Entry for December 25, 2006

Merry Christmas to all my family and friends.


I'll be back to writing my thoughts next week after this vaction.

Entry for December 11, 2006

Last week arrived with some pretty cold weather in this area. We had a few days at the end of the week at 20 degrees in the morning. Friday it only warmed up to about 45. I still managed to run every day last week although I was somewhat fatigued, I at least ran 3 miles each day. Friday I made a 4 mile run and I took Saturday and Sunday off.

Gin and I had made plans to go down to Charleston but decided on Friday to scrap the plans since we would be traveling again in two weeks. Saturday we picked up some items at a few stores and also purchased a Christmas tree at the local nursery. Gin re-arranged the living room and I prepared the tree in the stand. This year’s tree is not as big as our usual since our space to display a tree is limited. The tree was lit and decorated before dinner. Gin and I tried to take some pictures of ourselves next to the tree. The picture taking was fun but the background needed help. Since the tree is in our unfinished living room, the background is less than desirable. We will probably have some pictures taken this Friday at my company Christmas party.

Sunday I was out in the frosty out-building early to start cutting material for a pair of book shelves. I lit up the kerosene heater to help take the chill out of the building. The heater only helped thaw my frozen feet and hands. I pre-cut all the material including making slots and grooves for attaching the pieces together. Patrick stopped by for lunch around 12 and picked up the riding mower for handling his leaves at home. Gin spent the day working on various projects in the warmth of the house.

P@

Entry for December 04, 2006

Last week was a rough emotional week for Gin and I. Our cat, Sphinx’s (aka: Boink, Na-Na, Mr. Dingles) health had been slowly deteriorating over the last year. Sphinx was put to sleep yesterday afternoon after a weeklong battle to try to save him. Gin did all she could to feed him and keep him comfortable, but he kept slipping slowly away. Sunday afternoon when he cried while she was rearranging his sleeping position, we knew it was time to put him down. I know it was the right thing to do, but it always hurts to do it. He is resting now next to Ralegh in their private little place.


Na-Na as we liked to call him over the last few years was always looking for a safe place to relax. He hardly ever fought back when provoked which earned him the name Na-Na. Gin picked him up from a catery in Langley, Va. near the air force base. He was about 6 months old and had lived in cages in a garage. He was pure bread Lilac Point Siamese. When we first brought him home he stayed between our pillows on the bead. Shelby slowly warmed up to him, or at least tollerated his need for companionship. For all of his time with us, he was almost always with Shelby. The one tough cat characteristic he had was his lack of fear when there were loud noises. He never hid from thunder, the vacuum or any other disturbing sound. We figure it was from his time in the garage near the air base with all the jet noise.

I know that Shelby misses him already. He has circled the house several times apparently looking for him. Gin said he kept trying to peek under the blankets this morning to see where Na-Na was. Na-Na liked to sleep under cover next to Gin or I. He was also our turkey thermometer, he never missed a proper cooking temperature of the bird. Na-Na would always be in the kitchen crying for a fresh slice, only when the bird was ready.

Some people may not undestand the love we have for these animals. They have been a part of our lives since we were married. The unconditional love they give us is second to none. They are always there for us no matter how good or bad the day has gone. I miss each one of the pets that have passed away over the years.

I did not do any work around the house this weekend. I was called in to work at the Caterpillar plant in Greenville. The company I used to work for (when I was traveling) installed a conveyor system that had some problems. I was very familiar with the mechanical characteristic of the system and offered my services. I spent a few hours with the maintenance mechanics reviewing what they had already repaired and developing a solution to complete the repairs.

I talked with Nick several times over the last week. We are trying to work out a way that I can help him sell some of his furniture via the internet (EBay). He is already underway with getting things set up on the web, just look up “Driftwood Picture Frames” under auctions to see some of his work.

