Category Archives: Blogger Bud

Up Tempo

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Last evening, right on schedule, we heard a knock on the door.  It was our friend, Sharkbytes.  This evening, she is the featured speaker at our church’s mother/daughter banquet.

Yesterday, Sylvia had harvested sixteen pounds of rhubarb.  In the afternoon, with assistance from her part-time helper, Sylvia baked a rhubarb pie.  It was not easy, but we did wait to bite into that delightful creation until Sharkey arrived.  You can see a picture here.

When last we met, we made a promise to do some music together and that’s what we did.

Just having fun.

Just having fun.

Sylvia was supposed to join in on guitar, but the broken wrist has removed that option.  She still has her voice and joined in the singing.

We heard from the orthopedist today with results from the C-T scan.  Sylvia has a dislocated fracture.  We’ll be back in his office on Monday morning.  Further diagnostics to follow.

We’re having a fun day.  Lots of music, talk and laughter.  Life is good.

A Most Pleasant Visit

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It started with an e-mail, which read in part, “If I were able to visit you and Sylvia next Sunday afternoon through Monday, would that work out?”  The reply shot back, “Yes, please make it work out if at all possible.”

It did work out and Sunday afternoon, as advertised, our company arrived.  Fun, fellowship and laughter followed.

Chuck, Shark and Sylvia

We had enjoyed a good visit together.  We talked about family, work, experiences, strange foods and [gasp] even blogging. :whaa:   Shark also posted about this, and you can see what she had to say by clicking here.

Sylvia and were looking forward to meeting Shark’s canine companion, Maggie.  We weren’t disappointed.  We met her and loved her.

Maggie relaxing on her bed.

I felt particularly good when I read on Shark’s blog, “Every once in a while,you meet someone who is more or less instantly a great friend. I feel that way about them.”  Strange Perhaps it’s not strange that that’s exactly the way we reacted to our first face-to-face contact with Shark.  After all, we had been online friends for a few years by that time.

All too soon, Shark had to return home.  (She has to work today.)  We reluctantly bid her and Maggie farewell.  All of us promised to get together again.  I’m looking forward to that.

You Could Poke Your Eye Out with That!

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Last week, Lin wrote on her blog about an encounter with an acupuncturist.  As usual, the account was seasoned by her sense of humor.  That lighthearted account put me in a mood, so I wrote this comment:

So Ted [the acupuncturist] can jab away at you but can’t take you poking a little fun back at him? And then you get stuck with the bill?

Lin responded:

Hahaha! Leave it to you, Chuck. Where do you get these jokes??

It comes from my sharp wit.   Or my twisted mind.  Take your pick.

All that talk about acupuncture got me to thinking about my sore, aching feet.  I searched the phone book.  I searched online for the nearest practicioner of the acient art.  Two and half hour drive to get there.

How hard can it be?  Really?  I spent the next day searching that deep well of infallible knowledge–the Internet and found the answer.  There it was a map of all the spots on the entire body with a cross reference to maladies that were controlled by the various points.  I decided to take a stab at it.
  

Hey!  It worked.  As they say on Myth Busters, “Don’t try this at home.”  “Ever!”

Road Construction

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Some wag has wryly observed that there are only two seasons in Michigan: Winter and Road Construction.  Perhaps it’s that way in Illinois?  Blogger bud, Lin, recently posted about her favorite road-construction song (read).  That’s not the song for me.  (Sorry Lin.)

The song that haunts me is Orange Barrels.  A couple of years back, Pastor Mark preached a series of sermons on construction.  He used a [sanitized] version of this song.  What do you think of it?

Blogger Bud Has New Blog

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Shark, a fellow Michiganian, is a blogger, hiker, writer, wife and mom.
Don’t try to keep up with her–she’ll only wear you out.

A while ago, I received an e-mail from my friend and blogger bud, Shark.  She shared her idea for a new blog and gave me the URL for it.  In seconds I was there looking at the first posts of Off the Sanctuary Wall.  Shortly after that, an enthusiastic response was making its way back to Shark’s e-mail inbox.

You should visit Shark’s new blog.  Read some of the posts from last week and this week.  Then leave a comment.  Let her know what you think.  Be prepared to think.  Shark has a way of challenging our minds.  Consider her post on meat eaters.  You are apt to gain a new perspective on the issue.  

I think you like her way of dealing with matters.  In her own words, “This won’t be me telling you what to do. This will be me trying to learn what I should do.”

If you like what you see, become a follower of this blog.  Tell your friends about it and encourage them to follow too.

