GOOD MORNING, FRIENDS

A REMEMBERAMBLE, OCTOBER 8, 2025

I hope this finds you well, and you maintain that status for the duration. I have an appointment with the eye clinic in Savannah, to have the testing done so they can schedule me for cataract removal surgery soon. Chris Clifton will be my partner in crime, as he is driving me there. His crew is in Richmond Hill doing a swimming pool job, so we will go there to check it out and then to the eye clinic. That reminds me, years ago Mama had glaucoma, and I had to drive her to appointments, with Dr. Kemp Jones, OD.

His office was on West Main St. in a nice older home that like a couple of the others, along there in a row, that had also been converted to medical offices. Just beyond Dr. Jones' there was dentist office and a doctor's office, all in converted older homes. The backyards of each house was the parking area. Each had shrubbery, I think azaleas, in a line at the back of the property to show where to pull to for parking, without getting onto the neighbor's property, and to make it look attractive.

One day as I parked I noticed that the shrubs on the backside of Dr. Jones' office were pretty much destroyed, evidently they had been driven over, and backed up on and driven over again, and again, for a very longtime. They were stumpy, stilted, shredded, remnants with a few living twigs and a sparce smattering of leaves. clinging to life. I glanced over at the other offices and saw that they had shrubs planted much as Dr. Jones' office, but theirs were immaculate, healthy, vibrant, green, and growing.

I puzzled a moment on that, then it hit me, "IT'S THE EYE DOCTOR'S OFFICE!" If you still don't get it, ponder a bit longer. Okay, let us dispense with that, and move to another topic near, and dear to my liver, and that is the county fair, and amusement parks, big and small. Come with me here for a few minutes while we revisit the many rides and attractions that "slung, flung, and darn near brung me to the gates of heaven." It was an old story, one you probably heard before, long ago, and far away, or whatever.

I hardly know where to start. Does it ever seem as if I, one of the most mundane men to ever live, have led an extraordinary life filled with minor events, galore? They say go big, or go home, so I will start with the big dog of amusement parks, Disney World. It opened in 1971, and we went the following year. We were visiting our family down there, and mama and aunt Lorraine decided to take us to Disney World, and our cousin Karl Douglas Peebles, aunt Lorraine and uncle Loddy's son also came.

He was a three or four years older than me, and was always a pain in the ass. Forgive me, but he was. He was too cool to do mundane things like accompany younger cousins to Disney World. I am sure these days he must have eye muscle problems from his years of near constant eye rolling. I just looked him up and see that he is 69, so two years older than me. He became a physical therapist and moved away to another Florida town, but it says he is back living and practicing in Ocala.

If any of you know him and he is no longer such an ass, please tell him I am happy to hear it. But, I digress, imagine that. Okay, we go to Disney World, about a 75 mile ride. Karl Douglas (yes, he was called Karl Douglas, not Karl) huffed and puffed in exasperation on the ride there, and was in prime condition, had trained all his life, at being an ass, and he saw that trip as his Olympic bid for the games in 1976 in Montreal. The ride was only and hour and a half, but Mr. Whiney Butt made it feel much longer.

We get there, we walk and walk. We walk and walk, and then we take the monorail to the main park. Of course, it was Florida summer, so a tremendous thunderstorm descended upon us. Lightning struck the monorail, a man was killed, the power was out in the park, and we were on the monorail for it seemed half the day, no a/c, and a bunch of miserable people. The day was a fiasco. Fast Forward to Saturday, August 20, 1983, at Six Flags Over Georgia. The hottest day in Georgia's history.

It reached 110° in Swainsboro, 112° some areas, including SIX Flags. I cannot describe the misery that day, that enveloped us there that day. The heat from the pavement scorched your feet as if you were bare of foot. There was not a stir of a breeze, people we dropping like flies. They were hauling folks away on carts like the "bring out your dead," sequence in Monty Python's Holy Grail movie. People were ill as hornets. I spent thirty-seven dollars on a few small cups of lemonade and Cokes, there was no water to drink.

We finally climbed up to the walkway overpass above the log flume or maybe Thunder river, I do not recall. When the ride came down and hit the water, it would splash up there, soak us and cool us. It was a beautiful thing. Until a security guard made us move along. After seeing us up there getting soaked, it was like a cow stampede through the streets of Dodge City. Alright, I will kinda gloss over the visit there in October one year on a Saturday after the park closed for the season.

They would open up for "state employees day." Only state employees, families and guests could attend. Judy worked for DFCS. The entire park was open and staffed, but there were only a few folks there. No waiting for rides, you could get off and walk around and get right back on it. Well, it was not hot like before. Nope, we froze our butts off, we got wet, on the log flume and you have never lived until you, wearing frozen clothes, have ridden the Scream Machine with your eyes frozen open, while you shiver like a dog "getting shed of" a peach seed.

One of the young girls with our group turned blue, then pale white so we had to head home early. We were glad to go. I will not have time to finish this, so I will continue on this subject tomorrow. Look for part two in the morning. There is much more. Thank you and may God richly bless you. We do love having you here.

..... NUMBERS 6: 24-26 KJV

..... we boyz three, babee conway, lil merle, & me