Life, “Such As It Was,” Highlights: 7/4 - 8/6/2021 (published 8-8-2021)

 Introduction

Howdy, y'all! I hope y'all are still turning right and going straight!

I plan to get back to writing my usual nine to twelve articles a month. Thanks for stopping by, to read a while! I wrote only three articles in July. It was a “rich, full” month. This article is “life, such as it was,” by topical highlight, from 7/4/2021 to 8/6/2021. I'll use “the good, the bad, and the ugly” theme. It should be entertaining!

This article is six pages. Don't give up on it, unless you don't have the mind power. Y'all don't have that short attention span problem, do you? “Social media” is guilty of causing the short attention span problem, not me! I've read “Война и мир” (“War and Peace”), published in 1865 – 1869, by Leo Tolstoy. Have you? (I read it in the translated English, which was my failing. I may still read it in the original Russian.)

I had started writing this article, when the East Tennessee area had a lot of smoke in the air. It's gone now, mostly. Aside from having been hot and humid, we had been inhaling “second-hand smoke.” It had been coming from those forest fires, from the far west. On 7/31/2021, while driving nearby, I could barely see My Mountain (House Mountain)! It made me think about the "Johnny Smoke” public service TV announcement from the 1960s. (I hope you watch that YouTube link. It will bring back memories, to those who have a little age on them!)

Folks start off by talking about the weather, before moving on to deeper topics. Let's dig a little deep into the conversational well!

The Good

July started off well. My 7/5/2021 article detailed the family gathering, on 7/3/2021. That was a very good day!

Independence Day was the next day. We rested. That afternoon, I completed the various requirements to renew my “ever two years” Tennessee life and health insurance license. I have not been working in life and health insurance since 2012, but I still renew my license every two years. It is not that expensive or time consuming. I got the license in 2005, so I might as well keep it renewed.

The USA attained age 245 (as the latest, fairly young “experiment” in a republican form of government). Age 245 is if you accept that the USA exists. I figure that the USA died on 1/6/2021 and that the USSA started on 1/6/2021. (I've written about it.) I cannot comprehend the political and moral insanity anymore! Folks either uphold the flag and honor the USA or hate the flag and the USA. Folks who despise the USA need to move to another nation and LEAVE THE REST OF US ALONE! (Okay, that's my “poly-tics” soapbox. I'm done – in more ways than one!)

As a theological aside, the Good Lord figured, a long time ago, that a person needs to rest one day a week. For the Hebrews, it was on Saturday, as the Ten Commandments dictated. By the way, that fourth commandment was the only one that was nullified, by Christ's death and resurrection. The new covenant includes all the Ten Commandments, in principle, except the fourth one. A person still needs to rest one day a week. The Good Lord knew what he was doing! My Seventh Day Adventist friends are wrong. I know. I can help them, if they want me to do so.

On Saturday, 7/17/2021, I attained the age of 6.1 years. (It is easier to count in decades.) I took it easy that day, doing the usual chores. I found the two store bought cards that Mrs. Appalachian Irishman had hidden. One was made in China. The other was made by a USSA socialist group. I know. I had done the research. (She likes to play “hide the cards” on birthdays and anniversaries.) She made my traditional “lemon birthday pie,” which I may get around to eating, over the course of a few months, as usual. I had a few phone calls and e-mails. “Farcebook” friends (in real life also) wished me birthday greetings. My birthday this year was better than last year. My 7/26/2020 article wrote about it.

The next day, Mrs. Appalachian Irishman attained the age of ____. (She won't allow me to tell you, but she's three years younger than me!) She found her card that I had created (on USSA paper and ink) and hidden! We ate dinner (or lunch, as the Yankees call it) at Applebee's, which is near the former Knox Center (or East Towne) Mall. We used to live in an apartment on the ridge, behind the main entrance to the former mall. We lived there, after our return from Russia, in 1999, and before we moved into our house, on 6/7/2003. The area where the mall had been looked like an asteroid had hit and left a crater! Amazon plans to build a distribution hub at the location eventually. Afterward, we had a good visit with her folks.