P@

Entry for November 26, 2006

Thanksgiving Day was a quiet day for Gin and I. I ended up replacing the bathroom vanity and rewiring the electrical outlets in their as well. After lunch I removed a book case from the mud room and installed four shelves for storage. We had a quiet dinner of ground turkey, mashed potatoes and gravy. I watched a little bit of football during some of my work breaks. Both of us managed to get a 3 mile run complete in the afternoon.

Friday I went to work and took advantage of the majority of my co-workers extending their holiday. I learned a new data base program that will help me organize my estimating files. I was also able to enjoy a 4 mile run at lunch time. Gin worked on de-cluttering the dining room so we could have our family Thanksgiving dinner on Saturday. Caris and Thomas arrived Friday night after 8 and we caught up on their happenings.

Saturday morning I made a run to the recycle facility, then worked in the outbuilding the rest of the morning. I was finally determined to organize the 1600 square feet of mess, or at least some of it. I concentrated on one side of the building and made some impressive progress. By 11 I reached a stopping point and made time for a 3 mile run before the big meal. Patrick and Jessica were here by 1 and dinner was ready by 2. Gin started the turkey earlier in the morning along with several other side dishes. I peeled, cooked and mashed taters and carved up the bird. Caris and Thomas prepared the stuffing. Speeking of stuffing, everyone was stuffed when dinner was finished.

We worked our way into desert by way of Agravation Rummy. Caris' friend, Summer, joined us in the afternoon game. We passed the camera around for some candid shots as well as self portrait close ups. Patrick, Jessica and Summer left sometime around 6 and the rest of us relaxed for the rest of the evening. We actually ended up watching Hidalgo on AMC.

Today Caris and Thomas went back to Albemarle in the morning to beat some of the holiday traffic. I went back out to the out building for some more sprucing up. Gin took advantage of the free time to catch up on some reading. Stetson took advantage of the silence by squeaking and sqawking all day.

I miss seeing the rest of our families on Thanksgiving. It's hard to say if we'll travel out of town on this holiday in the future. The traffic is just too crazy during this particular holiday, that we have a hard time enjoying the end of the trips. For now we will be staying here each year and travel out at other times like we did earlier this fall. We always have Christmas in which we get to see most everyone at one time.

P@

Entry for November 20, 2006

As most of you know, last Tuesday Patrick and Jessica gave us the great news about her carrying twins. It only seams like yesterday when we were expecting Patrick. I know that those babies will be some of the luckiest in the world. They have two of the most loving parents any child could ask for. The picture above is the 3-D ultra-sound from Jessica's doctor visit on Wednesday.

Happy Birthday Dad, Saturday November 18. I hope you enjoyed the day with Mom. I love you.

I have managed to keep up with my running routine despite weather and work functions. Since our new office has a shower, I am able to squeeze in a 3 to 4 mile run either first thing in the morning or during lunch. Last year when I lost most of my weight, it seamed like it was just falling off. Over last winter and spring I gained back about 20 pounds and getting rid of it has been a lot tougher. I know most of my dilemma has been allowing myself to drift on my diet. I let a day or two creep up on special occasions and it takes me a few steps back. I have been doing more strength training which adds more weight as well. My main concern has been loosing the rest of the gut. I know it will take time and I will not rush to meet my goal.

Saturday Gin and Jessica went up to Hendersonville to look at fabrics for several different projects, including decorating a nursery. I set out on my own with several tasks to accomplish. First stop was an oil change for the Explorer. After that I went by Lowes for some project ideas. The sporting goods store was next to pick up some cold weather athletic gear. I stopped by the Ford dealership on the way home, for a replacement power window switch. Gin was heading out early last Wednesday and she rolled down her window, but had a hard time getting it to go back up. The door switch was acting up more than normal, so it had to be replaced. Luckily the dealership had the part and it took a matter of 10 minutes to replace it.

Once I was home and finished with lunch (lasagna), I worked upstairs for a few hours. I managed to install 5 sheets of drywall in the bedroom near the driveway. I then cleared most of that room’s floor so I could set up a home gym.

