Go Blue Jays!

 Watching the great World Series games!

First time in years I'm enjoying watching baseball.

I'm rooting for the Toronto Blue Jays to win. Ironic since I stopped closely following baseball when the Toronto Blue Jays last won a World Series in 1996 when they beat my Philadelphia Phillies! 

Times change.

People change.

Go Blue Jays!

Slight Delay!

 

Pat and I November 10, 2013 in Philadelphia, PA

It looks like there is another slight delay in Pat and I getting married! 

I hope to get marriage before this corrupt conservative dominated Supreme Court outlaws same sex marriages. Oh yes, that's going to happen. The only question is are they going to grandfather the law (those who were married before can stay married) or declare null and void ALL same sex marriages. 

I do not have a doubt in the world that is what the Supreme Court will do. Clarence Thomas, the most vile Supreme Court justice only second to Samuel Alito, said as much after they reversed the Roe versus Wade decision that had held for almost fifty years. They (the Supreme Court) are just itching to feed more to their MAGA base and gays are always easy to demonize. Of course they could do something meaningful like demand the Justice Department release the full Epstein files. 

What is the delay this time in Pat and I getting married? Would you believe a cold? Yes, Pat has come down with a terrible cold. The first for him in about ten years. He's really a sick puppy now. I hope this isn't serious but he's pretty sick. He thinks he caught his cold from his bandmate over the past weekend. His bandmate's wife had a serious cold.

I've had a handful of serious colds in my lifetime, all of which I caught from people I worked with who had children in school. And you know schools, especially with small children, those schools are virtual Petri dishes of germs just waiting to be spread.

I Believe

Me, 1952 at ten years old - 3rd grade class picture

When I was 10 years old (74 years ago), I was taught in school the system of checks and balances in the American democracy that would prevent a tyrant taking over. I believed that I, as an American, I was safe from tyrants that often took over other countries. With the ascension of Trump and the total capitulation of the other Republican dominated two branches of government, a tyrant now rules America. However, I believe that the majority of American people will ultimately reject this tyrant

Pat's K-1 VISA Approved!

 

Me and Pat at the LOVE statue in downtown Philadelphia on my birthday, November 10, 2013

Yes folks, you read that right! Pat finally has his K-1 VISA! 

Glory hallelujah! 

Talk about a long frustrating process! 

I began assembling all the information to submit an application for Pat and I to get married August last year, fourteen months ago. In addition to the expense (fees time consuming) he hit a few snags along the way but mainly the process is to prove we're real people and not a scam to bring an illegal into the United States of America. I now see why so many want to just walk across the border. Not for us though, we do things the RIGHT way.

So what does this mean? This means that Pat and I are finally getting married!

Pat is planning on coming down at the end of this month. Right now we're planning on a low key civil ceremony at the Sussex County Courthouse in Georgetown, Delaware. The same venue where Bill and I got married on our 49th anniversary in 2013. 

Pat is planning on staying here for a couple of weeks. We also plan to visit my former home state of Pennsylvania. I would like to see again my former boss and long time friend Bill P. (another "Bill") who now lives in Pittsburgh, the city where I moved to when I got out of the Army in 1963. I also plan to visit my friend Bill B. (yet another "Bill") in my hometown of Downingtown, PA. Bill B. is a former classmate who I have kept in touch all my life. Ironically both of them are Trump supporters (very conservative they are) but we're still fiends unlike my MAGA brother. He's totally brainwashed into the MAGA cult. We stopped speaking a few years ago. He's lost and I won't be visiting him even though he still lives at our former family home in Downingtown. I think the reason he's lost into the MAGA cult is because after he divorced his wife many years ago he lived in my parents basement for years with his massive gaming computer setup. Of course both of my parents are dead now and he continues to live in our old family home. He never remarried (no surprise, he's very hard to get along with) but he does live with his calico cat called "Ditto", named after Russ Limbaugh. But that's enough about him. Like I said, he lost to the MAGA cult. I've tried to help him come to his senses over the years but it's a lost cause. He puts Trump over his own brother. I need say no more.