I’ll be watching for your comments.
.

Freedom

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I saw a photograph recently on VanillaSeven blog.  The image was breathtakingly beautiful with blue sky and a red kite barely visible.

 Read the article here.

If you were to characterize that scene with one word, what would that one word be?  For me, the word freedom immediately came to mind as I gazed at the photo.  There is the kite, freed from the shackles of earth and gravity.  Soaring high in the sky.

I thought of the kites that I had flown–both big and small.  I loved to watch them soar and dive.  It was great fun!  Then I thought of the the times when the string broke.  You probably know what happened–the kite came down.

The kite only flies when it is held (anchored) by the string against the force of the wind.  And as my thoughts continued on this theme, I realized that the kite in the sky is a metaphor for our lives.  We are anchored my ties of family, faith and love.  While those ties hold we are able to fly in the wind.  We can soar up to the clouds.  If those ties fail, we will return to earth–perhaps with tragic results.

How strong are your ties?  Do you keep them in repair?  You should.  I should too.

Blogger Bud ~ Clara

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This month, Secondary Roads’ blogger bud spotlight shines on Clara. That’s right, my sister the blogger and mother of Mikki. She lives and blogs from her home in central Michigan with her MWH, Rick and their two cats, Miss Jillian and Chloe.


Here’s a recent picture of Clara. She’s far too shy to appear on her badge, so she hides behind her cat, Chloe. Well Sis, it’s my job to out you and I’ve just got started.


Here is a young Chloe with Rick. She was born in our barn. I excitedly told Clara about the kittens and when I said there were two calico kittens, she asked if she could come and visit them. I said, “Sure!” When Clara saw Chloe, it must have been love at first sight. When Chloe was weaned. They came again and took Chloe to their home and a better life than she would have had as a barn cat. Chloe always did love Rick. He was the only one who get close enough to catch her. Love you kitty . . .


This is supposed to be about Clara. Not her wonderfully beautiful and charming cat. As you can see even at 7-months old, Clara was sticking her tongue out at the world. She is still doing it today and loving it. Chloe has cattitude and Clara has attitude. No wonder she’s a feline fancier. And there’s no fancier feline than her Chloe. Just ask Clara — or Chloe.


Clara and I have two sisters, Barbara and Maggie. They are on the right in the picture. Maggie lives fairly close to Clara and the two of them are especially close.


Here we are in a picture taken last year at our family reunion. We’ll be getting together next week, but it’s just the four of us with our spouses. I helped plan the menu and I can hardly wait!


If the saying, “Sweets for the sweet” is true. Why is this one of Clara’s favorite places to shop? She’s not salty. Hmm . . . I’m going to have to think about that.

Clara and Rick are standing here with Grand Traverse Bay in the background. They love to travel around our great state of Michigan and Clara frequently documents their trips on her blog. They also love to visit Mikki and her family in Virginia. Clara loves to write about them — especially her grandchildren.

When I look at her Entrecard profile I see: A personal journey thru life and faith with lots of fun mingled in. Yeah, I guess that pretty well sums it up.

A lot of you learned about me from Clara, but if you don’t know her yet, you should. There’s more to learn, and I’ll leave that for you to discover.

I Did It! ~ Monday

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Please join us for I Did It! – Monday. Details at Clara’s blog, My Meme Mania. Celebrate accomplishments. They can be your deeds or those of someone else.Tell us about it.

Have you noticed the change I’ve made to my layout? I’ve added navigation tabs and that allowed me to take some items out of the sidebar.

Dewey Fox and me.


Yesterday, Sunday, I attended a church where I was the pastor for one year. It was their final service before closing the doors after 129 years. The meeting was upbeat, and the message was brought by a fellow I’ve known since we were in High School. His one word to the congregation was, “Continue!” I also had the chance to see some friends from 32 years ago. One of them was Dewey, who is now retired from dairy farming. Our children had been friends, and his wife had given my older son, Bryant, piano lessons. It was very good to talk with this dear fellow. They had a nice dinner afterward, which really hit the spot.


After coming home, I accepted his invitation and called the Crotchety Old Man. He’s in the hospital with failed kidneys. We had a very nice chat, and it was good to put a voice to Da Old Man.

Truth be told, he doesn’t sound very crotchety to me. Could it be he’s just putting on a front trying to make us think he’s mean? That would be my guess. But your mileage may vary.

Best wishes to you Old Man. You blogger buds out here are praying that you’ll soon be back on your feet.

