Friday, July 16, 2010

A Death in The Family

Goodbye!

7-15-2010



I know you were only our step-father for some of us, but you were also our dad. You raised us. You helped with our homework. You took us for Sunday rides. You threw us in the pond and told us to swim or die, so we swam the dog paddle and were so proud of ourselves. You brought us our first dog. You tied a string around our tooth and the door knob and slammed it shut. We grinned. You took us on trips across America. You bought us our first Color TV. You showed us how to be remotes. You played games with us. You taught us to shoot pool and play ping pong. You taught us how to ride a bicycle. We played horseshoes with you. You taught us the joys of 52 card pick-up and went to war with us. With Monopoly it was on, you never "let" us win. You told us to get good grades or else. You watched us grow up and leave the roost. You played with the grandkids.

There were good times and there were bad times as in all families but we all always loved each other. There was a time that we could not help you, and it will always be a sad time, but there was still love.

What can we say now that you are gone? We can say that we still loved you and we will miss you, the man who was our Dad. We can say that we pray we will see you in heaven when we move on from this world. We will always remember our Dad and you will always occupy a place in our hearts.

We love you Dad, may you find the way through Heaven's Gate and we will see you on the other side. Save a place for all of us.

Peace be with you. Love you. God bless you.

Thursday, July 15, 2010

Theme Thursday....HELP

Beyond Help!!



Sometimes one just needs to ask for help.
Sometimes one just needs to ask for help.
Sometimes one just needs to ask for help.
Sometimes one just needs to ask for help.

Have you ever had one of those moments when no matter how much you wanted to ask for help, you just could not?

Why is it sometimes so hard to ask for help?

Why are we so afraid to ask for help?

Sometimes help comes in mysterious ways!
Sometimes help is there if only one will ask!
Sometimes help comes knocking on your door!
Sometimes help is me helping you and you helping me!

Help, I need someone! Help, just ask me!

For more Help, please go here!

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Young Minds!

I am still young, at least in my mind I think that way. While watching this commercial that someone emailed me I laughed and then had to show it to the grandkids who also laughed. Then I realized that we were looking at this video in different ways.

They were laughing at the absurdity of old people thinking that they could possibly look like young people, and I was laughing because I know that most of us older people still think that we are young.

Now I will grant you that I have probably never looked like the young girls in the video, and I know that I do not look like the older women in the video because I have not reached their age. I do have a while to go before I get to their age but sometimes due to body aches and pains, I do feel as old as they look, but my brain still thinks that I am as young looking as the beautiful girls. And if you have seen my pictures of when I was young, well then you know why my brain likes to at least pretend I still look like that.

And pretend it does. I dye my hair to hide the gray hairs. I use wrinkle prevention cremes by the barrelful. I stay out of the sun and have turned white as a ghost. I keep up to date on what the young people watch and listen to. I text. I facebook. I email. I blog. I buy the latest tech gadget.

Let's face some facts here. I have learned one thing at my age, I am what I am. I dye my hair when the gray hairs have grown so long that I should just give up. I have to use the cremes because my skin is so dry. I stay out of the sun to prevent more skin cancer. I am white as a ghost and I am not white. I know what the young people watch and listen to because the grandkids are here watching and listening to it. I text and email to stay in touch with my offspring. I facebook for the same reason. But I blog because I enjoy it and all of you out in Bloggyworld. And I buy the latest tech gadgets because I am a sucker for anything new in the tech world. I, like Alan, can hardly wait until I can afford to buy an iPad.

For all you young people out there who laugh at the old people in the video, I hope someday that you make it to their age, heck I hope I make it to their age, because if we don't then that means we are dead. And trust me getting old and letting your brain think you are young is a lot better then dying. Just ask...............

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Theme Thursday....Ball

The Joy of a Ball

Look at this little yellow ball and then tell me what you see. Did you see a little yellow piece of plastic? Did you see something that is boring? Did you see a yellow thingy of nothing? Did you see a round object? Did you see a cheap ball?

You know what I see, I see a ball of joy. Guess what, this yellow ball of joy is priceless because one cannot buy joy. You might be wondering why this little yellow ball is a joy maker, I can only say one word that explains it, "Grandson".

