This Sounds Like a Lie but It's Not - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster

This Sounds Like a Lie but It's Not - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster




We all call in sick to work sometimes when all that is wrong is a
touch of spring fever.  Most people just call in sick with a little
extra effort to sound stuffy and/or miserable.  Then we get that mighty
cure called a day in the spring sunshine.  It doesn't take much to
uplift the soul and if you are earning minimum wage it is well worth the
money you miss out on to take advantage of a glorious day.

I had
to call in sick once with an excuse so implausible that even my boss
said there was no way I could make it up....and I wasn't.  All 3 times I
used it when I had to call in.  In fact I was highly irritated that I
had to use valuable sick days on something so stupid.

I had to
tell my boss that I couldn't come to work because there was a trailer
blocking my road.  I don't mean a tow dolly type trailer or even a
little van that workers use to pull their tools around.  I mean a small
house trailer that people live in.  At least I hope somebody was living
in that stupid trailer but I'm not really sure.

I was living up a
hollow in West Virginia.  I was working on building my very own 35 acre
farm full of all the animals that I always dreamed of having.  But to
fund this farm I had 3 jobs and I had to drive an hour each way to get
to any of them.  The last quarter of a mile was a dirt road that you had
to actually drive across a creek to get to it.  I don't mean you drove
on a bridge over the creek..you drove THROUGH the creek.

There
were a couple of families that lived on that last little stretch of road
before you got to my house at the end of the hollow.  The family
closest to me was a quiet family that you never heard from.   That was
not the case with the first family that lived right beside the creek. 
This family liked to party.  They liked to party with all the good ole
boys on the hollow before you got to our little piece of the pie.  So I
would drive by and wave as I went to and from work while they were
kicked back having a good time or doing whatever piece of meanness that a
bunch of drunks in a hollow in WV can cook up on a Saturday night.

One
day I left my house and there, right smack dab in the middle of the
road was a trailer.  All the guys were gathered around and I knew there
was a problem as it was sitting kind of lopsided in the road.  It turns
out that they had decided to move the trailer from one guys house a
couple of miles down the road to the house that was at the mouth of my
hollow. The trailer had bottomed out.  One end was up on the main road
blocking it.  The other end was buried in the dirt of the road on the
other side of the creek.  And by the look of things it was wedged in
there good while all the drunks were gathered around trying to figure
out how to get out of this predicament.

When they saw me they
gave a friendly wave and my neighbor came over to tell me he was sorry
but it was going to take some time to get the trailer out of the road. 
He didn't really know how long it was going to take either.  I told him I
needed to get to work and he just kind of mumbled an "I"m sorry" and
turned away telling me they would get it out as quick as they could.

I
had to go home and call my boss.  I told him I might just be late for
work but from the look of things I really didn't think they were going
to get the trailer out of the way any time soon.  I worked night shift. 
I was supposed to be there around 9 or 10 (I can't remember now) and I
left between 6 and 7 in the morning.  The last time I checked at
midnight the trailer was still there.  They did have it moved the next
day though.  Fortunately my boss thought it was funny and so did I and I
put the time to good use at my house.

It wasn't so funny though
when I had to call him 2 more times over the next few months because the
good ole boys decided to move the trailer again.  The second time they
put it back where it was to start with.  Then the 3rd. time they moved
it back by my neighbors again.  All 3 times was on a Saturday night. 
All 3 times they were all drunk and decided they needed to move the
trailer.

And that was the craziest story I ever told when I called in sick to work.  Not one word of it was a lie.

Have you embraced your inner klutziness? - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster

Have you embraced your inner klutziness? - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster

I have. I gave up the fight
years ago. Life became much easier when I decided that I was a natural
born klutz and to embrace it - not fight it. So now when I trip over
the crack in the sidewalk that isn't there or do that silly dance with
someone who I run into on the street I just laugh it off and go on my
merry way.

A couple of Primo jobs I didn't get - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster

A couple of Primo jobs I didn't get - damnpamn's Blog - Blogster When I lived in West Palm I applied for a couple of jobs I didn't get. The one I really wanted and didn't get was as a lion keeper at Lion Country Safari. The woman who was the keeper unfortunately got mauled, so they needed a new keeper. It was terrible that it happened but she accidentally left a gate open when she was feeding them which led to her attack. Basic safety protocol was not followed and I didn't have a problem following this protocol to take care of such majestic beasts. The only problem they had with giving me the job was that I had never shot a gun. You had to be prepared to shoot the lions at all times in case of emergency. (they have never had to shoot one but you had to be prepared to do it) The manager told me that it was a plus in a way because they could train me to shoot. They called my references and even told them they were going to hire me but it didn't happen. I don't know if they found somebody more qualified (and not many people were) or if it was because the last thing the manager asked me is if I had any parking tickets. He was laughing and I told him no - and I didn't have any. But I think upon reflection he was asking if I had ever been in trouble and I had when I was a teenager. I missed the meaning in his question though because he was so flippant about it. I had no problem telling him about it if I would have known that was what he was asking. The other job I applied for was as a keeper at a rare monkey and bird sanctuary. That would have been a wonderful job but it was pretty much a 24/7 job and I was married and they didn't think that made me a good fit. Also they needed someone who had a strong maintenance (as in fixing tractors and farm work) background. I could do routine things that you may find around the house and even build fences (I was a world champion fence builder/tearer downer) but I didn't know anything about fixing engines. That would have been a really cool job. They had monkeys and birds that sometimes there were less than 10 or 20 left in the world. So every life was crucial. My attitude was that all animals are crucial even if they aren't rare and I took care of them to the best of my ability. Both places loved that part of my attitude but unfortunately I didn't make the cut at either one. It was a blow to my ego both times because I was used to getting any job I wanted in the greyhound business, because I had the reputation of quality work and people knew me in my little world. All I had to do was make it known that I wanted a job and it was mine. Such is life. {#add_best_wishes.gif}

