Wake Forest, Gosh its a pretty nive place to live!

Posted 03-09-2009 at 08:59 PM by dansdrive

---

---

Wake Forest, NC. located in Wake County NC. Some call it Wake's Forest of the Triangle....Ok maybe that's just me. But if you come from the North East, Wake Forest seems to fit. It has some rolling hills and many farming areas.

It has a small town feel but close to Raleigh, you could be down town Raleigh, depending on time of day in about 15 to 30 minutes. You can be at the Virginia border in less than an hour.

It has old Historical homes and some new subdivisions. It certainly worth a look see if your looking and seeing the area. It has transplants from New Jersey, New York, and many other NE State and Mid West and California and....well you get the idea people from all over this great country now calls Wake Forest home!

C'mon down, over, left, or right and check it out you may just like what you see. :D

Posted in Uncategorized

Views 307631 Comments 1070

Comments

1. Wednesday May 19, 2010 and its 50.0 degrees with more showers in the forecast. At the moment its not raining but overcast sky. It hard to believe its mid week already where did he time go? But the weather changes for the better once we get over hump day. As the summer heat comes to the north country I thought about what did people do before refrigerators. How did they keep those cold ones cold? I found a fascinating article about the ice industry in the late 1800's near my old Pa town that I grew up in. There were a couple of sister ponds that got named the Ice ponds. Because of the growth of the coal mining industry and hence the population in Northeastern Pa. there became a demand for ice to keep the ice boxes cool. So an industry was born. Ice back than cost 5 cents per 100 Lbs for business and 10 cent per 100 Lbs for homes. They even had ice price wars back than! The ice was hand cut from the frozen lakes and rivers that spotted the area. Ice houses were built next to the lakes to store the ice through the spring, summer, and fall. The ice was cut into blocks and stored on top of each other. Inside the ice houses was basically a large ice block which helped to keep its coldness while it was being stored. The ice was taken to the cities and towns by rail and truck. A rail company added a route next to the ice ponds to transport the ice to the cities. This also allowed for the rail cars to transport food greater distances now that it could be kept cold. Ice men would deliver the blocks of ice to their customers homes. A whole industry was basically chiseled out of ice. The pictures of the process were really neat to see. They have workers that plowed the snow off the ponds. The plows were pulled by horses. Than they had a sled that had what appears to be Ice Skate on the bottom that was also pulled by horses. This sled marked the ice where the cutters would come with long hand saws. These were the slicers who cut the ice into cubes. As time passed they invented a power saw which made things go much faster. They sure cut a lot of ice. Today you hear about green industries, how green was this one. Water was in the pond, cold weather created the ice and the ice was harvested by hand with the aid of horses. Hard to get greener than that! The ice industry met its demise by the late 1930's but for 50 years it kept a lot of people employed and kept their food cool! One might say its was the 'coolest' job around back than! Quote of the day by John Adams in 1770: "Facts are stubborn things; and whatever may be our wishes, our inclination, or the dictates of our passions, they cannot alter the state of facts and evidence." Happy Wednesday and may the ingenuity, work ethic, and passions of the early ice makers never freeze our spirits!

   Posted 05-19-2010 at 06:48 AM by dansdrive

2. Thursday May 20, 2010 and its 52.0 degrees. Sun is shinning warming up the day to 79 degrees. At least that is the forecast high for today. These were the types of days as a kid I heard my Mom say "rise and shine". The rising part was pretty easy but never did figure out the shining part! These were the days where walking to school was slow and methodical as you knew once in the school the day would drag until recess! These were the days we would look outside our school window perched on top of a hill and see the world go by while we had one eye on the chalk board and our studies. These are the days we asked our teachers to have class outside, but request were always denied! Except for one class in 7th grade! We had an old practice football field in front of our Middle/High School combination school. The class was social studies and our teacher wanted to expose us to archaeology. So he planned the big did out on one end of the practice field. We cordoned off the area with rope, brought in little shovels, paint brushes, and picks. He bought in screens to sieve the dirt through looking for artifacts. Right there in front of our school! So for a couple of weeks we dug and we dug. We looked at rocks and sieved dirt for something, anything. But all we really uncovered was rocks and dirt. No Indian artifacts, no prehistoric bones, no arrow heads.....just dirt! So the big dig was a bust of sort but for a couple weeks that year we go to have class outside. Pretty darn cool, don't know of any class mates that went on to be archeologist, some did go on to be ditch diggers so all was not lost. But our 7th grade social studies teacher was a pretty cool guy! Quote of the day by Benjamin Franklin in 1768: " Be in general virtuous, and you will be happy." Happy Thursday and 'virtuous' now there is a word we no longer use nor hear. Simply means pure and having moral excellence. So for today be virtuous and you will be happy!