Maybe I should use two words, "Baby Grandson". This little ball, I think it is less then two inches in diameter, just the right size for a ten month old baby boy. Christopher has already played baby Jesus and so he has star quality, but I have noticed that he seems to like the simple things in life. Oh the intelligence of this baby is amazing

He has a lot of toys already, a baby toy laptop, balls that make music, rattles, noisy car keys, teething rings, stuffed bears, even a Tickle Me Elmo that was his Mom's. Grandma and Grandpa are already spoiling him just like we did the other grandkids. But even with all these toys there is one toy that he always grabs out of the pile of toys we put in front of him. He grabs this little yellow ball. It fits perfectly in his cute little fingers. He always uses three fingers to hold it, almost like a baseball pitcher. Then he sticks it in his mouth, smiles at me and next thing I know he has thrown it at or towards me. Then I pick it up and give it back to him, he laughs with joy. He puts it in his mouth again, takes those three fingers holding that ball and throws it towards me again. I pick it up and give it to him again. I get another laugh full of joy. This game will go on for as long as I am willing to play. Usually it lasts for ten or fifteen minutes, sometimes longer. What can I say, I too am easily entertained.

The laughs of joy are awesome and I hope they continue for a while longer. They fill my heart with love and joy. I see that smile and my heart melts. Priceless!!!!

Please take another look at this little yellow ball and then tell me what you see.

To see more balls, please go here.

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Independence Day

Happy Fourth of July!!!!



Freedom

Freedom was once declared to put an end to tyranny,
In a country that was growing, and there were many,
Who knew that they were being dreadfully overtaxed daily,
By a government who spent their ill gotten money gaily.
And wanted to control every business across the land,
For the leader had many cronies who in greed held out their hand,
Wanting to surely receive their share of ill gotten gains,
Ignoring the people suffering and all of their pains.

The leader had taken control of each business, one by one,
Until he controlled them all and the people soon controlled none,
He and his cronies told the people what to do because the people had no brains,
They were too stupid, they had let the leader take over the reins,
So as to tell them when to work, where to live, what to like, even what to say,
And the people had been like sheep, following their leader every single day,
Giving him and his cronies whatever they asked, living in squalor,
While their leader and his cronies lived in luxury and splendor.

One day, one of the many opened her eyes, truly looked, and she could see,
She saw that they were no longer free, they had lost this due to complacency.
She rang the bells, night and day to wake the others so they could see, to wake them up each day,
She rang and rang, and others rang, to declare a war, to end the tyranny, for others to hear them say,
That they would stand up and fight against those who would not let them be free,
To stand up against those who would over tax them, to fight those who would not let them drink their tea.

They declared their independence from this over educated leader and his cronies right at the start,
They dumped the over taxed tea, gathered up their arms, formed an army, put men in charge who were smart.
They fought a war, and won, they sent their old leader and his cronies back to his land without their tax monies,
They had the smart men write a Constitution in which they would use to rule their new land, rid of the cronies.
Their land became the beacon of hope for those who wanted to live free from greedy dictators and such,
So the people became like lions, always keeping vigil against those who seek to destroy freedom, kicking their arses, enjoying it too much.



God bless America, let freedom ring, let independence grow, let us be one nation under God, let us band together as brothers against those who would harm the less fortunate, let us protect our land of the free so we may be the hope for all those longing for freedom in the lands of the oppressed. Let us be a peaceful nation and help those in need. May God bless America.

Thursday, July 1, 2010

Theme Thursday.....Blue

Opal Nation23

Father stood up, walked over to where he stood, and then looked to see what the Packwitt was staring upon. Slowly they both backed up to hide behind a bush and looked at a most terrifying site. They could see in the distance the dead zerthbeelee, lying there on the ground.

I stood up, and looked at Father and Ben staring at me. I had to get out of the room because I felt so sad for the zerthbeelee and Packwitt who had died and at the same time I was so thankful that my Father was still alive. I knew I should only be thinking of the Packwitt and his family but I could not. Father was all that Ben and I had left. If anything had happened to him then what would we do. I went to stand on the back patio to get some fresh air. Neither Ben nor Father followed me. I think they knew that I needed to be alone.

I am not sure how long I stood there, just staring out and not really seeing anything. The sun started to go down and I knew I better go back inside. I walked into the library, Father was still sitting in his chair holding his glass that I knew held his Special Reserve. I looked at the couch and saw that Ben had fallen asleep and was lightly snoring. Father then looked up at me and I could tell that his look held the unasked question of whether or not he should continue with his story, and if I would be up to listening to it. I wanted to refuse but I knew that I had to hear about everything my Father had been through when he had gone to the Opal Nation. I nodded a yes to my Father. He nodded back, and I knew I had to wake Ben up so that he too could hear the rest of the story.

