Good morning.

I see some people got an early start putting up Christmas decorations. Never mind. It was just some people that didn't take them down.

Went to a celebration of life last evening for a young guy, late 40's, and the youngest sibling of a family I've known 35 years. One of the contributing factors I'm sure was his obsessive use of drugs and alcohol for most of his life. A gathering of some 70+ people got together at a lake/park that was in the middle of the neighborhood we lived in for 28 years before we moved out west of town to farm country. (now development country). New houses popping up all over the place now. Leisure city is a rough, tough place to live where drug and alcohol use and crime are quite apparent. The gathering had many people I hadn't seen in years. Some still actively using, others in recovery, and some that were just plain ol' normal folks. There were some old bikers there showing the wear of many years of catching bugs with their teeth and face. The deceased's brother showed me his new license proudly telling me "I finally got it back after 20 years." His older brother came down from Ocala. We hung out with him a lot back in the day. He's been a repo man for years and told me "I'm too old to go after the cars anymore. I've been run over, stabbed beat up and shot too many times and I just can't take it anymore." He said "I'm still in the repo business but I just do motor homes and tractor/trailers now. They don't fight back. This year I'm 16 years clean and sober. I'm no longer comfortable in my old neighborhood. I have changed but the neighborhood has not. Out here I live in a fantasy world that Sue and I have made for ourselves. Mostly I am disconnected from my past and for that I am grateful. Visits to my old neighborhood just remind me of how it used to be for me and how it is for those that haven't changed that much at all.

Morning guys....Sunny and warm this morning, but looking for some rain later today. We need it bad and will take it, even if the farmers are trying to get started on the wheat harvest.

Tommy, it's amazing how getting away from a place can open your eyes. You can really see what things are like from the outside some times.

I made good headway on things yesterday. Hopefully finish up some of those things today. I got the stainless hardware in and got my picnic table back together and after golf last night I went to see a former student who wants me to finish framing a closet up for him. He kept hinting that he wanted me to do it for nothing...or next to nothing.....I stood by my guns and just said, I'll keep track of my hours and materials. Nice kid, but he has f*@ked away more money in the last two months than it will cost him for me to do the work.

Golf wasn't as good as last week, finished in the middle of the pack.

Well, I better get to it before it gets too warm out there. Have a great day guys.

Hidey-ho! Working from home, listening to the pitter-patter of raindrops. It's not looking particularly promising for golf later.

Quite a thought-provoking trip down memory lane, Tommy.

Meanwhile, how the other 1% lives:

https://www.barrons.com/articles/what- ... sure-a-ferrari-1529294430

Have a good day, all!

THANK GOD YOU ESCAPED, TOMMY.

ITS A LITTLE NICER THIS MORNING, COOLER & NOT AS HUMID. FIXING TO GO GET MY FANGS SCRAPED AT THE DENTIST. SEEMS LIKE IT HAS NOT BEEN THAT LONG SINCE IT WAS DONE BEFORE.

DARLING WIFE MADE IT HOME LAST NIGHT. SHE'S TICKLED WITH HER NEW CAR AND I'M TICKLED SHE'S BACK HOME.

I hear you Thomas...... I tried that a couple of times going back to the folks that I rode and raised hell with and drank with back in the day...... It was like nothing had ever changed for them except we were all older....it was just like it was back then.......when I got away I was thinking thank the Lord I followed a different path that He laid out for me......or I would have been right back where I always was with the rest of them....... amazing......

Well the work goes on even when I want to sleep in and hang out around the place..... cooler today though and that is a good thing......Uwoman off to jazzercise......u go girl!

About a month to go till we head out to Portland and pick up the Fiddysix.....they have it all ready to go....... can't wait.....

Gotta gooooo...........enjoy Guru's....

THE BROWN DOE BROUGHT HER TWINS OUT INTO THE OPEN THIS AFTERNOON. THEY WERE RUNNING, JUMPING, AND CAVORTING ABOUT LIKE CRAZY WHILE MOM THOUGHTFULLY MUNCHED ON VIRGINIA CREEPER. GREAT FUN TO WATCH.

Awesome story Tommy - sure does give you an appreciation for the blessings you have and the opportunity you were given to make a turn.
Had an eye doc visit yesterday morning, he changed something with the right eye I'm not happy with so we'll revisit that. Following, had a funeral for the publisher of the paper I used to work for, the one before the buy-out. The family (Troutt) had owned it for 99 years before selling in 2000 to the Paxtons. The living son, Bob was assistant publisher at the time and has since gotten into real estate development and is still a friend of mine and did our house deal.
After that, got groceries, came home, thought I'd get in the pool and walked outside into a swarm of bees. Seems there's a hive somewhere trying to split into a new hive and locate at my house. My outdoor cabinet I keep beach towels and other things in apparently looks like a hive box to them. Bee person visit yesterday, he is due back today, we have a plan in place, hoping it works. The 'new queen' is not at my house yet, he says they're preparing for her. He is planning to bring his own queen and his box and try to gather the bees and haul them away. Fingers crossed

Better bees that are queens than humans that are queens.

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LAST YEAR THE UNIVERSITY OF OKLAHOMA UPPED FEES AND TUITION BY FIVE PERCENT. THIS YEAR THE PRESIDENT, AN UN-ELECTABLE LEFT WINGER OF THE PERMANENT POLITICAL CLASS, WAS WHINING AND MOANING ABOUT NEEDING MORE TAX PAYER MONEY. TODAY IT WAS ANNOUNCED THEY ARE PAYING THE FOOTBALL COACH FIVE MILLION DOLLARS A YEAR.
COULD THEIR BE ANY CONNECTION?

SURE MAKES ME PROUD TO BE A COWBOY ;-)

never did like that Sooner Schooner ..........