Category: Uncategorized

WINE & MUSIC
©Richard L. King
From the book Memories & Time

 stereo on random, volume not quite to the max.
a glass of favored wine, yet still unable to relax.

the blues causing sadness, mix in a little country.
crank up the volume, smoothing a road so bumpy.

rose colored glasses, a second glass of wine.
slowly now more mellow, beginning to unwind.

a quick roll in the grass, now clearly in the garden,
soon he’ll call her up, beg and plead her pardon.

a mistake once made, apologies extended,
consequences remain, relationship now ended.

 the stereo on random, volume nearly at its max,
another glass of wine, clearly he’s now relaxed.

*********

Gramps use’ta say
©R.L.King2012 #328

About: Selecting a mate

“Beauty don’t keep ya warm
and it damn shore won’t feed ya.”

(Lessin yer a pimp.)

*********

From The Hints Book Almanac II
We’re in the kitchen doing some miscellaneous cleaning… 

MISCELLANEOUS CLEANING – Sponge – Microwave a wet sponge for 60 seconds, or run it through the dishwasher during a normal cycle. Or put your sponges in a bowl and pour the vinegar over them. Let it sit for 5 or 10 minutes. This kills 99% of the bacteria.  Cleaning stainless steel – Put rubbing alcohol on a sponge or paper towel and wipe. Works on anything stainless steel and makes them sparkle! Also, soaking a sponge in club soda, wiping down the sink, and drying it with a soft cloth will clean it and keep it scratch-free. Lysol® works too. Should your bread bag accidentally touch your hot toaster, try nail polish remover, it will take off any plastic which has melted on the toaster. Cleaning kitchen utensils such as cheese graters can be a pain in the butt and can be dangerous to your knuckles. Keep a tooth brush handy then clean the toothbrush in the dishwasher after using it. When hand washing dishes, add a tablespoon of baking soda to your soapy water. It softens hands while cutting through grease. Can’t remember if the dishes in your dishwasher have been washed? Place a shot glass upright in the top basket, if it’s full of water, the dishwasher has run through its cycle. Wood kitchen cabinets – Restore your wooden cabinets by mixing ¾ cup canola oil and ¼ cup apple cider vinegar, place in a jar and shake, shake, shake. Take a cotton rag and rub the oil onto the cabinets then wipe with another clean cloth. You’ll be amazed with the outcome!

LIVING UNDER A CLOUD
© By: Richard L. King
Inspired by a Blake Sheldon song
From the book Memories & Time

Occasionally some old song he’d hear
had him thinking back to when she was still near
and hearing some of those old songs
still had him wanting to sing along.
He’d imagine he had heard a familiar voice,
but he’d left knowing it was the wiser choice.

Once while driving past that old bar
ancient instincts had him seeking her car
and in those places where they drank their brew
he’d still see people they both once knew,
but seldom now does he think of her,
no longer interested, he’s found the cure.

It’s now been years since they parted ways
few of the memories of her still stay.
A new love now dominates his life
and they live together like man & wife.
He’s happier now and he seldom wonders
about those old clouds he once lived under.

*********

 Gramps use’ta say
©R.L.King2012 #339

About: Confidence

“No matter the endeavor,
if you’re not trying to be the best,
ya ain’t never gonna be.”

********* 

From The Hints Book Almanac II
Let’s clean some jewelry, shall we???

CLEANING/JEWELRY – Soak diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds in club soda to give them a bright sheen. Place them in a glass full of club soda and let them soak overnight. Another little trick is to drop your dull-looking jewelry in a glass of fizzing Alka-Seltzer® for a couple of minutes. It will sparkle and shine when you pull it out. Cleaning gold – Wash in hot, soapy water, it breaks down dirt that clings to the gold. You might also try rubbing a little toothpaste on the gold and buff with a soft cloth. The toothpaste will remove grease, dirt and grime and leave a nice shine in its place. In both cases, dry with a clean, soft, lint free cloth. Another way to polish gold jewelry, cover with a light coating of baking soda, pour a bit of vinegar over it, and rinse clean. Note: Do not use this technique with jewelry containing pearls or gem-stones, as it could damage their finish or loosen any glue. To get the shine back in your solid gold rings and other jewelry try pouring a bit of beer (not dark ale!) onto a soft cloth and rubbing it gently over the piece. And finally, to brighten up your gold or silver trinkets (again, minus any gemstones) try soaking them for 10 minutes in a solution of 1/2 cup clear ammonia mixed in 1 cup warm water. Gently wipe clean with a soft cloth and let dry. NOTE! Do not do this with jewelry containing pearls, because it could dull or damage their delicate surface. Rings – Keep jewelry cleaner next to your kitchen sink. When you begin to wash your dishes, remove your rings and let them sit in the cleaner.