But on to more pleasant subjects. We will also visit my longtime friend and former fellow bank employee Don McK. who lives in center city Philadelphia. Don is eighty-eight years old now. My two "Bill" friends are my ago. This will probably be the last time I see either of them in this lifetime. You might say this is my "Farewell Tour." 

So what will Pat and I do after we get married?For the time being we will continue to live apart and visit each other from time to time.

Pat and I in Palm Springs this past February - our eventual destination

However, this time he will spend more time down here instead of the usual two or three days he has in the past, when Bill was alive. "My Bill" that is. Pat will stay here for at least two weeks at a time. Then when the real estate market recovers, he will sell and buy a condo in Palm Springs, California. We both know where that condo is. It is in downtown Palm Springs. We stayed there last year. Yes, you figured it out. We'll have TWO homes. After all these years of my hopes and dreams of having a winter vacation spot, it just may come to realization. We both loved that condo location (there are many condos there, all the say so there are at least a half a dozen up for sale all the time) in downtown Palm Springs. 

So there you are folks. Finally, after all this time Pat and I are finally getting married. Almost two years after Bill died. Sort of anti-climatic now because of all the time and work it took to get his K-1 VISA but I'm feeling good that we can spend the rest of our lives together. 

Sometimes dreams do come true!

Bill and Mom

Bill and my Mom, Betty Tipton July 4, 2004 (best friends) 

July 4, 2004 is when I took this photo of Bill and my Mom walking back to our house in Pennsylvania.

I was searching for a photo of Bill this morning to post just because I felt like it. Almost two years now since Bill has gone and I still miss him terribly but I am comforted knowing that both Bill and my Mom are together again in Heaven.

Almost every night now Bill visits me via that burned out Christmas electric light. The past two weeks another burned out light is on now, just below Bill's yellow light. This other one is blue. I believe that is my Mother.

Bill and I Mom were only four years apart in age. They were best friends. Which is ironic because when I came out to my Mother in 1963 she went berserk. Yes, a lot of drama which I have written about before on this blog. She thought I ruined my life. She screamed at me "What did I do wrong? I tried to raise you right!" After I came out, I had no contact with her for over a year. Then came one Thanksgiving and she called me inviting me for Thanksgiving dinner at the family home. I told her if I was coming I would bring Bill, who I was living with at that time. She didn't want that. I told her I wasn't coming unless I brought Bill with me. I wasn't going to hide Bill. She relented and I brought Bill. Long story short, she liked Bill! My father liked Bill! They all became good friends. In fact I think my father liked Bill more than me. Maybe because Bill was butcher than me. Who knows? 

Looking at this picture now I know that Bill and Mom are together in Heaven. And this is as it should be. Gives me comfort knowing this Truth. I also derive comfort knowing that one day I will join them. I look forward to that day.

Updates October 22, 2025

 I was doing the "World of Wednesday" updates but decided to just do my own occasional updates.

Pat and I are still awaiting his K-1 VISA passport from the American Embassy in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. If you'll remember, the latest hurdle we had to jump over was they wanted a copy of my passport. I sent that to them last week via DHL (at a cost of $98 since the Canadian postal workers are on another one of their strikes). I did my tracking and the embassy received my mail. Now we await. I was hoping Pat and I could get married on my birthday November 9th. It's anybody's guess if that will happen. We wait.....patiently.

