Thrift Store Treasures Are Recycle Awesome!

My grandson's parents buy them most any brand of designer jeans and shirts and accessories they want but   they don't really like them that much until they are worn, faded, and have a few rips and tears. When they find a pair of sneakers they love, they will wear them until they are shredding off their feet and leave newer ones gathering dust in the closet. "Worn out" seems to be when what they wear become "favorites." They become really special if I have to add a ziz zag patch, they even invite their friends to bring their worn jeans over so I can sew them a "badge of honor" over almost impossible rips to repair that show too much skin in the wrong places. I patch "accident" holes on my old Singer sewing machine....whatever floats their young boats. 

Both boys have friends who have turned them on to "thrift" store clothes shopping and occasionally they come home with something that makes their Dad grind his teeth and roll his eyes...like the neon chartreuse  short bathing suit one walked in with ...or the tangerine  pull up walking shorts the other brought home  and wears quite often claiming they are comfortable. I discovered in the wash they are likely ladies shorts but I don't want to burst his manly bubble so I haven't told him. You wouldn't know it unless you read the label and a lot of clothes these days are unisex. Fine with me.

Seems they couldn't please their Dad with their thrifty bargains until one of them came home wearing a cartoon colorful shirt he proudly proclaimed cost only 50 cents. Dad seems to think one of them finally made a wise purchase. There is a nice label in it that says it

was hand-made by a shirt company in Austin Texas so I think that makes it worth at least a dollar because the

previous owner evidently never wore it. It

looks brand new and is well sewn 

made of my favorite cotton...I'm thinking it may

be one of those you only "wear 

once to shock" shirts...we will see.

Oh well, it's a fun and colorful boat to be in in your teens  and I think learning to be "thrifty" at a young age is a good thing. It comes in handy in your old age when the stock market keeps messing with your portfolio.

Another mans trash can become someone else's treasure. I think we should all recycle and keep the earth green...and purple and red and yellow and orange!

“Judge Not That Ye Be Not Judged TOO Harshly!”

    I still wonder if the first set of Commandments Moses smashed in anger were the same as the second set he presented after he furiously slayed so many thousands of the flock when he came down from the mountain and went berserk at them partying with a golden calf. I also wonder where all that gold came from if they had been slaves just prior. So much to wonder about in the Bible! I've wondered almost a lifetime and still haven't figured it out.

   I wrote this post and then went searching for a copy of the Commandments that read as I had been taught them in parochial school. I couldn't find one, in fact, I couldn't find any two that read the same...as in most interpretations of Biblical passages. After researching religion for most of my life, I am still amazed at how folks  judge others according to what religion and interpretations they follow.  Ancient religion certainly hasn't promoted much peace on earth.

    Research became my religion after I no longer had faith in the one I once knew well. I am at peace with it…but most of the world is not at peace with religion and I often wonder why. Folks judge each other harshly for not believing what they do. I have acquired a rather wide open mind on the subject and even on Moses’ Ten Commandments and will explain why.

*****

     1.   “I am the Lord thy God…thou shalt have no strange Gods before me.”

     Seems to me after reading the Bible a few times, there is no stranger God than the one that it promotes…the one who created devils and demons and hell and is wrathful with no empathy if you break "his" commandments.(As Moses proved) Native Americans had a number of interesting Gods they worshiped before missionary’s introduced them to the harsh one and even harsher consequences.

2.  “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord God in vain.”

   When I think God ought to damn something, I have no problem with saying so              and neither do a lot of other honest folks. “Goddammit…we have had enough wars  and mass murders ever since Genesis law was enforced on humanity!”

3.  “Remember to keep holy the Lord ’s Day.”

   I sometimes go shopping on Sunday and most all the stores are open for business, so I’m thinking jillions have long forgotten that commandment. I think Saturday remains the Jewish “holy day” and their stores are busy also that day. I can remember the “blue law” that required certain business’s to close on Sunday but I guess it was cutting into the profits and causing a problem for those who work the rest of the week. My Mom used to not want Dad to work in his hay field on Sunday, but if rain was in the forecast…expensive to grow mowed alfalfa fast became "unholy" till it was in the barn.

4.     “Honor thy Father and thy Mother”

    This one I totally agree with….unless your parents beat you to the point of having to be put on life support, or starve you and eat plenty themselves, or in any way  sexually abuse you…then let them rot in jail and go to hell!

