Okay a lot has happened int the last four monthd.

I am now owner and partner in Reluctant Dragonfly LLC.  My things are now in Texas. I have a trailer to live in and park the bikes in,  Dean and Tish Hopkins going to help me set it up to live in it.  LeAnn is a partner and a driver. We are going to pay the trailer off in about a year, and once its paid for we are going fishing. Or I am. She is a published author and is planning on promoting her books, and working with veterans too.   The rodeo pictures and the video are from a youth rodeo at the Goldthwaite Cowboy chruch.  That was fun to watch.  I had to ask what the "Goat Slapping" competition was about, but it was fun.   In the goat slapping the younger kids ride up to a goat while someone holds it.  Once within about twenty feet of the goat the kids jump off their horse run up and slap the goat.  The timer stops when they slap the goat.  The older kids don't have anyone to hold the goat, it is tethered with a long lead and can run from them. They have to tie three legs together for time, and the tie has to hold for a while. not sure how long, but if the goat gets free there is no time.

Above are pictures of the bikes loaded on my utility trailer in Wisconsin, and of our toy Hauler travel trailer

     I am here to participate in a Green Knights event.  Not sure what it is for but I am going to enjoy it if I can.

 Two more years and I will retire.  There are several things I must do to acheive that.  I have changed from being a trainer to being a team driver.  Hopefully there will be enough revenue generated by that to pay everything off and get the trailer I want.  I also hope that I do not age much more.  Getting older is okay, but aging hurts a lot.

I have a good chance to buy a small piece of land, and if that happens then I may just buy a nice single wide and use my pick up to pull the utility trailer and camp in a tent and go see places on the bike.  That is a possibility.   

My diabetes is well under control, I am still losing weight, not as fast but still losing weight.  The 38 inch pants that I was gifted by the great and mighty Gallupe are loose on me.  He did send three pairs of 36 inch pants too, but I have about 30 more pounds before I get into those.  Thinking I will need my suspenders for the 38's soon though.  

The folks renting to buy my house may be actually buying it soon.  That will give me an additional $250 or so a month to apply to bills that need paying off before I retire.   

I visited with my friends at the Goldthwaite TX senior center at the end of Febuary.  I played bingo one week and had lunch the next week.  I really miss working there, and when I retire I will be there a lot.  Texas is not a bad place to spend the winter, it gets cold but not for long.  Those folks are a great bunch and they are growing in size every month.  Billie is doing a great job there.

Well that is about it for this post.  There may be some interesting videos coming. Working on doing an interview with a new driver and me (the old driver).  That should be a lot of fun.  I am also going to work at finishing my book on truck driving.  It started as a how to do it and became a comic way of looking at the expierences that I have had over 23 years.   In April I will have been driving truck for four years longer than I was in the Air Force.

Thanks for reading

Bounce

Last thought I am going to reunite with good old Clyde in about a month or so.  He may or may not be pissed at me, I have been enjoying warm weather and he has been stuck in a barn in Wisconsin for three years.

 This post is the first in a long time.  I have to apologize to folks that follow this blog.  I have been working pretty hard.  I have driven over 20,000 miles since November.  I have trained three students. So I haven't driven all those miles, but I did get paid for them.  So that is my excuse for not posting in a while. 

Going forward I am going to try to post a couple of times a week.  

Last week I visited with my friends at the Mills County Senior Center.  That group is growing, not by leaps and bounds, but it is growing.  They feed almost eighty folks a day now.  When I was there it was about sixty a day.   I played Bingo and won twice.   Picked a set of colored pens, and a daily pill box.

Then Saturday I did evening chores for Dean and Tish.  That was fun, Fed all three cats, a baby sheep that is on a bottle feeding routine, two dogs, and four cows a Llama and a Donkey.  takes less than an hour and it is fun to do.  I walk up to feed the cows so it is also good exeercise ffor me too.

On Sunday I went to the Mother Earth Fair in Belton TX.  That was fun too.  Saw a lady from the organ donors organizatoin.  There is an interview with her in an earlier post.  She is doing well and is always looking for events to present information about organ donations.

