The Stranger In The Night’s Storm

Yesterdays drive home was pretty interesting due to all the rain and all. I have been driving my wife’s Mustang back and forth this week due to my Pathfinder being down for the time being. I never realized, really before yesterday, why I don’t like driving cars, especially low profile cars, in storms that are dropping so much water that we are flash flooding everywhere. I never thought this to be a problem until yesterday afternoon, when I was the one in the low profile sports car fighting to be able to see. Something I never suffered or even thought about in my Pathfinder, but it sucks ass in that Mustang, way too low to the ground for me personally. I had that on my mind as I arrived home, still pouring rain, and wondering how much longer I would be doing this drill because I’m not a fan. I really don’t know how my wife does it, but I’ve never heard her complain, don’t think I ever will, because she will never talk shit about her new baby, never. Me, I can, she’s not my baby, my baby is sick, sitting in the drive waiting for Dr. Scorpion to have the money to operate, which will be very soon.

Other than that little challenge, the day was rounding out pretty normal for our house, I was getting dinner ready, secret recipe chicken cordon bleu, everything about it is a secret, and no I will never share it with anyone, I will die with my secret, which is why it is prepared like a black op in my kitchen. I’ve been making this recipe for, let’s call it 25 years or so, many have asked to eat it, many have asked how I make it, and I have yet to cough it up. It’s time consuming, the preparation takes some time, but it gives time to get the twice baked potatoes going as well, another secret, everyone stays the fuck out of my kitchen when I’m going, nobody wants to get cut, except my wife, she braves entering the secrecy of what I’m doing to sneak a kiss. She’s a naughty one you know. After it was all prepared, cooked, the kitchen cleaned spotless, we sat down to eat. We had a “weird” quiet dinner, the mood was as dark as the skies with the storms. Everyone looks tired. Afterwards, we are all fat and happy, kids off to the bath, and its time to wind this bitch down finally.

Sometime just after eight someone is knocking on the front door. My wife and I give each other “that look” of WTF!, shrugging my shoulders I get up out of my chair to check out the knocking on the door. When I swing open the door I see a younger girl standing before me, finding out later she is 20. My initial questions were who are you and what do you want. In my head I was saying, “we’ve found Jesus, we don’t donate to politics, we don’t do surveys, and unless you are selling thin mints this conversation is over”. She introduced herself, I didn’t recognize her name, or her for that matter. Well, she said she would like to talk to me if I had the time, she thinks I can help her with finding something she is looking for. Once we are inside, I invited her in because I was somewhat intrigued, meanwhile I was getting the stink eye from my wife. The young lady presented me with a letter from her mother, in this letter I was listed as a “next of kin” and that she needed to contact me for information on her biological father. Then it hit me, her mother’s name I recognized, talk about a name from the past, like many moon ago past. Apparently her mother and a very, very good friend of mine had a go at it while we were all stationed in Korea together, except she failed to tell any of us she had become pregnant, as it happened she found out after she had rotated back to the world, back to her husband, then she is told she is 3 weeks pregnant. She failed to let her husband know the particulars, just told him she was pregnant.

Obviously many years have past since then, many, and the lives of everyone change as well, divorces happen. Anyway, what had led her to ask a question or three was because of the man she called dad, he needed a kidney, she agreed to donate him one because that is what family does, I tend to agree. But guess what? His daughter, the girl he raised for most of her life, wasn’t a match for donation. But how can that be? We know why, because he’s not her biological father. Needless to say, questions were asked, no real answers could be given, except for one, which was me, because her mother knew that if anyone knew where to find him it would be me. Luckily, she was right, I do know where and how to find him. First, I called her mother, who sent me to voicemail, and I was told that she has chosen to disappear for a while because she doesn’t want to face anyone, especially her daughter. I made one phone call, from the privacy of my bedroom, to my friend, who wasn’t shocked, or at least he didn’t seem shocked or a bit surprised. He gave me permission to give her all of his contact information, his name, and everything related. Ready for the twist? Okay, he was married to wife #1 at the time of conception, divorces a few years later because he caught her red handed cheating on him. Since then, there has been a #2, #3, and a #4, only with wife #1 were there any kids, one son. Now, the kicker, after all these years, guess who he is dating once again, and talking about marriage, wife #1. He is unsure how she will take this news. That’s a damn fine question, how will she take it?