My latest physical malady is my right leg. I must have pinched a nerve in my leg. The pain is a dull pain, not sharp. Sometimes it goes away but if I'm sitting for an extended period of time, like now typing this blog posting, the pain comes back and I can hardly walk. The other night when I was taking one of my twilight walks through my development the pain was so intense I wasn't sure I could walk back to Casa Tipton-Kelly. I saw my lovely oasis here in southern coastal Delaware but I surely thought I would collapse on the road before I could walk into my house. I barely made it. Now I don't walk too far if and when I take another twilight walk. Which is getting dangerous for another reason, one of my neighbors now has one of those electric bicycles and he's been racing through the neighborhood, round and round and round. Brings back those awful memories of when Bill and I lived I'm Pennsylvania and our god awful homophobic neighbors would race their FOUR ATV's around their two acre property which adjoined our seven acre property. 

I continue to be disheartened by the destruction that Trump is raining down on our country and the failure of the Congressional Republicans and conservative dominated Supreme Court to rein him in. Trump has a record of pushing the limits to see what he can get away with and so far, he's getting away with everything, including extra judicial killings (the so called drug smugglers in boats near Venezuela), indicting his political enemies on flimsy evidence, extorting the government for more money (he wants $230 million from the government for the investigations against him about Russia helping him in the 2016 election), and perhaps the saddest of all, the destruction of the East Wing of the White House so he can build his Mar-a-lago type ballroom to provide a space for all to bow down to him as King. Folks, if you don't think this is going to get worse, then you're smoking something funny. We can have a "No Kings" protests every day but nothing will happen until Congress does something and that's not likely. Does anyone seriously expect Congressional Republicans to grow a spine overnight? And forget the conservative dominated Supreme Court, they're corrupt as hell and have been ever since Mitch McConnel packed the court with his far right political nominees. Alito and Thomas, appointed by Bush Senior were and will always be totally corrupt. 

Now for some good news. I was so happy when the Toronto Blue Jays won the American League pennant. Happy for Pat (being Canadian, of course he's a close follower of the Jays) but also for the underdog. At one time I hated the Blue Jays. That was in the 1993 World Series when they beat the Philadelphia Phillies but I have changed. I don't want to see the Dodgers go to the White House, or what is left of the White House when Trump's wrecking ball is done with it, to kiss Trump's ass. You just know the Blue Jays, if they win the World Series, ain't going to kiss his fat ass.

There, I got some things off my chest. 

Have a great day everyone. God knows where we're going as a country these days.

No Kings Protest Moron - FAFO

 

"Ride your bike you fucking fag!"

Check out this video from Denver Colorado where a MAGA Moron was trying to antagonize No Kings demonstrators yesterday. Talk about Fuck Around and Find Out. Click HERE.

I wasn't able to attend my local No Kings demonstration here in Rehoboth Beach yesterday because of my sore leg but I will do everything in my power to attend the next one. And believe me, there will be a next one. 

Let's make this MAGA Moron famous. 

No doubt Trump will have this asshat over to the White House to award him the Presidential Medal of Freedom. 

Fuck Around and Find Out!

Memories Of The Past

 

A couple of weeks ago I ordered these alphabetic blocks to help me with my daily Wordle game.

Using these colored blocks reminded me of how much I loved playing with blocks as a kid. I didn't have my playbacks for long. They probably disappeared before I went to first grade when I was five years old. 

These days as I approaching the end to this life (I've had many lives, perhaps hundreds if not thousands) I often check out some fond memories in my Memory Bank. Ah, what an innocent time that was, when I first started to attend classes at the Downingtown, East Ward Elementary school. Some of my fondest memories are the smells. The smell of crayola crayons. The smell of overripe bananas from my fellow class members lunch boxes when we ate lunch in the basement of the big stone building (since torn down) of our school building. 

I understand that after we die, on of the first things we do is have a review of our life. Not judgmental, just a review. Perhaps what kind of life we would have had if we had taken a different fork in on of the many crossroads we encounter in our lives.

I look forward to that day.

Birthday Girl!

 

Sisters Karen and Dawn Tipton, Christmas 1976

Pictured here are two of my nieces, Karen and Dawn Tipton. Karen is the blonde. 

A few days ago was her 60th birthday. Hard for me to believe that my niece is sixty! To me she will always be this beautiful innocent blonde girl child. 

