Tuesday 11/16/2004

I got up early this morning and went down to mother's to cook her breakfast. I got back home around 7am and spent most of the day cleaning up around the house, mostly concentrating on the utility room. Later in the day Lita made a pot of chicken stew that I split up in containers and put in mother's freezer. I also helped Lita make a big pot of chili for us. I am going to stay at mother's tonight I guess while Lita goes to the sleep clinic.

Monday 11/15/2004

I started a week's vacation today. Note that on this date I called and dropped Christopher's Gold's Gym membership. He is going to a different gym. I am going with Lita today to a sleep clinic.

Yesterday Lita and I went to Wal-Mart and bought groceries for ourselves and for mother. We got her fixins for Chili and Chicken stew. I made the Chili and split it up into small ziplock containers and put them in her freezer.

Went with Lita with Sleep Clinic doctor to initial consultation. He set he up with a over night sleep sudy for tomorrow night starting at 8:30pm.

Sunday 11/13/04

Well, it's been a long time since I've added anything to this journal. So many things have happened. The most major is that Mother has gotten very helpless and we are having to pay someone to stay with her a lot of the day. Right now we have Kay Harrison, sister to Danny Burrough, hired out.

Lita has had some medical problems which include a form of Lupus. She doesn't feel good most of the time. Jeremy has moved back here after Amy left him and filed for a divorce. She also called the police on him before he moved back and the arrested him for possessing stolen property, according to him.

I have started losing my hair, mostly in the crown area, and I am using Propecia and Rogaine to try and keep it as long as possible.

This is Saturday and I went early this morning to stay with mother. Kay took over at a little after 3pm. Mother wears depends diapers and won't go to the bathroom and pee unless someone is there. It's really a problem.

Christopher and Lauren came to the house this evening before they go to a gathering called a Pike fest where there will be a big bond fire somewhere out in a field or something. Christopher is working part time at Dillards in addition to going to UNA. He is in his junior year.

Wednesday 5/12/04

This day starts my vacation. This weekend we go to Florida with Vaughn and Pat for about eight days. Today I had Hermas Jones bring me a load of topsoil. I started working early in the morning and the only break I took was to go to the Co-op and get some grass seed and wheat straw. I didn't finish until after 5pm. I just about killed myself, especially my back. I'm sure I'm going to pay for it for the next couple of days. Regardless, I got the dirt spread around the padio and the grass sewed and the straw spread. I'm hoping I don't have a drainage problem now but if the grass grows, I think it will really be pretty. I sloped the dirt up to the old well concrete and if it does right, it should really look better.

Linda had her surgery on her colon today and Lita spent the day at the Decatur General hospital. She had some cancer in her colon but the doctors think they got it all.

Sunday 5/9/04

I haven't posted in quite a while and lots of things have happenned, too numerous to try and recount. One thing we did do is have a concrete padio pad poured and today we had a big cookout on this Mother's day. We had Pat, Vaughn, Leslie, Mac, Jeremy, Amy, Logan, Danielle, Ms Owen, and Christopher. Lauren came by a little later in the day. We cooked hotdogs and hamburgers and mainly had a real good day.

Earlier in the week Mother's air conditioner went out and she stayed us a couple of days. Charlie Schrimsher repaired it friday and we took mother home saturday. Also saturday, Lita and I worked most of the morning on the padio site. We went and got a half yard of pea gravel and spread it between the padio and sidewalk. We also went back to town and purchased a padio table and chair set and a padio swing. It's really starting to look nice.

Saturday & Sunday 3/28 & 3/29/04

After I got off Saturday Lita and I went out to eat at R&R Ribs. Christopher came home, along with Lauren a little later, to spend the night. Got to talk to that boy. They left and went out and I think they came in around 2:30 AM. We all got up and went to church Sunday morning.

After church we swung by and got mother and went to eat at the River Bend, across elk river on hwy 72. We then rode around Bay Village and Brigadoon. After we took mother home and came back to our house, Lauren left and Peggy Jean Craig showed up for a couple of hours. After she left Christopher went back to Florence.

Thursday 3/25/04

I ran into Betty Smith today at some new Town Houses on West Hobbs st. Betty used to work with Lita at Compass Bank. That woman is a riot. I met a man named Redus Black today who lives on the corner of Peachtree St and 5th Ave. He said Bill and Patsy Castleberry used to live across 5th Ave from him and he said there used to be another telephone man who used to hang around that area during the day and when you would see him leave, he would see Patsy take out after him. Hmmmm, wonder who that was? He said he couldn't remember the guys name.