5.      “Thou shalt not kill”

    Thou usually shouldn't...unless it is in self defense, or you are a policeman or soldier who needs to take out an enemy or bad guy…or if you are a hunter or meat processing plant seeking to put food on the table…and I’m not sure Dr. Kevorkian was a sinner helping terminally ill patients in agony go painless and peacefully.

6.        “Thou shalt not commit adultery.”

   This one can be sticky since it was alright for a man to have more than one wife... though not OK for a wife to have more than one husband, way back when Moses came up with the law…and some Mormons and Muslims and others still think  that prejudice is alright. There are also certain marriages I have heard of that one decides they prefer a secret “gayer” lifestyle but want to remain “socially acceptable” and remain married to a straight person for the kids sake and economical reasons. Makes sense to me the straight person might want to find another lover of his or her "now" preference also.

Genesis [6] But unto the sons of the concubines, which Abraham had, Abraham gave gifts. Well that was sure nice of the original prophet of the Jews, Christians, and Muslims. And Abe did allow his wife to marry another man so the prophet would prosper. The story's of the two faced Biblical “holy men” makes my head swim in wonder as to how the  Bible became so popular.

7.     Thou shalt not steal

     This is a fairly good one…but a lot of folks still admire Robin Hood’s ethics…robbing from the greedy rich to help the hungry poor.... or some "holy preacher"robbing from the pockets of the poor faithful to enrich their own greedy lives. Ethical?

8.                 Thou shalt not bear false witness.

     True…but if I feel a little white lie is better than hurting someone’s feelings and no harm will come of it…I’m not above it. “Honey…you look much better today!” …when they still might look like death warmed over. NOT a sin in my prayer book!

9.    Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s wife.

( Refer to the "sticky" Commandment # 6 up above)

10.  Thou shalt not covet thy neighbor’s goods.

I see nothing wrong with wanting the same merchandise your neighbor has as long as you don’t steal the material from him or anyone else. 

  

The Doctor's Midlife Crisis Is My New Alarm Clock

Several months ago we got a new neighbor. He saw me out in the front yard and came over and introduced himself as Doctor Reggie, a seemingly nice guy I estimated to be in his 40's. I proceeded to  tell him I lived with my daughter and her husband and three grandchildren, a preteen girl and two teen age grandsons. He remarked he bet the boys would like his Corvette convertible. I told him I was sure they would, they were both already muscle car crazy. He told me it would be here tomorrow, his daughter was driving it in....to tell the boys to come over and he would take them for a spin. 

I told the boys and they were of course, anxious for it to get home. I found out I wasn't. 

I was in my bedroom the next afternoon and suddenly thought our cul-de-sac was being invaded by a Harley motorcycle gang on "speed." I walked outside and discovered, no, it was just the doctor sitting in his pride, his hot silver Corvette had arrived at it's new home and evidently needed it's pipes blown out. I supposed his daughter hadn't done it well enough. What do girls know about "man" cars?

I told the boys and they ran out for an introduction and found out all the pertinent details, as to what kind of high performance racing motor and loud duel exhaust system he had installed in it. They were excited. I wasn't. I now refer to it as "the darn doctor's Daytona midlife crisis "Vette."

They have three other nice cars and he usually drives his little black Mercedes to work and I like it fine, it's runs very quiet. But at least once a week I am awakened early in the morning by the only car he thinks enough of to put in his garage every night, the noisy metallic-glitter silver one. The one that requires him to rev it up for at least five miserable minutes before he races off to work. The boys in the cluttered with rock guitar paraphernalia room next to mine can sleep through a tornado...I can't anymore. I want to open my bedroom window and scream at my friendly neighbor, "What the heck is your problem Doc?...these are the best years of your life!"

I should know. I left them sitting in the dust in my hot silver Camaro 

over thirty years ago. 

Should We Fear For Our Children Because Of New Technology?

I received one of those emails folks pass around that are sometimes funny and sometimes  interesting or simply boring. The quote above was at the top of one of those pass around emails and below it were a number of photos of kids in various social settings all looking at their cell phones. At first I thought..."How true!"