   Posted 05-20-2010 at 06:56 AM by dansdrive

3. Friday May 21, 2010 and its 57.9 sunny degrees out. Just a beautiful morning. In fact a spectacular beautiful morning. Not only is it Friday but I received some news this morning about a friends wife that has been battling cancer for well over a year now and her last check up came back that they could not find any traces of cancer. The awesome power of prayer by so many for her have paid dividends in something far more valuable than gold or stocks, or bonds, or even cash. The dividend paid out was life! Its all about faith, in faith one has hope. In hope one has a chance. In chance one has love. In love one has life! Times in our life that seem to be the darkest can be lite in the light of the lord if one believes. Never hurts to get on ones knees and thank the Lord for the little and great things he does in our life. From the time you found the car keys you were looking for to the time someone you know and love was healed! AWESOME power of prayer! Never take it for granted and always keep it near and dear to your heart. Quote of the day from Romans 1:17. "And Jesus said unto them ... , "If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to younder place; and it shall remove; and nothing shall be impossible to you." Happy Friday and may you to be touched today by the faith and love of God.

   Posted 05-21-2010 at 06:20 AM by dansdrive

4. Monday May 24 2010 and its 57.9 degrees out and foggy. Temps heading up to 79 degrees today. As the week wears on the temps are heading northward as well. By weeks end we will be all singing, when its HOT, HOT, HOT! I have to pick up my camping story I eluded to in a earlier posting, the one where we were wading in the lake we would camp at and I got more than I bargained for. Being we camped the first two weeks of July every year the weather was always nice and warm. Days we hot so wading helped to cool things off. THe lake was not for swimming and no boats of any kind were allowed. The lake we camped at was not a massive lake but a few miles around its shore line. It had a lot of lily pads and fallen trees and stumps. Great cover for fish like Bass! So we would grab our trusty rubber worm and a spare, our fishing pole, sneakers, long pants (never knew what was lurking under the water), and off we would go. we would hike the main path that lead one around the lake. There were no homes or buildings for miles so it was always heavy brush and forest around the lake. We would see the occasional, skunk, fox, deer, snake, and lucky for us never a bear on our journey. We would encounter countless spider webs that would drape across the path, it was like entering Eddie Munsters home. Once we got to one end of the lake we would begin our wading. We would wade out into and among the lily pads and cast our rubber worms into open areas among the lily pads. Slowly retrieving our worms and casting again and again. The water was usually calm, it was amazing in the late afternoon or early evening. It was never more than two or three cast before one of us had a fish on. The usual core of creel were Bass, pickerel, perch, and sometimes an over sized sunfish who would latch onto the end hook at the end of the rubber worm. We would work an entire area and than move on to the next and the next while never leaving the water. We typically waded in up to our waist, at least that was always the game plan. The lake bottom was rocky and also muddy. Felt like quick sand in some places. Tried to avoid those areas. But my scariest memory was one day as we were working our way back to shore. My cousin was in the lead and I was several steps behind him. We were in an area with a lot of stumps and fallen trees. I wore a funky hat back then that was red/white/and blue and really was a flag. Don't even know what they called that type of hat, It did not have a brim like a baseball cap, the brim kind of went around the hat and you could roll the brim up. But me and that hat were inseparable, I never left anywhere without that hat for a couple of years. Not sure why but just liked the hat! Anyway, I was lock step behind my cousin the water was actually getting deeper as we got closer to shore. We were no more than 15 feet off shore at this point. I had stopped to make a cast just a few feet behind my cousin. As I retrieved my cast I watched my cousin approach the shoreline, at this point he was up to his armpits in water and than in a few steps the water level around him lowered and he made it to shore. Piece of cake he said. So as best as I could I traced his footsteps, so I thought. The water began to get deeper and deeper. I to was up to my armpits in water. One step than the next, then I heard him say it should get shallower soon. Well with the next step I felt the bottom drop out from under me. I was now in water over my head and I was still falling, I did not feel the bottom! How could this be? I watched my cousin make it to shore. I did manage to hold onto the fishing pole as I sank under the water! But my hat, my trusty hat didn't make the trip south! It floated away. My cousin said he turned to see where I was and only saw my Red/White/Blue hat floating across the top of the lake. I was gone all gone! But I managed to kick my way back to the top of the water and towards shore. In a matter of seconds I felt the bottom under me again and made it to shore. Soaked from head to toe and hat-less, YIKES! As I crawled up on shore I saw my hat floating to the middle of the lake. Talk about the wind beneath its wings! Sheeez! But as faith would have it I was able to find that hat a couple of days latter along the shore on the other side of the lake. It to was now soaked but the Stars and Stripes made it through another challenge! Now as far as why I sunk and my cousin seemed to walk on water that day....well he walked over a fallen under water tree over that deep part of the lake and did not mention to me about no tree and to be careful. I missed that tree that day and missed a few other things on our camping trips throughout the years but one thing I did not miss is the lifetime of memories from that drop into the lakes abyss. Quote of the day by Patrick Henry: "The liberties of a people never were, nor ever will be, secure, when the transactions of their rulers may be concealed from them." Happy Monday!

