Wednesday, April 15, 2020

The Letter "P" ~~ Weekend Roundup and Reflections

The sixteenth issue of Weekend Roundup for this year, 2020...

(THE SIXTEENTH LETTER FOR THIS SERIES)
- the Letter "P" Prompts are:
(A) Starts with the Letter "P";
(B) "Pair" (Tom's choice);
(C) A Favorite;
(D) Reflections.

Again this month, April 2020, I am participating in the National Poetry Writing Month daily posting of a poem of sorts. Mine are here, , for this year. 
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(A) Starts with the Letter "P":  "Park" starts with "P".  Here I was parked on the early slopes of Mt. Franklin in El Paso (Texas).  I was age 21 and stationed there at the Fort Bliss U.S. Army post.  This was for five years and three kids born at the William Beaumont U.S. Army Hospital.  One other, our oldest daughter was born at a civilian hospital.

 The car is my 1950 Jimmy Dean Mercury 2-Door.  I traded it for my equity in my 1956 Ford Sunliner Convertible after I was drafted into the Army.  That car was about a year old, I had purchased it new and my monthly payments were more than a Private's pay, married and two kids.  

 Mount Franklin overlooked El Paso and was easy to climb.  I would climb up and take the cable car down.  


(B) "Pair" (Tom's choice):  The bird ponders a pair of pairs walking, separated about six feet apart, Governor's orders. 


(C) A Favorite:  A pair of Corn Dog Lunches that I made.  The drink is Diet Coke, the pickle slices are Dill.  I have made a lot of the noon lunches since our 'lock-in'.


 (D) Reflections:  Burial grounds for Diana Spencer, Princess of Wales.  It is in England northwest of London quite a ways, at the family "Althorpe" Mansion and Gardens.

I wrote my short poem in tribute of her and the burial cover for Wednesday's NaPoWriMo, National Poetry Writing Month, Day 14.  https://jimmiehov6.blogspot.com/2020/04/day-14-of-naplpowrimo-2020-tribute-poem.html 


(E) Lagniappe:  "P" is also for Pretty.  This is a pretty little bouquet made from some pretty small flowers that I have picked on our daily 30-minute walks.
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My Two Questions (you can answer just one if you wish).

(1)  What comes to mind when you think of pairs?   Mine is two Pairs of Docker sandals that I bought when on sale from Penny's.  Also my firstborn children are a pair, twins.
(2)  When is the last time you had a bouquet of pretty flowers?   I don't remember, Mrs. Jim and I both from time to time make up a bouquet, Mrs. Jim will occasionally buy some at the Kroger grocery strore.

 Bonus Questions: 

(1) what is your favorite "P" word?  This time it will be "Peace"   I will be so glad when we can have peace in the world like years not too far back.  The Bible says we will always have wars and rumors of wars.

(2)  Do you have any pictures of cars you owned in the past, perhaps they are old cars of interest now?    I don't have pictures of cars I have owned, especially ones before this Mercury and some after as most ofd our early pictures were ruined when ouer house flooded.  I wish I had a few of those now.

(3)  Have you been on a lot of walks now that we are confined.  Tell about it if so, PLEASE.   Mrs. Jim and I have started walking for at least 30 minutes each day, doctors' orders.  Each of our doctors requested separately that we do this, on the same day.  And those doctors probably aren't acquainted.  Almost makes on think this was Provedential.
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The fine print:

 - [Click on any picture for larger, click it again for extra large]
 - I am linked with Tom of "Backwoods Travel" (Link to Tom's Weekend Reviews)
 - The pictures are all mine and rights are reserved to me under Copyright Law.
 - I am also linked this week with James, (click here for his Reflections Photos).


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# posted by Jim : 4/15/2020 12:31:00 PM  7 comments

Friday, September 15, 2017

~~ Friday’s Hunt v.4.11 -- "K" is for ...

Friday's Hunt topics for the week of September 15th:
(1) Starts with K; (2) Stinky; and (3) Old.

(1) Starts with "K": "K" is for Kids.  Since Sunday was Grandparents Day our third-grader kid's classes hosted their Grandparents for lunch.  We went to KP's school, armed with a Chic-fil-A kid's meal, a chocolate milk shake, a Chick-fil-A chicken sandwich, a Diet Coke, and two small bags of chips, and had lunch with her. 

This is our 4th year to attend, their having been back from living in London (U.K.) five years, again for now a fourth year of elementary school observation.

