In a fit of total insanity I left the Real Estate business in 1998,Sold my 15 acres of paradise took all my equity, and with the help of a $60000.00 Commission check, went up to the Ozarks in Southern Mo right on the Arkansas line, and bought a Dairy Farm.
I had been raising cattle in Florida since the early eighties, and had amassed a herd of around one hundred ole Florida brush cows. And four registered Romognolas,and a couple bulls.
Romanogla’s are a breed from Italy known for their double muscle, temperature tolerance and gentleness. My thoughts were to use the purebred bulls to improve my calves to the point where I had a superior herd.
My wife Margie (an animal lover --especially the babies)was all enthused about the move and so with the help of a semi, and two gooseneck cattle trailers we made the move.
It didn’t take too long to discover that we weren’t in Florida anymore, land of year round green grass, as we started having to buy hay at $30.00 a round bale ,two a day. Cash flow constantly running one way is a problem, so since we had a really nice Dairy barn, We thought; why not put it to work and purchase some milk cows, and that will be the answer to all our problems. Out with one problem in with thirty more LOL.
We decided that we wanted Jerseys, because of their high butterfat milk and their sweet dispositions. After a farm sale auction where we bought eight head, I went to a large Jersey farm cattle auction in Arkansas and bought fifty two more. So we ended up with Sixty head of Jerseys and we were in the milking business.
I took a course at Texas A&M on Artificial Insemination of beef cattle and we were on our way. At one time my Wife had twenty three baby calves all on bottles in the calf barn, she loved that part. Our cattle loved Country music and we had the music playing in the milk house during milking every day.. While in Darby Fl. Every Month we had a dance at the fairgrounds and my wife and youngest daughter Holly became quite the line dancers. So wouldn’t you know it with the cattle swaying to Brooks and Dunn the milking machines making their own music and the vacuum pump roaring in the background, I looked up from putting the milkers on a cow and there she was Dancing in the milk house.
Monday, May 26, 2008
My Little Sister and the Tin Car
When I was four years old :my Mom had my little sister. I guess she was about a year old when I ran over her with my bicycle.My parents couldn't understand why I would do such a thing, and my excuse that I just wanted to see how much of a bump she would be didn't fly. Oh well,No permanent damage that you would notice.Anyway she grew up to be a typical little sister, always the favorite, got away with everything, and was really good at laying on the poor poor me to my Mom and Dad .Then one day the Gods smiled.
I can remember it as if it were yesterday.I had been down along the creek, running like an indian, exploring, pretending I was looking for settlers in a wagon train, when I saw the corner of it over behind a rock where it had apparently floated.
It was a tin car about eight inches long and four inches wide,and just so cool a find.I proudly picked it up wiped some of the dirt off of it and headed home to show my Mom this great toy I had found all by myself.
My Mom was at the back of the house when I got up there, with of course my little sister hanging on to her dress .My Mom was suitably impressed with my find,and I was beaming when all of a sudden my little sister looked up and started screaming,gimmi that, gimmi that, My Mom told me to give her my new found toy and as I handed it over, a spider that was at least three inches across ran out of the insides of the toy car and went right up my little sisters arm, onto her neck.I can still hear the total screams of terror,the jumping, the clawing and more screaming, and I smile. Come to think of it I believe she is still afraid of spiders.
I can remember it as if it were yesterday.I had been down along the creek, running like an indian, exploring, pretending I was looking for settlers in a wagon train, when I saw the corner of it over behind a rock where it had apparently floated.
It was a tin car about eight inches long and four inches wide,and just so cool a find.I proudly picked it up wiped some of the dirt off of it and headed home to show my Mom this great toy I had found all by myself.
My Mom was at the back of the house when I got up there, with of course my little sister hanging on to her dress .My Mom was suitably impressed with my find,and I was beaming when all of a sudden my little sister looked up and started screaming,gimmi that, gimmi that, My Mom told me to give her my new found toy and as I handed it over, a spider that was at least three inches across ran out of the insides of the toy car and went right up my little sisters arm, onto her neck.I can still hear the total screams of terror,the jumping, the clawing and more screaming, and I smile. Come to think of it I believe she is still afraid of spiders.
Dead Skunk In The Middle Of The Road
It had to have been in the 1950's when my confusion really started.
You see our family was a very close family where my aunts and uncles,cousins,grandparents would all get together on a regular basis. In the summertime these get together if at my uncle Russ's involve home made ice cream, and if at our house you could count on watermelon. My Dads side of the family consisted of Grandpa and grandma ,one uncle, and three aunts. We farmed with my uncle in partnerships, one aunt lived in Massachusetts, one about one hundred miles away and the other in the neighboring town where her husband owned a lumber company. My dad always liked to take everyone down into the river bottoms to show the crops to everyone, so he bought an old retired school bus, took most of the seats out so he could haul fuel in the back, but left a few rows of seats for out crop tours . Usually on a Sunday afternoon, after Sunday Dinner and Watermelon we would climb into the old Reo School bus and go for a tour of the crops.
We went to church one Sunday morning in August, close to my birthday, had a couple watermelons in the old milk cooler, and company coming for dinner. We got home from church, and my aunt and uncle from town came out my uncle Russ, and Grandpa and Grandma and all my cousins all over for fried chicken and Watermelon. That afternoon before everyone went home my Dad brought the old school bus around we all climbed in and went down into the river bottom to look at how well the crops looked. On the way back I was sitting next to my Dad and as we were almost to our house my dad saw the cause of a faint odor we had been putting up with all day, a dead skunk laying next to the road. My Dad told me that when we got home I should come back and get rid of it.
I had watched my dad on numerous occasion get rid of things like that, so I just followed in his footsteps. Sometime in the past I had been with my Dad in the old Reo School bus on a fuel run down into the bottoms and there would be road kill of one persuasion or another ,and my Dad would take a piece of baling twine, make a loop and loop it around the dead critters foot. He would then tie the baling twine on the back bumper of the old Reo School bus and when we got down to the fields in the bottoms, after about six miles of gravel road, the critter would mysteriously be gone.
I went over to the barn and got a piece of baling twine, by that time it was getting dark, I made my way to where the stinking skunk was and looped a loop around one of its legs. The school bus was sitting in the barnyard no that won't work.
That night my Dad got a call from my uncle thanking him for the present, It seems that when I tied it to the back bumper of their car, it turned out to be a pretty tough ole skunk, cause it was still there when they pulled into their garage
You see our family was a very close family where my aunts and uncles,cousins,grandparents would all get together on a regular basis. In the summertime these get together if at my uncle Russ's involve home made ice cream, and if at our house you could count on watermelon. My Dads side of the family consisted of Grandpa and grandma ,one uncle, and three aunts. We farmed with my uncle in partnerships, one aunt lived in Massachusetts, one about one hundred miles away and the other in the neighboring town where her husband owned a lumber company. My dad always liked to take everyone down into the river bottoms to show the crops to everyone, so he bought an old retired school bus, took most of the seats out so he could haul fuel in the back, but left a few rows of seats for out crop tours . Usually on a Sunday afternoon, after Sunday Dinner and Watermelon we would climb into the old Reo School bus and go for a tour of the crops.
We went to church one Sunday morning in August, close to my birthday, had a couple watermelons in the old milk cooler, and company coming for dinner. We got home from church, and my aunt and uncle from town came out my uncle Russ, and Grandpa and Grandma and all my cousins all over for fried chicken and Watermelon. That afternoon before everyone went home my Dad brought the old school bus around we all climbed in and went down into the river bottom to look at how well the crops looked. On the way back I was sitting next to my Dad and as we were almost to our house my dad saw the cause of a faint odor we had been putting up with all day, a dead skunk laying next to the road. My Dad told me that when we got home I should come back and get rid of it.
I had watched my dad on numerous occasion get rid of things like that, so I just followed in his footsteps. Sometime in the past I had been with my Dad in the old Reo School bus on a fuel run down into the bottoms and there would be road kill of one persuasion or another ,and my Dad would take a piece of baling twine, make a loop and loop it around the dead critters foot. He would then tie the baling twine on the back bumper of the old Reo School bus and when we got down to the fields in the bottoms, after about six miles of gravel road, the critter would mysteriously be gone.
I went over to the barn and got a piece of baling twine, by that time it was getting dark, I made my way to where the stinking skunk was and looped a loop around one of its legs. The school bus was sitting in the barnyard no that won't work.
That night my Dad got a call from my uncle thanking him for the present, It seems that when I tied it to the back bumper of their car, it turned out to be a pretty tough ole skunk, cause it was still there when they pulled into their garage
Happy
Happy
Current mood: happy
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
My Dictionary defines happy as good fortune, and well being. Of course my dictionary is the same one I had in college, copyrighted 1967 and although the world has changed ,has happy changed?
It seems everyone from Paris to Britney is unhappy ,what's up with that? Isn't happy good fortune, wouldn't you say they both have plenty of that? How about well being,----well ---being---either would just thrill the heck out of most teenagers or young people in general. I do know a couple of things and one of them is. You cannot depend on someone else to make you happy. The only person you can depend on and should depend on in this life to make you happy is yourself. It cannot be done in any other way than from your soul.
I know every day isn't going to be a skippity do dah day but If you wake up and think to yourself that this day is going to be a bad one, it will be. Instead if you start every morning off with a purpose of doing one thing ,new every day to bring happiness to yourself, then maybe you can break the destructive mode we can find ourselves in. Laws of attraction teach us that if we dwell on unhappiness that is what we attract and If we dwell on happiness that is what we will attract. I read the definition of happy that I think is much more in tune with today It said "happy is when your mind is filled with pleasant thoughts most of the time." So everyone controls their own happiness, Its all in how you think, That determines who you are
.A beautiful friend in N FtMyers gave me inspiration and actually a blueprint for this story I want to thank her for being who she is.
Current mood: happy
Category: Goals, Plans, Hopes
My Dictionary defines happy as good fortune, and well being. Of course my dictionary is the same one I had in college, copyrighted 1967 and although the world has changed ,has happy changed?
It seems everyone from Paris to Britney is unhappy ,what's up with that? Isn't happy good fortune, wouldn't you say they both have plenty of that? How about well being,----well ---being---either would just thrill the heck out of most teenagers or young people in general. I do know a couple of things and one of them is. You cannot depend on someone else to make you happy. The only person you can depend on and should depend on in this life to make you happy is yourself. It cannot be done in any other way than from your soul.
I know every day isn't going to be a skippity do dah day but If you wake up and think to yourself that this day is going to be a bad one, it will be. Instead if you start every morning off with a purpose of doing one thing ,new every day to bring happiness to yourself, then maybe you can break the destructive mode we can find ourselves in. Laws of attraction teach us that if we dwell on unhappiness that is what we attract and If we dwell on happiness that is what we will attract. I read the definition of happy that I think is much more in tune with today It said "happy is when your mind is filled with pleasant thoughts most of the time." So everyone controls their own happiness, Its all in how you think, That determines who you are
.A beautiful friend in N FtMyers gave me inspiration and actually a blueprint for this story I want to thank her for being who she is.
The Light in the Window
The Light In The Window
When I was in my twenties, I owned a one hundred acre farm. I had three small girls, A wife I loved very much and life was good. I had a full time job working in a factory and farmed on the side.The house was a nice ranch style with a full basement, and a family room with a fireplace on the back of the house overlooking a two and one half acre lake. Our fields rose gently from the pond into rolling acres.
I was disking the fields one late afternoon and as the sun started setting, and darkness began creeping on me, The lights in the house came on .I instantly realized that those lights represented everything good in my life. Although It was in the fall and the darkness also brought icy cold. The warmth security and love that surrounded me, were brought to consciousness with the burning of some simple light bulbs. Because I knew that in that house with the lights on, were the family, I loved and who loved me.
I am now at A point in my life where children are all off and married. Building lives of their own. So many things have changed,. Farms sold, loved ones have died, And love that you hoped to replace love lost, leave you for no good reason.I hope to find love and happiness again,I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to see that light in the windows .Will I ever see it again?Yes I think I will, And I am Looking foreward to it.
When I was in my twenties, I owned a one hundred acre farm. I had three small girls, A wife I loved very much and life was good. I had a full time job working in a factory and farmed on the side.The house was a nice ranch style with a full basement, and a family room with a fireplace on the back of the house overlooking a two and one half acre lake. Our fields rose gently from the pond into rolling acres.
I was disking the fields one late afternoon and as the sun started setting, and darkness began creeping on me, The lights in the house came on .I instantly realized that those lights represented everything good in my life. Although It was in the fall and the darkness also brought icy cold. The warmth security and love that surrounded me, were brought to consciousness with the burning of some simple light bulbs. Because I knew that in that house with the lights on, were the family, I loved and who loved me.
I am now at A point in my life where children are all off and married. Building lives of their own. So many things have changed,. Farms sold, loved ones have died, And love that you hoped to replace love lost, leave you for no good reason.I hope to find love and happiness again,I am so blessed to have had the opportunity to see that light in the windows .Will I ever see it again?Yes I think I will, And I am Looking foreward to it.
The Scent of a Woman
The Scent of a Woman By David Shriver
A few years back there was a movie by that title staring Al Pacino. I went to the movie and was sorely disappointed because I felt the script didn’t live up to the title. The writers had missed the point in a big way,of such a powerful title.
Wait --let me explain you’ve got to get where I’m coming from here.
Let me start where this is going to all connect.
You ever see the movie Ghost with Patrick Swazie and Demmi Moore?
OK then This will Make sense to you.
I met my wife The day of her High School graduation. After I had just gotten out of the Marine Corps and home from Viet nam. It was love at first sight and we were married Seven months later. We were madly in love and had Farmed ,worked together hand in hand, arm in arm, for ten years, working for our future together. Three months after we moved to Fort Myers She Was Diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and given Three months to live. My Wife passed away with Cancer when she was thirty one years old.
I was left with Three little girls and a memory.
In Ghost The feelings portrayed were so true and heart felt. To want more than anything in the world To touch her, to hold her, to kiss her, just one more time and it would be worth any price .
When I walked back into the house after the funeral, and walked into her closet, I could smell her on her clothes and I slid down the wall and wept,clinging to them.
When I met someone else the most difficult thing for me was the fact that she just didn’t smell right. She didn’t have that scent of comfort for me.Time has passed and New sights and new smells replace the old.
It has been over 23 years Ironic as it sounds but last Christmas when I gave my Youngest daughter a hug, It was like I was hit by a train. It was there, The same scent I had lost all those years ago, the unique smell of her mother. The same Scent of a women.
A few years back there was a movie by that title staring Al Pacino. I went to the movie and was sorely disappointed because I felt the script didn’t live up to the title. The writers had missed the point in a big way,of such a powerful title.
