Journal the Last ©
Book 9 Part 7


Journal Contents

Unknown Date Goes Here, again, again
It'll probably be another early morning time
     So what happened to Summer?

Wednesday September 25, 2002
5:10a
     It wasn't as early as it could have been. Actually slept/dozed till almost 4:00 oclock. Yesterday morning was the extra early wake up, 1:30a
     Yesterday on the ABC boards I read one from someone in the West Bank area. It was very thoughtful and meaningful. I made a post about how it was worth printing and keeping and being remember. It was late afternoon before I got back around to check on it. Apparently others had attached some bad posts to/about mine. It and theirs got deleted. They were all gone except for the original one and a couple of others.
     Can't even make a complimentary post on the boards without someone else making a bad thing out of it. It's just another indiciation of the hate swirling around on the internet.
     It's just as well. I've needed to abandon the ABC boards anyway. Should have a long time ago.
     Britian's Prime Minister release their dosier on the Hussein and his weapons thing. I made a printout of it at work. I've got only the first third read. But it's as expected. A recitation of public domain events and knowledge, and the usual speculations. All the hard documents and knowledge is still under the secret security thing.
     But what diff does that make? The war is a given, it will happen. It's really all just a question of how bad it's going to be.

Thursday September 26, 2002
4:15a
     It was Tuesday when I walked into the back part of the factory floor. It was down in the area where the hobbing machines use to be. That would be where DM worked. The old wood block floor was being taken up and the concrete cut into large blocks. There was one of those small construction machines like a tracter with a scoope plowing up the blocks. I really had not heard any talk about the company doing that, more remodeling and rearranging.
     But anyway there were the construction workers tearing up and tossing out more building history. I found me a box and walked over to a section where the blocks had been loosened. I got about seven of them and took them back to my office. Then I got another, bigger box that was there and went back to get some more. I guess I ended up with about 20.
     That factory building was built in the 1930s I think. It was Poinsett then and was used to build the sewing machine cabinetts for the Singer machines. The machines were built in Anderson and that's where the cabinetts were sent. Then Deihl came in during the 1950s and that was the beginning of the wood working power tools. It later became Singer Motor Products.
     I pretty sure granduncle Addison worked at Poinsett and there were probably other relatives who worked there too. Well I mean the older generation of relatives, there's been lots to have and are working there in recent decades. So, I made sure to get my part of that building's history.
     A couple of weeks ago we had to do a sound test out back of the plant too. On the way back I saw some old, rusty metal parts laying on the ground. I picked them up and there still in the office. So I got that bit of history laying around too.
     ...
     I guess it's been a couple or three weeks ago when I had some other stuff to write about. But I've put it off and/or other stuff started to happen and now I can't remember what those were about.

Friday September 27, 2002
4:30a
     I wonder if this November's elections will really be (default to) a referemdum on the war against Hussein? It hasn't been talked about publicly, no one ever mentions it. But still it could be one.
     And it could even be a vote of confidence (or lack thereof) in Bush's administration.
     I suppose I really just want it to be like that ... and the results be against both the war and his leadership.
     ...
     I've sat here at the kitchen table every morning since I started staying over here again. That will be 2 years in mid November. I've looked across the counter tops and sinks and stove top at those four serving trays. They're leaning against the wall underneath the cabinets. I know I picked them up somewhere during the Med Cruise in 1975. At least I fairly sure that's where I got them. They've got the right designs for some of the European countries.
     ... But I just can not remember where and when I got them. There's not even a sense and feeling of picking them up at some gift shop over there in one of those cities.
     I guess that cluster of brain cells and neuro-electric-chemical imprints has died a long time ago.

Saturday September 28, 2002
4:30a
     I wonder what I will end up doing today? Besides the usual chores like hauling off the trash and getting groceries and laying around feeling sad that is. Mow the lawn again and maybe spread out the clumps of grass from the last time? Do the program to graph the stats on my website? I've been thinking of that one for a year or two now. Drive around the the usual places and sit and watch time pass by? Go visit people? Start that old picture project of putting some of the old pictures up on this website? Making pictures from the old slides? Write something? I thought of preparing a job application form for the politicans running for an office. It would have questions about their opinions and views on the issues that concern me. But that's just a cute thing that would never go anywhere.
     George Bush has been traveling around the country attending political fund raising events all this week. Seems like that's about all his traveling has been. Talking up his war against Hussein to raise political funds and the public is paying for most of his travel expenses. There's just something basically wrong with that image. Republicans paying thousands of dollars to hear a man talk about getting a lot of people killed. Iraqii citizens, American military people, and whoever else in the world might would get killed during all the fallout. Non-nuclear type of fallout that is. And also there's the side effects all the talk about war is having on the economy and the public's attitude and mood.
     It's getting worse and worse as the days and weeks and months go by.

Sunday September 29, 2002
4:30a
     It's really dumb thinking and always has been for me. Five and half years I've been connected to the internet. It's a real link, a node on the web, to the rest of the world. Think about what that means; it's acess to all those Universal Resource Location addresses. And what have I accomplished during all the time I've spent connected to it? Or more precisely what have I not accomplised?
     Mongolia ... I went that far away, interesting place this morning. About two and half million people, about 550,000 families there. Less people in the country than there are in South Carolina state. There are cities in the States with more people. The land, the people, the history there and thousands of other places around the world.
     But what have I done these last 5 1/2 years? Mindless reading in chatrooms and message/discussion boards, news sites. Watching that mind-numbing, endlessly repetitive, religious and political arguements, verbal fighting. And the hours spent searching for the better photography of youth, nude, outdoors and free spirited.
     I'll never be able to tour the world's greatest places and see the vistas and cultures. And I've been to dumb to even think of using my internet connection to the world to at least do the virtual tour.

Monday September 30, 2002
5:05a
     I was here, again.

Tuesday October 1, 2002
5:15a
     Another I was here, again.

Friday October 4, 2002
5:30a
     I've started to just continue laying on the floor after I wake up the first time. I don't sleep or doze any but I just lay there. And even after I get up and do most of the usual morning routines I'll lay back down. That's either over at my house or out on the back porch here. My mind is still doing 18 - 19 hour days but at least the body is a bit more relaxed.
     I think it was Wednesday I had another really bad day. Stress and worry all day plus the lack of good rest at night. So that's what caused me to make some changes.

