Greg's General Store

I will be taking a very short break from blogging. I have some business to attend to. I will return on Monday and tell you all about it. I should have some great pictures (hopefully) for you too. I hope everyone has a great week. I look forward to catching up on all your blogs on Monday. Take care, Greg PS don't forget about me. :)

I had a really good weekend. I started a little early on Friday by taking off an hour early. That always makes for a nice weekend. I was able to get everything ready for the Farmers Market so there was no rushing around at the last minute to get things going. The weather was just about perfect on Saturday and the Market was packed. I can’t seem to get a picture once the people get there though because when they do, we get busy. Mid morning, my daughter and her family dripped in from out of town. We were able to visit briefly in the morning and then had a longer visit in the afternoon after we left the Market. This is how the Market looked and also how our display was set up. We managed to talk my daughter into staying the night which was great because we got a chance to talk some more. Even though we talk via email and on the phone, it is always nicer to talk in person. My grand kids wore me out though so I woke up a little tired this morning. I think they get their energy by taking it...

I wish I could have zoomed in closer on this bottle brush because up close it really looked spectacular. I am so happy to report that from about 6 feet away, I could hear the buzzing of bees. I expected to see bumble bees since honey bees are very scarce these days but it wasn't. Yes we have honey bees again. Yea. There must have been several hundred on just this one bush. Welcome back bees. Here is a little closer shot but I don't think you can see the bees. I love frogs. This green frog watches over our ivy vine and keeps other critters out of the garden. Have a wonderful green day, Greg

I cut this hydrangea way back, in the fall of last year. Now it is full again and looks better than ever. Last year it was wild and gangly looking with some long and some short branches. Since I cut it back, it has gotten full and has a new greener color to it. Sometimes you have to cut back to go forward. I am also cutting back a number of other things in my life. I already mentioned that I cut way back on any medications I was taking. I still take a low dose aspirin a day but that is about all. I do take supplements like fish oil, flax seed oil, pomegranate and my goji berries. I am feeling better every day and something amazing has happened. My night vision has gotten better. I now drive most of the way to work without my glasses which is something I just couldn’t imagine doing a month ago. And speaking of driving to work, I am cutting back on my speed. I have dropped my driving speed 5 MPH. I do pick the pace back up if traffic starts to back up but in general, I have slowed down. ...

I am a patient man. I try not to let little things upset me but sometimes they get the best of me. Take yesterday for example. I am interested in getting my son’s phone added to my family plan. He wants to keep the same phone number because he uses it in his plant business and has business cards and signs made with that number on it. So I called my cell phone company with only one question. The conversation went like this: Me: Hi, my name is Greg. I want to add my son to our family plan……(she cut me off) Her: What is the primary phone number on the account? I gave her the number and waited while she looked up the account. Her: Yes you can add a phone on that account. Me: I knew that. My question is can he keep the same number. He already has a phone with another company. Her: You will have to speak with “new accounts”. They can look up the number and see if it is transferable. Me: That sounds great, can you connect me? Her: Yes sir. Is there anything else I can do for you today?...

In the first picture, there are the following shells: Oyster, coquina, Anger wing, Razor, clam, cockle and scallop. There are also three crab shells. One is from a Sargasso crab and the other two are from spider crabs. The second picture is of a Horseshoe crab. Horseshoe crabs have 10 eyes. They have one main pair on the front of their head like we do but have 4 other pairs on their body. They are used a lot for vision research because of this. This is the body of a sea urchin. After they die and dry out, this is all that is left. They are a cousin to the starfish and there is a small star on the bottom of the shell. The last “creature” is my son. He thinks he is a sand crab so he buries himself in the sand. Thanks for visiting. Maybe next time I can make it a contest and give away a prize. I am going to start participating in Project Green. I will be posting a green picture every day if possible. With all my gardening going on, this should be easy but I bet it is harder than I think. ...

