Greg's General Store

Did you ever have one of those light bulb moments? When all of the little independent thoughts finally align and out of it comes a common theme or idea. Such a moment occurred for me this morning as I busily got ready for work. Ironically this came at a opportune moment and fell in line with what I planned on posting today. I will tell you more about the idea that came to me at the end of this post so let me get right to my story for the day. We had a boat when I was growing up. It was a 21ft “Classic” with a 115hp Mercruiser engine. It sat beside the house under the chinaberry tree because there wasn’t room in our garage with all of Dad’s “treasures” in there. Because of this, it usually took a day of cleaning to get it ready to use. We only used it a few times a year and more time was spent cleaning and repairing it than fishing in it. If you are a boat owner, you know that the worst thing you can do to a boat is not use it. Ours was no exception. It was prone to breaking down. When ...

Do you ever wonder what is up around the bend? Do you ever sit and ponder what lies ahead in your life? I do. Sometimes I wish I knew what tomorrow will bring but then after I give it some thought I realize that it is best not to know. I mean it could be something bad and I would hate to waste today thinking about something bad that was going to happen tomorrow. I think most people would agree. This is especially true since it is such a nice day today. Instead we live our lives for today and wait for that “tomorrow train” to arrive. But like any train ride, we have to be ready for it. Tomorrow will be here soon enough and if we are not ready then it might just pass us by. Also we want to make sure the train we are waiting for is the right one. “Wrong station” The other day, I was driving home after a day’s work, taking an alternate route through a bad part of town and I stopped at a stoplight. Ahead I saw a young woman walking my way. She was smiling and waving at all the cars passing ...

Well we made it through another weekend. To tell the truth is was a great one despite the weather. Lots of good things happened. Here they are: We voted. We got DSL. We went to dinner and had a nice meal. We got some work done around the house. I finished repairs on my boat and the test run went great. We had a great service in Church. I fixed home made chicken soup. The family is all happy and healthy. I am sure there is lots more but I don't want to bore you. I have a great post for Tuesday. It will be funny but also contain a hidden meaning. Don't you just hate that? Happy Monday, Greg Wait hold the phone, I almost forgot. I got a raise this morning after only being here 4 months. ( I was going to say yea me but instead I will say Thank you God. )

I love my coffee. There is nothing like starting the day with a nice hot cup of coffee. Sunday coffee is especially nice though. On Sunday mornings I can sit quietly and enjoy my coffee without all the distractions of the world around me. I can slowly sip it and savor every precious moment. It's just me and my coffee. I have loved coffee for as long as I can remember. My Grandmother Lottie first let me taste it. Her real name was Carlotta but everyone called her Lottie. I called her Grandma Lottie. She would sit in her tiny kitchen, reading the paper every morning and sip her coffee. She drank it strong and black. She would only make one cup though because she believed in moderation. On weekends, I would drop by and visit her. She would offer me breakfast but I usually declined because I knew she didn't have much and I didn't want to take what little she had. On mornings that I said yes though, she would make a small batch of pancakes for me. She would make them from scratc...

Breaking news: South Carolina is under attack. We survived the first surge of attackers but a second wave is now upon us. No it’s not a foreign country with weapons of mass destruction. This is something more deadly and underhanded. Yes I am talking about politicians and special interest groups. They are invading our homes and lives with a barrage of advertising in hopes of swaying our vote. Fortunatly, in a few days the Democrats will back off just as the Republicans did but be ready. There will be a third round. The first problem I have with all these ads is the way they say them. “The American people want……” or “We want…….”. They presume that because a group got together with a common interest, all Americans feel the same way. Bad assumption! “We” often don’t agree with their opinion. In many cases “they” are a minority but want you to believe that joining their cause makes you part of a majority so you should jump on the wagon or be left out in the cold. Think for yourselves peo...

