Dear Son,

I know you're an old man now, you outlived me, but sometimes I want to just rest your head in my bosom and rub your temples. You could talk to me about life, about anything.

I know it's been one hell of a ride for you, I did my best to provide for, and love you. But I was a single mom with two boys when Gene left for Texas.

Paul was a provider, not a good dad, but at least he stuck through it. Thanks Paul, I loved you!

So now here you are on a deadend street in Southern Tennessee with no life. It's OK, keep on living, keep on writing, keep on loving!

Please know that you will be with me soon.

Love, Mom

Today is my grand-daughters Shannon and Heather's 25th birthday. I had a wonderful time down in Atlanta getting to know Shannon, but I've yet to meet Heather. Happy birthday girls! Grandpa loves you!

Here's the video of Shelby and Shannon at her home.

I'm sitting here thinking about love, and crying. It is the most powerful force in our world.

Love between people, love for family and friends. Love of an idea or passion.

Our Earth contains trillions of animals and other entities that experience love among themselves, and sometimes it spills out to us.

My little groundhog babies loved their momma.

Love can be a lifelong thing or a short moment. We can be born in a mothers womb, and die in her arms. Or fall in love with someone, only to lose them.

With me, the love remains. With every person, animal, and passion I have ever loved. I have no hate!

Losing returned love hurts, it is the biggest loss, especially when you continue to love them.

Steph's grand-daughters and I were forming a loving bond when I moved here. It's been gone for a while now, but I still love them all.

Here's some love for you:

I need a day off, from myself. A day where I do something spontaneous and different than the pabulum of my life.

I want to turn my creativity into adventure. I want to put my foot where my mouth is, right over the gas pedal of my truck.

There's always something. Like I'm waiting for my new ear and nose trimmer to arrive today. Clean those old man things up, then get a haircut and a shave at the Beauty College tomorrow.

My boy and his family are arriving in Nashville in eighteen days. Maybe Shelby! I need to look good.

Ooops, the mailman just dropped my trimmer off at my neighbors, time to go play porch pirate, and Daniel's slow cookin some ribs, talk to you later...

What goes around, comes back around. I had ten clothes hangers stolen from the Wishy Washy a few days ago, so I went to Walmart this morning to replace them.

I found a ten pack of nice plastic ones, with no price, so I figured what the hell, and scanned them at the self checkout. They came up as $.50 for the whole pack, plus $.05 tax.

I figured this was a mistake and I didn't want to mess up my karma by ripping off Walmart, so I called the lady over. She scanned it with her phone, smiled and said, yep, $.50. Best Walmart deal I ever made.

I was looking on Amazon the other day and ten packs were running $18 and up. These were $05.5 cents a piece. Thank you Karma God!

Then my homeless friend Kip dropped by. Said he's been mowing lawns and needs gas money for his mover. I reminded him that he's into me for $40 already.

Then he showed me a necklace which he claims is gold, that he found. I gave him $40 for it and I'll take it to the gold shop tomorrow for appraisal.

I'm trying to help the guy get back on his feet, if money for gas is what he needs, I'm there. But if this turns out to not be gold, then this door is shut.

If it is, I'll have it sanitized, then give it to Madeline.

Massey and Hudson's Tube bus stopped in front of Jim's Animal Control Center today, to report a dying groundhog down by the drop. They wanted to know if I could put him out of his misery with a 22.

I grabbed Daniel and we headed down there with his 38 carry. Turns out our little friend was dead, probably run over. Fortunatly, Daniel didn't have to use his weapon.

We've watched these groundhogs raise their families here, over the last five years, and this is a sad loss.

I took my pathetic shovel down to try and dig a burial spot right next to him/her, it was worthless. We need a burial party here, bring digging tools!

We have a local flock of vultures that will descend on our groundhog shortly, and the tubers will have quite a show tomorrow if we don't bury soon.

Update: I just learned what happened. The groundhog ran underneath Massey's bus trailer. What the hell was he/she doing running across the road in the middle of the day? Heading home to the hole in my backyard after a morning on the other side of the creek, I suppose...

Shit happens, we all die sometime. RIP my little friend.

Piper would sit on my desk for hours while I wrote code, watching the groundhogs below my window.

Update: Nobody showed up so I borrowed Daniels good shovel and buried my groundhog friend.

The current delay to get a Passport in this country is four months, and folks are having to cancel planned Summer trips because of it.

I got my Passport when I first moved here to Tennessee, and have used it many times since. I've been triple vaxed and caught Omicron on a cruise boat two Christmas's ago.

I've gone to a lot of places with that Passport, and if I wanted to go anywhere in this world, I could. But I have no desire to do so at the moment.

Maybe an All-Inclusive, with a bunch of hot-tubs, in Mexico after this Summer...

Mystery woman, you up?

I went shopping this morning, and used that great little app I wrote called tiwats.com. It stands for Things I Want At The Store.