Some time ago this message was forwarded to me in my email. I don’t know the author’s name, but I was instructed to pass it on. I have not altered it in the least.

 Burned Biscuits

When I was a kid, my Grandma liked to make breakfast food for dinner every now and then. And I remember one night in particular when she had made breakfast after a long, hard day. On that evening so long ago, she had placed a plate of eggs, sausage and extremely burned biscuits in front of my Granddad. I remember waiting to see if anyone noticed! Yet all my Granddad did was reach for his biscuit, smile at my Grandma and ask me how my day was at school. I don’t remember what I told him that night but I do remember watching him smear butter and jelly on that ugly burned biscuit. He ate every bite of that thing… never made a face nor uttered a word about it!

When I got up from the table that evening, I remember hearing my Grandma apologize to my Granddad for burning the biscuits. And I’ll never forget what he said: “Honey, I love burned biscuits every now and then.”

Later that night, I went to kiss Granddaddy good night and I asked him if he really liked his biscuits burned. He wrapped me in his arms and said, “Your Grandma put in a hard day of work today and she’s real tired. And besides – a little burned biscuit never hurt anyone!”

As I’ve grown older, I’ve thought about that many times. Life is full of imperfect things and imperfect people. I’m not the best at anything, and I forget birthdays and anniversaries just like everyone else. But what I’ve learned over the years is that learning to accept each other’s faults, and choosing to celebrate each other’s differences, is one of the most important keys to creating a healthy, growing, and lasting relationship.

And that’s my prayer for you today… that you will learn to take the good, the bad, and the ugly parts of your life and lay them at the feet of God. Because in the end, He’s the only One who will be able to give you a relationship where a burnt biscuit isn’t a deal-breaker! We could extend this to any relationship. In fact, understanding is the basis of any relationship, be it a husband-wife or parent-child or friendship!

So, please pass me a biscuit, and yes, the burned one will do just fine and PLEASE pass this along to someone who has enriched your life.  Be kinder than necessary because everyone you meet is fighting some kind of battle.

*********

Gramps use’ta say
©R.L.King2012 #312

About: Happiness

 “We all have our own
vision of Paradise.”

 *********

From The Hints Book Almanac II
Cleaning your dishwasher, microwave & garbage disposal…

 CLEANING/KITCHEN – To make your dishwasher sparkle like new run 1 normal washing cycle using Tang®, instead of detergent. The dishwasher should be empty when doing this. Repeat every 3 months or so. If it gets soap buildup and starts to have a foul odor pour a cup of vinegar inside the empty dishwasher and let it run through a whole cycle. To eliminate this from happening do this once a month. Another solution would be to run two packages of lemon drink mix through a cycle in the dishwasher to clean it. NOTE; Not recommended for stainless steel. KoolAid® will also clean dishwasher pipes. Just put it in the detergent section and run a cycle, it will also clean a toilet. (Wow, and we let our kids drink this stuff?) Lastly, another way to clean your dishwasher is to turn it on (no detergent) and let the bottom fill with water. Stop the cycle. Pour 2 cups of white vinegar in, close the door and let sit for 30 minutes before finishing the cycle. To remove odors from your garbage disposal – pour a half cup of bleach down the drain. Give it a few minutes then follow by running hot water for 2 or 3 minutes. Also to clean and deodorize it try pouring 1/3 cup each of baking soda, salt and dishwashing detergent into disposal. Again, give it a few minutes, then turn on hot water and run disposal for several seconds.  Clean & deodorize microwave – Put 4 tablespoons of lemon juice in a microwave-safe bowl with 1 cup of water. Boil 5 minutes in the microwave and allow the steam to condense inside of it, wipe dry with a clean cloth. If the stains aren’t too bad plain water might work. Another way to clean stains on the inside of your microwave, dissolve two tablespoons of baking soda in one cup water and in a small microwave-safe bowl, let the solution boil in the microwave for a few minutes so that the steam condenses on the walls. Then wipe clean with a damp sponge. You might want to put something like a toothpick in the water when boiling in the microwave to prevent explosive boiling.

BROKEN HEART
© By: Richard L. King
From the book Memories & Time

White clouds, rain clouds, rainbows and rain
a broken heart, causing great pain.

Raindrops, teardrops, a hole in your soul
when you cry in the rain, no one will know.

Trash heap, ass deep, survive best you can
seek a way out, come up with a plan.

Moonlight, moonshine, that purple glow
a change in your outlook and you’re into the flow.

Move on, play on, survival the objective
memories and passions, not quite reflective.

Old love, new love, a kiss and a smile
a change in your mood, now feeling quite guile.

*********

Gramps use’ta say
©R.L.King2012 #355

About: Angry women

 “One look usually says far more
than a whole mouthful of words.”

