The Comcast Man

                                        

  ---  THE COMCAST MAN  ---

Everyone's aware, you can't help but know, about WOKE and Black Lives Matter, right?  I've never had any problems in that area, more than one of my friends was African-American.   One such beautiful lady, was Allie, she'd preen, she was fixy, and she was in my wedding.

Now this Friday morning, I sat on my couch watching the piney squirrel raid the bird feeder UPSIDE DOWN!  His head was away from me, his body's furry back hung to the ground, and his brown butt was aiming at me and his tail was doing the swish-swish-swish as he feasted on seeds.  I was gonna take him out!

When Antony, the Comcast repair man, came to the door he was tall, he was young, he was friendly and energetic, and he was black.  I never gave it a thought.  He came in, got on his hands and knees to peer under my cabinet at the router with his phone's flashlight, and pulled it out with all the dirt and dust bunnies hanging on. He went through the family room and investigated the t.v. and all the cords and connections, asked questions, I answered.  He sat in my green computer chair swiveling while he contacted his superiors by phone to get qualifiying numbers and digital reconnections and the final okay.

Later his manager was to come and approve his work.

"We're good to go," he said.

He smiled and bid me good bye.

Before I shut the door, I smiled and said, "Thank you very much, I'm glad to have this done."

He walked across the deck and down the stoop.

I stepped to the sliding glass door to bid him a final adieu.

He and his white service truck pulled away.

Then my heart dropped.

I may have made a social blunder, a faux pas.

Fingers drumming lips, cogitating, I worried, "Did he see?  What did Antony make of THAT?"

As I walked to that glass door for a final wave, I spied it.  There next to me on the back of the love seat, in it's beautious steeled glory with its nose facing towards the great outdoors, lay my black BB gun pistol!

  

Donna Kay - 2019 Revisited - God Blest

                    -- Donna Kay--

So, today, in January and NOT December, we took the next to the last Christmas gift, with shamefacedness for being so late, to my cousin Donna Kay.  She's 2 years older than me and she’s been a friend for many years.

When we were younger, my great-aunt, her grandmother, held campouts in the sparse woods beside Donna’s house.  Roasting hot dogs, making s’mores, and singing gospel songs around the bonfire sure was fun.

Another time, in our teens, my cousin and her mother and sister said, “Let’s go to Castleton Square.”  I thought, “What’s a Castleton Square?”   Turns out what I once knew as a cornfield had sprouted overnight, in my mind, into a big shopping mall.  

It was complete with a Sears, next to a J. C. Penney’s, and a Hallmark Store, the likes of which I’d never seen before. There I got my first look at a Studio greeting card, tall, and narrow, with a cutting-edge, humorous greeting.  

Example, on the front:  "Congratulations!  It couldn't happen to a nicer person"

Inside quip:  "If it did, it would be me."

Loved it!  It was a new and fun experience.  

Another time, with her mother driving, we all went shopping --- for empty cardboard boxes!  We headed to appliance stores, and big box stores to find a good supply.  The boxes that we found were then taken to church to make walls for a haunted house in the basement.  That haunted house was a blast.

Another new and fun adventure.

Nowadays, my friend is confined to a wheelchair but sports a smile and still shows a good sense of humor with her infectious laughter.  

For years, every Wednesday, we talked on the phone, “Hi!   How are you?”  “How’s your family?”  “Have you heard from Andy?” “Did you enjoy your trip to Vero Beach?”  "Mikkie lives down there, really?" “Wow, you really got quite a sunburn!”  

Andy's my brother who she dearly loves.  She thinks he's especially funny.  And Mikkie is her family's friend that moved to Florida.  

And then we began a pen pal correspondence; snail mail, as they say these days, which eventually evolved into email letters.  It wasn't long before I realized I could communicate with her through this blog.  Her caregivers would check for new blogs and read them to her.

Every Christmas she and I exchanged gifts.  It was a running joke that anything chocolate, like brownies, had to be secreted away because her dad loved them just as much as she did, and sometimes he'd eat more than his share, LOL.

"Brownies?  What brownies?"