Ben finally woke up when I pushed him off the couch and he fell on the floor. "What did you do that for?", he griped at me while rubbing his shoulder. I just gave him a look and then nodded again at Father.

Father then continued with the story.

He said they could see these creatures attached to the zerthbeelee and thought they could hear a loud sucking noise coming from them but could not tell for sure because of the two zerthbeelees still wailing while watching the other Packwitt. The Packwitt with Father looked at him and whispered, "Bullcomimao!". Then he and Father looked at what was happening and knew that they had better be as still and quiet as possible. Father motioned to the Packwitt to go and try to get the two zerthbeelees to stop the wailing noise. He looked like he was afraid to leave Father, but at the same time he knew that he needed to get the zerthbeelees to quiet down before the Bullcomimao's came back to their camp.

Father looked back at the scene before him and was fascinated by the creatures feasting upon the zerthbeelee. They were smaller than a dog, larger than a cat, about the size of a very large racoon. There looked to be around four of them in what seemed to be their area in which to suck the blood out of the zerthbeelee. Three of them must have been there longer then the fourth one because they were already starting to turn brown, but what what the Packwitt must not have known was that first they turned a pale blue color before they turned brown. Father said it was strange because you could almost see which parts of their body the blood was going into. You could see the pale blue color moving along from their head and making it's way to the rest of their bodies. It was fascinating and it was terrifying at the same time.

The fourth one was larger and this was the one that frightened Father the most. It was still pretty much green in color but it had the most blood on it's body. It would stop sucking and then look at the other three bullcomimao's and then look back towards camp. Father swore the creature looked right at him, but then he told us that he was holding his breath so tight until his lungs hurt that he knew he had not moved. The green creature then went back to sucking with such a vengeance that Father was worried that it had seen him and wanted to make sure that it got it's share of the blood before something happened.

Father then noticed that the two zerthbeelees had lowered the sound of their wailing, maybe that was why the creature had looked towards their camp. The creature was probably thinking about attacking the other zerthbeelees when it was finished with this one. Father tried to see where the missing Packwitt had been dragged, only he could not see him. He saw a trail of blood a few feet away from the dead zerthbeelee but there were too many bushes in the way for him to see if the Packwitt was over there. Hopefully there was not another Bullcomimao with the Packwitt, but Father knew there was a possibility.

Father continued to study the creatures, mostly the large one because it was changing faster then the other three. They had no hair, no feathers, and he could not see any scales, but it was hard to tell at this distance. They could have had scales, but they might have been small ones, but for now Father could only guess that they had a very thick looking type of hide. It was almost like a deer skin once the hair had been removed. Father then noticed that they had a short tail, which he could see they were using to balance their bodies while on the Zerthbeelee. The tail was still green on the four of them. Maybe that would be the last part to turn pale blue and then brown. He looked closer and could see that the tail had what looked to be almost like fish scales but not really fish scales. They were almost triangular in shape but the tips were rounded off. For some reason they made Father think of a shovel. The Bullcomimao's continued to suck, seemingly ignoring everything going on around them. Father could now even hear the sickening sucking noises they were making, but he could not stop watching. He told us it was like watching a horror movie and you just had to see what was going to happen next. The only difference he said was that he soon began to realize that he was a part of this horror movie.

He knew that the moment when the Bullcomimao's stopped sucking on the Zerthbeelee, withdrew their large claws out of it, and looked back towards the camp.

For those who missed part 22, here is the link. Which also links to parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16,17, 18, 19, 20, and 21. For more Theme Thursday's please go here.

Thursday, June 24, 2010

TriAngles of Life!!

Burning!!

Awakened, her eyes popped open. Her throat was burning. She could taste the peanut butter and jelly sandwich she had eaten the night before. Slowly she sat up in her small bed, the thin blue blanket dropped to her lap. She didn't even notice because the pain in her throat was so intense.

She crawled out of bed, then made her way into the bathroom, and while she was looking for the matches, she almost collapsed on the floor.

Damn peanut butter and jelly sandwiches had been bothering her so much lately. What was she going to eat if she could not eat them anymore, she thought as she lit the candle sitting on the toilet tank lid. She was barely making it with the little pension the newly formed government gave her. She was one of the lucky ones because she was allowed to work part-time in a bakery and so she was allowed to sneak the end pieces of the loafs of bread home to her room.

