Your three words, my little story 8-9-16

/ Jim McDonald / Leave a comment

Mary Beth’s words: music, animals & orange

The alarm clock wasn’t set to a loud beep, it was set to some loud MUSIC, good ole rock and roll at that. This type of wake up gave her and her husband the boost they needed to do it all over again. She would hop in the shower first, while Bill would feed and water the ANIMALS. By the time he got back and in the shower she would be making them something for breakfast. Always something simple, maybe an egg sandwich or oatmeal, nothing to time consuming. Sometimes times they would switch morning chores, but she normally didn’t want to walk all the way out to the barn that early in the morning.

 

She was getting into her truck and he was getting on his bike, when she realized she didn’t have to work that day. Totally forgot there was a teachers meeting and she could have slept in. However, since she was up she thought about going into the little town of Sloan and get some paint. They needed some exterior semi-gloss white for the doors and windows, not much, just a gallon. Marybeth took care of that little errand and a few others while she was out and came back home and took a nap. Why not.

 

Bill left work later than normal that evening, because of an overdue delivery. As he was dressing for his bike ride home he noticed the bottom of the sun was just resting on the tree tops. A beautiful scenery was cast across the western hemisphere and of course he had to take a picture of it. He cut the bike off, took off his gloves, put down the kick stand and got off the bike. After all that he went digging in his jeans for his phone and was able to take several pictures, before the sun went down. This made for a long dark ride home, but he couldn’t pass up the purple, ORANGE and the beautiful pastille sun set.

How ya like my hat?

/ Jim McDonald / Leave a comment

How ya like my hat? Hill billie hay

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Me and Raymond were rambling around in North Carolina, when we saw this hat at a flea market. Raymond said, “You have to get this one Jim, it’s you.”

I said, “Are you sure? It looks a little hillbilly.”

“It looks like you buddy and it can’t cost much, right?”

“Yeah, I guess it would be a good one.”

As I was walking up to buy it, a lady grabbed it and asked the owner, “How much?”

The man at the end of the table said, “A dollar.”

“Sold.” Then she turned to me grinned and asked, “How bad do you want it?”

I looked at Raymond and said, “Oh my! Did you see that?”

“Yep, what are you going to do Jim?”

The lady said, “Yeah, Jim what are you going to do?”

I asked her, “Do you really want the hat?”

“Not really. Again I ask you, how bad do you want it?”

Realizing what’s going on I pulled my phone out, brought up the camera then handed it to Raymond and showed him the button that takes a picture. He knew exactly what the plan was. As I was doing this I offered her two dollars for the hat. She motioned with her right thumb, higher. “Three, four, ok five.”

“Not enough.”

“I don’t even know if it fits. Can I try it on?”

“Sure. Here you go.”

I put the hat on, faced Raymond and he took four or five pictures, then I gave it back to the lady and said, “I changed my mind.” Then I thought, all I wanted was a picture of me wearing it for my Facebook folder, How ya like my hat?

 

Just messin. Barrowed it for the picture at a thrift store in North Carolina

 

 

How ya like my hat? Stetson (true story)

/ Jim McDonald / Leave a comment

How ya like my hat? Stetson (true story)

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This is one of my favorite hats, ever since ’95. Our “Vacation Bible School” theme at Forest Park Baptist Church that year was Cowboys and Indians. I bought it at Fred’s Saddlery in Waldorf for forty dollars, but this picture was taken in 2012.

That year the pastor asked me to take over the fifth and sixth grade boy’s Sunday School class. I did NOT want to do it, but I prayed about it and said yes. With in two weeks, I was asked to combine our class with the fifth and sixth grade girl’s class. I accepted, but by years end I knew what I already suspected. I was better suited for the Prison Ministry, which God used me to bring to the church the year before.

I excelled at the Prison Ministry, especially since I had inside knowledge of this particular jail. I knew how it felt to live there, because I lived there years before. I knew that the best meal was hamburger and french fries night and I knew how stingy they were with the condiments. I had insight on a number of the little things that we take for granted out here. This gave me a connection with the guys and they listened to what I had to say. All I can surely say, is that a seed was planted.

 

 

Your three words, my little story 8-7-16

/ Jim McDonald / 2 Comments

Dave’s words-addictive, confident & expressive

Dave was feeling pretty good after passing the bar. He’s wanted to be an attorney ever since his uncle was found not guilty for his part in a drug deal. The uncle was a good trustworthy man, but had a very ADDICTIVE personality. If it felt good, he wanted to do it again and again and again. The ability to clear some ones name and set them free seemed like an awful lot of power. Now he has that power, if he’s any good.

He won his first case out of the gate, this gave him the CONFIDENCE he needed to exceed in his new business. After that he won most of his cases, even the ones he thought were guilty. Regardless if they were guilty or not his job was to get them off.

First off he figured he needed to show reasonable doubt. As he would walk around the court room he learned to put on a show. He realized the more EXPRESSIVE his show was the more the jury would pay attention to him. He had to get the court room involved in his clients life, so he would find out as much about their life as possible. Then put it all on the line.

Past, present & plans 8-6-16

/ Jim McDonald / Leave a comment

Past
One night me, my brother and cousins were playing some kind of ball in the front yard at the Lanham house. This is the first time I remember that the grass would itch if I would roll around in it while hot and sweaty. Someone threw the ball to the left of the house, since I was the closest I got to it first. I thought I saw aunt Bernice in a flowing white gown. Wondering how she got there and changed clothes so quick baffled me, because I just saw her sitting on the front porch. All of a sudden the figure turned away from me and headed toward the fence. What happened next scared me to my bones, the figure kind of glided over the fence and kept heading up into the night sky. I guess it was moving at about a forty degree angle from the ground. I was so afraid that when it was about ten feet or so passed the fence I turned and ran back to the front yard. I was yelling about what I just saw, when I saw aunt Bernice still on the front porch. She sat there and grinned at me while most of the kids ran to the side of the house and saw nothing. However they believed me. I have never forgotten that and have no explanation for it.

Present
I found out today that one of those cousins is in a bad way with her Amyloidosis. Amy for short, is a rare disease that occurs, when an abnormal protein called Amyloid builds up in the major organs, bones and/or tissue. Of course just like any other cancer it can be very painful. There is no cure for it and her brothers and sisters have already died from it over the years.

Plans
I got an email from a friend today urging me to keep writing. Very nice of him to show interest in my guest for story telling by the written word. He said, “you should write thirty minutes a day.” Regardless of what is happening in that particular day. I have to repeat my thought, it was nice to hear that. As I am trying to get this blog off the ground, it takes at least an hour per story and I’m trying to post one or two stories a day.