I wish that I'd taken a photograph of the crater, where the mall had been. WATE TV has an article with photographs, of the demolition stage, as it looked on 4/8/2021. The article and link are “PHOTOS: East Towne Mall demolition begins.” The following is one photograph from that article.

July ended well! On the last day of July (Saturday), Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and I had dinner (or “lunch,” as Yankees call it) with another couple. We dined at the Texas Roadhouse, near the crater that once was the Knox Center Mall. About 35 years had passed, since we had seen our friend and sister in Christ! We met her husband, and our brother in Christ, for the first time. We talked. We laughed. We had tears well up in our eyes. The meal and conversation afterward were a joyous re-acquaintance, of over two hours! We four plan future get togethers. We look forward to them!

Getting together with friends and fellow Christians is a foretaste of the heavenly gathering that awaits us! Eventually, we will have everlasting gatherings at Home! Won't it be wonderful then?

The Bad (financially)

My income has been the only way to “hold down the fort,” while Mrs. Appalachian Irishman has been enjoying her unpaid summer vacation.

On 7/20/2021, Tuesday, we received our summer fill of propane, as I had arranged. Our propane was at about 15%, before the fill. I could have gone without propane a while. Mrs. Appalachian Irishman likes her warm showers and for the warm or hot laundry to be done. I could have taken cold showers and worn clothes laundered in cold water. The bill is paid.

On 7/26/2021, Monday, our “mower guy” and his crew removed all the brush and scrub tree limbs, in our “back 40.” It would have taken me a few days of vacation time to have done it alone, with manual tools. That crew did the job in a few hours, with gas-powered and manual tools! That's much better than I could have done! The cost was about what my “mower guy” had told me last fall. I was surprised, initially, by the cost. I figured out, later, that the cost was about what my “mower guy” had told me last fall. I wish that our “mower guy” had indicated his plan to do the work, before he had started. I would have put him off about a month or so. I still recommend highly LTD Lawn (our “mower guy”). My “bionic body” would rather not mow, trim, weed eat, and clean up. It used to take me at least an hour and a half. They can do a better job than me, in about 20 or 30 minutes! They have much better equipment and more men. The cost for excellent mowing, trimming, weed eating, and clean up is very reasonable!

Norfolk Southern actually owns the scrub brush and tree area around the fence, which is located about two feet to the south of our property line. I researched it. I know. Norfolk Southern is responsible for cleaning their trees and brush – not me! I would be lucky, if I could get them to reimburse us. I won't even bother. The “mower guy” bill is paid.

On 8/2/2021, Monday, we received our chump change Monopoly money – 2020 Federal Income Tax Refund! That was a little good news, in this financial ugly. We had mailed our tax return on 4/15/2021. We usually pay the “Uncle Sam Scam” a few dollars every year. (I don't want a refund of Monopoly money that “Uncle Sam” owes us – when we don't draw interest from it.) My tax preparation indicated a chump change Monopoly money refund, since we didn't get the second (or which ever) round of “stimulus” Monopoly money. I didn't think we'd get it. It had been over four months. I did not care. Well, the chump change Monopoly money arrived. We used it, in the context of the money going out! It was better to get Monopoly money than not.

From 7/30/2021, Friday, to 8/5/2021, Thursday, our 2008 Honda Civic (Mrs. Appalachian Irishman's car) was in the “hospital.” She needed a new starter. She got new tires and a new alignment also. Tom's Auto Clinic healed her. The bill is on a credit card. The bill will be paid in full next month – when the credit card bill arrives. (We had to have a little financial “breathing room.”)

Well, at least Mrs. Appalachian Irishman and I know how to keep a “rainy day” fund in place. By the way, we had good soaking rains on 8/3/2021 and 8/7/2021. We need more rain. On 8/3/2021 (Tuesday), I took my 2006 Nissan Frontier on a drive around our subdivision. He enjoyed the “country boy truck wash,” in that early evening rain! I did too. Yes, the Civic is a she, and my truck is a he. There are only two genders for vehicles. Wait for my next article, on “poly-tics” that will include PGI and PGO. You may not know what that means yet. I will tell you.