Needless to say, as curious as I am about if he actually comes clean, I don’t think he will. As much as I think of him as family, I know he has two weaknesses in life, women and alcohol, usually mixed together, over and over, repeat, so on and so forth. But, I’ve known this sonofabitch for many, many years, we visited hell and returned a few times over, which is why I keep up with him. He’s really not the kind of person I hang around with these days, simply because I’m too old to run around drinking like a single guy and I know from personal experience how hard that is on family life and marriages in particular. Anyway, back to the story. We talked about her mom a while, a name I hadn’t thought of in probably 20 years, we came back to the world and everyone who was friends over yonder just lost touch. She talked awhile and decided that it was time for her to go. She apologized for taking up our time and away she went. My wife and I had a long conversation about what happened while I was stationed in Korea. How do you explain what happens in another country while away from your family for 15 months one time and 14 months another time. Might as well want to talk about all the times I spent in Las Vegas or any other place I went to. I admit only one thing for myself that I wish would have been different, which was literally being drunk the entire time. I also admitted that I was true to my now ex-wife, I didn’t need or want the trouble. Was it lonely? Yes. And I drank myself into oblivia to keep that shit from driving me crazy. Tempted? Yes. But, the plus for me was I stayed really busy, I did my AF job and I had a part time job as well, not for the money, but to keep the mind and hands busy.

Anyway, be careful of the bumps in the night, it might just be a blast from the past, and that just might lead to questions about things, people, and places that we spent years forgetting. Trust me, a person never married to someone who was in the military has a very hard time understanding that there are times they must be separated for any length of time, which is the death of many marriages, trust me, I know this personally.

Finally! Someone Else Understands!

Bigfoot, God, and Ghosts

Bigfoot, God, and Ghosts share one common factor that nobody can deny, they truly are, in all basics, just myths. I can hear it already, ringing in my ears, questioning me where I can get off making such a statement. So, I will give y’all my answer in advance this time and it is this, prove me wrong. I don’t usually like bogging down my blog with my own personal opinion of God but I found myself having a particular conversation with a neighbor of mine this weekend. I will say, based on my own observations, that he is very self-immersed in being a devout believer in God. How do I know? Fair question with no real answer. I listen to the topics he discusses since, being neighbors, we do talk more frequently than what I actually like. Now, this entire conversation began this past Sunday when my neighbor payed a visit to me in my shop un-announced. Meaning, I was in my shop sharpening the chain off my chainsaw and when I looked up he was standing there. Why this is strange? From my front gate to the door of my shop is 3/4 of a mile or so. So, yes, his presence shocked me, greatly. Not because he was standing in front of me exactly, but because I know he didn’t come from the front gate since I didn’t get a text informing me the gate had been opened, which is part of the alarm. No, he had to have come from the back of my property that has no fence, which opens up the the creek back there. He tells me he saw the doors open so he figured I was out here.

 

Ah, yes, now we get into why he stands before me. He wants me to help him pull a stump out of his yard later, after he returns from church, since I have a tractor and his wife wont let him have one. Now, I don’t mind helping him, that is not what this about at all. I like that people know I know how to do things the right way, plus, this will give me an opportunity to try out the new steering knuckles I replaced a few weeks ago. He made a comment which bugged me before he left though, he said he knew I wouldn’t be busy with church or anything since I don’t believe in God. It isn’t that it is an incorrect statement about my belief in God, its the fact that he felt the need to use that as a reason for my availability later. I don’t know, just struck a chord with me that I couldn’t shake. It hasn’t made me mad or anything, just made me wonder why he would put it like that. As I got back to work grinding the teeth on chain saw I found myself thinking about the most bizarre things ever. There are many things I don’t believe in. The top three are Bigfoot, Ghosts, and God. My reason is simple. Put the proof in my hand. Your answer is pretty simple as well, you can’t. All three share many likenesses in their own special ways. Bigfoot, a North American great ape which many claim to see and hear, but can never produce a body or evidence that science can’t explain. Ghosts get the same, people see them but they can never prove it. The there is God, again, something people believe in yet can’t prove his existence. Now, in defense of all three, the can’t be disproven either. All three remain a mystery to mankind. Unless, of course, you find yourself believing in ghost stories, fairytales, and legends. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I do look forward to an actual discovery one day of one, two, or all three. Wouldn’t it be a great day to finally have mankind fall straight on his ass with overwhelming evidence? But, until then, they are all just myths and/or legends, end of discussion.

