Category Archives: Uncategorized

Gold versus Silver

I was going to try to fool you into thinking I was going to write about the value of owning Gold compared to Silver as a Commodity. I intended to use my wit towards the end of my story so that you could see I was actually comparing two types of women instead of precious metals. I may be a smart-alec but I am not smart enough to pull a story like that off.

I do not know if I could have done it or not because after doing a little research on both metals I gave up because it was like doing homework. It was just too much trouble.

My real intent for the whole column this week is to say Happy Birthday to my Precious Silver Haired Bride. I know, you’re wondering “how did you think you was going to pull that off, and make it sound romantic by comparing your wife to a piece of metal”. I don’t know.

I was thinking of the young girls of today…… not for my own selfish reasons…… lol, so don’t even let your mind wonder.

The younger women, I should say, I was going to compare to gold as an investment. How? Well consider how fair and beautiful a bar of gold is. Everybody fawns over it and wants it because it is shiny and soft to the touch and when other people see it they are most definitely thinking of a strategy that will remove it from your possession.

Since I can’t really think of way to compare the two without sounding like an idiot I will concentrate on silver as an investment. Silver in this case is Roxane Holt: my silver haired beauty.

Silver is in the same category as gold since it is a precious metal. Silver may not appear to be as valuable as gold when you first think about it but in many ways it is much more valuable.

How many of my readers possess a gold coin? Let us say you do, now where is it? Locked up somewhere I bet.

The same question… How many of my readers have silver coins?  Let’s say you do, now where is it? They are probably right out in the open, on the mantelpiece, or
in a jar so you can show them off. You don’t have to worry about damage to a
silver coin because it is much sturdier than the gold. You don’t want to lock
it away because a little loving caress with a soft cloth will make it outshine
anything else of value you may have and you feel good about showing it off to
family and friends.

My wife is not a piece of metal nor is she a possession as I have allured to. She is however the most precious thing in my life. I can compare her to the silver coin because she is valuable to me. She has silver hair……. She says it is gray but I know what I’m talking about. When the sun shines on her, she is just like a polished silver coin and outshines anything else.

I take my silver with me. It is not locked up. I am proud to show my silver off to the world.

Is sturdy a sexy or romantic thing to call my wife on her birthday? No, it is not but there is hidden value to that word. My wife has endured great pain and mental anguish through the years and I am sad to say many of those pains were my fault. She is still here, rock steady in her beliefs and set in her ways. Roxane is still the same steady, sturdy, reliable woman I fell in love with so many years ago.

I fell in love with a woman that had a full head of dark hair, and could easily be compared to a 24kt gold nugget because of her beauty and the desire of others wanting to take her away from me.

I am still in love with the same woman, but I would have to compare her to silver now, not that she is any less valuable but for the years of that soft loving touch she is more beautiful today and just like a silver coin that has been polished to a pure white shine she outshines everything else, even a bar of gold.

Today is Roxane Holt’s birthday, she is 51. Find her on Facebook and tell her “your husband is still madly in love with you”.

Even God said….. If a man finds a wife, he has found a good thing.

If you have missed, any of my post become a member of my blog www.charlesmcdonaldholt.com

Charles Holt

CHARLES@VANTAGEPOINTBOOKS

August 23, 2011

Posted in Uncategorized |

2 comments

1. Wow! What a write up! Thank you so much for the BIG slap on the back. I couldn’t even spell Author and now I are one. lol… I stole that corny line from my dad but it fits. There is no way I deserve the attention but I do enjoy it. With praise like this I will have to buy a bigger cowboy hat. Thank you very much. Charles Holt

                   bycharlesmcdonaldholt August 23, 2011 at 4:08 pm                         

   Reply
   • You are most welcome, Charles. We’re excited to have the book on our inaugural list!

                     byvantagepress August 24, 2011 at 2:20 pm                         

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I watched a man cry today

I saw him…. He saw me as well through the tears but I know his vision was nothing but
a blur.