"K" for kid's grandparents also has the kid's learning about cataract surgery.  Mrs. Jim had hers this Wednesday.  

And the Kids too worked with crews to dry houses after Hurricane Harvey.  Our help varied, mainly Mrs. Jim and I helped coordinate activities in our Sunday school class in providing prayer support for the victims, for the houses, and for the crews themselves, especially in the area of safety as far as electrical shock, cutting, fatigue, and overheating.

Additionally all three of us, Mrs. Jim, KP--we have been keeping KP for the last ten days, there was no school until Monday--and I one afternoon was spent repackaging and grading diapers into paper sacks holding 20 diapers.  Another afternoon, Mrs. Jim did wheelbarrow duty, hauling wallboard, wet insulation, and carpeting to the curbs at a house that needed drying. 

Drying prepares a home for contractor work rebuilding. (In 1979 when our home flooded with 33 inches of water the Flood Insurance Program paid us $36,000 to rebuild outs.  Building costs have more than doubled now, and only 17-20% of Houston homes were covered by flood insurance as the price had gone way up.)

Below is a day's agenda for 12 crews to clean and dry 15 houses.  We are just about finished, there were 618 homes that were appealed to our church needing flood help according to the last figures given us to have our class pray for.  Additionally, "All work and no play makes Mrs. Jim a dull lady" works for certain at our home.  Her she is planning another cruise and looking at last year's which left from Los Angels and went around Cape Horn and back up to Rio de Janeiro. 



(2) Stinky:  Stinky Feet.  But our daughter and I do not have stinky feet, they smell like STRAWBERRIES.  Have ever since Karen was a little girl.


My sister's feet, my feet, and my old sandals.  Ugly foot contest?

(3) Old: My old Ford.  I've had several, but this was my last one, being hauled away to be with it's new owner.  A 1950 Ford Tudor.  That doesn't count Mom's 1974 Ford Mustang II Ghia of which I have had since Mom died back in 1999.  It is classified as a forty-three-year-old Classic here in Texas. 



Well, anyway, here is a picture of it up on the flatbed auto hauler.  It does drive, but I never did except around the block when I bought it.  But I did drive it when I visited the new owner, even the overdrive worked.  I think it had 102K miles on it and was all original.  I hauled it back from Nebraska in 2007 but then I didn't know much of it's history.  Neither did the fellow I bought it from.

Note:  I have had another 1950 Ford Tudor, black like this on back in 1965.  It was sort of my hobby car, not club or anything like this time.  It also was original except for the dual exhausts.  A list of all my cars, http://jimmiehov.blogspot.com/2006/11/my-political-call-last-night-eight.html, at the end of the post.

Here is Mom's 1974 Mustang II Ghia.  I was the first owner, Mom wanted me to buy her a stick shift from the lease cars turned in for the Spring of 1975.  I worked for Ford Aerospace at NASA Houston then and some of our executives were encouraged to lease a new Ford every year. 


Mom didn't trust the automatic transmission in the car Dad had purchased as she couldn't tell what gear it was in and was afraid it might be choosing the wrong gear at times.  This Mustang II and a hot rod Ford Torino were the only Fords that year with standard transmission.  She said, "Yes, get it for me" of the little down-sized Mustang.  That was the first year of downsizing for it.  It was built on a Ford Pinto chassis (we had a yellow 1972 model Pinto for our driver car--it was lost in our 1979 flood along with two other cars and a motorcycle).
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The Fine Print: - m
 - Teresa of Eden Hills, (click) is running this meme, Friday's Hunt. Her rules are: "Welcome to linkup for Friday’s Hunt. It’s very simple. Anyone can participate. The signing in link opens at 7pm Friday Central time and will close Sunday at 7pm." You can read others' posts there any time.
________other_Friday_Hunt_posts_______

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# posted by Jim : 9/15/2017 09:29:00 PM  6 comments

Friday, February 19, 2016

Friday’s Hunt v1.8 -- "H" is for ...

Friday's Hunt for the week of February 19th, (1) Starts with H; (2) Week's Favorite; and (3) Family 


(1a) Starts with H: Hibiscus -- We never had a hibiscus until we moved here to Katy (Texas) and it was here when we came. This one has several fresh orange flowers every day, just for us as the backyard is enclosed with a board fence.  And just about every day we look out the breakfast room window and admire it. Sometimes aloud. 

