Bringing it back one more time

This is a repost from about a year ago that says a lot about Odie and I have some new followers that may benefit from this post.



Lately I have seen others use an interview situation as a create a blog post so I thought I would give it a try.

Interviewer: Odie, where were you raised?
Me: I was raised just outside of the town limits of Nashville, NC


Interviewer: Any brothers or sisters?
Me: Yes I have two sisters, both younger than I am. Marie & Linda.


Interviewer: Where did you get your education?
Me: I attended Nashville Elementary, Middle & High School all on the same campus and graduated in 1965. After that I attended Carolina College of Commerce in Rocky Mount, NC and graduated in 1967 with a diploma in Senior Accounting.


Interviewer: Did you do anything really wild as a young boy growing up?
Me: Yes, one time I took one of my dad's shotgun shells into the woods, placed it in the fork of a tree and shot it with my air rifle causing it to explode. One of the pellets hit my left arm but no permanent damage. Also had trouble hearing for a few minutes.


Interviewer: When did you start dating?
Me: I didn't start until my junior year of high school and then only because my friend found me a girl in Rocky Mount and kept after me until I gave in. Only saw her one time.


Interviewer: How did you meet your wife?
Me: After my first marriage ended I did like lots of others have done searching on the internet and found her there. I thought Halifax was not out of the question & we communicated on line and by phone for a while until we decided to meet. She brought her 9 year old daughter with her and we had a meal at Ryan's Restaurant in Rocky Mount and afterwards went to Michaels craft store to get supplies for a school project for her daughter.


Interviewer: Where were you married?
Me: We were married at a little wedding chapel in Maggie Valley, NC. Miss Caroline's Wedding Chapel and it was an outdoor setting with a waterfall behind us. My oldest daughter did a video of the ceremony so we can look back at it.


Interviewer: Where did you honeymoon?
Me: We left Maggie Valley, NC and spent the next week in Gatlinburg, TN along with her daughter Beth and my grandaughter Ashley.


Interviewer: Is there anything about you that other bloggers may not know about that you have done?
Me: When I got out of the Army in 1970 I took advantage of the educational benefits of being in the military. I took a course through DeVry and built a color television from scratch including all the components on the circuit boards as well as building test equipment to use in the process. Also I took 2 courses in locksmithing and was able to help many people locked out of their vehicles. I did this in my spare time and one week I was going on vacation. A teacher in Nashville was murdered and I spent the whole week installing dead bolts and window locks.


Interviewer: At what age did you lose our virginity?
Me: Proud to say 21


Interviewer: Have you ever been to a strip club?
Me: No, but one time back in 1981 I was in NJ on a training trip and was taken to a relatively small place for lunch to get a sub. While sitting at the counter eating my sub a lady walked in, came behind the counter, turned on some music on a boom box and commenced to taking her clothes off. My one and only experience.


Interviewer: Do you have any regrets in your past life that you wish had not happened?
Me: I regret the day as a teenager that I started smoking. Fortunately I stopped in January of 1981.


Interviewer: How has blogging helped you?
Me: Since I started in June of 2010 I have met so many interesting people and now have friends all over the world. With words of encouragement I have been helped and hopefully helped others that needed a kind word. Blogging has allowed me to express myself openly for really the first time in my adult life. It is not only fun but beneficial.

Trailblazing

My mind wandered today back to the time when I was in my early teens. Still a loner trying to keep as much distance from my two sisters as I could. If I had my hickory stick, my dog poochy, and my hunting knife I had all I needed to be happy.

The hickory stick deserves some description. You see hickory is a very hard wood so I found a young tree a little over 1 1/2 inches in diameter, cut a section that would make it tall enough for my height and carefully peeled the bark off exposing the hard wood. I allowed it to dry and fashioned a cap on the end that would be in contact with the ground to protect that end from rocks & moisture.

OK, with my trusty hickory stick seasoned dry and hard it was a useful tool to beat back briars and soft undergrowth as I made my way through the wilderness of the woods behind our home. We lived in a very rural part of the county and there was more woods than homes. I think back at how amazing it was to have those woods that totally brought joy to my life. Inside there were streams of running water, hills, ravines, nut trees, blackberries and the sheer beauty of God's creations.

Streams were always my favorite part of the woods. There I could find crawfish, turtles, tadpoles and gave Poochy a place to refresh herself. I used to wonder if there was gold there but never panned for any. I was too busy looking for anything live to investigate.

One day I was making my way through some rather thick growth of pine trees and came upon an opening into a circular area about 8 to 10 feet in diameter that was carpeted with the softest moss that made me want to just stay there forever. I'll never forget the way it felt to the touch and how awesome I thought it was.

A little west of our house was the County Home for the elderly and behind it was what we called the county dump. More like a treasure chest for a young boy. You know, one person's junk is another's treasure. I would find books, small appliances and not really sure what I ever brought home but it was exciting just the same.

Every now & then I would happen across an old moonshine still that the ATF guys had busted up. Never did run across an operating one.

I shared in a previous post about finding an abandoned school bus in our woods. Now picture just the shell sitting on the ground with no bottom or wheels and no cab. Kind of like an upside down U with the back in tack. I cleared away the brush at the entrance and the inside was reasonably clean. I eventually found a white 5 gal. bucket that turned upside down made a decent seat where I could sit and ponder my next adventures. I especially liked having it on rainy days when I could sit in there listening to the rain drops on the roof and could think and just enjoy the peacefulness.

Like I said earlier if I had my stick, knife & Poochy I felt like I had all that really mattered. I was blessed that there were not all the electronic distractions that keep people in their bedrooms or living rooms instead of enjoying the beauty of nature. I also did not even consider the thought of ugliness in the world like drugs, criminals, foreign powers, etc. My mind was not cluttered with junk. I miss those days more now than ever.