Happy New Year!

Here it is, the story of the coming year. I predict that by the end of the year 2008 we will be all heatily sick of politics.

I started my new years' eve out right with several shots of Sailor Jerrys', I hav no idea how this entry will look when I finish since the Sailor has an attitude.

Mom has been eloping lately. That is the term the institutions use to describe someone who is trying to escape. I don't know why this sudden change of heart. We had her meds changed and she has quited down somewhat. I can only hope that she decides to stay put. I hope you all have a happy and prosperous new yeer. thamks for reeding.

Let's hear them sleighbells jingaling........

Xmas* is upon us once again. The only thing positive about it is that I'm stil on the top side of the sod. The installation thing at work was halted until the programmer people could solve their problems and make the system work as promised.
Yesterday was one of those days when I felt like I was chasing my butt all day. I couldn't seem to get anything to work right and spent a lot of time driving. really frustrating.
Mom told me a couple of days ago that she was happy where she was and that I had done the right thing when I had her taken from her home several months ago. She said that she was confused and frightened back then and that she understood now that I was acting in her best interest. I knew that but it felt really good to hear her say it. thanks for reading.

*trademarked by the secular progressive movement USA

Dohh!

I saw the most inane thing last night. I was in one of our stores and noticed a baseball hat for sale. This hat had a pirate logo on it and emblazoned across the brim was this legend "Beatings will continue until moral improves." Note that it does not say morale but rather moral. Imagine, thousands of these hats are out there and are being worn with a typo on them. This shows just how our society has dumbed down. This hat got all the way through the process of design, screen printing and marketing without ever being noticed. To make it worse, thousands of people have bought them and are proudly wearing them, not realizing that thinking people evrywhere are saying to themselves "What a Maroon!". thanks for reading.

Even More Mom

Well, mom seems to be adjusting well to her new home. Sis took her to her house last night to eat dinner with her family. We ordered a new bed and a new lift chair for her to be delivered monday. She will be excited about this and these things will make her feel more at home there. We have had a real difficult time with Medicaid. Mom had three life insurance policies with total face value of 20,000. We were required to cash these in and spend the money on mom before she could qualify for assistance. We have to show proof of this, receipts and cancelled checks.
She is only allowed 1500 in life insurance, not even enough to bury her. Fortunately she has already paid all her burial expenses. Basically you have to be a pauper to qualify even though she has paid taxes and voted her entire life. They also told me that upon her death they would seek reimbursement from her estate, if any is available. I'm just happy she is in a nice place and is cared for. The stress from this has been almost more than I could take. The state and the medical establishments have required mounds of paperwork and working 55-60 hour weeks at the same time has been real stressful. The whole thing was worth it, though, to see mom acting halfway sane again. I know there will be more hard times ahead but I think I'm seeing light at the end of the tunnel on this one.
We have been installing a new POS system at work in about 35-38 stores. I don't really know how many there are. I'm just a tech, I'm not in marketing. We do all the wiring and install the software and then the IT guys do the programming. We do this at night to avoid affecting sales as much as possible. Things usually go well the first few hours, we get our stuff in and then the IT guys start thier part. This is when it slows to a crawl. At first they are talkative and freindly, then they begin to huddle and talk really low. We ask "how's it going?" and they just glance at you and won't meet your eyes. Then after several hours of this suddenly everything starts to work. We show up at around 8pm and finish our part about 1am. They finish thier part about 5am. We can't leave because if something goes wrong we have to be there to correct it or to CYA. There's a lot of office politics going on and we just want this project to be finished. We're working really long hours and still handling service calls at the same time. I love it, the challenge is something I enjoy. Unlike moms' situation I can get a real handle on this and see real results. thanks for reading.

STRESS

I guess everyone is ready for thanksgiving. We've bought our turkey and prepared for the big meal. We probably would go out but our children insisted that it wouldn't be the same if we didn't do the big family meal thing. I think my sister is going to have mom at her house this year. thanks for reading.

