Hero or Zero

Today at the park I ran into a guy I know. I guess you could say we're firends. I know him to be a decent and caring person that will give you the shirt off of his back. I didn't get his permission to use his name in this post so we will call him 'Cheech'. That was his nickname when I first met him. I had ran askew of the law a while back and that's where we met. We worked in the laundry together and I learned very quickly why he was there. You see, Cheech loves to smoke the refer. Weed, Ganja, Maui Wowie, Pot, Marijuana, you know the stuff. He would talk about it all the time. To ANYBODY. He would talk openly about it to the guards, who would confess to him that they smoke it. I always thought that was a little bit weird but I digress.

He sat down and joined the rest of our little group. As we talked, Cheech explained to me that he was getting ready to head back to jail for the 7th time. He violated his probation (AGAIN) when he failed the court ordered drug test. He says that he will not go a day without his bud. In his own words, "I will not NOT smoke it". He believes that it his constitutional right to smoke it and 'To Hell' with anyone that says different. He believes that it should be legalized all around the world and sold in packs of ten in every drug and convenience store in America.

Now I know that Cheech is not the only person in the world that thinks this way. I know that this has been an on going argument for some time now. I am neither for nor against it. I choose not to use drugs. That is my choice and I stand by it, but who am I to pass judgement on someone that does? My only issue is, that right now, marijuana is an illegal substance. There is no getting around that. It's the law. And no matter how many times you get arrested for it, it's still the law.

Cheech says that every time he goes before a judge he tells them how he believes that marijuana should be legalized. He lets the court know that if the U.S. government would just legalize pot it would cure all of our countries ills. New jobs would be opened up and unemployment would go down. The crime rate would drop because of the fact that marijuana would be so accessible that no one would need to commit a crime to get it. Because our government would most definitely levy a tax on the sale of marijuana, money would just come pouring in and The United States would be the richest country in the world.

Maybe he's right, I don't know. But I don't think he is going to get his point across while standing in front of a county judge as a repeat offender. I don't think that some judge is going to look down from his or her bench and say, "You know what Mr. Cheech? You are right. To hell with the law. It should be legalized. WE were wrong all along and now you are free to go". So, my question is: After being arrested 7 times and spending most of your adult life behind bars, when do you stop being an activist and start being an idiot? Cheech is 54 years old, and out of those 54 years he has spent 32 of them either in jail or prison. He has two sons and both of them are in jail right now. One will get out NEXT August, the other is scheduled to start a 5 year prison term on the next bus run. Both of them were arrested for possession of a controlled substance. So, he's passed this on to his children.

When I tried to explain to him that maybe he is going about things the wrong way, he told me that he was in the same league as George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson, and even Abraham Lincoln. He says that they were enemies of the state once too. They were considered to be traitors and criminals, just like him. As far as Cheech is concerned, he is a hero. He then took the time to explain to me that there are some very 'important' and 'famous' people that are proponents of the legalization of marijuana. I did some research and He was right. Here is a link to a list of the 15 Greatest Proponents of Marijuana Legalization. Check it out, you might be surprised who's on this list.

I wanted to talk with him a little more about the fact that the people he mentioned didn't go around getting arrested every few months just to get their point across, but Cheech pulled a 'smoke' from his pocket and fired it up. I decided it was time for me to go. Besides, I promised SC I would vacuum the house today and that seemed to be my cue. As I gathered my things and got ready to leave, I showed him this picture that I had actually done while we were locked up. He said that it was perfect and it fit him to a T. "You should frame it", he said. I shook his hand and wished him the best of luck and left.

The Blues

Have you ever been so down that you didn't think you could come back up? Just so sad that nothing can keep you smiling for very long? Have you ever felt like you could just walk off the face of the earth and no one would really notice?

I think it's safe to say that things have not been going my way lately and they don't seem like they are going to improve anytime soon. I just feel stuck. Like I am sunk down in the mud and there is no way to get out.

Nothing compares to earning your own money. Making your own way. Taking care of myself and those around me is a feeling that I miss dearly.

But, I know that nothing is truly hopeless and, eventually, things are going to get better.I know that I have a great friend and four beautiful children that love me and need me around so I will draw strength from that until my day in the sun comes back around. I know it's coming, I just think it needs to hurry up and get here.

My little Dumplin (Take Four)

And here she is. Making her Gary's Greetings debut, My little dumpie Dumplin. My third oldest child and my oldest girl. I have called her my Dumplin ever since her first day in this world. When she was born, she was tiny and white and all wrinkled up, just like a dumpling.

