CHRISTMAS TREE WOES.....

That December day I would have never thought a Christmas tree could cause so much trouble for me. I was in high school and it happened during our Christmas break. I was going with a girl named L.L.L. who was the daughter of a Church of Christ minister.
I was working for my father and when I arrived home she called and ask if I wanted to take her to get a Christmas tree, of course I said yes. I found a handsaw and drove to her house to pick her up and go tree hunting. Back in those days no one in our small town sold Christmas trees and I don't remember any artificial ones you could purchase. " Hey, Nick I know a place out in the country where there are plenty of cedar trees. The man who owns the farm gave me permission to select and cut a tree.
Three inches of snow covers the ground as we drive a few miles out into the country side. The old Ford is slipping and sliding all over the road but we make in to the farm. The snowy hillside is covered with cedar trees of all shapes and sizes as we depart from the car. There is a lovely tree just off the road. No, I don't like that one she says, imagine that? We begin the quest for her perfect tree. She doesn't like any of the ones I like. This tree hunting has become an ordeal for me. Finally after about an hour she selects the tree she wants on top of the hill. With my handsaw I cut the six foot cedar down and begin the climb down the hill to where I parked the car. Guess what?? as we come to that first tree I liked she stops and gives it another look. You know Nick I think you were right about that tree, that's the one I want. You can have the other tree from the top of the hill. I learned early in life that women like to change their minds.
We arrived back at her house and we begin to decorate the tree.  She is finally happy with how the tree turns out with all the globes, lights and roping and icicles. Anyone remember when we used icicles on our trees?? Later after supper her parents retired to their bedroom and we stayed in the living room watching TV while cuddled up on the couch. What happened next is when it hit the fan!!!!
After all our efforts to get the tree and the decorating we both fell asleep on her couch. Her father awakes at 5:00 am to get ready for work and finds us asleep on the couch. "GET UP AND GET GONE!!!!!!! I remember him saying in a harsh voice that didn't become a minister. It didn't take me long to get out the door. He didn't forbid his daughter from dating me but I always knew he never trusted me again. She was grounded for a few weeks and couldn't drive the family car for a while.
Dad when I got home early that morning asked, " where have you been all night ?" I tell him what happened and he says that doesn't change a thing, young man you are going to work all day with me." Man that was one long day!!

WHAT IS WORN UNDER A KILT?? SORRY Chuck???

WHAT IS WORN
UNDER THE KILT?

Just what are those children giggling about?
	April 24, 1997, Hong Kong -- Lance Corporal Lee Wotherspoon of the Black Watch (RHR) lowers the Union Jack as the wind raises his kilt at the daily lowering of the flag at Hong Kong's Cenotaph prior to the former British Colony being handed over to China on July 1, 1997. Apparently, he received romantic letters from several women and a few men around the world admiring his attributes -- reportedly he was rebuked by his commander only because his sock-tops were not level. The rule against wearing anything under the kilt was once so strict that until World War II inspections of Black Watch troops included having them step on a mirror. For officers, violating the rule cost the offender a bottle of port. Now the under-the-kilt dress is optional, but options don't come easily to men who believe in tradition – most highland kilted soldiers go “regimental”.

COACH FRED GRIDER

My high school baseball coach, Fred Grider died on Nov. 4, 2010. He died at the hospital in Saint Augustine, Florida at the age of 86. He had been the principal at the high school for many years in Florida.
Coach Grider spent his early years in the Tullahoma, Tn. School system. Coach was a Navy veteran and played professional baseball in the St. Louis Cardinal minor league chain. To say coach was an unforgettable character might be an under statement. Coach was responsible for the baseball stadium in Tullahoma. He found it for sale in Alabama and got the school system to purchase and was active in dismantling and reassembly it at the present site. The stadium, Grider Stadium, was named it his honor many years ago.
Baseball was fun with coach Grider. Coach liked to pitch batting practice. You never knew what kind of ball he might throw for you to hit. He kept a tennis ball, rubber ball and a golf ball in his back pocket. Once I had a feeling that he was going to throw one of the other balls and such enough he fired a golf ball to me and I hit a hard line drive that hit him in the knee cap. Coach went down as if he had been shot!! He never threw me a golf ball again.
I was a right handed batter and had been practicing batting from the left side all summer. At practice I set up to bat from the left side and coach said," Burton get back to your side of the plate. " "Coach let me try to hit from this side, He threw me a pitch and I hit it over the shop in right field and he said, " Burton you should have been batting that way  all along. From then on I was a switch hitter. In a game I was on second base and coach gave me the steal sign to steal third. As I slide into third I was out by a mile. Coach gave me a hard time saying he didn't give me the steal sign. I had to run 50 laps at the next practice. I didn't miss any more signs.
Tullahoma Braves was a semipro baseball team that played other teams in the middle Tennessee area and coach was the manager as well as the catcher. Coach sure could play and hit a baseball better than us young players. I played third base on his team for two years. Coach didn't like to lose.
After my high school days coach worked several different jobs during the summer. Once he was an insurance agent. I will never forget what he told me when he tried to sell me some life insurance, "son you don't have enough life insurance to bury you in a post hole!" He also tried to be a remodeling contractor and made a mess of redoing the cedar lane market. I believe he was a friend to the owner.
The first time I saw coach Grider during a class at the old THS high school where we went as sophomores from junior high. Coach was teaching a health class and on our first day he entered the room and took an eraser from the chalkboard and threw a perfect strike and hit Jimmy Matthews in the shoulder in the back of the room with dust flying in the air. " Matthews, I don't want any trouble out of you this year!!" Jimmy didn't give coach any trouble that year but harassed all the other teachers.
I have only the highest regards for coach Grider and the things in life he taught us those many years ago. He will be sadly missed by all that came in contact with him during his 86 years on this earth. REST IN PEACE COACH.

