Wondering about a Prize Fighter.

Back when I was growing up, if we walked into door, we would say that it felt like Rocky Marciano had punched us.  As far as I know, he never lost a fight.  He retired from boxing at the age of 33, undefeated!!  He wasn't a huge man.  He stood 5'11" tall and weighed in at 185 pounds.  He fought in 49 professional bouts and won 43 three of them by knockout and only six by points.  I would think twice about getting in the ring with him, for sure, although I would think twice about getting in the ring with anyone!!

I couldn't come up with any real good pictures, but this looks like one when he was getting started:
 

 And maybe this one after he had been around for awhile.  Why do I say that?  His nose on this second picture looks like it has been hit a lot more times than the nose on the picture above.

To us boys growing up about that time, he as truly an idol.  Every boy wanted to be able to fight like Rocky.  This picture shows the flattened nose a little better:

And an action picture is needed to finish off the blog:

OUCH!!!

 

Rocky was a man's man, not just a boy's idol.  By the way, his real name was Rocco Francis Marciano.  His last name was altered some to make it easier to pronounce.  I am having a fight with a bout of flu and I feel like I tried to go a round with Rocky. . . Anyway, you all have a great day, you hear?



Wondering where I'm going to put it all?

As I have told you before, we try to go to the flea market on the weekends.  Usually if we bring home anything it fits in my wife's "shopping" bag or a small plastic bag.  Not so today.  Let me start from the beginning.  We did our usual walk through and the wife bought a few dollar items.  She said that she wanted to go inside.  (They have a huge inside flea market mall sort of thing with lots of booths.)  One of her friends has a booth right inside the door.  I said OK, but I would sit in the car and wait.  I put the seat back and turned on the radio and shut my eyes.  It seemed like only minutes when the passenger side door opened and it was her returning.  Wow, I thought, that didn't take long.  Well think again, you wise old sage.  (I am old and probably smell like sage - wise?  Not so much.)  She said to drive around to the end of the building facing the road.  I inquired for what reason and she said that she bought a couple of things and I could load them in the back of my Jeep.  Now, we have an old 2004 Jeep Liberty and there ain't much room behind the rear seat.  So after I drove over there, I laid the rear of the back seat down so that there would be more room.

I got a few of the things into my Jeep, but we gave up and she called our son.  He has a big full size truck, a Ford F350 with a double cab.  He showed up and we got everything home.  Then the fun began.  Where was she going to put them.  I brought some in the side door and some in the front door and some in the back door.  I used my two wheel dolly where I could, but some of that stuff was really heavy.  I am now three inches shorter than I was before I lugged that stuff into the house.  Yea, I know, you want pictures.

A book case on the right, a table/cabinet in front, and a high back bench behind on the left.

 Did you see the gargoyle in the above picture?  Yep, the one that was in the tree that my son cut down.  I guess it figured since we took his home tree away from him, he would squat in some of our new stuff.

 Here is a closer picture:

 And a different view from a different angle:

 This is the bench.  Let me tell you, it is HEAVY!!  And it is built very strong.  It had to be to with stand the juggling and zig-zag walking it in the house on two of its legs on one end.  There are places I couldn't use the two wheeled cart.

 OK,
That is all the pictures.  Everything is in the house and placed where the wife wants them.  I hope she doesn't change her mind.  I had no idea of where they would fit, but guess what, she got them in and they fit and all is well.  Beautiful day today.  Now you all have a great day today, you hear?

Wondering about a Missing Tree.

The day before yesterday, I posted a blog about a dangerous tree that had ants in it and the ants attacked my wife.  Well, we are both proud to announce that that tree is no longer growing there.  Go back to it if your memory needs refreshed or if you missed it:
Wondering about a Dangerous Tree.
My son came up yesterday with a couple of his chain saws (he collects Stihl chain saws) and before I could it out to see what was going on, he had it down.  This is all that is left of it:

He cut it down and then, using the long bar saw, cut it off as flush to the ground as possible.  The picture below shows the final slice:

He then drug it out to our front lot.  He says out there he will have more room to cut it up and load it in his truck.  It is a Live Oak, of course now it is a dead or dying live oak.

This tree has had a hard life.  It must have been hit with lightning at one time, and then the hurricane probably did a pruning job on it.  It looks like part of the main section was damaged some time ago.

Now, when returning from a trip, I will not have to back up to complete the turn into the rest of my driveway.  I will be able to pull right through and then back up into my parking spot, where you see it sitting at this time.

 

 

Now, you all have a great day, you hear?

Wondering about Wise Old Owls.

Actually, I am not talking about real live owls, I am talking about some really old owls that as long as I can remember, where used for Christmas trimmings.  The first time I saw them was on my Grandpararnts' Christmas tree.  It was us grandkids' job every year to find the owls in Grandma's tree.  Then, some how, my Mom inherited them.  My mother was the real Mother Christmas.  She went all out every year with all kinds of decorations not stopping at just a tree.  Always had wreathes, manger scenes, two electric train set-ups, at least two trees, beautiful wrapped presents, etc.  Anything pertaining to Christmas, and my Mom was into it.  So, of course, she started hiding them in our tree.