What happened???

I know this man and crying is not his forte. What an embarrassment. This guy was
supposed to be strong. He may not be as young as he once was but I didn’t know
getting older made a man weak like this.

He is just standing there with his lips all curled up and eyes squinted looking like
a bawling newborn. What is it that can break a man like him?

This fellow is a leader…. He used to have such a powerful personality, and many have
said that’s what makes him so affective at his job. But look at him now.

A Father?? Yes but what kind? A husband?? Again Yes but what kind? How can a
weeping man be anything but weak? What made him crumble? You may think I am
being insensitive but I am curious as to what has happened.

Perhaps he is remembering the loss of a loved one or maybe more than just one. Has he
lost a child and regrets the last words spoken? Could it be his Father has
passed on to the other side without fulfilling dreams they shared together?
Could it be his friend that died of cancer or his cousin? I know his
Grandfather and Grandmother are gone.

I don’t know. Maybe it is the pressure of the job. He is a long way from home so maybe
he feels homesick.

Could it be the loneliness he feels creeping upon him and trying to strangle him? The
house is empty.

I don’t know what made that man break but I’m glad nobody else had to see it. His wife
and Granddaughter will be back from the store in a little while and the
loneliness will disappear once again. Maybe that’s all it is.

I look at the weak man one more time; to offer him courage only to see the patches of
whiskers I have missed.

And this too shall pass…………..

God is Good all the Time.
I am strong. My  God; calls me His own, My Wife; calls me her Love, Mom says she is praying for me, my Granddaughter jumps up and down like a puppy to meet me at the door. The crying man has gone away.     I realize I have no need to shed tears except for the joy I feel right now.

Charles Holt

Save a Biscuit for me Grandma.

I think that is the single phrase I used most when talking
to Grandma Holt.

Grandma Holt is known by many names and by many people. One
could call her his wife and others could call her Mom.

To some she was called Naoma and others Sister Holt. Many
people call her Mama Holt but to a handful of us we knew her as Nana or
Grandma.

Grandma passed away and I know she is with Jesus in a happy
place along with loved ones that preceded her arrival. I know we all understand
the suffering on this earth is over for her but we still want her to stay at
the same time.

Grandma Holt is a lady that has not evolved in my lifetime.
You may not understand my statement but just hang on.

I don’t know what Grandma was like as a young lady. I’m sure
she had dreams of reaching for the stars and I’m sure she had troubled times
just like everyone else but I just can’t picture it in my head.

I can’t picture Grandma Holt even thinking of doing
something wrong or telling a lie. I sure can’t imagine her as a trouble maker or
one to tell a joke that wasn’t of the purest nature.

I don’t know what Grandma Holt would look like without her
long hair tied up in a bun and wearing a modest dress.

I can tell you we all know what she looks like when she
starts to wag that finger at you. It has wagged itself out of joint a time or
two just at me. Grandma always laughed but when I would tell a joke that started
getting border-line that finger would whip out and I swear I could hear the
theme song to The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.

Just recently I felt froggy so I told her a joke about how
to capture a polar bear…………….. wewhh… I almost lost an eye!!

I lied and said
“Grandma, Pastor Orange told me that joke” she said “well wait till I see him, I’ll
tell him what for!” “Grandma” I said…. “It’s just a joke….. It’s funny….. I
can’t help that your mind thought it was ugly”. Let me tell you it was a clean
joke but so close to the edge Grandma Holt felt it was inappropriate. I’m just
thankful I had already eaten the biscuits she had saved for me before I told
it.

In a lot of ways I can compare Grandma Holt to Jesus.

Grandma did not evolve to conform to the world. She had her
feet on the path before I ever knew her and she was the sweet God fearing woman
all the way through my life and to the end of hers.

When I say Grandma did not evolve I mean it as the greatest
compliment I can think of. Grandma Holt accepted me and she never wavered in
her love for any of us just like Christ Himself.