I was given a home gym by an engineer I work with. Jon rents houses and one of his evictees left the home gym behind. Jon decided that he had no place to put it so he offered it to me. I spent the better part of Sunday morning hauling the parts upstairs and figuring out how to assemble it. Assembly without instructions is my kind of challenge. I usually do not look at instruction anyway, least not at first. No, I’m the type that thinks he can figure it out, but am usually wrong. Well, this time it went together pretty well. I had my moments of asking myself if something looked right. There were a few fasteners missing which were easily found at the hardware store.

Gin and I went over to P&J’s so I could measure all rooms in their house. I will make a set of house plans so they can start deciding where things may work best when twins arrive. I used a laser tape measure which is accurate within 1/32 of an inch. Their dogs, Lilly and Ladybug, were intrigued by the red dot I would make them chase through the house. After the measuring was done, we visited for a short while, then went home for dinner.

6 weeks ‘til Christmas. Are you ready?

P@

Entry for November 13, 2006

Friday night after work I picked up some deli sandwiches for dinner on the way home. Gin and I ate, then went over to Jean’s house to pick up some of her yard sale items. That’s right, we had another yard sale this past weekend. Jean had several milk crate boxes and an iron table with glass top. It didn’t take long to get that stuff over to our house and unloaded on the porch. Once we were home, Gin started checking all of our items for proper pricing while I vacuumed up the leaves in the front yard with the lawnmower. The headlights on the mower really helped get things done. After the lawn work, I went to the large out building to prepare some of the items stored inside, for the sale. Jessica and her mom, Debbie, arrived a little later on to drop off some of their stuff. Once we had their trucks unloaded, I went to the grocery store to get the lunch items for Saturday.

Since it was my birthday Saturday, I decided to sleep in. So, I was up at 5:30 and by 6:15 I was loading up the trailer with everything I could get on it. Gin started moving stuff from inside the house, to the porch. Around here we start our yard sales around 8:00 and go until whenever. We don’t put any signs up until we are set up and ready to sell.

At 8:00 I put 2 signs up, one at each end of the property by the street. Most of you who have been here know that we get a lot of traffic. This means that advertising in the paper is unnecessary. People ride by and see a car or 12 parked out front and all of a sudden there is a flurry of shoppers. This is good for the economy. Just think perfect strangers stop by to pay us for stuff, which we would have had to use our own gas to dispose of the junk at Goodwill or the landfill. You have to love the free enterprise concept.

Jessica and Debbie were here right around 8 and were unloaded and set up during the first wave of customers. Gin picked up Jean around 9 and she was set up within 30 minutes. Overall the morning went by pretty fast. I don’t recall a time when there wasn’t at least one customer.

I fired up the grill around 11:30 and started grilling chops. Jessica kept telling Gin and Debbie that if she kept smelling the smoke from the grill, that she was going to grab a raw chop and eat it. Well, she never ate a raw one, but she did pretty well on the cooked ones. We all enjoyed the chops with some tater salad and baked beans.

The afternoon brought some pretty stiff winds out of the south. There were times when we were being showered with pin oak leaves. We packed it all in around 2:30 and were finished storing everything away by a little after 3. The till was divvied up and all finished the day with a little more than they started with.

Saturday night Patrick and Jessica took us out for pizza in Columbus. It was nice having two of my favorite meals on the same day. We were back at our house by 7:30 and started a game of Aggravation Rummy. We did not get through the entire game before we decided to end it so Patrick could get some sleep. He had to work Sunday morning, so we didn’t want to keep him too late.

Sunday I made the picture frame for Gin’s tree picture. Earlier last week, Gin sketched the picture of the tree in Patrick’s back yard onto a piece of thin birch plywood. Then she painted the tree using Elmer’s glue and let it dry. Next she stained the entire piece. The places where the glue is painted turns out very light, while the background takes on the stain color.