We are having a heat wave today. The weather man said is was 48 this morning when I got up. I tried to watch the news but it was full of bad news and I wanted to start my day out on a positive note so I switched back to the weather channel. Not to dwell on the bad news, but what makes an actor so special that they take top billing over other things that happen in the world. Not to take anything away from them but they are a human being just like the rest of us. I am sure thousands of people died yesterday. Any accidental death is tragic in my book. It's funny how 48 feels so nice after a few days in the 20's. We got more rain this morning too so we are above normal on Wadmalaw Island. No drought here. I really love the rain. It is so cleansing. And speaking of cleansing, I finished book #1. Yea me. Ok I know I am a slow reader. I enjoyed Genesis although there was a lot of violence and adult content. On to Exodus. Sorry no fishing today. You know you can't fish in the rain....

As I slip and slide on my trail to having a better body, I decided to take a look at where I have been and where I am going. Up until I was a junior in high school, I was short and plump or “husky” as my mother used to say. No sense sugar coating it. I was fat. Then sometime during that year, I began growing taller and before I knew it, I was almost 6 ft tall and hadn’t gained an ounce. I was also in great shape and was finally satisfied with my body and knew this was where I would stay for the rest of my life. Yea right! Now fast forward to the present day. I Have since grown a half inch taller and put on a few pounds. Ok maybe a few more than a few. I am now overweight again. I have tried everything in the book to lose weight too. Most things work to some degree but it all comes down to will power. The basic answer to my or anyone’s weight problem is simple. ”Eat less”. I can use whatever excuses I want but eating more got me where I am today so eating less is what will get me bac...

That's right. It's official. No doubt about it. It's cold. Really cold. Being From Florida, anything less than freezing is cold but this is really cold. The thermometer said 23 this morning. This was verified when I went out to the greenhouse and the wet grass crunched below my feet. I had to light the heater in the greenhouse this morning because I knew the kids would be sleeping in and the fire would go out completely. The kids have the day off. It is MLK day. We have to work here at this company as many people do. I hope UPS is working. I am expecting a package. I am posting about willpower tomorrow so please tune it. See you then. Have a great day, Greg

Last night, I took my son to Kim's Japanese steak house. We both love it but my wife and youngest son don't care for it so the two of us went alone. The problem with going there with only one or two people is that you get seated with people you don't know. This could be good or bad though but you are really at the mercy of the hostess. We didn't do very well last night. We were seated between a seemingly nice couple and a family of 5 including three small children. When we first arrived, the small child beside me was crying and I almost asked for another table. We decided to ride it out though. He finally calmed down after his parents counted to three about a dozen times. Once he sat back down, I noticed he was sniffling and he began sneezing so I am sure I will get sick. About two thirds of the way through dinner the nice man beside my son began coughing and sneezing too. It seems that he was allergic to shrimp and he was having an attack since his steak was cooked on ...

Sorry I missed posting yesterday, but I had a lot going on at work. I did however start it and this is what I wrote: "Fishing with my Father" We ate a lot of fish when we were growing up and one reason was because my dad loved to fish and was good at it. On weekend mornings when the tide, wind and temperature were right you could expect him to head out to his secret spot and bring home enough fish for two or three meals. We had fish cooked every way imaginable but we fried it most of the time. As far back as I can remember, I would beg to go with him because I loved to fish and also because this secret spot was so good. His spot was in the intercoastal waterway just north of Ormond Beach Florida, only a couple of miles from home and on the edge of Tomoka State Park. Dad had a key to get into the park because he was the Fire Chief for the town and he needed access to get in if there was ever a fire. After unlocking the gate, we would drive in and park as close to the river a...

I know this is long but I assure you, you will learn a lot if you stay with me. People are usually divided into two groups, Cat people or Dog people. We are Cat people. We have had a few dogs through the years but have always come back to cats. Even when we did own dogs we had cats and the dogs knew who was boss. There are big differences between these two animals so it stands to reason that most people like one or the other. Dog people like to say that dogs are faithful because they usually are attracted to one person the most. It is said that they are “man’s” best friend but most of the time they are “one man’s” best friend. They will be friendly and faithful to one or maybe two people but everyone else beware. A dog may be faithful to his or her master but will often turn on other people without warning. To me this isn’t being “friendly”, its taking sides . I think Cats are neat and in my opinion, man’s best friend. There I said it, “Cats are man’s best friend”. Cats are straight fo...