God may have fed the Israelite’s with Manna from Heaven but
Grandma Holt made better biscuits.

We always hear at times like this…… we are not here to
grieve but to celebrate a life. Well that’s bologna! I’m going to miss her. I
love you Grandma Holt…….. save me a biscuit.

TenderFoot’s
Corner

Who am I ?

My Name is
Charles Holt and I do not have a Bow-Flex body.

I am a long
time resident of Newton County Texas, more specifically Deweyville Texas.

I grew up in
a small town as most of you that read this will already know. In a time when
telling a lie would bring corporal punishment and respect for our elders was
just part of the way God made us.

I was
fortunate to be taught by the finest School Teacher in the world; Mrs. Shirley
Wilson. I haven’t seen or heard anything about her since I left school to join
the Military in 1983. I remember other educators that I may reminisce about
another time but Mrs. Wilson if you’re out there; I have never forgotten you
and could never repay you for the personal interest you took in me as a
student.

I would have
graduated with The Class of 1985 if I had finished school. As it was I joined
the U.S. Army in 1983 and from there I joined the U.S. Coast Guard.

I have a combined
career in Law Enforcement that spans 17 years with 5 of those with Newton
County Sheriff’s Office. Some of you may remember that.

I am the
Author of charles@afghanistan, which was released August 1, 2011. The book was
available for pre-orders a month earlier and I am proud to say it has remained
on Amazons Top 100 Hot New Releases in its category for 7 weeks now.

Newton
County News is going to let me write a column but I must say my stories are
going to be all my own. I do not consider myself a writer so don’t go and blame
the New Paper. I have a very warped sense of humor and somehow it reflects in
my writing. I think a writer should know what he is going to write before he or
she puts ink to paper but I don’t. I start writing and my fingers seem to know
what they want to say before my brain engages. My wife would argue that my
brain never engages but she is a woman so I just tune her out like the
background noise on an airplane.

Order my
book on Amazon to get an idea of my writing style…. And to put money in my
pocket. lol

Every week
as long as Newton County News will put up with me I will offer my opinion on
the world around me and the people in it. You will be able to write me back on
my blog www.charlesmcdonaldholt.com and may find your story included in
my weekly post. At the very least you will be immortalized for communing with a
future Best Selling Author.

See what I
mean…. My fingers seem to know the future… I wonder if they know what body they
are connected to.

Anyway, I
have introduced myself so next week expect anything. I will tell a lot of
stories about my wife and you will wonder how I survived living with her. I
will tell about my accounts in the Military and some of my moments with the Sheriff’s
Department, my personal bout with an Angel of God and my resent diagnosis of
Diabetes. See you next week, let the fun begin.

Well folks some good news. Those of you that pre-ordered my book charles@afghanistan will receive their copy about a month early. The first 20,000 copies came off the press yesterday and according to Amazon will be delivered by June 29. The shelf copies are still scheduled for August 1st. Anyone wanting to order online can do so at http://www.amazon.com/Charles-McDonald-Holt/e/B004VMY6IU/ref=sr_ntt_srch_lnk_1?qid=1307587700&sr=8-1 Thanks everybody,    Charles

I put up a new page and I cant figure out how to link the two. I am posting this to inform my followers that a new subject page is up on my site. I have been diagnosed with diabetes less than a week ago and I am going to document the fun it brings. Come on and sign up or at least visit my first installment. This going to be a new adventure…………. I don’t even have to leave the house for this journey to be interesting. I will continue to update both pages from time to time.   https://charlesmcdonaldholt.com/about/diabetect-who-me/

Oh yeah charles@afghanistan comes out in 39 days…….. but who is counting?

Charles

The fishing story I went fishing today.

I love to fish and I try to go fishing everywhere I go just to say I did.

The water was as clear as a swimming pool and I could see the bass bedding down near a group of rotted-out trees. The trees were still standing but had no leaves to give shade. The bass were hanging around the darkest part, that being the trunk of the trees, but the sun was able to shine right down and light them up anyway.

