Daddy Big Bucks

Posted on 09/11/2025 by Grumpa Joe

Daily writing prompt
Name the most expensive personal item you’ve ever purchased (not your home or car).
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This is the first time I have chosen to accept the daily writing challenge from WordPress. I’m having trouble remembering what I bought for myself over the years, but they will come to me as I write. There are several things which I consider to be over priced items that I bought for me. Number one is my recumbent bicycle, topping out at $3500. I can swear that no one ever rode that bike but me. The next item has to be my fishponds. There were two. The first one, I dug, lined, and put flagstone rocks around the perimeter. The cost was lower than that of my bike, but I can’t put a price on my labor. Next was pond number two. Since I couldn’t bring the first one with me when I moved to another house I had to build it. By the time this took place I had grown much older and I decided to hire a company to create the pond of my dreams. I choose number one as my favorite. It was totally designed and built by me, and I had the most success raising Koi and Comet goldfish in that mini-lake. Pond number two was designed by me, but I relied heavily on the contractor to know what he was doing. As a result, pond 2 is shallower and relies on a commercial filter, which after a few years of raising fish, I have deemed to be adequate only for a table top goldfish bowl. I have had this pond for seventeen years and have enjoyed it to the max, and decree that I spent $12000 wisely.

Pond-1 shown in its garden walk beauty one month before Barbd DIes

Big Al and his Comet buddies enjoying a feast of fish pellets

I could delve into the intricacies of design that make Pond-2 inferior to Pond-1, but I’ll pass because Pond-2 is aesthetically more pleasing than Pond-1. Overall, the two ponds were fascinating, and I wouldn’t want to live in a home where I couldn’t raise water lilies and Comet goldfish.

One feature that I had in Pond-1 was a Garden Railway. Railroading is fun, but I decided that the hobby was too time-consuming, and I cut back to design a layout that encircles the garden around the pond. That provided me with projects galore: Like a bridge to cross a river, a trestle to climb a grade, and a tunnel to bypass a waterfall. The railroad was always a hit when our yard was included on the Prestwick Garden Guild Garden walk.

There are two memories I cannot forget that occurred in Pond-1. The first was watching a rather large frog catch a Goldfinch for its meal. The frogs developed a habit of laying in wait on the edge of the stream, and the birds would come to the stream to bath and to drink. This Gold Finch got a little bit too close to the frog and Zip, he went into the frog head first The second was the sight of a mink escaping the pond with my prize Koi in its jaws. I really liked that Koi. The kids named him Big-Al because he had grown to become over fifteen inches long and would eat out of their hands. The mink was not much larger than Big Al when I last saw them disappear into the underbrush of the back garden.

Pond-2 after shelling out $12,000 to complete and before planting
Pond-2 is shown as the central showpiece of the Monet Vision.

I thought of replacing Big Al by buying a Koi of his size, but changed my mind when I saw the price tag, which was close to a thousand dollars. The mink decided to have Koi for supper rather than a much cheaper and smaller Comet. Right about that time, my wife Barbara had a heart attack and the focus of my life changed radically.

After this period of my life, the most significant gifts I bought for myself were trips to Arizona for the winter and three tours to Canada.

Filed under: Biography, Birds, Fish, Garden, Pond | Tagged: , | 2 Comments »

Lovely’s Lamborghini

Posted on 02/11/2025 by Grumpa Joe

One thing I benefited from marrying Lovely is a rusty old wagon with three wheels. I don’t know what possessed me to keep it lying around, but I did. After looking at this junky Radio Flyer for three years, I decided it was time to either give it a wheel and make it useful or trash it. Why I chose the wheel option, I’ll never know, but a visit to a psychiatrist might enlighten me.

I looked everywhere for one wheel, but did not find one. Finally, I resorted to Amazon and found wheels galore. What I didn’t find was a perfect match. Being an engineer, I needed the fix to be balanced from side to side. A matched pair of wheels arrived several days later, and I went to work.

