Bennie's Reflections

Finally a beach day

I live so close to the beach and I’m too lazy to take the 5-10 minutes to drive over there. Well we decided to drive over there yesterday. It was a super hot day for us with temps in the upper 90’s. The water temps were 82 and it was just a wonderful day to wade in the water.

I got a few pictures to share. Things I just take for granted.

The tides were really high yesterday. This generally happens a few times a year and the marsh behind the house looks like a lake. This log has been in the marsh for sometime, it blew down in one of the many hurricanes and just floats around when the water is high. This white egret decided it was a fine place to stand and fish for a while. I got to sit from my bedroom and watch this for a while. I noticed it when I had started packing for my trip this week and just decided it was more important to sit and enjoy the beauty of home for a bit before I left.

Too lazy to write...

When I'm at home it just seem so hard to get any inspiration to write. I guess it happens so rarely that I just want to enjoy home. That will be over starting next week when I start traveling to Lufkin, TX until the fall. I'll have a few weeks back in Oregon and at least one more week at home this summer but then it's over till the leaves change.

I thought since I'm so lazy the least I could do is post what's in bloom in the yard. Sue I have a pink Banana in there just for you. You did your post about all the different bananas I don't remember you talking about the pink ones. We dont' have a long enough season for them to get fully formed but I have little bunches of bananas every year off this plant.

Oh NO Not Again… Another Addiction!

Anyone who has known me for a long time knows I have the addictive traits when it comes to certain things. Years back when I was in High School I was given a cigarette and as bad as I coughed and hacked with a little encouragement from my good friends I was soon to become a full fledged smoker for the next 24 years. I did finally kick the habit 8 years ago.

I’ve written about the wonderful tool Face Book and how great it is. I have met people I have not heard from in years. Many of them were my old High School friends from years ago. I have not been the best at keeping in touch and it was so much fun to hear from these people I have not heard from in 27 years.

Well those same corrupt kids from High School have done it again. They got me hooked on a game on Face Book called Farm Town. It seemed innocent enough when one of my old friends sent me a donkey, then another sent me a cherry tree and another sent me a horse. I though well they have already given me a start what can it hurt?

Let me tell you this game is addictive. It has everything you need to turn it into a daily ritual and yes an addiction.

1) You have levels and you can quickly move up the levels
2) Each level you move up there are nicer things you can buy
3) You can give gifts to friends for free (allowing you to hook them too)
4) The higher your level the nicer the gifts you can give (so you seem nicer)
5) You get trophies for doing things (yet another reward – I’m all about rewards)
6) You get coins for plowing, planting and harvesting
7) Depending on the seeds you plant how long it takes to harvest (4 hours to 3 days)
8) Crops will rot or die if you don’t get them (adding a sense of urgency)
9) You make more coins if you hire someone to help (promoting that networking with other junkies)
10) You can buy more land making it easier to move up to future levels

Let me tell you the developers of this game knew just what to put in it to hook people. The good thing is there is no cost other than your time. They show advertisements so they have a revenue source.

I have pulled myself though 23 levels and 8 trophies so far. I hope I can start limiting myself to only checking it a few times a day. You know that’s like saying I’ll only smoke a few cigarettes a day. Yeah right.

Here is what my farm looked like a week back.

Here it is today.

What happens around the house while I work?

Well this is what I found a few minutes back when I went to go get coffee. No wonder she is up prowling around all night and waking me up in the morning.

There are not words to describe how jealous I am of these two right now... I want a NAP TOO!

What’s in the iPod?

I have always loved music. My favorite genre is Country followed by Pop and R&B. It’s been a while since I have purchased a new CD. I have so many at home and to be quite honest there hasn’t been anything fresh that has caught my ear in a long time. I’m sure part of it is me and that I just have not looked for anything new in a while. I’ve been told it’s that I’m getting OLD.

I have been hearing a song on the radio quite a bit at home that I really liked (Better in Time). I finally decided to download it to my iTouch. It was from an artist I had never heard of named Leona Lewis. I listened to several songs on the album “Spirit” and decided that it was well worth the purchase of the entire album. Come to find out her CD has been out quite a while and she has several great songs on them.

She has some hits that have already hit the top of the charts, some I have yet to hear that I think will be big hits for her in the future. And there was even a remake of a song from my era “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face”. She really slowed it down and it’s so relaxing to just lay back and listen to her version.

I didn’t have any stories that came to mind listening to this album, but if you enjoy pop music I would certainly suggest you listen to this album sometime.

Funny Job Experiences

Years back when I lived in Oklahoma I didn’t make enough at my first job to support the lifestyle I wanted or needed. (My spending habits didn’t help matters either.)

So to support myself I worked two jobs most of the time and sometimes I even held three jobs.

One of the jobs I had was working at a Texaco convenience store. The pay was not great but wow the experiences I had were just too funny. It was at this job that I met some of the funniest people and strange ones too.