P@

Entry for November 06, 2006

Times have changed and so has my work out routine. Since last Sunday was time to roll the clock back an hour, it made my evening run become obsolete until spring. I started running during my lunch hour at work with a few co-workers. Monday and Tuesday I ran a 3.7 mile route on the sidewalk of a busy street. It has several long hills and overall not too bad. Tuesday I almost got run over twice in the same intersection. After that little scare I decided to look elsewhere to run. There is a ritzy neighborhood about ¼ of a mile from our office that works just fine. The streets have nearly no traffic but the hills are steeper and more challenging. The overall distance is 3 miles which works out good for a lunch time run. The new office has a shower in one of the restrooms which was specifically added for such workouts.

Saturday I worked in the yard cutting grass and gathering leaves. I also cut a few branches off of the big oak tree near Caris’ room. One of the limbs was touching the roof line and peeling up some shingles. The biggest challenge was climbing 25 to 30 feet up the tree to cut it down. There is no way I would have done this a few years ago when I was 40 pounds heavier. I was a little scared, but I knew I had better strength control while making the climb. I used a hand saw to cut the 5 inch branch. I first made a slight undercut. Then I slowly cut through the top and it just snapped off at the last inch or two.

Sunday I worked at Gin’s friend Jean’s house. Jean is in her 80s and is very active, but really needed some help with her overgrown yard. I started out with weed eating the sidewalks, driveway and around the trees and fences. Then I trimmed the bushes along the house which were about 5 feet above her porch rails. I did managed to upset her when I trimmed too much of a camellia bush. She did tell me to cut everything to the rail height, so I did. She took all the clippings with a plan to replant them for more bushes elsewhere. I gathered up the clippings and loaded the trailer. I then trimmed her crepe myrtles and some of the oak tree out front. The next task was to cut the grass and pick up the leaves. I used the lawn tractor to mulch the leaves in the front of the house before picking them up. Once they were mulched the bagging system cleaned up the yard pretty well. I dumped all the leave and grass clippings in the trailer and we drove to the vacant field to dump the first load. Gin and Jean made the second trip with tree limbs and then I followed up with the remaining limbs and clippings. I cut the backyard without bagging. Overall Jean was satisfied with the yard and her house looked like it was occupied again.

P@

Entry for October 31, 2006

Tuesday was Gin’s birthday and she celebrated by getting part 1 of 3 dentist visits for a root canal, ouch. She took it all pretty well. We managed to go out for lunch and after work we relaxed at home with Caris, Patrick and Jessica. The pain medication started wearing off so it was best to hang around the house.

Speaking of birthdays, my Granddaddy Mike was born 100 years ago last Friday the 27th . It’s been over 12 years since he left us, but I still feel his charisma. I wish he could see all the things I have been able to see in the past 12 years. I believe he would have enjoyed walking through the factories that make cars, engines, tires, headlights, plastic bags, textiles, soup, copper wire, fiber optic wire, plastic forks, and fiberglass. Well maybe not fiberglass, that stuff really gets under your skin. I was reluctant to look outside of Norfolk for work while he was still alive. I knew that as long as he was around, that I would be there. I miss his laughter and love for family. He was the glue that kept us together.

Lately I have been (sort of) crusading to bring our family back together. Times are different and everyone has their own agenda that doesn’t allow much time for the extended family. It doesn’t help having everyone in different parts of the country. We all had to make decisions to improve our lives by finding better jobs, neighborhoods and social settings. Life is so fast paced that we may spend days, weeks, months or longer not thinking of the families we grew up with. I have thoughts all the time about my family. I wonder if we can get together and enjoy a day ot two each year. Right now I’m not sure it will happen at all. We have some walls that have been built up over the years between different ones. I still believe in forgive and forget. There are more important things in life than to be upset, mad, angry, disappointed at your own family. Look at the state of the world right now. We have road rage, wars, political mud slinging, vanity and greed that is tearing at the social fiber of families, communities and countries.