Wait --let me explain you’ve got to get where I’m coming from here.
Let me start where this is going to all connect.
You ever see the movie Ghost with Patrick Swazie and Demmi Moore?
OK then This will Make sense to you.
I met my wife The day of her High School graduation. After I had just gotten out of the Marine Corps and home from Viet nam. It was love at first sight and we were married Seven months later. We were madly in love and had Farmed ,worked together hand in hand, arm in arm, for ten years, working for our future together. Three months after we moved to Fort Myers She Was Diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor and given Three months to live. My Wife passed away with Cancer when she was thirty one years old.
I was left with Three little girls and a memory.
In Ghost The feelings portrayed were so true and heart felt. To want more than anything in the world To touch her, to hold her, to kiss her, just one more time and it would be worth any price .
When I walked back into the house after the funeral, and walked into her closet, I could smell her on her clothes and I slid down the wall and wept,clinging to them.
When I met someone else the most difficult thing for me was the fact that she just didn’t smell right. She didn’t have that scent of comfort for me.Time has passed and New sights and new smells replace the old.
It has been over 23 years Ironic as it sounds but last Christmas when I gave my Youngest daughter a hug, It was like I was hit by a train. It was there, The same scent I had lost all those years ago, the unique smell of her mother. The same Scent of a women.
Rainy Wednesday
I ride my Harley almost every day. With gas prices what they are, and the economy what it remains to be ,I figure I would have run out of money to drive to work a month ago If I had kept driving the “Taco wagon“. Oh the Taco wagon is this customized van of 1990 vintage that has a thirty gallon fuel tank. Driving it to work cost a minimum of One hundred dollars a week ,while the Harley sips about ten bucks.
With the summer rapidly approaching and just a few spring breakers still partying it up at Junkaroos on the beach, you know the afternoon showers are bound to make a few,warmups before the rainy season is officially here, .Wednesday afternoon was quite a warm-up.
I have the ride from Moody Road in North Fort Myers to Gladiolus and bass in South Fort Myers down pat A half hour in the morning, (And as long as I leave by four thirty in the afternoon ) A half hour in the afternoon. If I wait until five my ride home doubles in seat time especially since all those nice Cape Coral people started taking my bridge home at night to save from paying a toll.
So back to Wednesday. I stepped out side and checked the sky, Don’t get me wrong I don’t have a degree in meteorology but I was raised on a farm, That is to be interpreted as ---I have no formal training on the subject however I do have common sense .I could tell the rain was coming. I packed up my paperwork,cramed everything in my laptop bag and strapped it on my motorcycle.
From my office it is best to always go West on Gladiolus because of traffic so I go down to A&W Bulb Road And cut across to McGregor .I just got onto McGregor when the rain started, slow at first, then steadily increasing as I got to, and went under College. About the time I got to where Winkler cuts off the lightning started . For some reason in southwest Florida whenever it really starts raining hard and begins to lightning people in cars just stop. For them It may seem a temporary respite from the violent weather ,to stop then go on, But on a motorcycle to stop and put your wet feet down on the ground in a puddle of water while lightning is crashing all around you, gives no assurance. I was almost to colonial, and I remembers some tin roofed offices with overhangs that allowed parking. I pulled into a protected parking spot and sat for forty-five minutes while the rains continued. I carry my motorcycle jacket in my old U.S.M.C. backpack strapped onto the sissy bar and was glad to put it on as I was freezing. The rain subsided, and I slowly made my was the rest of the way home safely. When I walked into my house my boots were sloshing and I had to mop my tracks, as I was dripping huge amounts of water onto the floor. Just a taste of rainy season, but things could have been a lot worse. I could have driven a car and had nothing to write about.
With the summer rapidly approaching and just a few spring breakers still partying it up at Junkaroos on the beach, you know the afternoon showers are bound to make a few,warmups before the rainy season is officially here, .Wednesday afternoon was quite a warm-up.
I have the ride from Moody Road in North Fort Myers to Gladiolus and bass in South Fort Myers down pat A half hour in the morning, (And as long as I leave by four thirty in the afternoon ) A half hour in the afternoon. If I wait until five my ride home doubles in seat time especially since all those nice Cape Coral people started taking my bridge home at night to save from paying a toll.
So back to Wednesday. I stepped out side and checked the sky, Don’t get me wrong I don’t have a degree in meteorology but I was raised on a farm, That is to be interpreted as ---I have no formal training on the subject however I do have common sense .I could tell the rain was coming. I packed up my paperwork,cramed everything in my laptop bag and strapped it on my motorcycle.
From my office it is best to always go West on Gladiolus because of traffic so I go down to A&W Bulb Road And cut across to McGregor .I just got onto McGregor when the rain started, slow at first, then steadily increasing as I got to, and went under College. About the time I got to where Winkler cuts off the lightning started . For some reason in southwest Florida whenever it really starts raining hard and begins to lightning people in cars just stop. For them It may seem a temporary respite from the violent weather ,to stop then go on, But on a motorcycle to stop and put your wet feet down on the ground in a puddle of water while lightning is crashing all around you, gives no assurance. I was almost to colonial, and I remembers some tin roofed offices with overhangs that allowed parking. I pulled into a protected parking spot and sat for forty-five minutes while the rains continued. I carry my motorcycle jacket in my old U.S.M.C. backpack strapped onto the sissy bar and was glad to put it on as I was freezing. The rain subsided, and I slowly made my was the rest of the way home safely. When I walked into my house my boots were sloshing and I had to mop my tracks, as I was dripping huge amounts of water onto the floor. Just a taste of rainy season, but things could have been a lot worse. I could have driven a car and had nothing to write about.
Skydiving
NOTHING WRONG WITH A LITTLE ADRENALINE RUSH By David Shriver
A group of my friends are all meeting this morning ,and heading over to Clewiston so that they can jump out of a perfectly good airplane. I can’t find any fault with that ,because I have been kind of an adrenaline junkie all my life.
I got my first Harley when I was fifteen years old, and put eighteen hundred miles on it before I turned sixteen and could get my drivers license. All those miles weren’t just aimlessly driving around either. I scouted out the best parking spots in the county --but that’s another story.
I was one of the very fortunate to have grown up in the muscle car era.
I baled hay for an alfalfa mill to make money for my cars and I had a lot of them.
Numerous 55 chevys,One two door post with a 327 out of a corvette with a crane cam, and Chrome fender well headers--I ran It on the dragstrip.I had a 61 Chevy convertible with a 348 cu. inch engine, A 66 Buick Grand Sport with a 400 big block 4speed and Positraction,a 61 Corvette, and the car I was famous for --A maroon 65 GTO That was fast --Really fast. Well with all these fast cars I had it only made since that they would take me to the Race track and of course they did.
I started out racing stock cars, then went to late models, Then one Sunday at Eldora Speedway(owned now by Tony Stewart)The fastest one half mile dirt track in the country, I was in the infield, and a Sprintcar,while doing time trials, caught a rut, got into the back wall, and started flipping end over end down the entire backstretch. You could see the drivers arms straight out over his head as the inertia pulled them to outstretched position. It was the most terrible ,most violent crash I had ever seen. I knew right then I had to drive one.
I drove Sprint cars for six years, got upside down on numerous occasions, into the wall more times than I want to think about, But other than some bruised knees after a spectacular straight into the wall flip at Eastbay one night, I never got hurt.
So one day I’m with my son-in-law and grandson Brady, out on lake Panosofkee in his Ranger bass boat with the 200 hp Mercury and we are all planed up and Son in Law says we were hitting sixty five miles per hour. Well right then Son in law yells over to me and says Hey Grandpa why don’t you just jump out?
Well really at the time it seemed like a perfectly good idea so I did.
When I came to, The boat had already turned around and were beside me. I must not have been knocked clear out because I wasn’t wearing a life jacket and I didn’t drown. So I crawl back in the boat and my son in law is just laughing his A__ off Saying he can’t believe I did that and all that stuff, and says you want to do it again? So I say no, not right now, not saying I would never do it again just needed a while to let the concussion heal a little .
So my friends that are jumping out of perfectly good airplanes with a parachute today, I don’t see anything wrong with that. I saw a guy in a movie jump out with out a parachute and freefall to catch another guy that had two. He caught up with him put the parachute on ,pulled the rip chord then floated down to the ground.
Hmmmm. Naw I better stay home.
A group of my friends are all meeting this morning ,and heading over to Clewiston so that they can jump out of a perfectly good airplane. I can’t find any fault with that ,because I have been kind of an adrenaline junkie all my life.
I got my first Harley when I was fifteen years old, and put eighteen hundred miles on it before I turned sixteen and could get my drivers license. All those miles weren’t just aimlessly driving around either. I scouted out the best parking spots in the county --but that’s another story.
I was one of the very fortunate to have grown up in the muscle car era.
I baled hay for an alfalfa mill to make money for my cars and I had a lot of them.
Numerous 55 chevys,One two door post with a 327 out of a corvette with a crane cam, and Chrome fender well headers--I ran It on the dragstrip.I had a 61 Chevy convertible with a 348 cu. inch engine, A 66 Buick Grand Sport with a 400 big block 4speed and Positraction,a 61 Corvette, and the car I was famous for --A maroon 65 GTO That was fast --Really fast. Well with all these fast cars I had it only made since that they would take me to the Race track and of course they did.
I started out racing stock cars, then went to late models, Then one Sunday at Eldora Speedway(owned now by Tony Stewart)The fastest one half mile dirt track in the country, I was in the infield, and a Sprintcar,while doing time trials, caught a rut, got into the back wall, and started flipping end over end down the entire backstretch. You could see the drivers arms straight out over his head as the inertia pulled them to outstretched position. It was the most terrible ,most violent crash I had ever seen. I knew right then I had to drive one.
I drove Sprint cars for six years, got upside down on numerous occasions, into the wall more times than I want to think about, But other than some bruised knees after a spectacular straight into the wall flip at Eastbay one night, I never got hurt.
So one day I’m with my son-in-law and grandson Brady, out on lake Panosofkee in his Ranger bass boat with the 200 hp Mercury and we are all planed up and Son in Law says we were hitting sixty five miles per hour. Well right then Son in law yells over to me and says Hey Grandpa why don’t you just jump out?
Well really at the time it seemed like a perfectly good idea so I did.
When I came to, The boat had already turned around and were beside me. I must not have been knocked clear out because I wasn’t wearing a life jacket and I didn’t drown. So I crawl back in the boat and my son in law is just laughing his A__ off Saying he can’t believe I did that and all that stuff, and says you want to do it again? So I say no, not right now, not saying I would never do it again just needed a while to let the concussion heal a little .
So my friends that are jumping out of perfectly good airplanes with a parachute today, I don’t see anything wrong with that. I saw a guy in a movie jump out with out a parachute and freefall to catch another guy that had two. He caught up with him put the parachute on ,pulled the rip chord then floated down to the ground.
Hmmmm. Naw I better stay home.
Boating Bliss
Thursday, July 5, 2007
Boating bliss
I know that people always say the two happiest days of A boaters life are the first day he owns a boat and the day he sells it.Well I must take exception to that nasty bit of sour grapes undoubtedly made by a land lubber extraordinaire for an example of my strong belief of boating pleasure:let me just recap my 4th of july 2007.
Plans had been made to meet some friends on buckshot Island (about 5 miles east of the old 41 bridge on the caloosahatchee river Ftmyers Fl.)Even though we are on the water ---I don't have a boat lift ,so our 18 ft seaswirl spends most of her time on a trailer under an oak tree in our side yard.
The night before I had charged the batteries, poured in some octane booster as I knew the gas was kinda old,cleaned all the leaves out and pretty much got her ready for a cruise up the river Oh yes I did put the drain plugs in--.Fourth morning ---we loaded up coolers,dry clothes food,and off to the boat ramp;and to our surprise it wasn't crowded maybe because the fourth fell on A wed this year.We backed the boat in she fired right up and we cast off;heading up river. Now because of the Manatees you have a no wake zone that seems like it go's on forever so we idled along,the motor surging a little prob that old gas .When we arrived at the buoys that allowed us full speed,We could only go a little faster than the snails pace we had been on.Bad gas --I thought to bring another fuel filter so no problem I'll just put it on .As I was diligently undertaking my rendition of a NASCAR pit stop It was brought to my attention that some ominous black clouds were approaching from the North.I succeeded in getting the fuel filter on and as I attempted to restart the boat it started to rain. We had just gone under a bridge about a quarter of a mile back so I headed back for the bridge .Just about the time the boat started to plane It sputtered and quit dead in the water .We could see the bridge but shelter was not to be ours this day.A real squall blew up (later we heard that several water spouts were sighted,Not that we could see We couldn't even see the condos on the rivers edge it was raining so hard.About that time my wife began explaining to me Something about my intelligence level and some thing about my heritage and the fact that she was never going to go out in that boat again, I didn't catch hardly any of it -------------------because--------------As I sat there with the rain just drenching me the lightning flashing,the wind howling I thought how lucky,fortunate and blessed I was to be right there right then.How many people on the forth of july sit in Appts in citys with no air conditioning,sweltering,the smell of the city,the noise.
I had my cell phone and contacted the Ft myers police Seems like they have a brand new Donzi A really nice officer brought it out and towed us back to the boat ramp no charge I do love Florida.I do have a happy ending'Took the boat home changed into some dry clothes and our friend Charley met us at the boat ramp and brought us out to the island where we had a great time.So where some people might have mistaken the storm,the bad gas, the challenges of the morning as bad I found so much good and attracted more .Laws of attraction
Boating bliss
I know that people always say the two happiest days of A boaters life are the first day he owns a boat and the day he sells it.Well I must take exception to that nasty bit of sour grapes undoubtedly made by a land lubber extraordinaire for an example of my strong belief of boating pleasure:let me just recap my 4th of july 2007.
Plans had been made to meet some friends on buckshot Island (about 5 miles east of the old 41 bridge on the caloosahatchee river Ftmyers Fl.)Even though we are on the water ---I don't have a boat lift ,so our 18 ft seaswirl spends most of her time on a trailer under an oak tree in our side yard.
