Tarheel Writer - Bricks and Musings 2021

Bricks & Musings 2021
General Spouting Off
by Jevic, The Tarheel Writer

Just gotta get up on my little soapbox every once in awhile. Feel free to comment. jevic@tarheelwriter.com
Thanks!

The Tarheel Writer - On the Web since 24 February 2003. Celebrating 21 Years on the Internet!

Tarheel Home Page

31 December 2021
partly cloudy and 75 degrees here in Key Largo, Florida
    Another year come and gone and so much has happened since my last post.
    My first summer on the lake was good. Getting used to living with someone again was a little bumpy to begin with but soon I found myself in a comfortable routine. Being retired does not mean laying up on the couch and eating bon bons. Gotta keep myself bizzy.
    Now I'm back in the Florida Keys and enjoying life. Caught fish today and cooked them for supper. It doesn't get any better than that, unless you calculate how much money was spent to catch those fish. Boat, fuel, accommodations, bait, rods and reels and the list goes on and on. But like the Mastercard commercials say, the experience is priceless.
    A great big Happy New Year 2022 to you all and a great big thank you for visiting the site. You ... are ... appreciated!

12 October 2021
partly cloudy and 35 degrees on top of the mountain
    I find myself serving as intrium General Manager of a resort on top of a mountain in North Carolina. Dont ask, long story. Things are a bit different at 4500 feet of elevation. Just going down the mountain to Lowe's Hardware has my ears popping!
    The ski slope next door is making snow if it's under 37 degrees, which is more often than not. I think I am staying at the Holiday Inn at the Charlotte Douglas Airport! The snow blowers sound like a jet warming up for take off.
    It was supposed to be a two or three week deal, but things, well, got extended. So we shall see how long this lasts.

    The whole point of my post is that I heard from Rick Beck today! He thought we had a falling out. I think I did more of the falling than he did. After spending almost two years in Pennsylvania managing a hotel that required 50, 60, 70 and somtimes 80 hours a week, yeah, I did the falling, not Rick.
    Long story short, Rick has been hard at work, pounding on the keyboard to bring us wonderful stories. His latest work is The Gulf Series. There are three parts to the story he has been working on for four years. And there are hints of a fourth.
    Rick and I have more in common than K-Mart and a Blue Light Special. We are both passionate about gay youth, for they are the future of gay rights. Stonewall is ground zero for the gay rights movement. We both lost friends and lovers to AIDS. We both lost friends to suicide because of bullying. Why oh why does a fifteen year old feel it necessary to kill himself because he is being bullied at school?
    My very good friend Sean's son, James, chose to end his young life at fifteen. I get chocked up everytime I think of this sweet kid.

