Travelling Day

Today we're traveling on our journey to west Kentucky.

Last night Jade called home. It was 8:00 PM on Thursday in Kingsport, but 7:00 AM on Friday In Hanoi, Vietnam. I didn't understand the words I heard, but I certainly felt the excitement and love in Jade's voice while she was talking to her mother.

The beautiful sunset you see in this picture was taken from a perch fishing boat on Lake Erie August 10, 2007. Two friends and myself were winding down a good day of fishing. The sunset was icing on the cake.

Have you ever heard of the Tate family? They pervade every organization. There is Dick Tate, who wants to run everything. Ro Tate tries to change everything. Agi Tate stirs up trouble whenever possible (and Irri Tate always lends him a hand)." Whenever new ideas are suggested, Hesi Tate and Vegi Tate pour cold water on them. Imi Tate tries to mimic everyone, Devas Tate loves to be disruptive, and Poten Tate wants to be a big shot. But it's Facili Tate, Cogi Tate, and Medi Tate who always save the day and get everyone pulling together.

Isn't it wonderful when people cooperate and work together as a team.

~~~
Quotes of the Day

Coming together is a beginning. Keeping together is progress.
Working together is success.
~Henry Ford

Teamwork divides the task and multiplies the success.
~Author Unknown

~~~
Joke of the Day
(A Poem)

THE MIRROR

The other day, I happened by chance,
As I passed a mirror, to give it a glance.
And I wondered who that old man could be,
Who, with his mouth wide open, was looking at me!

His bald head was sprinkled with a little gray fuzz,
And he wasn't at all handsome (like I always was).
He looked like a sack of mis-mated parts,
Put together without aid of instructions or charts.

And while I know that my shoulders don't slump,
This person's were misshapen in one ugly hump!
Now, if that was my image, I only can say,
They don't make mirrors like they did in my day!

~Author Unknown

Going to Kentucky

Beverly and I will be going on a trip to Kentucky tomorrow. We can't take Jade, but don't worry, we're leaving her in very loving and capable hands. This will give her a chance to get to know some our friends. It will broaden her experience of living in East Tennessee. We sure regret leaving on a trip so soon after Jade arrived, but this was something special that we had planned long before we knew about the possibility of having Jade living with us in our home.

Beverly has two brothers and many friends in Kentucky. And this will be an opportunity to visit with them, And part of our trip will be attending a four day church convention in Madisonville, Kentucky.

Beverly and I met at one of our church conventions in Kentucky in 1960. We were married in 1961 and have been happily married. The picture above was taken the year we were married. Beverly looks as beautiful as the day we married, but I have changed for the worse.

My Dad has always been a lot of fun and likes to joke. On our wedding day, Dad pulled me aside and said, "Today's your wedding, son. This will be the end of your troubles." Then after a little pause Dad continued, ".... the front end."

~~~
Quote of the Day

When preparing to travel, lay out all your clothes and
all your money. Then take half the clothes
and twice the money.
~Susan Heller

~~~
Joke of the Day

Gerald was having trouble with his computer, so he called Harold the computer guy, to come over. You know the type; thick glasses, unshaven, pocket protector full of pens, pencils and Sharpie markers.

Harold clicked a couple of buttons and solved the problem. He gave Gerald a bill for a minimum service call. As he was walking away, Gerald called after him, "So, what was wrong?"

He replied, "It was an ID ten T error."

Gerald didn't want to appear stupid, but nonetheless inquired, "An ID ten T error? What's that .. in case I need to fix it again?"

The computer guy grinned.... "Haven't you ever heard of an ID ten T error before?"

"No," Gerald replied.

"Write it down," he said, "and I think you'll figure it out."

So Gerald wrote out ........ I D 1 0 T

(Comment--I have my share of those "ID ten T" errors. Don't you?)

Beautiful Presentation

I received a very nice file from a friend today. The pictures and music are beautiful. I think you will enjoy. It is a PowerPoint Show (1.73 MB in size). You can download it from Jim's Home Page, and clicking on Fantastic Slide Show which is under Miscellaneous.

Thinking of Shadow

Today I was looking at some pictures of my dog, Shadow, who died earlier this year. She was a wonderful friend and family member. I think the most gentle dog I have ever been around in my entire life. I had a web page for Shadow on "Dogster". Click here to read about Shadow. Dogster is a nice site. You might want to start a page for your dog there.