But, I have to tell you about the crack shot in the movie theater at the Mounds Mall. No sense in even trying to remember the name of the movie.  She would.  She had the memory of an elephant, ALWAYS.  It’s clean left my mind.  There were several of us teenagers; we were between the ages of 15 to 22, and we helped cousin Donna from her wheelchair into a theater seat.    

In those days, our family couldn’t afford the theater’s popcorn and soda pop, so we brought in our own snacks.  And…in those days soda pop from the grocery store only came in glass bottles.  After we’d selected our seats, rearranged ourselves, and sat down, we began passing out the snacks and drinks.  Keep in mind, this was a no-no.  You did NOT bring in your own refreshments!

And I sure shouldn’t have.

This glass bottle of 16 oz. diet Pepsi was tucked under my left armpit under my coat.  Well ... it slipped.  I couldn’t grab it fast enough.  It slid out from under my coat.  It fell between the seat and the armrest.  It crashed to the floor.  It hit that cement floor like the sound of a shotgun in a metal storage u-lock-it!  KA-BANG!  SHATTER!  SPLAT! 

Liquid and glass, everywhere!

As for us, we sat there stiff as mannequins in double starched clothes, hoping to high heaven no one knew it was us.  We didn't move.  We didn't speak.  And we sure didn't look at each other!   We looked around at other ticket holders instead!  To this day, I don’t know how we didn’t give ourselves away by laughing out loud or how the ushers didn't discern the source, how they didn’t know from where that awful, ringing-from-the rafters sound came!

And, Donna restrained herself, too.  She never cracked a cackle!

Until we got back in the car.  Then it was an eruption of giggles and chatter and laughter!

What a memory!  

Re-telling that story always makes Donna laugh heartily.

Today, some 45 years later, we made a new memory.  Today, darling hubby, three sons, daughter-in-law, and grandbaby went with me to take my cousin Donna her yearly Christmas gift.  We talked with her sister, and her caregiver, and told stories, and shared jokes, and petted their dogs Livvy and Maddy.  

I accepted a gift that Donna had particularly picked out for me -- a beautiful angel playing a harp.  It sets on my night stand and plays "Oh, Come All Ye Faithful".  

Back to Miss Lilly, our granddaughter, who just loves dogs.  She just had to pet them, she said, “Aw, puppy.”  

And when her mother asked, “What does a doggy say?”  2 yr. old Lilly in her baby high-pitched gentle voice answered, “Woof, woof.”  

Before you could shake a stick, Lilly, in her violet-red hooded coat, was out of her daddy’s arms and down on all fours, just like the dogs, face to face, black nose to pink nose sharing doggy kisses, ha, ha, ha.

Donna laughed.  We all laughed.

On this day, the 6^th of January, when it’s customary to commemorate the visit of the Magi, to have all Christmas taken care of, we delivered our last gifts to a loved one,   cousin and friend, Donna Kay. 

TODAY'S TRIBUTE:  My dear cousin passed away a few days ago, June 11, 2025, just 15 days shy of her 70th birthday.  It's bittersweet.  She was sweet, though her body was weak.  I will miss purposely composing blogs for her to read, visits on her birthday and at Christmas, and, the reliving of precious memories.

They Came, They Played, They Entertained - Jacob with Lilly

 

Jacob and the Soldiers 

Jacob brought over a backpack full of tanks, and helicoptors and other vehicles for playing on his little cloth road map.  After laying them all out, he ran back to the kids bedroom returning with a bag of army men and other action figures that I kept back there for boy play.

He pulled out an army man that laid on the ground, and another that looked like he was running, and a third green guy was crouching.

He raised up each little one in the palm of his hand to my eye level for  inspection.

"Hey, these are just like mine!  I am so surprised!"

Okay, the little preschooler is talking bigger, I'm so surprised!

Photo:  True Legends Green Orc conquers Green Army Man, with Jacob

Jacob and My BB Gun

I'm about to get infested with piney squirrels.  Ruger, the cat, the huntress, has gone walkabout.  Last week she caught two and gifted me with them.  Last summer she caught a brown squirrel and ate it.  But since she's gone walkabout, the squirrels are coming in again.  Upon seeing one speedily scuttling under the wood box by the garage I got down my BB gun.  Durn, but I couldn't get the safety off.  I was trying to slide it from S (safety) to F (fire) and really struggling.