Blogger Bud ~ Justine

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And now for this month’s Blogger Bud . . . [fanfare] Justine!


Justine is the founder, and author of The Froggy Bloggy. Folks, you can’t make this stuff up. And what you read there has to be real. No one has an imagination that is that wild! Really!


Here we see her in a rare quiet moment with her hubby, Jimmy.


They have two daughters and some critters. The newest is a pup, but more about that in a moment.


This is the badge that she displays on her blog. Does it give you a clue?


That’s right. You’ve got it. She has a sister, and her name is Jill. A little rivalry? A little insanity? A little levity — okay a whole lot of that! It’s all in good humor. At least I think it is.


Justine bought a puppy, Strudel. Then Jill had to have one too, Cannoli. Then they went to a restaurant for desert. Well, don’t you think they did? Why else name their dogs like that? Neither of them has given a better explanation.


The stress of all this gets to Justine until she can hardly stand it.


That’s when she logs into FaceBook for a few hours on the farm. That farm living is the life . . . She may enjoy that more than blogging. [But I hope not.]


Before you know it, she’ll don her protective helmet and sit with her lap top atop her lap on the kitchen floor where she’ll write another adventure for The Froggy Bloggy.


And then she’ll sign off as always. Some of what I’ve said may or may not be true. Perhaps you should visit Justine at The Froggy Bloggy and find out for yourself. Be sure to take your sense of humor with you.

Wonder what she has to say about me? She wrote this on April 28, “Now we come to my good friend Chuck, at Secondary Roads. Two more different people have never graced this planet but I love him dearly, and for some reason he seems to like me too. He even gave me the Zombie Chicken Award recently, and to me? That spells L-O-V-E.” What can I say? She is right. We are completely different and [as much as I hate to admit it] I do like her, although I don’t know why. Maybe it’s the aluminum helmet?

My Blogger Bud ~ Lin

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Disclaimer: In a private e-mail I told Lin that I intended to write this review of her blog: Duck and Wheel with String. She responded, “Don’t go all sappy or anything.” Then she made me vow that I wouldn’t go at all sappy. I caved in, because you really have to [read that “must”] know about this blog.


Lin is happily married to Joe. They have two children; Colin and Emma, who refused to be photographed for this blog posting. They were shouting something about never being able to go back to school and face their friends . . . Fair enough. This is really about the blogger that we know as Lin.

She describes herself as, “Almost always funny, some times opinionated, [I get a bit confused here] but never controversial, passionate or thoughtful. [?] I am a stew pot of adjectives and you’ll never know what you’ll get when you stop here. Good, bad, or indifferent–it is all spunky lil ole me.” At least that’s the way I seem to remember the way she said it. I seem to have lost my notes.


In their Chicago home, which is located next to a frog pond, live their two feline friends as well as the human staff. Grace Ann ran off with the human children. Hobbes had to show off for the crew from Secondary Roads. Turns out that Hobbes is a wannabe mountain lion. Okay, he’s still working on the roar, but he’s making good progress with the rest. The alternate theory is that he went out on a limb to get a bird on the suet feeder, but when the bird flew Hobbes had to treat it with disdain. I believe he wants to be a mountain lion.


All of this is overseen by Violet. Violet was the custom creation of a famous sculptor who must remain unnamed lest the Immigration Service should pay a visit.

A word of warning is in order here. Don’t ever call Violet an “ugly little statue.” Never do it. I did. Once. Later in the emergency room, the doctor said, “The good news is that we’ve stopped the bleeding. The bad news is that the scars are forever.” Now everybody say it with me, “Violet is beautiful and I LOVE her!”


In a recent posting, Lin wrote about the talent show put on by their Neighborhood Improvement Association.” She dressed in traditional Lithuanian peasant costume and performed the well-known Lithuanian rain dance. Lin was one of the early acts on the program. Unfortunately, the rest of the program was canceled because of heavy rains and thunderstorms that suddenly appeared out of what had been clear skies.


Meanwhile, back at the pond, the frogs laughed until they croaked.

That’s my story and I’m sticking to it! You can’t make me tell you the truth. Remember, I took a vow not to get all sappy. Boy was I dumb!

Bottom line: Visit Lin at Duck and Wheel with String and tell her that Chuck sent you. You’ll be glad you did. She’s really funny, witty, charming, creative and she writes a great blog. Don’t forget she’s from Chicago and knows some people who might come and pay you a visit. Better go there today.

I just hope I didn’t get all sappy. 🙂