What Would Jimmy Do?

(Some) Virginians are in the middle of a long weekend today — Monday is Martin Luther King Jr. Day, a national holiday, and Friday was Lee-Jackson Day, a state holiday in Virginia. Lee-Jackson day falls on Friday and Martin Luther King Day is celebrated on Monday.

Lee-Jackson Day is designated in Virginia to remember two Confederate generals — Robert E. Lee and his “right hand man,” Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. Especially now, with all the controversy swirling about the Civil War and pretty much all things associated with the “South,” the day is somewhat controversial, given that the two generals fought for the Confederacy.

But Lee-Jackson Day has been celebrated in Virginia since 1889. Originally, it was the observance of Robert E. Lee’s birthday, but Jackson was added to the holiday’s name in 1904. After Martin Luther King Jr. Day was made a national holiday in 1983, Virginia designated the holiday as Lee-Jackson-King Day — a one-day, combined celebration. That lasted through 1999. In 2000, the holidays were separated.
Today, some cities in Virginia refuse to observe Lee-Jackson Day and others celebrate it with a great fanfare.

So no matter what your view, if you happen to live in Virginia, there’s at least the potential you may get a 4-day weekend. Admittedly, these days — on the surface at least — seem to contradict each other, but maybe eventually we’ll be able to accept our past for what it was and move on to a brighter future….
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As both faithful readers know, we have two new twin granddaughters. Well, I got to wondering if they’d do things at the same time or which one would be “first” to accomplish a new task. I wonder which one will be the first to speak a recognizable word — and — what will that word be?

So that got me to wondering about babies first words… I’ve heard that the most common first word is some form of dad, like dada. I guess most moms and dads want the first word to be either dad or mom, or some variation of those — some think that the kid will be more devoted to the first parent they can name. Most babies usually say something that sounds closer to dad than mom first because the “d” sound is easier for them to say than the “m” sound.

My extensive research into this subject indicates that “no” is probably the most common word (outside of dada or mama.) Why is that? Because one of the primary roles of parents before kids can talk is to keep them from doing things they shouldn’t do, so kids here the word no a lot and babies tend to repeat the sounds/words they hear most often.

It’ll be interesting to see what Rory’s and Ellie’s first words will be. I don’t remember what Dave’s first word was, but think it may have been dada or something like that. I remember Kelly’s first clearly spoken word was clock. We had a grandfather’s clock and every time it chimed (4 times and hour), she said, “clock.” I think Locke’s first word was also something close to “dad.” Emily’s first word was “Iguana.” I have no idea what that means — except maybe that Emily has always operated outside the box…
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I, like everyone I guess, had two grandmothers. And those two grandmothers, like any two people I guess, were very different. My grandmother Williamson lived to just a few weeks short of her 100th birthday. She was born (I’m pretty sure) in Alabama and came to Oklahoma when she was very young — in a covered wagon. I think her maiden name was Horton but she married my granddad and became a Williamson. Her given name was Josephine, but everyone knew her as Josie. Maysville was a very small town and everyone knew everyone — literally. So to say everyone knew her is an understatement.

Josie had lots of energy and interests and was very active in various organizations. She also was her own person, very independent, and pretty much marched to her own drum.

Although I always remember her being “old” (she was a grandmother for crying out loud) she never acted old. She never learned to drive so when she wanted to go somewhere, like Pauls Valley, or Oklahoma City she never asked anyone for a ride — she just hopped on a bus and went her merry way. Although Maysville wasn’t big, geographically, she always walked to where she was going. She used to walk completely across town to visit the “old folks” in the town’s only nursing home. The fact is, she was probably older than 90 percent of the people she was visiting.
Every year she planted a (big!!) garden and grew all sorts of vegetables. Of course there was no way she could eat that much produce, so she walked all over town giving anyone that would take it, some of her garden.

I’m not sure of her age at the time, but she was well into her 90s when she decided to fulfill one of the things on her bucket list — she’d always wanted to visit the “Holy Land.”  So — she cashed in one of her insurance polices, bought a plane ticket and went to the Holy Land. She didn’t go with anyone (that she knew) — she had never been on an airplane before and probably as far away from home she’d strayed was a trip to California many years before.