The night before I had charged the batteries, poured in some octane booster as I knew the gas was kinda old,cleaned all the leaves out and pretty much got her ready for a cruise up the river Oh yes I did put the drain plugs in--.Fourth morning ---we loaded up coolers,dry clothes food,and off to the boat ramp;and to our surprise it wasn't crowded maybe because the fourth fell on A wed this year.We backed the boat in she fired right up and we cast off;heading up river. Now because of the Manatees you have a no wake zone that seems like it go's on forever so we idled along,the motor surging a little prob that old gas .When we arrived at the buoys that allowed us full speed,We could only go a little faster than the snails pace we had been on.Bad gas --I thought to bring another fuel filter so no problem I'll just put it on .As I was diligently undertaking my rendition of a NASCAR pit stop It was brought to my attention that some ominous black clouds were approaching from the North.I succeeded in getting the fuel filter on and as I attempted to restart the boat it started to rain. We had just gone under a bridge about a quarter of a mile back so I headed back for the bridge .Just about the time the boat started to plane It sputtered and quit dead in the water .We could see the bridge but shelter was not to be ours this day.A real squall blew up (later we heard that several water spouts were sighted,Not that we could see We couldn't even see the condos on the rivers edge it was raining so hard.About that time my wife began explaining to me Something about my intelligence level and some thing about my heritage and the fact that she was never going to go out in that boat again, I didn't catch hardly any of it -------------------because--------------As I sat there with the rain just drenching me the lightning flashing,the wind howling I thought how lucky,fortunate and blessed I was to be right there right then.How many people on the forth of july sit in Appts in citys with no air conditioning,sweltering,the smell of the city,the noise.
I had my cell phone and contacted the Ft myers police Seems like they have a brand new Donzi A really nice officer brought it out and towed us back to the boat ramp no charge I do love Florida.I do have a happy ending'Took the boat home changed into some dry clothes and our friend Charley met us at the boat ramp and brought us out to the island where we had a great time.So where some people might have mistaken the storm,the bad gas, the challenges of the morning as bad I found so much good and attracted more .Laws of attraction
Herons Glen
Herons Glen BY DAVID SHRIVER
Today I rode the Harley to the northern tip of Lee County to a development called Herons Glen.
Indirectly Herons Glen and I have a long history.
Back in 1984 I was working Real Estate selling one acre parcels on metro parkway, and Youngquist road, and some pieces of raw land here and there. I approached Mr. Kanavos at Deltura about buying a piece of land that I had for sale. Mr Kanavas In his special way told me he wasn’t interested in that piece however if I could get another piece (that he identified) listed he would be interested in buying it.He told me how much he would pay and I told him what if I can get it for less? He said if you can get it for less there will be more business for you down the road I take care of those who take care of me.
So I went to work on a parcel owned by a lady who was just down forty one and on the other side from DelTura. I worked with her as a buyer, offering her a dollar figure much lower than my top price and worked and chewed and spit and finally got it bought twenty thousand less than what Mr. Kanavas said he would pay. I brought the contract to Mr Kanavas and told him if he would pay the ten percent commission, I would assign it over. He was happy to do that and that started a seven year affiliation with the DelTura group.That piece by the way became one of the key parcels for the Plaza.
Mr Kanovas brought me in his office and showed me a map and said he wanted me to start assembling these parcels one by one until I had all of them bought. As I put one under contract I would assign each piece over to the DelTura droup and they would pay me the commission when the parcel closed.In retrospect that right there was not so good for me because I devoted a year totally on putting these pieces of the puzzle together, and then had to wait another year for my money. Made for some skimpy times for a couple years.
I moved a brand new doublewide back on the first 20 acre piece I bought. I then began buying my neabors out one by one until I was the only one back there at the end of Vernon Dee’s Tap Rd. our official address.
We had a mailbox out on forty one and my daughters would ride a four wheeler out to forty one to catch the school bus then after school ride it the two miles back our road home. We had a stable back there and at one time had five horses. We would ride down the old abandoned Rail Road grade. Which went from our place clear down to the back of Suncoast.We got a couple hogs Porky and Petunia and had a hog pen and fed them culled produce we got from the produce stand. We usually just let them wander around and eat palmetto roots and whatever. One day my oldest was washing our car and Porky wanted to play in the water, When Tracy kicked at him to get him away ole Porky hooked her on the leg with one of his fangs, so she is now probably the only surgical coordinator in Tampa who has been gored by a wild hog. We got rid of them directly after that.
I went on to work as a land buyer for Flag Development Company a partnership with the Kanovas family
Key employees (including me) and Swiss investers. That took me to Dade City where with the commission money made I bought a little ranch which backed up to the Bellamy Bros(country Music Stars)--on the Del Vera deal---Later the name was changed to Herons Glen after I told Mr. Kanovas about how every morning as I was making my way down the two miles of sand road out to forty one --A heron would fly in front of my pickup seemingly leading me down the road. In The evening as I was coming home a Heron would lead me flying in front of me down the road to home.
Today I rode the Harley to the northern tip of Lee County to a development called Herons Glen.
Indirectly Herons Glen and I have a long history.
Back in 1984 I was working Real Estate selling one acre parcels on metro parkway, and Youngquist road, and some pieces of raw land here and there. I approached Mr. Kanavos at Deltura about buying a piece of land that I had for sale. Mr Kanavas In his special way told me he wasn’t interested in that piece however if I could get another piece (that he identified) listed he would be interested in buying it.He told me how much he would pay and I told him what if I can get it for less? He said if you can get it for less there will be more business for you down the road I take care of those who take care of me.
So I went to work on a parcel owned by a lady who was just down forty one and on the other side from DelTura. I worked with her as a buyer, offering her a dollar figure much lower than my top price and worked and chewed and spit and finally got it bought twenty thousand less than what Mr. Kanavas said he would pay. I brought the contract to Mr Kanavas and told him if he would pay the ten percent commission, I would assign it over. He was happy to do that and that started a seven year affiliation with the DelTura group.That piece by the way became one of the key parcels for the Plaza.
Mr Kanovas brought me in his office and showed me a map and said he wanted me to start assembling these parcels one by one until I had all of them bought. As I put one under contract I would assign each piece over to the DelTura droup and they would pay me the commission when the parcel closed.In retrospect that right there was not so good for me because I devoted a year totally on putting these pieces of the puzzle together, and then had to wait another year for my money. Made for some skimpy times for a couple years.
I moved a brand new doublewide back on the first 20 acre piece I bought. I then began buying my neabors out one by one until I was the only one back there at the end of Vernon Dee’s Tap Rd. our official address.
We had a mailbox out on forty one and my daughters would ride a four wheeler out to forty one to catch the school bus then after school ride it the two miles back our road home. We had a stable back there and at one time had five horses. We would ride down the old abandoned Rail Road grade. Which went from our place clear down to the back of Suncoast.We got a couple hogs Porky and Petunia and had a hog pen and fed them culled produce we got from the produce stand. We usually just let them wander around and eat palmetto roots and whatever. One day my oldest was washing our car and Porky wanted to play in the water, When Tracy kicked at him to get him away ole Porky hooked her on the leg with one of his fangs, so she is now probably the only surgical coordinator in Tampa who has been gored by a wild hog. We got rid of them directly after that.
I went on to work as a land buyer for Flag Development Company a partnership with the Kanovas family
Key employees (including me) and Swiss investers. That took me to Dade City where with the commission money made I bought a little ranch which backed up to the Bellamy Bros(country Music Stars)--on the Del Vera deal---Later the name was changed to Herons Glen after I told Mr. Kanovas about how every morning as I was making my way down the two miles of sand road out to forty one --A heron would fly in front of my pickup seemingly leading me down the road. In The evening as I was coming home a Heron would lead me flying in front of me down the road to home.
An Indian and A Short Rope
An Indian and a Short Rope By David Shriver
Growing up on a farm ,I didn't really get into the ball and stick games the kids in town played ;other than football and track the only sports I really cared about involved the internal combustion engine .When other kids my age were reading Inside Baseball I was devouring Hot Rod, Motor Trend, and Motors manuals, Learning what makes cars and motorcycles run. One of my friends grandpa restored old cars as a hobby ;and noticed my interest so one afternoon he pulled an old buck rake( Abuckrake was a model A Ford that they had taken the body off of ,and made it into kind of a tractor)into my parents driveway and said if it was alright with them he would just give it to me to tinker with since it had just been sitting out in a pasture for years and didn't run he thought it would give me some good experience. Well when my friends parents came over to pick them up that evening they found us out in the pasture sitting on buckets on that ole buck rake just flying back and forth across the pasture. I had got it running and we were just trying it out. Needless to say Gramps came over the next morning and the buck rake was gone. So that's how things got started, I had the reputation that I could get anything running And so enters Nicky Hovie;
Nickie hovie had a real nice sixty three chevelle convertible Yellow,Black interior 327 4 spd ,nice car .Well he drove in and said he was given an old motorcycle and the motor was froze up and wondered if I thought I might want to try to get it running for him. I said sure thing ,so the next day he brought it over and we put it in my parents garage. Some one had painted it White with household interior paint and it really looked bad but It was an Indian Motorcycle. I pulled out the spark plugs and filled the cylinders with diesel fuel and let it set. In a couple of days I put it in gear and with the sparkplugs still out I rocked it backward and the engine broke loose. Now I could use the kick starter and I checked to se if I could get spark and I could so I had new spark plugs and put them in and with fresh gas I tried and tried but could only get it to pop.
The next Saturday Nickie came over to see how I was coming and I jumped on the kick starter and It popped and Nickie got all excited ."lets pull it with my car" he said So I proceeded to get a rope, tied my end to the bumper hitch of Nickies Chevelle and handed the other end to Nickie.Well we got all straight so that I could pull him straight down the street and we were ready .----These old Indians were a lot like the old Harley 74 In that they had what people called a suicide clutch as the clutch was down at your foot and the shifter was next to the tank But on the opposite side than that of a Harley for some unknown reason.
---So I eased out on the clutch of the Chevelle,the rope became taunt, and down the street we went. As we gained speed Nickie stomped on the clutch on the ole Indian and I heard bap---bap-bap-varoom as Nickie roared past with a huge smile on his face. Un be known to me Nickie had foolishly tied the rope onto the handlebars of the motorcycle. As you can guess when Nickie came to the end of his rope things progressively got worse.
Growing up on a farm ,I didn't really get into the ball and stick games the kids in town played ;other than football and track the only sports I really cared about involved the internal combustion engine .When other kids my age were reading Inside Baseball I was devouring Hot Rod, Motor Trend, and Motors manuals, Learning what makes cars and motorcycles run. One of my friends grandpa restored old cars as a hobby ;and noticed my interest so one afternoon he pulled an old buck rake( Abuckrake was a model A Ford that they had taken the body off of ,and made it into kind of a tractor)into my parents driveway and said if it was alright with them he would just give it to me to tinker with since it had just been sitting out in a pasture for years and didn't run he thought it would give me some good experience. Well when my friends parents came over to pick them up that evening they found us out in the pasture sitting on buckets on that ole buck rake just flying back and forth across the pasture. I had got it running and we were just trying it out. Needless to say Gramps came over the next morning and the buck rake was gone. So that's how things got started, I had the reputation that I could get anything running And so enters Nicky Hovie;
Nickie hovie had a real nice sixty three chevelle convertible Yellow,Black interior 327 4 spd ,nice car .Well he drove in and said he was given an old motorcycle and the motor was froze up and wondered if I thought I might want to try to get it running for him. I said sure thing ,so the next day he brought it over and we put it in my parents garage. Some one had painted it White with household interior paint and it really looked bad but It was an Indian Motorcycle. I pulled out the spark plugs and filled the cylinders with diesel fuel and let it set. In a couple of days I put it in gear and with the sparkplugs still out I rocked it backward and the engine broke loose. Now I could use the kick starter and I checked to se if I could get spark and I could so I had new spark plugs and put them in and with fresh gas I tried and tried but could only get it to pop.
The next Saturday Nickie came over to see how I was coming and I jumped on the kick starter and It popped and Nickie got all excited ."lets pull it with my car" he said So I proceeded to get a rope, tied my end to the bumper hitch of Nickies Chevelle and handed the other end to Nickie.Well we got all straight so that I could pull him straight down the street and we were ready .----These old Indians were a lot like the old Harley 74 In that they had what people called a suicide clutch as the clutch was down at your foot and the shifter was next to the tank But on the opposite side than that of a Harley for some unknown reason.
---So I eased out on the clutch of the Chevelle,the rope became taunt, and down the street we went. As we gained speed Nickie stomped on the clutch on the ole Indian and I heard bap---bap-bap-varoom as Nickie roared past with a huge smile on his face. Un be known to me Nickie had foolishly tied the rope onto the handlebars of the motorcycle. As you can guess when Nickie came to the end of his rope things progressively got worse.
I call her Reno
I call her Reno but her name is really Samantha
I know it may surprise many of you but I do read quite a bit. One of my latter readings was a Jimmy Buffet masterpiece entitled a pirate looks at forty .well seeuns as I’m looking at 58 So maybe im a little slow ---anyway I of course found some profound truths and life directional beacons within those text one such profound idea is ----Jimmy said: when he dies his only wish is that people will be able to say that he lead an interesting life.---How profound; and as I look at my own life in retrospect ;always a dangerous thing I might add ,I see Things and events that would lead me to believe that some how I must have done something right Most never have the opportunity to see what I have seen. Although I have never ridden in a Jet fighter I have been in the skies of Viet Nam In a helicopter .I have been a Marine in combat. I have been shot at ,mortars and rockets I know what it is like to have someone try personally to kill you and I know what it feels like to win. I know what it’s like to fall in love the first time and I know what it’s like to lose her to cancer. I know what it’s like to love my three girls for two as a makeup for them losing their mom. I remarried and there were some good times ;not all ups and downs maybe more downs than anyone needed or deserved but If life was fair the fox would never catch the rabbit so it go’s on, one day at a time I played college football and have watched my grandsons play pop Warner football. Brady score a hockey goal my granddaughters swimming in the pool ,laughing and just having a good time isn’t that what it’s all about? I raced The Sprint car for five years and had an all girl pit crew Margie and the girls ,and I’ve watched Kyler race go cart. I know if I had stayed working in a factory I would have missed out on .a lot of life so I never regret going out on my own and taking a chance.
So my wife is leaving to cut down on the stress in her life, Don’t laugh, So anyway there is this girl I’ve never met but we talk on the phone every day and I feel myself becoming infatuated with her, so we are going to meet, next month---Interesting ---I call her Reno but her name is really Samantha.
