OT: Officially Back I Am

[Guest guest]

Hi y'all,

 

I've been keeping a low profile since returning from the Black Sea - had

too much work waiting and I didn't wanna generate more by running my

mouth on a list .. ;-p

 

Had a great time there .. Samsun is a very historic city and is the

birthplace of independence and the founding of the Turkish Republic from

the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. A great bird sanctuary area where many

that are considered endangered can relax and make babies, etc.

 

I took my Lap Top to pull up email but it didn't function properly so I

couldn't get incoming mail .. got back to forty-eleven zillion posts

waiting for reply .. :-(

 

Anyway .. it was a good trip .. exhausting for sure. Visited a friend

who is Chief of Police there. Being a chief of police here is better

than being a mayor cause mayors are political figures who have little

power .. cops are towering giants who move mountains (and mayors) if

they choose to .. ;-p Anyway, Tekin figured I had to be on the move

every minute so when I wasn't with him, he had a driver and car standing

by to haul me around. He also had folks lined up with instructions to

show me the entire area. A professor from 19 May University took me to

the 5th annual conference on birds being held there .. I met with some

folks from a dozen countries who concentrate on rehabilitation/release

of raptors .. including a lady from the US who has been instrumental in

bringing the Bald Eagle back from the endangered list. A few dozen

other things went down but I won't bore y'all with the details .. you

would'a had to have been there to appreciate it .. ;-P

 

Stayed in a VIP suite in the Police House .. Tekin had told them that I

was the same rank he was so they exercised similar protocol - in fact,

he's right as I was Provost Marshal a few times and that's the military

equivalent of Chief of Police.

 

Tekin held a ceremony and presented me a hand-crafted copper plaque with

a Turkish Police badge in the center, and made me an Honorary Chief of

Police of Samsun. Best part was that he presented two of these while I

was there (at different times) .. the other was to the Minister of

Interior .. the boss of all cops and jandarma in Turkey .. ;-)

 

On the return trip, I stopped off at a village that has the second

largest tumulus in Turkey .. Alicahoyuk .. an ancient Hittite city. It

was the holiday celebrating Turkish Independence so the village had

childen's parades, etc. In the courtyard of the museum which is beside

the ancient city, there were a dozen folks sitting at a table drinking

ayran (yoghurt mixed with water), eating village bread slabbed with

village cheese, and talking like they were boring each other to death -

meaning there was a hotshot amongst them .. ;-p

 

As is typical of Turks, they waved me over .. most hospitable folks on

this planet they are. I was introduced to the group and sat and chewed

the fat with them for a while. Turks in outlying areas don't see a lot

of Americans and perhaps have never met one who speaks their language.

The Provincial Governor was the hottest shot there .. nice feller he was

considering that he's a politician. Provincial Top Cop, Village Muhtar

(sorta a mayor for unincorporated towns), a buncha typical straphangers

you find running with hotshots .. a couple'a ladies who were historians

and archeologists and a Professor from Ankara University who was also an

archeologist and the academic overseer of the ancient city. He spends

his summers with students teaching them the proper way of excavating

such treasures. Another couple'a ladies who said nothing and were

likely there for decoration of the hot shots.

 

Anyway .. interesting it was to talk with the Professor as I'm heavy

into history and ancient cities are pure bliss for me. The oldest of

the ancient cities in Turkey is Catalhoyuk .. shows signs of organized

dwelling in 10,000 BC .. but then history in Turkey is written in 1,000s

of years .. and its considered to be the Cradle of Humanity .. the area

of the Tigris and Euphrates (SE Turkey) is thought to be the original

Garden of Eden (say Biblical scholars) and of course, Mount Ararat is

the Agri Dag Mountain near the Turkish/Iranian border. Actually, there

is far more Biblical history in Turkey than in all of Rome, Palestine

and Israel combined .. only difference is Jesus didn't run around here

in Turkey .. but Mary, Peter, Paul and John did .. along with Abraham

and a few other main characters of the Old and New Testaments. Fact is,

when those folks showed up, Anatolian history was already ancient.