    Rick says it best:
    You ask the right questions. Questions I've asked myself dozens, if not hundreds of times.
    I come back to one important conclusion about LGBTQ people, our people. We, our movement, has come so far in such a short period of time, we are almost afraid to push on. We are so young and splintered in ways no group has ever been.
    We cover the spectrum that includes all of man kind. We are every religion, no religion too. We are black, white, red, and all the colors of the rainbow. We are American, English, French, Vietnamese, Chinese, Russian, Arab and Jew.
    We haven't figured out how to get us to all pull together in one direction. I was not in favor of the fight for gay marriage. I stood corrected after we shot for the moon and hit it.
    We can be fired from our jobs for being gay. We can be evicted from our homes for being gay. We can be denied cakes, flowers, and access to restaurants and clubs. Yes, we can get married, according to the Supremes, for the time being. These Supremes are not our friends. Much of society resents and wants to challenge our right to exist. The hatred hasn't gone anywhere. It's waiting as well. When the time comes, they'll come after us with everything they have. They'll be led by a man carrying a bible and waving an American flag. I pray he isn't orange.
    We, as a people, are barely out of the cradle. In the 80s and 90s while three quarter of a million gay men were dying, the preachers were dancing on the graves of gay men. The government was predisposed to say, 'Not a dime for anything with the word gay attached to it.'
    Not a pretty site. I remember Rep. John Lewis went to the floor to argue against the Defense of Marriage Act. He pulled the Civil Rights fight together with these words:
    "This is a bill of hatred. It's only purpose is to deny the right to marriage to two adults who love each other.">br>     In 1995, the year before the Defense of Marriage Act passed congress and became law, 55,000 gay men died.
    We are the most diverse group to ever lay claim to Civil Rights, Equality. We are positioned to have the greatest impact on the civilized world since Moses led the Jews out of Egypt.
    For 25 years I've been writing for LGBTQ people who aren't born yet. I've been told I could have had a nice career as a writer if I wrote straight fiction and didn't fill my stories with gay plots and characters.
    When I began writing and posting my stories in March of 1997, I was writing stories for a time when gay literature is simply another genre' in literature. At first I used liberal amounts of sexual content because it's what people wanted.
    Once the Brokeback Mountain buzz hit the television talk shows as a topic of interest, I did a right turn into mainstream gay literature than anyone can read without feeling like throwing up.
    I try to keep the sex in most of my stories more subliminal. Describing the sex scene in detail gets old after a while. Loving another person never gets old and my characters do love well. I do my best not to insult people's intelligence with my version of being LGBTQ.
    At the current rate of sepped our culture is advancing in, in another generation, 2040s, or two, 2040s to 2060s, my stories will be read by moms and dads, brothers and sisters, friends and fellow workers of LGBTQ people.
    My name as well as my history will be immaterial. I was no one who spent a lot of time writing about the gay condition. I don't need recognition as anything more than a gay man informing society of who my people are. As I say at the end of Hitch, my best trans character so far, I'm trying to put gay people in all the places they can be found.

    EVERYWHERE!

    I grow and learn as I go, Jevic. People like you make sure my stories are available to the alone and the lonely LGBTQ people. And one day, through websites like Tarheel Writer, people who know LGBTQ people will be able to read what I wrote all those years ago.
    We are breaking new ground in presenting who LGBTQ people are every day. Because regular folks don't know us, we need to introduce ourselves. We shouldn't be threatening or scary. We shoult be what we are, a lot like everyone else, except when we love. If love is the thing that separates us from acceptability, our love can be the unifying factor in who we are.
      All stuff that I touched on when you first began presenting me as an author at Tarheel Writer.
    I loved your passion and kindness then, and I feel your passion and kindness still. Together we are changing the world. It might be a slow process but we don't do speed that well.
    All things in their own time.
    Thank you again for being there. We are making a difference.
Rick

2 June 2021
partly cloudy and 75 degrees here on the lake - another nice warm evening
    Twenty-six years ago, Jeff and I became a couple. I can't believe he has put up with me all these years, but he has and I know I am a better person because of him. Jeff, I love you with all my heart and I look forward to another twenty-six years.
Jevic and Jeff at Atlanta Pride circa 1998

Jevic and Jeff at Atlanta Pride circa 1998

    Here we are at Atlanta Pride very early in our relationship.

2 May 2021
partly cloudy and 72 degrees here on the lake - a nice warm evening
    I got this from my website on the WayBackMachine from 7 July 2008 and thought it hilarious:
Hardy-Har-Har!

Why did the chicken cross the road?

