All the GRANDS' at One Time

We were blessed this past Friday with all our Children and their families being at our house all in one day :). I was able to let all the grandsons fish and each one of them caught a fish -- however, they don't touch crickets or take the fish off the hook. I always thought that was part of fishing!

We had a great supper that night with grilled pork chops; potato, pea, & pasta salad. In other words we had pork chops with bunches of different type of salads. Kathy baked a wonderful lemon pound cake that would make your tongue slap your lips silly trying to get another bite.

With eight adults and six grandchildren in the house that night I would guess that OSHA would have fined us because the decibel level reached limits that would break most meters.

Saturday Kathy and I along with two of our little familes traveled to Canton, NC for a family reunion which was a great fellowship with family and more food than you could imagine. We brought Kathy's mother back home with us for a weeks visit - and of course to clean the house some while she is visiting.

I guess I had better stop now before I get in trouble.

"LOCKDOWN"

Working for the Department of Corrections is certainly going to be a real learning experience. On Monday June 30th there was an escape at the facility where the Frame Shop is located. I received a call at approximately 2:50pm that day informing me that the entire facility was on "lockdown" and there would be no movement by any of the inmates. Now that does not sound like a serious situation, but since I get off at 3:00pm that is a very serious situation because I can't go home until the inmates return back to the main facility. After making a few phone calls I was allowed to walk the inmates, that work for me, back to the main gate at approximately 3:30pm at which time I was allowed to leave for the day.
The next day I was not allowed to get any of the inmates because the facility was still on "lockdown". However, everything returned to normal on Wednesday July 2nd.
After contemplating on this entire situation I have to admit that I don't really understand why you have a "lockdown" when someone escapes. Is that not like shutting the barn door after all the animals have gotten out?

NAME CHANGE

I know it has been sometime since I have posted anything new to my blog, but starting a new job on May 19th has limited my goof-off time.

During my 45 year career in the Heavy Construction Equipment business I was like Rodney Dangerfield never getting any respect, but now that I am employed by the South Carolina
Department of Corrections I am getting the respect a gray haired old man deserves -- my name is now MR. WELLS.

I have not been employed a month yet, but I am learning how people on the other side of the fence live and I must say it is not a pretty sight. Folks I have seen the food they eat, some of the NON-Air conditioned facilities that they live in, how they are treated, and I for one never want to be a resident of a penal system.

There were two inmates that came an spoke to us during the week long orientation (or as I like to refer to it "Hell Week") that I just attended. One of the inmates said that the only difference between them an us was they had made some bad decisions and got caught when we had made our bad decisions we did not get caught. I think there is a lot of truth in that statement.

I am sure that I will have some stories to tell about my new employment adventure.

BACK IN THE WORK FORCE

Since I will be going back to work Monday morning I thought the following cartoon was in order:

It sure was fun while it Lasted!!

The Best Show on TV

We will have a new American Idol next week. Will it be David or David?

David Archuleta, David Cook & Syesha Mercado are a talented threesome, but unfortunately one of them had to go home last night and it was Syesha. Syesha really stepped up to the plate for the last three weeks and sang her heart out, but it was destined to come down to a duel between the two Davids. However, Syesha does not have to worry about her future - she has the looks and voice to become a recording star or a movie star.

My prediction is that David Archuleta will be the next American Idol, because he has all of the little teen girls in his corner and they will wear their fingers out sending text votes in for him. I think that David Cook is the most talented of the two, but I don't think he has the following that Archuleta has.

Tune in next week to see if this is fiction or fact.

POLITICAL NONSENSE

Just think the presidential election is not until November, and all of us are worn out listening to all of the campaign jargon. McCain has won the republican nomination, but Hillary and Obama are still slugging it out for the democratic nomination. Each candidate has spent millions of dollars trying to become our next president so they can make $400K annually. There is just something that don't add up with those numbers!

Well, I have a solution to eliminate all of this campaign mess, and that is to elect our president by the same method that the American Idol is selected. You could even have Randy, Paula and Simon judging, because they are there for entertainment only --- Wow! I would enjoy hearing what Simon had to tell some of the contestants (candidates). Anyway, there would be 12 finalist and each week the candidates would have five minutes to speak, sing or dance -- ever what they thought would get them the votes they needed to stay on the show. In less than three months we would have our next president selected and also would have been entertained (maybe).

As I see it there are a number of advantages to using the American Idol method.
1. We would not have to drive to the polls.
2. Sponsors would pay for the entire process.
3. We would not have to listen to the candidates for 2 years on the campaign trail.
4. We could call or text in our votes.
5. There would be no conventions taking up good TV time.
6. There would be no need for delegates or super delegates.
7. There would not be an electoral process.
8. The president would be elected entirely by popular vote.
9. We would save 1,000 of trees that are used to make the paper used for campaign posters.
10. Finally we would end up with just as good a president as doing it the old fashion way.

