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My dad is in a wheelchair at the travel window at the VA hospital and he is complaining that he hasn't been paid his travel voucher from a month ago. He gets angry and I have to settle him down. The patient cashier tells him it is in the mail and appeases my dad with $10.50 cash for today's visit. He squirms in his chair trying to pull out his wallet and neatly stuffs the ten inside. The two quarters goes in his pocket and I wheel him to where we wait for mom to pick us up. When we got home a check was in the mail for another $10.50 and when I hand it to dad he has this huge smile on his face. He is happy..... He takes this travel money serious. Mom pays the bills and handles all the money and this money in his wallet means a lot to him. My dad got up early every day and went to work. He always had a job and provided all of the needs for our family. Now, again, with that ten dollar bill in his wallet he feels like he is helping. He never spends it frugally. He never did. One day, I was getting the clothes ready for laundry and he was watching me. He watches me a lot. He asks me to come over and then hands me five dollars in quarters. "Here. You'll need some quarters". He's that kind of guy.... My dad joined the Army near the end of WW2. Shortly before we dropped the bombs on Japan he was on a troop ship near Japan that was to be the landing force for the invasion of the mainland. I don't even want to think of what a bloodbath that would have been. I asked him if he was afraid. He said, "Nope. I was too busy throwing up." Lol. Later, he did land in Japan but it was as an occupational force and was at both Hiroshima and Nagasaki. I believe his bone marrow disease is from the radiation after the bomb went off. The VA say no. Oddly enough, I also have a blood disease. Coincidence, I think not... God bless all the veterans. Hoorah!! Thank a veteran today. All they have done is give us our freedom....... Easy.....
I woke up at five most mornings while visiting my parents because my dad would get up and start stirring early. I'd turn on the coffee pot while he sat on his bed getting dressed and taking his morning medicine. He knows his meds. I remember the day a Doctor asked him what pills he took and he rattled them off better than I could ever do. Not bad for an 81 year old man who sometimes forgets where mom is. He walks into the living room pushing a wheeled cart that has an oxygen tank and eases on to the couch reaching for the remote. I ask if he wants coffee and toast and he says, "yea, just one toast". Then, he'd lament about his arthritis pain and look me in the eyes as I set down his coffee and he would say, "I never thought my life would end like this". I still don't know what to tell him but I sit next to him while he watches another old movie on the Turner channel. He once cared about the news and sports but not so much now. He doesn't like the world of today. I should say the people in it. Not like it was in his day. That day was many years ago. In a few minutes he will fall asleep with his head down on his chest. He breaths heavy and erratic and a noise will wake him up and he'll say, "I think I'll have some coffee. Only one toast". I'd say, "sure dad. I'll get it for you". And, I did for six weeks. It hurt to leave...... Back home now, I watched a red dawn break over the horizon this morning and my mind wanders when I should be relaxed. Three ducks are bobbing for food before they head south while I have headed north again. Nothing wrong with that picture. The leaves have fallen and the front yard is layered in a yellow, brown and red carpet. The Maple trees have been laid bare with gangly, thin limbs reaching for the pale blue sky. A decaying Pine tree has fallen to the ground edging into the driveway and the wood will burn hot but well in the sauna. The temps are moderate but I must say I'm already missing flush toilets and hot water. I did hook up a small outhouse heater and in a bit I'll head down to Beaver Creek to fill my jugs with lake water. I'll have to depend on Burner for the drinking water and my rides. Blue will be confined to hauling garbage and an occasional ride up to the Wisconsin biker dudes camp. I think back again.... There will be no short walks to the restaurant where I held court for six weeks down in South Lyon. Michigan. Two eggs, well done hash browns and white toast for $3.34 plus a buck tip. I believe that has spoiled me and added to my waistline. My waitress was Gale and she was sorry to see me go. I'm like that with people. Proud to be personable....There will be no short walk to Wendy's for a value burger and fries for $2.09 where the cashier was a high school cutie I called 'bright eyes'. She would blush....There will be no more afternoons at the VFW enjoying a brew or two talking to the vets. $2.00 a bottle and that's a deal. I made some great friends there and I will get to them at another time. I miss those guys and gals.... What a difference one day makes...I'm not sure where I should be anymore... Easy....