If you have not used this yet, stop what you're doing right now, and launch this baby. Enter as many stores as you want, and add items to each of them.

I walk around the house deciding what I need, and what store to buy them from. If you click on a Store, it goes there. If you click on an Item, it goes to that Item within that Store!

Then shut it down. It uses Local Storage, so the next time you launch it, your list is there. As you put an item into your shopping cart, delete it from your list.

It's a powerful and simple way to handle your shopping. Hell, I have a hard time figuring which direction to turn onto the highway, much less the List of things I need at True Value, Krogers, Tractor Supply and Walmart.

Click on the image below, and start your own lists! It won't cost you a dime, never will!

I read a lot of stuff online, usually pushed at me via email. I disregard 90% of the writings because I don't like the style, or the flow.

When I write a blog post, I want to entertain, and make a point. I've been blogging now for over fifteen years, and when I look back at all those posts, I realize I've held that position throughout.

I love to write, and share my positions, feelings, and my personal reality, with the world. I created two large blogging platforms that allowed me to do so.

Sometimes, I get a couple too many in, and then get down. I discuss personal stuff, that should never have left my fingers. Then send notifications to friends and family saying Read This! If they're fortunate, they won't read the text until after I've trashed it.

So, this is my story, I will write until I can't. If any future historian decides to resurect my blogs as a glimpse into this period, with places I've seen, and things that I've done, thank you!

The spot overlooking Shoal Creek, directly behind my house, is about 150 yards down stream from where our tubers put in. Fifty yards up stream is where they first bottom out.

Small people can sometimes push themselves over the rocks, but most folks get out and walk down to my location where the water deepens, and then they get back into their tubes.

Pushing yourself backwards into a large tube in the middle of a big creek is not a skill that many have mastered. I have seen some epic fails as the tube flips over backward and the rider face plants completely into the creek.

All of the stuff they were trying to carry goes everywhere, with friends or family scrambling to catch everything as it floats by. Very entertaining!

Daniel claims I walk down there to watch hot women in bikinis float by, but that's a reward, not the purpose.

Randy Meisner, a founding member of the Eagles in 1971, bass player, songwriter and smoker, has passed at 77. The cause of death was chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.

He wrote 'Take It to the Limit', and I guess he did. I keep seeing people born in 1946 dropping all around me, and I'm grateful to still be moving.

Taking it to the limit was also my theme song. But once I reached a particular limit, I learned to back off and stopped if needed.

Now, with a healthy diet of empty calories, my amazing physical shape, and totally addiction free, in my mind, I hope to make it to 78!

UFOs are all over the news these days. Watching my brother get abducted on a mountain camping trip in the fifties, and seeing the Alien ship, changed my young life forever. It destroyed my brothers life.

There are a bunch of stories going around, about a secret Alien/Human base on the back side of the Moon, and another one down at the South Pole.

Some say JFK was shot by a member of his Secret Service detail because he wanted to release the truth about Aliens being amongst us.

Having that experience as a kid gets me way past the "do I believe?" state, so it's easier to accept the theorys. They mostly confirm cooperation between us and them, and they also suggest a dark evil side, like JFK and other assignations.

One crazy theory said that the Aliens have told World Leaders that the Earth is dying, from our own doing. We all need to band together to save it. Sounds like a radical far-left stoned teenager decided to get on Twitter.

The only thing we really know is what we have experienced so far, and the life that currently surrounds us. But beyond Lawrence County, TN, the only things I know lately is what I get from Media and the Internet.

And it all could be bullshit, we could be getting played big time!

What are we doing here? Do you realize that 270,000 women and girls went missing in 2022! That number is real and it shocks and saddens me to my core.

Our government is corrupt. Somehow, the Bidens may be held accountable, eventually. Probably not, how fucking sad...

I'm an old guy, 77, and I wish that we could find some evenness in our lives. Love our babies, raise them with honor. Love our animals, raise them with respect!

OTC Health Solutions, in cooperation with CVS Health and Blue Cross Blue Shield of Tennessee, give me a monthly credit of $120 to buy stuff. Last month I ordered a bunch of vitamins and a digital scale.

This month I got to the party a little late and lots of stuff was sold out, so I just got a whole bunch of protein drinks. Not a dime leaves my pocket, and I assume it's a benefit of my Medicare Advantage plan.

There is a place down the road from the duck/geese feeding spot where the Park babies hang out. Spotted a bunch of goslings and their parents there today, along with a mom and her fawn.

Earlier I was robbed at the Wishy Washy. I got there early, around 0630 and there was just one woman doing her laundry. She wasn't exchanging good mornings and avoiding eye contact, so I just ignored her.

I got my laundry going and hung my coat hangers up on a cart. I have exactly the same number of hangers as I have clothes that need hanging. Only washing about ten hangables, so I brought their hangers today.

Then I sat in a booth with her to my back and read my mail. Shortly she walked by me with her laundry, got in her car and drove off.