Mom again

Well, we finally got a permanent home for mom. She has improved to the point that she is going into an assisted living right here in our town. She will still have her meds supervised and get her meals prepared but otherwise she is on her own. The picture shows just one of the common rooms in the place. there is also a really posh dining room and several activity areas. The residents also are taken out shopping and to other activities. Kinda like living on a cruise ship. She seems excited and is looking forward to the move. The down side is that to qualify for this we have to cash in her three small life insurance policies and spend the money on her or on her house by dec. 1 and show proof to the medicaid people. The paperwork I have gone through in the last three months is unbelievable. The picture above made it look kind of empty, actually the place is full of people. I wasn't allowed to take any pictures with the residents in them.

Christmas is just around the corner and I thought this photo would help get everyone in the right mood. With everything else to deal with I'm sure all the Santas out there are gonna be stressed to the max. thanks for reading.

Sugar High

Well, Halloween is over except for the sugar rushes the kids will be getting for the next few days till the candy runs out. I'm glad mine are grown. You can always send the grandkids home when they get to be too much.

I applied for some insurance the other day and my driver record came back showing a speeding conviction I wasn't aware of. Turns out this guy in California is using my number to drive on. I ran into this person 30 years ago when I first got a Commercial license. He has the same name and birthdate as I do and that's all the CDL people used to look at. Nowadays they also use the SS number. This is a bad guy with an arrest record small children could sit on to reach the dinner table. I called the CDL help line and they said I also had a record in Oregon, pretty strange considering that I've never been further west than Arkansas. This rules out that west coast vacation I was thinking about. If I got stopped for speeding in Ca I could wind up as someones sweetheart in a California penitentiary. thanks for reading.

Cool Weather

Here's a sample of an old comic I used to enjoy back in the day. The writer has had her website "under construction" forever. If she ever gets it up and running I'll buy her products.

We had a meeting this weekend and decided that mom should stay in the nursing home. She is too easily upset for us to try to care for her. Late meds or upset routine throw her into a bad mood and make her very hard to handle.

The medicaid people said that we could rent her home but they would get the money. Riiigghhht, I'm gonna put up with all the crap of being a landlord and the state gets the money. I don't think so. We'll just close the house, turn off the power and gas and let it rot. The state is gonna end up getting it anyways so why should I take care of it?

We're getting some cool weather now and I had to turn on my heat. I just installed this gaspack last summer and didn't realize the gas valve had an off and on positional switch. The spouse asked me turn the heat on. I didn't let on that I thought it was already on. I turned the switch on and sat back, nothing...then I noticed the blinking green light. I thought "green, that's good, better than a red blinking light." I noticed then that the light was blinking in a pattern. I looked on the back of the access door and found the chart. 6 blinks and then 1 blink. Timed out because of failed ignition. Then at the bottom, Reset by cycling power. I tripped the breaker and lo and behold, Heat! Troubleshooting is 90% observation and 10% perspiration.

Thought I'd include this pic for all of you who are gonna be traveling in the coming holidays. The Japanese have a way with English. They just don't get the subtleties. This poster indicates that the airline doesn't have lot of confidence. Why else would they wish you good luck? thanks for reading.

More Stuff

I think Cliff is on to something. Buffalo theory would explain a lot of things. Now if you could tie in the liver is evil, it must be punished with the Buffalo Theory you would cover all arguments for a snootfull.
Well, more in the continuing saga of Mom. She still packs her things every day in the expectation of going home. The stuff she packs seem to be multiplying. Lately they have included some of the Halloween decorations from around the nursing home and perhaps some of her room mates things. She told me recently that the water pitcher in her bag was a "Steal". She claims that it keeps ice all day! She needed a Kleenex the other night and said that they wouldn't give her any. I found the Kleenex in her bags, packed up and ready to go. I'm meeting with the sibs this morning to discuss options on her future. A touchy and emotional issue. The stress level is at 9.5. Another good excuse for a snootfull. thanks for reading.

