Category Archives: Day to Day

Time To Go

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Tomorrow begins a new year at work. I’ve had to rush through so much being by myself with occasional help (no slight to the boss, he has been excellent.)

I think it’s time to slow down. It’s going to require me to work a few more hours but doing these jobs we’re being paid to do, it isn’t right to rush and possibly short any customer.

So, time to downshift. Pump the brakes. Do the job because that’s what I’m paid for.

Yeah.

Off to church this morning, and afterward, we did our shopping and errands and went and got haircuts. We came back home to chores that we’re left sitting on New Years Day.

The tree had to come down, and Mags and Sam took care of that. She’s going easy on me due to my back.

Fans of boxes but not big empty moving ones for Christmas trees.

While all that is happening and the clothes are drying with the kids done with their part of the chores, our Sunday afternoon is resting and watching a little something.

Today’s choice was The Replacements with Keanu Reeves and Gene Hackman. Excellent football movie! While I’m not a sports fan in the least, I love football moviesβ€”especially comedies. This is where I get those little bits if football knowledge that shock and impress the wife every once in a while.

This one has a little bit if everything. Laughs, drama, sports stuff. It checks a lot of boxes for both of us, and it’s an excellent way to spend a couple of hours.

Pain heals. Chicks dig scars. Glory… lasts forever.

S. Falco

Off to bed soon and so…

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

1/2 OF LAURENCE LEMPRIERE PRINCE

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Sitting near the front of Old St. David’s Church in Cheraw, S.C. is this headstone.

One half? You ask yourself what happened here. Was there a terrible accident involving a train? An auto accident? Maybe a farming accident? No. Sometimes the truth is just better. I received this bit today from Sarah Spruill with Visit Cheraw.

β€œSomeone sent me your link re Laurence Prince. He grew up in Cheraw, but his mother was from Virginia. He was cremated and half of his ashes were buried in his father’s family plot and half in Virginia with his mother’s family. He would enjoy that this has gotten on the internet. Old St. David’s is a very beautiful church and cemetery. The oldest graves date back to the Revolutionary War, and the first Confederate Monument (c. 1867) ever erected is located here.”

I am pleased that Mr. Prince would have gotten a kick out of my having placed a piece about him here. It’s a shame to have never met him.

Thank you, Sarah.

This is a repost of a piece from my old blog Searching The South. Which I may or may not have an itch to start up again.

Maybe it’s time to wander.

A good wander heals the soul.

The Skipper

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Still Thinking

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I may have just had a bad night and morning.

I’m prone to a little depression at times as most folks are. I enjoy writing here, and I guess I’m just experiencing a little post-Christmas Blues. Not that I’m big on Christmas or anything.

So what’s up with me tonight? I’m sitting here reading about Karen getting arrested by the FBI in a story from the Daily Wire. (I hope that link is big enough.)

This is where we’ve come to, folks. We have driven a wedge right down the middle. Hundreds of millions of us want to live our lives, and the rest of you don’t. And you’re dead set on dragging us to hell with you.

Control is the name of the game, but some of you aren’t playing with a full deck. We (well some of us) figured this out at the beginning.

I don’t deny that Covid exists; I have friends who have had it. I know of people who have died from it. Some of them are within our community. But they also had a lot of other health problems.

I’m not vaccinated. I’m not a β€œvax denier.” I’m seeing people who are fully vaccinated, and boosted ending up in the hospitalβ€”some dying. Otherwise healthy athletes around the world dropping dead from heart attacks, fully vaccinated.

Two years ago this was conspiracy theory.

And that why I’m not. The risk either way is about the same. You can like it or not; it doesn’t change my reality, not one bit.

I’ve been out in this thing the whole fifteen days, working in a retail setting.

That was 653-ish days ago.

Have I been sick? A little. A sniffle here, a cough there. Sinusitis is usually my big problem, especially this time of the year. With the temps being up and down my head is like a barometer.

Do I get concerned when I feel I’ll? Of course, I do. Especially with how big covid got. But then I remember, don’t believe the hype. (Yeah, a country boy with a Public Enemy reference.)

Both of the kids had the flu a week ago. I haven’t heard of or seen a flu case, except for a friend in the Peoples Republik of Kalifornia who has other health issues he had been dealing with at the time in two years. The flu has been eliminated from the planet, or so you would think.

People will get sick, and people are, sadly, going to die. These are things that can’t be avoided. I’m not unfeeling towards these facts, but you cannot live in fear.

Some people are going to have to give up control of others. It will be giving up that control and not Covid that kills them.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Last Night

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The weather was so nice and the sky so clear that I wouldn’t have thought it was Christmas night. Ive spent much colder Christmases far away from home. So warmth, both physically and emotionally, are welcome.

Knives sharpened. Car gassed upβ€”time for a four-day workweek. I’m off Friday so that I can keep the kids at home and we can goof off. Its always nice to spend what little time they deem appropriate with me. 😏

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Closed For The Evening

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I want to wish you a Merry Christmas. I’m spending time with family and enjoying some gifts.

I hope you can do the same. Either way I wish you peace and happiness for ever how long you can hold onto it. I’m hoping this finds you happy and healthy. If not I’m always open to add another to a prayer list.

Merry Christmas.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Owning Your Mistakes and the Zen of Car Maintenance

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One of my favorite songs that I save for when I need it is You’re Only Human (Second Wind).

I’ve always been a fan of Billy Joel’s music. Never been to one of his concerts, but we did a lot of his music in high school chorus, and it was the 80s after all.

There’s one line in it that sticks with me till this day:

You’re not the only one who’s made mistakes but there the only thing that you can truly call your own.