I saw my first Drag Queen; had to shut off pumps from boys not paying attention while gawking at a little hottie bent over filling up her sports car. It was a never ending trail of funny events. I had a guy that bought beer from me every day that claimed to be Vince Gill’s older brother. I challenged this guy to bring him by sometime since I loved his music. Much to my surprise it was his brother and I got some albums autographed by him.

I worked at Texaco stations all over the OKC area. And the one where this next story comes from was located in the perfect spot where there were to major interstates and a high volume street. We were so busy we had to have two people working all the time. One person stocking; cleaning; and helping take money during busy times. The other person basically stood there all day turning on pumps and taking money.

One afternoon there must have been a wreck on the interstate. I had worked all day and it was late evening. My co-worker was a black lady named Samantha. I told her if she would run get us dinner I’d pay for it. I had been working about 15 hours at this point and I was starving. So Samantha went to get us something to eat.

Right after she left this car drove up with four teenagers that had to be 16-17 years old. You could tell they were on a double date. The two boys came in the store and trying to shock me yelled out asking if we carried condoms. I told them they were on the wall and pointed to where they were. Of course they were packaged in thee packs.

They brought the package to the counter and put it down. I rang it up and they didn’t have enough money. So these young men went back out to the car and you could see them digging through ashtrays and glove boxes trying to get enough money to pay for the condoms. They came back in the store a little more humbled just to find out they were about five cents short. Of course at this point I’m feeling pitty on them and said not to worry about it.

One of the boys looked up at me and asked if they came in a smaller size. Being the quick wit I am and the lack of control when it comes to my mouth I popped right back and said “If these are too big maybe you shouldn’t be playing with them”. I knew he meant fewer in the package, but it’s not what he said.

The other boy could have crawled under the door after that comment. I knew from that comment if I had been turned in to the office I’d loose my job. I just felt that if they had nerve enough to write this one up it would be worth it.

Samantha seemed to be gone forever because I was so tickled it was all I could do to stand there and take money from the customers. The wreck had been cleared and our business was really picking up. When she got back I had to go to the cooler and just let it out. All she could hear was me in the cooler just howling. I finally pulled it together and came back to the counter.

Samantha dated a young white man about my age. So I told her the story and she stood there with a straight face and replied "It must have been white boys if the condoms were too small".

I was no good the rest of the night because I was chuckling the whole time. I’m sure it has as much to do with being over tired as the event.

I doubt I’ll ever forget this story.

Trip last week

I’m not sure how all you folks write so often from home. I always get preoccupied and don’t ever sit down to write anything. You must be much more disciplined than me.

Last week on the drive from Arkansas to South Carolina I took a few pictures to share with everyone. One of those was in Birmingham, AL. We were on the loop around town and I saw this replica of the Statue of Liberty. It was so beautiful I had to share it with everyone.

On my post last week I told you I felt we had it made when we crossed the Mississippi River. On the way home I noticed that we saw the Kudzu again once we were on the East side of the river. They have it west of the Mississippi but not like we have in the east. This vine crawls all over everything and grows up to a foot a day. I don’t have pictures of it but someday I’ll have to get a picture and post it.

The girls were both very good on the trip. The cat “Pez” hates to get packed up and travel. Once we get her in the car she is really pretty good. She’s the only one with a bathroom on the road. Sheeot (the dog) is just as happy as can be if you put her near an AC vent. She spent a lot of her time sleeping in my lap and when she was not there she was between the seats with her head on my travel pillow.

I hope everyone is having a good week. I hope to get inspired to write more in the next few days.

Are We There Yet?

I'm sure that's what Pez had on her mind as she watched the scenery go by.

Crawdads, Crayfish – Mudbugs and Southern Living

I have had a nice welcome back to the country this week. When I was a young boy we lived out on this very farm with my grandparents. My grandmother was very sick so we moved a trailer next to the house and that was home for about three years from my 4th to 7th grade years.

I had a great time on this farm as a kid. Fishing in the pond; riding mini-bikes; and just being a kid in general. I remember the lighting bugs in the evenings and seining for crawdads (crayfish) to use as bait for bigger fish.

This week the crawdads (aka – crayfish / mudbugs) were building the towers they built when I was a kid. It’s something I have not seen in years and I am sure some of you may have never seen if you are not from the south. These mud towers show up all over the place this time of year.

I guess that’s why they are having the “Mudbug Madness http://mudbugmadness.com/ ” in Shreveport this weekend. Stefan wanted to be sure I reminded people that these are the same crayfish we eat in the south. For some reason he thinks that’s weird?

Sheeot and Pez have both had a good time this week. Sheeot has been able to run in the fields and be a farm dog. Pez even took a trip outside and under the house today which is unusual for her. They are adjusted just in time to head home.