If I were to look back at last week, I would have to rate it as a 10. But since I am no longer looking back, I can't do that. Ok I will digress for just a moment. Last week was outstanding. Everything I touched, seemed to turn to gold. I couldn't begin to list all the positive things that happened to me so you will just have to trust me that it was a wonderful week. I owe it all to the changes I have made in my life. First off, I am eating right. No I am not dieting, I am just eating properly and because of that, I am loosing weight. I am taking my vitamins regularly too and that is helping. I am getting more sleep so I am wide awake when I get to work. Now that I am getting more sleep, I am cutting back on my caffeinated coffee some more in hopes of getting down to a safe level. Ok I did have that Starbucks on Saturday but I felt I deserved a little treat. I am not letting work get to me and I was actually able to walk away from a situation that needed attention on Friday. Thi...

No it's not the weather report but it if was, it would be a really good report. It has been mild the past few days and we got a little rain as well. It is sprinkling this morning and around 60 degrees. I can handle that. We had a great Saturday. Because of the warm weather, we decided to till up the ground a little in preparation for a veggie garden. Once we get the ground ready, we will go ahead and plant green onions, lettuce and strawberries. We are going to try to go all natural this year. To hear more about our all natural gardening, please visit my son's blog: "Wadmalaw Gardens". I am sure he will be making a post and also including more photo's once he gets up. :) It's 6:30 on Sunday and he is still in bed. Can you believe that? We got some free fertilizer yesterday as well: "Hey I want some of the credit for the fertilizer" And the fine tuning of the garden was done by Lucy and Ethel: "I can see they are going to be a problem." Afte...

TGIF, That's Thank GOD it is Friday. He brought us through another week. Faith is a difficult thing for me. It is hard to have faith sometimes with all that happens in our lives. Faith also means different things to different people. To me it means not having to worry. It’s letting things run their course and trusting that in the end they will work out for the better. It means that even thought I don’t see what’s ahead, I know in my heart that there is a plan and that I trust that there is a good plan for me. You need to have a lot of faith when driving in the fog or rain. You need to trust that the person in front of you will have their lights on and keep moving so that you don’t run into them. That is hard to do sometimes and I struggle with it. That is why when I am driving in the rain or fog I am a nervous wreck. It doesn’t help that one or my aunts was killed in an accident in the pouring rain. I always think about that when I am driving in the rain. I guess this would be f...

I have decided to label Thursday as "Thinking Thursday". I will try to come up with some thought provoking subject to make you think a little and get your brains working again. Some of you work yours daily but others don't :). It seems the more I sink myself into deep thought, the more I see clearly if that makes any sense. The C I mentioned in the header is Caucus so this post is actually titled, To Caucus or not to Caucus. Several nights ago, there was a local talk segment focused on the caucus'. After discussing the outcome of a particular caucus, the discussion turned to the purpose of the caucus and what to do next. This "expert" said that the purpose was to show the American people who the most likely candidate to win was thereby allowing us to make an intelligent decision and not waste our vote. In his opinion, voting for a long shot was wasting out vote and we should vote for one of the front runners if we wanted. Well I don't agree. I plan on vo...

I haven't decided on a theme for Wednesday yet but I am giving it some thought. I will take inputs if anyone would like to make some suggestions. My big report is due this morning and it isn't close to being ready. This is no fault of my own as I did have it ready a week ago. Let me explain. I had this big schedule all ready to go and then the boss decided to switch dates on me. That means that all 500 of the records needed to be changed. If that wasn't bad enough my boss decided to make other changes too, which were not easy to do. I didn't have enough time to make all the changes so they get what they deserve. Now I do have a helper but he does more talking than helping. In the words of Foghorn: "His mouth reminds me of a motor boat. All the time talking. It just keeps going putt putt putt putt putt putt putt..... That thing never stops" He actually slows me down. :) I hope to be back this afternoon after the big meeting. Have a great day, Greg

I think I am going to devote Tuesday to silly things. I will call it "Looney Tunes Tuesday." I am going to try to put some structure into my blog and this will be the first day with a theme. It stands to reason that I start out with Looney Tunes Tuesday because my DW thinks I am off my rocker for blogging and my kids always wonder about my sanity. Favorite cartoon: My favorite character is Foghorn Leghorn. I often quote lines from his cartoons and use them in real life. "I say, I say son, I'm not a chicken. That's a chicken." (pointing to the sleeping dog with a fake comb on his head) I guess the reason I like him is that he tends to be so sarcastic and I am the same way. I also love his southern accent which I can relate to. I consider myself southern even though I don't have an accent. Anyway, it amuses my sons when I imitate him so I keep doing it. "one of these days I'm gonna smack that boy." The Weather Channel is wrong: They were wron...

