I'm thankful today

[NickHolt]

It's been a rough year for many of us, but there is still plenty to be thankful for.  It's true that counting blessing is always more productive than focusing on the negatives that seem to overwhelm us at times.

This year I am especially thankful for those who have come to forward to keep this site up and viable.  Over the long haul, Tom Taylor and James and Janette Huff have been consistent in their support, and, more recently, Rodney Rodgriguez has stepped up in a major way.  I am humbled and indebted to all who have helped me out with this site over the years.

Nick

[RodneyRodriguez]

Nick Thankful for you giving us a platform for so many years! Very excited at what is to come!

[ron.brown11]

Nick, you are the glue that's held this together. A lot of people know this, and many really appreciate it. I am one of them.You have been a great friend to all the racers in TX, whether they know it or not. I've always enjoyed talking and working with you when I was involved here in TX. Your knowledge, and your "want to" in keeping TX racing going has been incredible. I hope that you are able to continue to do so for years to come. I miss being able to pop my head in the booth at Thunderhill, while you worked. I pray that 2022 will be a better year for you and your family. 

2021 wasn't a good year for me, so I am very thankful for our now 2 year old identical twin grand daughters. AS we only have 1 child, our son has held the key to grandchildren for us. They had said on many occasions that they only wanted 2 kids. They REALLY weren't expecting them at the same time. SURPRISE!! But that also means they these little beauties will probably be our only grandchildren. Still beyond grateful!! WE Nick, like you are a mixed family. My wife is Hispanic too. So our son is half & half. His wife is first generation Taiwanese. These girls are just 24 months old, and they are already speaking some words in English, Spanish, and Chinese. Hell, I'm still working on English, and I turn 65 in 1 month. Lordy, I'm getting old.

Hang in there Nick, God has a plan!!

[HiTech]

 RON the whole world changes at 65 . you get the right to say i am a senior.. . never thought i would live to this age working dangerous jobs  the odds were not on  my side and i beat them ..  have my wife of 35 plus years .my 30 year old son   .a couple of friends on speedzone  some racing buddies and  still breathing . what more can you ask for ...

Edited November 28, 2021 by HiTech

[Radical]

I'm thankful for family. As some of you know I lost my wife March 2nd after years of poor health and then the virus took her for the final. My children and her children have been there for me the whole way. We still get together both sides of the family. My children check in with me and her children does the same. I'm still treated with respect and love from both sides. I could never had made it this far if they were not here for me. I can only say to you and to beg you to tell your significant other and everyone you care for each and every day how much you love them. Tomorrow is not a guarantee. 

[HiTech]

1 hour ago, Radical said:

I'm thankful for family. As some of you know I lost my wife March 2nd after years of poor health and then the virus took her for the final. My children and her children have been there for me the whole way. We still get together both sides of the family. My children check in with me and her children does the same. I'm still treated with respect and love from both sides. I could never had made it this far if they were not here for me. I can only say to you and to beg you to tell your significant other and everyone you care for each and every day how much you love them. Tomorrow is not a guarantee. 

amen ..march 2 mine and my moms birthday  i will  think of   your wife on that special day she was born into heaven ..

[top_shelf_12]

My condolences Radical but sounds like things were done right by still having the family units coming together still and supporting each other. I know I'm late, but I'm very thankful for the family and friends I have and try everyday to be a rock for my wife as my mother-in-law has entered hospice and we are the primary care givers not only for her but her non-verbal Autistic son. I'm very blessed to have my parents that go above and beyond for everyone they care about, to have my own grandson, give my daughter away in her wedding and find that balance between caregiver, dad, grandpa and still get to enjoy some fun stuff like racing and hockey. You're last line is absolutely right, tomorrow is not guaranteed so do your best to enjoy today and enjoy what you have today and hope for the best tomorrow. Happy Holiday season everyone and thank you Nick and now Rodney for giving us this forum and all of the benefits we enjoy from it.

[Bobby]

Checking in to give a tap on an imaginary "Like" button for the posts above.  

Best wishes to all, especially those of us in the elder category, or who are the support.

[ron.brown11]

Well HiTech, I didn't have to wait until I was 65 to be called Senior, as I earned that rank in the Air Force. My wife and I are coming up on 45 years, and I still don't know why she said yes. I've been blessed more than I ever deserved, that's for sure. Our son is 35, and his wife is 38, so we were really starting to sweat that grandchild thing. I've seen, done and been some places that I probably shouldn't have come back from. I'm Thankful.. Most of my friends are long distance friends now since we moved to Liberty Hill 19 months ago, and COVID didn't help since then. People still seem to be nervous about meeting new people still. 

