"Post No. 685"

Yes, I'll admit. I'm just NOT a cold weather person at all. The 6 inches of snow that fell on us here today in S-Central, KY. wasn't to my liking, and I had to call in to work due to my car being buried in 12 inches of drifts. I did try to get on in a few hours later after they scraped the roads and my street, and I was able to finally shovel me a driveway out, but the boss said he was sending the other worker home after only 3 hours and that they were going to close early as they'd only had 2 people in the store in that time. Roads look much better now however and I definately plan on not missing another much needed day of work even if I have to walk the five miles there tomorrow. Don't have to be there until 10AM (Since it's Sunday), so...no problems.

I spent quite a bit of time today out in this white, cold, wet mess just the same as I not only shoveled that drive, but my walkway out to the sidewalk, then went down to mom's and shoveled off her front porch, sidewalk and steps and her ramp, and even a path out to the drive. (Got to watch it at my age and make sure I don't over-exert.)

Since I did have a little extra time today I alphabetized 6 long boxes of comics. There was two each of Marvel and DC, and two misc. so far. Still have over twice that many to do when time permits and then I might actually make me a new inventory list and count, which would be the first time for such in better than two years.

Of course, the number of this could increase as if I can't sell the 8 to 9 thousand bronze to modern I'm trying to let go for the room, I may go back through those sometime and pull out a few others I'd really like to keep. At .15 each, there's some I'd just rather hang on to.

Took a couple of photos of this snow storm. The top one is from my front door looking across the street, and the second is a "snow angel" that my wacky wife (who's only a couple years younger than me) did early this morning in some strange attempt, I think, trying to recapture some of her lost youth. ("Silly rabbit. Snow is for KIDS!")

My gum's still sore from the tooth extraction and stitches now almost a week ago. Got to have the stitches removed Tuesday. I notice I've lost around 8 lbs. somewhere, but I expect it's due to not eating much in the way of solid food for the past week.

Hurry Spring!

"Post No. 684"

Well...this has been a good day...for a change.

I sold around 3,000 older comics and now have the extra money to pay off a few bills, such as the hospital, ambulance and dentist, and still have some extra to stick back into both my checking and savings' account.

Plus Debbie has been notified that she's eligable for part-time unemployment benefits since she's only getting at her job currently around 20 hours a week. Things are looking "up" again.

Just shows you what having faith in God will do for you. If I'm sounding preachy, I am, but I discovered some time back a thing I always knew but it took a loonnnggg time to get it through this stubborn, thick head of mine. That worrying won't make you happier, solve problems, make you younger or a penny richer. That if something is going to happen, it can. The best thing to do is to decipline oneself to NOT worry about the circumstances of what "could" happen, but strive to make it not. The future is not set in stone. It can be if you just let it. And I say this because you can't just expect God to answer all of your prayers. God's a busy Creator. He's not only the fabric of this universe and any speculated parallel universes that exist, God IS the universe. He's busy keeping gravity working, maintaining the existing of electro-magnetism, and balancing a billion stars. It's all written right there in the book of Exodus when Moses asked by what name he should tell the Isrealites that send him, and the answer was: "I am." This means to simply put it, He exists, and that should be enough for anyone who can open their eyes and try to take in, not just the wonderful beauty of this planet, but the wonders of all that exists. It's mind-boggling. More than our pitiful human brains can assimilate. More than it could be understand if we lived a million life times.

(Don't worry, LOL! I'm not going to pass a collection plate around now.)

Yeah, well, I sort of hated to sell all of those old comic books as a lot, especially since this will definately be the lasttime I ever attempt any collection of a large size. But it was good having them, and I did get to have them for a while and enjoy them, and now they'll be passed on to a whole new generation that will keep this media alive. I envy them. I envy the first time they read an early Marvel comic with a Stan Lee and Jack Kirby Fantastic Four story, or enjoy a Ditko Spider-man, or thrill to an adventure written by Gardner Fox all for the very first time. And, as long as one remembers them, they're never gone. Especially since I've kept all of my trade paperback reprint collections of them in case I ever wish to wax nostalgic on the stories that set in stone any creativeness that I try to imitate in my own work.

Looks like we have Winter moving back in here in the next couple of days. In fact, we had a light dusting locally this morning which stayed around a few hours and was gone. But the weather forecast looks like it could be a lot worse by the weekend. No worries. No one can control the weather; no use bitchin' about it. Just remember that Spring is now less than two months away.