I know it may surprise many of you but I do read quite a bit. One of my latter readings was a Jimmy Buffet masterpiece entitled a pirate looks at forty .well seeuns as I’m looking at 58 So maybe im a little slow ---anyway I of course found some profound truths and life directional beacons within those text one such profound idea is ----Jimmy said: when he dies his only wish is that people will be able to say that he lead an interesting life.---How profound; and as I look at my own life in retrospect ;always a dangerous thing I might add ,I see Things and events that would lead me to believe that some how I must have done something right Most never have the opportunity to see what I have seen. Although I have never ridden in a Jet fighter I have been in the skies of Viet Nam In a helicopter .I have been a Marine in combat. I have been shot at ,mortars and rockets I know what it is like to have someone try personally to kill you and I know what it feels like to win. I know what it’s like to fall in love the first time and I know what it’s like to lose her to cancer. I know what it’s like to love my three girls for two as a makeup for them losing their mom. I remarried and there were some good times ;not all ups and downs maybe more downs than anyone needed or deserved but If life was fair the fox would never catch the rabbit so it go’s on, one day at a time I played college football and have watched my grandsons play pop Warner football. Brady score a hockey goal my granddaughters swimming in the pool ,laughing and just having a good time isn’t that what it’s all about? I raced The Sprint car for five years and had an all girl pit crew Margie and the girls ,and I’ve watched Kyler race go cart. I know if I had stayed working in a factory I would have missed out on .a lot of life so I never regret going out on my own and taking a chance.
So my wife is leaving to cut down on the stress in her life, Don’t laugh, So anyway there is this girl I’ve never met but we talk on the phone every day and I feel myself becoming infatuated with her, so we are going to meet, next month---Interesting ---I call her Reno but her name is really Samantha.
Class Reunion
Class reunion/ Power of laws of attraction
As an econ of American rural American life we go to high School class reunions. It may be a little red neckey but that’s ok with me If the shoe fits don’t put it on E/Bay. Actually I had maintained an aloof attitude all these years as this Big 40 was the first I had attended.
Maybe it was the guilt of missing the tenth as Billy succumbed toHodgenkins before the 15th,Maybe it was a haunting feeling of aloneness going through a divorce for the first and hopefully last time. Or maybe It was just Paul calling me out of the blue, Saying Hey Shrive why don’t we meet out at Stroh’s, stop in at the reunion, and If it gets boring we will split and head over to St Marys look up some old friends ,go to a bar and have some cold ones.
How could you say no to an invitation to guaranteed fun like that . I told him it was a plan I’d be there.
I ended up seeing my arrive time a day early so making my phone calls found out the town fall festival was going on that weekend Called Paul meet you Sat --Ok
I pulled into my Brother in laws around three --My Sister in law whirls out of the house --nice to see ya, the 566 is over there by the barn ---Run it over and pick up the full hay wagon in the field. Dennys bailing seeYa Bye.
I (having just finished showering shaving and making preparations for some serious having a good time attitude)went obediently over to a pretty rough looking Farmall Tractor figured out how to start it and where the gears were and headed over to the hay field to pick up Hay wagons.
I got over thereto the hay field, visited with Denny for just a little, hooked up the wagon and headed back over toward the barn. I caught A glimpse of Paul in the drive way, Beer in hand holding down the fort.
I Brought the wagon over to the barn (surprised my self and backed it first time right next to the elevator That they use to get the bails up into the barn)Talked with Paul for a brief Hello gotta go ( I had not seen him for at least thirty years) Jumped on the tractor and retrieved the last hay wagon from the field .Parked it and the tractor next to the barn And settled down on Paul’s pickup’s, tailgate; much deserving beer in hand.
The plan ---Fall festival party at the park, One of our friends Scott was playing in the band ,Pick up more beer head for the park. What a deal! I always could come up with some great plans.
The band was playing Really good early southern rock, a little Segar, really good music, I was walking around seeing old friends and playing guess who this is, really having a good time, Standing ther talking to Titus and his wife,When a pretty girl comes up to me and says I bet you don’t remember me. I said I bet I do ,As I had Dated her older sister right before I left for Viet Nam U.S.M.C.( If there was any doubt.)So I say you are Janie what’s you’re Sister doing ? She says well she is divorced and living in Tampa ,I said no way!.
I’m gonna have to get her number from you I say. But she was too Quick for me, as she dialed the number on her cell phone and then handed it to me. I said hello, she said who is this ? I said Dave Shriver, She told me later that she almost feinted. So we talked and I called her again, and again and again . She is picking me up in Tampa as soon as I can get down there ,taking a few days off work, and we are going to get reacquainted. Her Name Is Pam, Its funny I never did meet Samantha, Some things are just made, or not made to be. An awful lot of coincidences, or was it just the laws of attraction at work moving the world to put things in proper alignment for my happiness.
What A ride . David Shriver
As an econ of American rural American life we go to high School class reunions. It may be a little red neckey but that’s ok with me If the shoe fits don’t put it on E/Bay. Actually I had maintained an aloof attitude all these years as this Big 40 was the first I had attended.
Maybe it was the guilt of missing the tenth as Billy succumbed toHodgenkins before the 15th,Maybe it was a haunting feeling of aloneness going through a divorce for the first and hopefully last time. Or maybe It was just Paul calling me out of the blue, Saying Hey Shrive why don’t we meet out at Stroh’s, stop in at the reunion, and If it gets boring we will split and head over to St Marys look up some old friends ,go to a bar and have some cold ones.
How could you say no to an invitation to guaranteed fun like that . I told him it was a plan I’d be there.
I ended up seeing my arrive time a day early so making my phone calls found out the town fall festival was going on that weekend Called Paul meet you Sat --Ok
I pulled into my Brother in laws around three --My Sister in law whirls out of the house --nice to see ya, the 566 is over there by the barn ---Run it over and pick up the full hay wagon in the field. Dennys bailing seeYa Bye.
I (having just finished showering shaving and making preparations for some serious having a good time attitude)went obediently over to a pretty rough looking Farmall Tractor figured out how to start it and where the gears were and headed over to the hay field to pick up Hay wagons.
I got over thereto the hay field, visited with Denny for just a little, hooked up the wagon and headed back over toward the barn. I caught A glimpse of Paul in the drive way, Beer in hand holding down the fort.
I Brought the wagon over to the barn (surprised my self and backed it first time right next to the elevator That they use to get the bails up into the barn)Talked with Paul for a brief Hello gotta go ( I had not seen him for at least thirty years) Jumped on the tractor and retrieved the last hay wagon from the field .Parked it and the tractor next to the barn And settled down on Paul’s pickup’s, tailgate; much deserving beer in hand.
The plan ---Fall festival party at the park, One of our friends Scott was playing in the band ,Pick up more beer head for the park. What a deal! I always could come up with some great plans.
The band was playing Really good early southern rock, a little Segar, really good music, I was walking around seeing old friends and playing guess who this is, really having a good time, Standing ther talking to Titus and his wife,When a pretty girl comes up to me and says I bet you don’t remember me. I said I bet I do ,As I had Dated her older sister right before I left for Viet Nam U.S.M.C.( If there was any doubt.)So I say you are Janie what’s you’re Sister doing ? She says well she is divorced and living in Tampa ,I said no way!.
I’m gonna have to get her number from you I say. But she was too Quick for me, as she dialed the number on her cell phone and then handed it to me. I said hello, she said who is this ? I said Dave Shriver, She told me later that she almost feinted. So we talked and I called her again, and again and again . She is picking me up in Tampa as soon as I can get down there ,taking a few days off work, and we are going to get reacquainted. Her Name Is Pam, Its funny I never did meet Samantha, Some things are just made, or not made to be. An awful lot of coincidences, or was it just the laws of attraction at work moving the world to put things in proper alignment for my happiness.
What A ride . David Shriver
Kissing 101
KISSING 101 By David Shriver
It seems that one of the main criteria I look for other than the obvious good looks body to die for and intelligence. if I am going to pursue a relationship.A girl just has to be a good kisser.
So you ask--By what standard do all girls kisses have to meet or be judged by? And I answer --well the perfect kiss of course --So then you might ask, And how do you know what the perfect kiss is? And I would most assuredly answer, because I have kissed the perfect kiss. So there --Let me tell you how I found the perfect kiss.
I was visiting friends in my old home town ,when a girl approached me and asked me If I infact recognized her, I responded by saying why yes I did you are Pam Martins little sister Angie.I hadn’t seen Angie or Pam in 30 years.
Pam was the last girl I dated before going over to Viet Nam, and was a cheerleader at our high school and graduated the same year as my little sister. I asked Angie what Pam was doing these days and Angie told me that She was Divorced and living in Tampa. I said no way I’ll have to call her some time --at that Angie whipped out her cell phone and said I’ll do better than that Dialed the phone and handed it to me. Pam answered the phone and when I told her who it was she about flipped out --talked and talked and made me promise to stop in and see her.
On my way home I said hey why not --gave Pam a call and got directions to her house and just about six o’clock in the evening pulled into her driveway. She walked out of the house, through the little gate around her yard and up to me as I got out of the car, put her arms around me and gave me that kiss.
I said Pam you really know how to kiss, She said yeah guys always say that --I aught to be a good kisser, You taught me when I was fifteen years old.hmmm no wonder. That’s right I was only eighteen, and you were fifteen --man.
Well other than the perfect kiss ,Pam had little else going for her. She had lived her life a little too fast and it unfortunately had caught up to her, She really looked rough from too many poor choices along the way.
So the perfect kiss --well maybe I should describe it a little.
It is soft and sweet, not rough
It is warm and wet but not sloppy
It is graduating in the fact that it starts out more like a nuzzle and ends with the sparks flying and stars shooting.
Your mouth isn’t closed but it’s not open either
I know it’s confusing --here let me show you.
It seems that one of the main criteria I look for other than the obvious good looks body to die for and intelligence. if I am going to pursue a relationship.A girl just has to be a good kisser.
So you ask--By what standard do all girls kisses have to meet or be judged by? And I answer --well the perfect kiss of course --So then you might ask, And how do you know what the perfect kiss is? And I would most assuredly answer, because I have kissed the perfect kiss. So there --Let me tell you how I found the perfect kiss.
I was visiting friends in my old home town ,when a girl approached me and asked me If I infact recognized her, I responded by saying why yes I did you are Pam Martins little sister Angie.I hadn’t seen Angie or Pam in 30 years.
Pam was the last girl I dated before going over to Viet Nam, and was a cheerleader at our high school and graduated the same year as my little sister. I asked Angie what Pam was doing these days and Angie told me that She was Divorced and living in Tampa. I said no way I’ll have to call her some time --at that Angie whipped out her cell phone and said I’ll do better than that Dialed the phone and handed it to me. Pam answered the phone and when I told her who it was she about flipped out --talked and talked and made me promise to stop in and see her.
On my way home I said hey why not --gave Pam a call and got directions to her house and just about six o’clock in the evening pulled into her driveway. She walked out of the house, through the little gate around her yard and up to me as I got out of the car, put her arms around me and gave me that kiss.
I said Pam you really know how to kiss, She said yeah guys always say that --I aught to be a good kisser, You taught me when I was fifteen years old.hmmm no wonder. That’s right I was only eighteen, and you were fifteen --man.
Well other than the perfect kiss ,Pam had little else going for her. She had lived her life a little too fast and it unfortunately had caught up to her, She really looked rough from too many poor choices along the way.
So the perfect kiss --well maybe I should describe it a little.
It is soft and sweet, not rough
It is warm and wet but not sloppy
It is graduating in the fact that it starts out more like a nuzzle and ends with the sparks flying and stars shooting.
Your mouth isn’t closed but it’s not open either
I know it’s confusing --here let me show you.
Choices
Choices
My youngest Daughter (When she was 15 years old)was complemented once by a friends father,( Who also happened to be an attorney) as he said “for her age he was amazed at the number of times she had come to an event in her life where her direction would be directly determined by the choice she made and she always made the right choice“.
I have ran into old friends who look at me and say that they can’t believe how I look . I realize that Not all the time, but some of the time ,They could have looked just as good, Just as healthy. If they would have made a different choice. They would not be in their situation were it not for the choices made. I can look at some one with compassion, and empathy ,however I have a real rough time feeling sorry for someone who has brought grief, poverty and loneliness on themselves because of choices. You can chose to live the bar scene year after year ,Party it up with drugs, however you have to know the toll it will play on your health. It is a choice. Every person has an equal opportunity every day to be pleasant. It is a choice.
I raced Sprint Cars all over the South when the girls were in High School, So we ended up spending more time together than most families have the opportunity . We had lost their Mother when the youngest was four ,So I though it the right thing to do. It was by choice. I told people that I was retiring in my thirties to spend my retirement doing fun things, and then when retirement was over I would go back to work. An Interesting concept. I do hope to retire again some day but It was a choice then ,that I wouldn’t change in a million years. Retiring to sell Real Estate and work my internet marketing business would be I suppose like having your cake and eating it too. Not such a bad thing, Makes me wonder If maybe I had a little to do with all those good choices my Daughter has made.
My youngest Daughter (When she was 15 years old)was complemented once by a friends father,( Who also happened to be an attorney) as he said “for her age he was amazed at the number of times she had come to an event in her life where her direction would be directly determined by the choice she made and she always made the right choice“.
I have ran into old friends who look at me and say that they can’t believe how I look . I realize that Not all the time, but some of the time ,They could have looked just as good, Just as healthy. If they would have made a different choice. They would not be in their situation were it not for the choices made. I can look at some one with compassion, and empathy ,however I have a real rough time feeling sorry for someone who has brought grief, poverty and loneliness on themselves because of choices. You can chose to live the bar scene year after year ,Party it up with drugs, however you have to know the toll it will play on your health. It is a choice. Every person has an equal opportunity every day to be pleasant. It is a choice.
I raced Sprint Cars all over the South when the girls were in High School, So we ended up spending more time together than most families have the opportunity . We had lost their Mother when the youngest was four ,So I though it the right thing to do. It was by choice. I told people that I was retiring in my thirties to spend my retirement doing fun things, and then when retirement was over I would go back to work. An Interesting concept. I do hope to retire again some day but It was a choice then ,that I wouldn’t change in a million years. Retiring to sell Real Estate and work my internet marketing business would be I suppose like having your cake and eating it too. Not such a bad thing, Makes me wonder If maybe I had a little to do with all those good choices my Daughter has made.
Sprint Cars
Sprint cars
The first time I ever saw one I was 14 years old.
I grew up on a farm along the Mississippi river just north of Hannibal Mo; Of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn fame.We lived on the Illinois side farmed in the bottoms and raised cattle up on the bluff. My Dad had been fighting poor crop prices;unpredictable weather, and the possibility of a flood every year.
Having a degree in agriculture from Western Illinois U he put some feelers out for prospective opportunities;and one came along.My Dad was Hired by a research laboratory in Ohio,to become Assistant to the president--He later became pres.While well and good for the rest of my family I was looking at a total change in my life not the least was the school in Ohio didn't have football,Something as important to me as breathing,but I didn't get a vote so off to Ohio we went.Well this lab my Dad went to work for had a research farm so upon my arrival I rode my bike out to see if they needed any help bailing hay.This started my Hay Bailing years.I ended up working summers for an alfalfa mill bailing hay for them (all of this to stay in shape for hopefully college football)Herein is where the story has its beginnings.