 ********

 From The Hints Book Almanac II
Today’s hints all concern cleaning floors

 CLEANING/FLOORS – Black marks – Pour a little lighter fluid on a paper towel and the marks will wipe right off. Lighter fluid works for a lot of other cleaning purposes too. For stains on concrete floors – Pre-treat stain with laundry or dishwasher detergent. Let the solution soak for about 30 minutes then scrub. Oily stains might also be treated with a shampoo designated for oily hair. Tar on carpet – Blot up as much as you can, don’t rub. Loosen the tar with a liquid lighter fluid or apply a solution of equal parts warm water and glycerin. Leave on one hour then spot clean with a carpet cleaner.  Other carpet stains – Grape juice stains 1. Six drops of Dawn dish washing liquid in two cups of warm water 2. Dampen white cloth lay over stain. 3. Set iron to low and lay (do not press) on top of white cloth for about 15 minutes. Wait for cloth to turn red   4. Then start rinsing once you have the desired amount of stain removed.   Do not rub the stain, instead dab. Shaving cream also. It’ll be easier to vacuum it off your carpets and upholstery if you mix 2 tablespoons of fabric softener in one cup of water in a spray bottle. Spray the carpet or upholstery, let dry a few minutes and then vacuum. When dusting “nooks and crannies,“ try using a clean, soft paintbrush. Spray it with a light coat of furniture polish to dust and polish areas you can’t normally reach.

By:  Richard L. King

I’m a big fan of the Miami Heat team in the NBA. Duane Wade recently retired and now that he has I feel that I can express my opinion. For years I have privately steamed at some of his antics. He has always been such a revered star that the sports writers never seemed to criticize him.

I myself have always wondered how a person with the coordination of a star basketball player, and Wade was a star who was exceptionally coordinated, how could that person always seem to fall down after a simple jump shot or after so many layups? I decided early on that McDonalds didn’t do him any favors with that advertisement in his first or second year, (the one where they praised him for falling down seven times and getting up eight). Certainly, they didn’t do any of the rest of us any favors. After that ad it seemed like he took it to heart and there just wasn’t any way he could stay on his feet.

Not only that, but he always embellished it each time he went down. He’d throw his feet up over his head and make it look like just a terrible mishap. The problem with all of that is, as play continued, he’d still be getting up off the floor and would be out of the next play.   Not to take anything away from the star that he was, but I just never understood how so many less coordinated athletes could stay on their feet when Wade couldn’t.  I blame it all on that ad.

I have also always been troubled by the numerous times Wade would still be in the backcourt when all of his teammates had gotten back on defense. Some of that was because he had been down on the floor, but many of those times it was because he had stopped to complain about the lack of a call by the referee. Many a lesser star has been chastised by his coach or by the media for such a transgression, but I do not recall every hearing anyone criticize Wade because of it.

Unfortunately, during this last basketball season Wade’s propensity to complain about “not getting the call” seems to have spread like the plague. I wish Coach Spolestra would talk to his players about all the griping they do to the referee’s. It’s an epidemic. Josh Richardson is one of the most likely to complain and you can see him, long after the play, still shaking his head. If I were his coach he’d either discontinue that or he’d be riding the bench. Referees notice that sort of stuff and contrary to what you might believe, it doesn’t make them any more likely to give you the benefit of the next call. What’s worst, after the 3 or 4 replays they show us it is usually obvious that the call was correct. Just once it would be nice if the player would just shut up and play the game. That goes for Justice Winslow, James Johnson, Hassan Whiteside and Kelly Olynick too.

Tyler Johnson used to be a big complainer too. Often you’d see someone at the line shooting free throws and Tyler would be in the background still grousing to the referee.  You see where that got him, don’t you? Traded!   Of course that big contract probably had as much to do with that as anything, but he was on the referee’s case far too often.

 *********

Gramps use’ta say
©R.L.King2012 #309

About: Self-confidence

“He thinks he’s an “ace,”
…but he ain’t spellin it right.”

 *********

As a new feature, we will be adding hints from one of our Hints Books to our posts.
Today’s hint is from THE HINTS BOOK ALMANAC  II

 CLEANING/KITCHEN – Clean your copper, brass and stainless steel kitchen sinks by making a paste of salt and lemon juice. Scrub gently and rinse with water. Dry with a soft cloth. For copper bottomed pots, spray the bottom with white vinegar. Let sit and sprinkle with salt. Wipe to a shine. Another possibility is to mix equal parts of salt and ammonia to remove the ‘green’ from brass and/or copper. Still another possibility to clean and/or shine copper or brass, combine equal parts salt and flour. Add enough white vinegar to make a paste. Rub the paste on with a soft cloth and let sit for about an hour. Wipe off and buff. And finally, for those copper pots that you want to hang to display, but they don’t look their best, try Worcestershire® sauce on them to clean and shine them. The sauce breaks down the grease that accumulates on them. Rub the sauce on them until clean, then rinse and buff.