Saturday, February 2, 2013

Family Birthday Celebration

We Had a Grand Day!
Karen & Pat came up from Knoxville and brought Mary today so we could celebrate three birthdays. We enjoyed a wonderful lunch at Outback, then back to our house for cake and ice cream. And all the while it started snowing. Here’s some pictures:

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~~~
Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
We were out in the car during the snow. Right now the roads are in good shape, but I wonder what will happen tonight. And I did not realize how cold it was. My car said it was 27 degrees but look at what I saw at the corner gas station. Now that’s cold!
photo

~~~
Quote of the Day
The family is a haven in a heartless world.
~Attributed to Christopher Lasch

~~~
Joke of the Day

Mom and the kids had been up in the attic together doing some cleaning. The kids uncovered an old manual typewriter and asked her, "Hey Mom, what's this?"

"Oh, that's an old typewriter," she answered, thinking that would satisfy their curiosity.

"Well what does it do?" they asked.

"I'll show you," she said and returned with a blank piece of paper. She rolled the paper into the typewriter and began striking the keys, leaving black letters of print on the page.

"WOW!" they exclaimed, "that's really cool, but how does it work like that? Where do you plug it in?"

"There is no plug," she answered. "It doesn't need a plug."

"Then where do you put the batteries?" they persisted.

"It doesn't need batteries either," she continued.

"Wow! This is so cool!" they exclaimed. "Someone should have invented this a long time ago!"



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Wednesday, January 30, 2013

Grandmother’s Birthday

Age? I Won’t Say
However, I would suggest you check out the picture of her with a birthday card in her hand. The number was handwritten and did not stand out until I embellished it a little. (The devil made me do it.)

We had a grand time tonight at Kevin’s enjoying some birthday cake and watching Grandmother open a few gifts. She also received some nice gifts from Bethany in the mail today. The festivities for Grandmother’s birthday will continue the rest of the week, with a great day planned for Saturday, when my cousin Karen & her husband Pat plan to visit us and they are bringing Mary with them. We will be celebrating 3 birthdays of Saturday: Beverly-Jan 30, Karen-Jan 31 and Mary=Feb 5.

Here’s some pictures taken tonight at Kevin’s home.

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BirthdaySnoopyHappyDance

 
~~~
Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
Don’t ever regret growing older.
It is a privilege denied to many.

~~~
Quote of the Day
Grow old with me!  The best is yet to be.
~Robert Browning

~~~
Joke of the Day

Two elderly ladies had been friends since their 30s. Now in their 80s, they still got together a couple of times a week to play cards. One day they were playing gin rummy and one of them said, "You know, we’ve been friends for many years and, please don't get mad, but for the life of me, I can't remember your name. Please tell me what it is."

Her friend glared at her. She continued to glare and stare at her for at least three minutes. Finally, she said, "How soon do you need to know?"

~~~

My memory's not as sharp as it used to be.  Also, my memory's not as sharp as it used to be.

 


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Tuesday, January 29, 2013

Some Peaceful Things

Birds
I enjoy watching the birds in the backyard. We have several bird feeders. They were getting empty because of my surgery, but with Grandmother’s help we got them filled to the brim on Saturday. Here’s a few pictures of a woodpecker that way going back and forth to this feeder on Sunday morning.
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Return to the Ship
I wasn’t aware of this. I thought you might not be also. It’s very touching. I’m proud to be an American.

 
~~~
Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
The only peace that we can ever achieve is the peace within our hearts and souls.

~~~
Quote of the Day
We seek peace,
knowing that peace is the climate of freedom. 
~Dwight D. Eisenhower

~~~
Joke of the Day

An old man walks into the barbershop for shave and a haircut, but tells the barber he can't get all his whiskers off because his cheeks are wrinkled from age.

The barber gets a little wooden ball from a cup on the shelf and tells him to put it inside his cheek to spread out the skin.

When he's finished, the old man tells the barber that was the cleanest shave he's had in years. But he wanted to know what would have happened if he had swallowed that little ball.

The barber replied, "Just bring it back in a couple of days like everyone else does."



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Monday, January 28, 2013

Dad’s Egg & Poultry Business

Ever Used a Blotter?
Or do you even know what a blotter is? They used to quite common when people used ink pens. I’m not talking about ball point pens, I’m talking about real ink pens. You know the kind you filled from an ink bottle. The blotter was a necessity to blot your writing so that it would not smear. Blotters were often used for advertising. I have picture of a real blotter that was used for advertising by one of my Dad’s first business ventures in Knoxville, Tennessee.

WPCblotter

The side I am showing was on slick paper, the reverse side was a absorbent paper that would blot the ink. It’s interesting to note the phone number which in those days was a five digit number and there were not any area codes.

In later years people did not use blotters, so other types of advertising freebees were provided. Here’s some examples:

Group

The main product of my Dad’s business during those years was eggs. His copyright brand was Pride of the Flock, and here’s a picture of one of the later day egg cartons:

PrideFlock2

I worked from my Dad on weekends and every summer during high school.  He made me start work in the most difficult part of the operation. My first year I worked in the chicken processing part of the operation. I was a trained killer of chickens and learned all the scalding, picking and preparation of the birds for market.

My second year I was promoted to work with the eggs where I was an egg candler. I held eggs to a light to learn how to grade the eggs so that only the Grade A’s would be packaged in that Pride of the Flock cartoon.

I was moved to truck driver for my 3rd year where I delivered eggs and poultry all over the city of Knoxville. It was one of the most educational experiences I ever had in dealing with the public and learning about human nature. I could share several stories about happenings with people in both small and larger grocery stores.

The last year I worked in the office where I did some of the bookkeeping, walk in sales and miscellaneous tasks. In all it was quite an experience. I enjoyed it very much and learned things that have helped me cope in life.

A President That Talked About God
This is an interesting video which is called a tribute to President Ronald Reagan. It’s amazing the things he said which I am sure would not go over with many people today. I really liked President Reagan and I still believe that there is a place for God in our government. Click here to watch the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ds7vnZWQh8A