More Mom

This is the feeling I get sometimes. No matter what I come up with someone else beats me to the punch.
I took my grandson to visit mom yesterday and she was thrilled. She gets everyone else mixed up but she knew who he was. She started crying when she saw him and was afraid it would upset him. I explained to him that it was tears of happiness and he was fine with it. they talked and had a good visit. He really acted mature for a 6 year old.
We have until the end of the month to get a room ready for her at my brothers' house. She is real excited to be going there. She will eat good there, my brother likes to cook and enjoys preparing meals for other people. This is so strange, Mom has been hostile to his family for 6 years and now she is going there. Mom has an entire new attitude while on the proper medicine. The trick to making this work will be getting her to take her medicine.
We helped my wifes' mother move yesterday and Friday and got really stressed. I always dread moving someone else's belongings. Something always gets broken or scratched and then the qeustion, do I offer to pay for it?.
I mean, you volunteer to help and if something goes wrong you get a guilt trip free of charge.
Oh well, we gotter done and My part of it is over. Just seeing all her crap made me want to come home and throw away some stuff. I will keep sentimental items but not to the extent that my home is cluttered. Except for furniture I like to keep personal items down to what will fit in a suitcase. I like to spend my spare time roaming the house looking for things to discard. Those pictures of traditional Japanese homes where everything is so Spartan make me envious. The Spouse mentioned decorating the house the other day and I was confused. I mean, there's paint on all the walls, what more is needed? Beige paint. I'll probably spend some time today getting rid of some clothes too. All my clothes should fit in no more than two washing machines. I've accumulated some extra clothes this summer and it's time to thin 'em out. If the men in the black Chevy Suburbans ever come for me I can pack and go out the window faster than they can sneak in the back door. thanks for reading.

Events

Here it is 4 am and I'm wide awake. Mom is doing ok, by that I mean she is in good physical health but her mind is still gone. She is no longer so beligerant and is a lot easier to get along with. My brother and his wife are going to take her home in a couple of weeks and try caring for her at thier house. I wish them the best. I know it's gonna be hard.

Today I'm gonna be the only tech in the area and I've already got several calls to start the day. We got a little rain last night, I woke and heard it and thought "what is that noise?". We've so little rain recently that it sounded strange. thanks for reading.

A While.........

It's been a while since I blogged. We had another all nighter this week and we've got two next week. I thought you might like these two ads I found recently. the top one makes me want to brew a whole pot and the bottom one is totally understandable. I think there have been times that my wife would have not asked questions if I had vanished for a week or two. She would have just wished for the worst and gone on with her life.
Mom was justifying her stay at the Living Center by believing that she was at work there. After her retirement party (birthday party) she had to find a new reason to be there. She now thinks she is in a TB Sanitarium. I don't think there have been any of these facilities in the US for around 50 years. I think her room mate has a cough and mom has somehow turned it into TB. We attended the Alzheimer's Association meeting the other night and heard one woman relate that her mom wants to go home even though she is already at home. She gets her into the car and rides around aimlessly looking for this mythical "home". Our nation is turning into a Lunatic ward. The Jihadist just need to be patient and when all the boomers get dementia we will be an easy conquest.
The grandson had a loose tooth with another already poking through the gum. Naturally his dad called on Gramps to come pull the tooth. I'm the only one in the family mean enough to hold a 6 year old down and pull his tooth against his will. The granddaughter is getting to be a real handful now. She likes to play rough and really enjoys pulling my beard and screaming along with me.
My tattoo artist son is staying really busy now and usually has several appointments going all the time. I'm gonna post more tatt pics soon. He did a very nice Jesus tatt the other day, very realistic. Since he started doing this full time he has really improved. Some people reach a stage of competency and stay there but some just continue to get better and better. These are the artist and I like to think he is one of these. thanks for reading

Birthday Party

We all went the nursing home (Living Center) yesterday to celebrate moms' 81st. She was amazed at the cake and said no one had ever brought her a nicer one. I'm sure her memory being what it is that this statement was made in complete honesty. here she is admiring her cake. We all had a good time and mom was in an exceptionally good mood. She thinks she is working there and they refuse to let her go home. She was under the impression that this was her retirement party and she would finally get to leave. When she got tired she wheeled herself off to a secluded area to be alone. My brother and I went to check on her and found her in a depressed mood. I told her everyone was there because she was loved and she said they could all go to "hello". It was good to see her laugh and smile again even for just a short while. thanks for reading.

