181

In the 80's I use to run with a group of friends to stay in shape and keep my weight down. Our road trips to races were great times of fellowship, bonding, and good meals on the drive home. We still talk about our 'running days' when we get together.

I thought that running would keep me from gaining weight, but it didn't. (It might have, if I'd had changed my eating habits.)
I had one friend as concerned as me about his weight problem. He and I stopped by Walmart one day and decided to weigh ourselves on the scales at the entrance. I weighed 181, I had never weighed that much before. I was shocked! My friend said nothing, I thought he was being compassionate. I tried to forget '181' .

A day or so later he and I were running with another friend and were having a good conversation, (by the way, they say if you can talk while you run, you are running too slow). Then out of the blue my 'friend' said, "I wish I could get down to 181! " They had been discussing my experience at Walmart earlier and good laugh at my expense, and to this day they still laugh about '181!'

Over the years '181' has come and gone and now I'm now trying to get back down to '181'.
Thursday my secretary's little son, Davis, came to the office around lunch carrying a pack of french fries from McDonalds. He's a very sweet little boy, and thought that Mr. Robbie would like a french fry. When started to hand me one , his lovely mother said " Davis, can you say 181?"
I'm not mad, she's not the only one in the office to remind me of '181'. Maybe I share too much.
I guess I do need all the 'encouragement' I can get.

Will '181' ever come again?
I'll let you all know.
I might even write a letter to Walmart.

Fun Family Facts

I'm blessed to have a big wonderful family, and we all enjoy getting together during the holidays. When you live out of town you don't get to experience all that goes on with the family. So, every time we meet, I try to learn more about their daily lives. How their jobs are coming along , where they're going on vacation, and how their children are doing in school.

One thing I heard this year is that my niece, my who is an RN, helped her 3rd grade son on a school paper, and he made a 49! She said "you don't have to be able to write to be a nurse". She didn't think it humorous. But to my family, it was!

It was amusing to see my sister, who is a 1st grade teacher, teaching my nurse niece, 3rd grade English. I guess most of us have forgotten a lot of things we 'learned' in school. (sorry Becca, I had to share this)

My Mother asked my brother once if he wanted help with his homework, he said " do you want me to fail?"

It runs deep in my family!

Are You Smarter Than A 3rd Grader? Mmmm?

Stop the Madness

Times are bad but we never know just how bad until we see something like this.

I took this picture in a restroom at a boat ramp on Lake Hartwell this past week.

How is Obama’s Administration going to stop the senseless and rampant theft of toilet paper?

When does the madness stop?

Lets find a radio station...

I’m a Christian white male, born, raised, and educated in the South. There's good chance that I'm a conservative person, and I think of myself as such. But, I’m getting tired of listening to conservative talk radio. They have nothing good to say about anything. They might be more knowledgeable than me, but it wears me out to listen.

You might think that being in the church music profession, I listen to Christian music all the time. I do that during work hours, so I really don’t want to get in my vehicle and listen to that again. Don’t get me wrong. We have great Christian music stations here in town. But I need something different. And today, I found the type of programming I need.

I was listening to NPR (don’t stop reading, remember I’m conservative) and I heard two men talking about the state managed clam beds we have here in South Carolina. Did you know you can go to one of our 79 different sites and dig for clams, at no charge? Are we living in a great state or what? One man called in and said that he was in Canada a few weeks ago and all their clam beds are restricted to commercial clammers. It makes me glad that we don’t have to be like Canada to be a great state (I didn’t mention healthcare).

I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s discussion on the Sweet Gum Tree. 'What’s their purpose?'

My life is exciting….

Diet or Velcro?

I went to the doctor last week to renew my CDL health certificate and he told me I was in great health, except my belly! It seems that I have gained a few pounds since my last visit and I have a small hernia that is getting larger as I gain weight.

A friend once told me you can know you’re fat if your shoes have the knot tied on the side and not it in the middle. I checked mine today.

Diet, (or Velcro) here I come!

It's a Bad Sign When Your Hotel Gives You Earplugs!

We traveled to Holland, MI today and looked at a Windmill (that is another blog). Then headed to Nappanee, Indiana. I was looking forward to a good night 's sleep in this sleepy little Amish town.

We checked into our rooms and along with soap and shampoo, they provide Ear Plugs! I thought this was odd, but nice, to provide some relief from roommate noise, until I heard the TRAIN! It passes every hour and they blow the horn right at the motel! I drank 3 cups of coffee at supper so the train won't wake me. I'll already be awake, again!

Louisville tomorrow...

I Wanna Go Home .... Oh, How I Wanna Go Home!

I'm on the downhill side of our Merry Makers trip up north. We are heading home Friday, and I will be a happy man.

I haven't slept well on this trip and I just figured out why. I had 4 pillows on my bed and thought I had to wake up every 2 hours and use another pillow! They put me in a handicap room, for some reason, and the bathroom lights are motion controlled. So every time I got up and went in, all the lights and fans came on and woke me up even more!

I'll be glad to get home.

