Greg's General Store

Well before I get into the living hell that is also known as black Friday, let me start with my Thankful Thursday from last week. I have been so busy with the holidays and family issues that I haven’t had time to visit many of your blogs so I am not even sure if Sonya did a Thankful Thursday but I am going to chime in with one myself anyway. I started out my Thanksgiving with the Turkey Day 5K Run in downtown Charleston. I am happy with my time which was around 30 minutes. I don’t know what the exact time was though because they only had a timer at the finish line. For some of us it took about two minutes to get to the starting line so my time of 32 minutes is a little off. There were over 4 thousand people running this race and I finished around 2200. I am thankful that at my age I can still run three miles at around a 10 minute mile. I will do better next year. On the way to the race I had more animals run out in front of me. This time it was 5 wild turkeys. I was thinking: Um guys...

1. Are you sticking to traditional Thanksgiving foods this year, or are you being culinarily adventurous? Strictly traditional in our house. This is no time to experiment. It’s all about eating more than you can stand. 2. Tell me something concrete that you're thankful for. (Something you can literally touch, see, etc., not a concept like "hope.") Yes I am thankful for the concrete where are cars are parked. If it weren’t for that, my shoes would be all muddy right now. 3. You knew the flip side was coming: Share about something intangible that you're thankful for. Peace of mind knowing that I do unto others even when they sometimes don’t deserve it. 4. Share one vivid Thanksgiving memory. It doesn't have to be deep or meaningful, just something that remains etched in your memory. One thanksgiving my father and my uncle came home with a fresh turkey. It was huge and they said they got a deal on it at the store so they couldn’t pass it up. While we were eating a...

Well the trip was going well for about the first hour anyway. Other than passing two deer, one bunny, two coyote and one drunk things were going pretty well. It was about 430 am, really foggy and I got to a really dangerous road. It is the stretch of 17 south that goes between Jacksonboro and Yemassee SC. For anyone who doesn't know about these two places, Yemassee is where the African village is and Jacksonboro is where the white trash village is. I'm just saying and no the African reference wasn't a racest comment. Look it up. It really is an African village. Anywhoo. As I said, this is a very dangerous stretch of road. So dangerous that the governor (when he was here) posted the speed limit at 50 mph. More people have died on that one stretch of road than anywhere else in the state and I couldn't count the animals that have died there. So I am going along with the cruise control set at 50 mph which I think was still fast considering the conditions. Well this little s...

Hey everyone. I am writing from down in Florida but I will be returning to South Carolina very soon. I know this is called the sunshine state but it has been cloudy and rainng since I got here. I have lots to write about but I will wait until I get on my own computer. Mom is doing just fine physically but she sure is complaining a lot. I am having a good trip other than that. Talk to you all soon, Have a great day, Greg

Some people accuse me of just being lucky but I have a feeling that a lot of my luck comes from Devine intervention. I do think that God is watching over me and for that I am thankful. This morning, Mr. T (Our Cat) decided he wanted to go outside at 4:10. He always goes outside sometime early in the morning and usually it’s my wife that lets him out since he is her cat. Somehow Mr. T learned to shake the mini blinds with his paw to wake us if he wants to go out so that is how he woke me up this morning. But because I only had 20 minutes left to sleep anyway, I decided to get up early and let him out myself. 1. The first thing I am thankful for is the extra 20 minutes I had. I devoted part of that to quiet time just to sit, reflect and be thankful. It was nice to have the extra time to start my day out silently. I will explain why I needed this in a few moments. 2. I left for work 10 minutes early this morning and on my way in I passed a little church. The sign outside said: We need to ...

It's week number 12 for the Random Dozen so without further ado.... 1. If you could master one sport, what would it be? I guess that would be running. I was a pretty fast runner when I was young and I did a little distance running after I hit 40 but I was never fast for any great distance. My best time for a half marathon was 1 hour and 45 minutes and I think that will end up being my life’s best run. 2. When you make a major purchase, do you go with your gut instinct, or do you do research to make an informed decision? That depends on what I am buying. For the most part though I am an impulsive buyer. That is why I hate those displays by the checkout counter. Hmmm do I need a Snuggie today? Perhaps the Slap Chop is what I am looking for? 3. There is an old kids' game that says you can find out what your movie star name would be by using your middle name as your first name and the name of the street you grew up on as your last. What is your movie star name? That would be Martin...

For the last few I have been raising money here at work for The Good Neighbor Fund. It is an organization that gives out Christmas baskets to needy families during the holidays. They usually give out the necessities like food and sometimes help with other financial necessities like power or water bills. But along with those necessities for life, there are love necessities. Can you imagine being a child on Christmas morning and finding a bare tree with nothing under it for you? As bad as we had it growing up, we did get presents every Christmas. And since Christmas is all about giving, the Good Neighbor Fund sends presents for the children along with the food baskets. That's where we come in. Our company does a toy drive every year to collect new toys to go along with the food baskets. I have found that it is easier to get people to donate a little cash than a present. (even with these tough times) So every year I put on food sales here at work to raise money for toys. This year we ...

