And once again

June 28, 2024

Life never goes as I plan, or even hope. I've made a little headway on the writing front, but not enough to feel good about it, much less brag. This June now ending has been a whirlwind of activities I didn't see coming down the pike at me. The major heat wave that sent us to scorched earth status did not help either. 

Don't get me wrong because I'm not complaining about getting lunch and dinner invites. I'm not complaining about the temps cresting the 100F mark. Deuce had a bit to say about it over at Deuce's Day, but he has black fur and he was not a happy puppy. I think it's very nice of "my" people that they feel the need to check on me and make sure I'm okay. Ron's been gone for three months, and they care. But it's only possible to write if I'm at the computer. 

Again - I am not complaining. 

I knew getting into a new groove would be difficult, but I looked forward to having some structure back in my day by now. Maybe the universe is trying to tell me to relax and go with the flow instead of putting myself on a schedule. Who knows? 

I do know that going with the flow isn't easy for me. There are so many projects up in the air that I think I'm losing my mind! The new well isn't drilled (thanks to a hold up in the county permits office), the Charger hasn't gone in for an oil change (it's not overdue so not critical), the John Deere 1023 hasn't been serviced (simple filter changes), the woodyard is still a mess, and the shed is only halfway reorganized. And there are still items to be completed to finalize Ron's estate. I know it will all get accomplished in due time, but I'm stressing over the mountain all that has created. One step at a time, right? 

None of this is insurmountable. I simply need to make a phone call to the garage, stop by the John Deere dealership to purchase the filters, and go to Lowe's or Home Depot for some heavy-duty hooks and brackets for in the shed. 

But now I have to go get ready to meet a friend for lunch and some retail therapy. It looks like this blog post may be all I get written today. Go with the flow, right? 

    _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 

http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

Visit my bookshelf at: 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/bookshelf.html

Social media links:

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at The Hideaway/Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@KCKendricks

twitter.com/kckendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

KC Kendricks, Between the Keys, contemporary gay romance, m/m romance, LGBT gay, Kindle romance, rural living, life after loss, family, gardening, John Deere, Dodge Charger

Just another number

 December 17, 2021

It's just another number, right? Aside from the fact it's a number that says it's time for an oil change, that is. (The oil change is scheduled, by the way.) Forget the milage for a moment and groove on the 21.3 miles per gallon my fast little Charger gives me. That's not bad for a ride with some horsepower. And that's around town, not highway.

People get all freaky over the number six, but I refuse to buy into it. Everyone who has a motor vehicle will hit that number sooner or later. Does that mean your car is possessed for exactly one mile? Of course not. 

Our lives are controlled by numbers. From the moment of birth, we are assigned numbers - the day we were born, the time we were born, how much we weighed at birth, how long our new body is, the circumference of our skull. We've barely taken our first breaths and we have been numbered. 

My last two posts were all about numbers. How many days until I finally, finally, finally retire, and then about my November word counts. 

In seven days, we'll reach Christmas 2021. I think for many people, it will be a lot more normal than Christmas 2020. COVID-19 still wreaks havoc around the world, but like it or not, those suspicious vaccinations seem to be doing some good. Yes, we got jabbed but we've not yet reached a consensus on getting the booster - other than we're not ready at this point and it's not been ruled out. 

This will be my sixty-fifth Christmas. It will be number seventy-four for the spousal unit. We both have summer birthdays and so were not a year old at our very first Christmas. 

Numbers. We can't escape them. They are tools we use to measure aspects of our lives, nothing more. My car has a certain number of miles and there's nothing demonic about it. It's simply how many miles the Charger has been driven. The balance of my checking account is a set of numbers that represent how much money I have to use to live my life. Last night, I bowled a 604 series, or the total number of pins I knocked down within a certain number of measured frames. 

It's time to set some superstitions aside. It's not the numbers that hurt you. It's the people who manipulate the numbers. 

  _*_*_*_*_*_*_

 KC Kendricks

My home on the web- Between the Keys: 

http://kckendricks.blogspot.com

Visit my bookshelf at: 

https://kckendricks.blogspot.com/p/the-bookshelf-of-kc-kendricks-and-rayne_3.html

Social media links:

twitter.com/kckendricks

pinterest.com/kckendricks/boards

instagram.com/kc_kendricks

facebook.com/kckendricks

Life through the eyes of my black Lab, Greenbrier Smokey Deuce: deucesday.blogspot.com

My country life at Holly Tree Manor: hollytreemanor.blogspot.com

Snips and clips on my YouTube channel: KC Kendricks Between the Keys

Lucky number 7?