"Post No. 683"

Wayyy back in 1962, I was just getting into any superhero titles produced by Marvel, which wasn't very many. About all they had to offer at first was The Fantastic Four and Tales to Astonish w/"Ant-Man", but I knew already that I was hooked on that company during the 1960's.

I'd seen various other titles they'd produced, mostly under the Atlas banner for a couple of years by then, all of which contained either fantasy, sci-fi and/or monster tales. Of those there was one title that stood out from all others: Amazing Adult Fantasy. Each issue in its short run of eight issues (the first six being titled Amazing Adventures) was chocked full of the work of my favorite of the Marvel bullpen, being, of course, Steve Ditko.

Right at the end of this run with issue #14 (the next, and last, issue, being retitled again to simply Amazing Fantasy which introduced some minor character called "Spider-man"), they ran a short tale called "The Man In The Sky", which was all about a mutant named Tad Carter with great mental powers. According to one interview with Stan Lee that I read in Marvel Age, he'd probably intended this to be an ongoing series, but ... well... sort'a forgot about it when Spidey was introduced and became popular.

Instead the basis for "TMITS" went on to be incorporated into "The X-Men", as in that tale there had a being contacting Carter to join in with other like mutants.

I always thought that would have been a great storyline that could have run through practically every Marvel title, especially back in the early 1990's when they were known for doing such things. A story something like, Prof. X found Carter to be way too powerful a mutant and put him into some sort of suspended status, only to have him break free and now be quite insane and rage havok throughout the Marvel Universe. I always thought they missed their opportunity with that storyline with "Phoenix" when she went bad, keeping it all within the X-Men title. In fact, I wrote the then Marvel editor (I think maybe it was Bill Mantlo) suggesting such. But, as usual, I got one of those typical BS replies that Marvel didn't lend to accepting unsolicited story ideas from "their fans".

Oddly enough, it wasn't too long after that, that both "Man In The Sky" story was miraculously "rediscovered" and reprinted in an issue of Marvel Age, and then a story a little something like it ran through the pages of their x-titles called "Legion". Not that I suggest anyone got the idea from me, but I still wonder "why' they just didn't use the Tad Carter character instead of creating something new?

If they thought it too old for their current readers to relate to, just re-introduce him as a NEW one. But...anyhoo as Stan would say. I still think it's a great tale that someone at Marvel should expand on today.

"Post No. 682"

Found the above photo on Facebook and thought I'd post it. There's a lot of memories for me associated with the now gone "Twin City Drive-In".

Built in the late 1940's-early 1950's, it was one of the few completely concrete screens of such I can remember seeing. In fact, the hollow interior housed a few people from time to time, with a door on the top where maintenance could get out and change the floodlights they kept on before and after shows and during intermission.

It closed sometime in the 1980's, I think. I forget exactly when. A lot of us were sad to see it go, but the management had changed hands and all they'd show was x-rated material. Long gone were the days of B-flicks and decent films, and the introduction of cable t.v. and HBO all but destroyed the drive-in theatres. Shortly thereafter the Star Drive-In (located on HWY 31-E near Glasgow, KY.) closed as well and was finally torn down circa 1987-88 . It was the end of a golden era of such things.

Well, I'm off work today, but I knew that i wouldn't be able to just sit around this house and relax. No way can that happen, it seems as "someone/somewhere" always seems to find something to keep me from that. I slept in this morning until 8:30 AM and hadn't been up a good hour when my mom called and said she'd been up all night with a persistant cough and had made an apointment with her doctor at 10:15, so I had to hurry around and get myself together enough to take her to that.

In the meantime, my wife decided she wanted to go over to see my Aunt Mary, and couldn't get her van into reverse so she tried to drive it around through the back yard and out the other driveway. This works when the ground is either dry or hard as a rock from the cold, but an extremely bad idea when the ground is like a sponge from our rains here today and, naturally, she got stuck. So I made her just wait for me to get mom back from the doctor, who wanted her to go to the hospital for a chest x-ray, and when we got through there I came back by a Family Dollar Store and purchased 5 bags of dirt-cheap cat litter to put under her tires. One of the tires looked low, but it was just from where she'd spun it into a rut, so I didn't have to get out the air compressor. And, I gave my wife the keys to my car and had her take mom for her x-ray while I decided how to get her van out of the yard. At the same time, the neighbors from the duplex next door came over to see if they could help, as well as my Aunt Mary and Uncle Jimmy. I had Jimmy get behind the wheel and put it in reverse while the other four of us "rocked" the van enough to get it out of the ruts and he drove it in reverse back through the opening at the very back of our yard that connects to the Family Dollar drive, and, mission accomplished. Then I drove it back around to our street and backed it into the drive (since the reverse started working now that the vehicle had warmed up some). As it was, it only took ONE bag of cat litter (so "Bobcat" now has enough of that to last six months!)