Then I met some folks from  "All about Exotic Wildlife.  Their web page is allaboutexoticwildlife.com.  They actually rescue deer and other wildlife that have been hurt.  I have some pictures from  them.

It is a little hard too see in the bottom picture but that is a South African version of a Raccoon.  They had two there.  The middle picture is supposed to be the goat that they are raising to nurse deer fawns that have lost their mothers.  She moved when I took the picture.   i got to speak a little german with the lady holding the raccoon.   It was an interesting display.  They are a 501C3 and if you are interested in donations they are at:

PAYPAL.ME/AAEWILDLIFE

Then I got to use a machine to cleanse toxins out of the body.   Well I paid $20 for thirty minutes.   It was fun and sort of interesting.  I have a picture of my feet from that.  The water was clean even after I put my feet into it, but the electrode in the water pulled a lot of gunk out of me.   I am going to get one of those machines.  It actually lowered my blood sugar.  I tested myself in the morning at 150 and before taking my nightly pills I was at 90.

This is what the water looked like after.  The lady next to me actually had parasites floating in hers.  I didn't but there was a lot of gunk there.  Machine costs $1200 but I think it works so I am going to get one as soon as I have the money..

Then I got a video of a lady that treats cloth with bees wax to make covers for storing leftovers.  The takes cloth and treats it with bees wax so that it will seal jars and bowls.

I can't figure out how to get the video to work but here is a picture of the cloths and the lady that was making and selling them.

I also sat through a few seminars on bees and raising bees.  I have always thoght bees we just stingers with wings.  Turns out they sort of make the world go round.  Without bees nothing grows.   They do not live long, and they do not fly far either, but they are responsible for all of our fruits and vegitables growing.  No bees no gardens or crops.  They do swarm from time to time.   If you see a swarm, or have a bee problem in your house, do not kill them.  Call a bee keeper, they will probably help you out.  You may have to pay a fee but most likely not.

The first three pictures are of some new born lambs at the ranch, then there are the cows and my buddy Eeyore and the sheep herd, or part of it.  All in all I had a fun weekend.  Thanks for reading

 Well today I found out when I am going back to work.  I will be in Dallas Saturday November 26th and in class for orientation on Sunday the 27th.  Because of the amount of time I have been off work I am required to go through a rehire process.  This means that I won't be driving again until the first of December or later.   I won't be making any money for three months.   I hope that I can pass the physical, but since the company Doctor is not someone that I trust I doubt it seriously.  I have several jobs I could go to, and will be working somewhere.   I had hoped to volunteer at the Mills County Senior center until the Wednesday before Thanksgiving but that is not to be.  Short story is the new cook wants differrent help.  That is as far as I will go with that.  I will use the extra time I have  to get ready to go back to work.

Last week there was a visitor from "theultimategiftoflife.com".  Her name was Judy Whaley.  She told us that even though 80% of Americans support organ donation, only about 60% are signed up to do so.  The ultimate gift of life foundation is a 501c3 non profit organization whose mission is to raise awareness about organ donation and to register new organ donors.  Organ donors can save 8 lives and retore sight to 2 people.  

After Judy talked to the group I asked her a few questions.  One was about restrictions to donation.  There are very few.  Example I and my children cannot donate blood because we were in Germany in the 90's and most of our meat came from Europe, and we may  have been exposed to Mad Cow disease.  This doesn't mean we cannot donate our organs, also folks that are H.I.V. positive can donate because there are many with H.I.V. that need replacement organs.  If you have any further questions Judy's email address is:

judy@theultimategiftoflife.com.  Her phone number is 575-430-3671.   She gave a great talk and many many people who think that their organs might not suitable for donation but wish to be organ donors should email her.  Also anyone that has signed up for organ donation should let their family know it.  I am signed up as an organ donor, and have been since 1972 when I got my first license.

Well that is it for today, I have to go fill my truck up for the trip to Dallas tomorrow, and get some groceries for the next two weeks.   Then next Saturday I go back to work.  I hope that I can maintain my diet while in class, and when I get back to work.

Once again any and all comments are appreciated, I do moderate them.

Thanks

Dave Talley

Known as Bounce to some.

this is a challenge coin I carry at all times. I received it from a great friend Dan Farren also know as Gallupe  the road guard from Run for the Wall.  My readers should look at rftw.us.  You will like it there.