   Posted 05-24-2010 at 06:46 AM by dansdrive

5. Tuesday May 25, 2010 and its 62.1 degrees out heading up to a high of 84 degrees! Nice! This weather reminds me of the time my cousin got a 1944 Willy's Jeep. It was bright orange. He got it for back roading before back roading was cool! That jeep would lose oil like an open fire hydrant on a hot summer day in New York city. He use to keep a pan under it so each morning he could pour the oil back in before he went to school. He also went through several clutches while he owned the Jeep. He installed a 8-trac player and some craig speakers. The doors came off so he would drive without doors most of the time. He always had the classic rock tunes playing like Fleetwood Mac, Jim Croce, Doobie Brothers (and as their one song went, he was taking that jeep to the streets!) We would take that jeep through a many of old logging roads and mining roads. We even took it places that did not have any roads. We got it stuck in creeks and in mud. It had a wench on the front and when it worked it would pull us out of some tough spots! It also had a problem where the gas in the fuel line would vaporize before it got to the carburetor and the jeep would stop! Kaput! It also had its spare tire mounted on the side of the jeep. The brackets that held the spare tire was welder onto the side of the jeep. One day as my cousin was making his own roads he decided it would be neat to go between two trees we saw up ahead. Yours truly said it does not look like we can make it through. Well this was a challenge to my cousin who simply said hang on and floored the gas pedal. We cleared the front of the vehicle, I seen the tree whiz by my door and than heard a large BANG! The jeeps stopped for a second and than just kept right on trucking. When I spun around to look back I saw the spare tire and bracket laying on the ground next to the trees we cleared. So the bang and instantaneous stoppage was the spare tire bracket being ripped off the jeep! So, my cousin throws it into reverse and we go back pick up the spare tire/bracket and toss it on the back of the jeep and go hit some jump and mud. This was one of many close encounters of a tree, creek, hill, or bog kind! That jeep was something. My cousin got to dropping the transmission off that jeep in under 20 minutes so he could change the clutch. In fact years later he told me a story of when he traded that jeep in for a used Dodge Challenger. The dealer seen him driving by the dealership and actually chased him down the road waving his fist at him..... I guess he too learned all about that 1944 Willy's jeep! Quote of the day by Patrick Henry: "It cannot be emphasized too strongly or too often that this great nation was founded, not by religionists, but by Christians; not on religions, but on the Gospel of Jesus Christ. For this very reason peoples of other faiths have been afforded asylum, prosperity, and freedom of worship here." Happy Tuesday and may your day shine as brightly as that orange 1944 jeep!

   Posted 05-25-2010 at 06:53 AM by dansdrive

6. Wednesday May 25, 2010 and its 64.0 degrees. Foggy which will soon burn off so today's high can reach a projected 87 degrees. Toasty! Speaking of toasty reminds me of the summer days we use to work doing residential electrical work. Me and my cousin worked for a high school teacher who happened to have an electrical business on the side. We went to work for him in the 9th grade and by the time we were seniors we had our own electrical licenses. This job took me right through college. Was able to work hours that fit our schedule usually meant evenings and weekends. But learned so much and had so much fun! Some of the work was not fun. We had work areas that each of us took. I had the attics and in the summer they were ovens, HOT OVENS! My cousin had the crawl spaces. Which was A-OK with me. I can live without spiders and when the attics are ovens in the summer there are no spiders. I would get the occasional bat but no biggie. My cousin on the other hand had to deal with damp wet crawl spaces complete with bugs on parade, rates, cats, and snakes! I liked the attics just fine! One time he actually got bite by a rat while crawling through a crawl space. Had cats scare the lineman pliers right out of his hands. For me I just would be covered in dust, cobwebs, and sweat. I would come out of attics in the summer months and ring my tee-shirt out with sweat. Once we got really proficient as electricians we would than challenge ourselves just to keep things interesting. One 'glowing' challenge was racing the other to finish a service entrance installation. Sometimes I would take the outside work and he would take the inside work. No cell phones to communicate with back then so we did not always know what the other was doing. This made it interesting. Back then we were able to disconnect the power coming into the home from the service entrance drops and than reconnect it when we had the new service entrance installed. Today that is not allowed by the power company. We use to do it at 16 years old up high on wooden ladders. Anyway the challenge was whoever the outside person was would complete their work and tie the power into the newly installed service entrance. The person inside would have to have all their work done before the outside person finished or face being shocked when the power went on. At 16 to 18 years old this challenge seemed logical, now when I look back I think, what were we nuts? Luck and skilled played a big part in our challenge as neither of us ever got shocked! But it certainly made it interesting to say the least! Other things we learned while being electricians was, plumbing, carpentry, sheet rockers, trench diggers, auto mechanics (someone had to keep our bosses $50 work cars working), baby sitters (in a pinch we had to watch our bosses kids), and listeners (worked in homes where people just wanted someone to talk to while you worked). Heard stories that were both amazing and unbelievable from some of the peoples homes we worked in. Those were amazing times and made us grow up fast but looking back now I would not trade them for anything. Starting salary was $2 / hour. Experiences were priceless! Quote of the day from Thomas Jefferson: A wise and frugal government, which shall restrain men from injuring one another, which shall leave them otherwise free to regulate their own pursuits of industry and improvement, and shall not take from the mouth of labor the bread it has earned. This is the sum of good government, and this is necessary to close the circle of our felicity. " Frugal, restrain, free to regulate, improvement, and good! These words have been lost in translation over the years! Happy Wednesday as we march over the workweeks crest heading down to the weekend!