B. Joel

There’s a lot of truth in that line.

A man can do most anything and fail or make a mistake. As long as he acknowledges those mistakes, he can come back from them. It’s part of being a man.

Today at work at one of my stores, an employee scraped my car.

Another employee who has become a very good friend of mine over the past seven years saw it happen. He said something to the guy but the guy never came to me about it.

It somethings that I can fix myself. An hours with of work and most if that is paint drying.

It will be okay.

I handled it.

From bouldertire.com:

It Can Cause a Blowout or Accident

As mentioned above, your risk for a tire blowout increases significantly with extra PSI. Maintaining control of your vehicle is near impossible during a tire blowout and endangers yourself and other drivers, in addition to the fact that many of your vehicle’s assisted safety functions such as ABS will struggle to function properly without the tires being filled to the factory recommendations.

They’re Easier To Get Damaged from Road Debris

Also, having overinflated tires makes them more susceptible to damage from road hazards such as potholes, cracks, curbs, and other junk in the road. The tire is more stiff and rigid than normal so they can’t flex around obstacles as they usually would.

Overinflated Tires Wear Out Your Tires Faster & Unevenly

Uneven tire wear can also be the result of overinflation. When your tires have too much air it causes the center of the tread to bow out and wear first. Because of this you will need new tires more often and have a less than comfortable ride.

Now I wouldn’t do something as harsh as slashing someone’s tires. That would be childish and petty. Also, tires are expensive.

When I was getting ready to leave for my next store, his back tires looked over inflated, and that can be dangerous. Just as bad as a slack tire.

So I took the valve stems out of the back tires to reduce the pressure. Because I’m a nice guy like that.

Car maintenance is important.

Lessons are learned not only from how you drive your car but also in how you maintain it.

That’s my PSA for today.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Back At It

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I had a three day weekend. No I have a three day week. The hours are scheduled weirdly, but the Boss said don’t worry about the schedule, so I won’t. We’re just looking for done on a short week.

At least there’s no question about Saturday. We’re even recognizing Christmas Friday.

So another three-day weekend.

I just gotta stay sharp the rest of the week.

Three days, each day split out into just under eight hours. Possibly less. I’m good.

Today was the boys birthday. He turned twelve.

The years fly by, and one day you look over, and they aren’t babies anymore.

Still, a birthday is cause for celebration. And we did. Cake, presents, family time.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Lost

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No. Not that LOST. Then I’d have to explain things to the wife and I’d be in a lot of trouble.

I went out shopping today by my lonesome. I had several things left to pick up for the wife’s Christmas and a few things for the kids.

The kids both have the flu and the wife stayed home with them. The original plan was a day out on Monday for Sam’s birthday and he had planned to head to his favorite place in the world, Joe’s Classic Video Games. So I headed downtown to pick up some things I know he’ll enjoy.

And then I took a wrong turn.

I ended up in a run down part of town. Somewhere I’d never seen before. It was surprising to see the change from gentrified downtown to this. It really shows you where the money is spent and where it isn’t. It’s sad.

Some people can buy it and don’t care. Others can’t afford it and put care into what they have. A little paint here, a live plant there, shows love for where one lives.

The bought side is perfection all the way. But not somewhere I’d rather be.

Back in the world of shiny plastic and traffic, I grabbed some lunch, finished up my shopping, and headed out of the city. I’m a country boy at heart. I was born and raised there, and the cities aren’t for meβ€”even the small ones. I wouldn’t say I like town that much.

I took a turn off the main road and headed down a back road I used to run a lot when I drove a Coke truck.

And then I took a wrong turn.

Except this time it was just a long, winding country road that I’d never needed to go down before, just like I didn’t need to go down it today.

I had no signal, and my map wasn’t working on the phone, but how bad could it be. All roads lead somewhere, and they either connect to another or end. The worst-case scenario was I’d have to turn around.

I was listening to a political podcast and thinking about our country and the way it is right now.

We’ve lost the signal, our map isn’t working.

The best–case scenario is that we have to turn around.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

Blue Shoe Box

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I am from a small community in South Carolina.

For a long time, my world was no bigger than two counties. Kershaw and Lancaster. My dad’s family is from the former, and my mom’s family is from the latter.

I spent a lot of time with my moms dad and mom. My Mamaw and Papaw Criminger. They farmed. Most every thing they ate came straight from the field to the table or from some animal they raised.

I remember slaughtering and salting a hog. I remember shucking corn and shelling peas. I remember eating cucumbers straight from the field for a snack and my Papaw having a tiny salt shaker in the front pocket of his overalls for the cucumber.

I remember collecting eggs from his chickens. And I remember his old plow mule, Smoky. Smoky loved bubble gum.

So many memories.

One of my contacts on Twitter posted this tonight:

And I instantly had an overwhelming memory of their house, of the sound and the smell of the old wood heater going in the living room, of the scent of Mamaw’s cooking.

And what my Mamaw and Papaw gave us every single year for Christmas.

A blue shoebox wrapped up all nice. And in that shoebox was an orange, a candy cane, and a five-dollar bill.

That doesn’t seem like much nowadays. It was probably a lot from them. They didn’t have a lot of material things.

But they gave me their world.

I don’t realize how much I have now going back to then. I don’t realize how ungrateful I would probably seem to them in my mindset at times. I have a whole other world that they never saw. A world that would be silly to them.

They gave me simplicity and an appreciation for simple things. I need to remember that more often. They gave me cucumbers, the dirt, friendship with an old mule, and a couple of dogs. And a place to become something from.

And a blue shoe box every Christmas.

That’s it. That’s the post.

Seegars

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