Pulling Deep Down from the Pensive

This week began the segmented essay for English 226 and I had writers block, I just could not think of anything to talk about.  So, I just started writing, not knowing where I would go.  I started writing about my grandparents and my family working at my grandparents farm.  Ended up bringing back memories that really took a toll on me emotionally.  Assignment draft finished on time, but  I’m still hurting over what I guess I had buried for awhile that being how much I miss my grandmother.  She died eight years ago the three days after my Dad passed away.  Grief is a funny thing, for I know now that my grief for my Dad, I worked through, but not for my Granny.  Next week during Thanksgiving, I plan on visiting her grave and take some flowers.  She loved daisies the most.  They are a common flower for such a remarkable women, she never had fancy clothes, she sewed her own, nor any jewelry other than a plain wedding band, it wasn’t her style.  The family bought her a circlet broach with all the grandchildren's birth stones that she wore on special holidays.  She was proud of it not for its monetary value, but because of what it represented, her accomplishment for bringing us, her grandchildren, into the world.

I apologize for being so melancholy, but my grandmother told me many times, when we were alone working together on the farm that I  wore my feelings on my sleeve for everyone to see.  Thank you, Granny for helping me, be me.

Not the Last Pensive

This blog is the last for my English 226 creative writing class hoorah; however, I have enjoyed doing it so much that I plan to continue.  Before creating this blog I thought it would be difficult, but turned out to be simple.  I am thinking I might learn how to tweet, and create a MySpace page…Oh my! 

In another class I had to create a sonnet about LSUS, so here it is:

At LSU Shreveport I doth attend
A devotion to reading, writing, and thought
Sweaty brow furrowed to comprehend
Seeking better employment to pay for that bought
Comparing dates, long past, to present in history
Hoping one day to teach and fill young minds
Finding turning points by others a mystery
To paddle not misbehaved teenage behinds
Spending my time at LSU Shreveport
To endeavor to learn more each day
Seeking knowledge and things of import
In hopes of earning a higher pay
My goal to graduate at LSUS
To earn my degree will make my success

I wish everyone that has followed my blog best wishes and may God bless you in all your endeavors……….

Pulling from the Pensive

This week started with me having 18 shots in my mid-to-lower part of my back.  The lumbar in my back have degenerated over the years, and the shots are part of a procedure to see if the nerves that come from my spine can be burned (severed) to alleviate my pain for 4 to 6 months.  This weeks test was unsuccessful and I will have another next week. I have  been on heavy pain relievers, and still am.  Please forgive me if my writing goes wild!

I am not trying to make this weeks blog so negative, but it seems that I am headed in that direction.  My wife and I went to see “The Fourth Kind,” which was somewhat entertaining.  I you liked “The Blair Witch,” and the new “Paranormal Activity,” you will probably enjoy seeing it. I am a SyFy buff, I watch “Sanctuary” and “Star gate Universe”.

My yard has a bunch of leaves that have fallen and I plan to rack them and put them in my compost pill.  I love today’s weather especially after getting so much rain in the past week.  I have some pecans that have fallen, but not many.  The rain prevents them from drying in the shell and makes them hard to pick out and the taste not as robust as I like.  Ben, my son, lost there game last night, so he is down in the dumps.  Until next week…

Select Pensive

Last blog I spoke of studying for my upcoming test for CISSP on Halloween day.  I have been allowed to reschedule until January 2010, thank goodness.  I have been working no less than 12 to 14 hour days this past week.  My birthday is today, nothing special planned just hopefully study time:)

I will be working the concession stand for my Son’s football game this coming Friday at Riverdale Academy.  I enjoy working this.  I like meeting the other parents & helping to make money for the school.  My Son did very well the past nine weeks on his school work.  He is in 8th grade and I give him $20 for every A and $10 for every B, as incentive.  