   Posted 05-26-2010 at 06:44 AM by dansdrive

7. Thursday May 27, 2010 and its 82.9 degrees out. Suppose to head up to 87 degrees and chance of thunderstorms this afternoon/evening. Summer weather has arrived in upstate NY a bit early this year. Did manage to click on the website showing the underwater images of the oil leak in the Gulf of Mexico. If it was not such a disaster the pictures streaming back would be interesting. How they can drill a well that deep is still amazing to me but now seeing what happens when one leaks is far more amazing to me. Also amazing is the fact that almost everyday we get new projections on how much oil is leaking each day. I heard just today they said 1 million gallons of crude oil is leaking out everyday and not even sure how much cubic feet of natural gas is leaking into the sea and eventually the air. In the terms of how big a tank has to be to hold 1 million gallons, some simple math yields a tank that is 80 feet in diameter and almost 27 feet high. So for those that have an above ground round pool that are typically say 18 or 24 feet in diameter and 4 feet high. Just envision a pool 80 feet in diameter and 27 feet high and filling it each and every day! Good gracious that would take a lot of anything let alone crude oil. The 1 million gallons lost each day equals 23,810 barrels per day and at $74/barrel means that $1.8 million dollars of oil is lost each day this things spouts oil and that is just the cost of the oil. The cost to the environment is priceless. How did it happen? How can it be prevented from ever happening again? How can the area ever be fully cleaned up? How many fish and animals will die from this? How many people will/have lost their jobs from this? One simple question, WHEN will it stop question? Quote of the day from Benjamin Franklin in 1787: “In the beginning of the contest with Britain, when we were sensible of danger, we had daily prayers in this room for Divine protection. Our prayers, Sir, were heard, and they were graciously answered… do we imagine we no longer need His assistance?” Happy Thursday and may the mud falling to the sea floor stop the oil/gas leaking up from the sea floor.

   Posted 05-27-2010 at 12:29 PM by dansdrive

8. Friday May 28, 2010 and its 63.0 degrees. Chance of thunder busters today but cooler than the last few days. May has almost slipped away into the archives of months past. Taking with it a new spring time where the plants and trees outside come alive again from their winter slumber. Spring is just an awesome time of the year. This day in history way back in 1957 baseball in NY city did not get caught stealing! Baseball owners voted to allow the Brooklyn Dodgers and New York Giants to move to LA. Some say this completed the move west that the early pioneers started in their covered wagons. Some say they heard echoing in the streets of LA, "There's baseballs a flying in dem dere streets!". That's progress! So what's next on the progress list? History shows us that America's best years were when the early east coast settlers decided to explore westward. Each year as they explored westward America grew. Railroads and roads were needed, housing was needed, farms, town and cities were chiseled out of frontier lands. Ingenuity was needed that came from the old world. Dreams were made to come true. Companies were born and prospered into world known icon's. Coal became the fuel of choice for the growing America. Steel became king. America was firing on all cylinders when we grew westward. Factories sprouted up to make anything and everything Americans and our world friends needed to make their own dreams come true. Heritages brought from the old world countries thrived in their own city and town enclaves yet everyone knew they were Americans at heart. Now turn the clock ahead 250 years and America has reached its western shores and made its towns and cities. Its dreams of exploration and adventure have somehow turned to boredom and waiting for a handout or for someone else to chart the coarse into the future breakthroughs of today and tomorrow. What will we leave future American generations? Has the spirit of America fell asleep or matured into its senior years? Idling back and resting on our past rich history in hope of better tomorrows coming? Quote of the day from George Washington in 1789: "(T)he foundation of our national policy will be laid in the pure and immutable principles of private morality; ...the propitious smiles of Heaven can never be expected on a nation that disregards the eternal rules of order and right which Heaven itself has ordained..." Happy Friday and Happy Memorial Day weekend. Honor and Thanks to those that have fallen so we can enjoy the freedoms they paid such a heavy price for. Simply, THANK-YOU and we will never be forget you.