 Two retired teachers on another man got killed at the intersection of Elm St. and North Jefferson St. when they turned in front of a diesel truck carrying gravel this afternoon. I was told that they all lived at the intersection of New Cut and Glaze roads.

Took my third tan session at Ruths this evening. Stayed in the bed for 20 minutes.

The University of Alabama Basketball team beat Syracuse to advance to the final 8 on this night. This is historic for the BB program because it had never advanced beyond the the final 16.

Wednesday 3/24/04

I won't soon forget this day. The first trouble that I pulled up was at the Limestone prison. Abernathy sent Fogg with me because he knew his way around the infermery where we were going. Part of the ordeal was funny, part of it was extremly sad. The gaurd stopped me at the gaurd shack half way to the prison on the prison drive and told me that the other guy was already at the prison. Joe told me that he had asked if he had a gun. He didn't ask me. When we went to the desk the guard there asked for the stuff in our pockets like keys and knives. He told us to remind him that he had put the stuff in a bag. I said ok, you put the stuff in a bag. He thought that was funny. On the way to the infermery Joe noticed that there was a big baseball game going on. I said that must be the field of dreams, we laughed and Joe said, "yeah, build it and they will come."

We then went into the infermery. In the lobby was quite a few prisoners just sitting around. On into the infermey was bunches of prisoners. The scary part about this was that I knew that probably a big part of them had AIDS. When we went through the back part to go outside to the equiptment room there was a prisoner in a chair that had those places on him of an advanced aids patient. I have to admit that I was quite nervous in this place and felt sorry not only for those patients but more so for the people who had to work in there. The trouble was a ground in the station wire to Mr. Dobbs office. It was a hard ring ground, so I reversed the line to give him service and we found out that they had a inmate named Peppers who ran wire and worked on electronics for them. Joe told Mr. Dobbs that if they would get him to run a new wire he would come back to hook it up. The gaurd said that Peppers was in there on a life sentence for rape, a life sentence that normally would be up for parole after 20 years but they probably would keep him for what he knew how to do.

Joe asked the gaurd about all the prisoners in the lobby as we were leaving and he said that most of them were in there to protect them from other prisoners because in there one could get killed over a pack of cigarettes. Man, what a awful place.

 

Tuesday 3/23/04

I was off this day because I have to work Saturday, again, that's two in a row. I got going around one oclock cutting on the yard. Christopher show up not long after I got the going on the front yard and helped me. Lita and I took him out to eat at the mexican restaurant afterwards before he went back to Florence.

Monday 3/22/04

I started my work day replacing a section of 100 pair aerial cable at the corner of North Beaty and Chestnut streets that was melted when a vacant house burned Sunday. The fire marshals came while I was getting ready to go up in my bucket and one of them said that it was kids that set the fire. That fire marshal was the man that used to cut mother's yard. I think his name is Haraway.

I found out when I got home that Jeremy had been layed off from his job, again. Lita said that he made the statement that he guessed it was a good thing that "they" weren't pregnant. Maybe he will realize that they shouldn't have another kid until he has had a steady job for a while that looks like it will last. That's a big maybe though. Lita and I went and tanned at Ruth's. This was my second tan this year.

Lita made beef stew and it was very good.

Sunday 3/21/04

We got up this morning and Lita & Pat cooked breakfast. After noon we all went to the Limestone Flea Market at the Limestone/Madison County line. Pat & Vaughn left to go home around 3pm. I gave them two banana trees. Christopher this morning from Chattanooga and he had been sick throwing up and had diarria overnight. He called back this evening and said he had slept most of the day.

Saturday 3/20/04

The day started out with Christopher and Lauren coming by real early on their way to Chattanooga before I went to work.

Man, I had a heck of a day at work. Bellsouth had won back Best Western Hotel from Delta Com and issued an order that took them off a T-line and put them back on 11 indivdual copper lines from the Central office and for two days they have been able to call out only. The manager was very upset and I spent about a half a day getting those 10 out of the 11 lines back to the RJ21X. He still was going to have to get his vender to come back and rewire his lines past there. I can't say as I blame him for being mad.

Lita and I took Vaughn and Pat to meet Frank and Terry Clark and Bob Potter and his wife and some of Bob's friends at Sarges's to eat steak. We had loads of fun. Terry is a hoot. Vaughn and Pat spent the night with us. Before we left to go, Alabama was playing Stanford in the final 32 of the NCAA tournament and we left the house just as the second half started. Leslie called Vaughn on the way Bama had come back to take the lead. Stanford had only one loss all year and was ranked number one in the country in the final AP poll. Bama went on to win 70-67 and now enters the sweet-16 to face Syracuse.

