For Those Who Have Served In The Military I Say Thank You.
For Those Who Paid The Ultimate Sacrifice To Preserve Peace For Our Country I Salute You.

How Is This For A Memorial Cake? I Would Say Well Done And Thank You For Your Talent.

Call Me The Fat Man

That's Right, Call Me The Fat Man. It Just Makes Me More Motivated To Shed More Pounds. I Like My Brother Have Been Combating Excess Weight. It Didn't Happen Over Night So I Know I Cannot Lose It Over Night. Today Was My Day Of Awakening. I Had A Helper With Me All Afternoon And Boy Am I Ever Glad. At First I Thought It Was Age Creeping Up On Me. I Haven't Been Able To Get In And Out Of The Back Of My Work Truck Like I Am Accustomed To. I Found Myself Out Of Breath Doing What I Considered Routine Stuff I Have Been Doing For Years. Today I Realized It's My Weight And It's Not Going To Get Any Better Util I Shed A Good Portion Of It.
When It Get's To The Point It Interferes With My Livelihood Such As My Work In The Truck, Or My Bowling, Heaven Forbid It Will No Longer Be Ignored. It Got My Attention Today And I Am More Determined Than Ever To Do Something About It.
My Brother And Niece Have Inspired Me To Finally Take Control. The Past Years I Allowed Food To Control My Life. No More! The Buck Stops Here!
After A Completed Summers Work I Weigh Less Than 200 Pounds. I Have Been Use To Weighing This For Some Years Now. However 200 Pounds Is Still More Than What I Should Weigh. I Look At It This Way. It's Going To Get Harder To Shed The Weight As I Get Older. My Chances Of Losing Weight Is Better Right Now While I Am Still Active In My Summer Thing. Traditionally I Lose 10-15 Pounds Each Summer. I End Up Putting It Right Back On By The Time Thanksgiving Comes Around.
My Plan Of Action This Year Is To Lose More Than I Usually Do In The Summer Months. If I Can Get My Weight Within 10 Pounds Of What I Should Weigh I Will Feel Better About Myself. I Must Change My Life Completely To Keep Off The Pounds In The Winter Months. That Means All The Bowling Festivities Around The Holiday Must Cease. It Also Means No More Late Night Snacking. In Order To See Results On The Scale I Must Make Some Drastic Changes In My Life. Once I Get Down To The Weight I Am Suppose To Be I Promise Never To Put It Back On. I Enjoy All The Things I Do In Life. My Weight Has Been Effecting All Of It.
I Have A Full Length Mirror In The Bathroom And I Decided To Look At Myself Each Day Just For The Inspiration. If That Doesn't Motivate Me I Don't Know What Else Will.
I Want Someone To Look At Me And Say Wow You Lost Some Weight! Maybe That Will Happen In August When My Winter Bowling Starts Up Again. If Not August Maybe Before I Am Finished With My Truck For The Season. I Know One Thing Is For Certain. I Will Never Get This Big Ever Again. I Can't For My Health's Sake. I Can't Because I Need To Continue My Summer Thing. I Can't Because It Does Affect My Bowling. All Of This Is What's Important To Me.
Yesterday Somebody Made A Wisecrack And Said You Lost Some Weight. I Looked At Him And Told Him I Weigh More Now Than I Ever Did. He Told Me He Was Just Kidding. That Told Me My Weight Is Really Noticeable Now Than Ever Before. It Does Matter How Others View Me. It Makes A Big Difference In How You Are Treated.
Tomorrow Is A New Day For Me. It's Also A New Beginning For A Thinner Me.

