but she has a ton of heart. Maggie finally got her much belated and lamented walk late this afternoon when the temperatures were much less harsh and the wind had died down for the most part. I know she thought we would ever go. Every time I would step to the front door to look out she would jump off the back of the sofa and investigate. When I took her leash out of the drawer by the front door, It was like me pulling out the Holy Grail to a group of dyed in the wool Christians. She was in nirvana. “The Lord has sent us a sign. Go forth, procreate and walk my friend.” And walk we did.

A Little Bit Of Helen in the House…

2011-11-11T04:32:00.001-05:00

“What do you want our Helen to cook tomorrow?” my father asked last night as he prepared to go to the grocery store and then home to head for the bed.

My father was in good spirits yesterday evening and felt very well. He was also full of mischief and was only mildly preachy for his normal self. He was giving me a pep talk about continuing with volunteering. I was saying that sometimes I felt like a fish out of water – that I had insecurities about the whole affair. I also asked my father if I was just wasting my time.

“I feel like a third wheel,” I told him.

“Just think of how good a reference you will get,” dad said of Miss Pauline.

“I vote for pear salad and fried cubed steak,” I then replied to dad’s question changing the subject. “And a side order of that Southern style sticky rice I love so well, and steamed broccoli with Helen’s lemon/butter sauce.”

“I’ll get Helen to cook some of her biscuits as well,” dad told me in closing.

Misery…

Walking this morning was pure misery in the cold and wind, and it looks like it is going to continue to be a very long and very cold winter. Not very conducive for walking outside.I think Maggie and I are going to do her walk in the afternoon when I get home from volunteering. That will let things warm up some and the dawn wind dies before we begin our journey. This doesn't mean my and Maggie’s walking days are over with, though. It is one of my New Year’s resolutions and I am sticking to it. That, and to stop my capricious behavior.

Christmas Came Early…

2011-11-10T09:57:00.001-05:00

“I am probably going to start buying new computers a few at a time after the New Year,” Miss Pauline told me a moment ago in her office. “You’re going to be my consultant.”

I got excited. Very excited. When someone says “buy a computer” my eyes light up. That’s like saying, “I bought a Porsche” to an automobile fanatic.

“I will keep them in top running condition to the best of my ability,” I replied to her with a grin of happiness. This very well could be the highlight of my holiday season for me. And would be such a boon to me, my morale, and my volunteer efforts, and make this part of my life interesting again. You know me. I love to play with computer hardware and software. I am going to make sure the literacy center gets good computers and not a bunch of overpriced junk.

The Darkest of Nights Greets Us…

2011-11-10T03:47:00.001-05:00

I awoke at 3am, I ran out to get my car cranked and warm for about 20 minutes, and then undertook the drive to casa de parents to get my 6 sodas for the day after watching the morning events on TV interspersed with ambulance chaser lawyer commercials. My mother had put in a lot of Minute Maid Natural lemonade drinks in the bag as well. She thought I would like that when I looked in the bag and got back in the car. My mother does those little extra special things that make life worth living. She can really bring a smile to your face at times. I will call her when she wakes up.

It was very cold with a stiff and biting wind this morning following a potent cold front with little rain. I decided by unanimous vote (me) to hold off on our walk until the good Earth warms up some which means this afternoon or lunch most likely. Maggie will sulk some, but she will get her walk soon. Maggie and I sure are some impetuous habit loving creatures.

I’m Years Behind Schedule…

I’ve been in a tussle lately with Alabama Power about a street light burning out up at the road. It has been out since my neighbor Joyce passed away. The power company says that I am responsible for the light – that it is privately owned. I scoffed. Usually this is the kind of stuff that sends me reeling with social anxiety. I usually would never make that call. They just don’t know I have a lot of my mother in me as well. She’s the very definition of dogged determination.

i? Phone?

2011-11-09T07:28:00.001-05:00

I’ve decided to bite the bullet and get a new smart phone in a few months. Most likely Spring. I think I am going to wait until the iPhone 5 comes out after Christmas, though. Most of the apps on the iPad can be used on the iPhone as well. I think I am the last person on this planet who has yet to get an iPhone, and probably the last person with a Blackberry.

Dad and I were talking last night when he was over here to feed and water Maggie.

“Best gift anyone ever got me. I have put so much use to it,” I told him honestly of the new updated phone I got from him and mom last Christmas. “I use it everyday data-wise and am amazed you knew what to buy me.”

Dad smiled.

“That’s what your brother said as well,” dad replied. “Those kinds of things such as gifts get Charlie excited,” dad said with a boast. “It is like a treasure hunt for him.”

Ah!!! Dad had given up his secret. Charlie found and bought the new updated Blackberry somewhere in or near town. Boy, did I crack a grin.