I continually look for ways to improve my organizational skills, whether it is a new gadget or changing the way I do things.  In "The Quest for the Perfect Morning Routine," there are some good tips for managing our day-to-day lives.  If you have the time check-it-out.  Until next week…

Pensive Thoughts Abound

It is Monday for me and I am trying to get my blog in early, so I can concentrate on my upcoming CISSP (see earlier posting for info).  The test is at the Regency in Houston where I will stay the night before the six hour exam at the hotel.  It is hard working full time and going to school part time, and trying to get ready for this test.  My wife and I ate Chinese food today for lunch and my fortune cookie said, “Stop looking for adventure, for it will find you.”  I was not certain if this is a good thing are not, because I need to find some down time sooner than later.

My work has not been very enjoyable, lately.   The person that is supposed to train me has been out on convalescent leave for the past three weeks.  Things that go wrong and questions that I get asked do not have solutions and I am the one that everyone expects to have the answers.  It is like a slow drain in a kitchen sink.  I keep everything held-up awaiting this individuals return with the waters pressure weighing on my back & shoulders.  It is very frustrating and I contemplate retirement almost daily, especially of late.  I try to be optimistic and say things will get better…but it may not.

My wife and I want to start looking for a home out in the country, where we can get away from the excitement of the Bossier City.  There is a place that a coworker says has 24 acres with 2 stocked ponds.  The owner did deer hunt there, but he died and his wife wants to sale it.  It sounds very promising.  We would have to build our house though and I am not sure how much this will cost.

Well until next time……smiles, with a wave of my hat <):0 

Follow-up to Previous Pensive

If you read my last blog, you will remember that my Son wanted a mohawk haircut for his home coming football game.  The jury is in and my wife & I will not let him this year.  As my wife says, “He needs to be told no, sometimes”.  Yes, he does, which I do let him get his way to often.  He still has five years before he graduates, so maybe next year.

I am glad midterms are over at LSUS, but reprehensive about how I did.  My Son, Ben played Claiborne high school last night and won, which means that they will go on to compete in the play-0ffs for state.  Riverdale Academy is a 1A school.  He is only in the 8th grade.  I look back and can still remember holding him in my arms not so long ago.

I will retire in 1 year & 8 months and Ben will still have 2 years to go before he graduates.  He will begin eligibility for TOPS next year and hopefully he will continue making A’s and this will help me with the expenses for his college years.  I have not mentioned it before, but I am married to a wonderful woman.  She does have a lot of medical problems that keep her from working and she mostly stays in bed.

Additional Pensive

Here I sit today at my oldest son’s house, trying to finish up a midterm paper, which is due tonight by midnight. I have two grandsons.  The oldest is three years and the youngest is three months.  My wife and I are enjoying our sitting duty, while our daughter-in-law is host a baby shower for a friend.

My eldest watched “Nemo,” this morning and colored in his “Cars” coloring book.  He is taking a nap, while I type this.  My oldest, Zachary work the graveyard shift and is trying to sleep.  I do love my grandsons, but I do remember why I did not go to school to finish.  It is almost impossible.

On the subject parenting my youngest son, Ben.  He attends Riverdale Academy, and wanted to get a mohawk-haircut for the schools homecoming football game.  My wife refused to allow him this.  I on the other hand, thought this would be ok.  I think the reason for this is that while I went through military basic training my hair was all cut off.  The purpose for it is to break individual identity, and establish group cohesiveness.  The jury is still out on the haircut.

More Pensive Selections

I so enjoy the beginnings of Fall.  Today I completed a project that I have been avoiding that being assembling a BBQ grill.  The entire project took me around 3 to 4 hours.  I did a great job all credit going to a well written instruction manual that came with it.  The grill is well constructed and should last as long as my last one.  My last one was a Weber gas grill, which we purchased in 2001.

Speaking on projects, I have quiet a few that need to be completed.  I have laminate flooring that needs to be completed in my wife’s office and I need to finish painting the bedroom hallway.  Both of these projects are very time consuming and unfortunately have to continue being on hold.

At the end of the month I take my certification exam for the Certified Information Systems Security Professional (CISSP).  I am not looking forward to this six hour exam, but I know I will be glad when it is over. I have to be certified by the 1st of January or I will loose my position at my job.  Yes the pressure is on.

