Hagar’s Ramblings

[Hagar]

Funny how some event that seems insignificant now, could’ve been a life changer.  In boot camp at Ft. Polk we were out in the sticks on a force march.  We took a lunch break, and I was sitting, leaning against a tree, eating the last of thrown together lunch.  Heard a commotion and saw a group moving around laughing.  One guy had picked up, what I assume was a king snake.  He was going around scaring people and his minions were laughing.  Now I have snake phobia, and was hoping they didn’t come toward me.  I also was not fond of being the butt of this joke.  Sure enough, here they come.  All the grins had my anger at max.  I pulled out my bayonet as they got to me.  I told him if he come any closer I was going to stick that bayonet thru his belly into his spine.  All the grins disappeared and they went off to someone else.  At the time, I meant it.  Thank the Good Lord he didn’t call me.  I could’ve ended up in prison for the rest of my life - over a silly incident.  One of the dumbest moments of my life.

[Hagar]

On a positive note, most all of us remember our first love.  Not bragging, but she was a beauty and built for speed.  She was a red 1964 Plymouth Fury with a 383ci engine & 4 barrel carburetor, rated at 330HP.  She had push button automatic.  When racing, right down past, what was then Don’s Seafood (now Floyd’s), I’d shift to second at about 60 and at 95 go to third.  Never got it maxed out on the top.  Back then a raised front end was “the thing”.  Early one morning between Vidor & Beaumont I decided to let the big dog eat.  At what I suspect was 135 (speedometer only went to 120), I realized the front tires were only on the road about every 300 feet or so.  I developed instant constipation and reined in the big dog.

Suffice it to say, were I to hit a big lottery, someone would get a nice paycheck rebuilding me a 1964 Plymouth Fury.  Hot diggity dog, I’d love to feed the big dog one more time.  And as John Rich sings, stick your “Progress” where the sun don’t shine.

[Hagar]

Speaking of genders, which we weren’t, lol, I’ve often heard females saying men are responsible for wars and so many deaths, perhaps females should be in charge.  What could I say?  Sounded valid.  But wait, was watching a documentary tonight and found that in one particular instance females were responsible for 50% of the deaths in the whole world.  That means that one female killing someone makes that gender the leading killers.  Now we’re all aware of Lizzy Borden killed her parents so BINGO, females are the biggest killers.

Btw, the one instance, the female mosquito is the only one that carries malaria, which accounts for 50% of all deaths in the world.  Take that you feminist Nazi’s.  😂😂😂👽👽🤣👽👽😂😂😂

[Hagar]

Have a most interesting incident in my youth, and didn’t realize it at the time.  I had one sister.  She was six years older than me.  When she was a young teenager, probably about 14 or 15, she was big on cosmetics & perfume.  So it’s Christmas, and I wanted to get her something nice with my limited funds (having blowed my allowances on a baseball, BB’s, Comic Books).  I think she liked White Shoulders, but whatever it was way out of my funds, even the minuscule bottles she bought.  But while walking through Kress’s in Beaumont (equivalent of a Dollar General), lo and behold, I see a bottle, about a quart size, for almost nothing.  I was so excited.  She paid an astronomical amount for those tiny little things.  Man I thought this was the best present ever.  I was so excited when she opened it.  I couldn’t keep the cost it a secret and blurted out - I got all that for just ??? (Whatever the price was).  To my sisters credit, she acted excited about it.  It was years later before I realized my snafu.  And the sewer system smelled better for a while.  😂😂😂

[Hagar]

Just reminiscing about subtle changes in our mores.  Not sure you younger folks even realize many of them.  On Friday’s, all school menu’s were fish or seafood of some kind.  That was to accommodate the Catholics who, at that time, weren’t allowed to eat meat on Fridays.  Wednesday practices were out for Little League so Protestants could attend Prayer Meetings.  Just a couple of little things that have changed.  There’s still a semblance of recognizing Sunday as a day of rest.  I’ve no doubt the atheist are working on squashing that too.  The above changes came about slowly, unlike the gender fiasco they’ve started now.  They’re rushing that one.  Wonder why?  Are they just impatient or emboldened?  Changes are usually a good thing, when eased into society, but some of this new stuff is ridiculous.  And ramming it down peoples throats is liable to backfire.  I’ll let you young folks wrestle with the pronouns.  I’m sticking, primarily to he & she although I do see a few its out there occasionally.