I’m talking about some lunkers here, fifteen to twenty pounds apiece.

I didn’t have my normal rig I like to fish with, but I did have a good fly rod. I know you think I’m crazy trying to catch a bass that big with a fly rod and with such clear water, but I didn’t know what to fish with. Most of the waters I’ve ever bass-fished were nowhere near this clear, and most of the time they were downright muddy. I know how to fish a muddy body of water, but this was new and wonderful being able to see what I was fishing for.

The main drawback was that I couldn’t get very close to them because I was standing on the bank. I had the beautiful snowcapped Himalayas behind me with a cool breeze blowing just enough to keep me comfortable but not enough to make the water ripple, so I never lost sight of my bass. I tied on a white fly. I had no idea what these bass like to eat, but a good habit I have is looking at what surrounds the body of water I am going to fish. If it is a muddy bank with crawfish, then I will go for dark, large bait of some sort without too many things that shine like spinner baits. If the banks are covered in grass or swampy, then I go for the lighter colors and my favorite baits for this area would be a weedless frog.

I was standing on the most beautiful sandy beach beside the clearest freshwater lake I have ever seen, with the most bass I have ever seen, not to mention the largest bass I have ever seen. I didn’t know what to use as bait. I was looking around and found that the area had quite a few flying ants. These ants had big white wings and when they would fall in the water these bass would suck them under. They didn’t make a loud splashing sound, just a slight slurping noise and the ant was gone.

I chose my fly to match the flying ant as closely as possible. The very first cast I made, I saw the biggest bass I have ever seen in my life coming to investigate it along with a few smaller ones. They all just looked at my fly but didn’t do anything but look at it and then swam back down to their bedding area. I cast about twenty times with the same results every time. I was desperate now, I wanted a fish, I wanted the big one, but I was willing to settle for any one of them. I thought I would try something.

Thinking it was my human smell on the bait that was turning them off, I decided to fix it. I found an old tree covered with these flying ants and caught about a dozen of them. I killed them and rubbed their little bodies all over my lure, trying to transfer as much of their odor to it as possible.

I cast this time . . . and the same thing. I saw the monster bass come to look it over and just when I thought he was going to go back down, a smaller bass headed for my ant-smelling bait. I guess he thought the smaller bass was going to get the ant so he rushed back and gobbled up my bait.

I didn’t know what hap¬pened, one second he was going to the bottom without taking my lure and the next second he was heading to the bottom with my lure. He caught me by surprise and almost took my rod from me. You would think after spending years fishing in water you can’t see a strike coming, I would not have been caught by surprise.

My heart was pounding out of my chest, my rod was about to break, I was fighting at least a twenty-pound bass on a fly rod with a seven-pound test line. I had to finesse this monster or he would break something and I would lose him for sure.

I played this bass for about twenty minutes before he started to get tired. I was walking up and down the bank trying to keep him from getting tangled up in the stand of trees he had been bedding down in. He would rip the line off the spool and I would ease it back on. This was one of the greatest fishing moments of my life.

He finally got tired and I was able to get him up to the sandy bank where I was. I pulled him in ever so gently because at any moment he could make another run for it and if I wasn’t ready when he spooked, all of my efforts would be in vain.

I eased him into the shallow water and I lay down on my stomach so I could reach him without having to wade out. He gave one last splash but I had him. I had my thumb in his mouth and I wasn’t letting go. He splashed so much water in my face, I had to close my eyes. When I opened my eyes again, my boss was standing over me with an empty water cup saying, “Get back to work and if I catch you sleeping on the job again you’re fired. And why do you have a thumb stuck in my tuna sandwich?” Charles

PS: This book from beginning to end is true to my experiences and knowledge except “The Fishing Story.” I love to fish and a true fisherman has a little fiction in him somewhere.

