Greg's General Store

I am having a slight case of writer’s block. I am sure I will come up with something soon but I just have to wait for the cobwebs to clear out and my brain to function again. I get like this every spring as I overdose on allergy medication. I am beginning to think that my wife is right and that there is a lot of vacant space in my head. I hate to be gross but I have been blowing my nose so much that there is no way all that stuff could be contained in nasal passages. I know my coworkers are disgusted from hearing me blow my nose but I really can’t help it. I don’t feel that bad but my nose won’t stop running. Ok it is pretty gross. It is very cloudy today but we are getting very little rain. I love the rain and how it washes all the pollen away. Seeing all that yellow stuff going down the drains makes me happy. Every spec of pollen that gets washed down the drain is one less that I have to deal with. I wonder if fish have allergies. If they do, I bet they hate the rain. I guess it coul...

This morning on my way into work, I was happy to see that my coffee store was back open. Yea!!! They were however having trouble with the new computers so it was taking a while to check out. The manager announced; “Anyone who has just coffee, can have it for free” Several people left with their free coffee. Usually that would have included me but I needed gas today so I waited patiently. Several other people stormed off angry because they didn’t want to wait. Several miles up the road, I stopped at a traffic light. In the intersection ahead there lay two large suitcases. They must have just fallen off of someone’s car. I put on my flashers, ran and got them and placed them on the side of the road in hopes that the owner would discover them missing and return. As I ran back to my car, a lady pulled into the other lane to go around my car, cursing at me as she passed. (by her hand signal she may have been telling me I was #1) I didn’t let it bother me because I not only saved the lugg...

"It's a wonderful day in the neighborhood".....but I got the blues. It's just going to be one of those days. I guess they can't all be wonderful. Maybe things will turn around for me soon. I am hoping they do anyway. I woke up with another allergy attack last night. It was right at the stroke of midnight. It took me over an hour to get back to sleep and I had to take more medicine. This caused me to wake up tired and groggy. This should tell you how sleepy I was: After I got cleaned up, I was drying my hair and realized that it wasn't wet. I forgot to wash it, so I had to start over. When I got to my coffee stop, the lights were off. They are installing a new computer today and so they were closed. I had to stop someplace else for coffee and it put me behind schedule. All the way to work, people were cutting me off and driving behind me with their high beams on. When I got to work, my ID badge wouldn't work so I had to take a long way in and now I need a n...

With summer rapidly approaching and my boys getting older, I am reminded of my own childhood and the summers I had. I remember running barefoot through the Florida woods, fishing in the Halifax River, and catching all kinds of living things to keep as pets. I loved having pets and had everything from snakes to squirrels. My mother swore I would get bit and I would have to get painful rabies shots. My fondest memories however were of the trips to Camp JOY in West Virginia. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I was raised Seventh Day Baptist. During the summer, our Church members would pitch in money and supplies so that we could go to camp. We would all load up in a big station wagon with the preacher driving and head to West Virginia. I know that there were a lot of us packed in the car but I can’t remember exactly how many. I am sure it was more than the law now allows. We would head out of Daytona early in the morning and stop for the night somewhere in North Carolina. This Chur...

I hope everyone had a great Easter Sunday. I did although I was miserable with a massive allergy attack. I somehow managed to function yesterday even though I was heavily medicated. Today is a new day and although I am still somewhat groggy from the medicine, I am feeling much better. I am going to put yesterday behind me and get started with the rest of my life. The pain I suffered yesterday was my fault. I know better than to spend so much time outside in the spring. There was so much I wanted to get done on Saturday though so I forced myself to go outside. There are tons of new allergy medications on the market. Some block histamines some deaden your senses while others just make you so groggy that you don’t care. I have tried everything on the market. Nothing seems to totally work for me. I get the most relief my just washing the pollen away. I found out by trial and error that the best thing I can do when I am being attacked is to wash my face and then sit quietly in a cool plac...

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. I woke up this morning around 2 am thinking about this. That sounds strange doesn’t it? My brain works like this sometimes. I will get something that initially seems quite trivial on my mind at the strangest times. I tried to drift back to sleep but no luck. Laying there in my half awake state, I began to put the pieces of the puzzle together and it became quite clear why this was on my mind. At first I tried to disprove it as far as it pertains to people. In the end I realized that he was right. Even when it comes to people and someone’s actions, this theory is rock solid. It may not seem obvious but it never less is. So what does this have to do with today?. I apply this theory to my day to day life. You see, I am slow to say what is on my mind or to do something that may offend others. Before I do or say anything, I think about it and imagine what the possible consequences are of what I am about to do. Thank God our min...