About Jade Today
Jade's new laptop computer came today. She is so excited!!! She bought it earlier and it was shipped to her from Canada by a friend of her father. It's an IBM ThinkPad and it's very light thin and light. She powered up and got connected to our wireless network. It seems today that computers are a necessity for school work. (I was just thinking about writing a paper in high school and getting all those references from the library. Then typing the paper with footnotes, etc. Remember?)

~~~
Quote of the Day

Do you love me because I'm beautiful,
or am I am beautiful because you love me.

-Oscar , Hammerstein, II

~~~

Joke of the Day

Dumb Men Jokes

• Why are all dumb blond jokes one liners? So men can understand them.
• What is the difference between government bonds and men? Government bonds mature.
• What's a man's idea of helping with housework? Lifting his legs so you can vacuum.
• What's the difference between a man and E.T? E.T. phoned home.
• Why is a psychoanalysis a lot quicker for men than for women? When it's time to go back to his childhood, he's already there.
• What did God say after He created man? I can do better than this.
• How do men define a 50-50 relationship? We cook/they eat, we clean/they dirty, we iron/they wrinkle.
• How do men exercise at the beach? By sucking in their stomachs every time they see a bikini.
• What does a man cosider to be a seven-course meal? A hot dog and a six-pack.
• How are men like noodles? They are always in hot water, they lack taste, and they need dough.
• Why is it good that there are female astronauts? When the crew gets lost in space, at least the woman will ask for directions.

Jade Goes to School

We got all of Jade's school transfer changes made yesterday without any problems. The people at both schools were well organized, friendly and helpful. My expectations were greatly exceeded.

Today Jade started her first day at Sullivan South High School in Kingsport, Tennessee. I took her to school this morning and probably will all school year. We learned the bus comes at 6:15 AM and that seems much too early. We plan to let her ride the school bus home in the evenings. This picture shows her as we left the house this morning. She was so happy and eager to get to school. Her backpack was heavy and she was carrying another book. She packed her lunch this morning and had it in a plastic bag.

She studies so diligently. When she doesn't have homework, she's working on preparing for the ACT and SAT exams.

It was interesting to learn that school starts around 7:30 AM and the let out at 2:15 PM. I remember when I went to school that we started at 8:00 AM and school wasn't over until 3:30 PM.

~~~
Quote of the Day

“We learn more by looking for the answer to a question
and not finding it than we do from learning the answer itself.”
-Lloyd Alexander

~~~
Joke of the Day

A store that sells husbands has just opened in New York City, where a woman may go to choose a husband. Among the instructions at the entrance is a description of how the store operates. You may visit the store ONLY ONCE!

There are six floors and the attributes of the men increase as the shopper ascends the flights. There is, however, a catch . . . You may choose any man from a particular floor, or you may choose to go up a floor, but you cannot go back down except to exit the building! So, a woman goes to the Husband Store to find a husband. .

On the first floor the sign on the door reads:
Floor 1 - These men have jobs and love the Lord.

The second floor sign reads:
Floor 2 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, and love kids.

The third floor sign reads:
Floor 3 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, and are extremely good looking.

"Wow," she thinks, but feels compelled to keep going.
She goes to the fourth floor and sign reads:

Floor 4 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop-dead good looking and help with the housework.

"Oh mercy me" she exclaims, "I can hardly stand it!" Still, she goes to the fifth floor and sign reads:

Floor 5 - These men have jobs, love the Lord, love kids, are drop-dead gorgeous, help with the housework, and have a strong romantic streak.

She is so tempted to stay, but she goes to the sixth floor and the sign reads:

Floor 6 - You are visitor 4,363,012 to this floor. There are no men on this floor. This floor exists solely as proof that women are impossible to please.

Thank you for shopping at the Husband Store. Watch your step as you exit the building, and have a nice day!

Taking Care of Business

We had a wonderful lunch on Sunday with my Dad and my Sister. We met halfway between Kingsport and Knoxville. It was an opportunity for them to meet Jade. We also gave Dad part of his birthday gift since we will be on a trip when he has his 94th birthday on September 2. This picture of Jade and the one of Dad and Jade was taken on the Cracker Barrel porch there at Exit 8 on Interstate 81.

Jade's going to call Dad, "Grandpa". And she's going to call my sister, "Aunt Mary". I'm not sure yet, but I think she's going to call me "Papa". That's great, don't you think!