A conversation with Dad

• Hey
  Son, get up; I thought you wanted to go fishing.
• Huh?
  I do, but you quit on me, and ruined our plans. What time is it anyway? Where
  are you?
• I’m
  sorry Son that my body quit but I didn’t quit. You still owe me a fishing trip
  and you’re not getting out of it that easy. I wanted so much to get better and
  buy a boat so we could spend the quality time on the water together that we
  missed when you were younger.
• I’m
  sorry Dad I couldn’t buy the boat last year when I wanted. I was going to
  surprise you this past April though. Roxane and I were on tour with a show that
  was bringing us home for almost a month. I had these big plans of sneaking into
  to town and buying that Alweld boat you wanted so much. Then I was going to ask
  you to take me into town to pick something up for me. You wouldn’t have even
  figured it out when I asked you to pull into look at the new boats because we
  have been looking at so many. That was my plan, it really was. I played the
  scene over and over in my head how it would play out. We would drive in, get
  out and start looking and wishing until you spotted the 18ft Alweld Boat with
  all the gear just like you wanted. The live well, rod box, trolling motor….the big
  trolling motor not a dinky one, and the Bass fighting chairs that sit up on a
  deck both on the front and the back. I’ve seen you a thousand times in my
  dreams looking at that thing and exclaiming “yeap that right there, I could do
  some damage with that boat on the river”. I can’t describe the look on your
  face when the salesman would bring us the Title to the boat and wish us well in
  our Fishing Adventures. I say I can’t describe the look on your face because in
  every version of my dream you had me wrapped in a bear hug crying.
• I
  didn’t know Charles you wanted to do that for me.
• It
  wasn’t just for you; Mom and I were going with you. I’m not sure if it would
  have held more than three people at a time all casting rods so I would have
  taken turns with my Wife so she could experience the anxiety of sitting in the
  middle of the boat while you’re in the front slinging chunks of metal
  containing hooks and Mom is in the back doing the same. Sitting in between you
  two gives a person the same kind of feeling a Goldfish must have when he
  discovers he has been moved into a blender momentarily while his tank is being
  cleaned. Anxiety, Anxiety, Anxiety and yes I would relish sitting in the middle
  again.
• HaHa,
  we did get you sometimes didn’t we. How many times did Dottie slap your hat off
  while making a good cast and then laugh at you for not being man enough not to
  duck the next time. With all the ducking and diving you did in the middle of
  that boat it’s a wonder you didn’t turn out to be a professional boxer. Ha Ha it
  feels good to laugh at that. If I had time I could tell about quit a few
  shenanigans Dottie and I pulled and going back even further some of the really
  crazy things my Brothers and I were involved in. He He we even have a piece of
  Brother Russo’s ear to add to our fishing stories. I’m not sure if we were
  blessed by God but we were certainly blessed by Brother Russo. He should have
  learned when something grabs your ear, maybe you should just stand still. Just
  look at the notch in his ear and know he was marked by a Holt, inadvertently
  but still the claim to fame. The Holt Clan marked the Man of God and didn’t get
  eaten by a bear.
• I
  would love to go down memory lane with you but I need to tell you I’m sorry I
  didn’t by the boat. My means of buying it disappeared with the mechanical
  breakdown I experienced a few months before I was going to buy it. I didn’t
  tell you about my plans and every time I saw you I knew we were running out of
  time. You said you were going to come through this and get stronger. We kept making
  plans to go fishing but you kept getting weaker, I knew I was running out of
  time but I just didn’t have the money.
• Don’t
  be sorry Son, and thank you for wanting to do such a thing. We missed out on so
  much when you were younger because both of our worlds were turned upside down
  when God put us together. Much of our time was wasted early on due to
  bitterness and just not understanding what to do with a boy that needed a Dad.
  But I grew to love you just as if you were my own. I taught you to Hunt and to
  Fish and to be Respectful of others. You saw with your own eyes what God can do
  with a Man like me, and we learned to Pray and trust in God under the same
  Teachings. We did grow to love each other and I am proud of you.
• I
  used to tell everyone that as a teenager I was so tired I being told what to do
  by you that I ran away from home and joined the Army. I wish I had been more of
  a man and stuck it out instead of running off. I believe I turned out to be a
  capable man with a lot of good memories but what kind of memories would we be
  sharing now if I had just stayed? I miss being part of a family and sharing in
  family memory more than I can say. As I have gotten older I have tried to
  create opportunities to recapture some of that time but it is lost forever. You
  were supposed to get better.
• Son
  you have made me proud, your Mother is proud and we will always be family.
• Dad,
  I knew you were dying even though you wouldn’t admit it. I could see it from a
  distance and I knew it was too late to be the Good Son every Mom and Dad
  deserves. The only thing I could do with you becoming so weak was to change my
  name. You and Mom always knew I wanted to be a Bloodline Holt. I have always
  thought of myself as Holt and most of the general public could see past my
  given name of McDonald and recognize the Holt in me. The one thing I did that I
  hope made you proud was change my name. I went to the Courthouse with Roxane
  and together we made the legal name change to Holt. When asked why I wanted to
  change my name I had to explain that I needed to show my Mom and Dad that I
  Love and Respect them and wanted there to be no mistake that Benny and Dottie
  Holt are my Mom and Dad. The next uniform I wear will have Holt emblazoned upon
  my chest. But you are not here to see it.
• Son
  of mine, you are Blood, and I am proud of you just as your Mother is. You keep
  being the man you are, and I will be honored by any name you are known by. You
  are my Son, I love you and I’m waiting across the river for you. God loves
  Fishermen.