   Posted 05-28-2010 at 06:41 AM by dansdrive

9. Tuesday June 1, 2010 and its 64.0 degrees out. Stormy last night with some scattered thunderstorms today. What a beautiful weekend. And being its Tuesday its already a short workweek! Got that gong for us. Got some fishing in. Some on shore and some on a boat. The operative word was 'some' , as some places we caught fish while others we didn't. Now if I could only figure out how the fish do it, eating that is! Because I ate the whole weekend, couple of cook outs attended. I think I became a professional food taster as I tried every dish at the cook outs. It was all so good! Back to fishing, one lake we fished was a beautiful man made lake. The shoreline was dotted with cottages and homes. As we passed them trying our luck around their docks and shoreline they waved or asked how the fish were biting. Some were working on their homes and cottages, others were cutting their lawns and fixing up their shorelines. The water was crystal clear and we seen a many a fish of all sizes swimming along. On the one shore line where the boat ramp was their were large picnics going on and those people looked like they were having a blast. Just a wonderful weekend to enjoy the outside. Quote of the day from James Madison: "The citizens of the U.S. are responsible for the greatest trust ever confided to a political society" What would Mr. Madison say today about TRUST, HONESTY, and INTEGRITY? Happy Tuesday and may TRUST, HONESTY, and INTEGRITY act as your beacons to chart the future our our nation.

   Posted 06-01-2010 at 06:38 AM by dansdrive

10. Wednesday June 2, 2010 and its 62.1 degrees out. Sun is the operative word today and I shall be operating under it. Projected high to be 82 degrees. Will be time to crank up the lawn mower and mow the lawn. Speaking old cranking up. The time left on my upstate NY assignment is drawing to a close. Soon I will be counting down the days instead of weeks. There will be many things to miss such as family, friends, historical sites, fishing, hiking, boating, and a way a life like no other. Upstate NY has a unique way of life. From the old towns to deep rooted heritages brought over from the old world. These heritages are fading and will be lost forever. A piece of America will be forever lost with these disappearing traditions and ways of life. As one reads the history of how these upstate NY towns were created it gives you a perspective of why there are still here today. They were built up after the Revolutionary war when the returning soldiers obtained 100 acres of land for their service to the Continental Army. In the case of NY soldiers they were given 500 Acre on top of the 100 from NY State. They settled the central part of NY state. One of the first things they built was a Church so the settlers had a place to give thanks for what they were given. Than they built the town around the Church. Strong moral character and hard work ethic sustained these now flourishing towns. They bonded as a community and fought off diseases and Native Americans. They cleared farm land and constructed barns. Neighbor helping neighbor not for profit but for community. They set the foundation for the industrial revolution that was to come in the early 19th century. When factories, homes, parks, and cities were created. Factories that made shoes, and clothes, and household items. Small schools that made big time Doctors, Lawyers, Engineers, and respectful peoples. Upstate NY is a beautiful area, well worth a look see if ever traveling through NY State. Where it will go from here is anyone's guess. There is much to be discouraged about such as high taxes and low jobs but its people certainly have not lost their spirit of what this area once was. Quote of the day from Patrick Henry: "Bad men cannot make good citizens. A vitiated state of morals, a corrupted public conscience are incompatible with freedom." Happy Wednesday and have you validated your morals lately?

    Posted 06-02-2010 at 07:07 AM by dansdrive

11. Thursday June 3, 2010 and its 66.2 degrees with overcast. Showers forecast-ed for the AM and partly sunny in the PM. High to track up to 78 degrees today. In my quest to see as many upstate towns as I can before I head back to Wake Forest I came across a little town called Elmira New York. Pretty little town, rich in post-revolutionary settlement history. It sets on the banks of Newtown Creek which empties into the Chemung River. The towns first name was Newtown back in 1788 and the town changed names a couple of times. Then as the story goes in and around 1828 or so during a meeting in Nathan Teal's Tavern to discuss yet another name change for this little town something 'little' as matter of fact happened. Nathan had a young daughter named Elmira Teal. Elmira was not much interested in this meeting and just liked to play by running in and out of her Dad's Tavern. Each time she would run in her mother would call her by name, 'Elmira, stop that! The people that attended the meeting heard the name Elmira yelled so many times that evening that they decided to call their town Elmira. What a great story! Elmira as many towns has a rich historical record. Mark Twain had a love affair with Elmira NY. In fact when Mr. Twain came to visit his friend in Elmira in 1868 he fell madly in love with his friends sister Miss Olivia Langdon. So much so in love that he married Olivia on February 2, 1870. It is said that no place on earth made Mark Twain happier than in the small quiet town of Elmira NY. Mark wrote many of this famous Novels right there in Elmira. Him and his wife divided their time between Connecticut and Elmira NY. Elmira is just a cool little town to visit. One of those unique places where you could walk around and be taken back into an era long past and imagine it back in the late 1700's and 1800's. Adding another rich vibrant patch to our Americana quilt. Quote of the day from Mark Twain: "A man's character may be learned from the adjectives which he habitually uses in conversation." Happy Thursday and how true is Mr. Twain's words above. What is the character of the individuals that habitually drops the F-BOMBS in their daily conversations?