Sorry to hear Radical about the loss of your wife. It's strange how COVID has affected, or not affected our population. I had no family members lost to it, and none got sick, But my wife's family had at least 15 deaths and many sick. Both sides of our families have some underlying health issues, so why the disparity?? I've spent a lot of time trying to get some understanding. Nothing yet. But I have found out a couple of things that I think are important.

 Even that dingbat Fauchi finally said it I believe yesterday. We are going from the pandemic into the endemic stage, even with the new strain recently discovered. That just means that it will be just like the annual flu season, and they will be trotting out a new variant, followed by a new variant vaccine to treat that variant, just as they now do for the common flu. The public is basically being led to believe that science and medicine will end COVID, it won't, at least not in my lifetime. Something nobody ever talks about is a very easy to find fact. In the history of man, science and medicine, only 2 viruses have ever been eradicated, Smallpox and one that affects cattle, ox, yaks, bovine animals. They have only 2 things alike. They are both viruses, and neither can transmit to the other. Smallpox won't live in bovine animals, and the bovine virus can't live in humans. They were both eradicated from the world in the early 90s, although the US had defeated Smallpox in 1979. I can't remember to name of the bovine virus, but is was like 15 letters long.

Please Radical, don't think that I'm making light of your wife's loss, I'm not. One life lost is 2 too many. Heck, I should have been terrified of the thing. It's a respiratory disease, that is incredibly hard on the lungs of those who's lungs have issues. Both my parents smoked while was growing up, strike 1: I spent 30+ years working around running jet engines (jet fuel) and usually with several jet engines running at once, & race car engines both on gas and ally, strike 2: I have asthma strike 3: I've had pneumonia twice strike 4; I have sleep apnea strike 5; and finally I had the Swine flu (another Chinese gift to us) back in 1976 strike 6 Oh, and I didn't get the Swine flu for somebody, no I got it from our US government via a vaccine. that they mandated. That vaccine is very different from the current vaccines being given out today. That 1976 Swine flu vaccine was a live virus. That means the our government intentionally injected us with a live swine virus.I spent 2 days in the hospital, and  another week on quarters to get better. I was lucky. At the base I was stationed at we had 3 guys die, ands it was a small base. I started talking to a couple of doctors that worked on me, because that wanted to be pulling my blood to see if I was building up any natural resistance to the virus.That allow me to also ask about how the military as a whole was having deaths as well. Between the 4 doctors I spoke with I go 2 number for fatalities.Two of the told me about 2700 GIs worldwide had died. The other 2 gave me 3400-3500 deaths. You can actually goggle up the CDCs report to find out some hard hitting facts from that study of the 1976 Swine flu vaccine, but they hide the most important one. How many GIs died from it. That is not in their report. The reason why is because if they would listed them, they would be responsible monetarily for them, because they made it mandatory while it was still listed by the CDC as an Emergency vaccine. That vaccine at that time was just like the new vaccines that came out this year for COVID, and were listed as an Emergency med, and therefor they couldn't mandate it to the military again. Once the FDA approved it for routine use, now all military have to take it or leave the service. With the 1976 vaccine we were't given a choice. The 1976 Swine vaccine was still listed as experimental. From what I'm hearing, they aren't giving many waivers to the GIs for the new vaccine. I do have to say that 1 good thing came out of my bout with the Swine flu in 1976. That was the last time I had the flu, 45 years ago. I've been though 24 surgeries over the last 14 years, most are of there orthopedic variety, so with that volume of surgeries my systems are always heavily tasked. Yet, if not for those grand daughters, I would not hav taken a COVID vaccine.

Hang in there Radical, God does have a plan for you! And then 1 day you and your wife will be reunited, this time it will be forever. God Bless!!!

 

[HiTech]

THANK you senior  ron for your service you earned it .. .....i  have my vaccine i figured 50.50 shot of not catching the virus  or catching the virus and giving it to my elders  and or not making it through it  myself or making it through  if did .. .. lost a friend or two  with this virus  and one never had the chance toget the vac past when this all started .. i am not one who runs to the doctor unless i really really have to, .... i am a freedom loving person .its your choice  to or not to .you have too live with that choice .