Hello my friends! I've missed you like I missed my cabin on the lake. Like I've missed the solitude and the peace I crave and need. The last six weeks have been hectic, fast food filled with quality time spent with my family. My Dad is slipping away but fighting the good fight and I've babied him, waited on him, lectured him and loved him so much I find myself crying now thinking of him alone with only Mom tonight. I left notes on both their pillows telling them I love them but I had to come home. It is in God's hands and that is enough for now....... I left the Detroit area at 6 bells this morning with my little brother Jimmy driving me to the Mackinac Bridge where my good bud Burner took the hand off for this Internet deprived waif and delivered me home once again. Safe and sound. It's dark now and I have a ton of stuff to find a place for and that won't be easy. But, I am Easy. And, I'm back.... How ya been? I'll be in touch...soon.... Love ya....Easy....
The time has come for another adventure and Thursday midnight I board a bus for Milwaukee, Wisconsin. A twelve hour bus ride folks. Yikes. I can almost hear the crying babies and the thugs in the back of the bus swearing and calling each other 'dawg'. It doesn't matter to me because by dinner time on Friday I'll be with Janet and Pippen again. We have a Tigers/White Sox ballgame to enjoy on Sunday and a rematch of our mini golf tie last time I was in Chicago. Janet is always a great host and more important a good friend. And, I live for the walks Pippen and I enjoy so much. I'm excited... Reality hits when the train pulls into Ann Arbor, Michigan. My Dad is in the hospital right now with breathing problems. He's mostly confined to a whelchair because of his Arthritis. I look forward to seeing him and Mom again. I have my own bedroom at their new apartment and I may stay a month or so to help out anyway I can..... My Lleukemia check up is on the 1st of October and I don't anticipate any problems. I've lost some weight but feel good as many man does with a myraid of aches and pains from trying to act 40. My mind is willing but the body says ouch. I will fret until I see my blood counts... I'm thinking about buying a laptop so I can stay online during my trip. One way or another I will check in and let you know how it's going. I'm just hoping there will be no snow on the ground when I get back home in November. I'll miss all of my boomer friends. Your so special to me. Be good and do good deeds. See ya when I get back. God bless.... Easy....
that life is what you make it. Not what it gives you... there is nothing better than a pot luck lunch at any church... If you can have a conversation with someone in the middle of the street your town is small enough.... my economy consists of... 'I lose more things than I find'.... I get half of the pig a neighbor has been tending all summer and the guy says, "You gonna cut it in half??....Noooo..... another joke. I cannot tell jokes but I'm great at oneliners. Probably because I can never remember anything past that first line... Wear better clothes and you'll get better eye contact and respect from others... he has to find a reason to live....and smile... that karma is important to me. If I wrong someone...I will be wronged... about a couple who divorced after 42 years. It was the longest ever game of 'chicken'...(stolen from the Bob and Tom show this morning)... the closer I came to dying the more euphoric I became. It was a big smile. Do not fear death. Embrace it.... that it doesn't get any better than a fall day...I NEED some apple cider and a dozen of those fried sugar doughnuts, eh? Happy weekend my friend.... Easy.....