When I got up to get my stuff, I realized she had stolen my coat hangers. So now I've got my goto Summer clothes draped over the back of my office chair, and I'm crushed! My faith in humanity is lost!

Bitch... :-)

I ate half a watermelon for dinner tonight. The neighbors picked it up at an Amish farm today. Amazing...

Had breakfast at the Square this morning and Brenda is finally remembering my order. Two eggs over easy, hash browns and wheat toast. She always shows up at my table with a tall glass of water and a straw.

I've got 23 days before my son's family arrives in Nashville, and hopefully grand-daughter Shelby from DC! Looking forward to a great time for a week!

I can imagine road-tripping around Tennessee and the Carolinas, eat some great food and enjoy the baby girl.

I just won the top contributor award for number of interactions in a Facebook group, within a specific amount of time, I assume.

I have no idea what that means, and it really doesn't matter, but thanks anyway FB. I just want to acknowledge the platform, it came thru, big time, in reuniting Jack with his family.

They reached out on FB to say that the kids are really glad he's home. Nuff said...

Meathead's owners have been found! Thank you Facebook!

His name is Jack, and his owners were nice, and appreciative. It was fun hanging out with you Jack, but I'm really glad you made it home!

Ok, my Lawrenceburg neighbors, I need help. Nobody is coming forward to claim this baby. His big black pit bull body has fleas and ticks. I'm 77 and too old to handle him. I'll buy some flea spray to protect my home at least.

My neighbor and I have named him Meathead. I don't know how long he has been homeless, but I can't care for him. A couple of local Police Officers rolled through our street today and my neighbor flagged them down. They told me that Chad was their IT guy, not a detective.

What we have learned is that the Animal Control officer retired a short while ago, and the Animal Shelter is toast, bad news coverage and run by an out of county agency.

Update: Some folks have said the Animal Shelter is not toast, but they never returned my call!

Meathead needs to be adopted. My neighbor Jeff is entertaining the idea. Yesterday Meathead dragged me across the street to Jeff's front door, sat down, looked at me and said "knock".

But no commitment yet. Does anybody want this sweet dog?

My neighbor Daniel just gave Meathead a bath in my tub. I handled the water and the fluids, he's way stronger then me and Meathead handled it well. He has a pitbull back home and knows how to handle dogs.

The Dog rode up with me again to feed the birds this morning, then I stopped by the Police Department and spoke with a really nice guy named Chad. He was in street clothes and looked like a detective.

It turns out that the Animal Control unit there has shut down, but he took the green tag I removed from the dog's collar and ran it through their databases, to no avail. Then I called the Vets in town and they said since it's a green tag it had to have come from the shelter.

So I called them and left a voice message with the tag number, 000129. This is a 2023 Rabies Vaccination so it's recent. Now I'm just waiting to hear back.

Folks on Facebook suggested I keep him. He's too big for me to handle, I'm having walking problems and I can barely control him. He almost launched me down a ten foot embankment into the creek yesterday. I just really want to find his family.

The Dogwanted to go for a walk, so I released him from the rope thing and hooked him up to a lease.

I don't walk this dog, he walks me. He wanted to check out the creek, so we did. He kept walking right to the edge, where a fall down the ten foot bank would be, 911 time.

At one point I fell, and rolled right into a tree. It saved me from dropping into the creek.

Later on, The Dog dragged me over to my neighbor Jeff's front door and demanded that I knock. Jeff and his girlfriend love him.

So here I am at night two. I'm going to bed shortly and I know this big ol pit bull is going to be cuddling against me.

I know I've said this before, but WTF?

I think The Dog is on my bed, time to call it a wrap...

I have a big ol black dog sleeping on my floor now. My tubing crew dropped him by after reading a post and having this boy follow them back to base.

They hooked me up with food while they try to discover his owners, and in the meantime I'm his.

He's a beautiful, well behaved pit bull. Got to have a family somewhere, maybe scared away by Fourth of July fireworks.

I took him for a walk and he pulls heavy, but he heeled and sat when commanded. He's currently laying at my feet and seems really happy to be off the street.

wtf...

Update: In the early morning I woke up and remembered I had a dog in the house, and I called for him. He came up on the bed, layed on his back and cuddled up against my body. Happy birthday to me! He's got to belong to somebody!

I opened my door, it's still dark outside, and he walked outside for a few moments. Now he's back on my bed. I think I'll join him...

God I hope he don't have fleas. I had my place flea cleaned a few years ago when Piper brought them in. We just went for an 0700 walk along the creek without a lease. I'm not considering myself a pet owner at this point, just a foster. He's a sweet dog, somebody must be missing him!

For my birthday present, Daniel undid the wire holding the bird feeder, and we removed the squirrel blocking cones that weren't working anyway, and turned it into a runner line.

I would describe the state of my life now, while I turn 77, as Dementia meets Parkinsons, with a cocktail, and a couple of strange friends.