Friday 3/19/04

I haven't added in a few days but here is a brief summary. Lita had a major run in with Suzanne about coming to work. That led Suzanne to go talk to Allen. He didn't exactly backup Lita like she would have wanted but still Suzanne seems to be better now. I got a call from Bob Potter Wednesday and he wants us, along with Frank and his wife to go to Sarge's in Tennessee and eat out Saturday night. I said ok but found out later that we were scheduled to go out with Vaugh, Pat, Leslie, & Mac. Still up in the air whether we will or not.

Rayburn Grimes had his retirement Wednesday but Athens didn't receive any notice of it so I didn't get to go. Talked to Nix yesterday and he said that only a few people were invited.

Yesterday, Thursday, I was off because of working this Saturday. I spent most of the day recording music from disc and burning them to a greatest hits CD. I did go to town to put Lita's check in the bank, mainly because Christopher called and wants to go to Chattanoog this weekend with Lauren and another couple. Her parents are paying for the rooms for her birthday. I got out $100 dollars to give to him. I went by Beasley's produce to get my lawnmower blade sharpened and ran into Peggy Jean. She is working there. Also, I went to start my tanning after Lita got off from work.

Lita cut my hair.

Sat & Sun 3/13 & 3/14/04

Lita & I took Mother to town, ate at Cracker Barrel and then went to Wal-Mart. Christopher came home and then we all went back to town to visitation of Aunt Ora Lee. All of Aunt Ora Lee's many family members were there. Lauren was at the house when we got back home. Lita, Mother, & I then went to eat at Catfish Inn.

On Sunday we all went to eat at Subway and then to the funeral. Wayne showed up at the funeral. After the funeral we came back home and Christopher we back to Florence and Lita & I went over to Pat & Vaughns to eat hamburgers and hotdogs. Leslie, Mac, Isabell, Laurie, & Mrs. Owen were there also. We drove Mrs Owen home when we left.

Friday 3/12/04

Jeanette LeCroix called this morning with the news that Aunt Ora Lee had died. Lita had a confrontation with Suzanne about missing work. Lita was flustered by Friday evening because it seems Allen is not backing her up in inforcing the position that Lita is in, such as office manager. Suzanne doesn't seem to think she has to adhere to what Lita says.

Christopher called earlier today and said he had to work Saturday and that he would be home Saturday later in the day.

Theresa replied to the email that I sent her about Aunt Ora Lee and said that she prints out all the messages that Mike gets but he doesn't respond and that he is a lonely and bitter person.

Tuesday 3/9/04

We came in to work an hour early today because of the load and I worked till 6:30. It only got up to about 53 degrees and was extremly windy, which made it seem very cold at times. I had to go back on a trouble that I thought I cleared a few days ago at P96 Elkton Rd on Jimmy and Francine Wales. Francine was a Sledge before marriage and is the sister of Wayne & Milton Sledge. Jimmy is a very nice guy and told me that he calls Anna Jean Durham "rachet mouth". He said Milton is retired from the drumming business now because he has some sort of leg problem from using it to hit the big drum over the years, which is bizarre to me. He also said that Wayne & Linda don't live in the same house they used to on Shaw Rd, but in the older white house on New Cut Rd across the road and close to Coxey Church of Christ.

 

3/8/04

Today is Jeremy's birthday but he called crying and very upset because Amy lost her baby. He called from the hospital after I got home from work to tell us that he was at the hospital where they had to go in and get the dead fetus.

I took my telephone truck to McClary Tires today to get two new batteries in it. The old ones had been going bad for a while. While there, Gary Whitworth showed up to get new tires on his van. He looks terrible, as though he's eighty years old or so.

Lita went to the Doctor today and he diagnosed a sinus infection and gave her a shot.

Sarah Johnson called me today to tell me her telephone service was working fine at Dogwood Flats after all. She was very nice, as though she was a totally different woman. I believe she has at least two different personalities. I think she's really a nut.

Friday 3/5, Sat 3/6 & Sun 3/7/04

On friday Charlie followed me around most of the day again. I think that little by little he is learning a little about the 965 test set. It threatened rain all day and finally started coming down around normal quiting time. Charlie went to the work center in time to get off at 5pm and we were asked to work late. I got one more trouble close to the end of the cable route on Elkton Rd. I would have been a good one for Charlie to learn because the only trouble on the pair past the box was a hard r/s cross. I found a nice family mouse nest at EK86, yuck! I went by and got Steak Out for supper and strawberry ice cream for Lita from Fook world.