The Ugly

On 7/19/2021, I e-mailed Roger Goodell (rogergoodell@nfl.com), as follows:

Roger Goodell:

I found your (if valid) e-mail address via “NFL Headquarters Address, HQ Email Address, Corporate Office Phone Number, and More,” on HeadquartersOf, by John Mathew.

Yesterday (7/18/2021), a friend e-mailed to me the following link: “NFL to Double Down on Viewership-Killing Wokeness With 'Black National Anthem',” on mrcTV, by Matt Philbin, 7/16/2021.

Of course, I had already learned about the NFL’s “Black national anthem” (as if their is one, really) and the NFL’s “politically correct,” “woke,” and “socialist Utopian” agenda. My agenda, for the 2021 – 2022 NFL football season, is to WATCH SOMETHING, ANYTHING ELSE! (I have been a Pittsburgh Steelers “fan” for decades.)

You will not respond to this e-mail, if you do, with any “politically correct” gibberish! I do NOT want to read it!

Regards,

A former “fan” of the NFL

Roger Goodell has not responded. My e-mail to him did not bounce back as undeliverable. I spoke my mind, as any Irish-American would have. Y'all send him e-mails also, if you wish. He will not reply. The NFL will not change. I'm done with the NFL.

Since 7/25/2021 (including August 3^rd and 6^th, so far), I have been trying to educate my hometown newspaper, The Rogersville Review. During my senior year in high school, I worked as an “inserter,” every Wednesday, after school. My hometown newspaper has become “new, better, and improved” -- meaning worse. They don't have their website and billing “ducks in a row.” I'm trying to teach them. So far, I have managed to restore our delivery of The Rogersville Review. I'm still working on helping them understand the details about my gift subscription to my youngest brother. I'll educate them. It may take me a while.

On 7/27/2021, Tuesday, while working at home, I had enough of my job. Konstantin Jireček (born in Vienna, Austria, 7/24/1854; died 1/10/1918) could have been the one who first said:

We, the unwilling, led by the unknowing, are doing the impossible for the ungrateful. We have done so much, for so long, with so little, we are now qualified to do anything with nothing.

I have had that line memorized many decades. I submitted my online retirement that day! I was done. Enough was enough! My Irish dander was up! (I'm sorry, Lord. Thanks for forgiving me!)

The next day, after I'd cooled down, I decided to unretire. I unretired. I was retired for one day!

My employer will NEVER figure out that expecting one person to do the work of two or more is not rational. I know it. I have over four months of paid leave. Instead of assuming that I can find another, better job – after retiring from my current job – I have decided to continue to endure the “we, the unwilling,” insanity – until I have another job. I will give a month's notice when I retire. I will start my new job a month later. My current employer will have to pay me over four months of leave time, while I am working in my new, better job! Well, that's the plan, as the Lord wills.

My wisdom overcame my stubborn Irish temper. Well, it did so, at least, on 7/28/2021. We will see, tomorrow, when I start my routine, of working from home, on Monday through Wednesday, but at the office, on Thursday and Friday. I'm on a short fuse. The total “Gaggle alert dump” tomorrow -- which some unknown “colleague,” somewhere, assigns to me -- could be my deciding factor. We will see!

Conclusion

Well, Mrs. Appalachian Irishman has been back from her afternoon visit with her folks. She has finished the dusting, sweeping, and vacuuming routine that she does late on Sunday afternoons. The mundane details of another day in temporal life are winding down again.

I'm whittling down on my backlog of “working documents!” I have seven more “working documents” left (5/29/2021, 6/12/2021, 6/14/2021, 6/19/2021, 7/17/2021, 7/24/2021, and 8/7/2021). I plan to summarize these seven under one “Poly-tics” article. Do you remember what “Poly-tics” means? My next article may be a “Poly-tics smorgasbord” article – just to get my “working document” backlog behind me.

Y'all keep turning right and going straight out there! We will meet up in Heaven one of these days – unless I see some of y'all sooner – here on this speck of dust, in this not very relevant and temporal realm!