Monday October 7, 2002
4:00a
     I'm not working this week. No real plans for vacation week. So it'll be wasted away doing nothing. On Friday the week's weather forcast was sunny, cool days. This morning it's cloudy, shower days.
     I've already spent Saturday and Sunday doing the normal things for the weekend. Yesterday morning after getting to my house I laid on the couch long enough to get into dreamland. It was like dreams are suppose to be, something that can be remembered after waking up. Dreams are reportedly the mind sorting things out and that is what has been missing with my missed sleep. So I've already started sleeping away my vacation week. And this morning was more like the usual wake up early get up early without much real resting.
     I had been intending to write more this week too. But the morning time just goes by without that. If it's not sitting here reading message boards and the usual news sites it's laying out on the porch pretending to catch up on rest and sleep.
     Maybe I can make myself go out to the Chattooga river today. It'll either be that or down to Laurens to spend the day in the library and courthouse. Might as well see if I can find anything on the new leads about Jeremiah Hughes' family.
     I'm suppose to really make an effort to actually spend some nights somewhere else. I think 1994 or so was the last time I went somewhere that remotely resembled a vacation.

6:20p
     What a way to one's vacation begin.
     A collection agency called about 9:30 or so. The lady asked if some numbers were the last four digits of my social security number. Now I can't even remember what they were but they sounded right. So that's what I said. Then she went into all this talk about a power bill and what am I going to do about it. I told her it wasn't mine but she kept insisting. It wasn't but a minute or two later I told her I was getting really upset really fast. But she kept on with her collection agency spill, credit rating and all. Most all the other details of the call are lost now. It's hard to remember stuff after getting so upset.
     I managed to get all the info from her about the bill, the address and that kind of stuff. I remember asking for the full social security number but she couldn't give me that. So I could even find out if it was just the last four number that were the same. She said she would be expecting it to be taken care of by 5:30 or words to that effect. And that was the end of that call.
     But anyway it was an electric power bill for some place another county. I got on the internet and went to one of those phone and address websites. I entered the address and learned it was another person with my name except the middle initial is different. I got the number for the power company down there too. And then I started looking for the collection agency. There were a few with the same name, one in Georgia and one in California. I didn't check them all out. All I had was their 800 number anyway.
     I had brought up talking to a lawyer during that phone call. So that's what I eventually did. I had to sit out in truck a few times and smoked cigs. I was getting it back down under 10 a day but that's gone up in smoke now. I did drive up town but the lawyer was busy and I made an appointment for the afternoon. Then it was back home to frett and worry.
     I eventually make up my mind to go ahead and call the power company in that county and get something started with them. The lady there was nicer and she eventually understood I never had a power account with them. She even commented on how the misunderstand had happened but she wouldn't tell me. I asked if the last four numbers were the same or what but she never said. She gave me another number to call. So I call that and explain everything over again. The lady there saw the mistake too and she even apologized for the inconvenance and all. Said she would take care of everything. I asked if I needed to call the collection agency back but she said no. I did anyway.
     Some man answered and I asked for the lady I talked with before. She eventually answered. I explained that I had talked with the power company and that she should be receiving a call later. She didn't believe that either. She said if the power company didn't call she would be calling me again in the morning. I just humphed and hung up.
     In the afternoon I went up to the lawyer's office and explained everything to him. During the conversation he mentioned those collection agency people are trained not to believe anything told them. He said I could expect a letter from them in a few days too. It will have all the numbers and names and stuff. He said he could right them back a letter telling them to stop calling me. I asked about getting the record set straight. So we ended up talking about how all these kinds of things end up and what the agency could do to my credit rating and the usual hassle to expect.
     So there's not much else to do but wait now. About the last thing I told the lawyer was that maybe the power company will get enough calls from people like me, being falsely accused and involved, and then they will start looking for a new collection agency to handle their accounts.
     So all that is what happened this today on my first day of vacation.
     It's really sad that some of these collection agencies get away with hassling innocent people. They won't even consider that they can make mistakes or mistakes can be made. I've decided they don't even care either. It makes me wonder how many other innocent people have had to endure their harassment. How many people's credit rating has been messed up because of other people's mistakes. It's not only the original person who didn't pay his bills but collection agencies' mistakes too.
     Now that all this has happened day and I've calmed down, sort-of, I've been connecting some previous dots together that were missed before. It can make sense but I'll probably never know for sure.
     Seems like there was an email a while back about a power bill being overdue. I couldn't make much sense out of it and thought it just another spam ad. I'm not sure why I even downloaded it. I generally don't unless I know who it's from. It just didn't have the usual spam look I guess. They all mostly spam anyway. I suppose some of those who's subject line had credit or something in it might have been connected too. But those were deleted at the server too just like other spam.
     The more curious things now though were those odd ads about credit and bad credit that floated on some website I had been looking at. Seems like one was final warning or something like that. I passed it off as just another new ad gimmick. But now I have to wonder if they were directed at me personally. That would mean the collection agency had my internet connection hacked and knew when I was on. And they could even overlay the website with their own messages. I guess that might be stretching it some, but I know it's probably technically possible too. There's some vague memory about those kinds of tricks on a news report a month or so ago.

     .... But then what's my bit of unjust treatment? On the evening news there was another shooting up in the District area. It was a kid this time. He was seriously wounded and had operations done and is expected to be ok. Some maniac is running around killing people at random. It's like those sniper events back in the 60s and 70s except the sniper is roving around instead of shooting from a campus tower or something.
     The world is really messed up and getting worse by the minute.