 

Enough already .. I'm back and still swamped with work. I've been doing

more than I should since I opened Appalachian Valley Natural Products in

September 99 .. got customers/friends in 50 US states and 33 countries

now and I'm already fed up with the 16-18 hour days .. gotta figure out

how to work smarter rather than longer cause we're still growing but my

days can't continue to grow more. My short-term goal (late June) is to

hire an experienced manager at AVNP and let him take over around half of

what I do now. The one I want is a retired US government spook ... an

ex-National Security Agency analyst. We talked in January and I think I

can get him to come on board.

 

Plus, the end of June finds us opening a new walk-in store on the Main

Street of Friendsville .. my present manager will run that store and I

will be able to offer publications, oils, soaps, candles and whatever to

walk-in types of hippies, yippies and crazies who come for the summer

and winter sport outings .. with pockets full of greenbacks. ;-P

 

In the meantime, on 25 May, gotta meet the Aroma Tour folks in Isparta

when they arrive for the annual Rose Pilgrimage to Turkey. Then I'm

heading to Province, France to meet with some distillers and visit the

Lavender Fields .. maybe stop off in Bulgaria on the way back and meet

with some distillers there .. if not, Bulgaria will be in late August.

Late June to Southern Turkey for beginning of the Oregano and Rosemary

harvest/distillation. End of June I gotta hit the US .. might take my

cop buddy to Florida to meet with some Top Cops there .. early September

to Portugal for the International EO Conference. Sometime this winter,

gotta do Madagascar and Australia .. distillers/friends in both places.

All this means I gotta hire more folks to dump work on and there's not

gonna be any moss growing on my butt for a while.

 

By this time next year, if I'm still above snakes (travel is a real butt

kicker) I'll be getting ALL of my essential oils direct from distillers!

No middle men/women! This translates to lower prices for buyers and

higher profits for me .. like Richard Pryer said in one'a his movies ,

" That way, the $hit be bettah fer everbody. " ;-p

 

Y'all keep smiling, Butch http://www.AV-AT.com

[Guest guest]

Glad to have ya back Butcher!

 

We missed ya!!!!!

 

And don't forget .... y'all keep smiling too!

 

*Smile*

Chris (list mom)

 

This Week! This Week!

The Vanilla Is Coming!

The Vanilla Is Coming!

http://www.alittleolfactory.com

 

Butch Owen wrote:

 

> Hi y'all,

>

> I've been keeping a low profile since returning from the Black Sea - had

> too much work waiting and I didn't wanna generate more by running my

> mouth on a list .. ;-p

>

> Had a great time there .. Samsun is a very historic city and is the

> birthplace of independence and the founding of the Turkish Republic from

> the ashes of the Ottoman Empire. A great bird sanctuary area where many

> that are considered endangered can relax and make babies, etc.

>

> I took my Lap Top to pull up email but it didn't function properly so I

> couldn't get incoming mail .. got back to forty-eleven zillion posts

> waiting for reply .. :-(

>

> Anyway .. it was a good trip .. exhausting for sure. Visited a friend

> who is Chief of Police there. Being a chief of police here is better

> than being a mayor cause mayors are political figures who have little

> power .. cops are towering giants who move mountains (and mayors) if

> they choose to .. ;-p Anyway, Tekin figured I had to be on the move

> every minute so when I wasn't with him, he had a driver and car standing

> by to haul me around. He also had folks lined up with instructions to

> show me the entire area. A professor from 19 May University took me to

> the 5th annual conference on birds being held there .. I met with some

> folks from a dozen countries who concentrate on rehabilitation/release

> of raptors .. including a lady from the US who has been instrumental in

> bringing the Bald Eagle back from the endangered list. A few dozen

> other things went down but I won't bore y'all with the details .. you

> would'a had to have been there to appreciate it .. ;-P

>

> Stayed in a VIP suite in the Police House .. Tekin had told them that I

> was the same rank he was so they exercised similar protocol - in fact,

> he's right as I was Provost Marshal a few times and that's the military

> equivalent of Chief of Police.