I pulled my truck into Daniel's driveway today to use his shop-vac to detail the inside. As I sat there planning my approach, I felt my truck moving, rolling forward, straight into the back of my neighbor's Explorer. I had turned it off and left her in neutral.

I had one shot to avoid ruining both of our days, and I took it. My right foot shot forward to my brake, I could have missed it easily, but I nailed it, stopping inches from his rear bumper with a trailer hitch.

I walked into Kroger's the other day for supplies and headed straight to the water place to pick up my four Deer Park water bottles, when I realized that I had forgotten to grab a cart...

I went to make my egg sandwich breakfast, cracked the egg into the garbage and started to put the shells into the pan.

There are countless episodes like this occurring regularly. They are comical until they are not. I have the local nursing home on speed-dial, but the problem is, my shaking hands may not be able to make the call.

Anyway, my truck looks amazing inside, who knows what's next...

I woke up this morning and Massey's hat and Daniels drink cup were sitting on my table. I had every intention of driving down to Gulfport/Biloxi, MS this morning to jump in the ocean, but I think I did too much of something last night.

I did manage to get Daniel to hit the park with me, and he had a good time feeding the birds. Then we stopped at the Farmers Market in the Square.

I passed one table and said "those are Farmer Katy's eggs" and the lady asked me how I knew Katy and I told her I'm OldManJim, to which Katy's mom replied "Oh, the bird man". I bought me some good eggs.

The center of the Square was filled with people and rescue dogs. So tempting but I'm just not there yet.

My lovely grand-daughter Shelby just updated her Facebook profile picture. Stunning!

I had a great time with my friend Elizabeth, her mom Sheila and her niece Madeline up in the Park this morning.

We met up at shelter seven a little after 0800 and formed the plan for filming the morning feeding. I gave Elizabeth my Sony a6500 with the zoom lens, which she has shot before, and I gave Sheila my little DJI Pocket 2 and showed her the ropes.

They both shot some great footage while Maddie and I hand feed the ducks and geese. Then we had breakfast at Square Forty. We talked about our world travels, and my friend Madeline continues to evolve into an amazing young lady, heading back to school shortly.

Here's Sheila's footage:

Here's Elizabeth's footage:

A great crew!

I often think back to those days in Oakland, CA around 1971, when I finally left Merritt College. I stayed on an extra year to run the schools newly installed IBM Sys 3 Model 10 computer.

It was an amazing mini-computer developed by IBM for the small business market. I was the schools computer hotshot and I had the privilege to spend a whole year developing software for them, in a computer language called RPG 3.

Which actually stands for Report Programming Generator. I took that platform and brought it to a functional business level.

The first job out of college was with a company writing Cobol code. It was not the right fit, but a lady there taught me the concept of Level Blocks.

It was a way of structuring your code, and it changed everything. The Bay Area was exploding with companies installing these new IBM machines, with nobody to write code for them.

My next job was with Golden Grain Macaroni in San Leandro, where I first met my life long friend, Skoge. I built them a system to run their company, and then moved on.

The Bay Area was wide open to me, as IBM continued to install their Sys 3's. I was the guy, I had more work than I could handle, and nobody was better than me.

I've posted about many highlights of that career on this blog, so I won't go any further here.

I guess I just want to say, that you can go from a master of your trade, to nothing, in a heartbeat...

A storm system rolled over Tennessee today, and I decided to take a day trip South to avoid it. All the maps and weather sites said Florence/Muscle Shoals, AL was going to dodge it as it moved East.

As soon as I got down to the Tennessee River, it started raining. The day was shot. When I rolled back in, Daniel called and said "I thought you were going to Georgia"? Guess I should have, maybe soon...

I may be pulling off a breakfast with Elizabeth and Madeline tomorrow, followed by a duck/goose feeding. I'll set Liz up with my Sony camera and the zoom lens, and she can shoot some cool video. The last one was popular!

My friend Massey dropped by this morning and hung out. We talked some politics and we are both Fox News watching Conservative Americans.

Who like guns and women! All I have is a shotgun. He showed me a video he took on his phone of an alien vessel flying over the moon. We agree on this subject completely.

I mentioned Dan Bongino, ex NY cop, Secret Service instructor, has a podcast and is a Fox News contributor. I respect the man's opinion, and have for years. Massey concured.

The other day, I watched a TikTok video created by Bongino. He is claiming that China is ready to launch World War 3, in the form of a Super Virus, way more deadlier than Covid!

He said that China has developed both the Virus and the vaccine, and is in the process of inoculating it's citizens. Then they release the Virus, and end up controlling the world. Without a shot or missile fired.

If I was President I would confront China today, and tell them that if this is true, and we are subjected to this new people killing, society destroying Virus, hell will reign down on your country.

We will attack you with everything we have, your country will be destroyed and your people will die!

Come on Joe, wake up and save us...

I need a road trip so bad. Sailing down the highway in my old truck to a destination unknown. Locking my house down, the hell with everything else.