I didn’t do any work on the house last weekend. Gin and I shopped on Saturday. We went out for dinner with Patrick and Jessica, then played Aggravation Rummy and Blokus at their house. Patrick was the Rummy winner. Sunday Gin and I had lunch at Hanna Flanagan’s in Hendersonville (thanks Mom and Dad). We drove up and back through Lake Lure. The leaves were somewhat past their peak but still vibrant.

P@

Entry for October 23, 2006

Right after our little vacation my company moved to a new office building. We had been in a small warehouse type building since I was hired almost 4 years ago. I have seen big changes in the way our company operates in this region. Two years ago a Vice President was terminated along with several of his subordinates. I was one of four left untouched. About nine months prior to the house cleaning, I aligned myself with the estimating division and managed to walk through the flames. I am the only estimator in our southeast office and have learned a great deal about construction business. I currently estimate project work, write budgets, produce invoicing documents, process change orders, purchase major equipment and contract services, draw preliminary site plans and assist in the day to day management of a project. The only other person in this office that works the construction side of the company is the regional manager. The other 25 people in this new building are engineers, draftsmen and office support staff. In our old building we had these people set up in hallways, conference rooms and the warehouse. Today we occupy a new 8,000 square foot brick building situated between doctors, financial consultants and lawyers.

It took several days last week to discover where all of our stuff was stored from the moving company’s boxes. I am still missing several items that hopefully turn up soon. I have a second floor office that has a great view of the building next door that is only about 15 feet away. The good thing is that there are only 3 people on my side of the 2nd floor. I can get more of my daily To-Do list completed with fewer distractions.

I managed to run almost every night last week with the exception of Tuesday. For some reason we decided to go out for pizza and donuts with Patrick and Jessica. If you are going to be bad, be big and bad. So I had 3 slices of a medium pizza I split with Patrick and topped it off with 3 Krispy Kreme donuts. I paid myself back by getting up early Wednesday morning and running 3 miles. I learned my lesson and was good the rest of the week.

Saturday I finally replaced the last two windows upstairs. After knowing what to expect from doing the two on the driveway side of the house, these two were pretty simple. The hardest part was moving all of Gin’s plants away from the window. I finished by 3 and managed to run 3 miles and then cut the grass. I know you think that is a lot to do in one day but the running was easy and sitting on the lawn mower isn’t exactly hard work.

Sunday Gin and I did a little shopping in Greenville. We were home before 2 and I worked on insulating the walls around the two newest windows. After that was complete I set up two tables for Gin’s plants. Patrick and Jessica were at the house around 4 and he helped me get the rest of Gin’s plants upstairs. We are expecting our first frost tonight.

Once all the work was complete, we played a round of Aggravation Rummy. I managed to lay out my melds in the first 6 hands and won after two more hands. We had pot luck dinner and then played dominos and Blokus. Patrick and Jessica left sometime after 7 and Gin and I relaxed for the rest of the evening.

FYI: The picture is Me, Chris and John when we had dinner together in Virginia Beach two weeks ago. See my previous Blog for more from that week.

P@

Entry for October 6-11, 2006

6 days, 5 nights,7 homes, 3 parents, 2 brothers, 3 sisters, 2 cousins, 3 brother-in-laws, 1 sister-in-law, 4 nephews, 2 nieces,1 friend of a niece, 2 nephew's girlfriends, 4 dogs, 9 cats,1 bird,1 snake, 147 pictures, 7 states, 3 interstate traffic jams, 1422 miles, 69 gallons of gas, 6 wrong turns, 1 broken wiper blade, 2 rainbows, hours of great company....Priceless!

