I enjoy it when people cheer when I walk into work!

Of course the fact that it means that it is time for everyone else to go home has NOTHING to do with it.

Remember when the only way to go down the stairs was to slide down on your rear...

...or better yet - on your belly.

2. when you only went up the stairs 2 or 3 at a time

3. your idea of fun was to run down the mountain so fast that there was no way to keep your legs underneath you and you would careen completely out of control.

4. you didn't just walk home. you climbed every fence, walked every rail and jumped any obstacle.

5. you could stand on your head or do a cartwheel and wonder why anybody thought such a simple thing could be hard.

6. I think I may be the only one who did this one. I used to hide my blonde hair under my shirt when we played hide and seek. It helped me to blend in. People always found me by my shiney hair.

7. You would swing as high as you possibly could and then jump out.

8. you would let the waves of the ocean pound you into the sand and just float where ever they took you.

Massey takes the cowards way out -just as all coal companies do

Massey Coal is merging with Alpha Natural Resources. There are so many lawsuits against them for damage done to the environment and deaths of coal miners that they will go the way of all coal companies.

They are selling out. The people of West Virginia and the taxpayers of the United States will be forced to clean up their messes at taxpayer expense which is what happens with all coal companies.

They get millions in tax breaks to do business in WV and then they spend years destroying the environment and working miners in unsafe conditions and then they leave once the financial liabilities get too great and take billions in profits with them.

Buffalo Creek Disaster

On February 25, 1972 a dam burst which had been built by Pittston Coal Company in my hometown. Here are a list of people killed and missing.

Killed, Age, Residence Brookie Mae Adkins, 31, Lundale, WV Lonnie Lee Adkins, 7, Lundale, WV Mary Jane Adkins, 5, Lundale, WV David B. Adkins, Sr., 27, Lorado, WV David B. Adkins, Jr., 4, Lorado, WV Steven Albright, 17, Lorado, WV Sylvia Albright, 39, Lorado, WV Janice Bailey, 32, Saunders, WV Kimberly K. Bailey, 6, Saunders, WV Jason Bailey, Jr., 11, Saunders, WV Rhoda Rene Bailey, 8, Saunders, WV Carla J. Bailey, 18 months, Saunders, WV James Bailey, Jr., 16, Amherstdale, WV John H. Bailey, 58, Lundale, WV Eleanor Bailey, 44, Lundale, WV Milton Baker, 71, Lundale, WV Effie Baker, 68, Lundale, WV Joyce Bartram, 40, Lundale, WV Betty Lee Black, 51, Lundale, WV Edith Blankenship, 61, Lorado, WV Rebecca Broady, 15, Lundale, WV Donna Sue Browning, 21, Lundale, WV Norman B. Browning, 3, Lundale, WV James Brunty, 82, Kistler, WV Dessie Butcher, 57, Lundale, WV Leonard Butcher, 66, Lundale, WV Ballard Carter, 36, Lundale, WV Janice H. Carter, 29, Lundale, WV Matthew Carter, 6, Lundale, WV Lillian S. Carter, 3, Lundale, WV Margaret L. Davis, 35, Stowe, WV Mary Jane Davis, 8, Stowe, WV Willie Dempsey, 42, Lorado, WV Aletha V. Dempsey, 38, Lorado, WV Berma Jo Dickerson, 20, Lundale, WV Steven T. Dickerson, 18 months, Lundale, WV James Dillon, 32, Lorado, WV Thelma Dillon, 36, Lorado, WV

Killed, Age, Residence Curtis Dillon, 10, Lorado, WV Sharon Dillon, 13, Lorado, WV Darla Dillon, 5, Lorado, WV Howard Dillon, 8, Lorado, WV Ruth Ann Elkins, 29, Lundale, WV Judy Ferguson, 27, Lundale, WV Connie S. Ferguson, 18 months, Lundale, WV Martha E. Gunnells, 21, Robinette, WV David Gunnells, 3, Robinette, WV Jessie Gunnels, 1, Robinette, WV Etta P. Hatfield, 60, Lundale, WV Layton O. Hatfield, 50, Lundale, WV Ruth B. Hatfield, 53, Lundale, WV Steven Hatfield, 16, Lundale, WV Albert O. Hedinger, 34, Godby, WV Angela J. Hopson, 2, Crites, WV Margaret Y. Jarrell, 42, Lundale, WV Karen Jarrell, 16, Lundale, WV Patrick Jarrell, 24, Lundale, WV William L. Jarrell, 50, Lundale, WV Lottie May Jarrell, 45, Lundale, WV Andrew Johnston, 73, Crites, WV Grace Kennedy, 71, Easley, SC (visiting relative) Gary M. King, 24, Lundale, WV Sharon A. Lester, 25, Saunders, WV Denise Lester, 3, Saunders, WV Norman Lester, 24, Saunders, WV Dennatta Lester, 5 to 7, Saunders, WV Opal Lester, 45, Saunders, WV Barry K. Lester, 15, Saunders, WV Rita J. Lester, 16, Saunders, WV Mary B. Marcum, 44, Latrobe, WV Diana L. McCoy, 18, Amherstdale, WV Kimberly McCoy, 3, Amherstdale, WV Jesse Messer, 35, Lorado, WV Augusta Miller, 69, Pardee, WV Robert Murray, 71, Lundale, WV Wandell Osborne, Sr., 37, Lundale, WV

