My friend Elizabeth is the manager of Crockett Shoals Tubing Company, a place I have worked for, over two Summers as both a driver and a tube patcher.
They need a driver and are actively looking, as Memorial Day is rapidly approaching. I've been texting with Liz about her position that the driver be able to back up a small school bus with a trailer behind. My position is that it's a circular route, and to lower that requirement. Update: Elizabeth convinced me otherwise, citing two emergency pickup locations, that require backing...
I've driven that bus, and I have backed up with that trailer. I consider myself a professional driver with decades of experience, and that combination of vehicle and trailer backing, should be avoided at all costs.
I also spent a great afternoon with the big boss Ricky, who dropped by my place yesterday, plopped down into my other big comfortable chair, and shot the shit with me for quite a while. We talked about the business, and cruising, he's taken fifteen with Carnival!
I apologized for initially committing to driving this Summer, the truth is I'm not up for it now. I was in great shape last Summer as I patched tubes in the back. I would have rather driven, but that's what they needed!
I have agreed with both Elizabeth and Ricky to be a backup driver, if I'm here when they need me this Summer.
I have also proposed a wonderful route to the drop spot here on my dead end street, just down from my house, on Shoal Creek.
It involves a nice little run down to Frisbee Park, a right up the hill and then a left into the Square. The driver will ask if anyone has ever been to Lawrenceburg Tennessee. What a perfect opportunity to act as a city ambassador for our city, with the wonderful little shops downtown and the David Crockett cabin on the right.
Cross over the railroad tracks and follow them to the right, until the road veers to the left onto Highway 43. The visibility both ways on this busy highway is great, with a short little jog over to Lee St, and the drop.
Next Friday I have agreed to train a driver, if they hopefully find one, and this is my lesson. I'll also be getting the boys up to speed with tube patching.
I love the folks at Crockett Shoals Tubing Company, I wish them a very successful season. and if I can help out this year, great!
I decided to drive to the Park on this beautiful Southern Tennessee morning to establish the fact that the ducks recognize my truck. Sure enough, as soon as I pulled in they spotted me, and came running.
There was a family setting up for some fishing and as soon as I sat down, three young boys, I assume brothers, ran over to join in.
It was a pretty hectic scene as I let the boys try to feed them, the camera was going all over and it's not one of my best cinematic efforts, but still a fun watch!
If the video fails to load, click Here.
Last October I contacted our local animal shelter and volunteered to be a dog walker. They never took me up on it.
The place is on the back road I take to get to the Park, and I pass it daily. Down at the highway they have a big sign saying the animal shelter is Coming Soon. It's been there for years.
The other day I had a Nashville WSMV4 TV news vehicle turn in front of me, right at that sign, and now that shelter is all over the news.
Turns out, they're blowing it big time, and it pisses me off that they didn't take me up on that offer. I was up for the walking and enjoying the dogs, which are now suffering. And Lawrenceburg is looking bad!
Here's the news video, and my October post.
I gave my 1988 Mazda B2200 her every other year tuneup today, new cap and rotor, new fuel filter, cleaned and oiled the Weber carb filter. Tomorrow, new spark plugs and high quality windshield wipers.
I messed up the plug to distributer sequence, so I contacted my automotive genius son Riley. Within a minute he had a diagram in my text feed, the sequence was 1,2,4,3. I then figured out which was 1, and she is now purring like an old cat.
I've got 240K miles on that truck, and I would love to get another 240K. I have taken very good care of her since I bought her from Riley many years ago.
I had a Driggs, ID mechanic strip all of the emission controls off the engine when I lived there. He then installed a Weber carb and a header. It was a game changer for my old truck!
I had a great stereo system installed, and the bed in the back of my canopy is a custom memory foam install that I love to sleep on!
Within the last year I've had new brakes and shocks installed, along with some great tires. She's ready for a road trip!
I talked to a local detailer today about power washing the engine compartment, and he said I would have to take responsibility for any component failures afterwards. I'll pass, she's old and greasy, and that's the way she will stay!
Her name is Jill, because she lived with my big old black truck named Jack, back in Idaho.