Karen is a grandmother now as are almost all of my nieces and one nephew. I have many grand nieces and nephews and even a couple grand-grand nieces. 

Wow! I am old! 

I took this picture at Christmas 1976. On a lark I entered it into a photo contest at the bank where I was working in Philadelphia at that time. Much to my surprise, I won't Third Prize! Only time I've even won a prize for the thousands of pictures I've taken in my lifetime. I'm very proud of this picture though. That's why I'm posting it now on my blog so it will live through eternity. Maybe five hundred years from now one of her descendants will look at this picture of their ancestor and say "Wow! What a beautiful child!" 

Pat, My New Super Hero!

Pat F., super hero!

 Hey folks! Look what I created! My honey and fiancé Pat F. as a super hero flying above the city!

This is the first time I created an AI image with a real person. I love it! And by the way, doesn't Pat look hot? That's my Pat! Truly my super hero!

My Oasis

My oasis here in southern coastal Delaware. Just short of one acre (.97 acres), I spend a lot of time and money creating and maintaining this retreat from the chaos of the outside world. Come along and experience this one minute of zen with me.

High Blood Pressure

 

The thugs running my country now.

This morning I went to my local VA Outpatient Clinic for my six month checkup. As I was waiting for them to call me I took this picture of the new leaders of my country (the United States of America) and the new VA Secretary. Notice that Trump's picture is his mug shot that was taken during his arrest in Georgia for asking the Georgia Secretary of State to "find him enough votes" to win the 2020 presidential election in Georgia that he lost to Biden. Here is exactly what he said:

"All I want to do is this. I just want to find 11,780 votes, which is one more than we have, because we won the state."

Later in the call, he pleaded with the officials:

"So, what are we going to do here, folks? I only need 11,000 votes. Fellas, I need 11,000 votes. Give me a break."

This from Trump, whose whole life has been cheating and fraud. 

These three pictures "greeted me" this morning just shows how far my country has fallen. 

As I was contemplating the sorry state of my country, I was called in for my appointment. My blood pressure was taken. It was 203 over 83 thus confirming what I have always feared. I'm going to die before my country gets right again.

Shame on those cowardly Republicans in Congress who have betrayed their oath to the Constitution when they were sworn in to provide a check on Trump and his thugs abuse of power. Shame on those who voted for Trump and those who were too lazy to not even vote that have caused this grave risk to the democracy in this country that I (foolishly) always took for granted. 

Shame. Shame. Shame.

An Unforgettable Father's Toast At His Gay Son's Wedding

See if you can get through this video without choking up. The best I can say about this is that I did not have a father like this. But what I can say is that my father did like Bill. Thank God. My Mother loved Bill too. I am so comforted to know they are all together in Heaven now.

Bill with my parents at their home sometime in the 70's

From left to right, my father Ike Tipton, Bill and my Mother Betty Tipton and my father's dog "Pepper" (oh how he loved that dog!)  All in Heaven now!

Bill Blinks His Light For Me

This is a video I took last night of how Bill communicates with me.

Bill died a year and a half ago (February 22, 2024). During the time I was his caregiver for the last three years of his life, we often discussed about the existence of an afterlife. We agreed that if there was one and he could contact me, that he would do that.

It didn't take too long for him to figure that out. Three days after he died, while I was in my kitchen I noticed a burned out Christmas light that was blinking. This was so unusual because those lights, which I had put up several years ago and never took down because Bill, with his macular degeneration, preferred to see those bright colors up year round; those light never blinked. Many of them, including the one that was blinking, was burned out. 

I was confused at first as to why that light was blinking then it struck me, Bill was an electrician by trade his whole life here on earth. Of course he would contact me through electrical means. And especially those colorful Christmas lights which he loved so much. 