Killed, Age, Residence Jeanette Osborne, 35, Lundale, WV Regina Osborne, 12, Lundale, WV Carolyn Osborne, 20 months, Lundale, WV Geneva Osborne, 11, Lundale, WV Wandell Osborne, Jr., 15, Lundale, WV Henrietta Owens, 22, Lundale, WV Thomas Owens, 3, Lundale, WV Herbert Peters, 71, Pardee, WV Martha Peters, 71, Pardee, WV Callis Perry, 81, Pardee, WV Margie M. Prince, 42, Amherstdale, WV Macie Queen, 54, Lorado, WV Otis Ramey, 49, Latrobe, WV Mattie Ramey, 45, Latrobe, WV Virgie A. Ramey, no age give, Latrobe, WV Marvel R. Scarberry, 73, Lundale, WV Goldie Sipple, 38, about 38, Lorado, WV Anita Smith, about 17, Lundale, WV Florencio Sosa, 65, Lorado, WV Mary M. Sosa, 46, Lorado, WV Gladys Staton, 25, Lundale, WV Kevin Staton, 1, Lundale, WV Della Trent, 69, Saunders, WV Johnny Trent, 32, Saunders, WV Gene Trent, 26, Saunders, WV Henry Trent, 49, Saunders, WV Wanda Trent, 39, Saunders, WV Betty Frances Vernatter, 4, Lorado, WV Thomas Vernatter, 65, Latrobe, WV Ethel B. Vernatter, 65, Latrobe, WV Roby L. Waugh, 45, Lundale, WV James L. Waugh, 11, Lundale, WV Grady M. Waugh, 18, Lundale, WV Donald Waugh, 20, Lundale, WV Larry K. Wauch, 5, Lundale, WV April E. White, 11, Lundale, WV Dora Wiley, 60, Latrobe, WV Richard Wiley, 78, Crites, WV Frank Lee Workman, 69, Lorado, WV Three unidentified babies

Missing

Dorinda L. Adkins, 3 months, Lorado, WV
Samuel Carter, 20 months, Lundale, WV
Roscoe Clay, 74, Lorado, WV
James N. Davis, 2, Stowe, WV
Nancy Hopson, 1, Crites, WV
Donald McCoy, Jr., 18 months, Amherstdale, WV
Kathy Waugh, 8 months, Lundale, WV

It's time to take a stand for cheaper gas...again!

The last time gas got this high I joined a group on facebook called "Boycott Exxon Only". There were almost 2 million people in the group.

The theory is that we have to have gas, so a full boycott is impossible. However it is possible to boycott Exxon. If you force Exxon to drop their prices then the rest will follow - it's a domino effect.

Cashier Humor

1. I want 2 marlboro in a box - customer

Do you want me to take the other 18 out? - cashier

2. Would you mind bagging that for me? - customer

Does that mean I don't have to do it if I don't want to. - cashier

3. Have a nice day if I don't see you again - customer

Does that mean that I can't have a nice day if I do see you again? - cashier

I used to be a Lover and a Fighter...

...now I'm neither

That's the way it goes...first your money and then your clothes!

Biotene is a Life Changer for People on Oxygen

I am on oxygen.

My breath is horrid because of it.

For years I have been sucking down water because my mouth was dry and eating breath mints and candies and brushing my teeth to death trying to improve my breath.

It turns out that a product called Biotene works wonders! It is for people who have dry mouths. I was hesitant to try it because of the price and I didn't realize that my breath was so bad because of my dry mouth caused by my oxygen.

I recently tried the stuff. It is worth every penny and my breath is actually bearable now! To me and to others!

Long Live Biotene!

My favorite Books in Junior High School

Without a doubt were Cammie's Choice, Cammie's Challange and Cammie's Cousin.

Cammie was an awkward teenage girl who wanted to learn to ride. She was befriended by a local trainer and learned to take care of horses from mucking the stall to riding champion hunters.

I checked out these books several times a year for all three years that I was a student at Central Junior High School. I lived every moment of them over and over.

It probably had a lot to do with my success as a greyhound trainer.

Thanks to VH-1 Save the Music Program

I have heard for years about this program but I always thought they helped kids "somewhere else." Recently they donated $38,000 worth of band equipment to a school in Griffithsville, West Virginia. I think it was the junior high school.

The junior high band is now bigger than the band at the Lincoln County High School where these kids will go when they go to the 9th. grade. The high school is a combination of many junior high schools in the county.

Thank you to VH-1 for fostering an interest in music in a very rural school in West Virginia. Who knows what it will lead to.

Things I Write in the Middle of the Night

I awoke completely defeated

are these memories woven into a dream

there was the twitch

the twitch that came when he was trying to be convincing and he knew he was failing

a twitch that took over his lip, his eye, his face, his head

fear caused me to pant which he took as excitement and increased his ministrations

I face him, I hoped I would never see him again

There he was looking at me lovingly with those eyes

knowing I didn't want him but convincing himself it wasn't true

his love won

a gentle whisper forced another dream

grateful it wasn't real this time

I recognize this place of fear

I have been here before

They cheated him but they blamed him in their greed

money justifys so much

dirt stained hands smell of sweat

so happy to see me as he blocks my escape

I hate you

I love you

The pressure to yield as he loves me

overwhelms me

he can't grasp my fear is greater than my love as he ever so gently raped me

I went to another place of disbelief

desperation building in his face

the hard, cool ground beneath me

his face haunts me

I can see the love, the confusion, the drugs, it's all there

the desperation as he moved toward me

intimidating but so gentle

I can't breath

fear is my only comfort

I see the beauty in a wilted flower

I have earned my wrinkles and I look forward to having white hair.

I am happy when the wind and rain blow in my face.

I can ignore chaos when it is all around me.

I love to dream.

I know when to walk away when I can't make a difference.

I enjoy my long hair.

I wish...and wish.... and wish...