I think my batteries are in need of a good charge. I have been working weekends now since mid February and I can tell it is taking its toll on me. I woke up this morning wondering what day it was. At first I thought it was Wednesday but then I changed my mind and thought it was Friday. After waking up a little, I realized that Friday is “Good Friday” so I knew it must be Thursday. If this sounds confusing, don’t feel like the Lone Ranger. I am confused as well. I really do feel drained and need some quality rest time. I do have to work on Good Friday but I am supposed to have Saturday and Sunday off. My plans are to do a little garden work on Saturday and take the entire day off on Sunday. I will get everything ready for out Easter meal ready on Saturday so that all I have to do is pop it in the grill before church and we can eat when we get home. Sounds like a great plan to me now let’s see if I can stick to it. I use the grill like an oven because it keeps the heat out of our house. ...

Since today is my wife’s birthday, I thought I would write about her. I really am amazed she is still alive today. Over the years, I have tried to kill her numerous times and she has done some miraculous things but somehow she managed to survive. None if it was ever intentional but things just happen. I am going to plead insanity though and blame it on getting hit in the head by the cast net weights. Those were the weights from the same cast net I bought her. Hmmmmm I wonder if that was intentional. She did however make a comment last night after reading my blog that; she liked the cast net and was only picking. She also wanted me to say thank you for all the birthday wishes. She is much tougher than I am. This “accident” happened before we were even married. She swears it wasn’t an accident. I accidently pulled her water skiing across an oyster bar. She fell onto the oysters and they cut her up badly. I never saw anyone bleed like that before. She never even went to a doctor though be...

Achoooooo I am under attack this morning. I spent most of the day on Sunday out in the yard and because of that I am suffering today. My allergies have flared up and I am miserable. The battle had already begun when I first got out of bed. My glands were swollen, my throat was scratchy, my eyes are puffy and burning and the inside of my ears itched. In fact my entire body is itchy. I don’t have bad allergies I have terrible allergies. I really don’t know anyone that has it as bad as I do. Let me tell you how bad they are. To soothe my scratchy throat, I will eat potato chips and not chew them up all the way. That way when I swallow, they scrape their way down my throat and give me a little relief. I usually wash my face and eyes about every 15 minutes to try to relieve the burning. I pour alcohol into my ears to try to relieve some of that pain but it too is only temporary. This is the time of year when I start thinking about matches and how much pain I could inflict on a forest with ...

Can anyone identify these black mountains? Actually they are man made. They are in South Carolina but came from Kentucky. They were moved by train. Give up? Ok it is a huge mountain of coal. It will be used to make electricity for your home. Here is where the process takes place. Notice the clean air above the plant. The air isn't that clear above the paper mill just down the river. Everyone complains about the power plant but no one complains about the paper mill. Everyone needs power more than they need paper. People just like to complain. Home invaders: We put up these gourds as homes for the purple martins but these starlings took over the apartment. People go to great lengths to get rid of the starlings but try to encourage the purple martins. People are just plain Prejudice when it comes to birds. And other things. Speaking of home invaders, power and dark things….. As yet another politician comes under the gun for his bad decisions; I have to wonder if it is power that cor...

Does anyone know who made that statement? In my earliest days of working the least I made was one dollar an hour. I can't imagine working for a dollar a day. That wouldn't work these days since I use up about ten dollars a day on gas. Dis you know that most of our gas comes from Canada. Just a little something I found on the web. It's big meeting day today. That means we sit around and talk about all the things we did over the past two weeks and lose another day in the process. I don't mind though, I get paid the same if I sit in a meeting or really work. As I was leaving work yesterday, I saw one person checking his watch and two others yelled out: "leaving early today?" One of these days I will wait by the gate in the morning and yell"getting to work late these days?" You see I start my day 30 minutes early so I leave 30 minutes early. It all works out. I am working on my new Real Estate Blog so check it out later this week. The shortcut is on the ...

Not a Geiko comercial. Yes, its clock changing time again. I know what the original purpose for the time change was but I think it is "time" to leave it in one place and forget it. There was so much hype this year about making sure that your clocks were changed properly that "even a cave man could do it." Did I mention that my MIL forgot to set hers. :) This morning I woke up at 4:00 on the button. I thought man, my alarm will go off in 15 minutes so I'm going to just lay here and relax. Then I thought: "hmmmm I have everything ready for work so why not set my clock back 15 minutes and maybe I can get another half hour of sleep". Setting my clock is easy, so easy a cave man could do it. Sorry I did it again. Anyway I reached over in the dark to hit the set button but hit the wrong one and my alarm began going off. My alarm clock is really smart. It has a mind of it's own. This morning "it" decided it was time for me to get up. Once the a...

