My Weekend

The weekend after Labor day is about my favorite weekend of the year. There are three really fantastic events that occur locally here on that one weekend. The growing season is winding down and we country folk need to unwind.

There is the Somerset County Historical Center's Mountain Crafts Days. There you can see old buildings that were moved to the site to preserve them for all to see. There are people doing crafts that are seldom remembered and done any longer. There is the way of life that can be observed and felt that is so far from our ways of today they seem like a dream.

All that to allow people to see how their ancestors lived. Here's their site.

http://www.somersethistoricalcenter.org/mountain_days.html

I seldom go to that one, but it's definitely interesting and fun!

Another is the Stahlstown Flax Skutching. This is where they demonstrate how fine linen was made from the flax plant. There are many more demonstrations of how things were once done before the machines that took our work away. They have a website at, http://flaxscutching.org/ .

Ahh, but then is the one I hate to miss and seldom do. The New Centerville Fire Departments, Farmers and Threshermens Jubilee. There is so much going on there that I wouldn't want to try and list it all. They're website is,

http://www.ncrvfc.com/jubilee.html .

All these events have great food made by real people. Not your fancy chefs but down home folk who make it with loving care. So I do in fact get away without cooking at home! Then it never fails, you get to see people you don't see for a long time and catch up on each others lives.

I like going to the Jubilee to watch the horse pulling contest. That is something that just about became extinct. After World War 2 the tractor came on the scene and replace the horse in the field. There are some Amish that refuse to use tractors and still use horses to help them get work done, but it's the people who love them and what they can do that has been they're salvation. By the time I was born and can remember, there were only a few older guys in the area that farmed with horses. But that was soon given up when they became to old to farm any longer.

The work horses are hooked to a sled where weight is added and each team has their chance to pull the sled.

The sled is pulled back down the track by a tractor.

After all that can, pull the sled the designated distance more weight is added in the form of 500 lb. Concrete blocks.

Eventually the weight becomes to much for the horse teams to pull and they lose.

Here are some pictures of some horses that were there.

And here is a short video that my wonderful son took just to let you see what it really is.

There are people who do crafts like this guy who makes brooms.

There are many more things to see as well. Apple Cider making (and drinking). Old gas run appliances. Old stationary equipment that was once used buy farms and households. Quilting and the sale of quilts. Crafts booths set up where you can buy crafts made by people throughout the year. And even a blacksmith working away in his shop.

Here is some farm equipment from over the years that I have saw come and go. Think I like the old Steam Tractors the most. The workmanship and beautiful details that were put into them amazes me and makes me long for the days when things like that mattered.

Miniature and fully working

The smaller of these steam tractors were actually designed and built by their owners. Once things like this catch your fancy, it's in your blood forever. These guys and ladies live and breathe steam and the smell of burning coal.

Then on towards evening as the sun begins to set we finally get to the thing that thrills me the most. The gang, tired from all the years hard work, in need of blowing of some steam and pent up energy and frustrations, breaks out with their toys of choice and create a little excitement of they're own with a really enjoyable competition.

The tractor pulling contest!

Some take their everyday farm tractors and pit them against each others skills to pull a weighted sled down a dirt track.

Here is the tractor sled they are using. As the sled gets drug down the track a weight sitting on top moves forward creating more drag on the front section where the sled is located.

This sled drags along the ground until either the tractor can pull no more or it has run out of track. It's a friendly competition that at times can get a little heated with jealousy and mistrust. But for the most part it's just a bunch of people out to have fun.

Here's a few of the tractors and operators as they're pulling.

Newer tractors, older tractors, even some that were built specifically for pulling. They have different classes for each.

Just in case you get an idea it's for the old guys only, here is a fellow who is eleven years old. It's in his blood at this young age and I don't doubt it will be for life.

And now for a surprise for you all, here is some evidence that it's not just for the men and boys.

Have to tell ya, my son says this is the kind of woman he wants! He thinks she's the perfect woman!

Here is a video taken by my son later in the evening. It's a pull by one of the big boys and his big boy toy.