After everyone left I went out to that big dirt pile in the back and inbetween the rain loaded up a couple of wheelbarrows full of dirt and filled back in the yard where there was now holes.

The doctor had called in some cough medicine and antibiotics for mom, plus she had a refill on her potasium and I went and picked that up, and my wife drove on over to my aunts.

Then I called my server because I could receive my e-mail but couldn't send any. I figured I'd screwed up something simple from putting the info for such back into my pc after reloading my XP recently, and sure enough, I had; very something simple that took a few seconds to fix, and now everything on my computer's back up to norm.

Watched the new "Human Target" series on FOX which I found pretty decent. A new episode shows tonight and I suspect I'll watch this on a regular basis IF they maintaine the quality of the episodes. It's based on the DC Comics' character, of course, and I figure we'll see a lot more such adaptations of comic book material what w/DC being owned by Warner Bros. and now Marvel Comics owned by Disney.

Haven't heard anything definate from that buyer on the comic yet. It all depends on whether he can float the loan. IF he can't come up with it I'm at least prepared to start taking photos and listing them myself on eBay. I'll be grabbing the higher priced stuff first for listing.

Temperatures here in S-Central, KY. aren't bad for this time of the year, even with this rain we're at 50 something degrees which everyone needs to enjoy as next week they'll drop back down to those resembling Winter weather. This month's already nearly over so March will be here soon, I hope. And, I'm officially on Facebook now in case anyone wants to look me up under the user name of Dave Puck.

"Post No. 681"

Finally today I've got my pc back up and running after about 3 weeks or so awaiting my computer-guy to come by and zero it out and reload my Windows XP.

I worked on it personally for a good 3 hours or better reloading the XP Service Pack 2, my printer and camera, re-entering all of my e-mail addresses, getting back my favorites and the like. Everything seems fine now except that I can't seem to get Will Goble's email to go thru so, Will, if you're reading this, drop me a line, please.

And, as well, this weekend I finally got through all of the boxes of comics around here, seperating them out into older stuff (25 cent or below cover price) to modern, to what I was still keeping as either what I'll consider my current collection and/or books I want to personally sell in some future date on eBay.

So's...I've been pretty busy.

Didn't get to sleep in much either day. Was up at 5:30 AM as usual yesterday. Just woke up and got up since mom wanted to be taken for a haircut early, which I did, then got one myself, and today she needed a ride to church, so...

Haven't seen any new movies lately, however, I did actually get to watch one older film I've always wanted to see at least a little of, which was the life story of the late comedian, Andy Kaufman, titled: "Man in the Moon". Usually, I really don't like Jim Carey flicks, but I'll have to admit that I was VERY impressed with his performance, making it my favorite of anything I've had the stomach to actually sit down and watch. (Previously, the only flick he'd done that I cared any for at all was "The Mask".)

Back to work tomorrow, of course, for two days then off Wednesday and just perhaps I'll get a little rest IF everyone will just let me.

"Post No. 680"

Yesterday, January 15th., had my late brother Harold Herbert Puckett (1945-1965) lived, he would have been 65 years old. February 5th. will mark the 45th. year of his passing.

At work this week we've been busy rearranging the retail store, eliminating some shelves and moving others making the aisles widers to give customers more room to push the carts througout the store. This requires a LOT of time due to having to move everything from each of the two-sides racks of shelves, moving the racks and then putting the items back into place, plus having to find room somewhere within the store to put the items that were removed from the eliminated shelving. I worked on just my own tool section for a good two days and the store's still just about half finished with this "new look".

Turned my water back on at the meter a few days back after our freezing spell here in S-Central, KY. passed. In fact, today it's supposed to be a bawmy 50 degrees.