But when I lie to myself with compliance to someone else's perception, my annoying mind doesn't allow me to get away with it. It keeps showing me pictures of what's wrong with the instant theory I was willing to accept. The concept  nagged me until it dawned on me what didn't jive with the idea our children might be developing into a generation of "idiots" due to obsession with new technology. 

Living with a preteen and two teenagers who excel in school and other activities and keep "smart" phone's on their person almost 24/7 kept gnawing at me because I know they are no exceptions. Most of their many friends and peers do as well as they do and some even better. We have scores of A  and A/B honor roll ribbons earned over the last decade lying around in scrapbooks and these kids are all very social, involved, and have a multitude of friends, many more than I was ever able to reach. They still communicate with friends they made on vacation out of the country several years ago.

I remember how surprised I was the kids were able to pick up on computers and the Internet much faster than I did with very little instruction. They did it by trial and error, eager to see what they could accomplish. They conquered rather quickly.

At first it was just for playing games but by the time they got to fourth and fifth grades they were able to do projects and write essays using the computer mostly without help. One of the biggest advantages computers gave them was learning how to type without ever taking a typing lesson. They may not use the "proper" finger positions I was taught but they can type fast and correct it later...usually without looking at the keyboard. 

So after giving it more thought...no, I don't think we have to fear for our children because of all the new technology. They easily learn how to multitask while communicating on a little hand held device I still find annoying...and they do it extremely well. I consider my cell phone a necessity only when I travel. This generation considers it a necessary research and communication tool with great camera and music capabilities 24/7. My generation had to go to the library to do any kind of research and we were not allowed to "communicate" there at all. Strictly a quiet zone.

Idiots?...Far from it!

Taking It To A Risky Edge In Real Life

I've seen that Top Gun is coming out enhanced in 3D. I probably won’t go see it again, though the music in it is mesmerizing, I don't like how loud movie theaters are these days. I've already seen it at least a half dozen times on TV, maybe more, after I first saw it in a theater and loved it.  It wasn't that I was that interested in Tom Cruise, though he was an adorable hunk clothed in tidy white towels, white briefs, and Navy dress whites in his youth, so were several other buff bodies in the movie. I was more interested in the roaring jets of the Cold War era and have been fascinated with them since the Vietnam War for reasons I won’t go into, but did in my memoir.

I can still get a little chill when a fighter jet flies over and that’s quite often because I live on the edge of a city with several military bases with airstrips. When the huge transports fly over low they make shadows in the yard. I have finally gotten used to the training jets flying around and around in huge circles as trainee’s practice touch and goes around the outer edge of town where I live, but now I can smile at them instead of tear up. I've found that time does lessen painful bruises of the heart.

Maverick in the movie was accused by Iceman as being “dangerous,” but Maverick and his co-pilot, Goose, didn't think so…until Goose and Maverick had to eject during a death spiral and Goose was killed because of a faulty canopy. Then Maverick didn't want to take risks anymore and didn't graduate Top Gun. He didn't get dangerous again until he had to make a rapid choice with Russian Migs firing around him whether to save Iceman and others, and made the brave choice, and became a hero, and then Iceman finally liked him. He also gets the girl in the end...as expected.

I suppose I have a bit of “maverick” in my blood and have had all my life. I've taken it to the dangerous edge a number of times over the years and I'm not sure why. 

Once I did on an inner tube riding in the surf at the Gulf in a “no swim” area with friends. They got back safely but I didn't know how to swim yet and was pulled out by a rip tide so far offshore I couldn't see the coast, and then had to think about being stupid and risky all alone, except for friendly dolphins circling me for a couple hours before the Coast Guard found me. I decided that day I would never again ride a tube in the Gulf anywhere and I never have. Some lessons I learned the hard way.

Again I took it to the edge on the back of a black quarter horse in a race as a teenager because I wanted to win an automatic washing machine for my Mamma so bad I was willing to risk my neck and I did and I won. But Daddy saw the match race and realized the danger and took my horse away to herd cattle on. I actually didn't mind that much because my boyfriend was back in town and I had raced as fast as I ever wanted to and because I had already been bucked off him into a fence post that almost broke my neck. After I got pregnant a few months later, I knew Dad had made the correct choice.