Like I said, some of the tractors are just every day tractors that help around the farm, but some are labors of love and have a pile of cash put into building the perfect pulling machine. Heck there are even those that are nothing but professional pulling machines.

Well, I hope you've enjoyed what I've managed to show here. Just a lot of everyday people out and having a really great time. People seeing sights, sharing and learning. People just being people and having a fun time doing it. Life is to easy to let slip into a bundle of tears and grief. Sometimes you just have to join the world and let it all go.

Only one more thing. I have a question...

Just why is it, mom is always left alone to clean up the mess?

I also would like to give a ton of thanks to my youngest son. He helped by shooting a lot of these pictures and it was him that shot the videos.

Thank you!

Now before you go, how about clicking on that Join button and showing us your smiling face. We're all family here in this world. We all have similar problems and lives. We all put up with idiotic decisions made by our governments. But we all need each other to make a better world possible...

This Weeks Lessons

Some things learned and some reminded of.

Politicians will never cease to amaze with new found ways of stupidity and childishness.

Getting tired just happens, getting rested is impossible.

Full bellies make you tired, people who fall asleep with their mouth hanging open are funny.

Rain + chill = added pain.

Added pain makes me a pain...

Getting older makes going out for an evening less important than a comfy bed.

Cold rain blowing in your window and onto you is not as nice as being wakened with a wet kiss.

Being wakened by that rain is not cool, even though you do get goosebumps.

Eating half a bag of Double Stuffed Oreo's chased with a quart of milk is still a great, fun dinner!

A son who drinks to much on Friday night is fun to speak loudly to and pick on on Saturday.

A son gives you strange looks when he says you should watch Transformer movies and you reply, I'd rather watch chick flicks.

It still boggles my mind when a cute backside has a face with a beard.

The world just isn't right when the cutest butt in the crowd belongs to a guy...

You get a feeling of warmth and success when you hear your son say there is more to life and relationships than sex.

A son is funny when he waits until he is wearing the last of his clean clothes to do his laundry. Then as he is hanging them on the line to dry, the sky opens up and pours forth its bounty of rain!

Rain just loves to spoil picnics.

A daughter is funny when she's angry because her picnic had to be moved inside because of the rain.

Her hubby is even funnier when as he tries to hide form her!

Good summers will never be again. They are either to wet, to dry or to hot.

A son gives you great laughs when all the electronic junk he has added to his truck finally overheats the wires and they burn off when he's on his way to work! Told ya so, sucker...

There is so much to be learned and smiles to be had from grandchildren.

Life just goes on and smiling moments are always just a moment away!

How about joining the site while your here? Tell your friends about the blog!

Comment, complain, ask a question or just say hi!

This world is really one big playground and we can share and get to know one another. By learning we stand a chance to accept differences and understand. 

What The Heck Is This

Today is the day I have dedicated here on this blog where I try and have something that I hope will be helpful with relations between men and women. Or a blog that helps women see that they can be perfectly wonderful and beautiful without doing the things they sometimes do for reasons other than doing them for theirselves.

I have nothing prewritten for Thursdays. Sometimes for other days I will have several things going through my mind and just keep writing and will have things ready even if I'm not feeling it. Thursday blogs come out so easily that I seldom even have to think.

But today... It's just not here.

Reason for this is, I was reading something a woman wrote which really twisted my shorts and has me feeling a million tons of anger resting in my excuse for a brain.

Seems Ms. X has a hubby who is serving in our military. Well while hubby was away, Ms. X decided to play. She had, by her words, a pretty regular relationship going.

Hubby came home to find his dear love was a few weeks pregnant. She told him she had a weak moment and this was the result.

Hubby forgives her and wants to accept the child as his own and forgive and live happily ever after. (GREAT guy!)

Well, Ms. X says she no longer loves hubby and no longer has feelings for Romeo. But she is planning on staying with hubby and having the baby so the medical bills will be covered and she will be taken care of.

Then her plans are to leave hubby and get him for child support and possibly spousal support. She is also wondering about getting financial support from Mr. Romeo.

This kind of CRAP! Is what makes women all look bad to guys.

Yes, none should judge a book by it's cover and none should judge others just because of one bad person in the crowd.