Sunday at the last moment, we decided to take a ride out to our favorite beach. It is on a small island just south of Seabrook Island. It consists of 250 acres of sand with some vegitation. It is a place where many shore birds nest as well as Loggerhead turtles. Because of this, you have to stay near the water and walking in the dunes is prohibited. My wife and oldest son picked up trash, while my youngest son played in the sand. I spent some time rinsing out the boat since it was dirty from not being used all winter. We always spend part of our trip to this island picking up trash. It is amazing how much stuff washes up on a beach like this. Later on, I did some beach combing and found some intereting items. Can you tell what kind of shells these are? The waters around this island are home to many animals including this horseshoe crab. This one got stranded on the beach and died which is very common. You would think they could tell the water was leaving them since they have so many ey...

Angie reminded me with a picture she posted of a visit I made to Antigua. I visited there when I was in the Navy. I only had one day off on the island after being at sea for over two months. My day turned out to be Sunday and if you have ever been to the Islands, you know that many of them almost shutdown on Sundays. That morning, following breakfast, we had a Sunday Service onboard the Submarine and then I headed out to explore the island. Antigua is pretty small but there is a lot to see and do. As I said though it was Sunday and most of the shops and markets were closed. I did some sightseeing but then returned to the submarine for lunch. This was actually my second visit to this island though so I pretty much had seen most of it. As afternoon approached, we began asking around if there were any night spots where we might see some entertainment. All of the taxi drivers told us the same thing: “You must go to Shirley Heights on Sunday.” So that is what we decided to do. About 10 of ...

Is anyone else fed up? What is wrong with people these days? Parents killing their children, Children killing parents, Children killing children, why all the killing? Has it always been like this or is it getting worse? I sometimes think that we may just hear about it more now because of the media but then I think back to my childhood and realize that it wasn’t this bad back then. Perhaps it is that there are just more people, or maybe it is the media itself causing all this killing. I just don’t know. Why do people think that killing is the answer? I just watched a news clip and this child was showing no remorse at all when talking about how he stabbed someone to death. He looked normal. The other morning I caught a short piece of a hunting show. This guy was hunting deer and got so excited when he killed a big one. I used to hunt just for food and really never liked the idea of killing anything. This person was shouting and carrying on like he won a prize or something. Then he ran ...

The weather in Charleston this weekend was just about perfect. My son and I spent saturday at the Charleston Farmers Market. There were lots of people there and more food than you could eat in a lifetime. We were right next to a lady selling Raw milk. She was giving out free samples to anyone that wanted to try it. You should have seen the looks on some of the faces. I have had Whole Raw Milk before so I didn't try it but I may the next time we are there. She sold out of all she had. There were fruits and veggies galore there but I didn't have a chance to go and buy any. What drove me crazy all day was the smell of the Greek food that was drifting our way. I can eat some Greek food now. The pickle lady was there too and she makes the best pickles I have ever had. I got some free samples and plan on buying her out next time. I was a little dissapointed that we couldn't hear the band from our booth but I guess that may have been a blessing in disguise. I am sure it would have...

I got this from a dear friend named Cora. Her blog is called Maydens Voyage . She is the reason that I know that all of you out there are real. We actually met when she came to town and we spent some time together with our families. Here is the deal. it is a challenge to write a short story using only 6 words. I am not that good at moving around and copying and all that so let me just give you the basics. Legend has it that it was a challenge originally given to one of my farorite authors; Ernest Hemingway. For his challenge he wrote: "Baby shoes for sale, never worn" Those 6 words tell a story. I wish I could write like that. But even though I am no match for him, I am going to give it a try. Oh you can include a picture too if you like so I am going to do that. If you want to know more about the challenge, check out her blog by clicking here . So here goes: Where am I.................... Welcome home child . That's it. You will have to figure it out for yourselves. Oh a...