~~~
Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
IMG_0138I read recently where someone said “Bad decisions make good stories”. I guess there’s some truth in that because I can think of a few things in my own life where a bad decision resulted in a good story. Most of the time these stories are not very funny at first, but as time goes along there becomes more amusement in the story. But the main thing is we should learn something from bad decisions so that we don’t repeat them. That doesn’t always work because I have one story that is the result of 3 bad decisions that were the same decision. I might tell you about it some day.

~~~
Quote of the Day
Winter is the time for comfort, for good food and warmth, for the touch of a friendly hand and for a talk beside the fire: it is the time for home.
~Edith Sitwell

~~~
Joke of the Day

A wife texts her husband on a cold morning: "Windows frozen."

Her husband texts back: "Pour some lukewarm water over it."

The wife texts back 5 minutes later: "Computer completely messed up now."



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Thursday, January 24, 2013

Thinking of Atley

My Great Grandson
Our thoughts flow to middle Tennessee frequently because that’s were Atley lives. I’ve been getting some pictures from Mandy’s Facebook account that keeps us up to date. And sometime we will invoke Apple Facetime to watch Atley perform a new feat. If you’re not on Facebook you might enjoy the following pictures. (Thanks to Mandy & Alex for the pictures.)

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My Recovery
All is going in the right direction. I had 2 sessions at out patient physical therapy. Very little change in the exercises: only one slightly modified. I will be going to physical therapy twice next week. I do the exercise twice per day at home. I feel stronger and more stable each day.

 
~~~
Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
Some thoughts :

  If the world were a logical place, men would be the ones who  ride  horses sidesaddle.

  What is a "free" gift? Aren't all gifts free?

 


~~~
Quote of the Day
I got the bill for my surgery. 
Now I know what those doctors were wearing masks for.
~James H. Boren

~~~
Joke of the Day

How birds tell someone to SHUTUP!
Guess which one is female.

ShutUP
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Monday, January 21, 2013

Enjoy Life.

Not much going on in Upper East Tennessee

I’m still recovering from hip replacement surgery that I had 3 weeks ago. As I recover my thoughts have been going toward spring and fishing. I have lots to do during the winter months to get ready. I’ll be putting new fishing line on all my rods and reels that we use for crappie fishing in the spring. I also like to go through my tackle boxes and get things better organized. Will I be purchasing anything? I doubt it. I think I could fish for the next 20 years and not run out of fishing tackle.

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The picture above was taken last year on Douglas Lake on March 27, 2012. I’m hoping we can be on the lake this year in late March.

Today
I start going to out-patient physical therapy for my hip today. I’m very pleased with the progress I have made to date. Last Saturday I took Grandmother to Wal-Mart and this gave me the opportunity for some exercise by walking through the store behind a shopping cart. It was good to get out of the house for a while. I was getting cabin fever.

Special Musical Talent
Watch this man play Whispering Hope blowing on a leaf. It’s beautiful and amazing.

 
~~~
Tennessee Granddaddy Says:
Some mistakes are too much fun to only make once. It’s alright to make mistakes as long a you learn something positive from your errors.

and

A truly happy person is one who can
enjoy the scenery on a detour.


~~~
Quote of the Day
Happiness and sadness run parallel to each other. 
When one takes a rest,
the other one tends to take up the slack.
~Hazelmarie Elliott (“Mattie”)

~~~
Joke of the Day

ColdDemocrat
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Friday, January 18, 2013

It WAS a Beautiful Snow

Yesterday’s Snowfall
The roads are clear now and the mess of the day after a snow fall is upon us. But it was beautiful. Those big flakes were so pretty.

IMG_1016During the snow we received a picture from Lesley showing Kara and Zachary outside and playing in the snow.

I sure wished I could get outside and join them in some sleigh riding or even a playful snowball fight. That would have been fun!

More News!
IMG_1017I now have a granddaughter that is very, very happy and excited. Maybe the  picture will give you a clue.

Do you recognize what she is holding? It looks a lot like a Tennessee Drivers License, but I am pretty sure it is a Tennessee Drivers Learning Permit. She took the test and got the permit today. That’s a happy girl.

Quote of the Day
The best car safety device is a rear-view mirror
with a cop in it. 
~Dudley Moore

 

Thoughts of the Day

In 1866, Mark Twain said, “No man's life,  liberty, or property is safe while the legislature is in  session.” Those words are true today!

It is good for us to remember “Talk is  cheap...except when Congress does it.”


Joke of the Day

    A very thirsty man goes into a bar. As he's sitting down, he hears the man next to him tell the bartender, "I'll have another waterloo."

    The bartender gives the fellow a tall, well-iced drink, then asks the newcomer what he would like to drink.

    Thinking the other man's drink may be a specialty of the house, he says, "I'll have a waterloo, too." The bartender gives him the tall, well-iced drink, and the customer takes a big drink.

    "Hey," he says, "this isn't any good. It tastes just like water!"

    The man next to him looks at the bartender and says, "Well, it is water. Right, Lou?"