It wasn't Friday the 13th, but it sure had a lot of bad signs as if it was. I went to work lastFriday (6th) expecting a pretty easy morning and being able to leave by around 9 or 10. I only had to write one order for some fiberglass storage tanks and out the door. The problem starts when the supplier in Wisconsin is one hour behind our time plus he isn't expected in the office until 11 central time. With a lot of pursuing of other angles to get the order complete, I managed to get someone who had the authority to provide the final information and write the order. The next obstacle is passing the information through my boss for approval. A true poker face that pulls a trump card out of nowhere. He managed to come up with a questionable technical glitch that sent the engineers back a step and me heading for a later departure time. I finally finished the task with approval by 11 and was gone before something else popped up. So I'm driving home from work in a little bit of a hurry (in my mind) and manage to get behind everyone else who could care less about the expected pace of things. I had granny's, farmers, rubber neckers, mopeds (DUI Mobiles), pull-out-in-front-of-you-without-respect-to-your-presence-on-the-road-idiots, slow pokes and cel phone callers. Last but not least was the guy hauling horses who came off the interstate without stopping, then turn left at the very next street (after only going about 15mph until he arrived there. Yes I was finally at my last nerve. I knew right away that Gin was to drive the first leg of our trip. So, all is good, I arrive home safely, in one frazzled state of mind, ready to commit a crime unmentionable in this Blog. Gin is very understanding as I get out of the car and throw a hissy fit along with a half a bottle of water. It's good to vent and let the Italian-Irish-Scottish feelings out. What a relief.

I pack my bag as Gin loads the truck. We check over the list of what to bring and ask each other if there is anything else. After a salmon burger sandwich and final traffic checks due to the fire in Apex, NC, we have a plan to get to Rocky Mount. Our estimate was to get there by 5 or 6. We had to stop in Charlotte to deposit my check, since my company is not advanced enough to grant me direct deposit. After checking with Mom and Ray on the traffic conditions in Apex, we decide to take I-85 most of the way to Rocky Mount. I start driving after the credit union visit and immediately take a wrong turn (#1) onto the I-485 bypass. So a few miles later we are heading in the right direction until we meet up with I-85 and a few hundred other travelers crawling at 15mph east. Not a problem, we get off at the next ramp and decide to take the back roads. The back roads are good, and we had to head up to I-40 to avoid Apex. We make some good time on I-40 and we think we may be able to meet up with Mom and Dad for the Marine Band concert at 7:30. That was a good thought until the traffic was brought to a crawl for several miles in Duram and Raleigh. We finally arrived around 7:45 worn out and weary. I only managed to get one finger from an irritated commuter that I honked at after he couldn't get around me during the slower heavy traffic. I'm #1.

Mom and Dad went on to the show knowing we might not make it. They were back home close to 9 and we had some good conversation and popcorn while I enjoyed the Yankees losing to the Tigers. (Side story about the popcorn: Dad made a batch of popcorn and placed it in a large bowl and several smaller bowls, in the den with the rest of us. Being the prankster that I am, I grabbed a handfull and placed it in the first small bowl, then took the large bowl for myself. Well, Dad walks in a few minutes later and has a second large bowl for himself. Gin and Mom got a big kick out of my little trick backfiring in my face.) Dad didn't seem to enjoy the gameas much as I did (them bums).

Saturday morningwe rode to Wal-Mart for a few items then back to their house for lunch and picture trading with Mom on the computer. Lunch was a nice deli sandwich with popcorn and whatever else was available. Nothing special is my favorite type of meal. I wish we could have spent more time with you Mom and Dad, I look forward to being there this Christmas.

Saturday afternoon we headed a little south to Laurie's and a night with the Struttons. We started out shooting the breeze and catching up on our lives. Carly and Russel were there for a while until Russel had to leave for his first day on his new job. Pretty soon, Daniel was breaking out the card table for a round of Aggravation Rummy. We listened to music (Ry Cooder will never be thought of the same.) and played a few hands until dinner. We went to an Italian resturaunt and enjoyed some delicious dishes. I had the chicken pasta with onions, peppers and mushrooms. Gin split anta-pasta salad and a spinach calzone with Laurie. Daniel had his own pizza and Ray woofed down a (I can't remember what it was, but I know it was good because he ate it) dish. Russel couldn't go with us because of starting his new job at a sandwich shop. We returned to the Strutton manse to complete a new game of Ag-Rummy. While anjoying the game I managed to copy some of Ray's classical music collection. Ray also managed to copy some of my music library as well. We retired for the night at a very late hour and were up by 7 on Sunday. Thanks Laurie, Ray, Russel, Daniel and Carly for making our visit enjoyable.

