Uncle Charles and Aunt Marie

We met up with Marie, Wes, BeBe and Charles at the Ryan's in Macon on Monday--April 18th, 2011. It was great to see them again. Here are a few photos.

2011 Garden Under Way

We skipped having a garden in 2010 due to our summer travels out west. So, the weeds and grass were doubly hard to remove since they had had two years to get out of control.

To begin clean-up, I first used the Kubota with the Bush Hog. Afterwards, I used the Troybilt industrial mower--running it across the garden several times--lowering the mowing deck each time.

Finally, I cleared the rows with a rake and then used the Husquvarna Tiller--making several passes each time and removing additional weeds and grass. My garden has always had 6 rows, this year I decided to add a seventh.

The photos below show the final tilled rows. In the next couple of days, I will till in 10-10-10 fertilizer and then be ready to plant after Easter.

Men's Cologne from the Past

Back in the 80's, it was very common for men to wear cologne. At the office, church, on dates, even a quick trip to the grocery store. It was simply expected. The large cologne manufacturers loved the income. To sweeten the deal, a lot of retailers would offer special promotions--usually a handbag in the same color canvas as their product and would include their logo embedded on the side. Good marketing and free advertising.

Here is the collection I gathered together over a few years. My favorite was Polo--the green bottle. If you look closely, you might notice it is almost empty. On trips to Europe I would buy several "foreign" colognes--while they were good, I brought them mostly for the novelty of a foreign made product. Wearing cologne was the thing to do--or the IN thing.

Enter 2002. All that changed. June 18th I had a 4 hour lower back surgery. After 6 days of hospital recovery, I came home. Upon entering the front door, I realized my nose was more sensitive than ever. So sensitive in fact, I had all the clothes washing detergent removed and started with some that was scent free. From that day forward, I have a major aversion to overwhelming smells--particularly colognes. I have not worn a cologne since. Even my body deodorant is scent free. It is so bad, that if someone in a restaurant has cologne on, I must move away. If a person enters the elevator I am on with cologne, i will get off the next first floor.

So, there you have it. A beautiful (and at the time very expensive) collection of cologne that I can not use. Check back with me 20 years from now and I bet the bottles will have the same amount as they do today!!