She is a true Daddy's girl and that is just fine with me. In fact, if she wants to be a Daddy's girl for the rest of my life that would be perfect.(Hint, hint)

When Dumpie was still a little baby she would love to get up at 3:00 in the morning and come see me. She had a 'system' that her mother and me HAD to follow. Her mother was to get up and get her and then bring her to me. If we deviated from this plan in anyway, she would not be a happy baby. I would wrap her up in a blanket and we go and sit in a rocking chair on the porch and watch the sun come up together almost every morning. I can still see those big green eyes staring up at me, so trusting and so full of love. Those big green eyes have turned brown now to match her mother's, but she is still just a pretty. I could fill this entire post on just how beautiful she is, but she is much more than that. She is so much more.

She is a very strong, smart, funny and caring young woman. She has enough love in that heart of hers to fill the Grand Canyon and it over flow. She can take me down with a shoestring tackle that would rival any NFL player, and she finds it absolutely hilarious that stepping on the back of my shoe, while running, will not only cause me to go down in a game of 'kill the daddy with the ball', it will also tear the sole right off of my shoe. She makes straight A's and thinks it is funny as hell every time Cindy Lauper pins her father up against the wall in the 'Girls Just Want To Have Fun" video.

She has tickle spots all over and doesn't mind asking to get them tickled. She has a laugh that is loud and infectious. If you hear her laugh and don't laugh yourself it is because you heart quit beating and you need to see a doctor. She has some of the best ear and neck sugar ever, and it is my responsibility to get as much of that sugar as the law will allow every time we are together.

She loves to throw tea parties and she loves the Jonas Brothers. She loves to color and to talk on her toy cell phone to Nick and let him know that she is going to marry him immediately. She loves her Barbies and her bath fizzies. She loves to climb up into my lap and curl up into a tight little ball and tuck her head under my chin and sit and snuggle for hours.

She said she wants to be a doctor when she grows up and she has the ability and the potential to do just that, and more if she wants to. She is going to be challenged though. She has to grow up in a world where the TV is covered with the images of women that only care about how big their boobs are or if they have too much arm hair. Music videos where the women are only there to see how fast they can bounce their butts, and men that just think a woman is here for their pleasure or that she is here to be lied to and made fun of. I know she can learn to see past all of that and become the beautiful, caring, strong young woman that I know she can be. I hope she learns to see her potential is unending. I hope she is always the knockout champion. I hope that she learns that the only reason she needs a man in her life is because he completes her and not because 'she can't fix her car because she's a girl'. I hope that one day she knows how proud of her I am, but she'll never really know how much I love her.

New Blog Header

If there is anyone out there in cyber space that actually reads this thing then you know there was a post here about my daughter. I have removed that post until I can get her picture done just right. The picture I drew of her looks good on paper, but as soon as I try to upload it to the computer it loses something. It didn't look enough like her. I am going to be working on her picture today and I am going to keep working at it until I get it right, so be patient and it will be back on here soon.

For now I hope you like the new blog header I came up with. The lettering and the flames are all my designs, but the rose and feather combo in the upper right hand corner is not. I did the art work, but I can't take credit for the actual design. I found the picture on The Masters of Ink web site while doing a Google image search. Check them out, they do excelent work. Two of my kids saw the design and fell in love with it, so I added it to my header.

As for my little Dumpie? Just hang on for me big girl. I'll get you back on here as soon as possible. I just want to make sure we have a picture on here that you can be proud of. I love you.

Cowboy Sketch

Who doesn't love a good western? An old John Wayne movie like "Rio Bravo", or Tom_Selleck in "Quiggly Down Under", or Clint_Eastwood in any of the old spaghetti westerns, (The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly, Fist Full of Dollars, For a Few Dollars More..., etc), or my personal favorite, "The Magnificent Seven".

The quotes alone are enough to make these movies last throughout the ages. "Rio Bravo": John Wayne to Dean Martin..."...Sorry don't get it done, Dude.", or "Quiggly Down Under": Tom Seleck to Alan Rickman, "...I said I never had a use for one, I never said I didn't know how to use it.". "A fist full of dollars": Clint Eastwood to 5 'bad guys'..."My mule don't like you laughing. He might get the funny idea that you're laughing at him..."