I can tell by this picture that it was taken before being fertilized.  Now it is a luscious green and more bushy.
(1b) Starts with H:  Hot Dog and Homemade -- This time it's a corn dog with leftover Homemade (Mrs. Jim's) potato salad. I usually put yellow mustard on my leftover potato salad but never on the fresh, first day, treat.  I would never want to offend the cook and her/his choice of the way food should be.
[click on any picture for larger view -- click again, you might get full screen viewing]
 (2) Week's Favorite: Thinking of being on Seven Mile Beach at Grand Cayman Island.
(3) Family:  Mrs. Jim and I will celebrate, again, our 43rd wedding anniversary next Wednesday, the 24th.  I say again because this cruise, on the Princess Caribbean, that we took from January 31 to February 7 was our official celebration.  I think we will go out some place to eat but I don't know where yet.  MacDonald's?
Some place I have a nice family picture, us, five kids, six grandkids, and two greats.  But this one of us at the Seven Mile Beach will have to do.  
(4)  A lagniappe for you, a Poem for You: "The cows will come" (all is copyright, pictures and all, as on this blog.  I previously posted it on my other blog, Jim's Little Photo and Poem Place [link]). 
. . . . . . . . . The cows will come

The cows will come
at farmer's call

Into the barn
each knows her stall

Brownie comes last
she's boss of all

The pigs come too
crowding their trough

Roosters don't come
'til lights go off

I'm not a cow
pig or goat's gruff

Still I come when-
ever you call



[click on a picture to make it larger - click again for larger still]

 . - The animal pictures were taken at the Vauxhall City Farm, at Vauxhall, Borough of Lambeth, London, U.K. (visit it here). Oh, yes, the top picture is on of the horses coming in from giving rides all day.  The cows weren't receptive to picture taking.  The resting Ducks were at a canal near Northampton. 
. - We took KP to the farm, she loved it.  A little scared of the geese, but even some adults are afraid of that.  If you visit London with young ones, take them there.  Also zoo at Regent's Park is very nice.  Admittance is free, both places.

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The Fine Print:
Teresa of Eden Hills is running this meme, Friday's Hunt. She has three alternatives for us to post about but this one, Alphabet series, will be the one I will try to follow and post about.  - Her rules are: "Welcome to linkup for Friday’s Hunt. It’s very simple. Anyone can participate. The link opens at 7pm Central time and will close Sunday at 7pm, so you have plenty of time to enter." 
 - The Mr. Linky address here has a list of others who are participating if you would to read what these folk are doing for the Friday post  - For the week of February 19, our assignment was to post on any or all of these ideas: (1) Starts with H, (2) Week’s Favorite, and (3)Family, and (4) another lagniappe poem for you.
 

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# posted by Jim : 2/19/2016 11:56:00 AM  11 comments

Wednesday, February 17, 2016

Lovers always, the Jim's ~~ Warm Heart Wednesday No. 014


Next Wednesday, the 24th, Mrs. Jim and I will have been married 43 years.  We celebrated early (as is this post) by taking a Caribbean cruise out of the Port of Houston.  Our primary goal besides celebrating was to go to the Cayman Islands, Grand Cayman our target.

It was Heart Warming to say the least.  Neither of us are Spring Chickens anymore.  The twosome picture was taken by one of our passenger mates on the Princess Caribbean ship.  He spent his entire day on Seven Mile Beach and had brought his own beer.  I am glad the camera focused even though it was focused on something pretty far out, not us.

What will follow is a bunch of pictures from our cruise.  Another time, perhaps on a Friday, more Cayman Island and other items will crop up.  My favorite is of Mrs. Jim holding a VERY LARGE stingray fish. (We did take this cruise last year also, the price is fairly reasonable because there is no Airfare involved.  We drove the 50 miles after Sunday school, leaving January 31 and returning on February 7.)
[click on any picture for larger size - click again for super size]
 
 


 
A meal in the town of "Hell" came with our Sting Ray and Snorkeling excursion.  Hell is located at the end of Seven Mile Beach.  No postcards from us, sorry. 

 
Items from a Shrimp Fountain appetizer cocktail party food table.  As 'Platinum' members of the Princess Cruise line, we had similar perks every day from 5 - 7 PM.
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The fine print: 
Warm Heart Wednesday for the week of February 10.  Click here, http://jennymatlock.blogspot.com/ , for links of others or for directions to join with a post of your own. There Ms. Jenny is our teacher.
 

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# posted by Jim : 2/17/2016 01:35:00 PM  9 comments

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