    Barack Obama: The chicken crossed the road because it was time for a CHANGE! The chicken wanted CHANGE!
    John McCain: My friends, that chicken crossed the road because he recognized the need to engage in cooperation and dialogue with all the chickens on the other side of the road.
    Hillary Clinton: When I was First Lady, I personally helped that little chicken to cross the road. This experience makes me uniquely qualified to ensure -- right from Day One! -- that every chicken in this country gets the chance it deserves to cross the road. But then, this really isn't about me.......
    Dr. Phil: The problem we have here is that this chicken won't realize that he must first deal with the problem on 'THIS' side of the road before it goes after the problem on the 'OTHER SIDE' of the road. What we need to do is help him realize how stupid he's acting by not taking on his 'CURRENT' problems before adding 'NEW' problems.
    Ophra: Well, I understand that the chicken is having problems, which is why he wants to cross this road so bad. So instead of having the chicken learn from his mistakes and take falls, which is a part of life, I'm going to give this chicken a car so that he can just drive across the road and not live his life like the rest of the chickens.
    George W. Bush: We don't really care why the chicken crossed the road. We just want to know if the chicken is on our side of the road, or not. The chicken is either against us, or for us. There is no middle ground here. Read my lips!
    Colin Powell: Now to the left of the screen, you can clearly see the satellite image of the chicken crossing the road...
    Anderson Cooper - CNN: We have reason to believe there is a chicken, but we have not yet been allowed to have access to the other side of the road.
    John Kerry: Although I voted to let the chicken cross the road, I am now against it! It was the wrong road to cross, and I was misled about the chicken's intentions. I am not for it now, and will remain against it.
    Nancy Grace (Pig Face): That chicken crossed the road because he's GUILTY! You can see it in his eyes and the way he walks.
    Pat Buchannan: To steal the job of a decent, hardworking American.
    Martha Stewart: No one called me to warn me which way that chicken was going. I had a standing order at the Farmer's Market to sell my eggs when the price dropped to a certain level. No little bird gave me any insider information.
    Dr. Seuss: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes, the chicken crossed the road, but why it crossed I've not been told.
    Ernest Hemingway: To die in the rain. Alone.
    Jerry Falwell: Because the chicken was gay! Can't you people see the plain truth?' That's why they call it the 'other side.' Yes, my friends, that chicken is gay. And if you eat that chicken, you will become gay too. I say we boycott all chickens until we sort out this abomination that the liberal media white washes with seemingly harmless phrases like 'the other side'. That chicken should not be crossing the road. It's as plain and as simple as that.
    Grandpa: In my day we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Somebody told us the chicken crossed the road, and that was good enough.
    Barbara Walters: Isn't that interesting? In a few moments, we will be listening to the chicken tell, for the first time, the heart warming story of how it experienced a serious case of molting, and went on to accomplish its life long dream of crossing the road.
    Aristotle: It is the nature of chickens to cross the road.
    John Lennon: Imagine all the chickens in the world crossing roads together, in peace.
    Bill Gates: I have just released eChicken2007, which will not only cross roads, but will lay eggs, file your important documents, and balance your check book. Internet Explorer is an integral part of the Chicken. This new platform is much more stable and will never cra...#@&&^(C% ......... reboot.
    Albert Einstein: Did the chicken really cross the road, or did the road move beneath the chicken?
    Bill Clinton: I did not cross the road with THAT chicken. What is your definition of chicken?
    Al Gore: I invented the chicken!
    Colonel Sanders: Did I miss one?
    Dick Cheney: Where's my gun?
    Mountain Man John: Somebody chopped his damn head off and he couldn't see ware he wuz uh goin'.

2 May 2021
partly cloudy and 66 degrees here on the lake - a very pleasant evening
    Headed up to my brother's house today, just about thirty minutes up the road. Every Sunday he takes our last surviving aunt, Hilda (84 years old), out to eat and then to the grocery store. After our uncle Rob passed away in Georgia (where they were living at the time), my brother moved Aunt Hilda to NC to be closer to both of us. She started out in an assisted living facility (meals included) at a very reasonable cost, but when covid came around, things changed. Seems one of her neighbors went to a wedding, came back and infected about a dozen other residents. The facility locked down tight. No visitors. Meals delivered to your room. No one could leave their room. Period. I understand the situation, but that is no way to live ones waining years. So he took her out and got her an apartment in a fifty-five plus community. She loves it there! She's thriving! She's looking for a boyfriend! Awesome!
    Gotta take a moment to thank my brother for all the hard work he did taking care of all the arrangements for Aunt Hilda. He deserves a medal! Thank you John! He battled local, state and federal red tape officials for benefits. Uncle Rob was a veteran. The VA required my brother to jump through hoop after hoop. My brother, being the Energizer Bunny he is, jumped and jumped and finally got the benefits she rightfully deserves. It bothers me that there are probably thousands of people out there with no nephew John to watch out for them. Once again, thank you brother!
    We took Aunt Hilda out to dinner, nice Cajun place. She was so happy to see me. God, I felt so guilty for not visiting sooner. She is the widow of my father's youngest brother. She probably dosen't even weigh ninety pounds soaking wet. Deaf as a post, but mind clear as glass. I'm making a pact to see her a lot more often ... and my brother too!