Removing the unmatched wheel from the axle was a headache that involved pounding and making a lot of noise. The action loosened a pile of rust from the bed due to all the shock and vibration, and caused a bunch of new holes to appear. Eventually, with the application of copious amounts of WD-40, the old wheel came off.

The two new wheels on the old axle made the wagon look sexy. There was only one cotter pin and I needed two, one for each wheel. With a little persuasion a nail fell out of my miscellaneous box to fill the need. A twist of the nail into a curve kept the new wheel in place. On TV all the old car restorations involve adding new paint, and paint shelf in my shop yielded a can of sky blue and another of white. The blue covered the rusty bed and the white made the hub caps look new. It was done, and available to haul stuff around the garden.

Next, I dragged the Flyer out to the garden and summoned Lovely to examine her wagon. Oh my god! She exclaimed, “A Lamborghini,” and we doubled over in laughter.

This weekend, I put the Lamborghini to use by hauling two cement blocks that had been lying next to the Lambo, alongside the house, for more years than the Lambo had sat rusting. The trip was but a few yards to the far end of the pond. The blocks provide a base for the new aerator pump that pushes air into the water to keep the fish alive through the winter. Maybe this fall, I will avoid the mass fish kill that has happened for the past three years.

Filed under: Biography, Fish, Garden, Pond | Tagged: , , , | Leave a comment »

Being Positive is Fun, Being Negative is Funk

Posted on 30/08/2025 by Grumpa Joe

Wow! It seems like forever since I last posted. So much has transpired. The baby steps that I used to tick off have stopped and that sent me into a sunk feeling. I like to say I am in a funk when I am feeling depressed. In spite of all the positive activity toward my goals I have been stricken with a slight case of depression. My self-esteem is low, and that always is a sign of depression. Some little thing triggered me into a funk. The funk is over, I’ve survived and now it’s time to BLOG again. How did I get myself out of the funk? Well first there is work. Good hard physical work. Thank God, I can still do physical work. That meant that doing my physical therapy exercises religiously and without complaint.

I drove to Pets Mart last week and bought ten good size goldfish for the pond. We can now see fish from our kitchen window, whereas before, the little guys were invisible. Everyday, Lovely and I throw a handful of fish pellets into the water to feed them. I want to train the fish to come to us when we approach the edge of the water.

Another powerful tool for getting out of the funk is to pray. I pray every night before retiring. I coax my sub-conscious into bringing me only good health, great stories, and abundance. Included is a request to help a bunch of people who need it. In the morning, when I walk, it is  another opportunity to pray and speak to God. I can’t walk without praying. It’s a habit I developed over the last twenty-two years.

Slowly, ever so slowly, the endorphins begin to kick in and the funk begins to disappear.

Today, I remembered signing up for writing school twenty years ago. I had hoped to improve my writing to become as good as the really fluid writers on the blogs I visit. Man are they good. I admire people who can write their thoughts clearly, concisely, and in a completely understandable way . They amaze me. How can some writers be so descriptive with their words and others like me are complete klutzes. Do you believe this, I’m writing myself into a funk just by giving someone unknown to anyone an “atta boy.”

I am not a klutzy writer, I do well. Even though others can write rings around me, I must concentrate on the positive in my life and not dwell on the negative. The negative, “or dark side,” can quickly envelop the “id” and predominate. We have to learn and practice being positive every moment of our lives. Being positive is much more fun than being negative. Funk rules the negative person.

Filed under: Funk, Garden, Motivation, Writer | Tagged: , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments »

Older and Wiser, 17 Years Later

Posted on 29/08/2025 by Grumpa Joe

Wow! Too many projects with too little time to finish them. Does that sound familiar? Let me tell you something folks, it doesn’t change with age. As long as a person has his health, and mental faculties, he will continue to want to be a useful citizen of this earth.