Out of all the Amerian Idols there has only been one bad one (Taylor Hicks) -- I don't think our percentages are that good with presidents, so maybe it is the method in which they are elected that needs to be changed.

LOOK FOR THIS TO TAKE PLACE IN FOUR YEARS!!!!!!

Keep Working or Retire? THAT IS THE QUESTION

This is for the men who might be thinking about retiring. You never know what your wife might have in store for you. KNOW THE FACTS BEFORE MAKING A DECISION!!

CENTIPEDE GRASS -- The Devils Gift to Man

For the first 40 years of my life I lived in Asheville, NC and Greenville, SC, and I must say that I always had a good looking yard. The secret to having a nice looking lawn in those two areas was having fescue grass, fertilizing it and keeping it mowed and that it.

We moved to Lexington, SC late in 1984 and purchased a new house that had not been landscaped in anyway. When spring of 1985 arrives we are told by neighbors that it is a must to have centipede grass due to the heat and soil conditions in the Lexington area. To make a long story short we put in centipede grass and have been struggling with it ever since. First of all we found out that there was not a sufficient amount of rainfall to keep the grass green and living during the hot humid summers that we experience here in Lexington. So it was drag the garden hose and water the grass --- drag the hose and water some more. After a couple of years of this we installed a sprinkle system and now we are all set to have one of the best looking yards in the subdivision. However, there were a few things that we were yet to learn about centipede grass as there are a couple of things that will make you wish you had never seen a lawn of centipede grass, such as: brown patch, dollar spot, large patch, fairy rings, nematodes, ground pearls, moles, voles, gophers, chinch bugs, fungi, grubs, chlorosis, yellowing, iron deficiencies, excessive nitrogen, not enough nitrogen, high soil pH, low soil pH, excessive thatch & etc. Or course we have had all of these at one time or another.

The good news is that information is available on how to take care of centipede grass. You can find it all over the internet, ask a neighbor, or check with one of your local lawn maintenance companies such as Trugreen, Lawn Doctor or Lawn-O-Green. The following is some of the advice we have received concerning this subject: bag your clippings, don't bag your clippings, water often, don't water until you see it dying, cut it short, cut it long, don't use lime, put lime on twice a year, use a general fertilizer with a 3-1-2 nitrogen-phosphorus-potassium such as 12-4-8, use only 16-4-8 fertilizer. The list goes on, but I am getting tired just thinking about it.

The biggest problem that I have encountered is not with the centipede grass, but getting it mowed when it needed to be mowed.

A Relationship with God

This morning I was reading an article in the April 2008 issue of Homelife magazine. The article was by Tullian Tchividjian (Grandson of Billy Graham) telling about his life. At the age of 16 Tullian dropped out of high school and his lifestyle became so radically disruptive that his parents had to kick him out of the house. He was escorted off his parents property by the police. With his newfound freedom he begin chasing worldly pleasure harder than most others of his age. He was living his life on edge, trying desperately to find himself through promiscuity, drugs, and alcohol, but the harder he pursued these things, the more lost he felt. One night, at the age of 21, he returned to his apartment after a night out, feeling emptier that he had ever felt. That night Tullian fell to his knees telling God that he simply could not do it anymore on his own and that he desperately needed God to rescue him. Tullian said that his life did not change overnight, but slowly and surely he begin to change from the inside out. He no longer wanted to be with the same people in the same places doing the same things, but he wanted to be with Christians; wanting to pray; wanting to read his Bible; and wanting to resist temptation. In this article Tullian said that "The problem between knowing about God and knowing God is a massive as the Grand Canyon. And that distance, that separateness, is something that must be resolved."
When I read Tullian's story I could not help but think how similar our stories were. We both were raised in Christian homes, we both knew about God, but we did not know God or have a relationship with Him. Thank God for His Amazing Grace!

Cooper River Bridge Walk or Not?

Kathy & I have been going to Charleston for the last several years particapating in the Cooper River Bridge Walk. This year we went with our good friends Bob, Jane, Hennie & Bonnie, and stayed at a Villa on Wild Dunes. We had some good seafood, played cards until we saw spots in front of our eyes, and needless to say had a wonderful time.

Saturday afternoon after the big event we were sitting around playing cards again and Hennie made the comment that he was not near as tired as he expected to be. Like Forest Gump that is all that I have got to say about that.

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God promises a safe landing, not a calm passage.