We had a hay field right next to the Race track at New Bremen (an asphalt track)Well we were working out there on a Saturday afternoon and the promoter A Mr Cook, came on out to the field with tickets for the USAC Sprint car race on Sunday.So Sunday after church I hopped on my bike and rode it 6 miles to the race track.Now this was 1965 I saw AJ Foyt,Larry Dickson,Waldo Andretti--Marios brother, Eddie Sacks-Later was killed in the Indy 500 that year.It was wonderful sounds ,the smell,and the cars were soooo beautiful tried to go to The speedway whenever they had a USAC race then one day someone told me of another track not to much farther away .--By this time I had my Drivers licence The race tracks name was Eldora .1/2 mile dirt track.A life changing event the first time I went. I remember A car from Dayton Flipping all the way down the back stretch with the drivers arms stretched out over his head from inertia It was the most violent horrendous thing I had ever witnessed just knew the guys that drove those things had to be crazy ;It wasn't too long after that I knew I had to drive one.
I started out in Hobby stocks then late models It Wasn't until I was In my 30's that I finally got A Sprint car . We raced the Sprint Cars for 6 wonderful years mostly Florida With the Tampa Bay Area Racing Assoc.Then with American Winged Outlaws,we raced Florida Georga,North and South Carolina's,Tennessee,andAlabama All through my Girls Jr High and High School Years we Raced.Had the only all Girl pit crew I must say definitely the happiest days of my life ----SO FAR
The first time I ever saw one I was 14 years old.
I grew up on a farm along the Mississippi river just north of Hannibal Mo; Of Tom Sawyer and Huckleberry Finn fame.We lived on the Illinois side farmed in the bottoms and raised cattle up on the bluff. My Dad had been fighting poor crop prices;unpredictable weather, and the possibility of a flood every year.
Having a degree in agriculture from Western Illinois U he put some feelers out for prospective opportunities;and one came along.My Dad was Hired by a research laboratory in Ohio,to become Assistant to the president--He later became pres.While well and good for the rest of my family I was looking at a total change in my life not the least was the school in Ohio didn't have football,Something as important to me as breathing,but I didn't get a vote so off to Ohio we went.Well this lab my Dad went to work for had a research farm so upon my arrival I rode my bike out to see if they needed any help bailing hay.This started my Hay Bailing years.I ended up working summers for an alfalfa mill bailing hay for them (all of this to stay in shape for hopefully college football)Herein is where the story has its beginnings.
We had a hay field right next to the Race track at New Bremen (an asphalt track)Well we were working out there on a Saturday afternoon and the promoter A Mr Cook, came on out to the field with tickets for the USAC Sprint car race on Sunday.So Sunday after church I hopped on my bike and rode it 6 miles to the race track.Now this was 1965 I saw AJ Foyt,Larry Dickson,Waldo Andretti--Marios brother, Eddie Sacks-Later was killed in the Indy 500 that year.It was wonderful sounds ,the smell,and the cars were soooo beautiful tried to go to The speedway whenever they had a USAC race then one day someone told me of another track not to much farther away .--By this time I had my Drivers licence The race tracks name was Eldora .1/2 mile dirt track.A life changing event the first time I went. I remember A car from Dayton Flipping all the way down the back stretch with the drivers arms stretched out over his head from inertia It was the most violent horrendous thing I had ever witnessed just knew the guys that drove those things had to be crazy ;It wasn't too long after that I knew I had to drive one.
I started out in Hobby stocks then late models It Wasn't until I was In my 30's that I finally got A Sprint car . We raced the Sprint Cars for 6 wonderful years mostly Florida With the Tampa Bay Area Racing Assoc.Then with American Winged Outlaws,we raced Florida Georga,North and South Carolina's,Tennessee,andAlabama All through my Girls Jr High and High School Years we Raced.Had the only all Girl pit crew I must say definitely the happiest days of my life ----SO FAR
The Principals Office
Back when I was in the first grade a girl named Vickie Woodworth kissed me while I was on a merry go round in the school yard . My life has never been the same ,ever since.
You see there was this other girl named Sue Ellen Arnold who really liked me . She saw Vickie kissing me and she just went crazy. She ran into the school and told the teacher Mrs. Humphries.Mrs Humphries, not really knowing how to handle a situation like this (after all she was just a first grade teacher ) These things weren’t suppose to become an issue until at least junior high, so they thought. Went straight to the principals office .
I can still remember that long walk up that long staircase,the fear the shame.The principal told me to never do it again, mentioned something about reform school, and no summer vacation, I do know I was scared and promised to never let it happen again.
Lucky for me the principal was transferred before my Third grade school year and apparently never recorded that trial proceedings as the principal we had for that year apparently knew nothing off it , or I would have been in big trouble when , This cute girl named Debbie Lock moved to our school.
Well actually her mom ended up being my teacher and looked like the wicked witch of the west on the Wizard of Oz.Mrs Lock really disliked me because I guess she thought I was too cute for my own good and her daughter really liked me, So she started using me as an example.Not a good example and not really a bad example ,just an example . I can still remember her hitting me on the head with a pencil shouting," I’m going to make an example out of you". So whatever "that" was.....I was definitely an example.
I am definitely an example today----For sure not because of ---but most likely in spite of--Mrs. Lock and The principals office.
The way I live My life ,I strive to be, for my children, a good example. An example for my daughters to look to when thy want to see the practicality in the way we look at life.
The attitude of an achiever
The never say die perseverance
The finding the silver lining in all things
The looking for the good ,in things and people
The example of love
After all I was cute and sweet enough to get kissed in the first grade.
Dern that Sue Ellen Arnold.
You see there was this other girl named Sue Ellen Arnold who really liked me . She saw Vickie kissing me and she just went crazy. She ran into the school and told the teacher Mrs. Humphries.Mrs Humphries, not really knowing how to handle a situation like this (after all she was just a first grade teacher ) These things weren’t suppose to become an issue until at least junior high, so they thought. Went straight to the principals office .
I can still remember that long walk up that long staircase,the fear the shame.The principal told me to never do it again, mentioned something about reform school, and no summer vacation, I do know I was scared and promised to never let it happen again.
Lucky for me the principal was transferred before my Third grade school year and apparently never recorded that trial proceedings as the principal we had for that year apparently knew nothing off it , or I would have been in big trouble when , This cute girl named Debbie Lock moved to our school.
Well actually her mom ended up being my teacher and looked like the wicked witch of the west on the Wizard of Oz.Mrs Lock really disliked me because I guess she thought I was too cute for my own good and her daughter really liked me, So she started using me as an example.Not a good example and not really a bad example ,just an example . I can still remember her hitting me on the head with a pencil shouting," I’m going to make an example out of you". So whatever "that" was.....I was definitely an example.
I am definitely an example today----For sure not because of ---but most likely in spite of--Mrs. Lock and The principals office.
The way I live My life ,I strive to be, for my children, a good example. An example for my daughters to look to when thy want to see the practicality in the way we look at life.
The attitude of an achiever
The never say die perseverance
The finding the silver lining in all things
The looking for the good ,in things and people
The example of love
After all I was cute and sweet enough to get kissed in the first grade.
Dern that Sue Ellen Arnold.
Late Night Ride
Late Night Ride To The Cemetery-- By David Shriver
When I was fourteen years old, my cousin Allen was seventeen. Because of the fact we only lived a mile and a half from each other, and the fact that we were only sons, surrounded by sisters, we grew up with the bond of brothers. I was included in a lot of things with Allen's friends, that no other fourteen year old around had the chance to do.
We were Baptists, and went to the Calvary Baptist Church in Quincy Illinois. On Wed nights, during the summer they would have youth fellowship at one of the members homes this particular Wednesday night was youth fellowship at My uncle Russ's so I got to go.
Baptist at that time or should I say Baptist that went to our church, frowned upon a lot of things ,and picked up some kind of evil conitation,from things that other people, didn't see apparently or just didn't let bother them. Going to movies, dancing, public displays of affection(that means what Pam Hess and I were doing in the back of the church bus)So as any conscientious farm kids would do we found ways to circumvent, and get around all the restrictions and still have a good time.
I remember one of the older kids name was Dean Jinks. He had a big 1957 Plymouth Fury with loud pipes and was always fun to be around. Dean and my cousin Allen started daring some of the girls to come along down to the cemetery . They explained that at the cemetery, was a mausoleum and inside the mausoleum was a casket with a glass top in it so you could see that skeleton. We scurried around, came up with several flashlights, and I think we had fifteen kids in that Plymouth .Off to the cemetery we went, all laughing and looking foreword to scaring the girls.
We parked in the back of the cemetery and walked single file down to the mausoleum. When we got to the front of it you could see that it had an ,old.wooden door that was barely on its hinges. Everyone crowded around the door and Allen said ok I'm going to Yank it open get ready with the flashlights.
The door was opened, and Dean jumped to the front of everyone crowded around the doorway trying to look inside. Dean pointed his high beam flashlight into the pitch blackness of the mousolesm,and everyone saw someone standing inside there looking back at them. Dean let out a horrible scream, the girls all started screaming, It was pure terror, everyone was running tripping over each other trying to get away and back to the car.
A couple days before My cousin Allen had found a floor length mirror, that someone had thrown away and thought of the perfect place to put it.
When I was fourteen years old, my cousin Allen was seventeen. Because of the fact we only lived a mile and a half from each other, and the fact that we were only sons, surrounded by sisters, we grew up with the bond of brothers. I was included in a lot of things with Allen's friends, that no other fourteen year old around had the chance to do.
We were Baptists, and went to the Calvary Baptist Church in Quincy Illinois. On Wed nights, during the summer they would have youth fellowship at one of the members homes this particular Wednesday night was youth fellowship at My uncle Russ's so I got to go.
Baptist at that time or should I say Baptist that went to our church, frowned upon a lot of things ,and picked up some kind of evil conitation,from things that other people, didn't see apparently or just didn't let bother them. Going to movies, dancing, public displays of affection(that means what Pam Hess and I were doing in the back of the church bus)So as any conscientious farm kids would do we found ways to circumvent, and get around all the restrictions and still have a good time.
I remember one of the older kids name was Dean Jinks. He had a big 1957 Plymouth Fury with loud pipes and was always fun to be around. Dean and my cousin Allen started daring some of the girls to come along down to the cemetery . They explained that at the cemetery, was a mausoleum and inside the mausoleum was a casket with a glass top in it so you could see that skeleton. We scurried around, came up with several flashlights, and I think we had fifteen kids in that Plymouth .Off to the cemetery we went, all laughing and looking foreword to scaring the girls.
We parked in the back of the cemetery and walked single file down to the mausoleum. When we got to the front of it you could see that it had an ,old.wooden door that was barely on its hinges. Everyone crowded around the door and Allen said ok I'm going to Yank it open get ready with the flashlights.
The door was opened, and Dean jumped to the front of everyone crowded around the doorway trying to look inside. Dean pointed his high beam flashlight into the pitch blackness of the mousolesm,and everyone saw someone standing inside there looking back at them. Dean let out a horrible scream, the girls all started screaming, It was pure terror, everyone was running tripping over each other trying to get away and back to the car.
A couple days before My cousin Allen had found a floor length mirror, that someone had thrown away and thought of the perfect place to put it.
Ornery and Vinegar
ORNERY AND VINEGAR By David Shriver
When I was only four or five years old, I was over at my Grandma and grandpa's house and while playing outside I stubbed my toe on the sidewalk in front of their house. Of course I was crying and carrying on so my grandma came out and said she would go get something to make it better .After a while She came back outside with a pan half full of vinegar and held my foot down in it.
Now this was in the early fifties, and apparently people back then didn't know what we know now of chemical makeup of different things so apparently my grandma didn't know that she was submersing my bloodied toe in acid. And she must not have known that acid on an open wound would be unbearably painful. Unbearable pain at an early age ,or I guess any age, is an unforgettable experience. Well as I recall my Dad thought the whole thing rather humorous, or so I remembered.
When I was a little older, one day, my dad, while mowing the grass hit a clothes hanger with the mower and a piece of the hanger hit him in the leg. My mom had put wire clothes hangers ,stuck in the ground around her flower garden to keep the dogs out of her flowers. And my dad not seeing one hit it with the mower. Well my mom doctored it and it seemed like it just wouldn't get better. Then one morning my dad woke up and a blue line was going up his leg, Blood poisoning ;off to the doctor for tetanus ,and penicillin shots. My dad was going to be ok but was suppose to stay in bed for a few days. So my dad was in the bedroom my mom was in the kitchen and I said" Daddy says he wants you to put some vinegar on his leg"
My mom poured some vinegar in a little dish and got some sterile cloth and headed for the bedroom as I headed for the back door .I heard my dad yell HEY WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME KILL ME, I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK!--- as I ran for the barn.
When I was only four or five years old, I was over at my Grandma and grandpa's house and while playing outside I stubbed my toe on the sidewalk in front of their house. Of course I was crying and carrying on so my grandma came out and said she would go get something to make it better .After a while She came back outside with a pan half full of vinegar and held my foot down in it.
Now this was in the early fifties, and apparently people back then didn't know what we know now of chemical makeup of different things so apparently my grandma didn't know that she was submersing my bloodied toe in acid. And she must not have known that acid on an open wound would be unbearably painful. Unbearable pain at an early age ,or I guess any age, is an unforgettable experience. Well as I recall my Dad thought the whole thing rather humorous, or so I remembered.
When I was a little older, one day, my dad, while mowing the grass hit a clothes hanger with the mower and a piece of the hanger hit him in the leg. My mom had put wire clothes hangers ,stuck in the ground around her flower garden to keep the dogs out of her flowers. And my dad not seeing one hit it with the mower. Well my mom doctored it and it seemed like it just wouldn't get better. Then one morning my dad woke up and a blue line was going up his leg, Blood poisoning ;off to the doctor for tetanus ,and penicillin shots. My dad was going to be ok but was suppose to stay in bed for a few days. So my dad was in the bedroom my mom was in the kitchen and I said" Daddy says he wants you to put some vinegar on his leg"
My mom poured some vinegar in a little dish and got some sterile cloth and headed for the bedroom as I headed for the back door .I heard my dad yell HEY WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO DO TO ME KILL ME, I ALMOST HAD A HEART ATTACK!--- as I ran for the barn.