Today's is going to be a busy day taking care of Jade's school transfer. Since moving in with us, she has to change high schools. All details have been approved. We have to go to her old school and get grades and forms. Then go to the new high school and get her registered, etc. I'm sure things will go smooth, but I have learned one thing in my days... "always expect the unexpected."

~~~
Quote of the Day

Setting a goal is not the main thing. It is deciding
how you will go about achieving it and staying with that plan.
--Tom Landry

~~~
Joke of the Day

A man walking along a California beach found an old brass lamp. As he rubbed it there was a poof and a Genie appeared. The Genie said, "I will grant you one wish". The man said. "Build a bridge to Hawaii, so I can drive over anytime I want to". The Genie said, " Your request is very materialistic. Think of the logistics of that kind of undertaking. The supports required to reach the bottom of the Pacific! The concrete and steel it would take! I can do it, but it is hard and would take time to accomplish. Take a little time and think of another wish that would not be so difficult." The man thought about it for a long time. Finally he said, "Genie, I have been married and divorced four times. All of my wives said that I am uncaring and insensitive. I wish that I could understand women. I want to know how they feel inside, what they are thinking when they give me the silent treatment, why they "cry", what they mean when they say "nothing" and how I can make a woman truly happy." After few minutes the Genie said. "You want two lanes or four on that bridge?"

Good Saturday Morning!

Good morning. All is quiet and peaceful at our home this morning. Jade is now living with us, and I haven't seen her this morning. She was tired from all the excitement of yesterday, and sleeping in a little this morning. We had a great time at our picnic last night. We have "potluck" picnics, and there is always plenty of good food. Jade got a chance to meet many of our friends and sample some of our East Tennessee home cooking. Here's a picture taken of Jade, Beverly and I at the picnic. We have our picnics at the Eastman Recreation Area at the base of Bays Mountain which is a short drive from Kingsport, Tennessee.

Jade's up! Beverly explaining the workings of the microwave and where to find food in our kitchen. It Jade's first breakfast with us.

~~~
Quote of the Day

"A warm smile is the universal language of kindness."
-- William Arthur Ward.

~~~
Joke of the Day

An aged husband and wife are sitting on the front porch. The wife said, "I certainly would appreciate a vanilla ice cream cone." Husband: "I'll hobble right down to the drugstore and get you one dear." Wife: "Now, remember, I want vanilla. You always get chocolate. Write it down - Vanilla." Husband replied, "I can certainly remember vanilla. The store is only two blocks away." Husband comes back with a hamburger and hands it to his wife. She looks at it disgustedly. "I knew you'd forget the mustard," she said.

Checkout my Redneck Pictures

Jade's Here!

Jade did not come yesterday... but she did come today. The coordinator brought her to our home around 4:00 pm. We have been busy since then filling out some forms, etc. We carried Jade's belongings upstairs to her room. She is doing a little unpacking. But not for long... as we have a picnic planned tonight with our friends. This will be great time to introduce Jade. I haven't had time for a picture yet, but I will have one on here later tonight.

She such a lovely girl, and courteous and kind. You'll like her!

Jade... Today!

My, my... what an eventful day! We just learned a few minutes ago that Jade will be coming to our home TODAY! She is a 17 year old high school student from Vietnam who is in the USA as an exchange student. All is waiting, and especially our open hearts to show her love and kindness. And we hope we can fill the void that we expect a 17 year old girl would feel in being so far away from her Dad and Mother and home so, so far away. I'm sure we'll be telling you more about Jade as the days go by.

Bethany, Happy Birthday!

A special salute to our daughter, Bethany White, who is 33 years old today! She makes us proud! She finished her degree at the University of Memphis in Journalism, and then got a MS degree at the University of Missouri. After working a few years in Lafayette, Louisiana, she now lives and works in Rochester, NY as a Features Design Editor. She's an expert on computer graphics and every time she comes home I get her to teach me a little more about my Photoshop type programs. She such a wonderful and loving daughter. More pictures of Bethany can be found here.

~~~
Quotes of the Day

To a father growing old nothing is dearer than a daughter. ~Euripides

A daughter is a gift of love.
~Author Unknown

~~~
Joke of the Day

A young girl who was writing a paper for school came to her father and asked, "Dad, what is the difference between anger and exasperation?" The father replied, "It is mostly a matter of degree. Let me show you what I mean." With that the father went to the telephone and dialed a number at random. To the man who answered the phone, he said, "Hello, is Melvin there?"

The man answered, "There is no one living here named Melvin. Why don't you learn to look up numbers before you dial them?" "See," said the father to his daughter. "That man was not a bit happy with our call. He was probably very busy with something and we annoyed him."

"Now watch...." The father dialed the number again. "Hello, is Melvin there?" asked the father. "Now look here!" came the heated reply. "You just called this number and I told you that there is no Melvin here! You've got a lot of nerve calling again!" The receiver slammed down hard. The father turned to his daughter and said, "You see, that was anger."

