Fishing And Barbeque! What A Way To Live!Bob Alexander (1,190)    Bob Alexander   http://www.bluemarlinbob.com An Angel At The Foot Of My Bed!Posted Monday, September 29, 2008 (12 days 12 hours ago.) Viewed 1,909 times. Like most people, when I awake in the morning, I remember little of my dreams of the night before; much less recall them in detail a week later. Usually I'll dream something weird and then can't remember it, but this time every detail of that night was as vivid as if it were happening again, only in black and white. At this point I've come to the conclusion that it wasn't a dream at all, it was real!
A couple of weeks ago, between fishing trips and weekend barbeques, I spent six days in the hospital with a heart that refused to beat normally for any sustained length of time. Because of this, my stress level was pretty high and when I was able to sleep, I had peculiar dreams. I've always believed there were angels on earth, but I never expected to see one standing at the foot of my bed in my hospital room. At the time I knew I had to be dreaming, but the sounds of computer keys clacking at the nurses station just down the hall and the bell from the elevator, made me realize that I was in real time. There really was someone else in my room! From the moment I opened my eyes, awakening from a brief nap, I knew this lady wasn't part of the medical staff. This lady was dressed in white like most of the nurses I've seen in old movies late at night. In this hospital however, the nurses wore purple, pink, yellow, blue and green uniforms, with a few crazy floral patterns thrown in. My angel was wearing a white sweater, white pants and white shoes. She was a blonde with very light hair. Though I didn't see any wings, with the light from the bathroom shining dimly behind her, she appeared to have a halo above her head. Everything I was seeing was in black and white. There was an aura about her that made me know I was in the presence of something beyond my understanding. She was only there a few minutes and I don't remember her ever speaking a word. She smiled at me conspiratorially as if we were sharing a deep secret, then her silence began speaking volumes as she told me what to expect while I was in the hospital. It wasn't the best news I could get, but I wasn't alarmed when she said I would have another episode with my heart during my stay. For the first time since I arrived, I had no feeling of apprehension at all. It was almost like a dream in that I have no idea when she left. It was as if she was there one moment and in a heartbeat, she was gone. I have no explanation even though I know I wasn't dreaming. Intrigued by what I'd seen, I started asking other nurses during the days and nights that followed if they knew anything about the person dressed in white. No one seemed to know what I was talking about. In fact, the person who had taken my medical statistics during the early morning hours of my first day in the hospital swore that there wasn't anyone else in the room. By the third day of my stay, the hospital staff that was caring for me had decided I was nuts. I've had that diagnosis before so it didn't bother me. Several nurses and staff members even asked me if I had seen the mysterious nurse again. I hadn't had the nerve to tell them that I thought an angel had visited me, but I think some of them guessed I was hallucinating. I even saw one of the day nurses rolling her eyes and circling her finger around head as she left the room. My angel never made another appearance, but I know what I saw and I saw an angel! Did it help me through the attack I had while there? I don't know but I like to think it did. I've always believed there was someone looking over me; after all I'm still alive and have most of my sense of humor in tact. The Bible contains a verse in Hebrews 13:2 that I take very seriously "Do not forget to entertain strangers, for by doing so some people have entertained angels without knowing it." Bob Alexander is well experienced in outdoor cooking, fishing and leisure living. Bob is also the author and owner of this article. Visit his sites at: http://www.homeandgardenbob.com 
Permalink Comments (15) I'll Take Yesterday's Evil Over Today's Evil Anytime!Posted Tuesday, August 26, 2008 (46 days 15 hours ago.) Viewed 2,482 times. An evil is stalking the world now that wasn't here when I was a kid. Maybe it's been here all along but as a kid I never saw it lurking near the cotton fields of north Alabama. We knew what the devil was of course, from going to the West Huntsville Baptist Church every Sunday morning and evening, but I don't think it entered our minds to think he was walking down the same road as us. It's different for boys today. They can't have the same advantages I did growing up because it's just too dangerous leaving them alone! Because something bad and ugly could be behind the next bush, kids are missing out on some of the important steps of growing up. Sadly, I doubt if my grandsons will ever experience the forbidden thrill of smoking grapevine and pretending it was a cigarette. Except for burning our tongues when we tried to smoke those twigs that we pretended were cigarettes, I can't recall any long lasting harm that was done. Of course we didn't tell our parents, because we would have gotten whomped for even thinking of smoking. That's the experimental stage. I remember walking home, after spending the day fishing on the creek about a mile from the house. I can still smell the tar that bubbled and cracked on the gravel road as my buddy and I trotted on the shoulder, because the road was too hot for our bare feet. I can't recall catching fish of any size, but being alone without the supervision of adults was an important part of our transition into men. We can't allow our kids to have that kind of fun today. Sometimes I think my grandkids are overly protected by their parents, but then I hear on the news about some 12 year old boy who was kidnapped, molested and killed just a few miles from where we live and I realize I'm not living in the same world in which I grew up. Playing hookey from school is a very important part of the growing up process. It gives a young man the opportunity to spread his wings and fly to where he's never gone before! Jesse Haney and I slipped out of the school yard one day long ago, just after math class and went rabbit hunting. This January morning was so cold that anyone with any sense stayed inside. The rabbits must have been smarter than us because we never saw one. We'd timed our escape perfectly; this particular morning there was a substitute teacher for the next three classes who didn't know us at all. Recognizing an opportunity when it slipped in and whacked us on the head, we were off the school property by the time the bell rang for the next class. We ran over the hill behind the school building, detoured a block to Jesse's house where we grabbed two twenty gauge single-shot shotguns and a half box of shells. By twelve years of age, most of us boys had shotguns if we wanted them and most of us did. We were taught to not only to respect guns, but to be in awe of them. This was all part of maturing, but if I had shot myself, my mom would have killed me. Few 13 year old kids today are responsible enough not to shoot each other. Besides, a kid with a gun today would probably get arrested, especially if he was hunting during school hours. Another part of growing up was camping out in the woods across the cotton field in front of our house. During the summer nights we would hear sounds of varmints in the woods near where we were trying to sleep. Besides animals lurking in the dark, we were convinced that there were ghosts and goblins just waiting for us to step out of the tent. One comforting thing that sustained us during those scary and exciting nights of our youth were orders from our parents that we were to always keep the front porch light in our sight so we could find our way home in the dark. The knowledge that help was within sight, was comforting, even though we would never have admitted it. The America I stumbled through on my way to adulthood had its own brand of evil, but I don't believe it was nearly as bad as the ones kids face today.