Pensive Selections

I have enjoyed the rain of late along with the temperatures (less than 80 degrees). My pecan trees have been dropping many leaves in preparation for the pecans the have been growing.  There should be a large number this fall. The last time they produced it was  2006 and I was out of the country and my neighbors got them. Contrary to many who believe that pecans drop every year, it take 3 to as many as 7 years for them to produce. The weather conditions must also be favorable.  I will let everyone know how it turns out.

I have been paying some attention the past couple of weeks to the health care debate. I think President Obama is doing an excellent job. He is following through with his campaign promises that he made and I am glad that he is mixing it up and not letting our elected politicians set back on their laurels and collect their large paychecks.

Today (Saturday), I taught my Son, fourteen to change the oil in our ‘95 Ford F150.  He did an excellent job and next change he should be able to do it with minimal supervision.  I think it is important to teach our children how to do things.  He has friends that get their oil changed at Wally-World and haven't the slightest clue how to do it themselves.

Retirement…Who Knows?

As I get closer to retirement from military service I have become concerned about the future.  I have 5 more years before my youngest son will enter college and then the real expense will begin.  I hear in the news financial analyst say it will take years for the US economy to recover.

It was during President Carter’s administration during the late 1970s when gas was so expensive that my family fell on bad times.  We lived 10 miles from the nearest town and the high price of gas took what little money my father made. 

During this time we sat together at the dinning room table and had only purple-hull peas and cornbread to eat.  We were grateful for this but having it day-after-day for lunch and dinner became monotonous.  After that bad year I would not eat them for years to come.  One early morning I remember seeing  Mother at the table with her chin resting in her hand, and the worry in her face as she stared off into the distance.  I knew she was wondering how she would get through the day.

I greatly admire her for her strength not only in getting us through those lean years but her putting others first.  She placed my father first before his passing after an 8+ year fight with Non-Hodgkin's Lymphoma.  

Though the future may look foreboding remembering back to the hardships that my family endured gives me strength to move forward.  I want to thank my Mother and my Father who taught me and my two younger brothers to have faith in God and trust that he will see you through. 

Coffee Not Always My Friend

The fragrant aroma as it rises from the frothy surface of my first cup of the day, so soothing and calming. I would not know what to do without it, for it and I have been together for some time now...coffee!

Surprising to say coffee and I have not always gotten along. When I was around 22 years old I had a very bad experience with making the brew. Being young, green, and still wet behind the ears, I asked my fellow workers how to make it, for I wanted to come in early the next day and make it for everyone. I listened carefully to the instructions and made some notes to not forget anything.

The next morning at 5:00AM I arrived and opened the lid to the coffee maker and looked into the darkest, nastiest, coffee maker I could possible imagine. I did the only thing a young fresh out of military basic troop would do…I took the scouring powder and a scrub-pad to it and worked it over for about an hour. Again, coffee and I were strangers to each other and I did’t know that the secret to the best cup of Joe was a seasoned coffee maker.

Needless to say my Sergeant did not take kindly to having a coffee maker that he had painstakingly watched over and seasoned for the past 18 years scrubbed to the point of seeing himself. I was on what we called a S*it list with him for many months thereafter.

So over the years I have learned a valuable lesson where coffee is concerned. I have guarded my coffee maker that drips my coffee on top of the stove, like a pit-bull for the past 24 years. I think back to when I committed such a travesty to an 18 year cup of Joe, as I sit enjoying my 24 year cup. I now understand what his anger must have been and I am thankful to be writing and sharing this memory with you.

Jet lag, jet lag, jet lag, can anyone say jet lag. I recently returned from Anchorage Alaska and it is taking some effort to get back on local time. This blog is a first for me and I am writing to fulfill a Advanced English class requirement. A little about myself. I am Kevin, 44, married, 2 kids ages 14 & 24. I have 2 grandson's that I try to spend time with when I can. Working to obtain my CISSP certification and finish an undergraduate degree by the Fall of 2011. That is all for now, be back soon.