    Posted 06-03-2010 at 07:14 AM by dansdrive

12. Friday June 4, 2010 and its 62.6 degrees out and sunny. A down right beautiful morning. Today's projected high to be 79 degrees. Thunderstorms in the forecast for tomorrow. But another Friday is upon us. It snuck up on us like a four day work week. Seems to be the way summer time goes. Time waits for no one over 21 but luckily takes its good nature time leading up to 21! What to do this weekend. One of the few remaining weekends in upstate NY. In my frugal manor I did manage to pick up a used charcoal grill which took a bit of elbow grease and a can of paint to get looking like new again. Been using that to cook outside and oh man nothing like a charcoal burger or barbecue ribs or chicken. So for a little labor and a $3.5 can of spray paint walaa a grill was salvaged from going to the dump to cook another day! Its always fun to save something from going into the waste steam. I sure like this bottle law in New York and this past Jan. 1 that made plastic water bottles have a 5 cent deposit on them. Each grocery store has machine in them that one can redeem their bottles and cans. They are very easy to use. There is a machine for plastic bottles and one for cans. Glass still has to be redeemed by a person. Seems like NC can benefit from these machines until a bottle law of enacted in NC. I think consumers would take their bottles and cans to the grocery store for recycling even if there was no deposit on them. Its just the right thing to do. So that's my Friday thought of the day! Recycle, Reuse, and be personally Rewarded! Quote of the day from John Adams in 1776: "A constitution founded on these principles introduces knowledge among the people, and inspires them with a conscious dignity becoming freemen; a general emulation takes place, which causes good humor, sociability, good manners, and good morals to be general. That elevation of sentiment inspired by such a government, makes the common people brave and enterprising. That ambition which is inspired by it makes them sober, industrious, and frugal. " Happy Friday and the above quote is well worth a second and third read as its speaks of the true red/white/blue America! Mr. Adams said in a few sentences that had stood the test of time for a couple of hundred years. Where are we now in relationship to his above words? Each of us must answer that question in our words and actions.

    Posted 06-04-2010 at 06:17 AM by dansdrive

13. Monday June 7, 2010 and its 50.0 degrees under partly cloudy skies. Yesterday morning the threat for some tornado's blew through the area. Rare occurrence for upstate NY. If any touched down they were small as I had not hard of any widespread damage and that is a good thing! Other than that the weekend came and went. Did not do any traveling around the area and yesterday helped do some plumbing and electrical work. That was kind of neat. Am glad to see the dome over the oil well leak is having some success. After seeing the pictures of the wildlife it only amplifies the need to cap that well. Thinking about the oil and the disaster it has and is causing I have five questions I want to see answered. 1. How did this 'really' happen? 2. Why did the platform sink? 3. Why did the emergency shut off values fail? 4. If they can drill a well that deep and cap it why can't they cap this one? 5. With the countless news helicopters that chase get away cars and other news events, how come they are not flying over the gulf giving us real time footage of the shorelines and oil slick? Quote of the day from Mark Twain: "In the beginning of change, the Patriotis a scarce man; brave, hated and scorned. When his cause succeeds, however, the timid join him, for then it costs nothing to be a patriot" Happy Monday and may the events that led up to the oil well disaster not stay down on the bottom of the gulf so as we may learn how never to have this happen again. Signed a oil drenched Pelican and his sea brother the turtle.

    Posted 06-07-2010 at 06:20 AM by dansdrive

14. Tuesday June 8, 2010 and its a crisp 46.6 degrees outside. Bright sunshine will help warm it up today nicely. June is flying by faster than a shooting star in the summer nights sky! June can slow down a bit at least enough for me to visit some more historic NY State sites. At least enough to get some more fishing in. At least enough to get some more walks in. At least enough to meet more wonderful NY State residents! At least enough to give thanks for the wonderful opportunity to get to know upstate NY just a little bit better! Quote of the day by John Adams in 1814: " As long as Property exists, it will accumulate in Individuals and Families. As long as Marriage exists, Knowledge, Property and Influence will accumulate in Families." Happy Tuesday and may your influence be great and your family values be even greater!