If I keep on
writing a conversation between my Dad and I that only took place in my head I
would be writing a book. I can only imagine what Benny really thought of me as
his Son. I will try to make him proud of who I am and I will still fulfill my
promise to take him fishing. Maybe Mom will let me sit at one end of the boat
instead of in the middle. Someone else will have to sit there I will practice
what Benny taught me. Scare them but don’t draw blood.

I can’t
explain how I handle the death of a loved one but it is different. I don’t know
how or why I am the way I am. You won’t be engaging me in many conversations
about my Dad but I will always be thinking of him. You won’t hear me say his
name out loud, accept in the deepest respect and I will demand nothing but
respect from others that speak of him. I know what Benny used to be, but God
turned him into my Dad.

If you were
able to sneak up on me fishing the river, that is where you will hear the
ongoing argument of what lure to use in such a situation to get the fish to bite.
You may find it strange if you don’t see anybody there but me talking to myself
but trust me, Benny is there directing and teaching fishing skills that I lack,
and Dad knows best.

Charles
McDonald Holt

http://www.amazon.com/Charles-Afghanistan-Crazy-Encounters-Not-So-Front/dp/193646702X/ref=zg_bsnr_465244_36

Woooo hoooo     folks !!!!!!    I asked if everyone would
repost my link on facebook and it has already paid off.  I can’t believe it.

The New York Times Best Seller List ranks over 8,000,000
books on their list. Until today the closest my book has come to the top was
125,000. That is pretty good considering the book does not come out until
August 1^st.

When charles@afghanistan was announced to be released it
came out on the list at 6,500,000 but with the preorders coming in the book
started to climb rapidly.

Over the past to weeks it has been in decline and fell to
1,560,000 on the list. I must apologize because I think it just about caused
the Stock Market to crash.

Well today my friends on facebook helped repost the link to
my webpage. I have no idea who all participated but THANKS………… today alone my
book jumped up to 90,116 from the top. It would be so sweet to make the NYTBS
list before the release date.

90,116 sounds like a long way to go but with preorders
coming in like this I know it can happen. Look at what happened today ……… over
a million other books wa

Amazon Bestsellers Rank History     (What’s This?)

s bypassed………. Hehe  I am excited.

Charles