I wonder if I'm being cat-fished on behalf of my daughter Becky. We have not actually talked on the phone, just texted. I talked to my grand-daughter Shelby, and she said the same thing.
Shelby maintains that her mother Becky exists, because of posts from men in her life from Facebook, which could easily be faked, and I'm seriously beginning to wonder what's real!
I think my bridges are burned, you apply too much heat and they crumble into ashes! My only real friend is my neighbor Daniel, and we've spent the evening playing with his many concealed carry handguns.
We have talked about family and hatred. He hates his dad and his ex-wife. He has nothing to do with his mom. They are all still alive and I am sad at his emotions.
I hate nobody. God I wish my mom and dad were alive. They were both wonderful people, and I loved them.
It looks like my buddies at the tubing company are doing a test float down the creek today.
I pulled up to my house and spotted that very familiar little yellow bus at the end of my deadend street. The launch spot is right here, so if I'm home I get to watch the tubers drive by, and I can walk down below my house, sit in my folding chair, and watch them float on by.
Maybe I'll drive this bus again, a few days this Summer, in a backup position.
After the death of an old friend, Albert Einstein wrote Now he has departed from this strange world a little ahead of me. That means nothing. People like us, who believe in physics, know that the distinction between past, present, and future is only a stubbornly persistent illusion.
Einstein continues to be proven right about everything. My older friend of 52 years, Skoge, died one time for a bit, and came back. She saw the other side, said it's real, and they are all there.
Comforting words for an old man on his way to finding out, sooner than later.
So the secret to a happy old life is to accept that there is more than this, not worry about it, and make as many connections with the people you love here, sooner than later!
So, on my bucket list, besides seeing my boy Riley and family one more time, and my sisters family in Idaho, is to visit every one of my fourteen grandkids, their mother, and their children. Also get legally stoned with Skoge and Grant in Sacramento.
I can meet up with grand-daughter Shelby, my daughter, and my boys family, if we stick to their trip down here to the South, in July.
Then I can make one more road trip West in my old truck...
My friend Skoge suggested I get a dog, or a cat. I told her Piper was the last cat I would ever have.
Taking an animal into your life is a major commitment, you agree to love and care for them until they die, or you do.
I think that's the problem. If I got a young dog, it would outlive me, and then what would happen to them? An older dog would have both of us bumping up against the fence, and I just couldn't take losing another pet.
Piper's passing broke my heart, badly.
I'll tell you what I really need, is a hot 18 year old illegal immigrant girl showing up at my door looking for a place to live. I'll teach her English instead of how to heel. I'll help her get legal, she can cook taco's for us!
Maybe I should start a web site that hooks up the millions of illegals, who are now in this country with no restrictions or resources, thanks to Joe, with citizens willing to help them out.
But I digress...
Loneliness sucks. I had one of those days where I didn't speak to anyone, until Daniel got back from work at 1535. He makes himself a Gin and Tonic, comes over and plops in his chair in front of my big TV, and we chat about our day while watching Fox News.
Today he brought his tablet over to watch TikTok and Pinterest and I had to work to pry some conversation out of him. Hey, I value his friendship and his company very much, but today was tough...
I was going through my many videos on YouTube, the TV recordings of my life, but couldn't grab his interest. He split, and I just continued on, reliving the moments that I've captured visually.
Communication with a friend is a carefully crafted state of mutual response, and listening. You are allowed to speak your mind, while giving the other person the space to respond, and it works both ways.
Some friends don't get it and they just continue to babble on and on about their life, without respecting yours. When you try to interject your position, it's blown off if it doesn't reinforce theirs.
This isn't about Daniel, we communicate pretty well, depending on the level of intoxication. I'm just making a statement about That Friend, and you know who they are...
I was driving in the park this morning, listening to our local radio station The X, when a sweet southern voice introduced herself as a 911 operator here in town. She was talking about emergencyprofile.org, a web service you can sign up for, and enter your important information.
When you call 911 from your cell phone, the operator will see the information you provided, on their screen. Such as:
• Name.
• Address.
• Age.
• Contact info (phone/email).
• Emergency contacts (phone/email).
• Medical conditions.
• Anything else you would like a 911 operator to know.
The sign up procedure sucks on a phone, so if you do it, use a laptop or computer.
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