I really have nothing stopping me. Plenty of cash on my cards and in my wallet. I got my clothes clean, my bathroom is clean and smelling good, my floors swept, for what it's worth.

This house is ready to be left, and to be come back to, when I choose.

I have a short muzzle shotgun sitting behind my door. She was recently serviced to the hilt by our local gun shop, purring like a kitten now, fully loaded, shell in the chamber with the safety off. I have nobody to ride with me, so I'll just take her.

Fuck everything, let's go! What do I have to lose?

I was living in the Seattle area at one of the lowest places I've ever been, when my mom died. I had just started a bellboy job at a local hotel in Kent, WA. after scrambling back from a bout of hopelessness.

My sister helped me get down to the Bay Area for the funeral. At the ceremony they asked me to say a few words, and handed me a bible with some scriptures to read.

If my self worth was not at the bottom of the pile at the moment, I would have declined, and spoke to the sizable gathering about my mom.

So, my self worth is back on track and this is what I should have said.

My mom, Janice King, was a beautiful young lady, sole child of my grandparents Jack and Maude. As World War Two ended she married a Pearl Harbor surviving Texas boy named Eugene Riza.

She had my older brother Dana and I, and then Gene split back to Texas. So there she was, a single mom with two boys, when she met my step dad Paul Hamilton.

Paul was not a father, just a provider, and I respect him for that. My mom became a wonderful mother, strong, supportive and loving to us kids. She was an amazing woman. She stood strong for my brother and I as my sister entered the family.

Paul moved us all over the West in search of work, and my mom was there for us throughout the journey.

I loved her very much! These are the words I wish I had said at her passing, I just wasn't capable...

I will be 77 shortly. I've lived longer than my relatives did in their time, and I'm grateful.

My old body is still in pretty good shape, considering the way I abuse it. I've been talking to younger folks lately that have all sorts of shit going on. I've only had two surgeries, a hernia op and a crushed ankle with eight screws. Both of which were self inflicted.

I ain't got no cancer or any serious illness. My doctor CJ is amazed, she's looked at all of my blood work and said there ain't nutin.

So, WTF? How did this happen? My older brother Dana died last year in a mental institution. I keep joking about checking into a nursing home but I love my freedom. I can do whatever the hell I want to.

And the things I do are for the most part legal! I love helping people in need, in fact I've given more cash to a couple of local homeless guys than I've made driving the tubing bus this Summer.

I consider myself a good man! I wish I had a woman in my life, but I don't, and I accept that. My love life lives on memories, unfortunately.

I finally swept my floors today. Next project is to scrub down my kitchen and bathroom. It's hard to be motivated when you live alone, but I've been having company lately.

New bruises keep popping up on my body, but according to Daniel these are also self inflicted. I just don't remember putting them there. I've got a beauty on my back, but I can't really see it.

Just another morning feeding at the Park. The ducks were hanging out on the corner as usual while the geese were up the road.

I have to plan my escape route carefully, backing into a parking spot without running over one of the ducks, as they come running and quacking. Then I guide them and the geese into the grass and the feeding begins.

It was a fun morning and I grabbed some good video. It was a long feeding so I cut the video to a manageable length. I hope you enjoy this, before I check into the nursing home...

I'm close to calling it a wrap. Sell all my shit and find a nursing home, while I still can. My co-driver Massey dropped by with a lady friend yesterday afternoon and I don't remember them leaving. Then Daniel came over and the only reason I know that is because he came over this morning and told me. He also said I fell, cool!

Turns out his crutches missed a step and he face planted on his porch on the way back home. Cut his face above an eye and had to have his friend Alan and wife come over to patch him up.

I drove him around yesterday morning for some errands, but was obviously not capable of helping him last night.

So, searching for nursing homes now...

Ahhh, had me a day today! I slept nine hours last night then drove to Krogers for supplies at 0700. Then I fed my birds and bought my drugs at Walgreens all before 0800.

Daniel's on crutches after foot surgery and he hobbled over to hang out. Our sexy mail lady brought a package to my door and I know she heard Daniel comment about her sexy tattooed legs, as she walked away.

It was a set of bed sheets from Amazon, I've worn mine out, and he washed and folded them for me, while I headed on over to the Tubing Company for an afternoon shift. I told Elizabeth I don't do this for the money, I do it because she asked!

It was a big group, a bunch of young kids, five to seven, that had won a baseball tournament down in Florida, so the parents brought them up here to Lawrenceburg, TN for a float.

Thirty seven total. Both of our busses were standing room only, most packed up group I've ever seen. Tubes were bulging out from our trailers.

As I pulled through our downtown square I was giving history lessons, pointing out David Crockett's cabin on the right. It's got a museum inside!

We put them all onto the creek, new groups were arriving and we busted our ass all day. I really enjoy this job, I love the people I work with and I love the customers. I could have done this gig all summer, but I'm too old for it. Once in a while is OK.

