It's Here!

 

It's here! The cold weather the talking heads promised is arriving tonight! We are supposed to get snow, which every Texan over the age of 13 knows means ICE! Schools have already begun to close due to the "chance" of bad stuff. How goofy is that!?!

I am a bit perplexed because I am looking out my window at sinshine and clear skies. It's currently 35 degrees outside and doesn't feel all that bad. Temps have fallen into the very low 20's the past couple of nights so I have had all the faucets dripping to avoid the fun and games that come with frozen pipes. I hate to see what my water bill will look like this month!

That's all for now. Stay warm and bring in your pets!

Brrrrrr!!!

 

Folks...It's COLD outside and getting colder by the minute! Temps dropped by probably 15-20 degrees from the time I walked out the door headed for church until two hours later when we let out. I will state for the record that I am no fan of winter and cold weather! I hate it! I hate it even more for those who have to get out in it and work. I really hate it for my wife who walks the dog every morning before work! (The dog too.) Tomorrow will be absolutely frigid in the low 20's. I may have mentioned that I hate winter and the cold before but I want it to stay with my readers so I will say that again!

Monday morning I have an appointment with my breathing doctor. It will be cold enough to mess with my lungs. I plan to get my money's worth from her! I just got over the mess that was going around with upper respiritory problems, so won't that be nice to reaggrivate?! 

I always heard that the cold in winter kills the bugs of spring and summer, so maybe that is the silver lining. 

At any rate...Stay warm folks. Wrap your outdoor pipes. Bring in those plants. Hit Wal Mart for some long johns! Grab a box of hot chocolate mix and some chili and Freto's! See you on the other side!

What is this that I feel tonight?

 I can't quite put my finger on it. It is unusual to say the least. Tonight my mind is drawn to the death of a childhood friend many years ago. What is this? Why am I having these thoughts? I feel stuck or even facinated by the subject of this person's death.

John was about 13 if I remember correctly. (It has been about 50 years, so do not hold me to exacts as far as age, dates, and other things.)  If any of John's family members are reading this I apologize if this brings up sadness. John was a kid in our youth group at church. His family all attended there. As I recall the story, John was on a small motorcycle, probably a dirt bike, when he lost control and hit a tree. He was killed instantly. I remember that Sunday morning when they told our class at church. It seemed surreal because at 13 years old I had not dealt with death on a personal level. I remember asking my mom questions, questions that escape me right now, but I was very curious. She took me down to the funeral home where my friend was laid out. He was in a blue blazer and a tie. He didn't look right. I remember that. It still had not registered with me that he was actually dead. Forever. 

I still wonder why things like this happen to kids. He was a good kid. 

Why this is on my mind is beyond me as I write this. I just can't shake it. I wonder if it is some sort of weird "survivor's guilt" or something. 

Who knows?

This is just strange and I hope I shake it pretty soon. 

Good night to you all.

Good People To Deal With

 I always have a tendency to fly all over facebook about people and businesses that I feel do me dirty. I figure I should let you folks know when a business does me right as well! 

Yesterday my car lay down and died on me. No warning. Just gave up the ghost and off to glory it went! I was of the mind that it needed a battery, so I went and paid a couple hundred thinking that would fix things... It did not. Then I had it towed to a shop not knowing what to expect. The place was GARCIA AUTOMOTIVE out on highway 34 near cash. They did me right folks. I have had them do work for me before and have always been happy, but I did not not know what kind of price tag I was looking at this time. I was also in a time crunch.  They said they would try to have it fixed by noon today, WHICH THEY DID! They originally quoted me $465 (actually less than I expected but more than I had). I told them I would try to do some figuring and come up with it from somewhere. When I got to the shop to pay, they said they gave me a discount and it was way less than I was expecting! It is purring like a kitten and I am back on the road! 

That is GARCIA AUTOMOTIVE in Cash, Tx folks! Good folks doing good work!

Raise Your Hand If...

 Raise your hand if you feel violated! I can't believe the way we were treated after the weeks and months of hype and promise! "TYSON V PAUL! GREATEST SHOW ON EARTH!" Yeah right...  They fed us so much hoowie it ain't even funny. What's worse is we baught it! We went for it hook line and sinker! 

That was the most staged fight I have ever seen in my life! Eight rounds of pure horse manure! Both fighters dancing around the ring seemingly trying to avoid the other guy's punches (what few there were of them!) when in reality they were trying to avoid stepping in a pile of horse crap! I lost all respect for Mike Tyson. I once thought he was a real one. Turns out he sold his soul to the devil for the 20 million dollars Netflix offered. Netflix...dont get me started! 

Fake Jake Paul is a Youtube guy that decided he could get a few million followers if he beats up old men in the boxing ring. Now he has made a living doing that.  For this fight he made 40 million to Tyson's 20. Tyson is 30 years his senior. There must be a law or something in the bible against that somewhere!

Oh well... I gotta go figure out how to get my money back from Netflix. Y'all take care. Call your mamas! I'm out.

Night and Day Difference

 Yesterday was a strange day health wise. I couldn't walk from the living room to the kitchen without feeling like I had just run a 40 yard dash! Completely out of breath and sucking wind like a Hoover vacuum! "Concerning" is an understatement. Today I am almost the polar opposite. I still feel a little light headed, but nothing like yesterday. Night and day difference. I appreciate the concern shown for me on Facebook by friends who posted comments and suggestions. You do not know what that means to me. I still need to follow up with my doctor. Something caused it, and just because it isn't happening today doesn't mean it is gone for good! I need to know what it was and what caused it! I'll keep you posted. Meanwhile... keep those thoughts and prayers going please.

So I went to the ER...

 Yesterday started like any other day. However it soon took a turn. I noticed around noon that my right ankle was really starting to hurt and hurt badly. I had not twisted it. I had not done anything to hurt it. It just started hurting. By about three o'clock it was becoming unbearable, so I took some Tylenol. That helped some. Around five my wife and sons went to help out a friend and I stayed home. By six o'clock I called her and said I am going to the ER. The ankle was swelled up and the pain was killing me. I had also done the stupid thing and looked up the symptoms on the internet and of course found that my problem might kill me. Literally. It turns out my new meds can cause deep vein thrombosis (blood clots). My mother died of DVT 16 years ago so that set the wheels of my mind spinning! 

Question...Have you ever gone to the ER for something? Anything? What did it do once you got there? It went away didn't it?! My ankle pain mysteriously disappeared! The swelling stayed, butthe pain got a hundred times better! The pain in my pocket would not get any better I guarantee you! 

When all was said and done I was diagnosed with severe arthritis in the ankle, so it isn't like it was a phantom pain. It just wasn't a DVT. Thank goodness! (I tend to panic.) I will probably panic again when the bill for the visit comes in.