Wednesday October 8, 2002
5:05a
     It took all day yesterday to continue to recover, mostly recover, from the ordeal on Monday. I still spend too much time thinking about it and really shouldn't write any more about it. But there's a couple more details that have come to mind.
     Telemarketters are a problem too. They're about the only type of phone calls I get at my house. Over the years I've become increasingly in-tolerant of them and had begun to cut them off short. At the first indication of a telemarketter call I tell them I'm not interested and if they keep on talking after that I just hang up.
     One afternoon recently, a couple or three weeks ago I guess, the water had been off sometime during the day and the pipes had air in them. I had just flushed the toilet and it was the usual eruption of blasts of air. This time I thought the float valve in the tank was going to blow off. So I had that going on when the phone rang. It started off like another telemarket call so I told the lady I had troubles here and couldn't talk. I think she said something about not hanging up on her or something like that. But I did anyway and went back to take care of the water in the bathroom.
     Now in retrospect and connecting another dot, I guess that was that collection agency then.
     It's really disturbing the way that company does business. I'm beginning to suspect they just look for and find everyone with a similiar name like the person's who really owes the debt and send out their junk looking mail and spam looking email. Some where along the process they start sending out those odd looking ads that appear on other companies' and organizations' websites.
     I'm not sure they make any real efforts to find or match up people with their debts. It all works on the assummation that the really debtor is going to be listed somewhere. Not everyone has a phone listing and I doubt if the real debtors who's hiding out to avoid paying bills is going to have his listed in the phone book.
     ... [Later in the day] ...
     There's just too much that doesn't make any real sense. The people who work for those collection agencies just don't do their job. That is unless their job is just to hassle and harrass innocent people with similar names or some other thing in common with the real debtor. I can even imagine some individuals look for work in those types of jobs just because they like the power they have over others. But those types are suppose to be detected and fired eventually.
     But even that is not suppose to work. The clients who just want the money owed them would soon be hassled with a lot of people calling to clear their names. And still they're not finding the real debtor. Maybe after awhile they will decide they need to find more competient collectors.
     ... Oh well, enough of this. I've already spent too much time thinking about it. It will be just another thing my mind will drift back to for a long time.

7:25p
     Late this morning I drove up to the top of Glassy Mountain. I walked down to the West face where I use to go a few years ago. It was cloudy today and the clouds were about mountain top high. I sat there and walked around a bit for about 40 minutes.
     I went down to DM and Micky's this afternoon. We talked about the black Monday event some and then it was on to the usual talk. Everyone seems to be doing ok there. Dennis is having to go to a second work site up in Michigan. His regular site this time is in Ohio. DM has to get his license renewed this year and he talked some about the eye test. He has new glasses and is concerned about passing that part of the process. Kathy's business is having to sell property. Another bad economy sign. We talked some about the old businesses up on Main Street and where they were. We looked at a 1970 picture of N Lewis Street where there were a service station and two houses.
     Well it's the end of the middle day of my vacation. Still haven't managed to go anywhere or do anything like a vacation. Such is life.

Thursday October 10, 2002
4:10a
     It's raining today. I was going to get out and do yard work over at my house and around Mom's house this week. It's been cloudy and below normal cool this week. So I guess those chores will be put off till next week.
     I guess I'll try, really try, to do those pictures of the old slides today. At least there's the rain excuse for staying inside today. A while back when I got those old slide out to look at I checked out the old camera too. I found two rolls of film that were left un-used from the last time I did pictures from slides. That was in 1994 I think. I'll use those rolls just to see if anything develops.
     On the news websites this morning there has been another shooting and killing up in the District area. This one was down in Mannasses VA. It was also reported that the police had made an arrest yesterday too. I guess they haven't found the right person yet. It's only the first week for this event, it started last Friday. It'll probably take another week or two for the copy-cat shootings to start. The news media are upping their coverage and that usually leads some other un-balanced or borderline killer type to start doing the same type of thing.
     Still don't know if I'll try going anywhere. It would not be far, down to Clemson or up into the mountains or down state a little ways. Then it would $50 or $60 per night to stay in a hotel. Maybe it would be worth it. At least I'd be in a different place while thinking the same old thoughts.
     I upload this file last evening. The stats at geocities are messed up again. I wonder if there's a connection there? It seems like thats happened before, upload a file and the stats get messed up.
     Time to move on.

Friday October 11, 2002
4:25a
     The pictures of the old slides didn't work out. After I got things set up like I had used before I learned the bright flood light as a source wouldn't work. It would not light up the slide uniformally. So I will have to wait for a sunny day and reflect that light to the back of the slides. I had thought only the close up lenses were needed. But they wouldn't let me get the camera close enougth to fill up the frame. Then I remembered using grandma Hughes' old round magnifing glass and that worked. So that project is on hold again till a nonwork day and sunny day happen together.
     Yesterday about 10:00a the lady from the collection agency called again. When I first heard her name I just kind of sighed and thought oh no not again. But I had gotten some paper when I heard the phone ring because I suspected it would something related to that event. I wrote down her name again and where she said she was calling from. Then she asked the question about the social security numbers and this time I got them wrote down. Three of the digits are the same as my and two were in the right order. So that's what made me think I heard my numbers on Monday. I told here those were not my numbers and she made her apologizes and said she had the wrong Jerry Hughes. That was the end of that encounter.
     I got connected to the internet and found the address and phone number of that collection agency's office in the city she said. So I've got that bit of information now.
     I don't know what to make of the current status now. After talking with the power company on Monday this should be over and done with now. There's a couple or three other possiblities. After the power company called the agency and said they had found the wrong person my name just got put back into their to call list. I can imagine the employees there sit and call whatever names and numbers show up on their computer screens all day. To them it's just another person in the list to call and they really don't remember who they've already talked to. The other possible reason is that the lady does remember and is purposely calling me again anyway. But I'm not sure how that should be interpertted. It could be the agency's way of letting me know they made a mistake and apologize without directly admitting it. The other is it is something personal with her. Oh well, time will tell as future events unfold. I don't think I'll be making any more journal entries about it either. It's not worth the bandwidth.
     So enough of that again.
     Maybe today I'll go over to Greenville and to the library. There is some bit of geneaology stuff I could do over there. It's suppose to rain today and wouldn't be able to get outside anyway. It doesn't look like I'll be spending any nights somewhere else for the vacation days either. There never were any definite plans to begin with and I suppose that turned out just as well.
     On the PBS station last evening they had a show about the stranded airline passengers after the terrorist attack last year. I really had not thought about them during the days after that event. The news media was focusing everyone's attention on the devastation. Those people had to spend 4 or 5 days in strange places. The Canadian people in the citys and town near the airports were really nice. They provided shelter, food, clothes, and anyother help needed by the passengers. I suppose the same thing was happening in some European city's too because the whole airline system was basically shut down for people headed to the States.
     Thanks Canada! I know it over a year late but, Thanks to Canadians!