Small Towns

Living in a small town you rely on the local newspaper to keep you informed. I particularly enjoy the police reports section. A few weeks ago a local man was arrested for shooting dragonflies with his shotgun and accidently shot his buddy in the head! I’m not sure if he was charged with shooting the dragonflies, or his buddy. If he were a celebrity, probably shooting the dragonflies would be the charge.

This week a woman was arrested for beating her daughter with a broom. The young girl had been suspended from school for a day for cutting class. Her mother found out about it, a few days later. She took her broom to the high school, found her daughter, and began to wear her out with the broom. The police report said the woman was arrested and the broom confiscated for evidence!

Small towns, you can’t make this stuff up!

Side note:
My wife is in charge of settling her mother’s estate; I asked her if she had a realtor yet, her answer “yes Wally, from Andrews Feed and Seed”.
Small towns…..

Not everything that smells bad is!

Not everything that smells bad is! For example; egg salad, turnip greens, tuna.
I had to be reminded of that after two weeks of Pastors’ camp with our children and middle school.
Most of what I smelled was bad! I’m not talking about the food! When you get the pleasure of camping with young men, it takes you a good week at home to enjoy the regular smells of life.

Realization: if you go to camp, expect the bathroom floor to be wet! Why is that? Someone needs to invent a shower curtain for camps that cannot come out of the shower!

Question: Why is there always a sock, a towel, and a pair of dirty underwear left that no one claims?

Oh well, it was worth it all to see these young lives changed. Sign me up again!?

Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers

Do clothes really make the man? I was shopping in Wal-Mart the other day and a man stopped me and asked “do you work here?” I said "no" and he said “you look like you do”. What does that mean? Does everyone who wears a blue shirt and khaki pants look like they work at Wal-Mart?

Don’t get me wrong, I think working at Wal-Mart is an honorable thing. I wish my wife and daughter felt the same!

It was an eye opening experience. People do look at how we are dressed. You can say “it doesn't matter what I wear” but you know deep down that it does. Yesterday I wore a tie to the hospital and I received a lot more information and respect from the staff there. It also makes me feel better about my self when I dress up. (I guess that is a self -esteem issue to be discussed later.)

So ...
Dress nice, feel nice.
Dress in blue ... works at Wal-Mart!

Getting Older

Well, my daughter turned 24 this week and my brother 49. Talk about feeling old! I remember when both were born!

This morning I went to the restroom at work and didn’t have to unzip my pants! They have been unzipped all day! But what makes me feel old is that I was glad that I didn’t have to go through that extra step before I did what I came in to do!

We’re headed to Pastors' camp with our church kids this afternoon. I am sure there will be other reminders of age while we are there.
Pray for me.

37 years

Well, Christine’s 37th wedding anniversary is today. I started to write this blog saying that she was ‘celebrating’ her 37th anniversary but, I felt that living with me for 37 years was more of an ‘accomplishment’ that a celebration.

It is a known fact that men often die before their spouse because their brains and emotions work harder that their wives. Men are always trying to stay out of trouble, or working to fix something we’ve done! This takes a toll on our life span.

I found this video that should help the young guys in this ever changing institution of marriage. What not to say…

Missions/College Minister Needs Help!

Hallelujah Chorus

Here is a way we can have the "Hallelujah Chorus" here at Brushy Creek.

Broken and Spilled out

Interesting things happen to me. I am sorry to say that cannot write about all of them . It would take too long and you might not find them as interesting as I do.

I sang a a concert today at our Seniors Citizens meeting (Merry Makers). One of the songs I sang was beautiful and meaningful Steve Green song called 'Broken and Spilled Out' . One verse says " broken and spilled out and poured at you feet.." While singing this verse I accidentally kicked my open bottle of water all over the stage and my feet!
The 'spilled' water 'broke' the mood!

You can't make up these blessings!
Pray for me.

Frying Turkeys

I have been frying turkeys for a long time. I bought a cooker with two other friends years ago and we cooked our turkeys together each year. I was always the one who had to leave early, so the other guys drained the oil and cleaned the pot. Well over the past few years my friends gave up on the turkey frying and the cooker became mine. Now I’m having to drain the oil and clean the pot. But not any more!

I cooked two turkeys on Monday when all my children were in town and planned to drain the oil and clean the pot the next day. I got up early the next morning and decided to go to breakfast while my family was sleeping. I backed over the turkey pot with my truck! Yes, the oil was still in the pot, and now on the driveway! I loaded the mangled pot and the rest of the oil into my truck and took it straight to the dump.

I’ll bet you thought I started a fire!

What a Christmas!

Over a lifetime we forget more Christmas gifts than we remember. There are some you never forget:the bike, chemistry set, and BB gun for example.
Christy and I will never forget the gift our Grandchildren gave us this year. Intestinal Virus! That’s correct, we were sick for 3 days!

There should be a set time where sick grandkids are quarantined. Even if they seem to be over their sickness, that little bug is still out there waiting for some loving grandparent to hug and kiss their little sweetheart.

We received gifts of love from all our children and appreciated them, but the lasting memory of Christmas 2008 will be the ‘gift’ from our grandchildren.

What A Christmas!