I got home at 1500 and had my first drink of the day. I don't drink and work. Daniel hobbled over on crutches and we hung out.

Later I walked him back to his house, checked his mail, and got him up the steps and in. He wanted to go to town and eat some fast food with me, I said I wasn't driving, so he resigned himself to a TV dinner.

I grabbed my folded sheets, told him I loved him, and said good night.

Am I tired and sore and worn out? Hell ya! But it was better than last time. My body is sitting here actually appreciating the physical exercise.

But Elizabeth remember, emergency driver only!

I just woke up from a terrible nightmare. I was on vacation with my boy as a young man and his girlfriend. Somewhere in the Caribbean.

We were at a small airport and I had to get back to Seattle before them, so they were there to see me off.

I got on a plane just before the door closed, sat in the second seat on the left aisle, right behind the pilot. As it took off I placed the things I had in my arms on the fold down table. I had my laptop, my phone, his girlfriend's laptop, and her phone. With a bunch of chargers.

The phones were dead, so I'm scrambling across peoples laps to find a charging outlet, wires going everywhere.

After flying for a while, on the way to Seattle, the plane landed somewhere. I told the pilot I needed to get off to make a call so I jumped off with his girlfriend's phone and the charger. I found an outlet, plugged it in and called my boy.

I told him what happened and all he could say was "Oh my god", over and over. I told him I'd find someway to get her stuff back to them, pulled the phone off the charger and went running back to the plane.

Which was taking off with the two laptops and my phone sitting on the fold down table.

So there I was somewhere, with just a pink phone in my hand, and thank god I woke up!

I'm feeling bad about my buddy Goose. He's the lonely old goose that has been hanging out with the ducks for quite a while now. I have spent many, many months feeding them all in the Park.

The other day he walked towards me with his broken right foot, and I hand fed him, before the other hundred geese came running into the action and I lost him.

This morning he was hobbling really bad. You may wonder how I know it's him, I just do, he's my friend. I tried approaching him to give him some food before we were swarmed, and he turned his back on me, and limped off.

Suddenly I was surrounded by ducks and geese, and I lost him again.

I guess it's the naturally occurring process of life and death among our wildlife. He can't feed himself and will probably die soon. My two favorite ducks, Whitey and CottonTop have been missing for more than two weeks.

I have allowed myself to become emotionally attached to these wild birds, and I'm sitting here crying at their loss...

I just contacted David Crockett State Park this afternoon via FaceBook and they confirmed they did lose a white one. There is only one white duck on Lake Lindsey. My friend Whitey has passed.

When you have wild birds eating healthy bird seed and cracked corn from your hand every morning for what, a year? You develop a bond! RIP my friend.

There are lot's of opinions about feeding wild birds like this. My position is, they're here, and enjoying the lake. I pull up, they recognize my truck, and I feed them a healthy breakfast to start their day!

It's been a good day so far! Doing my laundry at the Wishy Washy as the sun came up, fed my birds right on time and then had a long overdue shower.

Then I took off to Anderson, AL for lunch at the Fish Creel. Once I left Hwy 43 in Leoma onto Rabbit Trail Road, I was in virgin country for me. Daniel had mentioned the road was hilly, with a bunch of ups and downs. Way fun!

I saw a road closed sign and sure enough the whole thing was blocked off, probably construction. The detour took me off into some beautiful country with run down shacks and mutli-story mansions with huge manicured lawns. Southern Tennessee/Alabama is something!

I rolled into Anderson, AL at 1130 and landed at The Fish Creel.

I had the Stuffed Crab with slaw, hush puppies and mashed potatoes. My order took a bit longer than the folks around me, and I am assuming the crab was made up fresh. It sure tasted like it, definitely worth the drive!

I could only eat half and the to-go box is now siting in my fridge, ready for another round when I feel like it.

The service was terrific, sweet country girls that just emanated down home realness. Moving to the South has shown this West Coast boy a new way of living!

I got my place processed today. Grass mowed, edges trimmed. My landlord Steve asked me if I would like to take care of this myself when I moved in, and I said hell no. Probably would have had a reduction in rent, but hell no.

Steph and I had a big property to maintain back in Idaho, I bought a sweet gas powered mower from Ace Hardware, and she mowed.

I don't mow! I've never been on one of those noisy pieces of lawn mowing machines that torment my neighborhood. Let grass grow!

My neighbor Daniel is on drugs. He's having surgery to remove a cyst from the bottom of his foot tomorrow and he will be down for two months. He's been hanging out over here all day, mostly sleeping and snoring in his chair.

His wife will take care of him for the most part, but she works graveyard shift at the cookie factory, so I'll be stepping in when needed.

My goal tomorrow is to do laundry early at the Wishy Washy, feed my birds, and then have lunch down in Anderson, AL at the Fish Creel. Such is life in the South.

I'm looking over at Daniel passed out in his chair, and I ain't hearing no noise. He could be dead! No wait, I see a slight movement from his chest.

