My usual hiking ball cap -- which a sister-in-law gave me,
for Christmas or birthday, some years ago – has a sown-on image of a hiker
being struck by lightning, with the following sown-on words under the image:
“Life is Crap.” You can see, in various previous articles, that ball cap, just
above my canteen, as they are positioned on a tree, on the west bluff of House
Mountain. I’ve taken many photos of my ball cap and canteen, sometimes with my
outer layer in the photo!
My first article today was “8/16/20, SUNDAY, CORONA MYOPIA
SIDETRACK.” Read it, if you want to take the time. Yes, this new cold virus is
serious enough, especially for those who are more at risk. I predict, at this
entry, that the once great USA will never be great again. The decades long,
ongoing, decline (since about the 1930’s) -- which has had some improvements at
times (e.g., World War II follow up, Ronald Regan, etc.) -- sped up
significantly, by this new cold virus, the riots, etc. “This country is about gone,
boys!” Corona Myopia is a gnat in my rear view mirror of life. I wish it were
for this once great nation.
Now, let’s return to “life is crap then you die.”
What I Had Started to
Write, on 8/9/2020
The following is what I had written, to myself, on 8/9/2020,
Sunday. Y’all can read it now!
Howdy, y’all! My last,
7/26/20, Sunday, article was two weeks ago. I hope that you have been getting
along well enough, for the last two weeks, in the midst of the new cold virus
insanity, etc., which we endure.
7/27-31/20 & 8/3-7/20: 7/27-31/20 was my normal
work-at-office rotation week, as usual lately. 8/3-7/20, I endured, however, my
second week of work-at-office, which was not usual. My set pattern had been:
work-at-home one week, work-at-office next week, and switch back and forth.
Well, colleague, who had done the same pattern, had been exposed to someone who
had tested positive for the new cold virus, with no symptoms. Colleague had
herself tested. She had tested positive, with no symptoms. Her mistake was to
have informed office manager, who had her hands tied, by the state (insanity)
guidelines. So, colleague was in quarantine. That meant that I had to work-at-office
two weeks in a row. I can’t make this stuff up! It happened, really!
7/27-29/20: our “mansion” received a much-needed
“bath.” The three-day pressure-washing job was done!
8/1/20, Saturday: Mrs. Appalachian Irishman must have
been feeling her oats! She not only used our shop vacuum to clean out our
basement, but she also, with my help, cleaned the master bedroom windows,
inside and out!
On that same date, I filed a FTC website complaint, again
Bill Hagerty. On 7/24/20, 7/28/20, and 8/1/20, I received spam texts on my cell
phone, from various invalid phone numbers, that wanted me to vote for Bill
Hagerty for senate. (I tried to call each number. Each number reported
invalid.) I had never given my cell phone number to Bill Hagerty or to his minions.
I grew tired of the harassment. Bill Hagerty, the Republican Senate candidate,
has a FTC complaint filed against him. I doubt anything will happen. Still yet,
I STOOD MY GROUND!
8/2/20, Sunday: I had good phone conversations with
my three younger brothers, in the context of my nieces'
untimely passing. That day, I also sent postal letters to the husband of my
niece and to their youngest daughter, who attained age 14 on 7/31/20.
Life is Crap
The following is “life is crap” by theme. Enjoy!
Deck: Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and I had hired a
contractor (with his sub-contractor, with the sub, sub-contractors) to do
fix-up work on our “mansion.” On 8/4/20, the correct deck wood arrived (after
the incorrect deck wood had arrived, on 7/31/20, due to 84 Lumber’s mistake).
From 8/5/20 thru 8/14/20, our deck is much improved! Our old deck lasted from
2003 to early 2020 – an approximate 17-year deck. Our new deck is composite
wood, which is guaranteed to last 25 years -- without the usual, annual touch
up that I had been doing, until 3/29/2016 changed my plans. Hey! I’ll be age 80
in 25 years – if I’m not Home before then.