The week is nearly over and we start our trek back to the east coast this weekend. We are going to stop in Atlanta and spend the night and have a shorter drive the last day on to South Carolina. Funny how quick the time has went. We arrived here a week ago today and it just doesn’t seem like we have been here that long.

Here are a few pictures of where we have called home this week.

DTV Transition

Well we got mom all setup for the Digital TV transition that is due on June 12. Originally I thought this will be simple enough, we hook-up the converter boxes to the current TV; scan for channels and we’re done. How naïve of us to think that would be it.

Mom lives on the edge of nowhere and the nearest TV station is about 100 miles to the south of her. Now she is only two miles from the courthouse square in Magnolia. Cable TV is not provided outside the city limits (which mom is about 10 feet out of).

We have always used an outdoor antenna attached to the house. Years ago we got three TV stations, then it went down to two and a few weeks back she was down to one station. Thank God it was ABC. I would have had to rent a motel to see Desperate Housewives and Dancing with the Stars.

The thought of getting Satellite TV just turns mom’s stomach because the cost. Sure it starts out low, and then you have all the add-ons if you want TV in more than one room, then rate increases and having to depend on them. Her wish was to simply have her two TV stations that she has had for years. So she set the bar low enough we should be able to swing it off.

I hooked up the DTV box and scanned for new channels. Nothing! I think a few profanities to myself and try it on a different TV. Still Nothing.

Being on the edge of nowhere there are not many options for help. I break down and find Radio Shack who explains to me that you have to have both VHF and UHF antenna to get the transmissions. Well we don’t have the right antenna on the house so the project just mushroomed. So while we are there we do fact finding and are told we can’t use the old flat cords we had used and we also need to install coax cable.

We spent the better part of a day pulling cables in the house, and another day taking down the old antenna and putting up the new one. We ended up getting the basic two channels (3 & 6). But each channel sends multiple signals so channel 3 has three settings 3.1, 3.2 & 3.3. On one is ABC, the next is always local weather and the last is the local news that repeats over and over like CNN Headline News (only the local version).

Channel 6 has HD (High Definition) on one and SD (Standard Definition) on the other. Then in some rooms I get an additional channel with two digital numbers showing the same programs.

So now we are out $40 in converter boxes; $90 in a new antenna and $100 in coax cable and splitters. Mom decided she wanted a TV in her bathroom where she can watch while putting on her makeup. So she picked out a nice 19” HD TV. The picture in her bathroom is better than I get with Cable in my living room.

I also read on ( http://www.dtv.gov/ ) that many stations are not transmitting full strength right now. Once the conversion happens they will increase the signals. There is a wealth of information on the website. The only issue there is most folks who use antenna’s for TV don’t have computers or internet to read those websites.

I think this transition will leave a ton of people without TV. We just happened to be at moms at the right time to prevent her from having problems. I never expected it to be such a big ordeal. I think June 12 will end up being the real Y2K.

The Big Event - Magnolia Blossom Festival - Part 2

OK, OK. I’ve been lazy and have not written about the second half of the Magnolia Blossom Festival / World Championship Steak Cook Off.

We went back to the square about 5:45 PM and stood in line to get our steaks. I heard there were 5000 steaks cooked and served. They let people enter from all four corners of the square and in less than an hour all the steaks are served and gone. The tickets are $15 and you get a salad, drink, baked potato, steak and desert. The steaks are 16 oz Ribeye’s.

Mom, Stefan my Aunt Jeanette and I all got our steaks and found a table. Jeanette’s twin JoAnn came to join us and we split up the food and she ended up with quite a meal too.

After the meal we went and found our spot for the announcements of the winners of the cook-off, parade and all that jazz. Then the concert started with Aaron Tippin. He was pretty big in country music in the Mid-90’s. He has since faded from the spotlight. He has his own recording label now and has a new album of trucker songs with some of the old trucking songs. He is a high energy concert to watch and it was a good show.

I’ve been playing lazy and not doing much on the computer. Yesterday we started working on getting mom ready for the Digital TV Switch over on June 12. It’s not as simple as they make it sound. I’ll write about that later.

The Big Event - Magnolia Blossom Festival - Part 1

Well today’s the big day in Magnolia. The Blossom Festival is Friday and Saturday with most of the events taking place on Saturday. The festival started years ago as the “Arts Festival”. 20 years ago they added the “World Championship Steak Cook-off” which now takes up most of the festival.

We started off the day watching the parade of cookers going down Main Street. These are our chef’s for the big event this evening. They limit the number of cookers to 65 each year due to limited space on the square. They always have to turn teams away. So I guess that’s good.

The courthouse square (downtown) is where all the cookers are parked. The square fills up with the smoke and smells of the cookers. The art show is on the Courthouse Lawn and all the shops on the square are having a busy day with all the tourists. There were 4000 steak tickets sold at $15 each.

In addition to the parade there are car shows, dog shows, bike shows and all sorts of events. Below are some pictures of the parade and the car show. Later tonight we will go back for the steaks and the concert.