September 11, 2014

There is a lot to be serious about and thankful for today. We must never forget the events of September 11, 2001, and we must be certain those who come after us remember and not become complacent. But even as we pause to remember, life can put something interesting in our path. Mine came this morning on the drive to work. 

77777

Lucky number 7? Times seven? 

It's not good to over think these things, but I think I'll play variants of seven in the lottery today. 

KC
http://www.kckendricks.com
http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks

Holidays and horoscopes

May 27, 2013

Happy Memorial Day to you! If I seem a little perky on a day where we remember and honor those who have sacrificed so we have our freedoms, it's that I have something big to celebrate this year. This Memorial Day, one of my own is home from his second tour in Afghanistan. God is good to return him to us safe and sound.

We're back from a fast trip south to my brother-in-laws home to celebrate his birthday. We hopped in my trusty Charger at daybreak Saturday and headed out. I was behind the wheel for most of the five hour drive and let me tell you - people on I95 are nuts. The stretch between just below Fredericksburg all the way to the King's Dominion exit was NASCAR at its best. I stayed with traffic, well above the speed limit, and people still passed me!

(To the guy in the black Charger with the big Hemi who slowed down, pulled up beside me, waved, and took off like a rocket from an 85mph start- funny dude. I get it. Those 400 horses needed a run. You're still an idiot to do that in traffic. Bet that baby wouldn't be pretty as scrap metal.)

The birthday party was nice. It's always good to be with my partner's family and especially nice when all five siblings are in the same place telling the same old stories about each other again. It would be annoying to hear the tales over and over except that I understand the love they share and that the distance between them sometimes weighs heavy. The instant sharing of texts and photos are great, but I see it on their faces - nothing beats a real hug.

On the way home Sunday morning we learned something else. We hit the highway before seven a.m. and there were Virginia state troopers with radar guns everywhere on Rt.64. Didn't see any on the way down, but I counted eleven with someone pulled over and another eight lurking with radar guns. Moral to the story - the next time we go south, we're not heading home until noon. My honey is very careful when he drives my car (yeah, it's the one time he's afraid of me because if he puts a scratch on my car........). He set the cruise control and we were fine.

I hate to use the word "obligation" when speaking of family, but the language is what it is. With the family obligations over, I'm now on vacation for the next week. So I get this as my horoscope today:  Your head is swimming -- but it's not an intellectual failure! Your energy is just out of sync with the ideas you have to confront, but you should be back in the game in a couple of days at the most.  Really? This is news? No, this is vacation brain. I shall embrace it. I busted my arse to beat a June 1 deadline so I could enjoy my home and play for the entire week. I still have more than a few years until I can retire, but this week is a practice run!

So that's my news from the mountain this morning.

Peace to us all.

KC

http://www.kckendricks.com

http://www.twitter.com/kckendricks

http://www.pinterest.com/kckendricks

Driver Beware

August 20, 2012

I've noticed an increasing trend in my community, and it's not a good one. There seems to be a segment of the population that is deliberately trying to sucker other drivers into bad judgement calls that cause accidents. It happened again this morning, and what really got my attention was the same driver did it to me three short days ago.

Living out in the country as I do, it's a daily jaunt to the state highway. Last Friday, I stopped at the stop sign (of course) and checked both ways for traffic. This old, battered wreck of a white and rusted car was traveling westbound with the right-turn signal blinking. Being the non-trusting sort of driver, I waited for him to slow and turn before I pulled out onto the highway.

Only - he didn't slow and turn. He kept going. And he flipped me off as he drove past me - why I had no clue. Just for breathing, I supposed at the time. Or for having the nerve to drive a Charger, maybe? As soon as I pulled out behind him, the turn signal went off.

He did the exact same thing this morning.

It's alarming to realize the same complete stranger, for no good reason, has twice now tried to lure me to make a stupid move. It's even more alarming to hear co-workers say they've had similar things happen. One has actually changed her route to work to avoid a four-way stop after a man in another car waved her through then quickly accelerated toward her when she moved forward. Luckily she was able to stop before a collision that would have legally appeared to be her fault.  

So what's going on here? Did someone put a sign on my car I can't see that reads, "Has insurance - okay to sue?"

Driver beware. There's a new threat on the road, and this one is truly malicious.

KC

Every picture tells a story

January 27, 2011



SNOW DAY!!!

I emailed this to the board chair this morning. Suffice it to say, he knows I won't be going to the office today. I offered to allow him to run the snowblower in and out my lane, which is about 1,000 feet long with a hill, but he declined.

That's a 2006 Dodge Charger under the snow, by the way. Really.