Bob Alexander is well experienced in outdoor cooking, fishing and leisure living. Bob is also the author and owner of this article. Visit his sites at:
http://www.homeandgardenbob.com
Permalink Comments (6) Stressed Out? Try Barbeque Therapy!Posted Monday, August 11, 2008 (61 days 7 hours ago.) Viewed 4,406 times. It's difficult to be stressed out when you're sitting on your back porch at midnight in the summertime, with a good book, cold drink and a halo of hickory barbeque smoke swirling around your head. The meat was sizzling and the smoke, apart from shooing the mosquitoes away, was heavenly with the aroma of meat, spices and herbs. I couldn't have asked for better therapy to cure the effects of a stressful week. Hundreds of books and documentaries have been written about stress relief. Quite a few years ago, I stumbled upon the perfect remedy for this sickness that strikes just about everyone in America sometimes in their lives, no matter how laid back they appear to be. There's something therapeutic about sitting around the old barbeque smoker, letting your mind relax and wander. Late night sounds of crickets, chirping frogs and the occasional barking of a startled dog blend with a little barbeque music on the radio. I put an Alison Krauss CD on the player and was immediately overcome by her angelic voice laid over a background of a dobro and fiddle. Depending on my stress level, I'll use either the electric smoker or the charcoal cooker I've used for years. Firing up the gas grill and burning a couple of steaks, won't do much to reduce your anxieties because it doesn't take very long to cook steaks, pork chops or even chicken. Spend an hour with this kind of meat and you're done, without ever having exorcized the stress demons. Barbeque therapy is not about simply smoking a pork shoulder or some spare ribs. It's about losing yourself in the journey from raw meat to delicious tasting barbeque, an easy thing to do when it's just you, the grill, a good book, music and several hours to enjoy them all. There's a routine I use when I'm cooking something that will require 6 to 18 hours cooking time; pork ribs, pork shoulders or a turkey. This has nothing to do with the actual preparation of the meat, but it's a ritual that has helped chase away headaches and loosen the muscles and tendons in my neck and shoulders each time I've used this remedy. If the stress is all consuming and relief is no where to be found, I'll get out the charcoal smoker because the cooking is slower than with an electric smoker, thereby taking longer to cook. This gives us more time for the therapy to kick in and heal the mind and soul. Pulling the cover off the smoker, I made sure the grates were clean and there was plenty of charcoal in the bin, along with a supply of hickory chunks. Then I set the stage for the rest of the items that would make the night ahead pleasant; an easy sitting lawn chair, a good book, music box, chips and salsa and a cooler filled with cool drinks. By this time Spike the cat had joined me and watched as I started the fire. He'd bed down close to the edge of the deck where he could listen for any varmints that might be roaming in the night. He's never really stressed, except when he's on catnip and he seems to like these mid-night rituals as much as I. As I settled into my tattered old lawn chair I heard Ruckus the coyote making his nightly overture to the moon, awaking every dog within a half mile radius. He lives on the next hill across the road from us and we only hear from him at night when he howls. I immediately have visions of a chuck wagon on the prairie, with cattle lowing in the night as a cowboy softly sings to his herd of cattle. While the flames from the charcoal were dying and the briquettes were turning gray, I said a little prayer that the barbeque would turn out good and by dawn my stress level would have reduced to a point that I'd be fit to venture back into society. My prayer was answered!
Bob Alexander is well experienced in outdoor cooking, fishing and leisure living. Bob is also the author and owner of this article. Visit his sites at:
http://www.redfishbob.com
Permalink Comments (7) |
Archives:
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||