22 April 2021
mostly clear and 55 degrees according to my weather app, but it feels a heck of a lot colder than that
    A note of warning about this entry. It contains information about a colonoscopy. Could get nasty :)
    I had a Colonoscopy yesterday. My first Colomoscopy and my first time to be anesthetized. They used propofol to put me under. That's the same drug that Michael Jackson died from. That in and of itself made me anxious.
    Now the fun part! During a colonoscopy, a long, flexible tube (colonoscope) is inserted into the rectum. A tiny video camera at the tip of the tube allows the doctor to view the inside of the entire colon. It's basically a cancer screening recommended for anyone over the age of fifty. It is an important part of making sure you're healthy, but my friends gave me endless grief over it. Humourous grief. "You should get a discount cuz it will slide in so easily." "I hope the doctor dosen't lose anything up there." "You should just stay awake and ask for a bottle of poppers." Oh, it went on and on. They knew I was anxious about it and it was their way of helping me cope with having the procedure.
    The worst part about the whole thing is the prep. You have to drink this nasty, salty mixture that cleanses your bowels prior to the procedure. Plus, no food day before or day of. Then there's the sitting on the toilet while that nasty mixture churns away and makes you poop for a half hour. I won't go into anymore detail.     So here I am today with the procedure "behind" me, haha, yeah, pun intended. Now I have to wait a few days for the lab reports on the polyps the doctor removed to see if they are cancerous or not. Jezz. I'll keep you up to date.

home

On a side note, it was one year ago today that I closed on my house, the house I grew up in. It was built the same year as I was born. It was an ... emotional experience. All the memories I was leaving behind left me feeling, well, empty. But, as one person told me, I was living in a shrine to my parents. Yeah, I guess you could look at it that way. Truth be known, I was holding on to my past because it was ... comfortable. Yeah, comfortable. Familiar surroundings. Familiar smells. Familiar everything. I could walk every inch of that house in the dark and not run into anything. I put blood, sweat and tears into remodeling it. My father and my grandmother both died in that house. You can argue legacy, something to pass on. But as I went through everything my parents left in that house, I thought who would want all this stuff? It does not mean anything to my grandchildren. They don't have the memories I have so the mementoes mean nothing to them ... only to me. My kids didn't want the furniture, the art work, the china ... the memories. I was holding on to the house for me. I remember turning off the landline. The phone number that rang at that house for over sixty years. That was difficult, but it saved me fifty bucks a month. Who am I trying to convince that it was okay to ... just let it go? I guess that person is me. It is sort of like losing someone you love. That person may be gone, but they live on in your heart and your memories. The only difference in this case is the house is still there, creating new memories for the new owners. I know those new memories will be looked back on with fond affection, just as I look back on my own memories.

17 April 2021
mostly clear and 55 degrees according to my weather app, but it feels a heck of a lot warmer than that

    Nigel Shelby, 15, the cute kid above, killed himself because of the bulling at school. Sound familiar? It should. LGBTQ youth are almost five times as likely to have attempted suicide compared to heterosexual youth.
    Nigel told school administrators that he was being bullied. His friends reported they were afraid he was harming himself. The school did nothing, a lawsuit alleges. Parents of Nigel Shelby are suing Huntsville City Schools, the Huntsville City Board of Education, the City of Huntsville and several individual school officials. The lawsuit said Huntsville High School's then-freshman principal Jo Stafford told one student “that she didn’t care," and that Nigel "was going through one of his episodes.” Sometimes, the students would accompany Nigel to Stafford's office when he went to report the physical and verbal bullying, the lawsuit said. Instead of alerting Nigel's parents, Stafford told Nigel that if he was going to make adult decisions regarding his sexual orientation, then he had to be prepared to face adult consequences, the suit said.
    BITCH! What the fuk is wrong with you!?! Kids need our love and protection. Jesus! Another life snuffed out just when the candle was beginning to burn. This news is from NBC Out. I have added NBC Out to my list of news sources on my Gay News Page. I check it everyday.

