Title: Still kickin'
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Blog Entry: On Saturday afternoon Jack and I took Rachel to Opry Mills to see Horton Hears a Who. It was just as good as I'd thought it was going to be; all three of us thoroughly enjoyed the movie. We promised Rachel we'd take her out to eat after the movie; Paul said anyplace that had chicken strips and french fries would be a safe bet - she'll actually eat those. She fell asleep in the car before we ever got out of the parking lot at Opry Mills, and Jack wondered if we should take her on home or go ahead and stop for supper and wake her up. We decided since we'd promised to buy her supper, it wouldn't be good if we took her on home then she woke up and got upset when she realized we hadn't. Can't have the granddaughter mad at us!! So we stopped at Sonic and she woke up once we got ready to order. We got her some Jumbo Popcorn Chicken and an order of fries and a Coke, and she was happy. Nobody had ever eaten in PaPa's car before...that was a first. Fortunately, no ketchup or soda was spilled, and everybody's food went where it was intended and not on the upholstery..... **giggle** Jack usually accuses me of eating with a chain saw, but I managed to eat a Sonic Bacon Cheeseburger (with no mayonnaise of course) without dropping a crumb. Now I suppose he'll be expecting that from me forever more......what was I thinking??
Oh, by the way....Jack has every Wednesday off. He works four 10-hour days a week. So on Wednesdays, he comes to pick me up at the office and we go out for lunch. There's not a lot to choose from in Ashland City, but it's nice not to have to bring my lunch one day of the week. He did some stuff around the yard this morning; hauled some scrap copper up to Clarksville and sold it, and when he came to get me for lunch we went to The Coffee Trail. It was good food, reasonably priced, and friendly service - we'll be going back there again. Anyway, on to my real story....When he got home, he decided to tinker under the hood of his $100 truck and do a little fine tuning on the carburetor and whatnot, and when he opened the toolbox he discovered all his tools were missing. Whoever got them left one crescent wrench and the tow chain in the bottom of the tool box. Several hundred dollars worth of mechanic tools were gone. Now, awhile back somebody stole our pressure washer, and a cordless saws-all (but they left the battery pack...duh...) So he's slightly pissed off. He called the sheriff's department and they sent someone out to file a report, and the deputy told him they'd had several thefts right near here. The chances of ever seeing his Multi-meter or his torque wrench or any of those other "gotta have if you're gonna work on a car" things are slim to none; they're likely cavorting around the pawn shop with the pressure washer and saws-all by now....some low-life scumbag crack-head (yes, we have those in Cheatham County, too) is probably off smoking a rock even as we speak, compliments of Jack's missing mechanic tools. Makes a body feel real secure....Oh, well, on to other things...
There's a young man here in Cheatham County named Joshua Roche who has a brain tumor, for the second time. He's had one surgically removed and underwent chemotherapy and radiation therapy after the surgery, and has been doing very well for the past two years or so. He has to go in for CT scans every six months or so, and in his last scan the doctors discovered another tumor, in a different location from the original surgery site. Josh has a wife and three young children, and all this has been a little overwhelming, to say the least. He's a friend of Shawn, and his sister Li'Leahe and her husband Clay are also friends of Shawn.
I got an e-mail from Li'Leahe yesterday about a fund-raiser for Josh, with a link to purchase Pampered Chef products. A portion of the profits are to be donated to Josh and his family. Well, I e-mailed her back and asked if an account had been set up for people to donate at the local bank, because I'd much rather donate directly to them than have "a portion of the profits" from something I purchased that I might not necessarily need or want be donated. She said there wasn't "yet," so I asked for Josh & Julie's mailing address (They live a couple of miles down the road from us, and while we know where their house is, it doesn't necessarily follow that we'd know their mailing address...). I've got a good greeting card program on my computer, and I just made a card to send to them. Instead of spending my $40 monthly allowance on my Soldiers, I'm sending it to Josh and Julie in the card I made. I'll just write more letters....
The Relay for Life is coming up, and Josh's family and friends are forming a team to raise funds to fight cancer. There will be several different events leading up to the overnight Relay for Life, and I'll be donating to some of those events - Judge Maxey and the employees at the court house always do a "box lunch" deal, and everybody at the office orders one of the box lunches when they do, with all proceeds going to a specific team. I think they've adopted Josh this year. Anyway, whatever we can do to help them out, we'll do. He's just a kid; it doesn't seem right for him to be fighting for his life when he's got so much to live for. Proof positive, I guess, that life isn't fair.
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