    Posted 06-08-2010 at 06:33 AM by dansdrive

15. Wednesday June 9,2010 and its 51.1 degrees with overcast skies. Forecast is for up to three quarters of an inch of rain today. Projected high only to reach 58 degrees. Kind of cool not like L.L. Cool J cool more like a blind date cool! Speaking of cool. The first dip in the backyard pool is pretty darn cool...well actually its down right cold! We got a pool in our backyard when I was in the 6th grade. Use to have to walk to a community pool about half mile away. So having our own pool was like WOW until it was time to vacuum it and check the chlorine and PH levels everyday. But if I used it I had to take care of it according to my parents. Why were they so darn smart?? Had loads of fun in that swimming pool. And it was the best worm generator around.... Loving to fish almost as much as swimming my job was to search for the night crawlers (worms) with my trusty flashlight the night before we would go fishing. In the back yard in the dark of night picking them up one by one, when I could catch them. They were pretty quick getting back into their holes when the light shinned on them or they felt vibrations around them from my walking. But the pool changed all that. The pool filter would have to be back washed at least once a week. That means instead of the filtered water going back into the pool the process was reversed and the filter water would go out into the lawn or drain pipe. Well the pool water contains chlorine and I found out the worms do not like chlorinated water. They come flying out of their holes for easy pickings. I found out later as to why they don't like chlorinated water but as a kid who didn't have to go out at night and search for worms this was pretty cool! Many a summer day was spent in the pool with my friends and family. In fact its amazing how many more friends one gets when one gets a pool. My home growing up is still in the family but there is no more pool or any indication a pool was ever there and the laughter and screams of fun have all faded into air and bouncing around somewhere in space as the decades have passed but the memories are as vivid as yesterday's chocolate ice cream cone. Quote of the day from Thomas Jefferson in 1820: "I hope a tax will be preferred [to a loan which threatens to saddle us with a perpetual debt], because it will awaken the attention of the people and make reformation and economy the principle of the next election. The frequent recurrence of this chastening operation can alone restrain the propensity of governments to enlarge expense beyond income." Happy Wednesday and does Mr. Jefferson's quote above still hold true? We each have to look in the mirror and answer that one for ourselves.

    Posted 06-09-2010 at 08:11 AM by dansdrive

16. Thursday June 10, 2010 and its 63.0 degrees out and just had a quick shower roll through. Much warmer today than yesterday. Even a warmer forecast for tomorrow! Nice! Speaking of nice. Reminds me of an old 1964 Chevy II I got as a hand me down, down, down down but I was surely up for the car! Needed lot of work and I was the one to work it along with friends and family. Heck we had a friends and family concept long before cell phone company started to promote it. But anyway, learned allot about body work, engine repair, and anything else related to that car. Best thing to get a teen interested in basic automotive repair and restoration is give them an old car to call their own. Within in weeks it was road ready. It wasn't pretty, it wasn't cool, it wasn't much but it was mine. After the body work was done and I sanded the whole car down it was time to be painted. A relative painted it on a weekend in a garage he worked at. Came out cherry not the color but the paint job. Could not afford chrome rims and there were no body kits back than. Did spend a fair amount of time going to the junk yard to find parts for the car. Got great speakers and a stereo from the junkyard. Recap tires on painted rims and hub caps. I think the only new think that car ever saw was the paint job, oil, and gas. The rest was all used. Heck I had more fuses and bulbs from the junkyard than I could ever use in a lifetime. Around the same time frame I was helping a cousin rebuild an old Ford Panel truck, 50s era that needed more work than starting from scratch. We stripped every bit of paint off that vehicle by hand. Welded in new quarter panels all around, welded the frame that was rusted through. Actually never finished it because it cost to much. But did get it road worth and he sold it to someone who completed the restoration. Came out really cool too! So nice is the operative word today! Quote of the day from Thomas Jefferson: "The man who reads nothing at all is better educated than the man who reads nothing but newspapers." Happy Thursday and wishing you a 'nice' a day as can be had!

    Posted 06-10-2010 at 01:20 PM by dansdrive

17. Friday June 11, 2010 and its 55.9 sunny degrees outside. Topping out today near 80 degrees so the weather person says. Just an spectacular mid June day here in upstate NY. I wrote yesterday about an old car I had and fixed up and got to thinking about an old car we had in our neighborhood growing up. No one ever claimed ownership of this abandoned car but it provided countless hours for us kids. It sat in a dead end alley behind some row houses my friends lived in. The dead end alley provided parking spaces for the people in the row houses. The dad end alley was next to my best friends house and my yard met my friends yard in his back corner. So getting to and friend my friends yard was just a hope and jump over a fence or two. But back to the car. I don't know the model or make or year of this car but it was black at one time and if I had to guess I would say it was an early 1950's or late 1940's car. The wheels were all flat or missing. There was not a speck of glass left in the car, it was rusted and dented but it sure was cool to us kids. It still had a steering wheel, shifter, pedals, buttons and knobs and that was all we ever needed. In it we were firemen, policemen, army men, airline pilots, good guys, bad guys, and space explorers. It was our one Lost in Space vehicle or the Bat-mobile. It sat at the end of the alley way where the yard adjacent to it was about 6 feet lower and before they put a fence up it looked like when we were in the car it was up in the air. So it was easy to think of it as an airplane or spaceship. This car sat there for years and countless kids used it as we did as we did not have a playground in our neighborhood nor did anyone have a swing set or jungle gym. We had an old abandoned car to play king of he hill on, throw rocks at, and hit with sticks. We did have one gentleman we so affectionately nicknamed Mr. Grumpy who use to yell at us for just about anything we ever did. He even had the delusion that us seven, eight, and nine year olds would somehow cut up the car and take it to the curb. He said he would give us hack saws if we could cut up the car and get rid of it. That was like asking a kid to throw the ice cream away to get to the cone! Not happening! That car providing us all the entertainment we needed back than. Today the car would never be left abandoned in the city like that. Times have sure changed. Quote of the day from George Washington in 1784: " A people... who are possessed of the spirit of commerce, who see and who will pursue their advantages may achieve almost anything." Happy Friday and may the realities of the world today never suppress your hopes and dreams!