I'm driving a tubing bus on Thursday mid-day. I initially turned them down, saying I was going to be in Roatan Honduras. Then I said my handler was able to move that up, and make some time to do the run.

Anyway, that's my life!

I had big plans for today, do my laundry early at the Wishy Washy, prep my truck for a road trip, then pack up my electronics and travel bag. The goal was to get an early start tomorrow for Decatur, GA.

All I've done is feed the birds and watch a movie on Prime. I haven't showered in days and my motivation is shot. I realized that I just wasn't up to doing that trip solo. Driving five hours just to have a fancy dinner with myself?

It's almost 1100, time to have my first drink of the day. Fuck it...

Ok, Daniel and I have been sitting around talking about nearby places to eat and he turned me on to Fish Creel down in Anderson, AL. Amazing seafood and it's only 23 minutes away. They're not open till Wednesday, but I'll be there. Maybe I'll take a shower before, maybe not...

We've been watching great country music on YouTube this afternoon, he's going to be off for a couple of months after foot surgery on Wednesday. He went home for a bit and I fell asleep in my chair.

Suddenly a big ol country boy burst thru my open door, and said "Wake up Jim, a good group is floating your way!" My bus driving buddy parked his bus out front, and came on in.

OMG, he was right. A bunch of beautiful country girls just floated by my house, and I was there to watch.

If there is one thing I have learned about life, it is that women love to be appreciated by men. It's human nature, it's the chemistry that draws us together to create life!

My many years as a transit supervisor back in Seattle came out today. I watch our tubing busses roll down my dead-end street all through the Summer. Sometimes it's me driving, not watching.

Speed is an issue on this street! We have kids walking down to the creek and my neighbor Drew has two young ones that often play out front. I also have a rare albino squirrel that crosses the road frequently.

Today one of our drivers was running hot, so I thought the best way to address it was to call the office and have them put a bug in the drivers ear.

Then I realized that's bullshit, I spent all those years telling my drivers how to drive, and I can't address this person directly?

So I flagged them down from my house as they drove back by. This is a coworker that I like and respect, and here I am playing supervisor, telling them to slow down on my street.

To my fellow driver, I apologize! I'm not your boss and thanks for slowing down...

So, say you won a large mega-millions jackpot, what would you do?

First, I would head straight to downtown Nashville and check into the most luxurious hotel suite in town. Something high up, overlooking the city.

Then I would setup meetings with the top legal teams in town, look the lawyers in the eye, and choose one. Then let them take over everything.

I would then hire my grand-daughter Shelby in DC to contact her thirteen other siblings and get them to Nashville with limos to the hotel. She would become my business manager.

Certainly get my boy and family down here. I don't have many friends left, but them too. My daughter if she is still alive. We would take over as many rooms as needed to accommodate everyone.

Once they're here, I would have my finance team divide 20% of the cash balance among them. With the stipulation that when I die, what assets remain are equally distributed.

I believe how you work out a plan if you won a huge lottery, defines you! If I was younger I would consider a whole bunch of other options to expand my wealth, but I'm not.

Life is short, I'm old, I have many grandkids I've never met, and I'm dying to meet them all. Hopefully I could then last long enough to see how this changed their lives.

As to the other 80%, live like a drug lord on a tropical island, beautiful women tucking me into my giant bed every night. A private jet, so I can see the world and family and friends, when I want.

I guess that's it, what would you do?

My buddy Goose has a broken foot and is walking with a limp. Before the geese flock arrived this Spring he was the only goose here and hung out with the eight ducks. Then they broke into two factions and Goose was all alone.

But he's got me, for a brief time in the morning, before the geese spot me feeding him, and then it's game on. Shot some footage this morning.

I'm really craving some great Indian food and there are two award winning Chai Pani restaurant here in the Southeast. The one in Asheville, NC is 370 miles away while the one in Decatur, GA is a hundred miles closer and less than a five hour drive.

Chai Pani Decatur is having a big party next Tuesday, lunch is at 1130, with the main event at 1800.

Here's a few items being served at the Mela:

 • Georgia Peach Bhel: Pearson Farm peaches, basil, cucumber, spiced pecans, green chili, corn poha, green chutney, sev.

 • Chili Chicken: Marinated, battered and fried halal chicken thighs tossed with a soy chili sauce, peppers, onions, and chilis.

 • Wild Mushroom Uttapam: Savory pancakes made with fermented rice and lentils. Topped with roasted wild mushrooms, ginger, chilies, and onions.

 • Mango Halva Poori: Sweet mango & semolina pudding served with fresh deep fried flatbread.

 • Baingan Bharta: Fire-roasted eggplant mashed with olive oil, green chilies, onions, roasted tomato, and curry leaves.

 • And much more...

I have nobody in my life that want's to go with me, so I'm going solo. I'll blog about it and take a lot of photos. I have plenty of money, so I'll stay in a nice hotel and blog from there. Maybe I'll meet someone, probably not, but that's OK, I'm finally becoming resigned to my reality.