15 April 2021
clear and 60 degress, a heck of a lot warmer here than in the North Atlantic in 1912
Titanic

10 April 1912 the RMS Titanic leaves on her maiden voyage from Southampton. The "unsinkable" ship strikes an iceberg at 11:40PM on 14 April 1912 and slips below the surface of the North Atlantic with 1,514 souls on board at 2:20AM 15 April 1912.

Titanic at rest

109 years later, almost to the day, the great ship lies two and a half miles below the waves of the North Atlantic and still piques our interest today. May those who went down with Her rest in peace.
I have had a fascination with Titanic since I was in third grade. I even hand drew the floorplan back then. I guess it was seeing the film "Night to Remember" again and again. Then following up with reading the book by Walter Lord of the same title. Then in 1997 along comes James Cameron's "Titanic" with Leo DeCaprio and Kate Winslet. The icing on the cake was the haunting song by Celine Dion. Awesome film.
Robert Ballard Lecture

I even had to chance to attend a lecture by Robert Ballard about his finding the wreck. So there ya go. I've been caught up in this ship for a very long time. I can not really explain the allure. Perhaps it was trying to find out why an unsinkable ship ... sank. The one thing that always stuck with me was the campfire song about the ship. In the song, there is a line "Husbands and wives, little children lost their lives. It was sad when the great ship when down." I just could not imagine at that young age that children my age died that night. Not just one of two, but a whole lot. That's a lot for a third grader to take in. Yes, it was sad when that great ship went down.

28 March 2021
cloudy, impending thunderstorms and 63 degrees

    I was reformatting the Chris James collection of stories and came across Nataniel Smiley and the story of the two wolves. I would like to share that with you now:
    An old Cherokee is teaching his grandson about life. “A fight is going on inside me,” he said to the boy.
    “It is a terrible fight and it is between two wolves. One is evil – he is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, false pride, superiority, and ego.” He continued, “The other is good – he is joy, peace, love, hope, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith. The same fight is going on inside you – and inside every other person, too.”
    The grandson thought about it for a minute and then asked his grandfather, “Which wolf will win?”
    The old Cherokee simply replied, “If you feed them right, they both win. You see, if I choose to feed the white wolf, the black one will be hiding around every corner waiting for me to become distracted or weak and jump to get the attention he craves. He will always be angry, always fighting the white wolf. But if I acknowledge him, he is happy, the white wolf is happy and we all win. For the black wolf has many qualities – tenacity, courage, fearlessness, strong-willed and great strategic thinking – that I have need of at times that the white wolf lacks. But the white wolf has compassion, caring, strength and the ability to recognize what is in the best interest of all.
    “You see, son, the white wolf needs the black wolf at his side. To feed only one would starve the other and they will become uncontrollable. To feed and care for both means they will serve you well and do nothing that is not a part of something greater, something good, something of life. Feed them both and there will be no more internal struggle for your attention. And when there is no battle inside, you can listen to the voices of deeper knowing that will guide you in choosing what is right in every circumstance. Peace, my son, is the Cherokee mission in life. A man or a woman who has peace inside has everything. A man or a woman who is pulled apart by the war inside him or her has nothing.
    “How you choose to interact with the opposing forces within you will determine your life. Starve one or the other or guide them both.”

26 March 2021
cloudy and 70 degrees here on the lake
Carwash!

The pollen is thick around here and my car is covered. It always makes me think about this picture. The guy in the background is blatantly checking the other guy out. I really like this picture! Guess it's time to go get my car washed :) ... hehehe ... several times!