Several years ago, during the election cycle pitting John McCain against Obama, a friend asked asked a question. As a conservative He was concerned because as a conservative, and the candidate aligned with his political philosophy was an older man named John McCain. He looked at me and asked, “how old are you Joe?

“Seventy,” I replied.

“Do you feel that you have the energy and mental capacity to be president?

“Yes,” was my answer. 

The real question in my mind is whether nature will be good to me, and let me keep my health and energy as I age. I fully intend to stay healthy, and today, I am reasonably healthy, but will I stay that way for much longer? I don’t know, neither do you. Only the Lord knows what is ahead of us. All we can do is, “Remember yesterday, Dream tomorrow, Live today.” 

So what if our current conservative candidate is old? He will select a younger Vice Presidential partner, who will rise to the occasion if it is necessary.  It is also a fact that young men die too. Many of them live a higher risk life style than older men, so their chances of meeting with injury or accidental demise is probably greater. Remember Christopher Reeves, “Super Man,” broke his neck while enjoying his passion, i.e. riding a horse. More recently, Heath Ledger died of too many medicines at one time. To quote Forest Gump, ” Shit Happens.”

 Life is filled with stories about people who die when they shouldn’t.

Instead of worrying about a candidate’s age, and his prospects for surviving life, we should concentrate on which political philosophy we want our kids, and grandkids to grow up with. We should be discussing our life values and the reasons that we believe in them.

My parents were staunch Democrats. They made one “X” under “D” on their ballot. They believed in President Franklin Delano Roosevelt as the saviour of the working class. Mom and Dad, lived through the depression, they blamed President Hoover for everything that went wrong with the economy. Yet, when I think about how they taught me to live, they were as conservative as the day is long. They never spoke of conservatism, but they lived it. They wouldn’t have understood what “Green” meant, but they lived more “Green” than any modern citizen does today. Their bottom line philosophies:

“If you don’t have the money, don’t buy it.”

“When you have land, you will always be able to feed yourself.”

Mom wasn’t talking about acres or hundreds of acres, she was talking about a back yard. She made our tiny yard into a farm. She raised vegetables, chickens, flowers, and some grass too.

“Never waste.” Mom knew how to mend socks, shirts, and pants. She knew the value of re-cycling hand-me-downs, and somehow we managed to survive without knowing we were poor.

“Welfare is for people who are worse off than we are.” My Dad would have hung himself before he accepted money from the government. He came to this country with the clothes on his back, got a job, learned English, took abuse from his co-workers, and managed to feed and educate three kids.

If you believe in big government, and the philosophy that Big Brother should take care of you, that’s okay. You should vote for the Liberal.

I happen to believe that the government is way too big, and the National Debt is out of control. If you want to tax me to pay off the debt, okay. If you want to tax me to pay for more social programs, go fly a kite.

I’m voting conservative even if the candidate is 101 years old. He’d be the much wiser choice.

I just turned eighty-seven, and I voted for an old man, who in my eyes is a teenager compared to me. I still feel mentally capable of doing the job, but I am a little slower than I used to be.

Filed under: Aging, Characters I knew, family, Garden, Memories | Tagged: , , , , | Leave a comment »

He Beat Me Again!

Posted on 08/01/2025 by Grumpa Joe

As in all wars, the battles rage on. One side sends a missile and blows up a pipeline. The opposing side retaliates by sending a drone army to inundate the enemy with missiles. In the war, I engage in with the backyard squirrels I lost the last battle, but it was not the final skirmish.

In my last attempt to deter the athletic little creature, I filled the squirrel guard with Styrofoam to prevent him from scooting up the pole under the guard. It took him several weeks to figure it out, but once he did, it was only a matter of a day or two before he succeeded in hollowing the tube with a portal. Luckily, I watched him do it and now envision another modification that will be more robust. I will win the next round of this ongoing challenge.

Filed under: Birds, family, Garden | Tagged: , , | Leave a comment »

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