[ron.brown11]

Hey, I'm absolutely for the vaccine, and was shocked that they could develop one that seems to work so quickly. Yeah, I'm about freedom too. I think they've scared more people out of getting the vaccine, by mandating it. I haven't been to a doctor for being sick in probably 2 decades. Unfortunately I've seen way more doctors than I ever imagined. I've had 24 surgeries over the last 15 years. If you work hard and play hard, things are going to break or wear out. I'm finding out the hard way lol..

[HiTech]

49 minutes ago, ron.brown11 said:

Hey, I'm absolutely for the vaccine, and was shocked that they could develop one that seems to work so quickly. Yeah, I'm about freedom too. I think they've scared more people out of getting the vaccine, by mandating it. I haven't been to a doctor for being sick in probably 2 decades. Unfortunately I've seen way more doctors than I ever imagined. I've had 24 surgeries over the last 15 years. If you work hard and play hard, things are going to break or wear out. I'm finding out the hard way lol..

SAW my first doctor sense my reconstuction on my face oh  over 8 years ago i think .. created an ulcer the last week of october taking over the counter meds  for a   pinched nerve in my lower back  a pinche i ussualy get over soon ..  .. nieghbor is 30 plus year nurse she like to fainted when i told i was going to see a doc . . . i tell you what in reality the best thing that happend to me ..  i cut out all my favorite junk food .  .sodas candy  tomatoes and many other things i crave for .. .. best i have felt in 5 years or more  .no more hurting knees and stiff legs  .no more  pains in my shoulders  can play the guitar again  .sleep more at night  lot more energy  that started to back fire from  working on to much for  two weeks  . shoot even went to edna to help jesse on thursday night practice i could walk again  yahoo ...oh and drinking no tea . DRINKING ENOUGH WATER LATELY TO SINK A BATTLE SHIP . ..corvid is here to stay hard to hide from something you cant see .

Edited November 29, 2021 by HiTech

[ron.brown11]

HiTech, I've never avoided eating what I like, but I'm usually pretty good at limiting things I know are good for me. When I was heavy into weightlifting & running 5-10 miles a day, I was a little more selective regarding what I ate. Thankfully I've always been pretty good about drinking water. I got real good at drinking water after a 3 year tour in England. It does't get hot there, and the humidity is always 80% or higher. We left there in June, and arrived at my next duty assignment on July 1st. In Tucson, AZ. When I pulled onto the base at the temporary quarters office, it was 109 degrees!! Oh year, the humidity was 4%. You sweat like crazy, unfortunately you don't see it because it evaporates immediately. The only places you will see sweat is anywhere skin overlaps. You get dehydrated very quickly. We were out for days, every day, trying to find a place to live. The second day out, I stopped at a 7/11 and bought a 52oz thermal mug. Two or three times a day I was stopping at 7/11 to refill it for like $.49. The third day of doing that, I thought my kidneys were going to explode. But for the next 14 years in Tucson, I carried that mug filled with ice water. That was 1992, and I still have it. I know that they say you can drink too much water, but I don't believe that. It's what you're made of... 

[HiTech]

2 hours ago, ron.brown11 said:

HiTech, I've never avoided eating what I like, but I'm usually pretty good at limiting things I know are good for me. When I was heavy into weightlifting & running 5-10 miles a day, I was a little more selective regarding what I ate. Thankfully I've always been pretty good about drinking water. I got real good at drinking water after a 3 year tour in England. It does't get hot there, and the humidity is always 80% or higher. We left there in June, and arrived at my next duty assignment on July 1st. In Tucson, AZ. When I pulled onto the base at the temporary quarters office, it was 109 degrees!! Oh year, the humidity was 4%. You sweat like crazy, unfortunately you don't see it because it evaporates immediately. The only places you will see sweat is anywhere skin overlaps. You get dehydrated very quickly. We were out for days, every day, trying to find a place to live. The second day out, I stopped at a 7/11 and bought a 52oz thermal mug. Two or three times a day I was stopping at 7/11 to refill it for like $.49. The third day of doing that, I thought my kidneys were going to explode. But for the next 14 years in Tucson, I carried that mug filled with ice water. That was 1992, and I still have it. I know that they say you can drink too much water, but I don't believe that. It's what you're made of... 