Now, since my wife and I are their guardians for awhile, they show up in many places at different times of year.  Since we haven't had a Christmas tree in many years, my wife hid them in her two grape vine trees that she had made.  I haven't seen the owls in quite awhile until yesterday, I saw them hiding out by the kitchen sink on a set of corner shelves we got at the flea market last week.  I guess I better show you a picture of one of the owls so you have some idea what they look like:
 

 And yes, his twin was on the shelf below.  Now I am satisfied that they have found a great nesting place where they can see outside, watch us and the dogs, and we can keep a loving eye on them:

I suppose all families have a favorite trimming or trinket or something that has been passed down through generation after generation.  Decorations and such usually come from our mothers and grandmothers and firearms seem to come from our fathers and grandfathers.  I know that my Dad's fishing and hunting stuff mean so much to me.  I am a very sentimental person and things that have great memories are important to me.  Do you have anything like my owls that have been passed down to you along with memories?  If not, feel free to share in some of mine, I have many, many more that I can share.  Now, you all have a great day today, you hear?

Wondering about a Dangerous Tree.

My wife was attacked by a mean ole tree.  Well, actually she was attacked by what lived in that tree and it took her awhile to get over all the bites.  But, I am getting ahead of myself.  She went out to get pictures of the fall leaves.  Yes, our fall color is at its peak the second or third week of December and sometimes later.  The oaks will not turn color for awhile yet and the live oaks never do.  Here is here first picture.  The tree with the yellow leaves is sweet gum.

She found this tree that has seen its better days.  I think it was struck by lightning but just didn't give up.  You can see the new small limbs coming off it.

 Not only does it look bad, it is located in such a place on the curve of my driveway that it makes bringing the motorhome in to its parking place a chore.  If I judge everything just perfect, I can get in on one pass.  This is the exception other than the rule.  I usually have to back up and then  I can get by it on the second try.

This tree also contains ants, and the ants are what attacked my wife.  All she was trying to do was get a picture of the gargoyle that calls that tree home.  So, when she got close enough to get a good picture of the gargoyle, the ants that were protecting him made a mass charge toward my wife.

She ran into the house shedding clothes along the way.  All those ant bites bothered her for a couple of days.  They seem to all charge at once but not a single ant will bite until the lead sees that enough of them are on the victim and then the leader yells, "BITE"!!!  And they all bite at once, all hundreds or thousands of them.  Texas fire ants are one thing you shouldn't fool with and always give them a wide berth and what ever you do, don't disturb them.  They have a fiery disposition and a fiery bite that leaves burning welts on your skin.

Anyway, I have to give her credit for getting the picture at all costs.  How many spouses of bloggers would go to that much trouble to get a couple of pictures for their mate's blog?  I thought her idea was a good one so I posted it here today.  What do you think?

A health update:  feel a lot better today, but had a bad night.  Coughed continually all night.  Still coughing some but try not to since my diaphragm is quite sore from all the coughing last night.  I just may have to take a nap today.  Now, hope you all are feeling great and haven't been attacked by any gargoyles or fire ants or anything bad, and have a great day, you hear?

Wondering about Scary Things.

Yeah, I know it ain't October and it ain't Halloween, but since I have been "under the weather" with this flu crud, I decided I was going to search the Internet and see if I could find a few people who looked scarier and worse than I do right now.  Yesterday, my wife said I didn't look too good.  Well now, that was a shot to my ego!!  Here I thought I was a combination of Mr. Wonderful and Mr. America.  No, I really didn't think that either.  I know what I must look like cause I feel like I was run through that ringer on the old washing machines I was talking about yesterday and haven't been hung out to dry yet.

So, in order to make myself feel a little bit better, I searched the Internet for pictures of people that look as bad as I do.  The first one I came across was of these (ahem) ladies.  Now ain't they sweet?

 When I am not feeling well, I sometimes feel like I am child again and just want to snuggle up in my blankie.  Now, which one of the three below do you think looks like me?

 Now this next little guy looks mighty tough!!  I think I will give him and his car a wide berth:

 This is what I looked like when I got up to go to the bathroom last night and I kept turning around to make sure the angel of death wasn't following me, something like the picture below:

 Now, after I get feeling better we will all go outside and dance around. . . maybe not.  I will just let these odd guys do the dancing:

 OK, I feel better already.  Oh no, I ain't going to say that out loud.  Then I would have to get up off the couch and do something (grin).  Now, I hope you are all well and enjoying life, so have a great day, you hear?
Almost forgot, here is the site where these pictures came from:
http://weirdtalesmagazine.com/2013/10/26/halloween-was-so-much-weirder-back-then-creepy-and-disturbing-vintage-halloween-photos/

Wondering if I am on the mends?

I feel a little better today, but the day is not over yet.  I kinda feel like the clothes going through the ringer in my Mother's washing machine when I was a kid.  Now, should I hang myself out to dry?  Do any of you remember clothes washing day way back when?  My job was getting out the clothes line poles.  My Dad's job was putting up the clothes line.  The line zigzagged back and forth across part of their back yard.  She always said that laundry didn't smell clean until it was hung outside.  Now, of course, that was back before air pollution got so bad (grin).


I always feel warm and fuzzy when I think back to my youth.  Not that I didn't have problems, I sure enough did.  They said I had rheumatic fever twice and would be left with a heart murmur.  Well, I wasn't.  I owe my growing up healthy to my Mom.  She took real good care of me.  You see, they didn't think she could have a baby, but I surprised everyone, being born to a woman past her prime.  I had to be born by Caesarean section.  Then while my Mom was still in the hospital, a blood clot went through her heart and lungs.  They said she was very, very lucky to have survived that.  My Mom said that it caused some serious pain.

Yep, I am an only child and yep, my Mom spoiled me.  But she taught me well and I think I turned out not too much of a spoiled brat.  You see, she taught me to share my toys.  I always took real good care of my toys but when I shared them, the other brats messed them all up.  Some of the ones that I didn't share, I saved and gave to my sons.  They finished the job of messing them all up.  Now, the sun is finally shining and I want you all to have a great day, you hear?