My Story was Pubished in the Charleston Gazette Today

Pam Brennan: Write Your Own Column: My encounters with the Fruth ghost I worked at Fruth Pharmacy on Oakwood Road for years. Many of us have had our little run-ins with the Fruth ghost and more than one has claimed to see him. He is usually a poltergeist type ghost, which moves things around and makes noises. According to one co-worker, the ghost's name is Oscar and he was a butcher. (Our store used to be a Kroger store before it was a Fruth. It was a cemetery before that.) Sometimes after closing we would hear voices or noises in the stockroom or noises when there really shouldn't have been any. By far the most common occurrence was things mysteriously moving for no reason. I was walking down an aisle one evening when I first started working at Fruth. There was a whole pile of comic books in the floor. I picked them up, put them in their place and started to walk off. After taking a few steps, all the comic books fell in the floor again. I silently berated myself for not putting them back properly. I went back, put them firmly back on the shelf in their proper place and walked off again. When I was about halfway down the aisle I heard one of the comic books fall again. "Well, crap!" I thought to myself as I turned to go back. As I turned, another comic book fell in the floor, then another and another. They were falling one at a time as if someone was thumbing through them one by one making them fall. This went on until they were all on the floor again. I decided just to leave them. If someone wanted them on the floor then who was I to argue! Two years ago, I was standing at my register. I watched a package with a flagpole holder in it fly off the peg and go all the way across the aisle before it dropped to the ground. These are heavy items and it didn't just fall off the shelf; it flew across the aisle and dropped straight down! I was told similar stories from other clerks. Another time I was closing with one of the managers. There were two men talking beside the door and one of them left. The other man went over to the magazines and started looking at one. I could see the corner of his head and the pages of the magazine turning. The manager had gone to the back. The alarm went off and I locked the doors. I went to my register to wait on the man to leave. I couldn't see him anymore, but I knew he did not go out because he would have had to go right past me. A few minutes later the manager called the front of the store and wanted to know why I wasn't back in the office yet. I told her I was waiting on a man to leave. She came up front to see if she could assist him because we were already closed. She did not see him on the way. She made an announcement that the store was closed and for all shoppers to come to the front to pay for their purchases. Nobody came. She knew whom I was talking about when I described him because she had seen him before she went back to the office. She walked the perimeter of the store and didn't see anybody. We decided to call the police because it is a pharmacy after all and there had been a rash of Oxycontin thefts in the area. The policeman came immediately. He searched the entire store including the stock area. He did not find anyone. The policeman told me to pull my drawer and he kindly waited until we were ready to leave before he left. The only other way out was the back door in the stock area, and the man would have had to pass the manager to go out that way. She reviewed the security tapes the next day. She saw no sign that the man had ever been in the store. Last but not least our poltergeist may have tried to warn me before we were robbed. About five minutes before the robbery my cellphone started to ring. I was busy with several customers and I couldn't answer it. The phone was still lit up when I went to check it to see who had called. It was on the message screen but there was nothing on it. I thought this was odd because my phone is not set up to ring for messages so I went to check my received calls to see who had called me. The last call listed was one I had picked up the day before. I went to the message screen. The last message I received was the standard message I get from my cellphone carrier at the first of every month. There was no record on my phone (I even checked the dialed calls) of a call coming in. At the time I thought, "how weird," but then we were robbed just a few minutes later. Now I wonder. Brennen may be emailed at damnp...@yahoo.com .

Blair, during the Battle of Blair Mountain

original news reel footage. reposted with permission.

Farley Family Gathering

Edna Mitchem The dk haired lady in the center is Dad's sister Sallie (Farley) Williamson.

I remember Aunt Sallie and her sister, Aunt Carrie.  They lived in Sydney, Kentucky.  Aunt Sallie had 3 kitchens.  One from the turn of the century with a well in it.  (would have been top of the line to have a well in the house in those days) Then there was a kitchen built around the 20's or 30's with all the appliances of the day.  Then there was a modern kitchen.  (circa 1970)I

Instant Index: Walmart Cashier Takes Stage at Grand Ole Opry

Instant Index: Walmart Cashier Takes Stage at Grand Ole Opry: ABCNEWS.COM - Diane Sawyer reports the top stories that have people buzzing.