Back to the real world

We returned home from vacation yesterday. Real bummer. Today the family is going to the nursing home to celebrate moms' birthday. She is 81 and sometimes thinks she is 60 or 50 or 40 or well, you get the picture. My sister visited her for about 30 minutes the other day, left for a few minutes and when she returned it was as if she hadn't been there all day. I dream about her nearly every night, usually strange dreams where she is hostile and trying to escape from her new residence. She does actually try this often and the maglocks on the doors are all that keep her there. She seems to think that she is at work at the hospital she worked at many years ago and is being kept there against her will to ensure an adequate work force.

My mother in law is also going thru a change right now. She sold the house she has lived in for about forty years and is moving in to her sons house. He is moving to Atlanta to be with his girlfriend. My wife is just waiting for her mom to decide she doesn't like the situation and start blaming her for it.

I'm looking forward getting back to work and plan on many long days. thanks for reading.

vacation 2

This would be mom without her meds.
Well, we're on vacation at the beach. Today we spent some time at the ocean, spouse walked and I played with my metal detector. I found lots of bottle caps and one dime. At this rate in about two years I can pay for the detector. Helps to forget about stress though. Found a hot spot in the rental so thought I would take the oppurtunity to blog this. I will take some pictures later and post them. thanks for reading.

Vacation

Here are some news items I thought were worth sharing. The bottom one is no surprise. We start our vacation today and I'm not sure if the place we're staying has a hot spot so this could be my last post for a week or so. I'll check my mail in a parking lot but I won't take the time to post a blog that way.

I feel guilty about going away for a week and leaving mom, even though I know she'll be fine. the way the Alzheimers has screwed up her time sense she'll never know I was gone. My sibs will visit often and the staff will care for her but that doesn't make it easier. Last night she thought that I was my brother and was shocked to find that I was taking my wife away for a week. She also claimed that the "Indians" who ran the place were going around with a notebook figuring out how much money they were making on each resident. She probably saw the dieticians or one of the doctors making rounds. She lives in a paranoid world of confusion and time distortion where events of the past 80 years may have happened just yesterday and events of today never happened at all. She gets three good meals each day but if asked will assert that she hasn't been fed at all. You cannot reason with her but she is easily distracted. When she insisted on going home the other night I reminded her that dinner was on the way and she raced me back to her room. I enjoy watching her wolf down her meals because I know the day will come when she will forget how to eat. The cruelest of deseases.

The granddaughter is walking now and has the posture of a chimp. This will straighten as her back becomes stronger and her legs strengthen. We all enjoy watching her walk and imagine her falling and hitting her head on every hard surface. She, however, sees no danger and happily toddles all over the house. She is growing so fast I know we will be attending a wedding in no time at all.

thanks for reading.

Mom Again

Mom is settled in at a local Nursing center. The Dr. says the brain injury probably speeded up the dementia. He suggested 24 hr care for the rest of her life, which could be years. We've started the application process and now a lot of it is wait and see. She meets us each evening with a bag full of her things ready to go home. We ask her about her day and distract her until she forgets about leaving. Her memory is about 50% fabrication. She fills in the gaps with imaginative stories. She told me yesterday that everyone in the facility was kidnapped from local hospitals to enable the owners to fill the beds and make lots of money. She is unsteady on her feet and wears a restraint belt to keep her from falling out of the wheelchair. She has a single minded obsession with cutting the belt. She was using her butter knife on it at lunch today I am told. The terrible reality of this disease points out the very real limits of our medical knowledge. This really is "The Long Goodbye". thanks for reading.

first birthday

Here's the birthday girl with her Gramps and just prior to diving into the cake. In the bottom picture about 15 people were singing to her and she wasn't sure what was next. She was probably thinking that a firing squad came after this. Lots fun for everyone and plenty of toys and clothes for Chloe. Happy Birthday, Sweetheart! thanks for reading.

On and On and On..........