[Hagar]

A little lecture on where we’re heading.  Little because I don’t know exactly, I just know it isn’t good.  Back in the mid 60’s, I heard a DJ saying, “Did any of you notice the cars in the traffic this morning?  You’d think we were in a depression all the rundown cars & trucks”.  Things were booming so why did he say that?  Because folks had enough to get second cars, albeit old & decrepit.  Prior most families lived with 1 car.  As time went by, more wives/mothers entered the workforce.  Eureka, they could afford two nice cars and a better home.  Prosperity was here. So for several decades the American family prospered.  But as surely as the sun rises in the east, politicians started dipping their money grubbing fingers into this fountain of money.  Plus, there are so many things we have to have now.  One TV isn’t enough, nor rabbit ears.  Several TV’s.  Not regular, big flat screens in several rooms with cable & premium channels.  Computers, laptops, iPads & iPhones for everyone.  On & on it goes.  Now, those two incomes, if you’re lucky enough to still have them, doesn’t equate to our new style of living, even if we cut back on a few things.  So the family is maxed out.  No one else to jump in & increase the family income, and even with both working it’s often tough to make ends meet for many.  Essentially, as Merle said, “we’re rolling downhill like a snowball headed for hell”.  We’re starting to feel the effects now but this inflation is going to expedite the slide.

Now I could be wrong, but all the signs lead this way.  Heck, I hope I’m wrong.  I have G’kids just starting in life.  Anyway, whether I’m right or wrong, be prepared anyway you can.  Put a few dollars back if able.  Maybe in a tin can buried in the backyard.  Something.  I sure don’t have all the answers.  Just wanted to warn y’all what I see coming.  Just an old man’s opinion.

[Hagar]

Oh, and speaking of the above - keep a few dollars somewhere besides a Bank/Credit Union.  Many years ago we were discussing a “what if” scenario - like the crash of ‘29 when everyone went down & wanted their money at the same time.  My boss (yes, college degree) said, “there won’t be a problem, your money is Insured by the Feds”.  I said, “Whoa, tell me you don’t actually think there’s enough money to cash out for everyone if there’s a run on everyone’s savings accounts”.  Ain’t no way.  The Feds could print money for a year & there may not be enough, so don’t let that FDIC & NCUA insurance put you to sleep.  It’s made to save individual institutions.  No way could it cover all the accounts.  There’s about 1.5 Trillion dollars in circulation.  On paper, there’s about 40 trillion dollars - see the problem?  And if they did print all that money it wouldn’t be worth nothing.

[Hagar]

^^^^^THIS^^^^^
 

Another, btw - This is another “this’ll never happen”.  I agree 100%, BUT, so many “this’ll never happen” have happened recently, it’s hard to rule anything out anymore.  This Administration has done so many inexplicable things, the sky is the limit.

[baddog]

On 7/26/2022 at 5:59 PM, Hagar said:

On a positive note, most all of us remember our first love.  Not bragging, but she was a beauty and built for speed.  She was a red 1964 Plymouth Fury with a 383ci engine & 4 barrel carburetor, rated at 330HP.  She had push button automatic.  When racing, right down past, what was then Don’s Seafood (now Floyd’s), I’d shift to second at about 60 and at 95 go to third.  Never got it maxed out on the top.  Back then a raised front end was “the thing”.  Early one morning between Vidor & Beaumont I decided to let the big dog eat.  At what I suspect was 135 (speedometer only went to 120), I realized the front tires were only on the road about every 300 feet or so.  I developed instant constipation and reined in the big dog.

Suffice it to say, were I to hit a big lottery, someone would get a nice paycheck rebuilding me a 1964 Plymouth Fury.  Hot diggity dog, I’d love to feed the big dog one more time.  And as John Rich sings, stick your “Progress” where the sun don’t shine.

The Fury was a big car and ran like a scalded dog (383). So was the Roadrunner (same motor). Ah, back in the day where a car was a car. Even mom’s car was made for the drag strip. 
Nowadays, I can’t tell one car from the other until I can see the logo. Back then, you could tell from a couple blocks or more. 
The good  old days. 

[Hagar]

2 hours ago, baddog said:

The Fury was a big car and ran like a scalded dog (383). So was the Roadrunner (same motor). Ah, back in the day where a car was a car. Even mom’s car was made for the drag strip. 
Nowadays, I can’t tell one car from the other until I can see the logo. Back then, you could tell from a couple blocks or more. 
The good  old days. 