My sister in law who lived around the corner from me once called in the middle of the night, freaked out, thinking a burglar was trying to break in her front door while both our husbands were away. I didn't think twice about the danger or call the police either, they had four young daughters. I loaded a 30-06 hunting rifle running out the door barefoot in a sheer nightgown to chase the stray dog away. That never happened again but I would likely have done the same thing, even though she primly pointed out I was running around the neighborhood improperly dressed after midnight…after she felt safe again. She thought I should rush back home but I didn't...I slung the rifle over my shoulder and walked back daring a real burglar to come along. My next door neighbor was out in his yard smoking a late night cigarette and I waved. Next morning he wanted to know if he was hallucinating.

I once worked for an orthodontist where the famous race car driver, A.J. Foyt’s son was getting his teeth straightened. I mentioned to one of his friendly drivers who brought the son in for adjustments, that I had always wanted to drive a race car.  No problem He invited me out to the track and harnessed me into a colorful car, but after a number of trips around the huge oval going faster and faster with the "real" driver instructing me with yells and the speedometer inching into the 140's, I saw another curve looming up ahead. I backed totally off the accelerator and was satisfied I knew how dangerous that occupation was. He called me “chicken”for more reasons than one but I didn't mind clucking home intact that time. 

My older brother and some of his high school jock friends once dared me to drink too many whiskey shots at the kitchen table while our parents were away and I don’t have to tell you how bad that turned out. The jocks all had a mess on several floors to clean up because I couldn't. Brother and I were both grounded for weeks, after he stopped crying and I sobered up and could walk again. A few sips of liquor still makes me feel ill so I shied away from it from then on. I blame Jack Daniels and those shocked jocks for totally throwing my alcohol metabolism  mechanism off kilter 

When I decided to publish my memoir, I knew I was taking me to another perilous edge, but the feelings and reasons that inspired me to write it were more intense than any fear I had of what others might think about it. I have been chastised by a few who didn't like what I wrote about them, but I've  had time to give it a lot of thought, and listen to what others think, and I have no regrets. Though it has caused me a few tears, I can find many reasons to smile about it.  It was my life and I wrote it as I lived it…at full throttle and intensely honest about it. 

It's a miracle I have survived as long as I have and in appreciation, I've slowed way down in my "golden years" to enjoy the fruits of my labor. Figure there is no reason left to take it to another dangerous edge...unless I get a frantic call at midnight.

Human Nature Is Fascinating To Contemplate

George  Martin-excerpt from Game Of Thrones

I have read a lot more non-fiction than I have fiction throughout my life. That preference was probably inspired by my piano teacher in second grade, though I can’t blame the  lesson plan she created for me for the opinions I reached reading about the private lives of well known composers, authors, artists, politicians, and otherwise "powerful" men and women in the annals of history. 

I didn't stop with the classical composers, such as Mozart, that teacher made me read, he was just the first character that surprised me because his personality was so different than what I had expected a musical genius to be in his time period. Amadeus acted more like the uninhibited rock and roll stars of the latter half of the 20^th century. 

Human nature has fascinated me for as long as I can remember.  I was driven to find out as much as I could about “the creators” and “movers and shakers” from early childhood on.  That quirk was probably also inspired living in the "golden age" of so many world known celebrities and leaders with strong personalities in the 20th century. Ernest Hemingway, Kathryn Hepburn, Albert Einstein, Winston Churchill, Ingrid Bergman, and our Presidents, all intrigued me with their brilliance, and fascinated me with their individual personal characteristics.

Dancing down a curious path reading  memoirs, biography's, newspapers and magazines, I came to find out for certain, in print, and in my own personal life, that "love" doesn't always follow the boundaries set upon it by a so called “polite and proper society.” I also found in literature and real life that women are likely to be more ostracised for straying from the "norm" than men are, and have been ever since Eve and Mary Magdalene. I was taught as a child that Mary Magdalene was nothing more than a whore and now I see churches named after her so I suppose time does change perspective.

The affairs of our presidents are certainly nothing new. They have been going on for hundreds of years and probably will continue for many more. From Thomas Jefferson to Andrew Jackson, John Garfield, Warren Harding, Franklin Roosevelt, Eisenhower, Lyndon Johnson, Kennedy and Clinton, United States presidents have had all sorts of dalliances. Never the less, it didn't seem to blemish their honored spots in history, these men all have a lot of schools and airports named after them.