Letters: on 8/8/2020, I place in flagged up mailbox
four postal letters. Three were negative. One was positive.
The negative were to:
(1) the monopoly water provider. By Interweb mistake, on
7/6/20, I had paid our monopoly electric provider, instead of the water
provider. The water provider sent the next bill. I realized my error. I paid
the full payment, correctly, on the Interweb – including the past due. The
water shut off date was later this month. I paid the past due and the current
due, for full payment, well before the shut off date. Water provider shut off
our water, on 8/5/20, with NO NOTICE or warning! I had the full payment set to
issue on 8/7/20. Mrs. Appalachian Irishman, who was at home, also paid the full
payment, on 8/5/20, to get our water back on. We have a credit balance now. My
letter to water provider indicated: our excellent payment record, from initial
connection, in 2003, my profound displeasure, and my option to fire them! We
could have a water-well drilled! Of course, I referenced Ferrell’s Well
Drilling, which Papaw Ferrell had started in 1901 and which Dad had continued!
I don’t have the reply yet. If I don’t get one, I plan to drop by to pay them a
face-to-face visit, to educate them.
(2) Melania Trump. It seems as if her husband and she do not
have enough money to spend on his re-election campaign. She begged me for a
donation. I had to have a little fun!
(3) Mrs. Appalachian Irishman, in July, had one of her
annual check ups. The provider never did send an initial bill. She never did
receive an EOB from her health insurance. The provider demanded $10.16 NOW, or
she would be turned over to a collection agency. My pithy letter included a $20
bill, with provider required to send my wife $9.84 – or I’d turn over provider
to a collection agency! The saga ended well, however. On 8/11/20, a fine man,
15 years younger than me, called me. He had never seen a letter like mine in
his several years of doing his job. We talked for 45 minutes. He understood the
point in my letter. He might be able to have those automated letters corrected,
eventually. The main point was that he is a fine Christian man and a hiker. Who
knows? We might hike House Mountain together!
The one positive letter was to (4) our automobile and
homeowners’ insurance provider that we’ve had almost two decades now. The owner
always sends handwritten birthday cards every year. I wrote him, to express my
appreciation for his fine, as folks call it now-a-days, “business model,” which
is the old-school way of doing business correctly!
Tooth: on 8/10/20, during my work-at-home lunch, I
chipped my next-to-upper-left-wisdom-tooth molar. Don’t bite into the seed of a
peach then chew. On 8/13/20, our dentist patched that tooth. Next month, I
should have a nice, new crown on that tooth. The only other crown that I have is
on same tooth, but upper right side molar. Over 20 years ago, I’d bitten into a
fast food burger, with a bit of bone in it, to chip that tooth. Well, two
crowns in 20 plus years ain’t too bad!
By the way, 8/10-12/20 was supposed to be my work-at-home days,
followed by 8/13-14/20 work-at-office, for some strange reason. My chipped
tooth granted my 8/13/20 work-at-home!
School’s NOT Out: Mrs. Appalachian Irishman’s last
workday, at the school where she works, was on Friday, 3/13/20. From 3/16/20 to
6/1/20, for her “work days,” she worked from home, as best as she could, for a
couple of hours or so daily. On 8/11/20, she had to start “hitting a lick” at
work again. Of course, she endures all the new cold virus regulations and
stipulations, which are insane.
Then You Die
8/12/20, Wednesday, marked the passing of Lula Frank Amos
Wood (1901 – 1991). She was my mother’s mother. I had the honor of performing
Granny Wood’s funeral service and graveside.
Granny Wood died and went Home, on 8/12/1991. She enjoyed life.
She endured “crap” in life. (I’m sorry, Granny, for my choice of words!)
We each have joy and “crap” in life. Life has quite a bit of
“crap” in it now. If, however, we each have taken up the Good Lord’s free gift
offer, then, when we die, we go Home!
Granny, I’ll see you at Home! I love and miss you! I’m still
your “little Indian chief!” I remember!
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