The past few weeks have been cloudy here and I am not just talking about the rain. But the last few days we have had rain and lots of it. As my wife’s grandmother used to say; It’s water in the well. And since we do have a “well” that is something to be thankful for in itself. Oh by the way, we had no flood damage as the storm went past us even though I heard reports of several feet of water in the streets of downtown Charleston. (which by the way is in a lower flood danger zone) I’m just saying. 1. So the first thing I am thankful for is the girl at our insurance company. She could have been like the lady at Allstate and said; “4000 dollars, take it or leave it” but instead she did her job and got us a better rate. We are in “better hands” now. 2. I would again like to say that I am thankful for our service men and women who are protecting us at this very moment. I am truly thankful for each and every one of them. I pray that God protects them. 3. I am thankful for an outstanding s...

1. What was the last song you listened to? “Sooner or later love is gonna get ya” Oh now it’s “Give me some lovin.” I got to hurry and finish this question. Ok I had to come back and add to this list because I know how much Lid loves this song: “Your eyes have a mist from the smoke from a distant fire.” That one’s for you Linda. 2. Have you ever had “buyer’s remorse” over anything? I once bought a Chrysler New Yorker that was loaded. It was silver on the outside with blue leather seats. The dash was wood grained and it talked to you when something was wrong. This was before everyone else went to talking cars. The next day after buying the car, it didn’t start. After two days of troubleshooting the mechanics found out that the starter wasn’t fully plugged in. (two days to figure that out) Everything on that car quit working from time to time and there were times when we would be driving it that it would all of a sudden say; A door is ajar. I wanted to shoot that car. It left my wife str...

As you may have noticed I haven’t blogged in almost a week. It has been a bad few days for me. Just when I get one trouble behind me something else comes up and smacks me in the back of the head and knocks me down again. I thought I had all my troubles behind me but that isn’t the case. I really needed a break so this past weekend we decided to take a day off and go fishing. About a mile from the boat landing, my boat died and we had to row back to the landing. I decided to go ahead and finish the work on my cars and one thing after another fought me as I worked. I had problems with tools, parts and even sand gnats. If you aren’t from this area and have never experienced sand gnats they are more than aggravating. They are enough to make the pope curse. And the worst thing about them is they have this knack for attacking you when you are working hard or trying to concentrate. Needless to say they ate me up and I said a few choice words. The local name for them is flying teeth becaus...

It’s Thursday again and truly another Thankful Thursday. I again have so much to be thankful for. 1. For starters, it’s my oldest son’s birthday. He turned 18 today and I am simply happy that he is alive. When he was born he was very ill. For the first three weeks of his life he stayed in the neonatal unit at MUSC. (Medical University of South Carolina). A few minutes after he was born, he quit breathing and was taken by Helicopter to MUSC in downtown Charleston. My wife was in the original hospital over in Mount Pleasant SC recovering from her C section. I had to leave her and drive to MUSC where I nervously waited for any news. It was several hours before I got any news at all. I spent that first night of his life praying in the waiting room. They had him in a drug induced coma with an oxygen tube in his lungs supplying him enough oxygen. My wife hadn’t even seen him yet and didn’t until the next day. It was the longest night of my life. I am so thankful that God protected him. 2...

Ok it's actually another episode of Random Dozen sponsored by Linda at 2nd cup of Coffee. Won't you join us. 1. Its early morning, about 2:00AM, and you're driving home. You come to a red light and sit there. There is no one in sight for miles around. Do you wait it out or run the light? Let’s change the question a little. Let’s say it is yesterday at 6 AM, there are lots of people around me and the light doesn’t change. I gave it two minutes and I ran it. Should I turn myself in? 2. If you had the chance to re-do the last 24 hours, would you change anything? My underwear but that goes without saying. I wouldn’t wear the same ones two days in a row. You know the whole getting into an accident thing. Especially when you run red lights. Other than that, No. 3. When you reply to someone's comment on your blog, do you reply in your comments or go to her blog and comment? (Or email her) I do the last two mostly but sometimes I do follow up comments. First time visitors alway...

Well I finally got that half tooth out of my mouth. It has been broken off for a long time now and I finally went in and had it removed. What a relief to have that old thing gone. It was essentially dead but because of my fear of dentists I kept putting off having it pulled out. I like this dentists though because he doesn't try to push you into crowning everything. He tells you the options and lets you decide what to do. The last dentist I went to wasn't like that. When I went to see this dentist he even told me that the odds of a cap surviving on this tooth was unlikely. I explained my fear of dentists though and he gave me a little pill to take before I got to his office. Did that ever work. I staggered into his office around 3:30 last night and he got me right in the chair. After two quick shots and a few minute wait he returned to remove the tooth. He offered to give me gas but I told him I was already in la-la land and didn't need it. I love la-la land. haha So the nu...

Guess who? Yes that's yours truly dressed as Uncle Fester. I bit the bullet and had my head shaved on Friday just for the occasion. The weather forecast was calling for 85 degrees and since I had already made my robe out of fleece that bald wig was totally out of the question. I couldn't get it to look good anyway. I think about a hundred people took my photo and some said I looked just like the original Uncle Fester. I think I looked pretty good if I do say so myself. "Thing" was really popular with the older kids but the younger ones were afraid to grab any candy. I Had the hand rigged where it would pop up when you opened the box and it kind of shook for a few seconds after that. This is me and #1 Son. He was a hippie and his pants were designed by his friends Erin and CeCe. The scary part is I used to actually dress like that back in the day. Even the dogs got into the act but obviously this one was "chicken." haha And speaking of chickens does anyone...