Though I thought the two grandkids were playing in the other room, and I was concentrating on the task at hand, Jacob slid in beside me.  Keep in mind he's only 5, a preschooler.  He was curious and "helpful".  

"Does it have ammo?"  (Ammo, what does this little tyke know about ammo???)

"It looks like a pistol?" (Pistol, when has he ever seen a pistol??)

"What if you push it in?"  (Durn, but pushing in worked better than sliding back!)

"That was awesome!"  And off he went.  He'd concluded the matter.

Jacob After Whirlpool Tub Bath

"Your bath is incredible because it has those holes.  It goes th-th-th-thb."

Jacob and Carrom

Telling about the rules of the game of Carrom, I was, that had little green and red rings, a white one as a starter and a black one as the final bonus queen.  On the tabletop wood board with it's red game markings, he was aiming for a green ring.  It was on his right and closer to me.  His hand quickly put the starter ring within inches of his target.

 "Stay behind the red line with your white starter ring," I gently informed him.

Well, that wasn't going to work, I could see the thoughts in his head.

He put the white starter ring behind the red line alright, then he snatched the green ring and put it behind the red line, too, bumped right beside the starter ring!  Shoot!  It went in the pocket!

Jacob, Lilly and the Chute

"I think the laundry chute is hungry," she announced.

They'd spent the night and the next morning spied the opened lid of my laundry chute.   Down go my pajamas, down go the morning oblutions towel and wash rag, and down goes her dirty scullery maid pretend play clothes of yesterday.

She rushes down stairs, "Where's my turtle?"

Turtle?  What's she want with a turtle?

Upstairs she hustles, folllowed by Jacob, with stuffed toy green turtle in hand.

She grins a twinkling silly grin.  "I just like to drop stuff down there, I think it's funny." 

And I think they're funny!

Jacob, and Jayden and Noelle

I had to laugh.  It turns out 8 y.o. Lilly is being pushy with Jacob and aggrvating him because 4 y.o. Jacob told me this.

      "Yah, I'm getting stronger than sissy.  If I get stronger, she can't pick me up!" 

 

Then there's Jayden, talking about the number of children at church,    

     "It's like there's 3 boy kids and 50 billion girls!!!"

And, lastly, our trip to church, with Jayden and Noelle in the backseat of the car brought a deep discussion - snacks, LOL. I had brought a snack with me and they had their goldfish with them.  I offered them each a bite of my banana telling them there's good stuff in a banana like potassium.

     Jayden pipes up, "And an apple is good, too!"

     We had a big discussion on calcium and vitamins and what nutrients are in some broccoli, and beans, and other foods.  

      "Apples have vitamin K good for blood and bones," I told them as I read what google search brought up.

      "Is there potassium in a apple, too?" asks Jayden.

       Noelle excitedly pipes up, she knows what's in apples, she exclaims with conviction, 

       "SEEDS ARE IN APPLES!"

Did The Boys Really Do That?

I've been thinking about the differences in boys brains and girls brains since I've never had personal experience with girls until we got granddaughters.  Then a grandson was born and it's obvious his interests are different than the girls.  So, I've compiled a list of things my own sons have done in their youth. 

Do you think they are all true or are some made up by me?

1.  Pulled boat behind a pickup with brothers riding along in the snow.

2.  Launched water balloons over the state highway.

3.  Rebuilt differential on vehicle.

4.  Rebuilt transmission on a classic truck.

5.  As toddlers, totally removed all branches from neighbor's 3 evergreen trees.

6.  Siphon fish tank water by use of garden hose extending through bedroom window to outside and back in to the bathtub.

7.  Crawled in grass in camouflage behinds neighbor's houses, and acroos the road behind some more neighbor's houses and said, "Do you know you can see everything through their windows at night?"

8.  Whacked golf balls over the barn

9.  As 2 y.o. collected Mason jar full of bumble bees

10.  Drove mother's car downtown near fairgrounds, beneficially blowing the carbon out so it drove better, and got a speeding ticket, and said,  "I wouldn't dirve downtown for a while...in that car."

11.  Lifted the sliding glass door off it's tracks to get in a locked house after curfew.

12.  Climbed a 180 foot tall cross-country high voltage power line tower and took a selfie.  Only telling girlfriend, "just in case."