i said i have drunk enough water to fill a battle ship .. not that  i have  drank enough lol.. i drank water but not enough i realy dont OR DIDNT  like bottle water and i was a big tea drinker big tea drinker i repeat .. i  am not good at keeping a thermo mug i tried that and they got costly replacing them . id loose them or break em or something .. .BUT  i am getting use to bottle water . my wife has to bring a new case about every other week now . i have no tea in the house and when out i dont order any   i get water from the ice box with ice .or i drink milk ..every morning i ate a taco and stopped at stripes to get a 32 coke .not anymore  if i get a taco i bring a bottle of water with me ..and no more kit kats or kisses or cake or hershey bars .. man i am starving . thanks giving  i turn down my favorite brownies . and fudge ..fact if nick comes down  i will have to watch him enjoy  the dr peppers  in my ice box my wife drinks . over all thankful for what i have and furture  health looks alittle better  ,just got to lose about 30 pounds and working on that   now that i have energy ..i have done more heavy work in two weeks than i did  in three months  just didnt have that energy then ..my neighbors say i am working to hard to early .. well least i am not wasiting away in my recliner .i change what i am eating all the time now  and not eat as much .i cant even eat a whole regular whataburger  i am eating the small  ones my wife eats   no fries no onion rings .no drinks  just .water ..

Edited November 30, 2021 by HiTech

[NickHolt]

Mike, I am excited for your new-found health!  Keep up the good work!

 

[NickHolt]

Ron, I'll never forget the look on your face after you too that Modified out for a few laps at Thunderhill.  I'm pretty sure you turned faster laps than the car owner.

[HiTech]

5 hours ago, NickHolt said:

Mike, I am excited for your new-found health!  Keep up the good work!

 

thanks nick .. i hope to see u  sometime go eat next time lorraine and i are up . YOU   saw first hand just how bad i was with my knees   .. well i can run and jump work all day almost   get off the ground  roll around  you dont hear me saying give me a minute ill catch up to you ..  other wise i can handle alot better .see i learned something in your class ..lol . lorraine an i will be up soon  she loves to shop . ill get in touch with you TO  see where you are at or up to .. LUNCH ON US .. We love to eat at greene but you can pick the place ..take the wife if she wants i will be on my best ..i promis. i miss the times you spent in my garrage listening to my bs ..

Edited November 30, 2021 by HiTech

[NickHolt]

Lunch at "greene?"  Not sure where that is...

[HiTech]

2 hours ago, NickHolt said:

Lunch at "greene?"  Not sure where that is...

Sorry nick forgot to take an e out and add the u  MY BAD .. THE MILL ON THE RIVER    OVER IN GRUENE . or anywhere you like in sa .

Edited December 1, 2021 by HiTech

[ron.brown11]

Yeah Nick, I really enjoyed driving that car! I never was able to get my mod to turn like that center off. When I saw how easy it was to drive it off the right rear, I could never understand why Greg didn't/couldn't. I'm pretty sure I was about a 1/10 slower than Greg overall, but if you remember I NEVER got turn 3 entry correct. That car was bad fast, but I believe he was afraid of it. I'm certain that if I would have been allowed to take it out a second time, I would have been a half second faster than him. Do you remember what I said when I got out of the car, I told you that I tried everything I could think of short of parking the car on entry. You said "that's what you need to do at Thunderhill". When crew chiefing for Greg, I was always amazed how quickly he could go from a top 4 starting position, to nearly tagging the field in just a couple of laps. After hot lapping that car that day, I know that was a top 5 car every week, with a decent driver.

One other thing came from that day. That was the last time Greg ever let me behind the wheel. A lot of times I'd drive the car to tech, etc. He even talked about letting race it one night. No More. That's ok, it was his car. The bad part of that day was Greg saw that you were impressed with my turn 1 & 2 speeds, and lap times really close to his. No too bad considering that I had never turned a lap in that car, or on that track. Greg went out on the next 2 sessions and tried to change how he was driving the car there. He nearly wrecked it both times. The second time was when he spun into the grass and plugged the radiator with grass & dirt, and destroyed the radiator overheating it. After that first session, you and I took tire temps at the top of the exit ramp. As we were walking back to the pit stall, you said we needed to do something. I thought you were talking about doing another dual front spring change. We'd done that twice already, and I didn't think my knees would handle it. Then you said, "We need to talk Greg into letting me race the car". I said then that it wouldn't happen, as I saw/heard Greg's reaction to the laps I'd turned, and how you had responded to it. I was right, he was offended. Again, that's ok as it was his car. Plus there was a time in Tucson, when I was struggling with issues. I couldn't figure out if it was me, or the car. I had a Super Latemodel track champ friend race it one night, to try and sort it out. It was really hard to watch someone else drive my car. In my case, it turned out to be a little of both. He identified a chassis issue, and pointed out a couple things that I needed to change. Greg was never interested in that, he just wanted to be on the track, and that's ok.