A Great Line

Occasionally, I forget to do things.  I don’t know if it is a result of getting older, or the fact that I am easily distracted.  The other day I called the auto maintenance shop that I normally use and scheduled an appointment to have the car checked.  The garage is about 30 minutes away, so we try to tie the trip in with something else to conserve on our use of gasoline.  About 30 minutes later, Jerilyn asked me when the car was scheduled to be taken to the mechanic.  Hmmm, was it Thursday, or Friday?  I had to call the shop back and, meekly, ask them to tell me again when I was supposed to show up.   I will tell you right now, this retirement thing is tougher than it’s cracked-up to be.

We have a lamp in the family room that has been giving us trouble.  We turn the light on when we go in to eat our dinner and watch TV (I know, that is a bad habit).  Well, the light has a tendency to turn off at will during our stay.  After tolerating this annoyance for about two weeks, I decided that it was time for me to overhaul the darn thing.  Ten minutes later it was fixed.  I wish I were the type of person that attended to things immediately.  My wife is like that.   Laziness is so hard to overcome.

Jerilyn and I took her mother out to eat the other day at Steak & Ale.  We placed our order and headed off to the salad bar.  After returning to our table, I commenced charging through my salad (that’s what you do to a salad) so I would be finished when my dinner arrived.  Well, I’m about half-way thru my salad, Jerilyn’s mother calls our waiter over to the table and tells him “hold our meal until we finish our salad.† I was a little dumbfounded.  Did she just tell the waiter to hold my meal until she finished her meal?   Yup, that exactly what she did!   In Virginia you have to be at least 90 before you received you license to be rude.  Maybe, New Yorkers get theirs at 88.  Anyway, to preserve family harmony, I immediately slowed the “charging†thing and about 10 minutes after I finished my salad my meal arrived.  Next time I will be prepared.  My response:  “hold hers.  See how fast you can get mine out here!† I hope that is not rude?

I recently made some new friends (isn’t that a great line-I wish I could use it more often).  As it turns out, one of them is an electrician.  I needed a new electrical line from my switchbox to my computer.  I have about 15 peripherals attached to my PC.  PC things don’t draw much power, but 15 things are a lot to have on one line.  I always turn off everything when I shutdown and I never leave it running when we leave the house.   Well, my new friend (Rodney) informed me that when he was in town (he lives in NC) he would run that line for me.  This past week he and his family were here visiting family and doing some fishing.  Saturday, he and his son (Alex) came over and installed two lines, with two switches, that allow me to cut the power to all my devices.  Now I feel much better.  Electrical fires burn down a lot of homes and business’.  It is so nice to have friends with talent!

I am still working on my little replacement boat (Puffer- originally a sailboat).  I have included a picture of it and the one it is replacing.  You see a big difference in the size of the two boats.   I have had the big one for 10 years.  It has not been in the water for almost 3 years and needs some work.  It will be gone by the 1^st of July (I hope).  The Puffer should be in the water sometime this week and I plan on catching supper shortly afterwards.  When I go fishing, I like to drink beer (non-alcoholic), smoke cigars (the only time I smoke) and listen to music.  My favorite fishing buddy is my son, but, I always enjoy the company of others when he is not around (he lives in western TN).  Fishin’ is therapy for the soul.

My urologist called me this past Thursday and said that all 10 prostate samples  were benign.  What a relief!  He informed me that for the size of my prostate (5.0 PSA) I was well within normal, but we should continue to monitor it for a year or so (blood test).  I go back in November.  Thanks, to all of you that included me in your prayers.

I have a first cousin (Jesse) that lives in Winston-Salem, NC.  He called the other day and told me that the doctor just informed him that both his kidneys were diseased from years of high blood pressure.  He was told to expect to go on dialysis in the near future.  He has other medical problems that preclude a possible kidney transplant.  He is a very religious person and in addition to his family, has the Lord to rely on.  Please include him in your prayers if you have room.  I know my list is so long, I sometimes feel embarrassed asking the Lord for so many blessings.  He has never complained.

Until then, thanks for reading.  If you would like to be removed from my distribution list, just reply to this email with “Remove†inserted in the subject line.  If this message is too large for your modem to handle and you would like a less graphic version, reply to this e-mail with “Smaller†inserted in the subject line (3MB vs. 37KB).

Tommy

“Our names are labels, plainly printed on the bottled essence of our past behavior.”

Logan Pearsall Smith