Well, we got mom into a rehab and therapy center for a three week stay. I'm really hopeful that this will make her more cooperative. She was not a happy camper when she found that she wasn't going home but we convinced her to stay for a "visit". These people are supposed to be pros at dealing with this condition. Thank God for sedatives. She was officially diagnosed with Dementia while in the hospital which helps me tremendously in getting her the care she needs. While there she was convinced that she was in Greenville General hospital. That particular building was demolished about 15 years ago. She was transported in an ambulance but was sure that she came there in a car and was ready to fight about it. Her catch phrase for things you ask her that she has forgotten is "It's none of your business!". She told me that she would like to think that her car would be awaiting her at home. I told her that she could think that if she wanted to. The truth is she will never drive again. She has entered a new life of dependence, something she may never accept. My siblings were very helpful during the move, something I'm really grateful for. The legal issues involved and the physical and emotional strain are something that millions go through but that doesn't make it any easier when you are the focus of it. We found mom in need of new clothing and her house in need of a good cleaning. She would never accept help before but now we can step in and give her the help she needs. While in a rage the other night she asked me what my dad was thinking about me while looking down from heaven at the way I was treating her. I smiled which made her even madder. I think dad was thinking, " Good luck, now you know what I put up with for 56 years!" thanks for reading.

More Mom

This is probably what it would be like if I forgot to turn in my timesheet. The spouse would flog me figuratively.

I came home last night and went to visit mom. She was on fire because of her car. She refused to believe that the Dr. had ordered her not to drive. I tried to find her meds and discovered that she had hid them so well that even she didn't know where they were. I then called 911 and asked them to come get her. When she heard me calling them she went berserk. She threatened me and was out of control. Long story short: She is in the hospital awaiting transfer to an alzheimer ward for evaluation and rehab. I'm hoping for short term care and a return home.

We're going to the beach next week and this is what I'm hoping to catch. thanks for reading.

More Mom

They always thought I was a Scout leader because I cared about the boys.

Well, Mom goes back to the Dr. tomorrow. She is supposed to have her stitches removed and have an exam to determine her progress. She looks at it as a precursor to getting her car back. I really don't expect her to ever drive again. She has already made plans to stop and pick up her car on the way home. She is obsessive/compulsive and paranoid and I don't think she should ever be under the wheel of an auto again. I have an appt. to see her Dr. torrow afternoon to discuss her care and to plan for her future.

I found our missing dog today. Her remains are in the edge of the woods surrounding our house. I can only assume that she was shot or was killed by wild animals. There are coyotes in our area, but I would think that if coyotes got her there would have been little left. I believe someone shot her. It's a relief to know she wasn't stolen. I worried that dogfighters had taken her to use as bait to teach their dogs to kill. This is common and is a little known fact. thanks for reading.

Football Saturday

I hate it when this happens.
Today is a Clemson home game day. This means that if you have to go anywhere in the upstate you got to plan your route carefully to avoid the traffic. It's a great day with sunshine and a gentle breeze. The kind of day I wish I was at the beach. When you go out on a day like this you kind of forget about your troubles for a while.
I'm on call today and had to go out last night at 3:00 am. Fixed the problem and came home and went back to bed for a while. Definately a nap day.
Mom is a little calmer now but it's like sitting on a powder keg while smoking a cigar.
thanks for reading.

More Mom

I gotta admit this guy's attitude closely resembles my own. Mom has really pushed me to the limit the last week. She had tantrums, called me vile names, refused her medicine till she got her way and called the police on my sister for taking her car. Then, today, she called me and asked to be taken to the grocery store. I took her and watched her buy corn, canned corn, milk, eggs, and $30.00 worth of cat food. Basically she was going for the cats and bought a few things for herself to diguise the fact. I have an appt. with her physician monday to request that she be put in a locked facility for a few weeks for evaluation. I want to know if there is a physical cause for her strange behaviour or if it is just dementia. It is like walking on eggshells talking to her. the first slipup can send her into a rage. There has GOT to be medication that can help her.

We took the 6 year old grandson to the planetarium tonight. Had a great time and actually forgot about mom for a while. thanks for reading.

Paradise

Well, it's another day in paradise. I shouldn't complain. the weather is nice and I've got a good job. BUT, Sometimes things just get real complicated and you just wish for simpler times. I wonder, though, if there ever was a real simple time or if our memories are clouded by an inability to remember the bad. Maybe we just bank out the bad times and remember the good. whatever, thanks for reading.