When she went to the Holy Land, people in Maysville panicked — no one knew where she was or what had happened to her. When she returned, everyone was relieved, but started giving her a hard time for not telling anyone what she was doing or where she was going. Her response was, “Gee, I thought I told you — I’m sorry…”

There’s no reason I decided to write about Josie today except maybe some years from now, our kids and grandkids may read this and realize that their great- and great-great- grandmother was kind of cool….
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I warned you a few days ago that this was probably coming. As I talk about every year around this time, new year resolutions aren’t really realistic terms/conditions/actions to commit to because of something like an eight percent success rate. Every year some of us pledge to change or improve all sorts of things, but as the year goes on, our motivations dwindle and our ideals or goals change to accommodate real life demands.

The truth is, most of us will do the same thing this year we always do — set some goals that will be forgotten about by the 5th of January. Actually, this year (like most years) I thought about doing something different. And that is…. do nothing — don’t set any resolutions or goals. I also thought maybe my resolution should just be just to give up wanting anything to happen in the new year and make my goal for 2018 to set no goals.
But nonetheless, and despite all odds, once again I resolve to….

• make better bad decisions in 2018
• I will assume full responsibility for my actions, except the ones that are someone else’s fault
• I will drive by the Shepherd Fitness Center at least once a week

And I think that’s about it — I know the list is much shorter than usual, but I decided that these are realistic resolutions that I have a very good chance to keep throughout the year. As usual, you can check back here near the end of the year to see how I did. I hope 2018 brings good health, happiness, and peace to each and every one of us….
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I thought today would be a good time to site yet another example that our grandkids are probably the smartest kids in the world — I think they take after me….

A few days ago we were at Dave and Chassie’s house and I was playing with Locke. I just watched as he put together a wooden train track all by himself. (The track had straight and curved pieces and he was able to put it together with lots of curves and it all hooked together in one big loop.)

After he pushed the train around it a few times, he wanted to build an overpass (actually, I guess it was an underpass for the train to go through. I helped him a little bit and we made one out of legos. He liked that a lot and wanted another one — again, we made another out of legos. Of course that wasn’t enough, so instead of asking for another, he said, “let’s make a third one.” Now, I’m not easily impressed, but the fact that a 3-year old knew that adding one more to the two we’d already made, was referred to as the third — not “three” or “another one,” but third… I thought was pretty cool.

I told myself that this blog wouldn’t turn into a granddad “brag book” but I’m old — you guys should indulge me occasionally. I promise I won’t do this often, but sometimes I just feel the need to make everyone marvel….
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Well, here we are again — the year is nearing the end and a new year is in sight. And of course you know what’s on my mind — new year resolutions. (Actually, that’s not what’s on my mind, but every year I seem to, for some reason, think I should make some.) Probably in the next few days, I’ll make some resolutions because that seems to be what I always do.
It’s become a fairly common practice that before I make my new resolutions, I look back and see how I did with my old ones — so here’s how I fared in 2017….

• I resolve to not send a text to someone sitting in the same room… or even in the same house. I have to admit that I’ve actually done that — I realize its harder and harder to communicate with people these days, but no more texting for me if they’re within a quarter of a mile.
I almost got through the year without breaking this one, but I have to confess… I violated the same house and quarter mile rule.

• I will take a selfie this year. I may be the only person younger than 95 that has never taken a selfie. Didn’t know how until recently when I found out that my phone had a camera in the front so I didn’t have to bend my neck around to the back… so stand by — I might include the results in the blog.
Failed — I can’t say I expended a lot of effort trying to get this one accomplished, but with only a few days left in the year, I still haven’t taken a selfie.

• I will not save my fortune cookie messages in my wallet. I’m not sure why I’ve done this in the past, but I usually find them months later… maybe I think the message is so meaningful that its going to guide me through some trouble or something… but no more — if I think it’s that important, I’ll take a picture of it on my phone.
Nailed this one! I have not saved one fortune cookie message in my wallet!!

• I will not come up with any new cool social media acronyms. First of all I don’t like social media acronyms like lol or omg or… whatever — no abbreviations for me — I know how to spell (with the help of spell checkers.)
Once again, I’m doing really good with this one — haven’t created any new acronyms, although I do have to admit I did use an emoji.