Absolutely.  From blocks away you could see a ‘64 Plymouth Fury (383) or Chevrolet Impala SS (409) or a Ford Galaxy 500 (390).  And today, they ALL do look alike.  I’m in Lil Caesar’s.  My wife pulls up right outside the door.  I come out & start getting in another white car & the lady inside hollers, “What are you doing?”.  Me, all red faced apologizes, shuts the door & go get in our car.  I really can’t tell one brand from another except for the few throwbacks (Mustang, Challenger or Carvette).  And yes, I took that Fury to the drag strip.  Didn’t set records but it was fun.

[baddog]

A good friend of mine’s mom had a ‘63 Impala two door with a 327 4 barrel and power glide transmission ( two speed automatic for you young folks). He would ask his mom if we could use the car on a Friday night. She would say put some gas in it ( about 17 cents per gallon). We would say ok and ran up and down 11th street in Beaumont (the drag for you young folks). What fun that was. The good old days. 
I wonder if his mom ever put her foot into that thing?

[tvc184]

14 hours ago, Hagar said:

Absolutely.  From blocks away you could see a ‘64 Plymouth Fury (383) or Chevrolet Impala SS (409) or a Ford Galaxy 500 (390).  And today, they ALL do look alike.  I’m in Lil Caesar’s.  My wife pulls up right outside the door.  I come out & start getting in another white car & the lady inside hollers, “What are you doing?”.  Me, all red faced apologizes, shuts the door & go get in our car.  I really can’t tell one brand from another except for the few throwbacks (Mustang, Challenger or Carvette).  And yes, I took that Fury to the drag strip.  Didn’t set records but it was fun.

My first car was a 1966 Ford Galaxie 509 with a 352 with a four barrel. I paid $500 for it in 1973. 

[Hagar]

4 hours ago, tvc184 said:

My first car was a 1966 Ford Galaxie 509 with a 352 with a four barrel. I paid $500 for it in 1973. 

Weird how I got that Fury.  Was to go buy one identical that afternoon, except it had a 361 2 bbl.  I was sacking groceries and while carrying some out for a customer, the 383 came in with a For Sale sign on it.  I canceled buying the other one & bought the Big Dog.  What were the odds?  Payments ate up most of my salary.  Dad helped me with insurance.

in those days the ritual was wash & half the time, wax on Thursday.  Friday & Saturday evenings was spent up & down 11th Street in Beaumont.  There was a Pig Stand down by St Anne’s.  Loop through & to the Pig Stand on College.  Interrupted by occasional meets down passed Don’s Seafood for the fastest quarter mile.  The misspent days of youth, lol.

[baddog]

7 hours ago, tvc184 said:

My first car was a 1966 Ford Galaxie 509 with a 352 with a four barrel. I paid $500 for it in 1973. 

That was close….. the ‘62 Galaxie was an Andy and Barney classic. lol

 The ‘66 was a good looking car. 

[SmashMouth]

On 8/19/2022 at 2:57 AM, tvc184 said:

My first car was a 1966 Ford Galaxie 509 with a 352 with a four barrel. I paid $500 for it in 1973. 

I had almost the same car (Ford Galaxie 500). It was brown and kinda jacked up in the back. I didn't get mine until about 1986. Interestingly enough, it was still $500.

[Hagar]

On 8/18/2022 at 12:04 PM, baddog said:

A good friend of mine’s mom had a ‘63 Impala two door with a 327 4 barrel and power glide transmission ( two speed automatic for you young folks). He would ask his mom if we could use the car on a Friday night. She would say put some gas in it ( about 17 cents per gallon). We would say ok and ran up and down 11th street in Beaumont (the drag for you young folks). What fun that was. The good old days. 
I wonder if his mom ever put her foot into that thing?

That 327 4bbl was a great engine.  As I remember most were 250 HP but they also had a 300 HP.  Put that with a 4 speed transmission & you could run with almost anything. Maybe my bias but all around I thought the ‘64’s were the best looking of the big three - Fury, Impala SS & Galaxy 500.  Would be proud to own any of those 3.  

[Hagar]

Now what brought me here, dad gum dreaded love bugs.  They’re out between Ltown & Silsbee.  Just when you think things couldn’t get any worse.  
🤮😩😠😡😵‍

[Hagar]

Our educational system is fouled up.  We argue about CRT & Gender education in our schools.  The Left defends it, but wait, what are we teaching our children?  That 🐂💩 they’re teaching explains a lot.  For instance, I recently heard that Wendy’s, losing sales to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder, came out with a 1/3 pounder.  Sales were abysmal, so Wendy’s took a survey asking why.  The most common response, folks wanted the 1/4 pounder because it had more meat.  So not only do kids not know what gender they are, they also don’t know that 1/3 pound is more than 1/4 pound.  Hate to bust the educators bubble, but those of us who graduated in the 60’s not only knew our gender, we knew a little about fractions.  Today……….not so much.