Moments in Time…

Maggie and I are attempting to walk longer everyday. Lord, help us! We walked an extra mile today for 3 miles and am feeling it in my legs – a little soreness in my calves. Maggie took to it with aplomb that little trooper she is. It was good to get home and get a good hot plate breakfast going, though. My good friend Pipe Tobacco has been walking for years like this on a much lengthier route. I use him as a role model for my efforts.

Yonder Bright Orb? Have We Met?

2011-11-08T18:37:00.001-05:00

“Hello?” I asked over my ageing Crackberry a moment ago.

“Go outside and look up at the night sky!” my father said excitedly.

His inner child must have been making an appearance.

“Full moon,” I told my father walking back inside after surveying the sky.

“Don’t go streaking maniacally through the neighborhood naked, okay?” he said with a laugh.”You know what the full moon does to you mentally excitable folks. Getting tazed is not fun!”

I burst out laughing. Who said my father didn’t have a sense of humor? hehe

Tasty Treats ala Andrew…

2011-11-08T10:02:00.001-05:00

Today was my morning of the week to bring in a real treat for everybody at breakfast. Last week, Janine brought in an orange pound cake and it was mighty tasty I might add as well. Most of the other mornings were pretty pedestrian. I brought in some deli made chocolate chip cupcakes this morning. The box was empty in a matter of moments. I told everybody to warm them up in the microwave for a few seconds to kick them up a notch, but nobody wanted to wait for them to soften and get warm. I won’t lie and say I didn’t eat two for myself. I have a license to eat at the moment. I’ve gained three more pounds since last last week at this time. My father was ecstatic about it.

“Keep it up,” he told me, “and you can have any keyboard and mouse you want.”

Now that sure can get me excited and motivated as far as my diet is concerned.

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save: $8.00
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^{Walking That Dog…}

Maggie and I went for our customary walk very early this morning. I got up before 3AM for some reason today, but it still wasn’t as cold as the night before when we started much later. I fixed her some cheese eggs as I was about to eat at work this morning. I like to do little things that make life more pleasant for her and me as well.

Vacillating From Hot to Cold…

2011-11-07T05:56:00.001-05:00

I thought it would be warmer today, but I was wrong. A very, very chilly morning is in store for us super early risers as I poked my head out the backdoor. Thank God for the sun and it’s warmth in the winter after a very cold night. Maggie and I have our walk and then I am driving her and I down to McDonalds for our customary sausage biscuit devouring competition visit on this dawn. I just hope Maggie doesn’t bark at the cashier lady today. I am trying to teach Maggie that a ride in the car doesn't necessarily mean a trip to the veterinarian where Maggie totally freaks out and pees all over the seat. I’ve already come prepared with a towel on the passenger’s side seat. Let’s see how Mags does today.

Mom and I On Groceries…

Today is grocery day and a very special day it is. This is my favorite day in all days of the week. It is kina like getting free food for someone with no access to that disability money in my account.

“Mom?” I asked last night. “Get me an extra package of the Hebrew National hotdog franks and buns.”

Those are my biggest food obsession these days.

“Those are so expensive!” mom exclaimed. “And you can’t go over $85 dollars!”

I smiled thinking mom sure would be one tough overseer and taskmaster.

Can I Have a Happy Meal, too, Captain?

2011-11-06T16:47:00.001-05:00

I am sitting here at the bay window in my computer room overlooking our busy street a hundred yards away. The new apartments down from us are a popular place it seems and draw lots of traffic and police as well at all times of the day and night.

“I’ll pick you up in a minute,” dad said after our brief phone conversation closed.

Ah, bless you child!

We are headed down to fast food row across the interstate to get us a quick meal in just a moment. Mom will call dad in anticipation a few times to see where we are in our journey. I am starving and have anticipated this all day. Sticking to our normal routines is important to me. I was also hankering for an McDonald’s apple pie or two.

“The McDouble is 99 cents,” my father then told me calling me back. “Get you and Maggie a McDouble.”

I smiled. Dad still has qualms about feeding dogs people food. I told my father not to mince words.

I’ve Got a Beautiful and Kind Friend in Virginia. She Wanted to Know Yesterday's Menu…

2011-11-05T14:17:00.001-04:00

Dearest Mom had Helen cook a very peppery, but delicious beef tenderloin, creamed corn, fried okra, field peas and cornbread. Helen also made a big jug of sweet tea which was awesome. You would think with me living in the Deep South that I would drink and make more sweet tea. It can be kind of a hassle to make with egg timers and all, and I am a total novice as to the process. My father has it down to an exact science this fixing a sweet tea thing.

“How can someone who cooks Southern food so damned well not be able to cook cornbread?" I tersely asked my father as well last night.

Dad just shrugged his shoulders. He likes Helen’s cornbread.

“Don’t tell her that,” My father replied,”Or we will be eating pork and beans out of a can for a few weeks.”

I laughed. Now, we certainly don’t want that to happen. Eat the cornbread and smile, Andrew.