LEAVES

Mother nature's north winds
Blowing through trees
Leaves twirling, cascading
Falling to the earth
Covering the ground
Acorns falling like hail
Falling on tin roofs
Nature does her work
It's time to do mine
And gather her harvest
Looks like fall is here

WHERE IS PORTER????? PORTER WHO??????

for everyone

Years ago everyone around here knew old Porter. Porter became a celebrity in and around Winchester. People would travel near and far just to hear old Porter speak. Porter's home was huge by home standards. You didn't have to be invited to talk with Porter ; you just went inside where he lived and hunted him down to converse. Some times he was hard to find but if you followed the crowd you surely would find him holding a large audience. I never knew if Porter was a Democrat or a Repulican. He never talked politics. People around here liked that.
Time has a way of changing the order of things we are use to. Time changed Porter, no one knew just how old Porter was, he didn't show his age. It came time for Porter to leave his home of several years. The old home was beginning replaced with a new super one? Porter wouldn't be allowed to have the run of the super one like he had in the old one. Porter roamed free as a bird in the old home. Hint?? I know you are wandering who in the heck is Porter???
A new Super Wal-Mart was replacing the old one and Porter wasn't invite to go. This broke a lot of people's hearts that  had became attached to him. Heck,. I almost crIed.
Porter was a parrot that roamed the old Wal-Mart. He didn't get to move to the new store. We all wondered what ever happen to him. No one had an answer to his where abouts. People were heard asking what happen to Porter but no one had an answer.
Years later my wife and I were at a store that sell those concrete yard art items some 12 miles away. While looking at the wares we kept hearing strange voices and upon doing some investigating we found a parrot just talking up a storm. Hey, that sounds like Old Porter ...............AND IT WAS!!!!!!!!!!!!

AN ODD REQUEST?????

You never know what people are going to tell when they are together. Yesterday a very odd thing happened when one of my golfing buddies told us about his mother.
His mother had complained for years that something was wrong with one of her legs. Sure enough after years of pain the leg was finally amputated. His mother made the strangest request; When I die I don't want to be buried without my whole body. Her leg was frozen and at her death the leg was placed into her casket.

Machine Falls

Nature abounds all around us here in Franklin and Coffee County, Tennessee. Saturday we decided to go see one of the waterfalls only about 20 miles from our home. Being that close to us we have never seen this beautiful waterfalls.
Our son had seen it several weeks ago and advised us to make the trip. Is it hard to get to I asked?? Not too bad only the last couple of hundred feet is rugged. The falls is three quarters of a mile off the road through the woods and hillside landscape. A twisting path leads the way down to the falls. Yes, the last 200 feet was an adventure for both my wife and me. Natural stone steps with some 4 by 4 wood steps descended the last hundred feet to the valley below. We took our time and once we arrived at the bottom we could hear the cascading water falls. Only 100 yards to go but there was a clear stream to cross to reach the bank on the other side of the cool stream of water. My wife said this is as far as I'm going as she stood on the bank. Well I've come to far not to continue to see the fall we are so close. I'm finding a way across. Two huge tree trunks lay across the water which wasn't very deep. I made my way to the tree trunks stepping on rock that were above the water and made it to the other side and walked across the rocks above the water and as I turned the corner there it was; a beautiful sight to see. Machine Falls some 75 feet tall. A young couple were enjoying the water from the falls  and the girl was attired in a small red bikini bathing suit that made the sight that much more enjoyable. When I aimed my camera for photos and a video they hid behind the rocks.
After the photos I went back to where my wife was standing and told her you have to see the falls it's beautiful. I had a plan in my mind to place some large rocks for her to walk on to get to the fall tree trunks. With some help she made the trip across the stream and arrived to view the falls. She agreed that our trip was well worth the effort to see the falls.
Going down to the falls we only meet one man and his dog that was going back up. He replied as he sat on one of the many benches that the steps back up were a killer. He sure was right as we found out on the way back up. We could hear it thundering in the distance as a storm was on the way. Now several people were going down to the falls. A young couple with several kids, an older couple and their grandson. We even encountered a Mexican couple with three kids and two dogs. I joked to my wife that they must have crossed the border as they went on there way.
We finally arrived back at the entrance and made it back to our car as it started raining and the wind began blowing strong. Those people that were down at the falls must have got drowned as it sure came a flood.
It will take a day or two to recover but the trip was a blast. Yeah my calfs are sore???