The door part ll

Well, mom won the battle of the door. She thinks. She took her home tool kit and dug the wood out from around the screw and then broke it off and opened her door. She thinks she won, actually she lost. She now has access to the back steps which she will go up and down 10 or more times each day. She will carry stuff in and out of the door and will chase her stupid cats in and out of the door and up and down the steps. She will eventually fall down the steps once again. It is inevitable. She has already started in on my sister about the car. The surgeon forbade her to drive for 6 to 8 weeks. She says she has never been to "that damn doctor" and will drive as soon as we return her car. This disease is one of the most difficult things I have ever faced. It is frustrating to see things and be unable to explain them to someone. Try as you might you cannot get through to her. She has lost the ability to reason. She can only see obstacles and work single mindedly to overcome them. Yesterday she called me some of the vilest names I have ever heard. She also threatened several times to kill me. The next time she falls she will go to a nursing facility. I worked in one for 7 years and I would rather cut off my right hand than to put her there but I cannot continue to fight her in hopes of protecting her from herself. My job requires 10 to 12 hour days and I just cannot do that and care for her also. I am not one of these people who piously put their lives aside to care for someone. I have financial responsibilities I can't ignore. It is 4 in the morning and I have to go to work in a couple of hours. I wonder what craziness she will come up with while I'm gone? thanks for reading.

Mom & Dad

This probably would have been my mom and dad had dad lived.
Tomorrow is labor day, a national holiday here in the US. I don't have to work but I am on call for emergencies. We will work out in our yard and maybe lay around the pool. I'll grill something and watch a little tv. We usually take our vacation at the end of Sep.. We go to the beach and it's quite that time of year but still warm. thanks for reading.

The door

Well, more on mom. The Dr sent her home Friday. To prepare for her I screwed the door shut that leads to the steps. This means that she has to use the door that has no steps. She was enraged. She told me that if dad were still alive he would "blow your brains out with a shotgun!". Several hours later she hugged me and declared her love for me. Her biggest complaint is that her cats are upset by not being able to use the other door. I had to follow her around the yard friday evening while she rounded up the cats and brought them into the house. Keep in mind that this person had brain surgery on wed.. She is obsessed with these cats. This is sunday and she was ringing the doorbell early this morning to demand that I "Open that damn door!". I followed her back down to her house and discovered that she had locked herself out. I opened the front door for her whereupon she sat down outside the back door (the one with the steps) and said she would only use it. I left her there with her coffee and her cats. A while later I noticed she had gone in. Understand this, I live only about 100 feet away and we are well off the road. She is probably as safe as she would be in a nursing facility. I have taken her meds away and give them to her daily as she had started taking them randomly. I have also taken her car. The door issue has distracted her and she hasn't given me any grief about the car or the meds yet. Hopefully I can get a contractor to install a ramp at the door soon. She has declared that she will "chop it down with an axe" if I build a ramp. Soon after it's built she will tell me how wonderful it is. For those just coming in mom is 80 and suffers from alzheimers or senile dementia. She accused me Fri. night of wanting her dead. I replied that if that were the case I would open the door and let her fall down the steps. She said that snakes were clever and knew how to twist things around. She is sick and confused with a two minute attention span but she is still an intelligent, clever person. She has requested a sign to hang in her front window. "I am the boss in this house!" I may actually make it for her. thanks for reading.

Mom

Well, here goes. I haven't talked about mom for a while. She never fully recovered from the fall she had over a month ago. Last week she fell again. This time she was in her home and fell on carpet. She stayed on the floor for most of the day we think. She was so confused that we couldn't get the straight story from her. After this fall she was extremely confused and unsteady on her feet. A new CAT scan showed a blood clot putting pressure on her brain. Dr. Bucci operated two days ago and removed it. She is still in the hospital, of course. I went to ICU yesterday to check on her and found her strapped to the bed. I went off. I had the staff call the Dr. and get a sedative for her and stayed with her until other family could come. Needless to say she was not a happy camper. She used language I didn't know she was aware of. I seem to remember her describing me as an SOB and a snake for not taking her home. I think the hospital staff would have sent her home immediately if the doctor had let them. He assured me last night that she would stay until medically safe to go. The DR. put her back on her regular meds yesterday and is keeping sedatives readily available. Hopefully she'll calm down until she heals a little. Last night she was talking to her cats and they were 10 miles away. Well, more later.

