Castnic World

11/08/2024

Country singer Dolly Parton wrote the songs "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene" on the same night.
When the first song was at the top of the charts in 1974, Elvis wanted to record his own version of the song. Dolly was interested until Colonel Tom Parker, Elvis' manager, said that it was standard procedure that when the king of rock and roll covered a song - half of the rights to that song would go to him in the future. She refused it.
"I said, 'I'm really, really sorry' and cried all night. It was terrible for me, on the one hand, it's Elvis. People told me: "You are crazy." It's Elvis Presley...' but I just couldn't do it. Something told me in my heart not to do it and I didn't. I know he would rock with that song. But I couldn't. And then Whitney Houston came along with her version and I made enough money from the rights to buy Dollywood."
She grew up in severe poverty and no one famous has done more for the education of the poor than her.
In 1990, the percentage of students who did not graduate from high school in her hometown was over 30%. She introduced the "Buddy Program", where all high school graduates received a nice sum when they graduated. It wasn't just a waste of money, she personally came and explained the concept to them - everyone should find a buddy, and whoever doesn't succeed she will find one for them. Everyone had to sign that they would graduate and do everything in their power to ensure that their buddy also graduated. She taught young people about friendship and helping. The number of school dropouts dropped to below 6% and has remained so until today.
When 900 families lost their homes in the 2016 fires, she paid each family $1,000 for the next five months. When she came to the bank to finish the paperwork, she gave each family another $5,000 to find. A total of nine million dollars.
Also, her work - Imagination Library from 1995, was inspired by her realization that young people in rural areas and poor families already fall behind when they start school and that this prevents them from pursuing higher education. The goal of her program was for every child in her district to receive one book, once a month, from birth to school, completely free of charge, without any conditions. It started as an initiative in her hometown and has spread to a huge number of countries around the world. By 2018, over 100 million books were distributed in this way.
She is also known for her witty statements, at the beginning of her career she said-"I'm not offended by jokes about stupid blondes because I know I'm not stupid... and I'm not really blonde either."

11/07/2024

"Dear Chick-fil-A,
I stopped at your location on Rockville Rd. in Indianapolis, IN an hour ago. The line for the drive-thru was pretty long, so I decided to go inside. When I entered, I saw a gentleman behind your cash register, who was working with a neck brace & a sling. For anyone to work in those conditions is commendable, but it's amazing for someone in his generation to have that type of work ethic. When I placed my order, I asked him what happened to him. He said he was involved in a car accident days earlier, but was working because he needed the money and that he also wanted to use his money to feed the homeless for Christmas. And of course, he was polite and courteous.
I, along with some friends of mine, plan on making a donation to him to help him and his cause, and I wanted to know if your company would be willing to match what we contribute, or even sponsor his organization and provide all the food/drinks needed? His name is Jakeem Tyler."
Credit: Cameron Nelson

11/06/2024

My thoughts from the tractor seat.
Common sense.
I’m amazed at the lack of common sense these days. There is a lot of book smart people out there... but not a lot of common sense. You could give some people a fly swatter and they wouldn’t know the first thing about what to do with it.
We’ve all heard of common sense... but where does it come from?? Well most of it is acquired from attending the school of hard knocks, and much of it was also passed down from those that had it passed to them or had the opportunity to gain it for themselves firsthand.
Growing up on a farm, and being around animals and equipment you get a crash course in common sense from a young age. So I’ll share a few things I’ve learned over the years.
Always check an electric fence wire with the back of your hand. Because if you grab hold of it, you might not be able turn loose.
Never accept a challenge to p*e over an electric fence the results can be shocking.
If someone says the electric fence wire isn’t “hot” make sure thet ain’t wearing rubber sole shoes on before you give it a touch.
Just because an old milk cow is gentle don’t mean she’ll let ya ride her.
Don’t sneak up on any animal when they’re eating.
All paint horses buck.
Duck eggs laying in the sun are time bombs, don’t mess with em they can go off unexpectedly and the end result stinks.
Some people are like skunks, their behavior is best observed from a distance.
If something won’t start check to see if it has fuel first.
Cross threading a nut is not considered a good alternative to a locknut.
When there’s an option between using a crescent wrench and a boxed end wrench, always go for the boxed end.
A crescent wrench is not a hammer!!
Before you grab a hammer try the penetrating oil.
Screwdrivers are not pry bars, and a pocket knife is not a screwdriver.
You can learn how to make your pa mad and what not to do by watching your brother... and it’s best not to laugh at his outcome.
You’ll hurt people’s feelings less if you just tell it like it is. Trying to be politically correct is the same as trying to pick up a turd by the clean end.
I’ve learned that most of the time luck is spelled “W O R K”.
Men you should never compete with a woman. If you win you haven’t done anything, if you lose you’ll never live it down.
You can go broke buying bargains.
When an old man says “let me tell you something” it’s best to give him your full attention.
Getting in too big of a hurry can waste twice as much time.
Just a few words of wisdom from a dumb farmer that’s been there and done that.
Credits Farm life