13.  As elementary aged boys, built a bridge across a 10 foot pond and made an island in the middle.

14.  Floated a couch down the river at university.

15.  About drowned when ice gave way on reservoir on a jet ski and said, "If I could just keep my grip on the jet ski, I knew I could make it."

16.  Two toddler brothers chased blue ball onto state highway, traffic stopped, and semi stopped and the driver was walking around to rescue the boys.  One boy said, "I looked both ways first."

17.  Discarded a combine's tire into a ditch, but got surprised by it's continuing to roll, and keeping up along side of the truck.

18.  Brought home a Ford Escort that had thrown a rod and was smoking.  Borrowed grandpa's backhoe, dug a hole, and buried said Escort in barn yard, "I had to do it while you were on vacation."

19.  5 y.o. rode a mini bike into a tree "Daddy, did you save me?"

20.  Hid from cop by entering the property at the corner and driving behind the barn.

21.  Fell asleep at the wheel on a mountain in Kentucky and a passing tow truck peeled metal off side of his truck.

22.  Fell asleep at the wheel and rear-ended the couple ahead of him, compassionately they said, "We're just so glad he wasn't hurt."

23.  Built a play fort out of plywood complete with a drawbridge.

24.  Drove dirt bike off the sharp edge of grandpa's hill.

25.  Poured 5 gallons of gasoline on bonfire, and because there was a 20 foot long furrow around it, it puddled there and around his feet.  Once lit, he was consumed by smoke and fire and amazed a friend, "I couldn't believe he came walking out of the smoke like that!"  Suffered nothing except singed hairs.

26.  Carpeted the yard with bottle rockets sticks while we were away for the 4th of July.  We learned 5 years later that cops were called.

27. Several of them, and neighbor friends, got together and slingshot rocks over the highway and one passer-by stopped in to notify parents.

28.  3 of 20 year olds confessed at Thanksgiving dinner that they got airborne jumping over railroad tracks.

29.  One ramped mini bike and got a shock when brother coming up from behind him ramped his dirt bike at the same time.

30.  Laid mom's van on its side during ice storm.

31.  Laid Durango on its side at "high water" sign.

32.  Dragged a highway sign then dragged same highway sign with friends riding on it.

33.  Wrote in wet paint on Blazer "No Fat Chicks Truck Will Squat" and sadly it's still there, though faintly.

34.  Parents never knew until sons were in their 30's that a couple of them had a booze party.

35.  Can efficiently and safely run a bulldozer, backhoe, and a skid steer.

36.  Can efficiently and safely run a front loader, pulverizer, and dirt machine.

37.  Walked rafters in barn, so did their cousin, and all carved their names "We were here."

38.  Cut down a 25 foot tall evergreen tree to top it for a Christmas tree.

39.  Shot own hand.  Bullet went through house wall, too.

40.  Passed his best friend on the right, cop saw, gave ticket.

41.  With female cousin rode go-cart into a young evergreen tree and flattened it.  It grew crooked.

42.  With many friends, dug 7 foot hole in front yard, and in some shifts at night by spotlight.  When it got so deep that the sides needed shored, DH said, "No more, boys."

43.  While welding, melded ring to ring finger.  Scarred for life.

44.  Run his thumb through a band saw.  "Emergency!"

45.  Brought home sign of rules for swimming in lake, and was told, "Take it back!"

46.  Brought home stop sign, and was told, "Take it back!"

47.  Pelted stop sign at the nearby intersection with fast food drink cups and after he was told to clean it up, asked, "How'd you know it was me?"

48.  Had a 3 person Cub Cadet race with friends -- one had electrical meltdown, one laid it on its side, one caught fire and needed valve stems replaced.

49.  Was drag racing D150 and Dodge Dakota when Cadillac pulled up to join.  The Caddy lost.

50.  Rode his bicycle off the bed of a truck, and ended up flat on his back, "It didn't work like in the cartoons."

51.  Shot his hand with a "It's not loaded" bb gun.  BBs still there.  Hand can stick to magnets.

As I was talking to the boys about these, they got stiff and still.  I think they were wondering if I knew EVERYTHING.  And besides that, they had twinkles in their eyes.  Boys are dare devils, they enjoy the thrill, and they are lucky to be alive.