Recap for the week

 This week was pretty good.  I had a phone appointment with the VA about my treatment.  It went very well.  My numbers are very good.  I am switching to a primary care doctor in Goldthwaite TX.  I am hoping to be back at work before Christmas.  I will be changing from direct insulin shots to a pill that almost does the same thing but slower.  The technician that I talked to said I should start testing my sugar every other day and at different times of day.   That will take some getting used to.

Yesterday I went to a luncheon for Veterans day with Dean and Tish.  It was enjoyable, lots of good people there, several of the folks from the Senior Center are Veterans, and the director is the Widow of a Veteran.   Also for the first time I was at a Veterans event and not everyone was if leathers.  The Goldthwaite Lions Club did great, the student council of the Middle School served lunch and when the roll was called they delivered carnations to all the Veterans, and Widows of Veterans.  I have not done many of these, but I enjoyed it and if able will do it again.

One of the presenters was there to promote a book she wrote called "Lest we Forget". It is about people from Mills County that lost their lives during WWII.  There were about 43 of them, and one was a Woman flyer who died in North Africa.  The reason that the book was written is that one young man who died was forgotten about when the county built a memorial to those who fell during World War II.  The book is $25 and I believe I am going to buy it.  All the proceeds go to the museum in town (Unless you buy it on Amazon, then they only get $11).  But since I am here I will buy it at the museum.   I will report on the book here after I read it.

Theses are a few pictures that I took with my phone at lunch

This is the photographer who took pictures of everyone that got a carnation.

These are Dean and my carnations.  He got a red one, I got a white one because they did it alphabetically by last names, and H and T are just far enough apart that we got one of each color.

So it has been a good week, I am getting healthier, and really want to go back to work.  If I can't drive, I will try to get a position that I can do from home, and of course I will need to actually find a place to live at that point, status here is just temporary.

Thanks for reading.   Comments are encouraged.  I do still moderate them, but all will be posted.   I am working on an interview that I did on Wednesday with a lady that came to the Senior Center to talk about organ donation.   I have notes, and pictures but that will be a seperate post.

Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts and story

Dave  (Bounce) Talley

Tomorrow is Veterans Day

 America has generally forgotten the meaning of this day.  On the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month the "War to end all Wars" ended.   November eleventh is set aside here and in Europe as a special day to commemerate the end of World War One.   

World War One was fought with machine guns, large machine guns.  The casualty rate was listed at over 40 million. There were 20 Million deaths and 21 million wounded. The total number of deaths includes 9.7 million military personnel and about 10 million civilians.  (Information found on Google).

Of course these numbers do not include the mental injuries, Post Traumatic Distress was not really considered a wound in the 1900 to 1920 time frame, but there were many many men women and children that suffered from that malady too.

I am a verteran, of what you wonder?  The cold war, Operation Desert Storm and the start of anti terrorism.   Unfotunatly, 9/11/2001 was not the first terrorist attack either in Europe, or the United Stated, or the Orient.   Many of the people that I trained with over the years died in either accidents preparing to fight terrorists, or in actual terror attacks.

When Desert Storm happened I was not allowed to deploy because I had Permanent Change of Station (PCS) orders.   My Unit deployed and I stayed behind.   After I moved to my new Unit, I deployed to Turkey for Operation Provide Comfort.  This was really part two of Desert Storm.  Incerlick Turkery was considered a combat zone.  (Initially the military pulled all the dependents out of the base. After the Iraqi's surrendered the dependents were brought back. But it was still considered a combat zone.)

I spent almost ten months here.  It was really only a 45 day tour, but because the base I was at Bittburg AFB Germany, was slated to be closed I was left in Turkey as a continuity person for deployed security personnel.

While there we were shot at at least once.  This was not an attack, but poachers that were using hot reloaded ammo.  We could see them on Thermal Imaging.  We actually watched local police catch and litterally beat down several teen age poachers.

The point of all of the above is to explain the following thoughts.