I moved my chest of (4) drawers from the bedroom into the living room because I needed a larger TV stand because I have a smaller TV now. The smaller TV forces me to look down at it while sitting on the couch as opposed to the dead larger TV which made me look up. The new smaller TV is harder to see but it doesn't buzz constantly. Now, it doesn't buzz anymore at the township dump where the flies buzz at it now. Quid Pro Quo. Living in a one room cabin I throw fashion conscienceness out the window for practicality. Heck, my silverware drawer is the (2nd) drawer of my chest of drawers. You don't even want to know how that came about...... Since I've made the TV and TV stand adjustments, I keep looking for my socks in the bedroom and only then do I realize they are right in front of me while I'm eating chip and dip watching Bears/Packer on a 13" football field screen. Then, I realized my socks were now under the bunk beds and I don't remember why that happened. It is hard getting my mind to understand I've moved things from where I'm used to them being to another place. I get used to things being where they should be and not where I moved them to. Why is that? Rote? Repition? Moving the chest of drawers meant I moved the smaller TV stand to the bedroom which has all my magazines and other assorted paperwork stuff I have close by in case I get bored and want to read something. The bills are in that pile so I basically stay away from that stuff. So, now, when I need the yellow pages I look under the TV and only see four drawers that are very dusty. I know what to do... I'm going to take the sweaters out of the sweater (4th) drawer and put my paperwork work in it. I'll take the sweaters and put them on the shelf of the smaller TV stand in the bedroom that has no TV on top of it. They will fall off once in awhile but will be easier to clean up then when the paper work falls on the floor. Guess what I'm going to put atop the small TV stand in the bedroom? The coffee maker....When I wake up in the morning I sit up and stretch and flip a switch....Yup. That's the ticket... I can adapt. I'm flexible. I am inane. I am certified...I am funny...I hope.... Easy...
I must be losing it. I got into a screaming match this morning with another angry crow. I was sitting at my new command post which is a folding chair next to my sauna when he started yacking at me from the top of the tallest pine tree in my yard. They don't like me. Whimp. Coward. Come down here and yap like a man. I answered his calls in duplicate for...oh...ten minutes until my voice got horse. It was useless but I had fun. I wonder if they sit their thinking, "Who is the idiot trying to imitate my Uncle Carl?". I wonder if my neighbor heard me thinking, "Who is that idiot doing lousy crow calls?"... The leaves fall from the Maple trees in the yard and they dance down to the ground in a hypnotic yet gracefull fall. Seven picture perfect days in a row now and I've bailed more water from Beaver creek then they did putting out the infamous Chicago fire. Squirrels are busy and I wonder why they aren't so busy earlier when they had more time to hoard acorns and nuts. I think they procrastinate just like I do. Way to go, pard..... I gave Blue a well needed painting with black rustoleum and washed it like it was a Cadillac. Even waxed the parts I could. It sits in the yard sparkling like brand new. I know it isn't and is well worn like I am. I shiver thinking of life without my ATV and hope it never happens. I won't ever buy a new one unless I have to. I think when I'm gone it will still be sitting in the yard waiting for a passenger. I like its attitude as well as I like mine... I feel good. Real good. Worked hard on fixing up the homestead and now I'm resting on my laurals, Stan. I'm going to take some pictures of my cabin on the lake and get some copies for my mom and dad. Framed. I've literally discarded the remants of their short stay living here in the 80's and it's been both sad and rewarding to collect the remnents worth saving and tossing all the stuff that has gone bad. I think about the time when I am gone and Kris does the same with my stuff. Each possesion is a memory, a time in my life and a look into what made me tick, tock.... I sink back into my hermit ways in a good way. I have no plan for the day but work one up as it goes along. Been dealing with the aches and pains getting ready for my new adventure in a couple weeks. My dad took a turn for the worse yesterday and I am anxious to be there for him. Mom says he was moping around when they got home from the hospital last night and I know why. He's in a wheel chair now because of his arthritis and bad leg. He told me it's not right when he can't get up and walk around. I tell him he has a reason to be angry but there is no one to blame except ol' father time. I change the subject to the Tigers and he perks up. I tell him I'm coming to see him soon and we can sit and watch our team in the playoffs. It's been 55 years since he took me to a ballgame but the bond between father son will never change. Let's play two...... It's time to get canning the jams. I need to pick a few more blackberries today and I will have enough. The raspberries are frozen and will be the second batch. Get out of my way. The chef is in the house. God bless and have a great weekend, eh?
Prayers in remebrance of our loss eight years ago.....
Easy....