11/05/2024

Our six-year-old handed us a note. His teacher had called my wife and I in for an emergency meeting. We asked our son if he had any idea why
and he said, "She didn't like a drawing I did."
We went in the next day.
His teacher pulled the drawing below out and said, "I asked him to draw his familv and he drew this. Would vou mind explaining?"
"Not at all." my wife said. "Family vacation. Snorkelling off the Bahamas. 😂😂

11/05/2024

It looks bluddy brilliant - good man!
That'll teach your snowflake neighbour.

11/04/2024

Before the names Julia Child and Martha Stewart came about, there was Lena Richard. She was the first Black woman in America to host her own cooking television show. In the 1940's, Blacks were still facing a lot of discrimination, including finding jobs and having careers. Lena was able to achieve much success.

Not only was she on television, she also owned two restaurants, had a frozen food business, she wrote a cookbook that sold nationwide and she opened her own culinary school to teach cooking and home economics to aspiring Black chefs. Lena Richard was a forgotten pioneer. I think a documentary or biopic needs to be made on her just like Julia Child!!

( All credit goes to the original creator 🙂 )

11/02/2024

"To the usher at the Cardinals game who spent two innings finding my son a bottle of milk:

When I asked you if you knew where I could find milk for my son, at Busch Stadium on a sweltering summer evening, I expected you to tell me I was out of luck, or at best offer a vague suggestion.

Instead, you took us several sections over into the Redbird Club even though our tickets didn’t grant us access, because you knew it housed a bakery – but they were out of milk. Instead of giving up, you took us three levels down to a store on the main concourse, where we once again struck out – which you know, because you stayed and helped us look. So you led us halfway around the stadium to a donut stand, where we at last found what we were looking for. While I paid for it you grabbed us the straw my son was asking for, along with some napkins for good measure. And then you went back with us, halfway around the stadium and up three levels and back through the Redbird Club and over several sections, to make sure we didn’t get lost on our way back, because we’d had to travel so very far to find that bottle of milk. It took two innings, but you made sure my son was happy.

You did all this not knowing why that milk was important to us. You may have thought my son was spoiled, or that I was a pushover unwilling to say no to her three year old. If you thought that, you didn’t show it. You were wonderful.

What you didn’t know is that beneath my son’s Yadi t-shirt there’s a central line and a feeding tube. You didn’t know that the unusual form and function of his little body mean that he dehydrates easily, but also that drinking too much water could ultimately land us in the hospital, and for whatever reason, against most logic, right now milk is the thing he tolerates best.

You didn’t know that for the better part of the last three years it’s been incredibly hard for us to go places on a whim, or that in recent months we’ve vowed not to let his medical needs stop us from doing things, and so taking up our friends on these last-minute Cardinals tickets was a small triumph for us. You didn’t know that we might be facing another big surgery soon that could keep us mostly quarantined to our own house for weeks or months; or that I’d forgotten to grab his milk because I’d received an unexpected and lengthy phone call from his doctor as we were packing up our ballgame bag and had been distracted by talking through the laundry list of changes she wanted us to make in a last-ditch effort to avoid that surgery.

You didn’t know those things. You just saw a boy who wanted some milk, and you were kind to him. And I can’t thank you enough."
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Credit This Gutsy Life

10/29/2024

I'm 73, and recently, my son said something that left me stunned. He told me I should stop wearing dresses and start dressing more "comfortably" now that I'm older. He thinks I should be in looser clothes, but I love my dresses! They make me feel good, and I see no reason why I should suddenly change my style just because I've aged a bit.
I was honestly offended. I don't feel like my age should dictate what I wear, and I've always believed that if something makes you feel confident and happy, you should wear it! Am I wrong for feeling this way? Is there an age where you're supposed to stop caring about how you look? I'd love to know what others think—should I really be rethinking my wardrobe, or is my son out of line?

10/28/2024

A photo of Concetta Franconero, yet many of you know her by Connie Francis. This was taken last year, as she was leaving her home in Florida. She brought so many Italian American girls to tears when hearing her renditions of "Mama" and "Al Di La" in the 50's and 60's. Connie sung them with so much emotion and her songs will live on forever. Especially her hits "Stupid Cupid," "Where the Boys Are," "Lipstick on Your Collar" and "My Happiness." She's one of the greatest singers of all time. God bless her. ♥

10/27/2024

Just had a phone call off my friend's phone and it was this guy (mark woolfe) Smiling Times he rang to say he found the phone on the bench along with some other things and wanted to trace the owner, I told him to take it home with him and il get my friend to collect it from him, mark replied this is my home, I sleep here at the bus stop! 😕 this homeless man went out of his way to return the phone this needs to be shared people!!! What an absolute amazing man good on you mark!!!!