I resolve to be accepting. Things are changing… marijuana is becoming legal, gay marriage is legal — people are gay, people smoke pot… I’m not and I don’t but I won’t get in the way of anyone’s lifestyle and I won’t judge. I will accept people, and things, for what they are — guess what, I can’t change them anyway.
I did pretty good here too… I don’t think I’m quite so quick to judge, and for sure when I do, I’m better able to keep quite about it.

I will not buy bright colored sneakers or tennis shoes or golf shoes — or those with some psychedelic pattern. Sneakers should be white, or black, or maybe gray….
I get an excellent on this one — I actually got two new pairs of sneakers this year — one pair is white and the other is black.

I resolve, every day, to (try) to be better than I was yesterday…. and today.
I think I get full credit for this one — I really did try.

Overall, I think I did better than usual in keeping my resolutions for 2017. So I’ll probably come up with some more for 2018, but as I’ve mentioned before, resolutions are only goals… we should all concentrate on values. But — since it’s a tradition, I’ll probably come up with another list of resolutions for next year, so you can check back here for my resolutions — 2018 edition.
Happy 2018 to everyone.
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I’ve been hearing a lot lately about something called “bitcoin.” I’m almost embarrassed to acknowledge that I really don’t understand bitcoins. A few years ago, I tried to keep up with most technical topics. Part of the reason, was because it was almost necessary for my job, but technology has always been of interest to me. It still is, but I guess not enough for me to make the effort to keep up with it. Technological advances are spewing up at an alarming pace and I’m slowing down at almost the same alarming pace.

Anyhow, my extensive research uncovered the fact that in 2009 some guy (person) created a new currency called Bitcoin. I don’t think anyone really knows who the person is because he/she used an alias — Satoshi Nakamoto.
Bitcoins can supposedly be used to book hotels on sites like Expedia and shop at online sites like Overstock. All transactions are made directly between the buyer and seller — no banks, or credit card companies are involved.
People (or businesses) can send bitcoins to each other using mobile apps on their phones or via their computers. I think this is kind of like sending cash digitally. Bitcoins are stored in a digital wallet — that wallet can be on your phone/computer or in the “cloud.”

I’m not sure how this works, but apparently each bitcoin transaction is recorded in a public log — only using a “wallet ID.” Names of buyers and sellers are never revealed. Maybe I’m missing something here, but this seems like a haven for terrorists, drug dealers or other unscrupulous activities.

A lot remains unclear to me, but the one that thing that is most unclear is… how do you get bitcoins? It seems that people compete to “mine” bitcoins using computers to solve complex math puzzles — that’s how they are created. Marketplaces called “bitcoin exchanges” allow people to buy or sell bitcoins using “regular” currency.

After all my extensive research, I still don’t “get” the bitcoin phenomenon. But according to the news the past few weeks, it seems that a lot of people believe they can get rich by trading it — the price of bitcoin has skyrocketed — and — plummeted in the last week or so.
Maybe I’m just getting old, but I kind of like my credit cards… and I can even still deal with cash.
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It goes without saying that things were different when I was growing up — with Christmas almost here, I was thinking about toys. When I was young, I had a lot of toys, but not compared to what the average kid has today. There were a number of reasons, but if you went to a toy store (I never remember being In a toy (only) store until I was an adult — toys were sold in other stores… some of the bigger ones had separate “toy” departments) there wasn’t the infinite variety of toys available today. There were dolls for girls and a few trucks/cars for boys, although none of them looked “real” the way they do today. I also remember Lincoln Logs, Tinker Toys and a few other building sets. After the war, Erector Sets became available, because all the metal wasn’t being used for the war effort. And of course, there were games — not anywhere near the number available today and none were “electronic” — most were played on a board of some kind or with cards. We also often built our own toys, something that doesn’t happen much today. I remember making little “tractors” out of empty thread spools and “rubber” guns, that shot strips of rubber cut from old tire inner tubes…we made these “guns” out of wood that usually came from the grocery store when they threw out the wooden boxes that apples and oranges came in.

As far as “bigger” toys went, there were no skateboards or rollerblades, or battery powered vehicles. If you were lucky, you probably had a bike, maybe a scooter and (boys especially) maybe had a wagon — which brings me to the real topic for today. I don’t remember too much from my very early years, but I remember that when I was about 2 or 3 years old (I’m guessing at the age based on a couple of old pictures I’ve seen) my granddad made me a wagon. I think I remember him giving it to me and I remember playing with it. My granddad was a carpenter, not a “woodworker.” I’m sure the wagon wasn’t a “polished” product, but at 2 or 3 I don’t think that made a difference to me.