Human nature...it is fascinating to experience, engage, read about, and contemplate. There simply isn't any pattern, rhyme, or reason...we each have our own individual personality's and no two are alike. I still wonder if I would have read so many books if that piano teacher hadn't insisted I research the composers and inspired me to love the library as well as appreciate music. I took piano lessons for 11 years. I've read a lifetime.

 I never composed a symphony or became rich and famous but I did live life long and curious enough to inspire me to write about it. Prodigy I was not. Inspired to live life to the fullest I was. I will go to the grave thankful I was bestowed an inquiring mind, a healthy body, and a free spirit. I've been accused of being honest to a *&!%^ fault and I never could much rein in that part of my nature. I write and tell it as I lived it.

I have few regrets because I am blessed with bright and 
successful children who raised loving and creative grandchildren.

A Legends Position On Banning Assault Rifles

John Boon Kolojaco

I seriously doubt there would have been anyone who could have argued an Americans right to bear arms any better than my Father could have. The photo of him above was taken in the 1920's...he was 18. He was still hunting for food for his family's dinner table and had been since he was eight years old. He used to tell us the story of his Dad allowing him only two 22 caliber bullets to go to the woods to find food for his poor sharecroppers family of seven. Dad laughed when he told the story and said he could always find something for supper out in the woods and learned not to miss because he didn't like to hear his younger brothers yell at him...or go hungry himself.

My Grandfather sharecropped and raised cotton for the same man for over seventy years. He had to pay the landowner half of what he produced so they never had much of anything, especially during the Great Depression.

Dad said he was very lucky to have been hired by a prosperous sulphur company he worked at for over 42 years...taking only one sick day off with the flu in all that time and he resented having to be sent home that day intending to have a perfect work record. He started the job on his 21st birthday, a month before the crash of Wall Street in 1929. He claimed he got the job due to his excellent baseball skills and was able to help his family survive the Depression. The company hired him to play hind-catcher 

on the company team, baseball was something else Daddy was very good at

.

Dad also raised cattle and baled hay and made more money at that than he did at the company so my siblings and I were much better off than he and his had been. We got most anything we asked for whether it be a fast quarter horse or a hot-rod Ford. My parents rose from dire poverty to the very successful Middle Class using good 
common sense and a lot of hard work.

Daddy never did give up his love of hunting and the woods is where he spent every vacation in the fall and early winter all his life. I used to hear him say he wouldn't kill anything he didn't intend to eat except rattlesnakes and that's only because Mamma refused to fry them. Mamma did have her limits...but not that many. We found
out Mom was almost as good a shot as Daddy.

Martha Rose Kolojaco

I remember Mother crying most every one of her wedding anniversaries  in October for years because Dad would be off hunting on it. Daddy had a terrible wreck in 1971 and almost died spending three months in intensive care  and when he finally recovered, Mom made him retire. She said she had enough money saved and Dad was 62 and still had his cattle and hay business and a great pension so he decided to quit his "day job" and focus on what he really liked to do...hunt, bale hay, and tend his cattle. 

After dad "retired" is when Mamma decided the only way she would ever get to spend   

their anniversary with him was to join him and she began to bag her limit also. They traveled all over Texas, Wyoming, and Colorado big game hunting every fall.

Daddy had a number of his prize animals stuffed, white tail and mule deer, a couple of elk, a bear, and an antelope.

My Father was one quarter Native American Apache 

and looked it, acted it, and was very proud of it.

This photo of Dad was taken in West Texas just a couple of years before he died at the age of 84. He had to have a hip replacement after the wreck and it bothered him as he got older...but never enough to keep him out of his beloved woods or make him miss a shot.

We often ate wily wild turkey for Thanksgiving when we were growing up. Dad was very good with a turkey call.

********

Daddy would have never thought of buying an assault rifle with a large 

ammunition clip for any reason because he never wasted bullets. 

He learned not to at a very early age. In fact, he would have been

the very first one to shout they should never have been allowed

to be sold to the public any more than a nuclear bomb should be 

and should be banned except for soldiers and law enforcement.

No REAL hunter ever needed an assault rifle and mass murderers and drug

lords are non partisan and this should not be a partisan issue!

Common sense is what that is and my Father was

a legend in his own time because he had

an abundance of it.