 

Finished, and now bored, I didn’t feel like waiting for my neighbor to return. I have a nap to take later and his schedule just might jack that all up. I loaded up the chains into the bucket of the tractor and set off. Since I knew where the stump was I set up for the pull. He had done most of the grunt work digging out around the stump so all I had to do is drop the chains and rock and roll. It came out like pulling a nipple from a babies lips, pop and it was out. I dragged it over to my burn pit and dropped it off. I scooped up a load of dirt and returned to his yard, dumped it out and leveled it, then returned home. Shortly afterwards I went in to the house, got undressed, and showered. I decided at that point, it was nap time. I was woke up by my daughter, who let me know it was dinner time and my presence was required. We ate, talked, played a few games of Farkle, and everyone part ways to do their own thing. My wife and I sat on the couch and watched a movie. Eventually we headed off to bed.

 

I never heard back from my neighbor that afternoon. I just figured he had seen what I did and just decided to leave it alone. Wrong. While I was driving to work this morning he called me to apologize for getting tied up yesterday and not letting me know what was going on. Before I could get a single word in he was asking if we could go ahead and get it done this afternoon. Um, sure, whatever you say. Which is screwed up because that means he has no clue that it is already done. Oh well, perhaps he will figure it all out before he wastes his time walking over to get me later. Funny how people are too busy in their own lives to realize even the simplest of things. I meant what I said with all honesty you know, about finding Bigfoot, Ghosts, and God, I do hope they find at least one of them in my lifetime. Until then, I will just live my life one day at a time, hopefully disappointment free.

 

*********** Story Update ***********

 

It would appear that somewhere during the day my neighbor realizued that something happened in his yard and chose to investigate it further. How do I know this? When I got home I did my normal routine and went into the kitchen to put up my lunchbox. There stood my wife pointing to a bottle of Crown Royal. When I questioned what the occassion was, she informed me that it was from my neighbor. He had explained to her he felt bad that he missed his arranged job with me and thought he would leave a bottle of Crown Royal as payment for my selfless services. What could I do? I just smiled and looked for a glass. I spoke with him later in the evening and thanked him for the gift. He was very apologetic and said he knew I liked Crown Royal and it seemed to be a way to thank me and pay me at the same time. I appreciate the gesture but I wasn’t looking to get paid. Funny thing is that eventhough I assured him, repeatedly, that there were no hard feelings, he kept apologizing. So, in the end, I guess everything worked out just fine. I got to try out the improvements I had been making to the old Beast tractor, he got a stump pulled, and I get to have a nice bon-fire during the chilly nights while enjoying some Crown Royal and roasting marshmellows.

You People Need To Lighten Up

Originally Published To: Hate Mail on 10 April 2013

Here we are once again. I have been neglecting my duties by not sharing more often. But, I won’t promise anything, but I will try to keep up and post as I get 2 or 3. Today I am going to do a combination post from messages, e-mails, and comments I have received in reference to three specific posts, Is Being An Alcoholic A Disability, Bigfoot, God, And Ghosts, and What Has The World Come To. I can’t even begin to tell y’all how surprised I have been that so many have become so bent out of shape. Makes me think that is why I write. Perhaps I need to add that to my mission statement. I have always stated that I am here to lay out my opinions on many things. I choose not to try to cater to one group or another. Love me, hate, it doesn’t matter because blogging isn’t paying my bills so I don’t believe that I need to kiss any ass of suck up to anyone in particular. As I mentioned, this is going to be a collective of messages, comments, and e-mails received on these two posts. I will quote some things, but if you have been paying attention I usually remove all the comments that refer to me as a “pagan devil worshipper” since it really doesn’t add anything that other people want to read. So, I do my job as babysitter to other people’s children and make the appropriate edits. But wait, they don’t actually ever disappear, I collect them and add them to, what I consider, to the greatest collection of crap known to mankind.