Not all women are bad because one is a self centered, self serving, self absorbed, egotistical user and abuser of trust and love.

But... One like this can make all men very, very wary. Make all men look on all women with a non trusting, uncaring eye.

No different than one jerkwater abuser and user can make all women question all guys.

I don't care what you call it, karma, what goes around comes around, God's vengeance, balance of the universe or anything else. I've lived long enough that I've seen people like this. They may have a nice looking life for a while, but eventually they get repaid. Then there is also that emptiness they always do so well at hiding, but shows through like a blazing sun.

Ms. X will get her just deserts. Of that I'm sure.

It's the pain she and people like her cause others that bugs me the most.

Heck, I've been hurt enough to not even want someone in my life and throw up walls that are next to impossible to find a hole in. There is one who has managed to find a little pin hole after eleven years and is slowly making me feel feelings again.

But that hubby of Ms. X. There is a man. Sadly a man who very well may end up behind walls like mine. That and the fact that so many men will have this to lay rotting and gnawing in their minds. That is making me so sad and angry today.

If there are any guys reading this, remember. NOT all women are like this.

Honestly, most I have met and known in my life are so danged nice it makes your teeth melt and your heart become as soft as fresh marshmallows. They make you feel cared for even though your not theirs.

They really do deserve your care and respect. They deserve to be treated like perfection on pedestals. They care for children, do their best to treat and teach them right. They're willing (though I don't know why) to give us so much more than we could ever conceive of, or find it possible to pay for.

Perhaps like me, your mom was one of those. Perhaps like me you've been lucky enough to raise a daughter that's one of those. Perhaps like me you had a grandma that was one of those...

Let's not allow ourselves to let women like Ms. X destroy what we know a real woman is and the good she is capable of!

Sorry for the really angry rant here today. But I just could do nothing better.

If you feel like it after this, why not take a few seconds and click on that Join button? Tell a friend and share what's here. Help out a little to maybe make this silly world just a little better for everyone to enjoy. Leave a comment or complaint. Just comment and say hi. We're all in this world together.

The Strip King

No, relax, I'm not about to start taking my pants off and dancing on tables. Wouldn't want to lose the few followers I have!

I'm way past fed up with supporting the Electric Company in their endeavors to take over the world and all it's money.

Short of taking everything electrical out of my house that eats away at the electric usage and my bank account, I've bought more of those nice electric strips that have a shut off switch.

I won't even buy the ones that have the little light. Figure that when that's shut off there is still that stupid little light that eats a little electricity.

Besides the ones that just shut off are cheaper.

Ever wonder why the makers of all that junk think we need a clock in each one?

Ever turn your lights off after dark and saw how much light you still have even after turning everything including the lights off? Who needs a night light? Who needs a pretty fire for a warm glow? Just turn the lights off and you have the warm glow of all those stupid little lights!

I've even gone as far as to plug a strip into a strip.

Where my entertainment center is there are many things that love to whittle away at my pockets by remaining in a constant standby mode with their little lights burning my pennies and dimes.

There is only one thing there that needs electricity twenty four hours a day. That is the aquarium that sits on the bottom shelf. My little fishy buddies need their water filtered constantly and need air supplied because of the unnatural environment.

I also like that darned TV to come on and be ready to feed me all the useless news when I push the button. So I went as far as buying a new one that is super energy efficient, (So they claim).

Well, the TV and aquarium are now plugged into one strip. Another strip is plugged into that strip for the Stereo and it's attachments, the VCR/DVD and a few other seldom used things. Now I can shut off the power to the least used things and not have them just sitting there eating.

I also put those strips around the kitchen. Now when I want to use the appliances that have wasteful standby crap, all I have to do is turn the power strip on.

Seriously, why does every appliance need a clock. Everywhere I turn in the kitchen there is a clock to remind me of the time I'm losing from my life while being there.

I only have one clock in the kitchen I feel a love for. That is the one in the coffee maker. As much as I'd rather wake up and have someone hand me a cup of coffee with a kiss, a smile and a sweet good morning, that ain't happening. So a sweet loving coffee maker that has the coffee waiting when I arrive in the kitchen will have to do.