I tried to sleep on my back last night (as the doctor suggested) but that didn’t work with all this sinus drainage I have going on. I am ok when I am sitting up or propped up but laying flat on my back is defiantly the wrong thing to do. This will just have to wait until after allergy season. I woke up at 11 pm last night after only an hour and a half sleep, and needed to sit up so I went to the couch to try and sleep. I was drifting off when our cat; “Mr. T” decided to hop on the couch and much to his surprise there was a body there. He kept making noises until finally at 1:30 I decided to go back to bed and try sleeping again but this time on my side. All was well and I drifted back off to sleep but then at 3 am, Mr. T decided it was too quiet in the house so he made his usual sign signifying that he wanted to go out. What he does is go over to the mini blinds and rattle them with his paw until someone gets up and lets him out. My wife did the honors but it woke me again and it took ...

It’s hard to believe isn’t it? I had to draw the line somewhere though so I said No. I mean a man has to have something to look forward to and what could be better than a nice hot Reuben sandwich. Think about it. Hot pastrami, cheese, sauerkraut, special sauce, all piled high between two slices of toasted rye bread and served with a generous pile of ruffled potato chips and a slice of a deli pickle. That is heaven on a plate if you ask me. But alas I am banned from having my prized Reuben for at least a little while, I decided to put them into my diet as an incentive for reaching a goal. I will use them as prizes when I lose weight and get my blood pressure down. By the way, I did drop my blood pressure 30 points just by watching what I was eating and stopping the allergy medication. So here is how my plan works: This will be kind of like those school sales that they send home with your kids. For those that don’t have kids, you are really missing out on a lot of “fun” so let me fill yo...

Sorry this is a day late but I didn’t get on my computer all day yesterday. One other thing that I am supposed to be working on is my stress level. I have always had too much stress in my life but I am trying to correct this problem. I am not making too many changes in this area but I am not letting myself get stressed over things I have no control over. I had a really good Sunday. I am happy to report that the medications or lack of medications are working. I was able to play in my gardens most of the day with only minimal allergy irritation. Some people view working with plants as work but for me it is total relaxation. It is a way for me to unwind, clear my mind and relieve stress. I also feel like I am doing something positive when I grow plants. Coincidently our sermon this week was about relieving stress. Our lives have gotten so hectic that we are under stress all week. Living for the weekend has gotten to mean working all week so that we can do home projects on the weekend. ...

My checkup didn’t go well last night. My blood pressure is out the roof. I was forced to take some drastic measures. I have too much blood pressure, too much weight and too many medications. There really are only three steps that I have to take. 1. Diet 2. Exercise 3. Quit taking everything. The first two are bad enough but the third is what is killing me right now. When he said everything, he meant everything. That included my allergy medication and my coffee. I have to give my body several days to clean out and then I can slowly add things back in if they are something that I can’t live without. I know I can expect a caffeine-withdrawal headache in a few hours but so far so good. The doctor told me to take fish oil tablets. According to him, they may help with the allergies. I have been taking allergy medication for over thirty years now so I was expecting to wake up stuffed and congested. I hate to say it but I actually feel pretty good right now. If I only had ...

Good morning everyone. Thank you so much for your thoughts, well wishes and prayers for my daughter. She made it through the surgery nicely and was attempting to rest last night. She was in a lot of pain but on a lot of meds too and they seemed to be working. I had to cut our conversation short because she was falling asleep. Again thank you all for your thinking of us. Have a Blessed day, Greg

My daughter, Jessica is having gall bladder surgery this morning. Please keep her in your prayers. Bless you, Greg

WARNING..THIS POST MAY BE OFFENISVE TO SOME PEOPLE. READ AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!!! I have always been a Math and Science person. The reason is simple. In math and science everything is black and white. There is no grey areas like there are in English. Ok I did that on purpose. I know it should have been there aint no grey areas. (just kidding) I believe that everything is either: right or wrong, correct or incorrect. Not that I am a judge or anything like that but I believe in following the rules. In the areas of math and science there are rules for anything and everything in the world must follow these rules to exist. One rule builds on another and that one supports the first one and everyone is happy. If A=B and B=C, then A=C; So simple and yet so true. E=MC² Now who can argue with that. If you have ever tried to give a cat a bath, you know that “all cats hate water.” Well except for those Turkish Van cats. Now wait just a minute. What happened to black and white? Ok so m...