Header image alt text

Jerry Loggins Notes

Notes on life, family and friends by Jerry Loggins

Today is my step-mother Mary’s birthday. I tried to call her at home, but just got her voice mail, so I sang “Happy Birthday” into her answering machine, tried her cell phone and sang the song again, man I hate singing that song. Then I turned to the Internet and sent her an email birthday card from my favorite free animated birthday card web site, and I posted on her Facebook wall. That’s all I can do from here, since she moved to Florida, it’s not like I can drive over to her house with a present anymore. So, Mary, here’s one more shot at letting you know that I’m thinking about you and want you to have a really Happy Birthday today!

Happy Bday

Happy Birthday Candles

After Christmas is all done and over with I seem to find myself realizing just how much stuff comes into the house each Christmas (all year round actually) and how little ever goes back out. I think that is the case for most of us these days. If the people from just 100 years ago could see all of the material items and pieces of technology that we posses, they would be just a bit freaked out don’t you think. So many of us have so much stuff that we pay hundreds and thousands of dollar each year to store their belongings to various storage facilities. That just blows my mind.

Thank goodness I am always on the lookout for a good storage cabinet that can be placed in either the basement of the garage to help keep our “extra junk” in some what of a work in progress. I have always been careful about labeling boxes and each time I go down to try and find something I am pretty sure that I’ll find what I want in the box with the correct label. Something so simple and only takes a moment can be a time saver in the long run.

 

As I have mentioned before, my wife is very talented with her imagination and with her hands. She lives and breathes for her recycled arts and crafts that she has such a knack with. She enjoys turning “one person’s trash into somebody else’s treasurer” as the old saying goes. While I’m on the Internet she is usually right in the next room working on her numerous projects, which works out quite well for both of us.

She uses a lot of her crafts for the various and numerous gift giving occasions that come each and every year. Right now she is working on how to turn a piece of wood and a handful of finger machine handles into a ring holder, or to hold and display necklaces or bracelets, something that a lot of people enjoy as a gift. A gift that was hand made, nice looking and useful, in my eyes are the best gifts ever.

Last year she put a lot of her recycled arts and crafts online that she enjoys sharing with friends and family as well as Face Book and lord knows where else. We have learned to check with Mom before throwing certain items that she might want or need, it just might be just what she was looking for.

One of my all-time favorite hiking and camping spots is in the Appalachian Mountains of Virginia. There is a deep creek that runs around the mountain, several flat and grassy areas good for pitching a tent, and at the top of the mountain is a fire watch tower that anyone can climb and have a great view of four states: Virginia, West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania. There is some great trout fishing in those streams. Huge fish that are trophy quality, although I strongly believe in catch and release.

Back in the days before cell phone cameras, no one would ever believe how big those fish were that I caught up on that mountain. But now I can take a snapshot and have proof of the size of my catch. There are many folks that enjoy the sport of fishing that are posting some pretty impressive catches on their Face Book Walls. Amazing how technology has even managed to effect the bragging stories fishers are (at least it used to) known for telling about “the one that got away” and how they always managed to stretch the length of their catch of the day by at least a few inches.

 

Biomatic fingerprint keyless lock (free clip art)

Biomatic fingerprint keyless lock (free clip art)

During my childhood, I remember several times coming home from school or a visit from a friend’s house, finding myself not having my key to the back door and having to go to the “rock of the month” that my mother had chosen to place the extra hidden key to allow us access to the house in case these kinds of situations came up. It was always a challenge remembering which rock to look under, since it changed each month. My mother insisted on changing the location of the extra key for safety reasons, even though it was in the back yard and couldn’t be seen by anyone from the street, but who knows who could be lurking in the bushes or the neighbor’s yard.

It really would have been great to have had the keyless lock technology in place that they now have to offer with their keyless lock products that are readily available today. Just imagine using your finger print to gain access to your home. No more looking through tons of keys trying to locate your house key when you are in a hurry or in the dark, by having a keyless lock in place you just place your finger tip on the lock and you’re in like flint! Some thing to look into for sure.