She opened the medicine cabinet and found the small bottle of Tums that she had bought the week before. There were only three tablets left. She filled a cup with tap water then took one of the tablets and broke it in half. It would have to do. She slowly sucked on the Tums. It was almost like eating a piece of candy. She had not had any candy in so long that she had almost forgotten what it tasted like. When the Tums had melted she drank the glass of water. She almost spit it out because it tasted so bad, but she had no choice, she had to wash down the acid that was burning her throat. Slowly she walked back to her bed and crawled back in, pulling the thin blue cover over her tiny frail body.

As she lay there, she remembered.

She remembered when things were different. She had once lived in a nice house with her husband and son. They were not rich but they were not poor either. Her husband owned a small business that was doing okay. They had saved enough to send their son to a good University and he had become a Doctor. He had moved nearby, and was working at the Hospital in that city. They did not see a lot of him because he was so busy, but when they could, they would visit. He eventually got married and had three children.

Oh how she had loved her grandchildren and even her son's wife. She was the daughter she had never had. Her husband and she had seen more of them then their son, and it was okay. The grandchildren had become a very important part of their life.

Then slowly everything changed. The leader of their country somehow convinced the government that they needed him to stay on as their leader, and because the military backed him up, the others kept quiet and went along with it. He had told everyone that he wanted to change things, and he had changed "Everything". Soon the government was taking over the banks, big businesses, the oil companies. They slowly worked their way into forcing most companies to need the governments help to stay in business. They changed how everything was done, and soon enough it seemed like the government owned everything.

Her husband had to follow so many new rules and regulations for his business, that he was forced to work long hours. Then he had to pay for the medical benefits for all of his employees, so he laid off a third of his workers to do this. Everyone had to work longer hours, but they did not get any extra money. What choice did they have, the government told them they had to have the medical benefits or they would have to pay out of their own pockets. They figured it was better if her husband paid, instead of them paying.

Everyone kept quiet because they had heard that those who complained had disappeared and no one had seen them again.

The only good thing was that her son had been on the side of the rebels, and when they had split the country up, with the rebels taking over more then a third, her son, daughter-in-law, and grandkids had been living in that part of the country.

She had not been allowed to speak to them or see them since that had happened. But rumors had been going around that they lived as she had once lived. They were free! They were not slaves to a government that never seemed to have enough from it's people, and a mad man as their dictator, who pretended that his citizens were free.

About four years after the take over, her husband had died of a heart attack. The government doctors had said he was in poor health and had not taken care of himself as they had directed. She knew better, she knew it was due to the stress and that they were barely surviving. The government taxed them to death. They taxed everything they possibly could. Then when you could not pay the taxes they took over. They then owned everything, and you worked for them. But you were not really one of "those government workers", the ones who really worked for the government, and were paid a ridiculous amount of money for doing almost nothing.

Everyone had watched this happening to their country. The triangles of life had changed. Once upon a time you were born, you lived a nice life and then you died. Now you were born, you died inside every day, and then your pathetic life was over. Well unless of course you were one of "those government workers". They still had the great triangle of life to live.

She had done nothing to fight it, she had listened to her husband telling her that everything was fine. Well it was not, she had nothing but a room, and every day some peanut butter and jelly to put on some bread. Once she had found an egg and she wanted to eat it so much, but she had no stove to cook it on. But she was smart, she found a tin can in the trash and cooked the egg inside the tin can, while holding it over the candle. She thought she had died and gone to heaven. She had even saved the tin can just in case she found another egg. So far she had not.

She lay there in her bed with no pillow for her head, the blue blanket too thin to warm her frail body, thinking of her son and how her life would have been if she had listened when he had asked her to go with him and join up with the rebels. Tears were rolling down her cheeks, as she rolled on her side, she closed her eyes, praying that she would not wake up. She missed her husband and wanted to be with him. She slowly fell asleep.

An hour later her eyes popped open, her throat was burning again. She thought to herself, those damn peanut butter and jelly sandwiches!

For more TT triangles, go here.

Update:::::We just had a really good earthquake as I was sitting here reading posts. It was at 5:14 am. A rolling movement and then a big jolt that bumped me up. Guess I will see on the news what size it was. It was a 3.3 with the epicenter near here. Anything over a 3.0 is big if you are near the epicenter. God bless.