    Posted 06-11-2010 at 06:56 AM by dansdrive

18. Monday June 14, 2010 and its 62.6 degrees outside with overcast. High today to be 77 or not to be...it will take to the end of the day to find out the real answer! Kind of like the oil spewing into the gulf. Its gallons we know that for sure. The magnitude of the gallons is in question. Some say in the thousands others say in the millions.....anything at all between 1 gallon or a million gallons is far to much. If they are not sure than just ask the oil covered birds and turtles, the dolphins and crabs, and any of the other living sea creatures that call the gulf their home. Where have all the environmentalist and save the planet protesters gone? Far from the Gulf of Mexico that is for sure. How can the largest water disaster this country has ever seen go so quietly into day 50 something? Was a bit of a stormy weekend not a whole lot of rain just on and off and Saturday had a big lightning show. No traveling this weekend in fact the weekend went by so fast I was about to go grab my Saturday morning bagel....but yikes its Monday morning. Ah well as they say one day older and a 1/2 day wiser! Quote of the day from Abraham Lincoln: "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves." Happy Monday and wonder what old honest Abe would think about the gushing oil in the Gulf?

    Posted 06-14-2010 at 07:02 AM by dansdrive

19. Tuesday June 15, 2010 and its 70.0 degrees out. Its the middle of June already. WOW! Time seems to fly with the thermometer. The warmer the days get the quicker they seem to go by. In fact I missed Flag day yesterday. The day we commemorate the adoption on the US Flag in 1777. The day to celebrate the old Red, White, and Blue. But not allot of fan fair on TV about it. Must be how I missed it. It was one of those dates that roll around in your head when you hear the date but can't seem to have it pop out on time. But today it popped out. A day late and a flag short as they say! Anywho, something we don't say anymore as adults but use to say every day as kids to start our school day. I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for ALL. Sometimes it helps to remember the pledge and say it aloud. Many have laid down their lives so we can proclaim the pledge to the US Flag. Quote of the day by Thomas Jefferson in 1791: "I would rather be exposed to the inconveniences attending too much liberty than to those attending too small a degree of it." Happy Tuesday and may the US Flag always fly high in the depths of your hearts!

    Posted 06-15-2010 at 01:28 PM by dansdrive

20. Wednesday June 16, 2010 and its 61.0 degrees outside with over cast. Showers in the forecast for today with chance of thunderstorms. Typically summers day. This week growing up was never typically as this would be the week school ended for the year. The last week in school always seemed the longest of the year. In grade school there was not much going on, teachers were cleaning up their rooms, recesses were longer than usual, kickball games meant more and final races were had to see who was the fastest of the class, and good times were had by all. In Middle and High school exams were winding down, a many a card games were learned and played in class. Such as pitch, High card, rummy, hearts, and war. Many folded paper desktop football games were won and lost. This is the game there you fold up a sheet of paper into a triangle. Each person would shove the paper football towards your opponents goal which was the other side of the desk you were sitting at. A goal was scored when the paper football crossed over the edge of the desk without falling off. Extra points were kicked of coarse. The person you scored on would hold up their hands to form a goal and the person that scored would kick the paper football with their hands of coarse through the goal and score the extra point. These were the days before cell phones, iPODS, or other personal electronic gear. These games took imagination and physical skill. These last days of school were also a time to share with school friends that you would not see again until the next school year. They lived in different sections of town and had their own circle of friends back in their neighborhoods. But when that last day came and the final bell rang letting us out of school from a successful school year it was just A-W-E-S-O-M-E. Quote of the day from James Madison: "I believe there are more instances of the abridgment of freedoms of the people by gradual and silent encroachment of those in power than by violent and sudden usurpations." Happy Wednesday and may the feeling of the last day of the school year glow in you like the embers of your childhood.

    Posted 06-16-2010 at 06:43 AM by dansdrive

dansdrive

• Join Date Sep 2007
• Location Wake Forest
• Posts 2,835
• Blog Entries 2
• Blog views 307631

• Find Blog Entries by dansdrive

  Containing Text: Search Titles Only

  Advanced Search
• Blog Categories

  Global Categories

  • Lifestyle
  • Happy

  Local Categories

  • Uncategorized
• Recent Comments

  • Wake Forest, Gosh its a pretty nive place to live! by dansdrive
  • A Day in the Life of a 1960s kid and 1970s Teen by dansdrive
• Recent Entries

  • A Day in the Life of a 1960s kid and 1970s Teen
  • Wake Forest, Gosh its a pretty nive place to live!

• Archive
  <      May 2024
  Su	Mo	Tu	We	Th	Fr	Sa
  21	22	23	24	25	26	27
  28	29	30	1	2	3	4
  5	6	7	8	9	10	11
  12	13	14	15	16	17	18
  19	20	21	22	23	24	25
  26	27	28	29	30	31	1