I never know what to say when someone thanks me for my service.  I enlisted because I needed a job and my wife at the time was pregnant.  The Air Force wanted me, they offered me a great job that paid four times what I was earning to start.   I missed my daughter being born (I was there for my son and second daughter, but I was in Technical School in San Antonio in May of 78 when my oldest was born) and because of that wonderful job I was deployed a lot of the time that my children were growing up.

So when folks thank me for my service I thank them for the compliment, but what I really want to say is "It was a job like any other.  I both hated it and loved it."   I am not any sort of a hero.  I have many friends that are actually heros. Two of them have the Congressional Medal of Honor.  Those guys are heros, they were actually in war.   My brother Bob (aka Bob the Computer Guy and if you know anyone in Colorado Springs that needs their computer repaired they should call him) was in Vietnam and many other hostile events, he is a hero. Me I just had a well paying job and attended college.  I actually have a degree in Industrial Security and about sixty hours of paralegal studies. With all that I drive a truck for a living.  But I would do it all over again if I had to.

So to all the folks I know that have served thank you for your service, to those that have enlisted since 2001 realize you are welcomed home and appreciated by this country.  If anyone gives you a hard time about your service find either a guy like me, a cold war vet, or a guy like my younger brother, a Vietnam vet and let us explain to those folks that the only reason they have the right to protest or tell you  that you are evil, is friends of yours, you and friends of ours sacraficed their lives, and body parts to make sure that this is a free country.  Don't get me wrong. People have a right to protest, we all veterans worked hard to insure those rights, but having the right to do something doesn't automatically make you right.   Let us old guys take care of your light work and you guys just enjoy your lives.  

Bounce is done for today.  More tomorrow with pictures of the Veterans day Luncheon and more pictures from the Senior Center.

Life in the slow lane about to come to an end. Work calls

 For the last three months I have been on short term disability.  I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes about 13 September.  I have been doing a lot but not what I want to do.  In truth I want to go fishing, but 50% pay just covers some of the bills.  I am not sure what I am going to do.  I don't know that I will be cleared to go back to work.  I have lost weight, gotten my blood sugar under control, my blood pressure is way down.  If I can lose another 20 pounds I may be off blood pressure medicine all together.

What I have been doing since the first part of October is volunteerring at the Mills County senior center in Goldthwaite TX.   I help cook  (Full disclosure I can cook, and I enjoy it, but I am not a cook.  I have helped cut things up.  I know that involves using sharp objects, but I did it carefully and I still have all ten fingers and toes.  <that last part is for my son.  A few years ago I cut my finger so bad using an exacto knife I needed stitches, so every time he hears that I am using sharp things he tells me to "Step away from the razor blade old man">.)

This time washing dishes, and helping cook and serving food to the seniors, and many of them are thirty years older than I am so I am honoring my Mother by being very polite and respectful to them.   They like to have fun too, so it has been a very enjoyable time.  I try really hard to not talk like a truck driver.

 Folks getting ready to eat lunch

Laura's amazing banana pudding

Laura and Ann on Ann's last day before retirement.

Me, Lynn and Ann in kitchen

Desert being served  (apple cobbler and ice cream)

Laura and Lynn

Laura and Lynn preparing deserts

MS Billie chatting with seniors before lunchd

Above are pictures taken by me and others during the last two weeks.   Some of them are in other posts.  These folks here are awesome.   They seem to enjoy the work I do and talking with me.  I thought I was going to go completely nuts while not working.  I did for the first week or so, now I have a great reason to get up, make my bed, and get to work.   I am really not sure what will happen at the end of the month.  If I do not go back to work at Stevens, then I don't.   I love working there, and I would like to keep working there. The Covid-19 pandemic sort of eliminated some of my chance to move into an office job there, but I plan to send an email to the  Vice President of driver relations and see if I can work with new drivers.  I do this a lot anyway becasue I give my phone number to Grad drivers any time I am on the Dallas Yard.   Many call me or text or email me for help.  I gladly give it to them.   True story, when I started we did not have cell phones, and email was available but hard to use on the road.  I literally quit every week for six or seven months.  Sometimes I quit every day.  If I would have had the communication devices I have now I probably would not have been with Stevens for 24 years.