[tvc184]

5 hours ago, Hagar said:

Our educational system is fouled up.  We argue about CRT & Gender education in our schools.  The Left defends it, but wait, what are we teaching our children?  That 🐂💩 they’re teaching explains a lot.  For instance, I recently heard that Wendy’s, losing sales to McDonald’s Quarter Pounder, came out with a 1/3 pounder.  Sales were abysmal, so Wendy’s took a survey asking why.  The most common response, folks wanted the 1/4 pounder because it had more meat.  So not only do kids not know what gender they are, they also don’t know that 1/3 pound is more than 1/4 pound.  Hate to bust the educators bubble, but those of us who graduated in the 60’s not only knew our gender, we knew a little about fractions.  Today……….not so much.

I’ll bet if they came with a 1/10 pound burger, they would get a quick education.  🤣

[myrecordwashorrible]

Just playing around here and watched the video you posted on June 6th. I teach and work with these people everyday.  I hold 3 and 1/2 college degrees (postponing retirement by at least 4 years because of it) and I will be the first to tell you for many the degree they have is as useful as a warm bucket of hamster vomit.  Also, really fun in in-service meetings watching the, "my vocabulary is much more extensive than yours" games.  

Thanks for all your posts.  Also, of note and I am sure you will appreciate it, my brother refers to me as the educated idiot of the family. He's probably right.  

[Hagar]

57 minutes ago, myrecordwashorrible said:

Just playing around here and watched the video you posted on June 6th. I teach and work with these people everyday.  I hold 3 and 1/2 college degrees (postponing retirement by at least 4 years because of it) and I will be the first to tell you for many the degree they have is as useful as a warm bucket of hamster vomit.  Also, really fun in in-service meetings watching the, "my vocabulary is much more extensive than yours" games.  

Thanks for all your posts.  Also, of note and I am sure you will appreciate it, my brother refers to me as the educated idiot of the family. He's probably right.  

My daughter is an educator, and she would agree 100% with your assessment.  Me, after serving in the Army I went to night school at Lamar and managed to get an AAS, so I’ve enough education to be dangerous, lol.  Will admit I’ve no idea most of the time where commas go.  My English Prof bragged on my writing but wondered why I could do the hard stuff but not the easy stuff - my papers came back bloody with RED marks.  Then there’s to/too.  I’ve got the “also” part, but other than that, I’m clueless.  Math - I was one of the best until they added letters.  Never had a use for Algebra since HS.  Getting along in years so I’ll take those shortcomings to the grave.

Appreciate that you like my ramblings.  Figured I’d leave some tidbits behind for the young folks.  And a few humorous occurrences in my life.  I’ll try to keep them going until the end.

[Hagar]

Few pages back I assured everyone I wasn’t an avid fan of poetry.  But like everything else, there comes a few exceptions.  Part of this poem was in a show the other day, about the man who wasn’t there.  Don’t remember it verbatim so I’ll paraphrase.

Today I looked upon the stair
I saw a man who wasn’t there
He wasn’t there again today 
My how I wish he’d go away

I guess it’s a little weird - which makes me a little weird since I liked it, lol.  Again it brings my question about how/why humans are do different.  During my teenage years I heard a joke I found very funny.  Did you hear about the Aggie who broke his arm raking leaves?  He fell out of a tree.  Got home & told my Mom.  She looked at me like I was crazy.  That ain’t funny, she said.  I started laughing again.  My Mom was to “matter of fact”.  Could never see the humor in Aggie jokes.  My sister & Dad laughed their tails off.  And again, the movie Dumb & Dumber.  I know a number of my friends thought it funny.  Me - I made it about halfway through before I stopped it.  Dumb show & I was Dumber for watching that much of it.  What people find funny is changing.  Now am I the “matter of fact” one?  I don’t know but will not lose sleep over it.  But this “changing”, does that explain how we’re so polarized in opposite directions?  Why half are okay with Open Borders and half aren’t?  Why half like this & half don’t?  I could ramble on but y’all get the idea.  The answers are way above my pay grade.

[Hagar]

I may have posted this before but I don’t remember posting it & am to lazy to look.  Also it’s to funny not to share.

For those of you who know me, you’ll understand, but for those who don’t, I was not an easy little brother to have.  