"Hall of Fame baseball announcer Ernie Harwell has incurable cancer at the age of 91."...... Everyone from the Detroit area knows Ernie as the retired radio voice of the Detroit Tigers but he has meant so much more to all Michiganders because of his constant smile, velvet voice and down to earth personality. I remember back to 1968 when my beloved Detroit Tigers were playing in the World Series against the St. Louis
Cardinals. I was stationed on Okinawa and we could pick up the games on armed services radio at 3 am. Most of the Marines in my barracks were sleeping but not me. Suddenly, Ernie Harwell said, "We send out a special hello to Lance Corporal Gene Plankey who is stationed with the Marines on Okinawa. His Mother tells me that he is a big Tigers fan..." I couldn't believe it and for a minute I felt like I was back home and not fighting an unpopular war 3,000 miles away. It turns out my Mom had called Ernie and he promised to say hi to me on the radio. Problem was no other Marines heard it so I didn't bother bragging about it until now. This is the kind of man Ernie is. Now, we celebrate Ernie's life as he battles cancer with the humor, common sense and the reality of dying with dignity and class. Thanks Ernie and God speed... Easy....
It's a crisp, cool morning on Island Lake and fall is in the air. It was 26 at a friends camp yesterday and Burner told me he had to scrape the ice off his windshield. Yikes! Saying good bye to summer doesn't bother me because we barely said hello. Such is life and fall is coming with the leaves on the two Maple trees in my yard turning color. As I look out on the lake most trees are still green but I can see patches of orange and yellow. A lone loon, try saying that three times, floats on the mirror like surface and dive bombs to the bottom for a meal of fish. Thirty seconds later they rise to the surface and send a cascade of waves outward in a complete circle. It's quiet like the birds are thawing out. I turn off my radio and listen. I breath in the fresh air that gets my heart pumping as much as the coffee does. I like to sneak up on the day. I formulate a plan. What to get done, what I want done but won't do and do things I didn't even think of... I hear voices up at JJ's camp and their guests are leaving this morning. Sound travels a long way over water. I've been up there visiting for three days in a row and it has been a grand time. His friend is retired from GM and we had some interesting talks on the fate of GM and it's future chances coming out of bankruptcy. He once owned a zillion shares in GM and now all he can do is use them for wallpaper. I'm a liberal democrat and he is the total opposite. One of our most interesting topics was money or happiness. Can I be happy without money? You betcha. Can JJ be happy without money? No way. He admits this but should take some advice from his friend and former boss. Money can bring happiness but it is not necessary. I need a certain amount of it to live each day but it doesn't drive me in my actions towards it. I spend freely while I have it and when I don't have it I get by somehow. I think the more money we have the more troubles it causes. Generally speaking of course.... Unpacking my winter gear and putting away the summer stuff. A semi annual ritual. I shiver when I see my 'mad bomber' fur cap and my winter boots. I can almost feel that snow blizzard on the lake that burns my face as I walk on the ice for exercise. Brrr..... I feel good but the aches and pains are mounting. I will have some serious discussions with my Doctor when I head south. I need surgery on my left shoulder and I need X-rays on my right elbow. It's not tennis elbow but chopping wood elbow. This is the first time I actually feel 60. I've lost more weight and that will send the Oncology Doctors running. I'm just not eating well. Food only tastes good about once a day; if that. I've been more active than ever. That's my excuse and I'm sticking to it until I find a more convincing one.... I look forward to a little time away from here. Key word is little. I love my life here in my cabin on the lake. It's my security blanket and my reclusive ways fit me like a glove. I'm less apt to get sick here and I cringe thinking of all the people I will come into contact in Chicago and Ann Arbor. Doesn't scare me though. Nothing does. I'll take it as it comes. The good and the bad. I miss my family and I miss Janet and Pippen. And, when I'm down there I will miss Burner, "Mike", Woodsy and all the rest here in Republic. I'll have to be more careful walking. Talking to myself out loud must stop. Walking into the woods to relieve...well...that won't work. Flush toilets will be in. Hot running water too. Others will cook for me and that's a nice thought. Should be a fun trip..... Happy Tuesday my friends. May your day be blessed and full of good cheer. We don't have to let bad days affect us. They are going to happen. How we handle them is the key. Compliment a friend when you can. A friend complimented me on something I'd done and I was on a high for a week. One simple act of kindness goes a long way.... Easy....
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