Ok here are some pics from today

Laura is a volunteeer here at the Senior Center

She was showing me her red apron, and yes she voted.  She makes awesome deserts, and she is a nurse too (a very knowledgeable and good nurse).

Well this was pretty long. Thank you for taking the time to read it. Hope everyone enjoys the pictures.   I have comments set up so that I moderate them.  But please feel free to enter them.  I will post any and all comments, just some of my freinds write like they talk and they talk like soldiers and truckers, so I have to moderate comments.

Thanks, I will be posting a lot more.  I will keep everyone up to date on my work status too,

Dave Taley

aka Bounce

,

 I really miss good old Clyde the motorcycle.   He and I have been to a lot of places together,   In the good old days I used to write things that he saw too.   Sometimes that was a little goofy.   The good news is that I plan to go get him and Big Red soon.   Along with my clothes and some furniture.   I have a trailer that   I can load the bikes onto, and as soon as I can get it registered licensed and insured, sometime around the 8th of November, I am going to go get that stuff.   I have to pay for the work done to Clyde, and storage for both bikes but I will have that money too.   I want to give Clyde to my son, because I can't ride two bikes.  But I might have to give him Big Red instead.  Both are paid for, so it is just a matter of me deciding which one I want to ride.

I wrote the above last week and this week I am registering the trailer, but I may not be going to Wisconsin until the end of March.   Will contact Troy my mechanic and let him know.  I have to go back to work.

Friday

 Today started late. I left my wallet at home and had to turn around and drive back for it.  It was raining really hard too.  That part is pretty good, the ranch needs the rain.  Will check the gauge later and post amount tomorrow, but I will bet we got almost an inch this morning.  The only problem is that it rains hard and fast, this can cause floods.  It would be nice if it rained steady for a few hours and soaked everything deep, but it just seems to rain hard for a bit and not soak the ground and then it runs off.

I am again writing this in the Mills County Community Center.  I am still volunteering here and it is still fun.  In a month I hope that I can go back to work.  I miss driving a lot.  I did not realize how much I enjoyed it until I couldn't do it.  I have driven in all forty eight continuous states, and several (I think 5, but it could be more or less) provinces in Canada.  I haven't been to Canada since a little before the 9-11 attack, but I really do not miss going up there.  It is a little easier to do now, but I do not have a passport. Funny thing is you do not need one to get into Canada, but you do to get back into the states.  Driving is not difficult, but it can be hard on a person.  Being alone is sometimes okay, and sometimes not okay.  Since being on this short term disability I have talked more to many folks than I ever did in the truck.  I enjoy the company, but also look forward to getting back to the solitude of solo truck driving.   The work here is enjoyable and rewarding, but it doesn't pay the rent.  I will probably continue to volunteer here, just not all the time.   If I go back to truck driving I will be out for 9 or 10 weeks, then home for 5 to 7 days.  On the days that I am home I will volunteer here.   Billie, and Ann and Laura are fun to work with and talk too.  

Laura is a Nurse, and she checks peoples blood pressure and oxygen levels every day if they want her to do that.  She keeps a record of it and can tell you what it was and how consistent it is.  This is a good deal.

This is a picture of Laura today explaining about how she takes blood pressure readings and what they mean.  Laura is the one standing up.   She is pretty cool.  Today she told me about what she went through with Covid-19.  It almost killed her.  I for one am glad it didn't get her.   She is pretty smart and has worked as a nurse for a long time, she is good at it. She has invited me to come watch her get re-baptized this Sunday, I just may go.

• 

These are pictures of the early voting area set up in the Community Center.  I have been watching it all week, and I voted on Monday.  This area has been pretty busy all week.   It is great to see that so many folks are voting.  It is also fun to realize that Goldthwaite is a small town where everyone knows everyone.  They are all friendly with each other.     Neighbors help each other all the time.  

Well that is pretty much it for today.  I will be taking a few pictures and will add them before I post this today.  But it is time for lunch and I have work to do.

Final thought, now that I have a trailer I will be going to Wisconsin  to pick up Clyde and Big Red.  Not sure when, might be before I go back to work, or possibly in the Spring, weather will be the issue there.

Thanks again for reading and I will moderate but all comments get posted here.