24 March 2021
mostly clear and 61 degrees here on the lake
Radio

    So way back when, shall we say, 1973, I had just turned sixteen. Two weeks after my sixteenth birthday, I sat down behind a radio station console and started on a twenty year career in radio broadcasting. This picture, I found behind a picture of Jeff and I at Atlanta Pride back when we were first starting our adventure as a couple (I keep that picture on my bedside table. It has been there for over twenty-five years.) I have no idea how it got there and I have no idea who took the picture, but this is the only picture I know of with me actually talking "on the air." My God, I was so young and innocent then. I wish I had the opportunity to talk to that dumb ass kid and impart some wisdom. But that is a story fiction authors would salivate over.
    The headphones were cheap and standard station issue. I had yet to understand I needed my own pair, Sennheiser was the top of the line choice for disc jockies. The black blob in the foreground is the telephone. It was the request line. When it rang, a light would flash on the wall above the console. An all important clock was also on that wall. I had to time out my song selection so that the last song of the hour would end just seconds before the network news would air at the top of the hour, giving me just seconds to announce the station ID and the time. "It's eleven o'clock at WXXX, WhateverCityIwasIn." The news jingle would follow and I had four and a half minutes to set up the next hour. If you were a real wimp, you're last song would be an instrumental and you could just "dump" out when it was network news time.
    I went on to write commercials, to take on the title of Music Director, then Program Director, then Station Manager and finally, Chief Engineer. Yeah, I knew (know) my shit when it comes to radio.
    My last day at the radio station I had been with for years, was the day Hurricane Hugo hit. The station had been sold to a new owner, who was a shit and had decided he no longer needed my services as of the next day. Well, the next day, I got a call at 6AM that the FM station was off the air. I said okay, grabbed some clothes and headed for the station. I was on the Interstate following a tractor trailor when I watched the tractor and the trailer lean over to forty-five degrees in the wind. "Damn, it sure is windy,' I said to myself, not even thinking about Hurricane Hugo.
    I got to the station and determined the FM transmitter, fifteen miles away, was off line. I headed to my car and checked the gas gauge. Just above empty. I went inside and grabbed the keys to the station van. I cranked it up and headed for the transmittter site. I looked down and saw the gas gauge at just above empty. I turned around and headed back toward the station. When I pulled into the parking lot, the three hundred foot tower was on the ground, folded in three pieces. I ran into the building and headed for the transmitter room. The AM transmitter was doing this flashing thing, on then off repeatedly. I slammed my fist on the OFF button and that was it. Silence. Not one sound inside a radio station and that is not a good thing. It was then that I remembered that this was my last day. I called the new owner, told him about the situation and told him to ... have a nice day. I laughed my ass off all the way home.

20 March 2021
breezy and 43 degrees
Unaccompanied Minors on the Southern Border

Unaccompanied Minors on the Southern Border

We've all seen it in the news, thousands of unaccompanied minors are flocking the US/Mexican border in hopes of coming to America. I don't know what the answer is, but I know it is heartbreaking. Take steps to help fix things where they come from, find families willing to take them in, send them back home to God knows what they're running from ... I've no clue, but somebody needs to figure this shit out real soon.

19 March 2021
cloudy and 54 degrees
Stop AAPI Hate

    WTF is wrong with people?!? Hate against Asians, Blacks, Mexicans, Canadians, Native Americans? WTF? The USA is called the "Melting Pot." Know what that is? The melting pot comes from the idea that all of the cultural differences in the United States meld together, as if they were metals being melted down to become a stronger alloy. Face it citizens of the USA, we're all immigrants, except for our Native Americans. They are the only true full-blooded residents of this land we call American.

16 March 2021
light rain and 46 degrees
    I got my COVID-19 Vaccine today. It was the Johnson and Johnson version. So, one and done! That was at 2:30 this afternoon and it's almost midnight and there are no side effects. I feel fine. When it's your turn, step up and roll up your sleeve.
    Miserable day, cold, rainy, yuck. Bright spot! The young man at the counter at the local pharmacy was oh so cute and very talkative. Chad, you handsome devil you! I'll be cumming back to see you soon. LMAO!