"Now I'll show you what exasperation means." He dialed the same number, and when a violent voice roared, "Hello!" the father calmly said, "Hello, this is Melvin. Have there been any calls for me?"

~Author Unknown

The Ercoupe

The Ercoupe was a popular small airplane introduced around 1949. My Dad bought one and learned to fly. It was risky business back in those days. This was in an era when there were hardly any navigational tools... only a compass and look out of the cockpit with a map in your lap. The picture above shows my Dad and Mom, and my sister and myself beside Dad's Ercoupe. I have fond memories of the days we would drive over to the Island Airport in South Knoxville to see the airplanes and visit with other pilots.

I remember one time of going to Memphis with my Mother, an Aunt, and my Sister by auto. We had gone to visit relatives, and, later, Dad flew the Ercoupe, by himself, to a small airport in Memphis. But the most exciting thing ever was he let my fly back to Knoxville with him in the plane--just Dad and me! I remember him landing in Nashville to refuel. While there we were hungry and tried to get something to eat. Nothing was open and we had to eat some stale food from some vending machines.

The picture to the left is part of a 1949 brochure advertising the Ercoupe. It was quite an airplane for its day.

Dad finally sold his plane. Many of his flying buddies lost their lives in plane crashes. So he decided to get out of the flying business. I'm glad he did, because he's still around and will be 94 years old on September 2.

He could tell you many interesting stories about flying in the early days. Visit his Tomato Garden Journal for a visit with him. You can learn a lot from my Dad.

(For more information on the Ercoupe,
check out the Ercoupe Network web page or Wikipedia.)

~~~
Quote of the Day

Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time,
for that the stuff life is made of.
--Benjamin Franklin

~~~
Joke of the Day

The human mind is an amazing thing. It begins working and controlling our body even before we are born and does all sorts of things throughout life... only to stop functioning the minute we get up to speak.

Things on Hold

Some of you recognize that I have deleted some recent postings. What I have been talking about is on hold and I decided I to pull in my comments until all is settled. More later.

~~~
Quote of the Day

"Kindness is tenderness. Kindness is love,
but perhaps greater than love...
Kindness is good will.
Kindness says, "I want you to be happy."
-- Randolph Ray

~~~
Joke of the Day

Tommy's house is packed with relatives for Christmas dinner. Grandpa calls 6 year old Tommy and starts asking about school, girlfriends and other stuff he can think of. After a while, Grandpa notices that Tommy is loosing interest in the conversation so he pulls out two bills from his wallet to see if he can keep him interested. A ten and a twenty dollar bill. He shows both bills to Tommy and tells him that he can keep any one he chooses. Tommy reaches over and grabs the ten dollar bill.

Grandpa pretty surprised and upset about the unwise decision his grandchild made, pulls out another ten dollar bill to see if it was a mistake. Again, he tells Tommy to take one of the bills and keep it. Tommy grabs the other ten. Grandpa again is surprised and upset. He takes Tommy over to one of the uncles and shows him how dumb Tommy is in choosing the ten over the twenty. Grandpa goes on and on showing every uncle and cousin and each time Tommy chooses the ten over the twenty. Grandpa finally shows the stunt to daddy. Daddy's quite surprise but doesn't pay too much attention at the moment.

A few hours later, daddy who is very concerned about Tommy's poor decision, walks up to him and asks him if he knows the difference between a ten dollar bill and a twenty. "Of course," answers Tommy. "So why did you always choose the ten over the twenty?" asks dad. Tommy, with a wide smile answers, "Well dad, if I would have chosen the first twenty dollar bill, do you think grandpa would have played the game fifteen more times?"

Remembering Jack

Jack Beverly, my fishing buddy and best friend passed away on October 28, 2004. Jack was a native of Clintwood, VA. He joined Eastman Chemical Company in 1966. Prior to joining Eastman Jack had earned a BS in Mathematics from Tennessee Polytechnic Institute, a BS in Statistics from VPI, and an MS in Statistics from VPI. We worked together at Eastman until he retired in 1997.

Jack loved to fish, though he did comment that he was probably more of a collector of fishing equipment than he was a fisherman. We enjoyed fishing the local lakes and taking some trips in the spring to other areas. We fished Santee Cooper, Buggs Island, and Lake Weiss in recent years. While we didn't always "slay'em" we always had a great time. I miss Jack and think of him often. He would really would have enjoyed my last fishing trip to Lake Erie. Jack was the brother I never had.

~~~
Quote of the Day

Search others for their virtues, thyself for thy vices.
— Ben Franklin

~~~
Joke of the Day

The following joke is one of my Dad's favorites. I laugh every time he tells it.

