My Blind Grandpa Driving the Car

Yes when my grandpa was alive, he still drove his car even though he technically was blind. Okay, maybe not completely blind, he saw shapes. He just didn't know what they were.

We lived way out in the country. And everybody drove on the small country roads, regardless of age or sight. Heck me and my brothers use to drive to the store and I was only 12 years old and I was the oldest.

But before we were big enough to touch the gas pedal and see over the steering wheel, we would ride with grandpa to the store. Now we didn't go everyday, just about once every couple of weeks.

If we were outside playing and seen him head to his car, we ask to go along. Both our parents worked and grandma was usually in the garden. Of course grandpa thought he was just as good a babysitter as anybody. At least we never got hurt when we were with him.

I think back with horror of how dangerous that would be in this day and time. I guess in grandpa eyes, he saw good enough to drive. We were young and didn't care. All we thought about was going to the store and getting a RC cola and a moonpie. I myself liked getting a coke and pouring in it a pack of peanuts. Try it sometime, you might like it.

Now grandpa usually made it out of the driveway on to the road most of the time. Sometimes he turned to soon and drove in the small ditch on each side to the driveway. When he got out onto the road, he would run his car off the road. And then he would turn his steering wheel to the left until he felt his right front tire hit on the side of the pavement.

This was how he knew he was on his side of the road. Thank God everybody knew his car, when they seen him coming. They just pulled over and stopped until he passed.

Next to the store was a small church, and they used the same parking lot. As I said before, he could see shape but couldn't tell what they were. He would count the large shapes on the right side of the road. And he knew how many buildings there were on the way to the store. When he counted to the building he knew was the church, he would turn in the parking lot of the church.

Everybody knew he did this and he knew when anybody might be there for church. So nobody ever parked their cars there in case he came to the store that day. He would always park his car so that all he had to do was keep turning his steering wheel to the left to get back on to the road.

When he drove back home, he did the same thing going back counting buildings. And of course he didn't always make the turn back into the driveway. So he would either turn to soon and drive through the small ditch, or not to soon enough and take out the mailbox. He ran it over so many times, that daddy just propped it back up.

Of course grandpa drove so slow, when he occasionally missed a turn. It didn't really damage anything except the mailbox. And the kids in the country like to put firecrackers in the mailboxes, so he couldn't hurt it any worst than they did. We probably could have ran to the store faster than he drove it. We didn't care, we just wanted to go to the store.

Eventually he had to stop driving after he kind of parked a little to close to the house. He didn't actually hit the house, he just kind of let the car roll into it. But by this time we could drive ourselves. Back then if a kid could press the gas and see over the steering wheel, then they could drive.

Grandpa has been gone for many years now, but I will never forget the trips to the store. We never knew what would happen. Anytime I see a mailbox with a few dents in it, I think of my grandpa.

What are we going to do today?

Have you ever woken up on your day off and wonder, what am I going to do today?

I couldn't even begin to remember what that feels like. There is always something that needs to be done on days off. Like the ever growing pile of laundry, the grocery list that just keeps getting longer on the refrigerator door.

Remember when you were a kid and your biggest worry was which tennis shoes to wear that day. Or which one of your friends house to meet at.

Don't you remember the sound of the bell ringing at the end of the last day of school. You couldn't wait to get home and get out of your school clothes. And what about when you hated to get up early to catch the bus. But when you was off for the summer, you woke up early just to play.

In my day we didn't have nintendo or wii. We made our own fun. I remember when I was growing up in central Florida before my parents moved us to north Alabama. We did all kinds of things that had nothing to do with electronic games.

My parents took me and my two brothers camping on Crystal River and took us to the beach at Sarasota and Daytona Beach. We always seem to be going somewhere on the weekends.

I remember my dad trying to teach me and my brothers how to eat raw oysters. My brothers David and Wayne loved them. I just couldn't make myself eat them. My dad would put them on a cracker and put hot sauce on it for me. No matter how much I tried, I just couldn't eat them.

My favorite thing was putting out traps to catch crabs. Now that was my favorite seafood to eat. Still is. One time my mom was boiling us some crabs that we had caught, but she put to much crab boil in the pot. The crab were so spicy that you couldn't even lick your fingers without feeling like your lips would burn off.

I'll never forget the time mom was picking up a crab, I don't know how she done it. But that crab latched onto her thumb. The only way to get that crab to release it's pincher, was to pry it off with a pair of pliers.

Then we moved to north Alabama and spent our summers camping out on Smith Lake. We never ran out of things to do. And the best thing was it didn't cost a week's pay to do it.

I miss those days of spending time with my family. It seems there is never enough hours in the day. Hope we all learn to slow down and smell the roses, before it's to late.

Weather of the Day

We have a saying in Florida, if you don't like the weather wait 15 minutes and it will change.
I never know what to wear to work. I put on 4 layers of shirts and long johns, aka insulated underwear. But by the time lunch time comes around, you start peeling off clothes.

Or the morning starts off raining and cloudy and by the afternoon is beautiful and sunny. But I wouldn't change the weather for nothing. At least it keeps it interesting.

I really love the summer time. Going to the beach, parasailing, riding waverunners and fishing. The best thing about working on the gulf coast, is in the summer there is always something to do.

Of course along with it comes the horrific traffic from the tourists. I know I would be a gazillionaire if I got a nickel from every tourist that ask directions to somewhere.

The one thing I don't love about Florida weather is the humidity. Women everywhere will tell you what humidity will do to your hair. You have beautiful hair until you walk out the front door. All of sudden you look like you stuck your finger in a light socket.

Everyone seems to think that they should try to get their suntan on the first day. Of course anyone who has ever been to Florida in the summer, knows that's a major mistake. You always know a tourist when you see one. They have the look of a lobster off a grill that they forgot to turn over. And then they are miserable for the rest of their vacation.



Of course we have weather that I could definitely live without. Hurricanes and tornados. At least with hurricanes you have advanced warning. Not so much with tornados. Neither is a good thing. But I guess that is a small price to pay to live at the beach.