I just got a $35 invoice from my web-hosting company IONOS, which supports both of my blogging platforms over the last fifteen years. I stopped posting to my WordPress blog BusDriverJim when I moved here, and created this Joomla blog, OldManJim.com.

Turns out they were both using PHP 7.4 as the code base, and PHP 8.1 is the current standard. Since I hadn't upgraded to 8.1, they were billing me for maintenance fees. You can destroy a blog and years of work if you upgrade and they're are issues, it was a risk.

So I talked to my webhost and they said they could create backups of both sites for a dollar a month, and after six months it shifts to twenty. I went for the offer and I'm downloading the backups to a thumb drive now.

I upgraded to 8.1 and neither site has crashed. If you're reading this, OMJ is good. It could have been gone...

Happy Fourth! I was craving breakfast this morning but the regular restaurants around here were closed. So I tried Krystal, never been there before, and had three eggs, a biscuit, sausage and grits for under six bucks. Not bad.

A short while later I had six ducks and a hundred geese lining up to eat their breakfast right from my hand. I'm afraid something has happened to CottonTop, haven't seen him in quite a while.

I really have formed a bond with those birds, they expect me to show up around 0830, and they bum rush me when I arrive.

I bought a water from Nicky at the convenience store next to the tubing company. She's a really cute young lady from India that I made friends with three years ago, and we're still on a first name basis.

The tubing company manager Elizabeth is finally back from globe hopping to Ireland and D.C. so I dropped in to say hi. We've got a big group heading out at 1430 and I'm starting at 1500 to bring them back from the creek. I'm working on the Fourth Of July!

The new Tube driver Massey and I have a special code when he drives by after dropping folks into the creek at the end of my street.

The thing is, I like to see women in bikinis. That's not bad, I don't consider myself weird, just being an old man who ain't getting nuttin, trying to remember what it was like!

If he honks twice as he rolls on by while leaving my street, it means that if I choose to, I can mosey down behind my house to the creek, and ogle a hot bikini or two, from up on the bank.

It takes a group about ten minutes to make it to my vantage point, time enough to fill my cup, put my shades on, and walk down.

Most times the groups don't see me at all. They've just finished navigating the low spot in the creek and are focusing on getting back into their tubes in deeper water. It's the spot where a lot of people get totally wet, trying to get back into the tube, and fliping over.

It's quite entertaining, especially if they're wearing skimpy bikinis. One day I heard something behind me, coming from my neighbor Daniel's kitchen window. He was yelling You old pervert, over and over. Lick the top of my head, mf!

If any of my limited friends and family consider this out of line, please hit me up! Otherwise, I just got a double honk and I'm heading on down!

I spend way too much time feeling sorry for myself, as evidenced by this blog, and today I got a wakeup call.

I was sitting in one of the enclosures in the Park, reading my mail and ready to go feed the birds lunch, when a white van pulled up. A heavy set guy in his thirties climbed out of the drivers seat, put himself into a motorized scooter and lowered himself to the ground with a lift on the passenger side.

He came around the corner of the van with a bag of charcoal, and headed for the grill. I asked if he was setting up for a family barbecue, which would have made sense since it's the day before the Fourth.

He said, no, they don't allow grilling where he lives, so he has to come up here. He's obviously alone, overweight and disabled, yet still get's out there and lives. Where the hell do I get off pissing and moaning about life!

I was buying wild bird seed at Tractor Supply this morning and the attractive older lady checking me out started flirting with me. The tab was $19.74 and we started talking about going back to that year if we could, and doing everything different. I didn't see a ring and I should have invited her to lunch to discuss this further. I think my confidence is shot...

Man am I out of shape. I drove one of the Tube busses with Massey and the boys this afternoon. We had a large group of 32 having a family reunion at the cabins in the park. I put in just under four hours of driving and tube handling, up and down the hill at the drop spot, finally bailed, and made it home.

I was still breathing hard, nauseous, and I think I was having a heat stroke. It's settled down now, but I was concerned. Simple driving and tube handling almost got me today.

I was chatting with the group about the cabins and told them there was an old guy that comes up there to the dock and hand feeds the ducks and the geese every morning around 0830.

They said they had heard about him! I told them it was me and to send their kids down tomorrow morning and I'll show them how to feed the birds.

Really nice people from Florida. There were a couple other groups that also kept us busy.

Hey, Crockett Shoals Tubing people are my friends, I agreed to be an emergency backup driver and I fulfilled my commitment. But it almost killed me. Hopefully, next time will be better!

One of the new boys that was riding with me asked how old I was. He had me pegged at 60 and was shocked by 76. I held my own out there just fine!

Hudson on the other hand stood in my stairwell, announcing my age to another group and stated that I wrote the very first graphics program for the IBM PC! He's my budddy, reads my blog, and is a fan...