Since that time a year and a half ago right after Bill died, that light sometimes is out for months at a time. But it always comes back. Lately it's been coming back a lot, especially when I'm lonely and depressed. When I see that light blinking, which is in my direct line of vision where I stand in my kitchen, I'm always uplifted because I know Bill's spirit is with me. Lately that light has been blinking a lot. I think it's because Pat got his final approval from the American Embassy in Montreal for us to get married. A week and a half before Bill died, he called me aside to him to tell me "Something's changed. I want you to know that I wish you and Pat all the happiness in the world." A week and a half later Bill was gone. He knew.

The fifty-nine and a half years Bill and I lived together he did everything to make me happy. That was Bill. That's how blessed I was to have him in my life. It is so amazing that even in his afterlife he continues to wish me well. That's Bill.

I don't care what anybody thinks. I know that Bill and I will eventually bed reunited when I go Home to be with him in Heaven. This I know. I have proof his spirit exists.

Upate Sunday October 5, 2025

 

Believe it or not folks it's actually going to happen!

Pat has been approved for his K-1 VISA. Now he awaits the American Embassy in Montreal to send him his new passport with the K-1 VISA certification. 

I don't know how long that is going to take, hopefully not long. Once he receives his new passport he's going to drive down here to my home in southern coastal Delaware from his home in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. We will get married at the Sussex County Courthouse in nearby Georgetown, Delaware. The same place Bill and I were married in July of 2013. I'm planning now on getting married on my 84th birthday November 9, 2025. That way I'll never forget our anniversary date. 

Never in my wildest dreams when I was a young man (many years ago) did I ever think I would be married, let alone twice in one lifetime. I have indeed been very fortunate in this life. 

For our "honeymoon trip" I'm planning a trip to my hometown of Downingtown, Pennsylvania. Stay there a few days indulging in memories then a trip across the state to Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. When I got out of the Army in January of 1963, I came out in Pittsburgh (I had friends there). I didn't stay in Pittsburgh too long though but I would like to see the house where I rented an efficiency room for eight dollars a week. Also, my longtime former boss at Girard Bank lives in Pittsburgh. I would like to visit him one last time before we both depart this earth. He's a year younger than me and you know how old I will be on my birthday, eighty four! 

Photos and videos will follow. You know me!

For Bill

Bill's stairway to his downstairs bedroom

 Monday I pulled out all stops and put in new rope lights to Bill's stairs. The previous ones had almost burned out. This was a big job.

Bill loved his downstairs (our finished basement) bedroom. Ironically I didn't even know I had that room. When I was having this house built in 2006, I was preoccupied in selling out Pennsylvania house. I only came down on weekends to mow the grass.

When we finally sold our Pennsylvania house eleven months later (yes, eleven months later!), and we moved in here I assumed Bill would take the upstairs bedroom because that's the kind of bedroom he had at our Pennsylvania house.   When he told me he was taking the "downstairs room" I said "what room?" I thought he meant the big media room. He said "No, the room to the side (right) of the stairs." I had to go down and look and viola! There was a room completely drywalled, drop ceiling, pot lights, carpeted. "How about that?" I thought to myself. And that room tucked in by the stairs was Bill's room for the nineteen years we lived here. He loved that room. Since he died, I haven't changed a thing in his room. I even leave the lights on and his hearing aids in the charger. Bill's container of ashes and his American flag are also in his room. His room is my memorial to Bill. I don't have to visit a cemetery and look at a headstone and the ground to visit Bill. I go downstairs to his room. 

A couple of weeks ago about half the rope lights that lined the stairs to his room had burned out. I was going to leave it. Then, I noticed that every time I used those stairs, I got a little depressed. Maybe the stairs were a metaphor for Bill's passing. Whatever was triggering my depression I had to change it. It was big job removing the old rope lights and installing the new ones, with my arthritic body resisting all that bending bur I got it done.

Now when I descend and ascend those stairs; those bright lights remind me of the bright light that Bill brought into my life for fifty-nine years.