Monday October 14, 2002
4:50a
     Friday I went over to the Greenville Library. It is in the new building where the old Coca Cola bottling plant use to be. That's about 2 buildings west of where they use to be.
     A lady down in Flordia had sent email a while back, June I think, about Jeremiah Hughes' family. She's one of his descendants. So that's what I worked on Friday. I found the obit for her great grandmother who was one of Jeremiah's daughters. I looked up some of the census data too. I sent what I found to her and she sent some more stuff back on Saturday.
     Yesterday I drove down to Anderson, they've got a new library too. I was driving around the town looking for a place to ask where it was when I drove by the police station. I went around the block and stopped there to ask. It, the library, is a big new building too. I had thought it was on of the old Anderson College buildings but that site was a few blocks farther out of town. So I looked up obits there too.
     ....
     One of the resort, tourist islands in Indoneasia got hit with a terrorist attack over the weekend. About 200 people dead and they're still recovering bodies and accounting for the missing. It is supposedly one of the extreme militant Islamic groups again. There's over 1 billion Muslims in the world who practice true Islam. They really need to come down hard on those extremists groups who don't.
     But I guess that really wouldn't work. The terrorist types would just find some other superficial cover to hide their dirty deeds behind.
     ....
     Meanwhile back on the Cowboy's ranch, the States are still slowly self destructing. I wonder how much political campaign traveling he's done during his first 21 months in office? It still feels like he's done more fund raising than governing.
     There's still hope that this year's election and the 2004 election will be a reforemdum on his leadership. At least I can dream that most all the Republicans and all the old encombants get voted out.

Tuesday October 15, 2002
4:50a
     I really need to develope another type of news interest. The Bush-Hussein, Palestine-Israel, alqadea terrorism, sniper killings and all have been extremely wearisome for a long time now. I've gotten to where I just look at the article headers and that's all.
     Bali Indoneasia gets worse every time there's a new datum bit to drop into place. It's as sad a situation there as it was at the World Trade Center, Pentagon and Pennsylvania crash sites.
     These extremist militant terrorist types are going to be the new world order for a hundred years or more. It doesn't make any difference if they claim some religious principles for justification or not. They would just find some other reason to clear their minds of any real moral, ethical, humanitirium responsibility.
     Yesterday at work I spent the morning clearing away all the papers, reports and files that had been accumulating all year. All the old stuff is packed away in one of those copy paper boxes now. There's only the one current file on the desk that is being worked on now. Maybe I can keep it that way for the rest of the year.
     Earl brought in a new job to work on too. Actually it's a couple of problems I worked through back sometime during the 1980s. It's the gear train bearing reactions and shaft stress problem. I did that on the HP9800 computer. Glenn was still using that computer some a couple years ago. It was an 1983 or so model. The programs I wrote then would do some trial and error shaft placements for two and three stage designs. And the equations were generalized so that they worked for all the possible designs. So now, 15 or 17 years later, I get to do it all over again.

Saturday October 19, 2002
5:35a
     Thursday morning Mom was in her bedroom and putting on her robe. She just fell and sat down in the floor. Her left arm got broken near the wrist. That was about 7:00-7:30. She got up and went on about her regular morning routine of fixing cereal and coffee and things. It was after 8:00 when she called me at work. So the rest of the morning was spent at the hospital. The afternoon was spent get pain medicine and other things she needed.
     She has to go see the bone doctor on Monday and plans need to be made for that trip. So that's the new situation here.
     Friday at work was a hassle with more hurry up and get it done exercises. There's new work on a gear train system too.
     I've got to get on with the regular chores plus putting up the storm windows plus getting things done for Monday and next week. I brought some of the work home but I doubt if I'll make myself do any more with it. I tried that last weekend and nothing happened.

Monday October 21, 2002
4:55a
     Mom is to go to the bone doctor today. I have to get the x-rays from the hospital this morning. I'll at least call the pharmacy to see if they rent one of those wheelchairs. It's kind of foggy this morning and there might be showers. Maybe it'll stop before noon time. There's work that has to be done at the job too. I did some yesterday afternoon but I don't think it helped moved the project along much. It was just setting up a mathcad worksheet to do the calculations that were done by hand. I didn't get the same answers though. Oh well, time to get on with another day and week.

Tuesday October 22, 2002
5:20a
     The trip to the doctor went ok. He put the regular cast on her arm and said it would take about 6 weeks to heal. We have to go back in 2 weeks. Everything seems to be going well. Mom is doing better to I think. I rented a wheelchair this time. I think it help me more than Mom.
     I woke up later than normal this morning and now it's already time to get on with the morning rituals.

Wednesday October 24, 2002
5:20a
     Did some homework for the job this morning. I've gotten behind on my work this past week. Of course it's all stuff that needs to be done in a hurry too.