My Cousin and the Movies
My cousin and the movies By David Shriver
When I was about seven years old my cousin Allen was 10.Being much older than myself he of course was allowed to do a lot more than me; and one of the things he got to do, was go to the movies with his friends. This worked out pretty well, as the next week at some point ,I would get a complete rundown and vivid description of what went on in which ever movie he happened to go to that week. Well actually I guess he kind of acted out certain scenes for realism sake Not saying he got to go to a movie every week;, no we were just farm kids ,maybe once a month if he was lucky. I think the first movie I remember hearing about was Robin Hood .Allen was really impressed by the scene where Robin Hood fought Friar Tuck on the log with poles Kind of like pugal sticks. Well Allen had to show me so we found a couple of good sized pugal sticks in the woods and started battling. It didn't take long for me to be losing big time and when I went home with mashed fingers and a knot on the back of my head ;My mom wouldn't let me play with him for a week.
The next movie as I recall was Ben Hur ;Of course everyone knows about the chariot race well seems we had a John Deere grain drill with a wood platform on the back intended for use to stand on while filling the drill from sacks of grain. But also it was a cool place to ride for a couple of farm kids. Well Allen has a great idea ;lets get some gypsum weeds, and we can have the battle of the grain drill while my Uncle is pulling it across the field. Gypsum weeds are these weeds that grow in the Mississippi river bottom with big ole thorny balls on them the size of golf balls. Needless to say it didn't take one trip across the field to produce a bloody mess in the loser of the battle, and when I went home my mom was ticked I wasn't allowed to play with my cousin for two weeks.
Then Allen and his friends went to see Tarzan I should have stayed away. Over at Allen's house he had a barn with two hay mows; one on each side ,with an area in the middle large enough to park tractors and equipment .There were two ropes hanging from the center beam So Allen has this great Idea , we could each grab a rope, One get in one hay mow the other in the other hay mow swing over to the other side with one little addition. We would try to knock the other one off on our way across. As my older cousin out weighed me by probably 80 lbs You can only guess the outcome .But I survived that and High School football, College football, and Viet Nam I guess all the preparation for life's hard knocks paid off. Today my cousin Allen is the pastor of a church in Missoula Montana Still helping people make preparations for life however I don't think he goes to many movies anymore Thank God.
When I was about seven years old my cousin Allen was 10.Being much older than myself he of course was allowed to do a lot more than me; and one of the things he got to do, was go to the movies with his friends. This worked out pretty well, as the next week at some point ,I would get a complete rundown and vivid description of what went on in which ever movie he happened to go to that week. Well actually I guess he kind of acted out certain scenes for realism sake Not saying he got to go to a movie every week;, no we were just farm kids ,maybe once a month if he was lucky. I think the first movie I remember hearing about was Robin Hood .Allen was really impressed by the scene where Robin Hood fought Friar Tuck on the log with poles Kind of like pugal sticks. Well Allen had to show me so we found a couple of good sized pugal sticks in the woods and started battling. It didn't take long for me to be losing big time and when I went home with mashed fingers and a knot on the back of my head ;My mom wouldn't let me play with him for a week.
The next movie as I recall was Ben Hur ;Of course everyone knows about the chariot race well seems we had a John Deere grain drill with a wood platform on the back intended for use to stand on while filling the drill from sacks of grain. But also it was a cool place to ride for a couple of farm kids. Well Allen has a great idea ;lets get some gypsum weeds, and we can have the battle of the grain drill while my Uncle is pulling it across the field. Gypsum weeds are these weeds that grow in the Mississippi river bottom with big ole thorny balls on them the size of golf balls. Needless to say it didn't take one trip across the field to produce a bloody mess in the loser of the battle, and when I went home my mom was ticked I wasn't allowed to play with my cousin for two weeks.
Then Allen and his friends went to see Tarzan I should have stayed away. Over at Allen's house he had a barn with two hay mows; one on each side ,with an area in the middle large enough to park tractors and equipment .There were two ropes hanging from the center beam So Allen has this great Idea , we could each grab a rope, One get in one hay mow the other in the other hay mow swing over to the other side with one little addition. We would try to knock the other one off on our way across. As my older cousin out weighed me by probably 80 lbs You can only guess the outcome .But I survived that and High School football, College football, and Viet Nam I guess all the preparation for life's hard knocks paid off. Today my cousin Allen is the pastor of a church in Missoula Montana Still helping people make preparations for life however I don't think he goes to many movies anymore Thank God.
The Runner
Where Barbara Mandrel was country when country wasn't cool :I was a runner when running was yet to be cool.I played football my freshman year of high school but the summer between my freshman and sophomore years my family moved to a town that didn't have football.With the Idea of playing football in college I decided that bailing hay in the summers and track in the spring would be my training plan .I did ok at track,had the school record in the 440yd but my junior year they came out with cross country and compared to flat out for a quarter mile It seemed almost easy.
My junior year I ran pretty much 2nd or 3rd on our team although we didn't do to well as a team,first year and all. I had a close friend(Iwas dating his sister) Jim Preston--Built like a runner about 6ft 2inches and a long stride:We started training together---Every morning at six I,d get up put my weights on my ankles,Pair of cutoffs and run up to the school,where I would meet jim--And we would run two miles crawl in the school basement window take a shower,go home and get ready for school.Then after school back on with the weights and another two miles .The only time I ran without weights was at a meet.And I started getting better I was beating Jim and soon beating the Senior that had dominated up to that point.By my senior year I had my training down pat Jim had graduated but when cross country time came around said you ready Ill meet you in the morning. So we ran: me with my weights jim right along with me.I won the first meet of the year ,then the second third fourth,I developed a trade mark kick at the last 50yds that was pretty close to a 50 yd sprint It was very demoralizing to the guys I would blow by to go on for the win.I ended up undefeated for the entire year up until the last meet. It was with Coldwater and coach told me their best runner ran 2nd at state last year.When we walked up to the start he came over to wish me luck;I was totally unprepared as his n6ft 6 frame said good luck son to my 5ft 8inch halfback looking self.He totally physiqued me out.Would you believe I finished third---Because I fell into the trap of thinking I couldn't beat him.In reality If I had run my normal time I would have beaten him but I didn't.The only reason I excelled was the fact that
I had a goal--To play college football---
I trained 120%
I never quit
I didn't know a short guy couldn't excel at cross country.
The year was 1967 I went on to play football at Heidleburg college as a walk on and un like Rudy I played
My cross country school record time still stands today after 40 years
My junior year I ran pretty much 2nd or 3rd on our team although we didn't do to well as a team,first year and all. I had a close friend(Iwas dating his sister) Jim Preston--Built like a runner about 6ft 2inches and a long stride:We started training together---Every morning at six I,d get up put my weights on my ankles,Pair of cutoffs and run up to the school,where I would meet jim--And we would run two miles crawl in the school basement window take a shower,go home and get ready for school.Then after school back on with the weights and another two miles .The only time I ran without weights was at a meet.And I started getting better I was beating Jim and soon beating the Senior that had dominated up to that point.By my senior year I had my training down pat Jim had graduated but when cross country time came around said you ready Ill meet you in the morning. So we ran: me with my weights jim right along with me.I won the first meet of the year ,then the second third fourth,I developed a trade mark kick at the last 50yds that was pretty close to a 50 yd sprint It was very demoralizing to the guys I would blow by to go on for the win.I ended up undefeated for the entire year up until the last meet. It was with Coldwater and coach told me their best runner ran 2nd at state last year.When we walked up to the start he came over to wish me luck;I was totally unprepared as his n6ft 6 frame said good luck son to my 5ft 8inch halfback looking self.He totally physiqued me out.Would you believe I finished third---Because I fell into the trap of thinking I couldn't beat him.In reality If I had run my normal time I would have beaten him but I didn't.The only reason I excelled was the fact that
I had a goal--To play college football---
I trained 120%
I never quit
I didn't know a short guy couldn't excel at cross country.
The year was 1967 I went on to play football at Heidleburg college as a walk on and un like Rudy I played
My cross country school record time still stands today after 40 years
Lessons From the Gumbo
Lessons From The Gumbo
When I read John Grishoms The Painted House I saw so much similarity between my growing up in the River bottoms of Illinois and his in Arkansas.His of course took place before I was born but the river is timeless. Grishams family grew cotten Ours grew soybeans;and thats where our story begins.
My dad said that a farmer is judged by the straightness of his planted rows and the cleanliness of his bean field.Well his rows were always straight as an arrow and you didn't see a weed in our bean fields thanks in no small part to me starting when I was about 6 years old .Every summer my Dad would get some old broom handles and bolt a sickle blade to the end; and that would be your weeding stick for the summer.My Dad would roust me out of bed and down to the bottoms we would go 'weeding four rows at a time and our fiels were a half mile long most of the time you would get to the end turn around and get back to the truck by noon then eat the lunch my mom had made us; then one more round and it would be dark. Time to go home sleep and again tomorrow.We would listen to the St Louis Cardinals on the truck radio on the way home In fact I saw my first world series of many on the radio.My Dad didn't talk about the war much but every once in awhile When it was just him and me He would start talking as we worked cutting them dern weeds.I heard about flying fighter planes in North Africa All about p51 Mustangs,british spitfires,P38 called the flying tigers My dad flew all of them. He told me of flying to see my mom one sunday afternoon from st Louis The whole town came out to see him off;and when he took off he circled around and buzzed the airport just a few feet off the ground He laughed and said you should of seen them run.He got lost in the fog in Italy kept losing altitude pulled the stick back still dropping untill he dropped out of the clouds in a valley he was upside down and didn't know it ;He just rolled it over and followed the valley. He said God was definately his copilot .
I always had a great dislike for weeding beans,the sweat in your eyes.had to go barefoot because the black gumbo would stick to shoes and made you ten foot high So I didn't wear shoes much in the sommer (I didn't mind that much) Bugs that would bite and sting and the hotter and madder you got the more they would bite and sting Fighting through weeds a lot taller than me facing it seemed like unsurmountable challenges every day all day
But i'd give almost anything to spend a day in the bean field with my Dad
When I read John Grishoms The Painted House I saw so much similarity between my growing up in the River bottoms of Illinois and his in Arkansas.His of course took place before I was born but the river is timeless. Grishams family grew cotten Ours grew soybeans;and thats where our story begins.
My dad said that a farmer is judged by the straightness of his planted rows and the cleanliness of his bean field.Well his rows were always straight as an arrow and you didn't see a weed in our bean fields thanks in no small part to me starting when I was about 6 years old .Every summer my Dad would get some old broom handles and bolt a sickle blade to the end; and that would be your weeding stick for the summer.My Dad would roust me out of bed and down to the bottoms we would go 'weeding four rows at a time and our fiels were a half mile long most of the time you would get to the end turn around and get back to the truck by noon then eat the lunch my mom had made us; then one more round and it would be dark. Time to go home sleep and again tomorrow.We would listen to the St Louis Cardinals on the truck radio on the way home In fact I saw my first world series of many on the radio.My Dad didn't talk about the war much but every once in awhile When it was just him and me He would start talking as we worked cutting them dern weeds.I heard about flying fighter planes in North Africa All about p51 Mustangs,british spitfires,P38 called the flying tigers My dad flew all of them. He told me of flying to see my mom one sunday afternoon from st Louis The whole town came out to see him off;and when he took off he circled around and buzzed the airport just a few feet off the ground He laughed and said you should of seen them run.He got lost in the fog in Italy kept losing altitude pulled the stick back still dropping untill he dropped out of the clouds in a valley he was upside down and didn't know it ;He just rolled it over and followed the valley. He said God was definately his copilot .
I always had a great dislike for weeding beans,the sweat in your eyes.had to go barefoot because the black gumbo would stick to shoes and made you ten foot high So I didn't wear shoes much in the sommer (I didn't mind that much) Bugs that would bite and sting and the hotter and madder you got the more they would bite and sting Fighting through weeds a lot taller than me facing it seemed like unsurmountable challenges every day all day
But i'd give almost anything to spend a day in the bean field with my Dad
Delta Gumbo Ramblings
Bean Field ramblings
I grew up along the Mississippi River just outside Ursa Illinois.our family had farmed for three generations that I was aware of and continues upon the tradition.I started working out in the field running a tractor(A John Deere Model A)When I was six years old . My dad had to slide a pipe down the clutch handle to give me leverage enough to engage and disengage it.The running of machinery came second nature to me and I enjoyed the command of power however one job that I did not care for and had little to do with any mechanization,was weeding soybeans.
Around middle june into the heat of August my Dad would roust me up with A (up and Ad am my Merrie lads rise and shine) For one thing I felt anything but Merrie at 5:30 in the morning;For another the term lads always gave me visions of frenchies in tights and was anything but what a farm boy was interested in. We would set off before light down into the bottoms( The Mississippi river bottoms was called simply the bottoms)My dad had taken some old broom handles and bolted a blade from a sycle on the end and these served as the best weed cutters you could find ;Alot lighter than a hoe and alot sharper.Well the early morning dew as well as any moisture from rains totally eliminated shoes as the gumbo would cake on your bare feet forget about shoes.Our rows were about one half mile long so weeding four rows would take you to the end and back for lunch then end and back go home do the chores (feed the animals) eat supper go to bed so you could do it again in the morning.
My Dad would tell me stories of his flying p51 mustangs in Europe during ww11 The only time he spoke of those things.so-- The job I dreaded the most the hardest hottest and most tiring,Ended up being my sweetest memories
I grew up along the Mississippi River just outside Ursa Illinois.our family had farmed for three generations that I was aware of and continues upon the tradition.I started working out in the field running a tractor(A John Deere Model A)When I was six years old . My dad had to slide a pipe down the clutch handle to give me leverage enough to engage and disengage it.The running of machinery came second nature to me and I enjoyed the command of power however one job that I did not care for and had little to do with any mechanization,was weeding soybeans.
Around middle june into the heat of August my Dad would roust me up with A (up and Ad am my Merrie lads rise and shine) For one thing I felt anything but Merrie at 5:30 in the morning;For another the term lads always gave me visions of frenchies in tights and was anything but what a farm boy was interested in. We would set off before light down into the bottoms( The Mississippi river bottoms was called simply the bottoms)My dad had taken some old broom handles and bolted a blade from a sycle on the end and these served as the best weed cutters you could find ;Alot lighter than a hoe and alot sharper.Well the early morning dew as well as any moisture from rains totally eliminated shoes as the gumbo would cake on your bare feet forget about shoes.Our rows were about one half mile long so weeding four rows would take you to the end and back for lunch then end and back go home do the chores (feed the animals) eat supper go to bed so you could do it again in the morning.