I've replaced most of the light bulbs with CFL's. One light above my sweetheart the coffee maker that gets left on until the sun finally comes up, was replaced with a LED light bulb. (They are claimed to use even less than CFL's.)

I've shut some things off, quit depending on some unneeded things and now I smile. While I hear neighbors complaining about electric bills in the hundreds, mine is between $50 and $60.00 per month.

But I'm considering some more ways to whittle that down even more...

How about joining the blog and sharing with anyone you know. Help show the world we're all the same and can learn from each other and accept any difference of politics and beliefs.

Yay School

Summer vacation is over. Moms are watching their sweet babies as they climb the steps of buses and are driven away to school.

Dad is at work and moms stand with tears in their eyes. But what are those tears?

Tears because their babies are growing up to fast? Tears for the fears that they won't be there to protect their cherished cherubs? Tears because their offspring are now stepping their first step to a life on their own, leaving mom behind and forsaking her for a teacher and friends?

Guess that's possible for the first year or so. Maybe even a few years after...

Could it be they first feel relief?

Time off from being a taxi driver. Free from being a problem solver. A respite from being a referee and peace maker. Hours to read that book they wanted to read. Time to think and learn rather than teach.

Now they will have a few hours to become women again. They can do the chores that are needed without twenty interruptions an hour. They can clean up the messes and spills and not have to worry about them for a few hours.

There's time to do the shopping. No little ones begging for junk. Maybe even some time to stroll casually through the womens shops without the embarrassment of little boys screaming, mom, what's that! No tiny tornado's tearing things from the shelves and racks.

They have their homes back, their places of refuge and solace. Even if only for a few hours. Once a few chores are done, they can relax. Maybe take a much needed nap. Maybe turn on some mellow music, draw a warm bath and soak their weary bodies.

Dream dreams as they did when they were younger and had time. No screaming or whining to interrupt. No mommy can I's, no mommy I'm bored, no mommy I wants. Just time to be a woman and feel.

Ahh, there it is, “feel”...

Now they feel guilty. Guilt that they are happy to see their little monsters go!

I must be the world most awful mom for having the feelings I have. Feelings of me, not them.

But ladies! Why? You've worked twenty four hours a day. Do you not deserve a few hours? Hours to once again feel like a woman. Several uninterrupted hours to pamper the wonderful being you are. Time to get back in touch with the sweet loving girl that hubby fell in love with.

Even if hubby's been a good man and helped with watching the children and doing chores around the home, it's you who was on duty 24/7. It's you who carried the burden of the home. It's time now for you!

There are still the daily chores. They can now be done in just an hour or so. There are still those things that needed to be done for months. Work on them one day at a time. Making sure you pencil in some you time on your daily calendar. Even an hour!

Face it, you'll still be on that 24 hour shift on the weekends. But by taking some you time that may be easier to take with a smile on your face. And there is still next summer... Need I say more?

You deserve some time and your time is now!

Relax, relish and rejuvenate! They'll be home quicker than you think...

Now before you go, how about clicking on that Join button and showing us your smiling face. We're all family here in this world. We all have similar problems and lives. We all put up with idiotic decisions made by our governments. But we all need each other to make a better world possible...

Political Children

The hilarity of the news this week.

The republicans telling their President he has to wait to make his speech to them with his ideas to get the people back to work.

Only because they have they're jaw flapping is planned for the same day.

The democrats throwing the stones back saying the republicans are only playing a political game.

No I didn't really feel any hilarity! I felt anger.

Republicans refuse to give the President the honor he deserves. No matter the man, or in the future woman, in office there should be respect for that office. When that office decides to speak to you, you should at least offer it the courtesy of your ear. It is in fact the Commander In Chief of our country.

Then the Democrats who only weeks ago were calling the President a traitor to his party, are running around the playground calling the Republican's names and crying to the media.

Great show both of you! Do you really like showing the rest of the world how immature and foolish you are? Do you like having the rest of the world wondering about our country? Embarrassing our country with your childish antics?