Friday October 25, 2002
3:35a
     The rest of Tuesday ... and the week ....
     I had continued with the usual morning routine of checking the internet news and eating my bowl of cereal with grapfruit juice. After I finished that I decided to have a couple of the square waffles and was standing at the counter waiting for them to pop up out of the toaster. I heard Mom call my name.
     After I opened the door to the den and looked toward her room I saw her laying on the floor at the bathroom door. She had fallen again. I guess I just kind of sighed and thought oh [explictive deleted]. I've forgotten all the details but I started getting pillows for her head and asking what had happened.
     She just lost her balance again or her legs gave way again. She said she didn't sense and forewarning signs. We tried to get her up a couple of times but evertime she raised her head it would start to feel dizzy and swim. She did bump her head on the hall carpet. Several minutes go by while I sit on the floor too and we decided what needed to be done.
     She had already gotten wet from going to the bathroom. She wanted to get cleaned up and dry underwear on before calling the EMS people so I helped her do that. I called the 911 number and got told them what had happened and that her head was dizzy when she held it up. So they were on the way after that. Then I went out and moved the truck and turned the outside lights on and when back to see what else needed to be done. I think I mostly just sat on the floor with her. Well I do remember moving the kitchen table to make room for the gurney or whatever it's called.
     Of course it felt like time had really slowed down waiting for them to get here. I would check the kitchen window some to look for them and watched them drive up the driveway. It was two men this time. They went about their business and I answered their questions about what happened. Mom answered most of the questions too. They explained the dizziness was probably the result of her bumping her head. One also mentioned about getting up out of bed too fast too. He used the term jump up out of bed. But Mom said she hadn't been able to do that for a long time.
     We, or Mom, finaly decided she needed to go to the emergency room to get checked out. They helped Mom to stand up and she leaned against the bathroom wall for a moment. After showing one of the EMS men the front door and he looked at the kitchen way again too they walk her to the living room. One of them had already moved the gurney there since that way seemed the easiest. They get her in the vehicle and I tell her I'll be up there soon.
     I went about getting things ready to leave. Getting her purse with the medicare and insurance cards, getting the oxygen tanks in the car, closing up the doors and things. It was getting close to 8:00 by then and I decided to call DM and Micky before going. The last time when we were up at the hospital for her arm I had kept thinking we would be back by noon time. I was going to wait till then before calling anyone. But Mandy at work learned I had left work in a hurry that morning and they found out that way. So this time I thought it better to go ahead and let them know now.
     At the hospital it was mostly the usual. I sat with her in the curtained off exam room. It was the first one on the left this time. The last time, with her arm, she sat in a wheelchair. The doctor had one of them CAT scans done to check her brain. He said they normally look for broken blood vessels. That checked out ok and normal. So that's was the good news, at least there was no really bad reason for her falling.
     Most of the rest of the time there was waiting. The emergency room wasn't as busy as last time but it always takes lots of waiting time. We mentioned to the doctor about Mom taking her morning medicine so he arranges for her to have some breakfast. I help her with that. Of course they had coffee and asked about a straw for her. They get one and I'm fixing that. I remember thinking I need to tell her it's going to be hot through the straw. But by the time I get it fixed and give it to her I've forgotten. She burns her mouth.
     We spend more time waiting and I eat some of the breakfast she didn't finish. I sip on the coffe too. It must have been late morning by the time we leave. I roll the wheelchair down to the out patient entrance and then walk back to the front parking lot to get the car. Oh yeah, when I left the house to go up to the hospital the car kept chocking down on me. I've never been able to keep it going after a cold start. Especially when I really need to be going. At the back enterance I get her into the car and we drive back to the house.
     The rest of the day. We eat some lunch. I get her clothes together along with those already in the laundry room and wash them. We're sitting in the den putting them on hangers when DM and Micky arrive. There's talk about Micky taking them with her to dry in her dryer. We sit around and talk about the day's event. I go up town to get the antivert (anti dizzness) medicine. Mom still hasn't taken any of them like she still hasn't taken any of the pain medicine for the broken arm. I fix us supper. We sit and watch a little tv. We actually did more talking that evening too rather than watch the usual tv shows. Then we get ready for the night. I had to help her get ready for that too. I think I had done some of that since she broke her arm too.
     On Wednesday DM comes up to sit with her for the morning. I take him back to his house at noontime. Lucille comes up that afternoon. On Thursday Micky stays with her that morning and then DM comes up for the afternoon.
     Work is as much a hassle this week. There's still those hurry up and get it done jobs to finish. I'm trying to get those caught up while thinking about what needs to be done for Mom.
     This morning I wake up about 3:00. After going to the bathroom and laying on the floor in the dark I notice the light through the almost closed door. Mom is up too. I laid there for a while waiting for it go out. It doesn't so I start the getting up ritual. By the time I get dressed, the blankets and pillow up off the floor, and the door opened she turns her bedroom light out. I was going to go ask or see if she was ok, but didn't. At least I knew she able to get back in bed.
     This afternoon it's another trip to her regular doctor. It's part of the follow up from the fall on Tuesday morning.
     So that's this week's happenings.

Monday October 28, 2002
5:35a
     The traditional time change happened yesterday. So my time entries are back in sync with the rest of the world's time.
     The trip to the .... on nevermind it was just another trip to the hospital to have the heart moniter taken off. It was something I could have done here at Mom's house and avoid all the hassle and effort of getting her up there and back.
     I slept 2 1/2 hours yesterday afternoon. Lucille was visting with Mom for some of the afternoon. I didn't get the storm windows up this weekend like I had thought of doing. Maybe I'll get them up before it turns really cold.
     This will be the last full week of of American political campaigning. I hope. It is the first Tuesday of November isn't it? The States are well on their way toward self destruction. More terrorist attacks, war in Iraq, political wars in country, eccetra ad nauseum.
     I wonder what hot bit of work there will be to do this week?

Thursday October 31, 2002
5:00a
     It is a clear early morning sky and the space station is to pass over in 14 minutes. It does seem like a long time inbetween when those to events coincide. So now all I have to do is remember to stop making this entry in time to go outside and watch it.
     The router is the hot item at work this week.
     [Time passes.] Nine more minutes.
     American politics and elections are as depressing as they ever were.
     Mom's depression has been higher than normal recently.
     [Time passes.] Six more minutes.
     Email has gone silent again.
     Five minutes ... time to go outside and wait.
     Five-twenty-three ... well that event is done. It'll probably be the high point of the day too. Forty year ago the Mercury program was happening. Ten years passed by with high expectations for space exploration. Then the moon trips came to an end. Now it's another 30 years later and still there's no moon colony and only one space station to look at as it goes over. There were plans for much more and even a Mars colony by now. Such is American government and politics and fraud and special interest contracting. What a waste.
     Well, I'm going to fix my breakfast and wait for more time to pass and then get ready for work.

Tuesday November 5, 2002
6:20a
     Saturday afternoon I swapped the window screens and storm windows.
     Then I crawled under the house to swap the air filter on the furnace. I think it had been two years since that was done. It's always something special to get under the house near the furnace. That always makes me think of the times and time Dad spent there working on it. Or rather the old one. The old burner is still sitting on a small pallet next to the enterance.