My Dad would tell me stories of his flying p51 mustangs in Europe during ww11 The only time he spoke of those things.so-- The job I dreaded the most the hardest hottest and most tiring,Ended up being my sweetest memories
Plow the Field
Plow The Field By David Shriver
When my youngest grandson was just a baby, I bought him his first tractor. Understood that I came from a long line of farmers ,to check profession down my family tree it was a straight limb ,of agriculture. This particular tractor was not just any run of the mill generic type ,Oh no. John Deere of course, with a very unique feature, in that it had a button that when pushed a very authoritative voice (Which I thought sounded like my Dad ) said "plow the field". When I say it sounded authoritative like my Dad, understand that my Dad was an Air Force Captain in WW11 When my dad said to do something there was no mistake, no question and definitely no hesitation. I didn't even have to ask how high I already knew the answer.
I guess even at a young age and maybe especially at a young age we need to teach A positive mental attitude.To plow the field meant lets get the job done.
To me, that tractor stood for the fundamental keys to my parents successes ,work ethic, and spirit, handed down from their parents ,and down the line. The guiding force that helped settled the west, Made farms and ranches out of the endless prarie,And kept families together throughout the hard times which were many.
The weak turn back and the faithful plow in. Nothing states the intention of going ahead better than plowing .The initial preparation of the ground for the planting of the seed. Plowing was the initial tillage in the preparation of the seedbed. To plant a crop you had to prepare the seedbed so that it was ready for the seed Any thought of quitting, any thought of turning back, was completely squelched as soon as you plowed the field.
Indecision, and hesitation are stopped cold with the affirmation "Plow the field"
What good advice for anyone who has lost there way "Plow the field"
What do you do when times get rough "Plow the field"
From marriage counseling to how to win a football game. To making it through rough times in Real Estate.Stop everything, put everything in perspective, and start at the beginning with the basics . Lets not sit around lets get busy and" Plow the field
When my youngest grandson was just a baby, I bought him his first tractor. Understood that I came from a long line of farmers ,to check profession down my family tree it was a straight limb ,of agriculture. This particular tractor was not just any run of the mill generic type ,Oh no. John Deere of course, with a very unique feature, in that it had a button that when pushed a very authoritative voice (Which I thought sounded like my Dad ) said "plow the field". When I say it sounded authoritative like my Dad, understand that my Dad was an Air Force Captain in WW11 When my dad said to do something there was no mistake, no question and definitely no hesitation. I didn't even have to ask how high I already knew the answer.
I guess even at a young age and maybe especially at a young age we need to teach A positive mental attitude.To plow the field meant lets get the job done.
To me, that tractor stood for the fundamental keys to my parents successes ,work ethic, and spirit, handed down from their parents ,and down the line. The guiding force that helped settled the west, Made farms and ranches out of the endless prarie,And kept families together throughout the hard times which were many.
The weak turn back and the faithful plow in. Nothing states the intention of going ahead better than plowing .The initial preparation of the ground for the planting of the seed. Plowing was the initial tillage in the preparation of the seedbed. To plant a crop you had to prepare the seedbed so that it was ready for the seed Any thought of quitting, any thought of turning back, was completely squelched as soon as you plowed the field.
Indecision, and hesitation are stopped cold with the affirmation "Plow the field"
What good advice for anyone who has lost there way "Plow the field"
What do you do when times get rough "Plow the field"
From marriage counseling to how to win a football game. To making it through rough times in Real Estate.Stop everything, put everything in perspective, and start at the beginning with the basics . Lets not sit around lets get busy and" Plow the field
Laws of Attraction
Laws of attraction are real
Whether you realize it or not, the Law of Attraction is already working actively in your life right at this moment. The events, opportunities and experiences you are experiencing today were set into motion by the thoughts and actions you‘ve taken previously.
The secret to the Law of Attraction is really about realizing that this law is already active in your life and deciding that you want to deliberately attract things into your life consciously rather than leaving it to the vagaries of your subconscious. This is going to take some effort on your part and if you are trapped in a negative spiral, it is probably going to take a great deal of work to change the patterns of your thinking. You’ll need to monitor your emotions in particular, because it is your emotional state that gives you the clues to the kinds of things your thoughts are attracting to you. With practice, this monitoring will become more routine and you’ll be able to let the negative thoughts go lightly while you move your focus onto the positive.
One of the main differences between the writers of the early 20th century and those who write about the Law of Attraction today is the emphasis on just how much work you need to put into consciously working with it. Many of the new breed of writers suggest that it is easy and that merely thinking about what you want for 20 minutes a day and putting together a vision board or two will get you on the road to prosperity and abundance.
The early New Thought writers such as Wallace Wattles, on the other hand, suggest that you need to do a lot of work and must deliberately take charge of what you are attracting into your life throughout your every waking moment. In the words of Wallace Wattles, echoing a common phrase in Christian,teaching you need to "pray without ceasing". In my opinion, this the correct course to take. And as Napoleon Hill taught; pursue it with a burning desire.Put a lot of work into the Law of Attraction and reap the large rewards. Or put a little work into it and watch the rewards trickle into your life. It's your decision. Reap what you sow.
Whether you realize it or not, the Law of Attraction is already working actively in your life right at this moment. The events, opportunities and experiences you are experiencing today were set into motion by the thoughts and actions you‘ve taken previously.
The secret to the Law of Attraction is really about realizing that this law is already active in your life and deciding that you want to deliberately attract things into your life consciously rather than leaving it to the vagaries of your subconscious. This is going to take some effort on your part and if you are trapped in a negative spiral, it is probably going to take a great deal of work to change the patterns of your thinking. You’ll need to monitor your emotions in particular, because it is your emotional state that gives you the clues to the kinds of things your thoughts are attracting to you. With practice, this monitoring will become more routine and you’ll be able to let the negative thoughts go lightly while you move your focus onto the positive.
One of the main differences between the writers of the early 20th century and those who write about the Law of Attraction today is the emphasis on just how much work you need to put into consciously working with it. Many of the new breed of writers suggest that it is easy and that merely thinking about what you want for 20 minutes a day and putting together a vision board or two will get you on the road to prosperity and abundance.
The early New Thought writers such as Wallace Wattles, on the other hand, suggest that you need to do a lot of work and must deliberately take charge of what you are attracting into your life throughout your every waking moment. In the words of Wallace Wattles, echoing a common phrase in Christian,teaching you need to "pray without ceasing". In my opinion, this the correct course to take. And as Napoleon Hill taught; pursue it with a burning desire.Put a lot of work into the Law of Attraction and reap the large rewards. Or put a little work into it and watch the rewards trickle into your life. It's your decision. Reap what you sow.
Making the Best
Making the best of a bad situation
When you come home for the 4th of July weekend and your wife of 20 years has decided that her life and yours are going in different directions and feels we should sell the house so that she can get her half and go our separate ways : It almost could ruin your weekend until you think about it in a positive way.
Other than the huge hit you are going to experience on the house thing think about the opportunity's for free expression, the creativity you will be able to make a part of your life,once again.Purity of purpose wow what a concept.No one telling you your ideas are foolish ,no more ridicule over your positive attitude in all things.almost a new life awaiting.
I get excited about new ideas, new opportunities,and belief in a happy ending ,if your thoughts are such that attract those things
Some one told me years ago : the best thing that could happen to a person would be for them to lose everything before they reached thirty. That way they could go on with the rest of their life being fearless.I guess really a person doesn't have to lose everything ,It's all about not thinking about loss:but instead thinking about gain and being grateful for all good things in your life. Reality begins anew every day it is only what we think, only how we perceive things, every day that make it real.
When you come home for the 4th of July weekend and your wife of 20 years has decided that her life and yours are going in different directions and feels we should sell the house so that she can get her half and go our separate ways : It almost could ruin your weekend until you think about it in a positive way.
Other than the huge hit you are going to experience on the house thing think about the opportunity's for free expression, the creativity you will be able to make a part of your life,once again.Purity of purpose wow what a concept.No one telling you your ideas are foolish ,no more ridicule over your positive attitude in all things.almost a new life awaiting.
I get excited about new ideas, new opportunities,and belief in a happy ending ,if your thoughts are such that attract those things
Some one told me years ago : the best thing that could happen to a person would be for them to lose everything before they reached thirty. That way they could go on with the rest of their life being fearless.I guess really a person doesn't have to lose everything ,It's all about not thinking about loss:but instead thinking about gain and being grateful for all good things in your life. Reality begins anew every day it is only what we think, only how we perceive things, every day that make it real.
Change Course
A time to change course in my direction
By David Shriver
When I see defeat upon the horizon showing its ugly head My response that I have made a part of my physic Is to not quit, not retreat but change course in my direction all ways gravitating toward my goal.I was listening to Bob Seger last night and caught the significance of his song "running against the wind"To apply toward what has been going on with my life .It seems as though I have been running against the wind all my life It is just as we get older,It is a lot tougher.Some real guidelines for focusing on the prize I have found.
1. Defeat your fears with actions toward doing more of what you love.
2. Seek out a support network of people who will honor your integrity and who will believe in you.
3. Take a stand about something you believe in.
4. Create your own work around your passions.
5. Don't let external views get in the way.
6. Get creative about how to make a living doing what you love.
7. Downscale where possible to make the journey smoother.
8. Do something small in your passions each day.
9. Live with the intention that you will create work for yourself that is both fulfilling and meaningful.
10. Smile a lot, laugh a lot and be grateful for the life you have now.
By David Shriver
When I see defeat upon the horizon showing its ugly head My response that I have made a part of my physic Is to not quit, not retreat but change course in my direction all ways gravitating toward my goal.I was listening to Bob Seger last night and caught the significance of his song "running against the wind"To apply toward what has been going on with my life .It seems as though I have been running against the wind all my life It is just as we get older,It is a lot tougher.Some real guidelines for focusing on the prize I have found.
1. Defeat your fears with actions toward doing more of what you love.
2. Seek out a support network of people who will honor your integrity and who will believe in you.
3. Take a stand about something you believe in.
4. Create your own work around your passions.
5. Don't let external views get in the way.
6. Get creative about how to make a living doing what you love.
7. Downscale where possible to make the journey smoother.
8. Do something small in your passions each day.
9. Live with the intention that you will create work for yourself that is both fulfilling and meaningful.
10. Smile a lot, laugh a lot and be grateful for the life you have now.
A Higher Plane: Mountain Dreamer
A higher plane By David Shriver
There is a dimension (not the twilight zone) Where we as humans are elevated beyond our normal selves. Napolian Hill called it "a higher Plane"
I have been there, when your hot your hot, you are also on a higher level of consciousness, or on a higher plane.
You have heard of the guy who picks the car up to free someone trapped, and the woman who runs for help at Olympic record speed. Feats that under normal circumstances would have been impossible.
If someone could remain on that plane of thought for any extended period of time, the things you could do. There are certain things that trigger this higher consciousness. Fear,anger,and love. Love being I believe the strongest.
I took some time off one summer and decided that I wanted to learn how to sell cars.
I got a job at A Ford dealership and along with four other newbees we were trained. I was muddling along not having a very good close, ratio ,I really had Issues with the arrogant,rude,condescending asst. sales manager, to the point where one morning I walked in with the attitude that this wasn't a Job this was a joke. I had decided the first degrading remark out of the asst. sales managers mouth I was going to knock him into next week, pick up my things and go home. A funny thing happened, Since I completely lost all caring I also lost all nervousness. The first people that came in I went up and talked to them as if I had known them all my life. They bought. The next the same until at the end of the day the asst. manager had all the sales people standing at the windows watching me." do my majic"He started using me as a training tool for the others. I was on a higher plane of thought.
In Real Estate, The pure satisfaction of knowing you are helping people, along with a pureness of heart, can lift you up into a higher plane. Find someone that you can establish as a kindred spirit, where your mind and theirs work together as one . This is real power.
I was on a social site and received the following quote, and was asked if it inspired me .
This is what lifts us up.
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
by
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
There is a dimension (not the twilight zone) Where we as humans are elevated beyond our normal selves. Napolian Hill called it "a higher Plane"
I have been there, when your hot your hot, you are also on a higher level of consciousness, or on a higher plane.
You have heard of the guy who picks the car up to free someone trapped, and the woman who runs for help at Olympic record speed. Feats that under normal circumstances would have been impossible.
If someone could remain on that plane of thought for any extended period of time, the things you could do. There are certain things that trigger this higher consciousness. Fear,anger,and love. Love being I believe the strongest.
I took some time off one summer and decided that I wanted to learn how to sell cars.
I got a job at A Ford dealership and along with four other newbees we were trained. I was muddling along not having a very good close, ratio ,I really had Issues with the arrogant,rude,condescending asst. sales manager, to the point where one morning I walked in with the attitude that this wasn't a Job this was a joke. I had decided the first degrading remark out of the asst. sales managers mouth I was going to knock him into next week, pick up my things and go home. A funny thing happened, Since I completely lost all caring I also lost all nervousness. The first people that came in I went up and talked to them as if I had known them all my life. They bought. The next the same until at the end of the day the asst. manager had all the sales people standing at the windows watching me." do my majic"He started using me as a training tool for the others. I was on a higher plane of thought.
In Real Estate, The pure satisfaction of knowing you are helping people, along with a pureness of heart, can lift you up into a higher plane. Find someone that you can establish as a kindred spirit, where your mind and theirs work together as one . This is real power.
I was on a social site and received the following quote, and was asked if it inspired me .
This is what lifts us up.
It doesn't interest me what you do for a living. I want to know what you ache for, and if you dare to dream of meeting your heart's longing.
It doesn't interest me how old you are. I want to know if you will risk looking like a fool for love, for your dream, for the adventure of being alive.
It doesn't interest me what planets are squaring your moon. I want to know if you have touched the center of your own sorrow, if you have been opened by life's betrayals or have become shriveled and closed from fear of further pain! I want to know if you can sit with pain, mine or your own, without moving to hide it or fade it, or fix it.
I want to know if you can be with joy, mine or your own, if you can dance with wildness and let the ecstasy fill you to the tips of your fingers and toes without cautioning us to be careful, to be realistic, to remember the limitations of being human.
It doesn't interest me if the story you are telling me is true. I want to know if you can disappoint another to be true to yourself; if you can bear the accusation of betrayal and not betray your own soul; if you can be faithless and therefore trustworthy.
I want to know if you can see beauty even when it's not pretty, every day, and if you can source your own life from its presence.
I want to know if you can live with failure, yours and mine, and still stand on the edge of the lake and shout to the silver of the full moon, "Yes!"
It doesn't interest me to know where you live or how much money you have. I want to know if you can get up, after the night of grief and despair, weary and bruised to the bone, and do what needs to be done to feed the children.
It doesn't interest me who you know or how you came to be here. I want to know if you will stand in the center of the fire with me and not shrink back.