There Is So Much Truth Behind This Title. I Feel Like I Am Dying Within Myself. The Day My Son Passed Away A Part Of Me Died. I Tried To Be Strong For Those Around Me Who Were Hurting. I Felt If I Showed Weakness Those Around Me Would Be Weak. I Tried To Move On With My Life But I Just Can't. I Cannot Seem To Find The Peace I Am Seeking. I Have Prayed For Inner Peace. I Have Yet To Get It. I Am Haunted And Tormented In My Sleep By Thoughts And Images Of My Son.
I Don't Sleep Well At Night Anymore. I'm Not Sure Where My Son Is. Is He In Heaven Or Hell? I Trust Jesus Delivered Him From His Torment And Took Him Under His Wing On Their Way To Heavens Gate. How Am I To Ever Know For Sure? I Want To Trust My Heart And Believe He Is There But How Do I Know For Sure?
I Was Told That One Who Commits Suicide Goes To Hell. Is This Because One Of The Ten Commandments Were Broken? If That's The Case Then Heaven Is Empty And Hell Is Full. Ok, Thou Shall Not Kill. Even Yourself? Ok, Then Someone Who Has Murdered Does Not Enter The Gates Of Heaven. However, If You Confess To God And Ask To Be Forgiven, God Forgives You. All You Have To Do Is Ask For Forgiveness.
I Am Sure Most All My Readers Know Of The Ten Commandments God Commands Us To Follow. Looking Them Over I Am Guilty Of Breaking Maybe Half Of Them Over My Lifetime. Am I Doomed To Hell? According To My Belief I Must Ask God To Forgive Me And Ask To Be Saved. Born Again To Live For Christ. However, I Will Always Be A Sinner For As Long As I Live. My Point? I Would Like To Be Reunited With My Son Someday. I Don't Want To Spend Eternity In Hell Though. It Makes Me Ill To Think My Son Is In Hell. I Am Haunted By This. Is It Too Late To Pray For My Son's Soul? I'm Not Sure If He Asked God To Forgive Him For What He Was About To Do. Can You Really Ask To Be Forgiven For Something Before It's Done?
Please Lord Hear My Prayer. Forgive Me For Not Raising My Son As I Know I Should Have. If He Knew Jesus Died On The Cross For All Our Sins He May Have Been A Believer. Hold Me Accountable Lord Because I Was His Father And It Was My Duty To Show Him The Way. I Failed You, Please Forgive Me. I Pray For My Son's Soul. He Was A Good Man. He Was A Sinner Like So Many Here On Earth. None Of His Sins However Were So Bad He Spend Eternity In Hell. Please Hear My Prayer Lord. I Promise To Witness To Others Your Goodness And Everlasting Love. All I Ask Is You Have Mercy On My Son's Soul. I Ask This Dear Lord In Your Name, Amen.
My Search For Peace Is Still Ongoing. Please Pray For Me.