10/24/2024

10/23/2024

"My husband doesn't have a lot, neither of us do. We scrape and scrape to pay bills and put food in our bellies, but after almost 2 years of dating we decided that we couldn't wait anymore, so we didn't.
I wasn't even thinking about rings, I just wanted to marry my best friend, but he wouldn't have it. He scraped up just enough money to buy me two matching rings from Pandora. Sterling silver and CZ to be exact. That's what sits on my ring finger, and I am so in love with them.
While we were purchasing my rings however, another lady that was working there came over to help the lady selling them to us. She said, 'Y'all can you believe that some men get these as engagement rings? How pathetic.' When she said that I watched my now husband's face fall. He already felt bad because he couldn't afford the pear-shaped set that so obviously had my heart and covered my Pinterest page. He already felt like a failure, asking me again and again 'Are you sure you'll be happy with these? Are you sure this is okay?' He was so upset at the idea of not making me happy enough and of me not wanting to marry him because my rings didn't cost enough money or weren't flashy enough.
Old Ariel would have ripped that woman a new one. Mature Ariel said, 'It isn't the ring that matters, it is the love that goes into buying one that is.' We bought the rings and left.
Y'all I would have gotten married to this man if it had been a 25¢ gum ball machine ring. When did our nation fall so far to think the only way a man can truly love a woman is if he buys her $3,000+ jewelry and makes a public decree of his affection with said flashy ring? Sure they are nice, sure the sentiment is wonderful and I'm not trying to cut down any of your experiences, but when did it come to all that? Why do material possessions equate love??
My husband was so afraid of me not wanting him because he couldn't afford a piece of jewelry. He was afraid that the love I have for him would pale because he couldn't afford the wedding set I wanted. The world has made it this way and it is so sad. Ultimately we couldn't wait any longer.. so we eloped. I've never been this happy in my life and I couldn't imagine spending it with anyone else ever. Here I am, Court-House married, $130 ring set, the love of my life by my side and happier than I could ever imagine."

10/21/2024

A lot of people drowned simply because they didn't know:
If you find yourself underwater in a car, don't panic.
🔴1. Dont waste your energy trying to push the door
🟠2. Do not open the window, the force of the water entering the car will not allow you to get out
🟡3. Take out the head rest
🟢4. Use the steel sharp tip and break the back window that has kick out glass on it. (I did not know this)
🔵The car by engineering and design is intended to float in the water and the rear window will always be facing the exit.
🟣 This could save your life.

10/20/2024

10/19/2024

A lot of grade-school aged kids may have stayed away from my sister Mary or thought she was weird because she has Downs Syndrome. But not Ben. He always looked out for her, always made sure to pick her on his team at recess and even made a promise to her in 4th grade to take her to the prom someday. 7 years later, he made good on that promise and in the process put a smile on Mary's face & restored my faith in humanity. Have a great time at the prom you two!

Credit: Tom Lapkowicz ( respect 🫡)
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10/19/2024

In a quiet corner of Germany, bags of food are discreetly hung for those in need—the poor, the hungry, and the vulnerable. There are no public displays or fanfare, no cameras or videos to capture the act. It’s simply an unspoken gesture of goodwill and service, done with humility and compassion. This quiet kindness, absent of any need for recognition, serves as a powerful reminder that true generosity often goes unseen, yet its impact is deeply felt.

10/17/2024

This morning at 8:45, I got Alyssa out of the car, and she immediately spotted a state trooper through the window at Dunkin'. The line was long, stretching all the way to the door, but Alyssa ran straight up to the officer at the front, hugged him, and excitedly exclaimed, "THE POLICE!" He smiled and said, "Hi sweetie!" and without hesitation, Alyssa added, "Thank you for protecting us!"
The officer, clearly touched, picked her up and bought her a doughnut. The whole store was smiling, and they kindly let me skip to the front of the line to capture this sweet moment. The officer told Alyssa that if she ever wanted a police car, she could come down to the station and ask for Danny, and he'd make sure she got one.
Sometimes, as parents, we doubt ourselves, but today I felt proud knowing that Ryder and I are raising our girls with respect from a young age. Moments like this remind me of the values we are instilling in them. So often, we hear negative stories about law enforcement, but it's important to remember that a few bad apples don't define the many brave men and women who risk their lives to protect us. This random act of kindness from a stranger filled my heart with gratitude.
I don’t know who this kind officer was, but thank you for brightening my day and making a lasting impression on my daughter. ❤
Credit: New Jersey State Police (respect 🫡)