Tuesday November 12, 2002
5:00a
     The last few days, since Thursday, I've been making digital photos of the old pictures. There's a few hundred, maybe a thousand, that's been made over the decades. Recently I've always wondered how to share them with the rest of the family. I had thought they would just get divided up later on and sent to the corners of the country. But it occurred to me to just make computer images of them and send them over the internet.
     Mom called the furnance man the other day. I guess that was Thursday or Friday. I left a note with all the things I thought needed looking at and that Mom had mentioned over the months. She mentioned smelling fumes when she called. So that was all that got looked at. He said everything else looked ok. So now there's still the things that Mom had mentioned and the things I saw under the floor that still need looking at. It's such a ritual to listen to the same things and not much of anything gets done to fix them.
     The job has been a real hassle this past week or two also. It's trying to get a test to work that's not really going to work exactly right.
     Friday evening I dozed some while watching (staring at) the news shows. After I got up out of the chair I felt my heart go out of rythem a bit. It wasn't as bad as it had done in the past. I think it stayed that way all night and into Saturday morning. But it eventually passed. Too much stress and lack of good rest during the week.
     One day last week there was some high winds. It blew down three dead pine trees at my house. I saw them laying across the old van and oil tank when I drove up to the top of the drive. One had just brushed up against the house. So Saturday morning after getting the clothes washed and hung out on the back porch I spent about an hour sawing and cutting part of them up. It was just enough to get them off the van and oil tank.
     Leander wanted to fix lunch for Saturday too. She had called Mom earlier about that. She fixed a ham, lima beans and sweet potato suffle. Then she spend the rest of the afternoon visiting. DM and Micky had come up on Friday and she brought some food that day too.
     Well that's this weeks journal entry. I'll probably be busy with the old picture project for a while and won't be making as many.

Monday November 18, 2002
5:55a
     More of the same. Work on the old pictures project. Work on the job. Work doing the everyday routine things. Work doing Saturday errands. Then waste away Saturday and Sunday afternoons catching up on the sleep.
     It's cold this morning, about 30. I noticed the moon was full when standing at the kitchen sink fixing coffee. I went outside to look at it anyway.
     [Pause] There's probably stuff I should have been writing about but I can't think of them now. There's just too much of the sense that .... Oh well, just give it up and quite trying. Bye.

Sunday December 1, 2002
6:20a
     For someone who doesn't feel like he ever accomplishes anything he really wants to do I seem to at least get a few things done. But then there's always more that needs to be done.
     I haven't been making jounal entries recently because I've been using my usual morning time and the evening times to make pictures of the old pictures. Then I add captions with names, then I upload them to the website for the rest of the family to see them. There's 375 or more now and one or two more groups to go then it'll be finished.
     I haven't been following the discussion boards much either. It's just the occassional look-see and that's all. There's no point in adding my thoughts on the terrorism - Iraq - american politics - world futures. Most everyone is set in their own opinions and there's no one with thoughts like my own to share with.
     I brought some homework home for the holidays but I haven't done anything with it yet. Probably won't either. It just occurred to me that there's a connection between doing job work over the holidays and doing college homework over the holidays. I never thought that before. I'm still programmed from college year habits.
     Yesterday I went down to the big home supply store in Easley and got a couple of things. A fire detector and a furnace thermostat. I got the fire detector put up on the underside of the pull down steps to the attic. It's the thermostat I'm scared of.
     It's just a simple take the old one down, swap the two wires and put the new one up. But then it's the heat source for Mom's house and it's cold weather now and something will go wrong and then we'll be without heat. It doesn't make much diff how I plan to do it and make precautions about what I can think of that can go wrong. Something will happen that's beyound my ability to remedy.
     Of course the alternative is to call the furnace man and let him spend 15 minutes doing the job for $50 or $75 dollars.
     Might as well mention this too. Dad put up the thermostat that is there now. I sort-of remember him doing it. That was the during the Summer or Fall of 1978 when he got the new furnace. He never got to enjoy the new furnace after all those years of crawling under the floor to keep the old one going. He died 24 years ago today.
     Bye.

Thursday December 5, 2002
5:30a
     Storm over here
     The tree limbs and power line started freezing over about 3 pm. It was mostly drizzling rain then and there was just a slow accummulation of ice. The temperature here at Mom's house stayed right at 30-32 degrees till mid evening. It rose a degree or two by then. There was a 2 or 3 hour pause in the drizzling till 9:30 then the main strom started to pass over. The power flicked a few times about then. We went on to bed at the usual time. I woke up several times during the night and could hear the rain outside. I would listen for the oxygen concentrator to make sure it was still running. By about 2 and 3 o'clock it was still raining but I figured the temperature had risen enough above freezing by then. It's 34 on the back porch now and most of the ice has melted on the limbs and power line.
     It looks like Frances and Steve are still getting ice this morning too. Mid and Eastern NC must have gotten a lot during the night. Hope you two did ok during the night.
     I'll ride over to my house on the way to work and see it there's been any damage over there.
     Robert called Tuesday evening and we talked a while. His work is still slow and he's been taking days off. His family is doing ok. Tanya's family had colds and she had commented on how long it takes for that to pass around four family members now. It was good for Mom to talk with him I think.
     Every winter, especially since Mom needs the oxygen concentrator, I've thought of getting an electric generator. Hearing about the approaching ice storm over the weekend started me thinking about that again. So Tuesday morning I left work and went to Lowe's in Easley to get one. Spent the rest of the day putting it together, getting gasoline, extension cords and stuff from my house for the storm. I plugged one of my heaters that I had brought from my house in it and noticed the fan wasn't turning fast like it should. I got my meter out of the tool box and measured the voltage. It was putting out only 90 volts instead of 120. The afternoon was spent tring to figure out what was wrong. There wasn't any manual in the box and I drove back to Easley to get one. That was any help either. Most of the troubleshooting help in it said call a service representative. I went back to work for a short while and talked with some of the men there about it. I took a meter from the lab when I left. The frequency on the generator is messed up too. It's erratic and around 300-400 Hertz instead of 60. That's when I just gave up and didn't do any more with that evening. I didn't do anything about it yesterday either. I was just too furstrated with it all. Now I'll have to hassle with getting a replacement or that one fixed or something else during the next few days.
     All that has been one of the reasons I kept putting off getting a generator or trying to do most anything else. It just not worth the effort. There'll always be something wrong and won't workout like it's suppose to.
     So much for this weeks mis-adventure. At least God spared us a power outage.

