Cranks My Tractor

Mama and Jadon, the Jewish Frog (Mother's Day 2012)

This is the first Mother’s Day I have spent without being able to talk to my Mama. As many of you know, it is difficult.

That’s not a true statement; it is very close to unbearable. As I lay in the bed last night, tears ran down both sides of my cheeks and into my ears.

Mama always understood when I cried. Mothers are just that way.

When there seemed to be no hope and nothing else to do but cry, Mama had an answer. All of her problems, pains and sorrows were not secondary – they were non-existent when you needed her. It could be something little or something enormous, but the world stopped and Mama had an answer.

92.5 The Big Dog

I was studying the nutritional information on the back of a bag of Food Lion Southern BBQ Pork Rinds, while sitting in my chair in the den. I was amazed that there were only 80 calories per serving - that’s good isn’t it? The serving size was 10 pieces, so I was careful to pick out the biggest pork rinds I could find in the bag.

I had another serving, finding 10 more large pork rinds that had been baptized in powderized barbecue sauce. They are actually very good. They may look a little like Styrofoam, but they are tasty and have some nutritional value according to folks who make, sell and eat them.

One website that studies such things, notes, “When consumed in moderation, pork rinds do make satisfying snacks despite their insubstantial appearance.”

As I read the label and picked through the bag to get the most for my serving size, my Standard Poodle, Doolittle, sat at attention right in front of me.

Call me a Goober

Growing up, I had two or three shows that I had to watch. There was “Batman,” “Gilligan’s Island” and “The Andy Griffith Show.” All the Batman movies that starting coming out about 20 years ag0 didn’t come close to Adam West, and the Batman series of the 60’s. I still find it on television and the Booms and Kapows still crank my tractor.

Gilligan’s Island was a little different, it was silly and it was funny when I was young. Now, I just ponder the Mary Ann/Ginger question with friends at work. I have always thought Mary Ann was a lot more attractive than Ginger. It’s not something I would spend 30 minutes watching anymore, even to see Mary Ann.

The Andy Griffith Show on the other hand is something I can sit and watch anytime. Though I have every episode digitally recorded (thanks to a friend), I will still sit and watch it when it comes on television. It can be silly, but there is just so much “good” there in my opinion.

The Gospel According to Matthew (and Caden)

I’m a firm believer that people are put in our path for a reason. Sometimes it may be as a trial, sometimes it might be as a blessing. Whatever the reason, I try to figure it out and try to learn the lesson that I’m supposed to learn.

Maybe I over think things, but it makes life a little more interesting and from a learning point of view, it makes the world a classroom.

That being said, the world has a lot of good (and bad) to offer. How do you handle that? How do you find the “good?” My answer is simply to pay attention and give it a chance, because there is a high probability that the good will find you, if you let it.

Daniel in the Lions Den

I want to be up front. This is a story about Daniel in the Lions Den, but not that “Daniel” and not that “Lions Den.”

A couple of years back, a good friend from Alabama called and said he would be passing through my part of Virginia with his dad and his son. They were a day early for a baseball tournament in nearby Newport News, Virginia and asked if they could spend the night.

“Of course you can,” I told him. My family was out of town so I was happy to have the company and I also have a big bedroom in the basement that works well for folks passing through.

My friend, Tim, brought along with him his dad, Jimmy, and his son Daniel who was playing in an AAU Baseball National Championship.

Yours for a Song

One of the things I enjoy most is teaching college mathematics courses. For years, I have taught everything from College Algebra to graduate level statistics courses. My degrees are in mathematics, my Daddy taught me about probability with a deck of cards.

It stuck and I’ve made my living doing math in my job and teaching college level courses on the side.

Being a sports fan, I’ve always enjoyed the numbers and statistics associated with baseball and other competitive sports. It is a way of actually measuring success.

There are many ways of measuring success that are not associated with numbers or the size of your house, car or bank account.

Chasing the pig

When I come to the South - the true South, I must have barbecue. It must be pork and I prefer the outside meat where it has gotten black and crusty from being hickory smoked. If they have already whomped (cut) the meat up so much that they can’t find the outside meat, the folks working at the place should at least know what it means when you say you want it “outside.”

I’ve lived in historic Williamsburg, Virginia for more than ten years now and love it, but I will never forget my first experience with what the folks there call, “The best barbecue around.” I went into the restaurant and was pleasantly surprised that this place served cold drinks in glass bottles and folks were fighting over places to sit.

I waited in line, made it to the counter and asked for “a barbecue plate outside.” The lady behind the counter smiled and told me, “We have a lot of picnic tables outside.” I tried to explain to her that I was talking about the meat, but she didn’t understand. She got the manager.

Double Rainbows & Tractors

While waiting in line to pay for a bunch of tennis balls for my daughter, a little boy being held by his mother seemed to be in need of a game of peek-a-boo. I’ve never been one to turn such opportunities down. The line was slow, so we played for a little while. My teenage son was getting a little embarrassed.

That made it even more fun.

The little boy had to have been around two years-old. I had never seen these folks before, as a matter of fact; I was a long way from home. The little fellow had blonde corn silk hair, a toothy grin and a wonderful laugh.

After a while, his mother asked him, “Who are you playing with?”

Bad Calls

The other day I found a site on the internet that had old newspapers archived that you could search. I grew up in a newspaper in Alabama, so I thought I’d check and see if they had old issues of “The Anniston Star,” in Anniston, Alabama.

They did.

I was excited and wanted to see what I could find. This place would just let you type in a name or anything and it would search the newspaper or newspapers you selected.

Doing what most folks would, I put my own name in the search box and clicked on the “Search” button.

Mama, Miracles & American Idol

You should worry about folks when they spend a lot of time trying to convince you of something. Often times, they are trying to convince you they are not something when they really are. For example, if a politician is continually noting that they are going to run a “clean campaign,” they are more than likely doing right the opposite or have something to hide.

That being said, I am not a nut. I’m really not.

My Mama has been gone for more than two months and it continues to be difficult living without her. I cherish the memories and it seems everything I see reminds me of her.

In one of my last visits with her, she shared with me one of her “miracles.” She believed in miracles and so do I. We were sitting and talking and out of nowhere, Mama said, “I got a miracle the other day.”