It doesn't interest me where or what or with whom you have studied. I want to know what sustains you, from the inside, when all else falls away.
I want to know if you can be alone with yourself and if you truly like the company you keep in the empty moments.
by
Oriah Mountain Dreamer
Thunder and Lightning
Thunder and lightning
On my site on myspace I have a line from a song written by John Prine ;If dreams were thunder --lightning was desire This old house would have burned down a long time ago. These words hit home to me and have a place in my being .It wasn't until last week A friend commented on it and I realized that he had totally lost the meaning and symbolism that make the words so special to me.So here is my interpretation or actually how I see the words.
I see a married couple ;who have struggled through life and have little to show for their efforts other than A deep love for each other.But if dreams were thunder---Oh the dreams they each had through the years,---Lightning was desire--the desire to succeed,the desire to travel the desire to raise their children right,the desire to be there for each other as they both grew old,Yes if these desires had been lightning the intensity would have surely burned the house down .And through out their lives everything comes full circle and they have the answer to their dreams and the fruits of their desire in each other. Dreams and desire are beginnings of what builds relationships and fortune's.
On my site on myspace I have a line from a song written by John Prine ;If dreams were thunder --lightning was desire This old house would have burned down a long time ago. These words hit home to me and have a place in my being .It wasn't until last week A friend commented on it and I realized that he had totally lost the meaning and symbolism that make the words so special to me.So here is my interpretation or actually how I see the words.
I see a married couple ;who have struggled through life and have little to show for their efforts other than A deep love for each other.But if dreams were thunder---Oh the dreams they each had through the years,---Lightning was desire--the desire to succeed,the desire to travel the desire to raise their children right,the desire to be there for each other as they both grew old,Yes if these desires had been lightning the intensity would have surely burned the house down .And through out their lives everything comes full circle and they have the answer to their dreams and the fruits of their desire in each other. Dreams and desire are beginnings of what builds relationships and fortune's.
Taking Control of the Subconcious
TAKING CONTROL OF YOUR SUBCONSCIOUS
Your conscious is only between about 10% of your mind, the rest of it is what is known as your subconscious. I know that would not surprise my teachers I had in school, I think there would probably be some debate of whether I used my entire 10%of my conscious mind at any time during my schooling years..
Your subconscious is the most powerful thing you own, and the most dangerous one. When you hear of people having anxiety attacks this is totally the subconscious mind taking complete control. Throwing an individual into a complete panic for no reason apparent, to anyone ,but that persons subconscious mind.
If you know how to make it work properly, it will do things for you and help you achieve your goals and dreams. The laws of attraction.
If you do not work it properly, it will fight against you on any thing you want to achieve - including being happy. You also will be using the laws of attraction ,but instead of attracting the goodness into your life ,you will be attracting the bad.
Your subconscious has no personal preference for what is happening on the "outside" it only cares how you are dealing with things .(problems,obstacles,challenges).
If you are dealing with them incorrectly, your mind will "quit" on you, and you will lead a miserable life where everything is a struggle and there is little or no hope at all. Where every problem has no answer, all obstacles are insurmountable, and you end up turning from every challenge.
The subconscious mind can be programmed (basically the secret)By dwelling on the good,----seeing the beauty,----and expecting good .We attract ,what our subconscious mind see‘s.. laws of attraction.
Your conscious is only between about 10% of your mind, the rest of it is what is known as your subconscious. I know that would not surprise my teachers I had in school, I think there would probably be some debate of whether I used my entire 10%of my conscious mind at any time during my schooling years..
Your subconscious is the most powerful thing you own, and the most dangerous one. When you hear of people having anxiety attacks this is totally the subconscious mind taking complete control. Throwing an individual into a complete panic for no reason apparent, to anyone ,but that persons subconscious mind.
If you know how to make it work properly, it will do things for you and help you achieve your goals and dreams. The laws of attraction.
If you do not work it properly, it will fight against you on any thing you want to achieve - including being happy. You also will be using the laws of attraction ,but instead of attracting the goodness into your life ,you will be attracting the bad.
Your subconscious has no personal preference for what is happening on the "outside" it only cares how you are dealing with things .(problems,obstacles,challenges).
If you are dealing with them incorrectly, your mind will "quit" on you, and you will lead a miserable life where everything is a struggle and there is little or no hope at all. Where every problem has no answer, all obstacles are insurmountable, and you end up turning from every challenge.
The subconscious mind can be programmed (basically the secret)By dwelling on the good,----seeing the beauty,----and expecting good .We attract ,what our subconscious mind see‘s.. laws of attraction.
A Different way around the Barn
Going A Different Way Around The Barn
By David Shriver
I had stopped in to visit an elderly couple ,who owned a 200 acre farm. In the conversation the possibility of them selling their farm came up ,where as the wife became very emotional and so I dropped the subject for another time. Upon leaving I mentioned possibly stopping in again in a couple days and It was agreed that it would be fine.
I spoke to a couple of my buyers about the possibility of this parcel coming on the market, and at the same time assuring them that It would take delicate handling as emotions were high .
In a couple days I called and set up an appointment to come back out and meet with the nice couple .Everything was going great until I mentioned a Listing agreement and the wife started crying and ran into the kitchen .The husband excused himself and went out to the kitchen to comfort his wife. After she had regained her composure they both came back out into the living room and were apologetic ,I assured them that it was completely understood as I realized the strong ties and memories associated with this two hundred acres. And I had an Idea; Lets not worry about a listing agreement, lets forgo that all together What we will do is write out a purchase agreement stating exactly what a buyer would have to do If they wanted to own this farm.
So I sat at the dining room table with them and they both helped me write out their dream purchase agreement and when we were through I calmly asked them to authorize the agreement on the bottom next to where it says seller. We dated it and I left with my signed purchase agreement telling them Now my work is cut out for me,for now I have to find a buyer. We closed in approximately eighteen days and everyone was happy.So I guess sometimes you do, have to go a different way around the barn.
By David Shriver
I had stopped in to visit an elderly couple ,who owned a 200 acre farm. In the conversation the possibility of them selling their farm came up ,where as the wife became very emotional and so I dropped the subject for another time. Upon leaving I mentioned possibly stopping in again in a couple days and It was agreed that it would be fine.
I spoke to a couple of my buyers about the possibility of this parcel coming on the market, and at the same time assuring them that It would take delicate handling as emotions were high .
In a couple days I called and set up an appointment to come back out and meet with the nice couple .Everything was going great until I mentioned a Listing agreement and the wife started crying and ran into the kitchen .The husband excused himself and went out to the kitchen to comfort his wife. After she had regained her composure they both came back out into the living room and were apologetic ,I assured them that it was completely understood as I realized the strong ties and memories associated with this two hundred acres. And I had an Idea; Lets not worry about a listing agreement, lets forgo that all together What we will do is write out a purchase agreement stating exactly what a buyer would have to do If they wanted to own this farm.
So I sat at the dining room table with them and they both helped me write out their dream purchase agreement and when we were through I calmly asked them to authorize the agreement on the bottom next to where it says seller. We dated it and I left with my signed purchase agreement telling them Now my work is cut out for me,for now I have to find a buyer. We closed in approximately eighteen days and everyone was happy.So I guess sometimes you do, have to go a different way around the barn.
Resourcefulness
Resourcefulness By David Shriver
I guess I was twelve years old when I received my initial lesson on resourcefulness. Now this wasn't a lesson that was in a book, It wasn't handed down by my older cousin ;no this lesson was one I had to figure out all by myself.
You see back then all the farm kids rode the school bus to school, I won't go into this too far but I can remember my oldest daughter explain to me that If she couldn't get a ride to school, she just wasn't going. Well I jumped all over that and forced her to ride the bus,untill the pain I ended up enduring became too great then she rode with a friend, Oh well, Anyway when I rode the bus there was a pecking order in as the older high school boys owned the back of the bus. After being picked up and thrown to the front of the bus I understood this. On our bus route were a family named Vonburg,Of which there were four brothers. Three of the brothers were older and in High School the youngest,Mikey was a year younger than me. A really old way of describing them would be to label them as ruffians which is what they were; bullies.
The older ones started egging on the little brother, saying they didn't think he could whoop me, and Mikey of course rose to the challenge of his older brothers, and started slapping me around. I had been taught not to fight ,and especially never hit a girl or someone younger so I retreated to the seat next to the bus driver.
I was really in a dilemma shrugged it off and when I got home I asked my Dad what I should do; expecting to hear him tell me to stand up for myself under the circumstances. However that was not his reaction at all just the contrary. My Dad went into a tirade about his son becoming a bully, and gangs and violence, now remember this was rural Illinois in the fiftys,So he over reacted some what,and told me that if he ever heard of me getting in a fight I wouldn't get a drivers license until I was twenty one years old and undoubtedly would end up in prison. This was not the helpful advise I was looking for, and was no where close to the world I was living in.
Every day the bus ride to school and back became increasingly intolerable as Mikeys brothers saw I wouldn't fight back and cheered him on.
Then one day I was sitting with my friend who lived in the bottoms, we were talking about my going down to his house and boxing with boxing gloves.Mikey sitting in the seat behind us was listening and spouted off that he aught to come down and beat us both up .It was like I could see divine grace showering around me as I said that would be a great idea ,he could finally beat me up. So we set it up for that night after school.
We all met at my friend house and went into the barn ,had an area all set up with old horse harness making a make shift ring, Of course Mikey wanted to waste no time so I put the boxing gloves on and my friend was going to referee. Ding,Ding,I don't think ole Mikey ever got a blow in as I tore him up, We ended up being somewhat friends as Mikey had a whole new outlook on things. After that his brothers even treated me with respect.
I wouldn't and couldn't disobey my father, or dishonor his wishes as well as I could not go on being constantly challenged, belittled and, goaded.
The recourse a pair of boxing gloves, some old horse harness, and a little bully that needed taught a lesson.
Problem solved What a wonderful world we live in may we all strive for a clarity of purpose, and resourcefulness
I guess I was twelve years old when I received my initial lesson on resourcefulness. Now this wasn't a lesson that was in a book, It wasn't handed down by my older cousin ;no this lesson was one I had to figure out all by myself.
You see back then all the farm kids rode the school bus to school, I won't go into this too far but I can remember my oldest daughter explain to me that If she couldn't get a ride to school, she just wasn't going. Well I jumped all over that and forced her to ride the bus,untill the pain I ended up enduring became too great then she rode with a friend, Oh well, Anyway when I rode the bus there was a pecking order in as the older high school boys owned the back of the bus. After being picked up and thrown to the front of the bus I understood this. On our bus route were a family named Vonburg,Of which there were four brothers. Three of the brothers were older and in High School the youngest,Mikey was a year younger than me. A really old way of describing them would be to label them as ruffians which is what they were; bullies.
The older ones started egging on the little brother, saying they didn't think he could whoop me, and Mikey of course rose to the challenge of his older brothers, and started slapping me around. I had been taught not to fight ,and especially never hit a girl or someone younger so I retreated to the seat next to the bus driver.
I was really in a dilemma shrugged it off and when I got home I asked my Dad what I should do; expecting to hear him tell me to stand up for myself under the circumstances. However that was not his reaction at all just the contrary. My Dad went into a tirade about his son becoming a bully, and gangs and violence, now remember this was rural Illinois in the fiftys,So he over reacted some what,and told me that if he ever heard of me getting in a fight I wouldn't get a drivers license until I was twenty one years old and undoubtedly would end up in prison. This was not the helpful advise I was looking for, and was no where close to the world I was living in.
Every day the bus ride to school and back became increasingly intolerable as Mikeys brothers saw I wouldn't fight back and cheered him on.
Then one day I was sitting with my friend who lived in the bottoms, we were talking about my going down to his house and boxing with boxing gloves.Mikey sitting in the seat behind us was listening and spouted off that he aught to come down and beat us both up .It was like I could see divine grace showering around me as I said that would be a great idea ,he could finally beat me up. So we set it up for that night after school.
We all met at my friend house and went into the barn ,had an area all set up with old horse harness making a make shift ring, Of course Mikey wanted to waste no time so I put the boxing gloves on and my friend was going to referee. Ding,Ding,I don't think ole Mikey ever got a blow in as I tore him up, We ended up being somewhat friends as Mikey had a whole new outlook on things. After that his brothers even treated me with respect.
I wouldn't and couldn't disobey my father, or dishonor his wishes as well as I could not go on being constantly challenged, belittled and, goaded.
The recourse a pair of boxing gloves, some old horse harness, and a little bully that needed taught a lesson.
Problem solved What a wonderful world we live in may we all strive for a clarity of purpose, and resourcefulness
Everything In Perspective
Everything in perspective
I guess the greatest sales trainer I have had the opportunity to learn from was Tom Hopkins .He has certain things that he feels are super important and in his seminars you are required to memorize them one such Idea is -”-I will do the most constructive thing possible at every given moment.” Now that is powerful but how could anyone possibly do that?
The most productive thing for you, would not necessarily be the most productive for me, in fact I would almost bet on it .being productive doesn’t necessarily mean knocking on doors or cold calling ,It can be some much needed rest and recuperation too. I know when the wolf is at the door it is almost a given you are going to working twice the hours, at a frantic pace whoa just a minute :the most constructive thing you may be needing to do, you could be overlooking. Remember your family; Could be a little chill time, could be in order, this summer. A weekend camping trip a couple days at a quiet bed and breakfast, Just enough to get your mind back on perspective and you back in the game .A little fresh air nice surroundings can help you realize what you’ve got, that is really special, can’t be duplicated, and you really wouldn’t want to miss out on. Then when you get back,; unleash the tiger
Dave Shriver.
I guess the greatest sales trainer I have had the opportunity to learn from was Tom Hopkins .He has certain things that he feels are super important and in his seminars you are required to memorize them one such Idea is -”-I will do the most constructive thing possible at every given moment.” Now that is powerful but how could anyone possibly do that?
The most productive thing for you, would not necessarily be the most productive for me, in fact I would almost bet on it .being productive doesn’t necessarily mean knocking on doors or cold calling ,It can be some much needed rest and recuperation too. I know when the wolf is at the door it is almost a given you are going to working twice the hours, at a frantic pace whoa just a minute :the most constructive thing you may be needing to do, you could be overlooking. Remember your family; Could be a little chill time, could be in order, this summer. A weekend camping trip a couple days at a quiet bed and breakfast, Just enough to get your mind back on perspective and you back in the game .A little fresh air nice surroundings can help you realize what you’ve got, that is really special, can’t be duplicated, and you really wouldn’t want to miss out on. Then when you get back,; unleash the tiger
Dave Shriver.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