My Heavenly Sister

My Sister Brenda Would Have Celebrated Her 53rd Birthday Today. So Many Of Miss Her So Much.
Some Day I Will See Her Again In Heaven. What A Wonderful Reunion That Will Be. This Photo Is Brenda With Bobby Holding My Grandson Blake,(Which He Will Soon Turn 13 Years Old. To Brenda, Bobby Was The Son She Never Had. For Mandy, Bobby Was The Brother She Never Had.
I Wish I Could Say It Gets Better With Time. For Some It May. I Guess A Lot Depends On How Much Time We Are Talking. It Was First My Sister Then My Son A Few Months Later. I Can't Remember If I Wrote About The Mum Before On My Blog. If I Did And You Are Reading It For The Second Time Please Understand It's Important To Me To Repeat It. Shortly After Brenda Had Died I Attended The Woodard Reunion. I Haven't Attended That Reunion For Many Years. I Have No Idea Why I Attended But I Am Glad I Did. It May Have Been Because Bobby Saw No Sense In Missing A Good Meal Reunions Are Known For. That Reunion Brought Some Tears Because Our Family Was Presented With Potted Mums In Memory Of Brenda's Life. When We Got Home Bobby Asked Us If He Could Plant The Mum. I Told Him He Could But Not To Expect It To Return In The Spring. Mum's Are Suppose To Be Planted In The Spring. The Reason For This Is Because It Would Have The Opportunity To Root In The New Area In Which It Was Planted. If You Plant It In The Fall The Ground Would Freeze And Never Have The Opportunity To Root. Bobby Reached Into His Pocket And Brought Out Brenda's Memory Stone From The Funeral. After He Dug The Hole He Placed The Planted Mum. Before He Filled The Area With Dirt He Placed The Stone Beside The Plant. He Looked Up At Me And Said It Would Be Ok.
When The Leaves Fell And Winter Began Setting In I Smothered The Mum With Leaves To Protect It From Winter's Wrath. That Winter We Lost Bobby. Come Springtime I Removed The Leaves To Expose The Mum. The Mum Was Wilted And Appeared Dead. Within A Couple Of Days The Mum Had Blown Away And Was Resting Against The Fence. I Was Sad Because I Had Held On To The Hope It Would Survive Just Like Bobby Assured Me It Would. A Couple Weeks Later I Was Mowing Near Where The Mum Was. A Small 1/2 Inch Of Greenery Was Sticking Out Of The Ground Where The Mum Was. Could It Be? I Wasn't Sure But I Prayed To God To Let It Be. I Allowed It To Continue To Grow. As It Did It Became Evident It Was Indeed The Mum. I Nursed It All Summer And Then It Had Beautiful Purple Blooms. It Made Me So Happy I Had A Living Reminder Of My Dear Sister.
I Hope This Doesn't Come Across Selfish But I Returned To The Woodard Reunion In Hopes I Would Again Get A Mum In Memory Of Bobby. Actually I Didn't Have A Desire To Return To The Reunion Because This Reunion Was The Relatives From My Grandfather's Side Of The Family. It Was So Distant From The Family I Now Have. I Was Presented With A Mum In Bobby's Memory Which I Was Grateful. I Brought It Home And Planted It A Few Days Later. When I Dug The Hole Next To Brenda's Mum I Found The Stone Bobby Placed With It. I Planted His Mum With A Stone That Was Given Away At His Funeral. Even Though I Knew The Chances It Would Survive Was Slim To None But What Did I Have To Lose? Again I Smothered The Plants With Leaves To Protect It From The Winter. Just A Couple Months Ago It Too Was Withered And Appeared Dead. Before The Springs Wind Had The Chance To Blow It Away Like It Did Brenda's, I Inspected The Area And Yes I Found New Growth Where His Plant Was Planted. Today I Walked Out To The Mums To See How Well They Are Doing. Actually I Knew They Were Doing Good Because I Mow Around Them Every Week. I Believe It Was Brenda's Love That Made Sure Bobby's Mum Survived. Their Love For Each Other Is Evident As They Are Growing Beside Each Other And Will For Many Years To Come.
I Consider Them My Heavenly Flowers. Happy Birthday Sis. I Love You.....

I've Not Forgotten

If It Were Just Any Day I May Have Just Went On. I Thought About You All Day Long. My Memories Of You Go Way Back When. No Words Are Necessary. You Know My Heart. God Knows My Heart.
Just To Let You Know You Are Not Forgotten. Your 40th. My Wish Would Be That You Be Here To Celebrate It. I Love You.

Garage Clutter

I Got A Lot Accomplished In My Garage Today. Now That Is Good News If It Were The Average John Doe. I Have This To Deal With Every Single Week. Oh No I Am Not Complaining By All Means. I Need To Keep Busy. If I Am Busy That Mean My Workload Is Up To What It's Suppose To Be. So Far For This Time Of Year I Should Be Busier Than A One Arm Paper Hanger. There Are Certain Factors That May Create Havoc With My Livelihood. Without Going Into Great Detail I Have Competition, And It Has Been Slowing Down Business Some.
My Weekly Sales May Not Be Weekly Here In The Near Future. If I Don't Have The Merchandise I Cannot Conduct A Quality Sale. It's The Quality Sale That Brings In My Faithful Customers. I Don't Like To Disappoint Them But Facts Are Facts And There Is No Way I Can Ignore Them.
Of Course It's Only The First Day Of May And I Still Have Plenty Of Summer Left In What I Do. I Started Up The First Week Of April And I Have Collected Just A Small Amount. As Always I Worry More Than What I Should. However I Am The One Who See's All The Money That Goes Into The Gas Tank. I Am The One Who See's How Much I Spend On Advertisement Each Week. If I Don't Worry, Who Will? I Have Been Doing This For More Than 25 Years. As A Matter Of Fact This Will Be My 26th Year This Season. I Can't Imagine Giving Up What I Believe In.
I Hope To Continue To See My Garage Clutter All The Way Through October!
Oh, By The Way....Happy May Day!