I was in one of our stores yesterday and the manager was waiting on a customer and telling me about a problem at the same time. A man waiting in line began to scold her for not being fast enough. There was an open lane next us but this guy wouldn't go there, choosing instead to continue to harass the lady for her lack of speed. The guy she was helping began to ask for various items slowwwwly. First he wanted a pwerball ticket and then he took his time picking out a scratch off card and then he mused over which brand of cigarettes to buy. Finally the other man stormed out of the store. Life's too short for jerks like that to ruin your day. He'll probably call corporate and they'll give him a gift card to go away. They'll take it out of her bonus for the month. thanks for reading.

michael vick

Here's the sentence we all wish for Vick. Unfortunately this would be considered inhumane for the dogs. He might accidentally cleat them. Some people never grow up and highly paid athletes seem to suffer that trait out of proportion. thanks for reading.

Open for business

Well, as promised, here are some pictures from the newly opened CherrybombSC Tattoo shop in Anderson, SC. They got off to a great start with lots of visitors until a really bad thunderstorm came in and killed the traffic. We arrived to take pictures to find everyone standing around looking at each other. They did manage to make some appts before the storm hit. I think the pics manage to give you an idea of how clean and pro everything is. The first tatt they did in the new shop was on a person who cancelled an appt at another shop after seeing our place. The Artist/Owner is the handsome guy in the bottom pic. Left to right in the top pic is his wife, his brother in law and his mother. After he gets established he'll look back and wonder that is was ever that quiet at Cherrybomb. You can call them at 864-224-0554, his name is Jonathan.

Jitterbug Phone

Well, another bright idea down the drain. I wrote about this concept a few weeks ago and here it is. If you'll check my previous post you'll find where I stated the need for a simple cell phone for seniors or others who can't understand the complexities of the majority of phones. Here it is. You can even get an option for three buttons, tow, 911, operator. If mom had one of these she might actually carry it around and use it. I am for anything that makes life easier.
Well the lottery has reached 300 million. I predict there will be 10 to 20 winners who split the winnings. Sure would like to be one of them.

PrePay

We try to be a little more sophisticated at our stores. I must admit, though, that this sign would not be out of the question with some of our employees.

Finally! My son opened his tattoo shop yesterday! After jumping through bureaucratic hoops for two months he finally got all the approvals needed and all the papers signed and all the inspections completed. The DHEC inspector said that it was one of the nicest shops he had seen. We're going down tonite to visit. I'll take pictures and post them tomorrow. He is the first in our family to own a business. I am very proud of him and his wife. I am also proud of my other son, at 24 a home owner and father of three children. I would have gone crazy at that age with that much responsibility. I was part of the drop out, turn on generation.

Thought you might like to see a sample of CherrybombSC tattoos' work. thanks for reading.

Stumphouse Mountain

Here's some pics from Stumphouse Mountain. I know it's kinda vague but directly behind us is the entrance to the tunnel. The tunnel was bored into the granite mountain in the 1850's for a train route from upstate SC to Ohio. It's about 15 ft wide by 15 ft tall and extends 1600 feet into the mountain. There are no lights inside so you have to use a flashlight. Near the end there is a perpetual fog in the air. You can make some really spooky sounds inside and It took constant encouragement to get the Grandson to go all the way to the end. the builders ran out of money before they ran out of mountain. The War of Southern Secession stopped the tunnel permanently.

Here's a pic of Isaqueena falls. It's named for Creek maiden who helped the early settlers in their struggle with the Cherokee. This picture shows me enjoying teaching the grandson to catch Crawdads. He caught on right away and had to be drug away from the water. There are just some things only a Granddad can do. Some days stick in your memory. This will be one. thanks for reading.