Shortly after my posting about Bigfoot the stupid shit really started pouring in. I was told that Bigfoot was an urban legend, ghosts were myths, and God is very real. I was bombarded with so much biblical mumbo jumbo that it almost made my head explode. Well, even after the sermons, I still don’t see any proof that God exists, therefore, in my opinion, God ranks right up there with everything else that cannot have it’s existence proven to mankind. Next thing I got was questions asking me why I left out everything about Aliens since they rank pretty high on the myth and legend scale. I took a fair amount of heat from a fair amount of people about leaving them out. Well, ok, I did leave them out, and it was on purpose, because if I would have added commentary about Aliens then the post would have become grossly boring and long winded. Plus, it wasn’t even what I was thinking about, it never entered my mind until I was almost done writing the post. I did give it thought at that time because it too is one of those great unsolved mysteries. Hell, why not add in the Bermuda Triangle while I am at it. My point is simple, people believe in many things, I am not here to say a person’s opinion is inaccurate, I just ask that if you wish for my support just give me something to actually support. True, I do ask allot of questions about God’s existence and the purpose of believing in something nobody has ever seen. I will continue to do so until God is knocking at my door waiting to be invited to eat some of my Diablo Scorpion Chili. Until then, everything about God is just another fairytale. By the way, if it actually matters, I am not a devil worshipper. People take their religion way to serious, it almost seems they don’t leave time to actually live their life, and that is very, very sad. I don’t hate Christians and God, I just think the entire idea is a bit silly. Who would have ever thought idol worship was still alive and strong. There is no reason to be wound so tight. But hey, I think I will always get flack for not believing in God, and I am ok with that since I made my choice while standing by my choice. You God fearing people really have a mean streak.

 

The second part of this post will be about how people want to split hairs with me about someone being an alcoholic and in their opinion it is a disability. Perhaps we just look at what a disability actually means in different light. I am a firm believer that being an alcoholic was a choice that person made. The alcoholic isn’t disabled, the alcoholic is addicted. In my post I explained my own struggles, those were dismissed because people wanted to disagree with me. It would appear that those same people didn’t want to look up the words so they would know the definitions and they wanted to feed me the same old garbage about it being a disease. I will give them one simple thing, drinking indeed causes medical problems and even some diseases, but being an alcoholic is not the disease, just a contributer.I find it amazing how childish people act when there is a differing opinion than what they see in mainstream media. I am not here to enable any jackass that thinks making poor choices in life mysteriously makes him/her having a disability. Let me give you an example of disabled, it is my personal situation. I was retired from the United States Air Force as a 100% disabled vet. Want to know what that means, look it up. In fact, I know some of y’all are a bit lazy, so I will provide the following link for the VA and you can look it up. Also, you can look at the 2013 Veterans Compensation Benefits Rates Table for more info. Make sure you look at the very bottom of the table at the last entry and remember I am a veteran with a spouse, two children at home, and one in college. So, do you think I need to work to fill my financial needs? (see snippet below)  Now, legally, as per my DD214, I am not eligible for employment in the United States. However, I was provided with a waiver because I didn’t want to sit at home on my ass living off the gov’t cheese for the rest of my life. Add to that knee replacement a few years ago, yet I still get my ass up every day and go to work. Why? Because I made the choice not to use it as an excuse. Which is what we do in life, we make choices, good and bad. I don’t look for pity and I don’t expect shit to be handled to me either. I do, however, wish that people would own up to their choices so there doesn’t have to be laws protecting them for making poor choices. Do I take this a little personal? Yes, because I know the difference between being truly disabled and and being an alcoholic with an addiction.

The third part of this post will be about how offended the non-meat-eaters became with me because of my opinions and how I painted being a non-meat eater in my post. Let me just throw this down for all of you, I eat meat, I enjoy eating meat, I enjoy cooking meat, and meat makes me very happy. If that offends any of you then you really need to get over yourself. A non-meat eater’s way of life isn’t wrong for that person, its just wrong for me. One of the fabulous messages had stated that she can’t wait for karma to catch up with me and won’t it be a bitch if one day I am forced to eat in the vegan lifestyle. I gave this some thought, and yes, it would be a bitch because I am not sure I could do it. I cannot predict the future, but from what I can see in my crystal ball I don’t see meat not being in my life any time soon. I mentioned I am not knocking the vegan lifestyle, that, however, does not mean I can not talk about what I don’t personally like about vegan foods. Personally I wish all the vegans and non-meat eaters all the best in life, I mean that.

Finally, always try to keep in mind that sightings of Bigfoot can be faked, sightings of Ghosts can be faked, believing in God, Unicorns, and Aliens can also be faked, but you can never fake the almighty and grand steak.