Well, here it is a lot of years later and I’m the grandad and my grandson just turned 3. I don’t know if modern kids play with wagons or even have wagons anymore… I don’t remember seeing a kid with a wagon for a long time. Most things that kids seem to like today require batteries, have motors, talk, light up, fly or something cool like that. Wagons don’t do much — they just kind of sit there, until you pull them… of course you can put “stuff” in them and haul it around — I think that’s what I did, and I remember it being a lot of fun — today? Maybe not so much.

But all that aside, I decided to build my grandson a wagon. Not because he asked for one, but because I wanted to. A lot of years from now will he remember and want to build his grandson a wagon? Maybe, maybe not… but it doesn’t matter. As long as he loves his grandson and does something with him — that’s what its all about.
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I mentioned the last time I was here that there were a few events that I needed to catch up on…
Both the faithful readers probably noticed that I didn’t include my annual Thanksgiving blog this year. There were a number of reasons for that — none of them good enough to fall into the “excuse” category, but we were in Leesburg dog sitting for Riot and Rebel over Thanksgiving while Kelly, Chris and Emily visited the Giffords in California. We actually spent Thanksgiving day at Dave and Chassie’s new house and celebrated with Dave, Chassie, Locke and part of Chassie’s family. It was really nice to spend the day with family and there was a bit (probably a lot) of excitement anticipating the arrival of the twins….

It’s never too late to be thankful, and I am. Some years I make a list of all the things I’m thankful for, but this year the list would be far too long…. Most of all I’m thankful for all our families, especially Claire, Kelly, Chris, Dave, Chassie, Emily, Locke, Loralai (Rory) and Leighton (Ellie). Don’t feel bad if your name didn’t make the list, I’m still thankful for you.
Happy (belated) Thanksgiving to everyone!!
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This has been a really busy week and a half around our house… this blog should have been updated much sooner for a number of reasons, but that didn’t happen. I’ll try to cover all the important events over the next couple of entries.

The big news that must be taken care of first is that we now have double the number of grandchildren that we had when I last updated this site. Loralai (Lori Rory) and Leighton (Ellie) were born on the 28th and, as predicted, they are identical twins. We went to see them and I’ll readily admit that all little babies look pretty much the same to me, but if you put these two behind your back and shuffled them up, I couldn’t tell which was which. I’m pretty sure they were born labeled “A” and “B” — at least that’s what they were labeled in the first picture we saw of them shortly after they were born. I think if they were mine, I’d just be sure they never took off their hats (that are labeled A & B) so I could tell them apart, but I’m pretty sure Dave and Chassie will be able to figure out which one is which without the hats — but I think even they are having trouble keeping them straight so far.

Locke visited them last evening and apparently was pretty impressed with “his babies.” He talked about them all the way home, even referring to them by their names (Not A & B.)

Having a baby(s) these days is a lot different than it used to be. I think when Dave and Kelly we’re born, they just checked that all the parts appeared to be there and slapped their hands together to see if they jumped…. then we took them home. Lori and Ellie have been taking tests from the time they were born – I guess they must be pretty smart — they seem to have passed them all. After all the testing, they had to enter a “car seat challenge.” I didn’t (and still don’t) have any idea what this is, but I assumed it was some sort of competition like American Ninja Warrior. But once again, I was wrong… all I know is that it took about an hour and a half and involved car seats. But they both obviously did well — they each got a certificate that says, “I passed the car seat challenge.” I guess that’s a good thing, because I just heard they were going home today. As you can see from the picture below, they seem ready.

Needless to say, we’re just as proud of Lori Rory and Ellie as we are of Locke and Emily. Even though they look pretty much exactly alike, I know they’re completely different individuals and will have their very own likes, dislikes, dreams and achievements. And I’m positive that each one will amaze us in her own unique way that we can’t even imagine!!
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CORRECTION: I know it’s hard to believe, but I made a mistake — again. “Lori” will be called Rory. So if you read this posting before, read it again and do it right this time!