My Journal

Writer's Block. That's Why You Haven't Been Reading Anything New From Me. Sure, I Have Things Going On In My Life But Not Important Enough To Write A Blog About.
Now If I Decided To Include My Daily Activity In A Blog Like Journal I May Write More. I Find Myself Checking Facebook 3-4 Times Each Day. I Read A Lot Of Useless Information. Yet Again That Same Person Might Post Something Very Useful, Humorous, Educational Or Sadness. So If You Come Here And Get Bored With What I Decided To Write About You Can Move On To Someone Else's Blog Or Facebook.
So What's New? How About I Came In 9th Place At The City's Senior Tourney This Past Weekend. I'm Not Happy About It Because I Know I Could Have Finished Much Better. I Told Both My Parents Today To Stay In Good Health. I told Them I WILL Finish In The Top Five And Get An Opportunity To Take First Place. I Know My Ability In Bowling, But I Sure Wasn't Anywhere Close. Trust Me When I Tell You I Will Be In The Winners Circle This Time Next Year.
Bowling Means Everything To Me. I Just Wish I Stuck With It When I Joined My First League Back In The 1970's.
My Diet Started Yesterday. Yesterday It Was The 29th Of April. It's Exactly Six Months Until Billie's Birthday. I Need To Shed A Lot Of Weight. A Lot Of This Weight I Had Been Carrying Around For A Number Of Years. It's My Belly Weight I Am Most Concerned About. It's Gross Looking When I See It On Another Person. Why Should I Be An Acception?
I Am Most Active In The Warmer Months Of The Year. It's Important I Am Able To Get In And Out Of My Box Truck. It's Important I Be Able To Lift And Carry Items. I Am Getting Older And There Are Things I Done When I Was 20 I Am Not Able To Do Today. It Would Make My Job A Lot Easier If I Were To Lose More Weight Than I Normally Do During Summer. Traditionally I Put Excess Weight On During And After The Holidays. I Am Less Active During Illinois Winter. I Plan On Changing All Of This. You Will See Me Log In And Share My Thoughts Of All The Things I Use To Enjoy To Eat. You Will Read About My Daily Walks. This Weight Loss Is Very Important To Me.
Tomorrow I Will Try To Inform You Why The Bottoms Of Your Feet Should Never Burn.
So Maybe If I Include My Daily Activity Into Words I Will Write More. I Have Work To Do In My Garage In The Morning. It's Forecasted To Rain. My Days Have Not Been Near As Busy As In Years Past. I Have A Sickening Feeling This May Be The Last Year For The Robin Hood Foundation. I Will Explain Further On A Different Entry.
Good Night Elzmerelda Poontang, Wherever You Are.....