>

> Tekin held a ceremony and presented me a hand-crafted copper plaque with

> a Turkish Police badge in the center, and made me an Honorary Chief of

> Police of Samsun. Best part was that he presented two of these while I

> was there (at different times) .. the other was to the Minister of

> Interior .. the boss of all cops and jandarma in Turkey .. ;-)

>

> On the return trip, I stopped off at a village that has the second

> largest tumulus in Turkey .. Alicahoyuk .. an ancient Hittite city. It

> was the holiday celebrating Turkish Independence so the village had

> childen's parades, etc. In the courtyard of the museum which is beside

> the ancient city, there were a dozen folks sitting at a table drinking

> ayran (yoghurt mixed with water), eating village bread slabbed with

> village cheese, and talking like they were boring each other to death -

> meaning there was a hotshot amongst them .. ;-p

>

> As is typical of Turks, they waved me over .. most hospitable folks on

> this planet they are. I was introduced to the group and sat and chewed

> the fat with them for a while. Turks in outlying areas don't see a lot

> of Americans and perhaps have never met one who speaks their language.

> The Provincial Governor was the hottest shot there .. nice feller he was

> considering that he's a politician. Provincial Top Cop, Village Muhtar

> (sorta a mayor for unincorporated towns), a buncha typical straphangers

> you find running with hotshots .. a couple'a ladies who were historians

> and archeologists and a Professor from Ankara University who was also an

> archeologist and the academic overseer of the ancient city. He spends

> his summers with students teaching them the proper way of excavating

> such treasures. Another couple'a ladies who said nothing and were

> likely there for decoration of the hot shots.

>

> Anyway .. interesting it was to talk with the Professor as I'm heavy

> into history and ancient cities are pure bliss for me. The oldest of

> the ancient cities in Turkey is Catalhoyuk .. shows signs of organized

> dwelling in 10,000 BC .. but then history in Turkey is written in 1,000s

> of years .. and its considered to be the Cradle of Humanity .. the area

> of the Tigris and Euphrates (SE Turkey) is thought to be the original

> Garden of Eden (say Biblical scholars) and of course, Mount Ararat is

> the Agri Dag Mountain near the Turkish/Iranian border. Actually, there

> is far more Biblical history in Turkey than in all of Rome, Palestine

> and Israel combined .. only difference is Jesus didn't run around here

> in Turkey .. but Mary, Peter, Paul and John did .. along with Abraham

> and a few other main characters of the Old and New Testaments. Fact is,

> when those folks showed up, Anatolian history was already ancient.

>

> Enough already .. I'm back and still swamped with work. I've been doing

> more than I should since I opened Appalachian Valley Natural Products in

> September 99 .. got customers/friends in 50 US states and 33 countries

> now and I'm already fed up with the 16-18 hour days .. gotta figure out

> how to work smarter rather than longer cause we're still growing but my

> days can't continue to grow more. My short-term goal (late June) is to

> hire an experienced manager at AVNP and let him take over around half of

> what I do now. The one I want is a retired US government spook ... an

> ex-National Security Agency analyst. We talked in January and I think I

> can get him to come on board.

>

> Plus, the end of June finds us opening a new walk-in store on the Main

> Street of Friendsville .. my present manager will run that store and I

> will be able to offer publications, oils, soaps, candles and whatever to

> walk-in types of hippies, yippies and crazies who come for the summer

> and winter sport outings .. with pockets full of greenbacks. ;-P

>

> In the meantime, on 25 May, gotta meet the Aroma Tour folks in Isparta

> when they arrive for the annual Rose Pilgrimage to Turkey. Then I'm

> heading to Province, France to meet with some distillers and visit the

> Lavender Fields .. maybe stop off in Bulgaria on the way back and meet

> with some distillers there .. if not, Bulgaria will be in late August.

> Late June to Southern Turkey for beginning of the Oregano and Rosemary

> harvest/distillation. End of June I gotta hit the US .. might take my

> cop buddy to Florida to meet with some Top Cops there .. early September

> to Portugal for the International EO Conference. Sometime this winter,

> gotta do Madagascar and Australia .. distillers/friends in both places.

> All this means I gotta hire more folks to dump work on and there's not

> gonna be any moss growing on my butt for a while.

>

> By this time next year, if I'm still above snakes (travel is a real butt

> kicker) I'll be getting ALL of my essential oils direct from distillers!

> No middle men/women! This translates to lower prices for buyers and

> higher profits for me .. like Richard Pryer said in one'a his movies ,

> " That way, the $hit be bettah fer everbody. " ;-p

>

> Y'all keep smiling, Butch http://www.AV-AT.com

>