Finally got a much needed haircut and took my mom to get the same. Neither of us had had a chance for one since back last Thanksgiving! Also took her around to the grocery and the like for some shopping.

Stopped by the local flea market for the first time this year and walked through it a bit, but found nothing I really wanted. Was looking for some DVD's but it seems that people are just trying to get rid of the ones the don't want rather than bring anything of interest to me.

Still don't have my own pc back up from that virus infection I received through an e-mail attachment (from a friend back Christmas Eve, and am still having to do this posting from my mom's computer, as well as check my e-mails there. If my "pc-fixer-guy" doesn't come clean out that system soon, I guess I'll be forced to load up the hard drive and take it elsewhere for repair as I'd really like to get back to selling again on eBay.

Going to start sorting comic books this weekend, the older (20 cent or lower cover price) from the newer stuff for a couple of dealers to inspect. May end up keeping a few of the more modern runs as it'd be shame top just let them go as complete as they are for little of nothing, when if I decide to sell them they'll go much better as a full run.

I've decided to keep my run of the Wrightson "Swamp Things", ALL of my "Doom Patrols", plus my "Jonah Hex" titles.

I'm thinking I'll probably take my vacation this year once again the first week of may as my comic shop always has a sale going on that week and it'll correspond, I believe, with "Free Comic Book Day" as well. Also thinking about getting back on Facebook after getting my pc fixed.

Just got a call while I was typing this that my pc guy's coming by tonight. Will be good to have my own computer again.

"Post No. 679"

I swear I saw Wooly Mammoths walking around outside. Well...okay, maybe I didn't, but I'm really tired on this frigid weather here in South-Central, Kentucky which has been going on for the past week, and the worst may be yet to come with a snow storm scheduled to move into this area Thursday night adding to our misery. Perhaps it's not as bad as it is in New England and other areas North, but these people expect it to be bad like that every winter. Here we usually have a kinder season with slight amounts of snow, but every 20 years or so we go through this cycle which brings the ice and snow.

Last January we had this terrible ice storm that knocked out power for some residents of the state for more than a month, bringing down power lines and trees and in general disrupting the entire state to the point that it was declared an emmergency situation. The snow itself held off for the better part then, but I expect another falling of the white crap similiar to the one we had in the early 1980's when blizzard-like conditions pretty much kept everyone inside for over a week.

Sorry I haven't been around posting in a while now (over a month) but I got an unexpected "Christmas present" on Christmas Eve; a computer virus that's infected my whole pc. It was obviously from someone that I trusted and opened up an attachment on a email from him. The guy may not have even known it was infected, but it's a trogan and one that is trying to steal my passwords, so until I can get that system cleaned out and my XP reloaded, I'll have to blog from my mom's pc.

Christmas went okay this year. My wife and I went down to mom's and made a Christmas dinner for her and my cousin and aunt and we had a good Christmas gathering with family. Debbie made me a "throw" this year that had illustrations of the Beatles from their 1960's cartoon show, which is pretty neat. ("Bobcat" gave me a new pair of house slippers.) A late "present" of sorts was from my good old friend Steve who brought me a set of the original 1986-87 DC Comics Watchmen series, as well as a hardcover reprint of the 1950's St. John Tor comics, both of which I quite enjoyed. It was nice to re-read those issues of Tor which reprinted the first issue of 1,000,000 B.C. as well as the two 3-D issues that were produced. At one time or another I've had a couple of these, plus the DC reprint set produced in the 1970's. Joe Kubert, like Steve Ditko, had a great influence on my own artwork, and at times I find their very early artwork hard to distinguish from each other (although both artists styles changed later on to be quite unique, with Kubert in his more sketchy style, and Ditko using the more fluid, round-body building techniques).

Steve, when he visted, offered to give me a ride to the comic book shop which was still having their 25% off sale on all store stock, but I sadly declined this time due to lack of funds and when I don't have any extra cash, I sort of find going to such a sale as a mute point. This past year has hit me so hard financially that I rarely have extra cash for anything save the bills, groceries and gas these days, and my "Christmas bonus" this time was more like a "Christmas insult" with it being about half of what I got in 2008, that I just put it all in the bank just to live on.

And...that's it at the moment. Please excuse any typoes as I'm doing this pretty fast. Just wanted to touch base with everyone and wish a Happy New Year to all, and I'll try to post a little more often in 2010.