I can only hope that the rest of the world can see that the majority of “we the people” are fed up with your political BS games. That we in no way agree with how you are choosing to run our country into the dirt. I can only hope that more non voters become incensed and will show up to vote you out of your office.

Both parties have lost sight of where they were intended to go. Both have allowed their parties to become the clowns they now are.

What happened to listening to each other and compromise?

What happened to putting the people before your petty political squabbles?

Is this new Tea Party any better? Don't know, only time will tell. If not they won't last for long. But they do sound to be better at listening and compromise.

Are not we the people more important that your bickering?

You all went on vacation when we needed direction to get the economy back on track. Yes, even you Mr. President. The Commander In Chief left his post when his troops needed him.

You all allow big business and corporations to buy your votes and sway you with their big money. You are allowing them to run the country for their profit. That will do nothing good for the people. Only for their profits.

Consider getting some of your big Government mistakes off our backs. Get the months of paperwork and red tape out of our way so we can start businesses and grow. We can put people to work. We can earn decent profits to succeed and get this country back on it's feet.

It was the people who made this country great, not the government. It was people who kept this country great, until the corporations took that away with your help. It is the people who will bring this country back to greatness and rebuild the respect of the world once more.

So quit with your childish games and do for the people!

Instead of listening to the corporations who have the loot for your fancy dinners, only because you helped them rape the people.

Can't say I thought a lot about Jimmy Carter, but at least he took the time to walk around our country and talk to “the people”. Hearing them who elected him to office. At least we then felt cared about and hopeful...

You do become what you bump into and hang out with during this life. Do you want to be remembered as one of the people, or as the corporations who are insincere, uncaring and only pick the pockets of the people?

While your here take a few seconds and join the blog. Show the world you are not afraid to be heard. Show the government we're not going to be quiet and we want them to start listening to us.

Leave a comment and be heard!

Want to say something but not start a blog of your own? Send it to me in an

e-mail. I'll read it and if it makes sense, I'll post it here for you. 

Give It Up

Successful people give.

Sounds strange doesn't it. How can anyone give what they have and still be successful...

A successful business person can't be really successful if they don't hire people. They give people work and pay them wages for their work.

The better they pay their hired help the more willing the hired help is to give of theirself and give more and better for their boss or company.

The more the boss cares for their employees the more likely the employees will be to care for them and the business. Then as the employees give back, the boss is more likely to give more to them. So it all began with the business person giving and results in people giving back.

Now the business person had to have an idea of a product or service that could be preformed in exchange for earnings. Then had to be willing to start on their own to make those products or preform those services. Only then could the business grow and they could begin to give to others. Yet they had to give of their idea to others to earn profit to grow.

Much of life is the same.

Sitting around and feeling sorry for yourself and your situation does very little but make you a lonely martyr.

If the business person has a bad product or service, no one will do business with them and they'll soon be out of business.

Well if all you have is sadness and sorrow haw can you expect people to want to do business with you?

Feeling sorrow and sadness is going to happen. No way around it, it just will.

That's the time to challenge yourself and find your moral compass. The things that mean and matter to you. There is your foundation. The things you have to build your life on. Bad foundation, bad life. Good foundation, good life. Only you can decide which you want. Yet if yours are bad and harm others, others will deal with you...

Next you need to find your product. Search yourself to find your passions. What do you like and what makes you feel elated. Build on that, learn to give it strength and let it grow and begin to give that. Once you begin to give that to others, others will begin to give that to you.

To have friends, you need to give friendliness, not anger and hurt. To have love, you need to give love, not sorrow and angst.

The more it grows and you give, the more it will be returned to you and you'll receive. The more you receive, the more you'll have to give. With that simple little thing you will grow to be successful in whatever your after.

Want love and a relationship? Ask yourself, would you want a relationship with someone who mopes and cries all the time, or someone who smiles and shows hope and happiness?

Like any monkey on your back, once that habit is broke “you” will have your life back!

How about joining the site while your here? Tell your friends about the blog!

Comment, complain, ask a question or just say hi!

This world is really one big playground and we can share and get to know one another. By learning we stand a chance to accept differences and understand.