Last week, I stumbled onto a blog with the heading "Monday Miracle". (I can't seem to find it now either) After reading about several of them I posted some comments and said that I would post today about a miracle that happened to us about 10 years ago. Life itself is a miracle but this concerned something that happened to our son Sean. When I said I would post about this on THIS particular Monday, I didn't even realize at the time that today is Sean's birthday. Talk about a timely post, he turned 11 today. Like I said, life itself is a miracle and we see miracles all around us but sometimes things happen that make us just stop and think. Sean has always been a wonder and he is defiantly responsible for many of the grey hairs I have today. He is the kindest most considerate child I know but he has a way of getting into trouble that would make a saint want to curse. Also one of the reasons he gets into trouble is because he is very smart. He is able to figure thing...

I see why I have been getting headaches lately. I am cursed with really bad allergies. Mostly I am allergic to tree pollen. Now you see why I set the tree on fire when I was a child. I am miserable this time every year but I will try to keep smiling and maintain my positive attitude even though there is a war going on inside my sinuses. I know it is only a temporary thing so soon enough it will be over. No this picture isn't inside my nose although it will be looking like this soon. This is a puddle at work after the rain we had this morning. Time for some Benedryl. "Yellow Gold" It's not really gold. It is only valuable to my doctor. :) Happy Friday, Greg

No, it's not another game. It is how my brain is functioning this morning. :)It seems to be jumping from one subject to the next like a little honey bee. Great meeting: We had a great meeting last night at our real estate office. For those that didn’t know it, my wife and I are both real estate agents. It is another one of our many talents. We work for “Carolina Real Estate Connection” in case anyone wants to buy or sell homes or property in the Charleston area. We are only an email away. My email is listed on my blog. Also you can visit our site at: www.mlsincharleston.com I had nothing great to report at the meeting though only because everything is going so well for me now that nothing stands out. This is a good thing. Now don’t quit coming to my blog just because I said I am an agent. For some reason that tends to scare people away. We don't bite, really. Well some do but my wife and I don't. We need change! That seems to be the focus of this year’s presidential campa...

You probably never heard of me before this blog but I made some interesting discoveries myself. As a child, I was always curious about things and this curiosity led me to many interesting discoveries. They weren’t earth shattering like finding America or discovering gravity but they were never less discoveries. Did you know that tweezers fit perfectly into an electrical outlet? Even at my young age, I noticed the similarities and performed an experiment to prove my theory. They fit in easily enough and aside from some burnt fingers, a damaged outlet, melted tweezers and a blown fuse, I would have to say the experiment was a success. Did you know that those vines that Tarzan used to swing from are really ropes? I didn’t believe it myself so I climbed a really big oak tree and found a nice solid grape vine that looked sturdy enough. After chopping it off, I tugged on it a little before giving it a try. It held up quite nicely as I was going down but after I hit the bottom of the arc and ...

As I mentioned before, my favorite channel on TV is The Weather Channel. My second favorite however is Discovery. Some of the shows on there are so interesting and they explain a lot of things that I have always had questions about. Last week they had a show about mummies and it was fascinating. They uncovered Christian mummies in Egypt. This contradicts Christian belief so they believe that this was a transition time for Christians in this area. A few days ago, there was a show on Discovery about wooly mammoths. They say scientists recently discovered an entire baby mammoth frozen in ice. The episode told about a cave way up north where they keep all these frozen artifacts and examine them. It literally is an ice cave where all the frozen specimens are kept. They have found many pieces of mammoths but this one was whole.After analyzing the baby mammoth, they went on to tell how they think it died and how old it was and all kinds of interesting facts. Next the topic shifted to genetics...

It’s been said that Money is the root of all evil but I have to disagree. Some people say that the love of money is the root of all evil but again I disagree. Money and love are not evil. I believe that evil lies in people and it is only evident through their display of money and/or their lack of love and compassion. I know a lot of poor people that are evil and some wealthy people that are blessed. Some people are just jealous of anything that others have. It starts when we are children. If you put two children in a room with only one toy, I bet a fight will break out. If babies could talk you would hear the words; ”you have” and “I want.” Most of us grow out of it or learn to share and love but there are those that never learn those lessons. It upsets me to see people that take from others just because they can. When I have to lock things up so that they “don’t walk off” I feel violated. I am working today and you wouldn’t believe how jealous people around here are of me. I really d...