Sometimes In Life Things Are Beyond Your Control. I Have Learned Through My Years You Control Your Own Actions But You Have No Control Over Others.
I Have Often Heard Life Is What You Make It. I Believe That. Life Is Full Of Choices. You Choose Who You Want To Be A Part Of It. I Have A Hand Full Of People In My Life I Dislike. I Choose To Ignore These People. I Don't Mess With Them And I Expect The Same In Return.
I Don't Go Around Looking For Trouble. On The Other Hand If Trouble Finds Me They May Have Found Their Match. There Are Times I Get Tired Of Dealing With People. You Have To Be Nice And Be Careful In What You Say. Otherwise You May Hurt Their Feelings And Get Deleted From Facebook. If Somebody Called Or Came To Me And Told Me They Don't Like The Things I Say Or Do, I Would Simply Tell Them To Stay Clear Of Me And My Life. I Don't Go Around Telling Anybody How To Live Their Lives And They Better Never Tell Me How To Live Mine. There Are Times When You Must Take A Stand In Life And Say Enough Is Enough. This Is MY Life. I Must Answer To Only One Person In The End. There Have Been Times I Can Hardly Wait For That Day. I Miss My Son Terribly And I Am Excited For The Day We Will Be Reunited. When My Life On Earth Is Complete Bobby And I Will Once Again Be Joined And That Will be A Happy Day For Me.
As For The Bridge Above? I Burned One Today And I Have No Regrets! As A Matter Of Fact I Feel Relieved. They Say It Takes A Lot Of Energy To Be Angry With Someone. I Tend To Agree With That Philosophy But Once You Burn That Bridge, Just Don't Look Back, Ever!

My Bowling Season

The Bowling Season Is Coming To An End. The Tuesday Night League I Bowl On With My Brother Will Be Determined Tonight. Our Season On This League Is Split In Two Parts. Our Team Won The Second Half. Tonight We Bowl To Determine First And Second Place. Our Team Is Considered The New Kid On The Block. This Is Our First Season With This League.
Win Or Lose Tonight I Consider This Season To Be Fun Filled And A Pleasure To Bowl With A Bunch Of Nice Folks. Not Every League Can I Say It's Fun. There Seems To Be A Few People Who Are Determined To Win At Any Cost. I Love The Sport Of Bowling. I Like It Because At My Age It's One Of The Few Sports I Can Participate In At A Level Of Good Competition.
I Currently Bowl On Three Different Leagues But That Will Most Likely Change Next Season. The Back Part Of The Bowling Center Considered The Annex Is A Completely Different Surface. Some Bowlers Seem To Be Able To Adjust To The Different Conditions. Apparently I Cannot. I Have To Use My Plastic Ball To Get A Decent Score. I Doubt I Will Return To That Surface Next Season. I Have Two More Weeks Left On That League And Two Weeks Left On My Thursday Afternoon League With The Old Folks. It Appears I Will Resume The Duties Of President On That League.
So Today I Am Both Eager And Excited About The Results Of The Play Off's Tonight. Years Ago Our Team Had Won First Place And My Dad Was On The Team With Me. That Made It Extra Special. Not Only That We Conquered A Team That Had Dominated The League For A Number Of Years. It Was Like A David And Goliath Type Of Thing. Tonight My Brother Bowls With Me And It Will Give Me Another Good Memory If We Win. However Win Or Lose Tonight Overall I Can Say We Lost To A Team Of Family Members And They Are A Great Bunch Of People.
It's Not Always About Winning You Know. I Just Love To Roll The Bowling Ball Down The Alley.

It's Just Not The Same As It Use To Be. It's April Fools Day That I Am Referring To. It's Like All The Air In My Balloon Has Been Released.
Since I Was A Young Boy I Thought It Was Cool To Be Able To Prank Someone Then Give Them A Good Reason Why You Did. I Considered It My Special Day.
It's Been Awhile Since I Have Written A Blog So I Assume My Readers Figured I Would Chime In Today. Sorry I Have No April Fools Day Pranks For You Via My Blog.
It's Not That This Day Doesn't Excite Me Because It Does. It Gives Me A Reason To Put A Little Laughter In Someone's Day.
I Thought Of A Good One Last Night But It Would Have Taken About Three People To Pull It Off. I Don't Want To Bother Anyone, Especially As Early In The Morning To Pull It Off.
Yes I Am A Cub Fan From Way Back When. There Is Always Next Year. Have I Outgrown This Special Day? Whether I Have Or Not Doesn't Really Matter. Those Who Know Me The Best Know To Steer Clear Of Me On This Special Day. Because You Just Never Know.....