A woman same into the butcher shop to buy a chicken for dinner. The butcher had just one chicken left in the ice barrel. He reached in and pulled out a fine looking fowl and placed in carefully on the scales and announced that it weighed 4 pounds.

The woman asked if he had one a little larger. The fast thinking butcher put the chicken back into the barrel and in a few seconds pulled it back out and placed it on the scale a second time and told her that this one weighed 4 3/4 pounds.

The woman paused... Then announced, 'I'll take both of them!'

Be Careful When You Nap

Good Saturday morning to everybody. I hope you have a wonderful weekend. Go easy, it's HOT out there again today.

Back a few years ago, we had Kara and Zachary over for a visit. It seems that I took a little nap on the sofa while they were here. When I woke up they took my picture. You can see what I looked like.


Kara thought it was so funny. So I took her picture while she was looking at my new moustache and beard that she created on my face.

Everyone had a big laugh, and so did I. And I was glad the pen she used was not a permanent marker.

I just talked to Zachary and he wants to go fishing today! We'll try Boone Lake and fish for some bluegill. We're planning to go right after lunch for a few hours. We'll take the pontoon boat.

5:05 PM
Just got back from fishing on Boone Lake. Zachary did great! He caught 9 bluegill. We caught them on night crawlers. I think he is "hooked" on fishing now. He enjoyed it and so did we. It was so much fun to see him fish. Here's a couple of pictures we took this afternoon.


























I have decided to be like Dad, and not post on Sunday.
I'll be posting again sometime Monday. Take care!

~~~
Quote of the Day

Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died.

— Erma Bombeck

A Hot Friday

The hot weather is really with us now. It is supposed to reach 95 here in the Tri-Cities area today. I plan to stay cool for sure.

Beverly and I got our exercise this morning at one of the Eastman workout centers. We try to go 3 days a week and do at least 30 minutes of cardio exercise and about 45 minutes with weight machines.

I got an email from my good friend Monk Wilson yesterday. He and his wife Lucy just moved to North Carolina. They are getting back into crappie fishing. Here's part of his note:

"LUCY AND I HAVE BEEN CATCHING LIMITS OF CRAPPIE ON JORDAN LAKE-20 PER PERSON 10 INCH MINIMUM. WE GO AT 6:30 AM AND FISH UNTIL 10:00 OR 12:00 TO CATCH A LIMIT. CHECK OUT CRAPPIE.COM. NORTH CAROLINA FORUM POST 8/3 MONKSCRAPPIE."

That sounds great to me! Monk is the best fisherman I have ever known. He has taught me much over the years. I have purchased all my boat rod holders and most of my rods & reels and fishing lures from him at MonksCrappie.com. Monk also sent me a picture of his new boat. I think he can troll with 16 rods, if I counted all the rods correctly. He uses the DriftMaster rod holders with the rod resters to hold the rods in a verticle position when not fishing.

~~~
Quote of the Day

Only a life lived for others is a life worthwhile.
-Albert Einstein

Went Fishing

Went fishing today. I wish we had gone catching instead! We went to beautiful Watauga Lake (See picture at right). We wanted to try out some fishing equipment and techniques we had learned about at Lake Erie last week.

Some of the things we wanted to try were some Deeper Divers (Dipsey Divers) that get your lures down to specific depths. We also wanted to try out some new lures, including some spoons, plugs, and worm harnesses. And, we wanted to try these with some new rods and reels. The new reels are fitted with line counters and are filled with new braided line that has 35 pound breaking strength. This picture below shows one of the reels. I think this system is going to work in East Tennessee. Hope to try it later on South Holston Lake and maybe Cherokee. This works so well for walleye in Lake Erie, I think it may have some promise around here. (I hope!)

My quote of the day is from the Bible. This verse is supposed to be the middle verse in the entire Bible (I have not confirmed this). I thought this interesting, and thought that if we could apply this to ourself it would help to put us in the center of God's will.

~~~~~

Quote of the Day
"It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man"
Psalms 118:8

First Entry

Hello Everybody! Just started this blog and it will take me a while to get it going.

I'm a Granddaddy from Kingsport, Tennessee. I have 3 grandchildren that are absolutely wonderful. You can learn a lot more about me from my web page:

http://jrw5255.googlepages.com/home

I love to fish, and you can learn about my fishing experience on my web page.

Life has been kind to me because I grew up in a loving family. My Dad is almost 94, and I have a wonderful sister. Mother died when she was young, only 60 years old. But what a Mom she was!!!

I am also blessed with a loving wife and 2 wonderful living children. I am a happy person.

Quote of the Day

If you don't know where you are going, any road is OK