Author: psumberg

I’ve said many times that “The older you get, the more dead people you know.”.
I learned yesterday that Gerald Davis died nearly 2 years ago. He was 46.
I always liked Gerald though he was a bit peculiar at times. Ha, look who’s talking!
I remember when he divorced, he ended up living in a tiny place just trying to scrape by. He lived on little so he would have the where-with-all to do things with his kids. When he lived in that tiny place I gave him a small microwave from my boat that I wasn’t using. It seemed to make a difference.
I always liked Gerald.

Here is my observation.
In too many cases it easier for “friends” to observe your life from afar via social networks than take the time to call or even email you. This is especially true if you actively talk about what’s going on in your life on these social networks. Of course, the reciprocal is true if these friends also post about current events in their lives.
However, if one party isn’t actively updating their social networks it becomes a one way street and while they know the status of you, their “friend”, unfortunately you may be left in the dark.
Text messaging and to an extent email has replaced phone calls and visits between friends. Now social networking is adding isolation to the mix. It’s just too easy to look on Facebook or Twitter to see what your friends have been up to. Why bother to call or stop by for a visit? Accomplishments, births, deaths, happiness, sadness, it’s all there, just a click away. Why waste time on a phone call?
I have one long time childhood friend with whom I have fairly regular phone conversations. If we are ever in the same area of the country a visit always takes place. These long conversations serve to refresh memories about things otherwise buried under the layers of here and now. It refreshes, reinforces and simply makes one feel good to talk to friends.
Oops, I think I’ve overrun my digital social quota for the morning. Catch me on Facebook, Twitter or some other seedy dark corner of the internet
Ciao.

Yesterday morning the dog and I went to the Woody Gap trail head and headed north along the AT.  At about a mile and a half, we took a side trail to a beautiful vista and popular camping area.  You can stand on a rock outcropping and see forever to the south.  The elevation was around 3700 feet.  Being in the middle of the week, we only encountered one other hiker.  The dog and I had the camping area to ourselves.  It was quiet and peaceful.  I shed my gear, sat in the sunshine upon the great rock and enjoyed an Ybor City cigar.  At that moment, we were the only creatures in the world and life was good.

 

I was sitting out on the deck enjoying coffee and the moonlit sky a little while ago. My thoughts drifted to when I was a youngster sailing before the mast in the merchant fleet.
A sea watch is 4 hours on and 8 hours off. At night, split among 3 men, you spend one hour twenty minutes on the wheel, one hour 20 minutes on standby and one hour twenty minutes forward on lookout.
Lookout was the best. That is if the weather was good. For an hour and twenty minutes you stood on the bow of the ship looking for lights on the horizon, listening to the low roar of tons of seawater being pushed aside by the ship’s prow and enjoying the night sky. Being in the middle of the ocean and forward of all lights, the night sky was beautiful. An added treat on a moonlit night, you could see the porpoise playing in the bow wave. Oh, once in a while you’d see a ship off in the distance and have to return to the here and now and report it. On most ships when you saw a light you rang a bell to report it. One bell for anything more than 12 points off the port bow, 2 bells for anything more than 12 points off the starboard bow and 3 for dead ahead.
It was a most enjoyable way to earn a living.
Short of the porpoise and surge of the sea, I enjoy the same peaceful starlit sky nearly every morning before sunrise. Life here in the mountains is marvelous.

I just finished ironing clothes. Something I should have done when I was married but never did.
I know, you think I’m a little nuts for ironing my blue jeans. Perhaps I am but I want people to know that however casual I am dressed I still wish to be neat.
While I was ironing clothes, I thought about my mother. When I was very young, she ironed nearly everything. She ironed pillow cases. I don’t remember I’d she did sheets as well but I bet she did. She ironed handkerchiefs and she ironed tablecloths and napkins. I mean, she ironed nearly everything.
You know, the amount of work a “housewife” did 7 days a week back then was incredible. She also always prepared a hot breakfast, packed a school lunch and we always had a proper supper.
Amazing!
Today’s, kids are luck to get a hot meal. And if it is, it probably came out of a microwave.

Thanks Mom.

While I’m at it, I should say that Debra (my ex) kept a neat house, cooked everyday did laundry (including ironing) and held down a full time job. Damn!

With overnight lows in the upper 50s and daytime highs not reaching 80, along with mostly sunny days, the past couple weeks have been outstanding.

A neighbor cut down 2 large red oak trees and offered the wood to me. Well, a lot of cutting and a whole lot of splitting later, I added a little over a cord of firewood to my woodshed. That will make some really nice heat winter after next.

I built a tool to help me make good miter corners on picture frame mouldings. Tis week I made my first barn wood frame for a piece that was selected for an upcoming exhibit.

Here is the piece.

Well, that’s it for now.
Cheers.

I find my ever wandering mind coming to rest in an altogether too uncomfortable spot these days. Perhaps it’s the general and overall state of unrest in the world today coupled to Mr. Obama’s forced health care. Maybe not, because this particular thought doesn’t include the rest of you.
I keep wondering about both my physical and mental state over my remaining years. I mean, I feel the aches and pains of abusing my body repeatedly over my lifetime. Mind you, I’m still a wizard at ignoring the pains and working through them. Heck, since winter I’ve cut, split and stacked firewood from probably a dozen hardwood trees. And while I try to limit the time I spend on hard labor, on several occasions I’ve put in a good 6 to 8 hours in one session. In this same period of time I’ve also dismantled a barn at a friends place, moved it here and used the materials to build a woodshed (mostly by myself). I’m not complaining but some of my muscles and joints are.
Now, I’m not concerned with my timely or untimely demise. You who know me know this. The end will come when it comes! However I am beginning to wonder just how long I will maintain my good health and cobweb encrusted mind. I mean, what if I manage another 30 years (not entirely impossible). How the hell will I manage to cut firewood then. Ha ha, will I even remember to light the furnace. I don’t mind being worn out at the end. Heck, I think that’s the goal. But being by myself and seeing other “loners” deteriorate has me wondering.
I’ve a neighbor who’s mind has pretty much gone off around the bend. When it became obvious (in a fairly dramatic way), I spent several sleepless nights thinking about his plight. It is tremendously troubling. He lives alone and doesn’t even reliably remember how to operate his toaster or microwave. It troubles me! Like I said.
Some days I find myself unable to recall a name (ok, I’ve always been bad with names) or the date, time or era of something thar occurred in my past. Yeah, it usually comes back to me later on. But, it leads me to worrying about that time when I go off entirely around the bend too.
Well, until then I’ll keep riding my Harley and chopping firewood and enjoying these beautiful North Georgia mountains.
Cheers.