Tuesday December 10, 2002
Ice Storm
     Hi Randy,
     I've been reading the email you've sent, it's all nice reading. I don't reply to any of them but they do get read.
     Hope you all faired well during the recent ice storm. It looked like it was bad over your way. One of the men who works here lives in Simpsonville and he said he was still without power on Friday. We didn't get much here but it was enough to make me worry about the power going out here too. I had my own mis-adventures anyway.
     On Tuesday, the day before the storm was suppose to get here, I was sitting at work worrying about the storm coming. I've done that every winter for the last two years, espcially since Mom has to have that oxygen concentrator going all the time. There's a big tank in the den for when the power goes out and it has enough for 24 hours. We can get 36 hours out of it if we cut the litres per minute from 5 to 3 or 4. Anyway I can't think about working so I leave and go down to Lowes to get an electrical generator. I've always wanted to have one anyway, even back in the 1980s when I was over at my house trying to figure out how to stay warm during the power outages. I spent the rest of the day putting it together and getting it to work.
     It went together easy enough. But when I got it started I plugged in a small space heater and saw that the fan wasn't turning the right speed. So I checked the voltage and it was only 90 volts. The rest of the afternoon was spent trying to figure out what was wrong. I eventually gave up and went back to work about 3:00. There I talked with a couple of men and got a multimeter and took it home that night. The hertz was all wrong too, 200 - 400 cycles instead of 60. I gave up again. It's just my luck to get a brand new something and it'll be the one that doesn't work.
     Thursday morning I came in to work and we stayed till noon time. That's when the bosses decided to let up go home. I didn't do anymore with the generator since it was already storming and couldn't do anything about it anyway.
     Friday I called my nephew Scott from work and arranged with him to help me get it to a service place. It was out 183 toward Greenville near the old blinker light intersection with 135. When we drove around to the place to unload it the man there was unloading 4 or 5 machines he had goine around to pick up. I helped him a little and he made the comment about most of them were probably operator problems. Then Scott pulled the truck on up to the dock area. The man looked at while it was still on Scott's truck. He got the generator going and pushed a switch some on the front panel. It reved up to speed instead of it's idle speed. I knew then I had missed something since I never could get it to so faster without manually moving the control above the carborator.
     So anyway he checks it out and there's nothing wrong with the generator. I had been sure I had tried all the buttons and levers to make it put out more voltage. And the only was I did move a small lever. Even the main throttle controll wouldn't do anything. I told the man he can go put another mark under the operator problem column. So we take the machine back to Mom's house.
     After thinking about everthing the rest of Friday afternoon and Saturday I decided I had acutally move that switch when I first got it going. I even heard it reve up to speed and made a mental note that that switch needs to be left in that position when using the generator. Then I forgot all about it and started "expecting" something major to be wrong with my new generator.
     During all that I lost a piece of paper that came with the generator too. It had a phone number to call for help in setting it up. I had stopped by my house Thursday morning to get some things and it was in the back of the truck. I thought I need to move that to the cab so I'd remember to take it in to work and that's what I did. Later when I got to work and looked for it it was missing. I drove back to my house to look for it and couldn't find it anywhere. More of Jerry's bad luck I thought.
     I had decided that I'm beginning to hide stuff from myself just to make my life more difficult. I expect things to go wrong and then I do things to actually make things go wrong.
     Sometime during all this I lost my Barlow knife that I had carried with me for 25 years. I remember using it and was going into a store and felt it in my coat pocket. I thought I need to leave that in the truck so I put on the seat. That was the last time I remember having it.
     Sunday afternoon I started cleaning out my truck that had accummulated a bunch of stuff during the past weeks. I was looking for my knife too. I found the missing paper. It had gotten under the passanger seat somehow. I think that's where I hid it really. At least I got my truck halfway back in order.
     Now if I could only figure out where I hide my knife from myself.

     My brother Robert sent this to me after I had wrote about the generator eposide. It's from the old Pogo comic strip of years and decades ago. It was a different world back then.
     Albert the Alligator, "We have met the enemy and he is us."

Wednesday December 11, 2002
6:20a
     Recently I've been sleeping, or at least laying on the floor, till 4:30 and 5:00 oclock. I don't know what I'm doing different as compared to when I was waking up at 2:30 and 3:00 oclock.
     I've been wanting, feeling the need to, write some thoughts and opinions about terrorism activities and American politics and such. But then I wonder what's the use.
     The terrorist types are still active and will be for the next 100 years. There's no real attempts being made to change their attitudes. Leaders of nations, countries, empires the world over and through world history have always been basically personal ego and power grap trips. They don't care about the masses, general public, the plebes. That's the terrorist leaders' attitude as well.
     The States have gotten on the short, fast track to self destruction. That total information awareness program fundamentally suspects everyone is a terrorist till proven otherwise. The rich and powerful, like it's always been through history, can only focus on increasing their own selfess interests at the expense of the poor and helpless.
     So anyway, that's this morning's entry. Bye. ... Oh yeah, someone found the secret link on one of my webpages the other day. Hope they had a good ride. TIA just one letter differ from CIA, remarkable.

Wednesday December 18, 2002
6:20a
     Finished adding stuff to the Terrorism 2002 page that I started to do three months ago.
     And to the Decline and Collapse of the United States page too. Of course it continues to be internal politics and corruption that will do that.

Monday December 23, 2002
6:15a
     Winter Solistice has come and gone. No special journal entry. Frances and Steve have visited this weekend. Christmas stuff has been happening, putting up the decorations and doing the tad of shopping just to have something under the tree. The 'twixt and 'tween days are upon me with nothing special planned ... again. I've thought about writing stuff but it doesn't look like that's going to happen ... again.
     It already time to get on with the getting ready for the day already.