I am not sure what is going on but it is taking longer and longer for this blog to load. I really don't know much about the mechanics of blogs though so I dont' know what could be wrong. Is there such a thing as a blog virus? If so, what can be done to protect against it. I can open up my other blogs or everyone elses blog just fine but this one takes a long time. Any help would be greatly appreciated. The cold is gone now for at least this week. Yesterday was great after that cold spell we had last week so we took advantage and went fishing. It was nice and warm (about 70) when we launched the boat and it ran great. We had only a little bait but we managed to catch several including 3 really nice sheepshead. The biggest was about 5 lbs. So last night we had fresh fish for supper. I cooked up sone shrimp too. I love fresh seafood. Have a great day, Greg

I slept in this morning. I didn't get up until 530. Wow did that feel great. After stoking the fire in the house, I headed out to the greenhouse and got that one going again. It was about out but thanks to some fat lighter and a match, it was soon roaring and heating things up. Looks like the plants made it through another cold snap. Now it's time to get more wood ready and reorganize before the cold hits again. After getting the fires going, I settled into my chair with a hot cup of coffee to watch my favorite channel, The Weather Channel. They were running a short segment this morning about Rock Climbing. It takes a lot of physical and mental ability to be a rock climber. More than that, it takes a lot of determination, dedication and guts. This segment was filmed at Yosemenie National Park at a particular rock face that is 3000 ft tall. My guess it is a very popular climbing spot as they showed a number of people on it at this particular time. This is something that I have n...

My father never gave me "that" talk. He avoided all that personal stuff like the plague. I don't remember him ever hugging me or even saying I love you, I am proud of you, or anything on a personal level. He never showed emotion unless it was anger. I don't count his happy moods when he had had a few too many. When I was around 16 though he did give me what he considered good advice and at the time, being of that age, it kind of made sense. He told me "Never sleep with a woman unless you could see yourself married to her". Of course he wasn't talking about actually sleeping he was talking about "it". He couldn't even say that word. As a young boy of 16 it sounded pretty good but now that I am older and a father (ok and a grandfather too), I realize it was very bad advice. I mean what he said is true if you don't read into it. He meant to say that you may end up getting a girl pregnant if you have sex with her so she better be someone yo...

Thats "Text" for I am cold. Ok who unplugged the heater? So is this Global Warming? This is way too cold for the south. It was 35 when I got up at 4:15 and now it has dropped to 32. The weather man is calling for it to drop another few degrees this morning before starting to warm up. Fortunately we built a nice fire in the stove and another in the greenhouse stove so I woke up to a warm house and a pretty warm greenhouse. (55 deg) I ran out with my robe on and stoked the fire and got it heating back up. I did the same in the house and after a hot shower and a nice cup of coffee, I felt pretty good. I hope my son appreciates me keeping that fire going and saving all the plants. We still have a lot blooming at "Wadmalaw Gardens". (his web site) Drop by and say hi to him if you have time. Have a wonderful day, Greg

Welcome 2008. I slept late this morning, the sun is almost up and I am still not dressed. I am enjoying my coffee and doing some blog reading though so I am not totally wasting my day. :) Before I get to today's announcement, let me tell you about last night. We got some fireworks and set them off in the front yard. My boys love them and they are legal in this state so not to worry. It was the last day of hunting season so the hunters were out in force. It was way past sundown and the hunters were looking for their dogs across from our house with loaded guns and whiskey on their breath. I think we might have disrupted their last chance to shoot a deer in the dark but then that is illegal anyway so I am not upset. When the first aerial bomb went off, trucks came screaming down the road toward us as the other hunters came to see what they got. OOPs sorry. Ok here it is. After struggling with my 2008 resolution, it finally hit me. In my work, I write procedures to perform maintenance....