As I’ve posted previously, my sister was 6 years older than me.  When she started at Lamar she started dating this football player.  He was from Port Neches.  This was a big social step.  One Easter he came out to Vidor to spend the day with her (us in my mind, lol).  Wanting to socialize myself, I talked them into letting me hide some eggs for them to find.  Much to the chagrin of my sister, they agreed.  Just 6 little eggs.  Surely little brother couldn’t snafu this up (LMBO she should’ve known better).  Got 5 hid in the usual places, but where to put the 6th one.  My devious brain came up with a ha-ha place.  We still had a clothes line then and some of her clothes were hanging, including her underwear - suspended by clothes pins on the waist.  So, in the crotch it goes.  They easily found the first 5 but finally gave up on the 6th.  Me, grinning from ear to ear goes to the underwear and pull out the egg.  That football player went down faster than a LB blindsiding him he was laughing so hard.  My sister was torn between embarrassment and a scale 10 anger attack (she was renowned for her temper & ferociousness).  I suspect had the guy not been there I’d been dead meat.  For weeks afterwards I kept my bedroom door locked & slept with one eye open.  Later that day, after the date left, and out of earshot of our Mom & Dad, she called me a whole litany of expletives (yes, she had a vocabulary to match her anger).

Now we laugh about it.  Amazingly, as she aged she mellowed out, but she was “hell on wheels” in her youth.  She was crowned the first ever Miss Vidor, out of 36 contestants.  I’ll grudgingly admit she was beautiful in her younger days, but I’m also proud that I’m responsible for much of her grey hair.  Such was life back in the late 50’s.  
😂😂😂👽👽🤣👽👽😂😂😂

[TxHoops]

8 hours ago, Hagar said:

I may have posted this before but I don’t remember posting it & am to lazy to look.  Also it’s to funny not to share.

For those of you who know me, you’ll understand, but for those who don’t, I was not an easy little brother to have.  

As I’ve posted previously, my sister was 6 years older than me.  When she started at Lamar she started dating this football player.  He was from Port Neches.  This was a big social step.  One Easter he came out to Vidor to spend the day with her (us in my mind, lol).  Wanting to socialize myself, I talked them into letting me hide some eggs for them to find.  Much to the chagrin of my sister, they agreed.  Just 6 little eggs.  Surely little brother couldn’t snafu this up (LMBO she should’ve known better).  Got 5 hid in the usual places, but where to put the 6th one.  My devious brain came up with a ha-ha place.  We still had a clothes line then and some of her clothes were hanging, including her underwear - suspended by clothes pins on the waist.  So, in the crotch it goes.  They easily found the first 5 but finally gave up on the 6th.  Me, grinning from ear to ear goes to the underwear and pull out the egg.  That football player went down faster than a LB blindsiding him he was laughing so hard.  My sister was torn between embarrassment and a scale 10 anger attack (she was renowned for her temper & ferociousness).  I suspect had the guy not been there I’d been dead meat.  For weeks afterwards I kept my bedroom door locked & slept with one eye open.  Later that day, after the date left, and out of earshot of our Mom & Dad, she called me a whole litany of expletives (yes, she had a vocabulary to match her anger).

Now we laugh about it.  Amazingly, as she aged she mellowed out, but she was “hell on wheels” in her youth.  She was crowned the first ever Miss Vidor, out of 36 contestants.  I’ll grudgingly admit she was beautiful in her younger days, but I’m also proud that I’m responsible for much of her grey hair.  Such was life back in the late 50’s.  
😂😂😂👽👽🤣👽👽😂😂😂

My takeaway from all that: someone had to get the looks in the family  😉

And must be why we hit it off.  I have two older sisters and both would regale you for as long as you would listen about what a turd I was growing up.  

[Hagar]

Time to blow off steam………….  I hear news folks talking about things that influence the vote - abortion - inflation - crime - this - that - well here’s my take.  My wife just got back from buying groceries.  We went over the prices for some of the items.  I don’t usually buy them but I go sometimes.  I know not long ago you paid $1.89 for a dozen eggs - now around $4.  Milk was $3 a gallon, now $5.  A package of sliced cheese was less than $5 and now $7.  Good grief - can you tell inflation is my #1 pain in the kister?  The durn inflation is a crime.  I’m seriously thinking about getting a ball pein hammer and going after Biden’s jewels.  They wouldn’t be spheres anymore, but little flat pancakes.  How anyone from middle class down would think of anything besides inflation when voting is crazy.  We spent $300+ for what should’ve been about $200.  Hope it doesn’t affect y’all as much as it does my wife & I (and our cat).  It’s no longer a nuisance but a full scale problem.  Good Grief!