From the old black and white shows like "Rawhide" to the big screen productions like "3:10 to Yuma" I can keep watching them. They never get old. The way the hero never gives up, even when he knows that he that he could die. Out numbered, but never out classed, our true cowboy rides out to face danger and never thinks twice about it. A six gun in one hand and the reigns of a good horse in the other. Just like Gary Cooper in "High Noon". He deals out a style of justice that only Kurt Russell, Val Kilmer, and one of the best Western actors of all time, Sam Elliot could deal out, like in the movie "Tombstone". Just let the bullets fly and the guilty will fall.

If you insulted someone then you better have the nerve, the grit, and the speed to back it up. A show down in the street at high noon is never over done. You want to challenge the Sheriff and try to take over the town? You'd better think twice, because he's not only the Sheriff, he's one of the fastest guns in the West and he don't take no lip from no one, just like James Garner in "Support Your Local Sheriff".

I could honestly gone on all day, naming movies and quoting lines, but somewhere there is a little girl wondering why her picture is not on this blog yet. Don't worry Dumpie. It's on the way. It will be the next one, I promise.

ROLL TIDE!!!

I drew this picture of 'Big Al' to celebrate the University of Alabama's victory over the Texas Longhorns on January 7th for the BCS Championship Title. I have been an Alabama fan ever since I was old enough to know what football was. Being from Alabama you really only have two real choices: The University of Alabama(Roll Tide), or Auburn University(also know as the war buzzards). There is only one clear choice to me, but believe it or not some people have decided to take the dark path and root for Auburn. Why, some of my very own offspring have decided to go for the Gators and the Seminoles. Hopefully I will be able to turn their little minds back to the light.

This is Alabama's 13th National Title. They also defeated the Florida Gators to win their 22nd SEC Title. So, roll on Crimson Tide!! Congratulations! 14 - 0, a perfect season. ROLL TIDE!!!

One fast Hotrod!!!

Here is the second installment of 5 portraits that I plan to put on here. This one is of my second oldest child. He is my Hotrod and has been since birth.

He is almost always full of energy. A friend once discribed him as..."A combination of Dennis the Menace, Calvin from Calvin and Hobes, and the Energizer Bunny on speed..." and I must admit she is dead on the money.

With a never ending imagination, he is quick to come up with his explaination on how the world works and it is usually something no one else would even come close to coming up with. He can come up with a 'poot joke' faster than anyone I've ever known. And while we are on the subject of poots, He is a world reknown armpit farter. Definetly one of the best, if not the best, armpit musicians.

He has a heart big enough to match his imagination. Quick to give a hug and a smooch and tell you that he loves you. He eagerly opens his heart to the people around him, and once you are in, you're in for life. The picture I drew this portrait from was taken while he was on his way to me to give me a hug. Arms wide open and his lips just starting to pucker up to give me a kiss wet enough to sink a battleship.

He usually goes through the day thinking that if anything is worth doing, then it's worth getting into trouble for. I find myself sitting back and smiling when I think of some of the things he's done. I wasn't smiling at the time, but I am now. I've learned to make sure that if he gets too quiet to stop and just check in to see what he may be planning to do next. That way the world goes un-cracked for one more day.

He has been described as a class clown, but he is a smart and clever young man, getting straight A's on his last report card. He loves to run and to be chased. He loves to see if his voice can actually reach the people in the house two streets over. And it just comes naturally. That's what makes him who he is. None of this is ever done just to be mean or with malice in his heart. He is just wide open. That's the way he was made, and I love him with all of my heart for it.

He loves to laugh and to make others laugh. He infects everyone around him with his carefree, love life attitude. I hope he never looses that. I hope he will always be the kind of son that is ready to climb into my lap for a tickle or just to sit and snuggle. I hope I can help him nurture his imagination so that it takes him as high as he wants to go. I hope he knows just how much I love him and how proud I am of him.

Skull and Snake Tattoo Design

I really love this one. It seemed to take up a life of its own once I started it. Every time I thought I was done, I would think of something else to put in it.

My scanner isn't big enough to scan the picture so I had to take a picture of it and then upload it to the computer. The camera did it more justice than the scanner would have. It shows a lot more of the details and shading of the picture. I also think the barbed wire and the roses make it a little more original.

I don't really have a story to go along with this one except to say that there are three little ones that are anxiously awaiting their debut on to 'Gary's Greetings'. To them I will say to be patient and I will get your pictures done as soon as possible. It takes me a while to do the portraits. I like them to be perfect. I promise that I am working on them and I will have them finished in no time.