8 March 2021
sunny and 67 degrees
    Just got an email from Brian at OutsideHow.com with a comment from a Bricks and Musings entry from back in 2003 about hiking The Appalachian Trail. I hiked a third of the trail back in 1993. For those of you with a good memory, that was the year of the Storm of the Century. I found myself on top of Trey Mountain in Georgia, just a week or so into my hike. It snowed three feet! Brian's website has some excellent information on hiking The Appalachian Trail and on a lot of other outside activities. Check his site out.

3 March 2021
sunny and 68 degrees
    So I went with my youngest daughter, Samantha, today to buy a car. She wanted me to "look over her shoulder" as she went through the process. She did a great job with just a couple of comments from dear ol dad. The extended warranty for $2600 for 4 months or 3600 miles was a bit much, so I sugggested she skip it, leaving the final decision to her. She agreed and that reduced the payment by ten bucks. As I told her, that's $120 a year or one car payment. Good God, I love my daughter! We compared feet the other day. Yeah, feet! And she really did inherit my feet. They are shaped exactly the same. And they both push on the gas peddle the same way too. LOL! My cardinal rule, which I taught all three of my daughters ... if you pull out in front of someone, you better be in a bigger hurry than they are!
    Bonus, Jeff and I had supper together. Even though we live in different households, our love remains unwaivering and strong as ever. Sometimes we agree to disagree and that's fine ... at least we agree. I love me some Jeff, the sexiest man I know.

28 February 2021
sunny and 84 degrees
    Headed back home to South Carolina. It's too hot and there are too many people (not wearing masks) everywhere. So time to go!

24 February 2021
sunny and 79 degrees

Sunset in the Keys! Click on the picture for the Hi-Rez picture.

14 February 2021
sunny and 84 degrees

Parkland, three years ago today ...
Click on the image to visit the website

12 February 2021
sunny and 82 degrees
That's the staff of The Tarheel Writer!

    Yep, that's my staff. I do provide properly logoed apparel, obviously. LOL!

9 February 2021
sunny and 82 degrees
    The writer quietly celebrates another birthday. No matter how hard I try, they just keep coming around every year. Yes, I am an Aquarian and, according to Google, every Aquarian is a rebel at heart who despise authority and anything that represents conventionality. Free-spirited and eccentric, they can often be identified by their offbeat fashion sensibilities, unusual hobbies, and nonconformist attitude.
    Ooook, I thought us Aquarians were creative (in writing, in art, in sex, in life), hugely imaginative, devoted, somewhat shy but in an outgoing sort of way (like a disc jockey having no problem talking into a microphone to thousands of people, but very nervous in front of a croud of 50), not good with money, give you the shirt off your back kinda guy, slow to anger, but once there, look out, day dreamer, wishing to win the lottery so you can share, sentimental (to the extreme - as in keep my long lost parents' landline that has been around for decades despite that it cost $50 a month), sexual (passive and aggresive and imaginative - there's that word again, wink wink), horney (yeah, baby, let's get it on), passionate about everything, self conscious, addictive (in a means to escape or achieve fantasy goals), self deprecating, proud of accomplishments, devotion to family, devotion to tradition and a constant need to do better. That's who Aquarians are - and that's who I am.
    And for crying out loud, stop telling me to act my age. I've never been this age before! LOL!

31 January 2021
sunny and 78 degrees
Ghost Ship Deering

    One Hundred Years Ago today, the five masted schooner Carroll A. Deering was lost to the shoals of the Outer Banks of North Carolina. She was found with no one on board, all navigation aids removed, all personal items removed, lifeboats gone, but supper was set out on the table. Check out the whole store by clicking here.

1 January 2021
sunny and 81 degrees
    Happy New Year!
    For the first time, I am staying in Key Largo for two months! Aaah, what can I say? You work your arse off, then you get to kick back, so I'm kicking back! For years and years, I drove my friend Charlie down to Key Largo after Christmas, stayed a week, then I would fly back home. When it was time to come home, I would fly back down, spend a week, then drive him back home. NOT this year. Despite COVID, we are determined to enjoy our time in the Florida Keys! Sorry Delta, no SkyMiles this year.