Lita got sick with a bad cold or something before the weekend and she hasn't felt good all weekend. I had to work Saturday and one of my troubles was on Mrs. Crazy, Sarah Johnson Crossfield. The only trouble I could find was on a inside wire in the dump at Dogwood Flats. She wasn't at home nor would she answer her cell phone. I disconnected the jkt and passed the trouble up, then she called me later in the day and was trying to order me back out there to go inside and fix the wire. I took great pleasure in being difficult and not doing what she requested.

Lita felt a little better by Sat evening, or good enough to go eat at the Mexican Restaurant in Jefferson St S. We mad our weekly pilgrimage to Wal-Mart and then to the house.

I was off Sunday and spent most of the day working with learning how to copy files to my CD-RW drive on RW and R disc. I think I'm getting the hang of it. What is most interesting to me is the ability to format a disc and copy to it just like copying to a folder in windows. Christopher called and sort of kicked around the idea of going to UNA during the summer for a month.

Thursday 3/4/2004

Charlie Cook followed me around for much of the day as I tried to help him to better understand our Dynatel 965 test set. Athens senior boys basketball team won today in Birmingham the semi-final game of the state playoffs. They play for the championship Saturday. The temperatur was close to 80 degrees, very hot and above normal for the first part of March. Lita started the tanning process for herself today in Ruth Jones tanning salon.

Tuesday 3/2/04

I was off today because I work Saturday. I took mother and we eat at Catfish Inn for dinner today, the we went to town to get money from our bank to put in Chritophers account. Then we went to Cracker Barrel to get Jeremy and Aimee a couple of gift cards from there, and then to Wal-mart to get them some birthday cards.  My printer/scanner came in today. It looks as if it will be great. The USB cord hasn't come in yet.

Lita and I went to see the movie "The Passion" tonight and it was incredible. As Christopher said, it makes you really think about the sacrifice by Jesus for all of mankind. I still don't understand why so many in our national media are against this movie, unless it scares them. God bless Mel Gibson to have what it takes not to bow down to the pressure from Hollywood and the liberal left and above all, praise God.

Monday 3/01/04

Today is the first day of March. It was very windy and threatening to rain all day. I worked today. I called the tech from Dell, Brian, who replaced my CD-RW drive on my computer and told him that I hadn't heard from the warehouse about my game disc. He called me back later on in the day and said they had located my drive and was going to send my game cd to Dell and that I should be hearing from them in the next day or so.

Jack gave me his third on mother's new TV today for me to send to Wayne.

Sunday 2/29/04

Lita & I traveled to Section to see Jeremy and Amy and spent the day. We rode in our car to Little River Canyon and Desoto Falls. The weather was really pretty today especially for the last day of Feb. This is leap day of the leap year by the way. On the way back we ate at Captain D's. We met Amy's uncle Elmer. He ain't quite right and is really nasty looking but seems to have a kind heart. We had a good day over all. Jeremy seems to be doing alright for the time being and seems happy with his family and work.

Saturday 2/28/2004

This is Saturday Feb 28. I was off today. Lita and I layed around the house most of the day. We ordered tickets to the movie "Passion Of The Christ" over the internet through the Fandango service. I also ordered a Dell printer/scanner conbination for about $143. We went later on in the day and looked for me some new tenny shoes to no avail and then eat at Casa Blanca mexican restaurant. Christopher called while we were in the restuarant. I waited until we got home to call him back. He went to see the Christ movie yesterday and said that he won't soon forget it.

I am going to try and edit this journal every day if I can start remembering to. Here is a little recap from earlier in the week. A dell technician came to the house and replaced the CD-RW drive in my computer but took my Rainbow Six CD by mistake that was in the drive. I have been trying to get it back ever since, no success yet. I have been trying to resolve a emergency room charge of over four hundred dollars to Decatur Gerneral from where I got a piece of metal in my eye on Dec 12 that Blue Cross so far has been declining to pay. We went to see Aunt Ora Lee in the Athens-Limestone hospital thursday night. They think she had a heart attack last friday night and Jo Ann said that they are not giving her much chance. She looks very weak and frail.

Lita and I took mother to Logans to eat for her birthday on the 24th. Christopher and Lauren met us there. Wayne wanted to get her a new TV so I went in on it with him. Jack said he would go in on it also but didn't offer any money at the time. She was very proud of her new TV.

Saturday 2/14/04

This is Saturday and I worked today. This is the 14th of Feb and of course it's Valentine's Day. Lita and I went out to eat at Ryans. While we were eating Jeremy called to tell us that he thinks Amy is pregnant.  I'm in sort of a state of shock, as is Lita. That's all we need. Not that I mind them having a baby but even the most optimistic of people have got to shake their head at two people that want another child when they can't even take care of themselves. Maybe the lord will find a way to help them make it. I really don't understand the thinking personally, but come to think of it, I usually don't.