Tuesday December 24, 2002
5:35a
     I suppose I could just sit here and stare at this portable computer screen for a while. That's probably what I will end up doing while trying to think of something to write about. There's always those nagging war and terrorism issues to deal with, but I'm weiry of those. Then there's the "Do you remember" stories that need attention. The 'twixt and 'tween days writings are lurking out there as well.
     [Time passes by.]
     The Lady passed her physics course. She can explain the meanings of Life, the Universe and Everything now. Someone certainly needs to explain those things to the few hundred leaders in the world. They fursur don't understand.
     Recently, more and more, it's become apparent that the clashes between empires, nations, peoples and civilizations are all the results of a few individuals' personal greed for power and influence. Peasants, plebes, commoners, serfs all get along fairly well till some leader comes along to sturr up The Troubles.
     This Hussein - Bush thing has always been a personal conflict between the two. Just like the kings and empirers on the Old Continent use to bicker and fight with each other. They, both groups, already have the wealth and influence and power so now, and then, they have to ... what? Always prove it to each other by getting the peasants and commoners to kill each other over some cause or issue? "I can get my fools to kill more of your fools," they say to each other.
     ....
     Ohhh ... this is going nowhere. Neither am I today. It's a cold rainy day this day before Christmas.

4:30p
     So. It rained a lot last night and this morning. Serveral of the yards along the highway had water in them. Drove down to Leander's this afternoon to take them their Christmas candy. Mickie gave me their gift yesterday when I took their candy to them. So I took that down to Leander's too. She not doing well this week, has a cold or flu. Mom isn't much better with her coughing and congestion. But that seems to be the holiday spirit this year.
     It really does feel like there's no Christmas this year. Last year it was bad and this year it's worst. We go through the motions but there's no Christmas mood at all.
     I was going to write some today, sounds like a broken record doesn't it? But anyway it was going to be something about the world situation. The plan was to write something for each day. That was to begin last Saturday, the Winter Solistice day. But I haven't done any of that either. The first one was going to be something about how messed up the world is and how the kings and empirors don't give a dare about the peasants.
     Then this afternoon I thought about writing something post on one of the discussion boards. It was going to be "You've got seven days to solve the world's problems." Of course that's not going anywhere either.
     Daniel sent a couple of pictures and I got them today. They are of the hut we build in the woods below Runnymede. It's a frame with tin roof and tarp walls. At least the front is tarp walls. It has a low flap for the door and there are some small trees used a railing from the front. After seeing them I sort-of remembered how it looked now. One of the pictures had Robert and me standing in front. There is another kid there too and I think he's Joe Asheworth. All that was during the late 1950s.
     I don't write this time of day and it shows too. I just can't get into it. Bye.

Wednesday December 25, 2002
5:50a
     Happy Holidays, Merry Christmas and all the other Solistice Greetings and Salutations.
     Forty days, forty nights to create your workable solution. Tic toc tic toc tic toc, the timer is a ticking and a tocking toward the future.
     Where's your anti-hate vaccine? How goes your anti-war innoculation program? Why's the anti-weapons of mass destruction weapon development lagging? What's happened to your stockpile of anti-killing bio-chem agents? Who's leading the anti-greed research project?
     Sorcerers, wizards, shamans of the past mesmerized the plebes, peasants, serfs, commoners with magic words and phrases. You think they are of the past as well? Look again, then look again and again. They're here, they're there, they're still casting spells upon you all. They speak the words that hold the commoners' minds. Casting out keywords, old familiar slogans, giving what they believe will get them what they themselves desire. Preach terrorism, poof, terror it will be. Preach war, poof, war it will be. Preach axis of evil, poof, evil axis it will be.
     Tic toc tic toc tic toc ....

Saturday December 28, 2002
5:40a
     Yesterday afternoon I drove down to the Easley theaters and watched the "Two Towers" installment of the Lord of the Ring trilogy. They mixed up some of the story line. The Ent Moot and they're part in the battle at Helms Keep was not what I remember reading in the books. Frodo and Sam's encounter with the Gondor people was wrong too. They were sent on their way at Mirthas and not from the city.
     Tony and a friend were there too but they never saw me.
     ...
     Warlords ... it's all a matter of scale. Most all of them are warlords, it's just that some are leaders of great nations and others are leaders of villages. It's part of the culture for the latter and part of the system for the former.
     The local village warlord is the major employer for the area. He's the one with the money, probably from illegal trade, so the locals have little choice but to work for him.
     The

Sunday December 29, 2002
6:35p
     Commoners' Truth ... there is none, never has been, never will be.
     We all search for truths, what we call truths, but it's seldom found. What we really look for are reasons, facts, rationales to support our preconceived truths. We're also told what are suppose to be truths. But again that's seldom right either. We're told by leaders what their own search has yielded. And they are subject to the same human faults.
     You can cite references and sources for this or that statement. But what good does that do? Those are just as questionable as any other. An educated person says thus and so. So? Other educated people say something different. Government and political leaders ... do you really want to go there?
     Commoners are told whatever it is that the leaders think they can get the commoners to believe. .... Or what they believe the commoners want to hear .... reasons, facts, rationales to support their preconceived truths.

Tuesday December 31, 2002
5:55a
     Another last day of the year day is here. There's no thoughts, hard thoughts, only soft, vague, drifting thoughts. It's over and done with.
7:30p
     Last night after I had laid down and read some and then put the book up and turned out the lights and rolled over and started to relax for sleeping, my left lower gum started to hurt.
     I got up a couple of times to use some mouth wash and put an asprin on it. It kept on hurting for a while. After an hour and a half I was still waiting for sleep. It wasn't much longer before I finally dozed off.
     Of course I was worried about something serious being wrong. Nerve gone bad, damaged gum bone. On Saturday I had another irregular heart for a while. I decided that was caused by eating too much chocolate with caffine in it. I was clinching my teeth all afternoon. So I thought that may have caused some of it.
     This morning I thought it was all over with but it started hurting again before noon time. It's hurt some off and on. It's hurting now.
     I went down to see DM and Mickie this afternoon. She mentioned some kind of infection and using salt water. I warmed some water and put some salt in it and used a couple of swigs of that. The heat from the water caused the crowns to expand and made things hurt more. That was after a few hours of not hurting too. So that messed things back up.
     Now I have to be concerned about it hurting tonight too and causing me to not rest.
     Happy New Year! Jerry.
     Mom started taking down the Christmas decorations today and this afternoon. I finished taking down the tree, vacuuming that corner of the living room and putting things back like they were.
     Uncle Bob came up and brought his gifts for Mom. She gave him the box of candy that I had tried to deliever Christmas Eve day.
     I guess that's enough. I got to get my mind of the hurting again.



     Move on to the next part.


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© jwhughes 2002