They've kept guardian angels very busy.  VERY BUSY.

They've kept mom close to God!  I think he wanted them to live, wink.  

Rusty's Kids, Kittens & Salmon Cookies

Last night (May 2023) it was a 3 ring circus!  

The kitties were protectively living in the garage, so I invited the grandkids over to watch them while we moved the skid steer, zero turn, hand truck, and various other things.  Besides I wanted all, kids and kittens, to get used to each other and the outdoor sounds and sights.

"Can they climb a tree?"
"This one is sticking to me!"
"But I wanna hold him."
"She's on the picnic table!"
"GrammyPam, can I take her in the house?"
"Is she her mommy?"
"Her in the cuddle, her won't come out."                                                                                                                                               "Luna doesn't like Detroit."                                                                                               "Why him growl?"

Questions, questions, questions....then since Mom brought supper so they all came in and had spaghetti, EVERYWHERE!  

"Can this one come in with me?  I'll take care of her."

LOL, and again, "Why him growl?"

September 2024

NOTE:  For supper, I fixed salmon patties, broccoli, and pork n' beans as the grandkids went out to play.  

I thought Jayden and Alayna wouldn't eat salmon and told Rusty how surprised I was.  He said, "Oh yah.  They run around here with them in their mouths like they're cookies!" 

 Whoo-hoo, that's my grandkids!  Finally, some that like patties like I do.  Wait.  Wait.  They aren't blood related!  

Oh well, happy dance, them's my grandkids!!!!

David Wayne's Coffee and Mowing

David Wayne and Annie 

       At Easter

David Wayne, my little 8 y.o. nephew, actually I'm his great-aunt, was interested in the coffee we were passing around at Spencer's house.  Some folks liked it with a little sugar, some wanted cream AND sugar, and some wanted it to stand on it's own!

Surprisingly, he had never made coffee for any one before, a novelty for him.

After a bit of instruction, I told him he could have some for himself.

He made a cup, put a little sugar in it, stirred, took a sip.

"Arrh, that's nasty!"

"I don't know how you all drink this!"

"I'm gonna wash this cup out like thirty times!"

 

* * * 

A few weeks later, David Wayne comes with his father to help him mow our property.  I had gassed up the zero turn, and put a charger on it 'cause it had sat all winter.  But his dad thought our yard was a big undertaking for the first mowing and brought his own zero turn along.  The plan was for each of them to mow to get the job done faster.

Now, there's 4 acres here.  The April showers had done their trick.  The dandelions were proliferous and the grass was tall.

I noticed there was two or three times dad had to get down on the ground and pull wads of grass out from around the spindles and belts.  It made the clutch click and whine, and put out smoke one time.  This upset David Wayne, made him nervous, he shut it off and got off!

Towards the end, watching him mow in a circle, I went out to check on him.  He saw me and made a beeline in my direction and idled down the mower to have a talk.  He was so adult-like, so matter of fact.

"GrammyPam, you need a new zero turn, or ... you need to not let the grass get so high."

I had to laugh behind my hand, this little pipsqueak was laying it on the line!  ROFL.

Noelle Sweepover "Snake"

 

                                       

September 2024

Noelle who's only 4 y.o. and hadn't been here for a few weeks, went into the back bedroom and picked up her dollie, as I was walking by I heard, "There you are, Sweetheart.  Did you have a good sweepover?"

March 2023

Took a walk in Lapel park but picked up Alayna and Noelle first to go with us.  I taught them "step on a crack break your mother's back", "step on a line break your father's spine" and they thought that was just the best thing, what a hoot!  So Alayna she'd step on them on purpose and listen to John moan "Oh, my back!"  And Noelle said, "I nice, I no step on", and with her white shoes she'd take a giant step with a little jump right over.  

15 minutes in the park's playground to let them get good and dirty and home we all went.  It was good all around, I slept in!  

June 2022

When little 2 y.o. Noelle, who's the same age as Jacob, sees a slab of meat, instead of steak, she calls it snake.  The pic above is her at the display counter of steaks at Texas Roadhouse.  

She showed lots of personality that day.   In the second pic she's trying on my reading glasses.