Sunday morning we left Laurie's by 9:30 and headed down to Greenville, NC to see Joe and his ladies. We managed to arrange the visit to Joe's before Sydney's soccer game later in the afternoon. We had a cold cut sandwich lunch with a delicious brownie desert. Sydney and her friend Mya were playing resturaunt in Syd's room and shared their fun with us. Luckily Joe diverted us out of there before we ate more (pretend food) than we needed to. Sydney and Kelsey showed off their collection of stray kittens (cats) they were keeping in garage. Better them than us. We squeezed in a few group pictures and were off to Norfolk. Joe, Ingrid, Kelsey, Sydney and Mia, thanks again for lunch and hopefully next time we are in town we can spend more time with you.

Gin started and finished the drive to Norfolk, which was plesent even though we managed to take wrong turn (#2) just outside of Greenville. Thanks Joe for straightening us out. We kept telling each other we would stop along the way for fresh water, but we managed to not stop at what eneded up being the only place open until Suffolk. We managed to get to wrong turn (#3) in West Norfolk on the way to the Mid Town Tunnel. The roads have changed significantly and I wasn't much help on the navigating. We finally made it to Ghent and the 7 Eleven for a well deserved Slurpee. A few blocks later we were at Jean's place and unloaded for a few nights. We left Jean's to head over to Susan and Richard's for dinner and conversation. Susan showed us there landscaping work in the back yard. Shortly after that we were off to Little Creek for a seafood supper. The resturaunt is in the marina near the Amphib base on shore drive. Everything was good and so was the company. We drove back to the Duffee's for more visiting and some good music. We left their house not too late and returned to Jean's. Susan and Richard, thanks again for hosting us Sunday night. We were up pretty late at Jean's sharing picure and music files. I helped re-arrange her cable modem box and located a wire that became disconnected from the printer.

Monday morning Gin and I were able to get out early for a short jog in the neighborhood. After cleaning up and breakfast we prepared for the rest of the days activities. We had lunch at Dumar's and then it was off on our separate ways. Gin and Jean headed for Ocean View and the old neighborhoods. I was off to Greenbriar to meet my cousin John. John and I met in the food court of the mall and then drove over to Starbucks to catch up on times past. We have not seen each other for over 19 years. It was the first time that I can recall, we had talked personnally in all of our lives. I remeber visiting his parents house when we were younger and we played games together, but we were kids. We never became close, I don't know why and it doesn't matter now. That time is gone and I'm not concerned about the answers. The important thing is that we were able to sit down together and share our lives as they are now. We have a lot of things in common such as the type of work (commercial/industrial construction) we are involved in, coaching youth sports and recent awareness in our personal health. John, thanks for spending the afternoon with me. I look forward to getting together more often with you and Judy.

John dropped me off at the mall where I parked the truck and he went off to pick up Judy. I drove over toY-Not Pizza in Kempsville. Let me back-up a little, I did manage to make wrong turn (#4) on Indian River Road which lead to wrong turn (#5) on Kempsville Road. I forgot to go over Indian River Road to Reon then Providence Road. Oh, well so much for my pride, I am geographically challenged. After arriving at the resturant early, I walked over to the music store in the strip mall to pick up a few CDs. Gin and Jean arrive soon after and we grabbed a booth. Chris arrived before 5, then John and Judy arrived. It was great to have my brother and cousin together for dinner. Chris and John found out how much their lives intersect each other right now. Lauren Edwards is playing volleyball and Chris' life revolves around the sport. There were several people that Chris has met who are friends of John and Judy. Overall I'm happy that we all were together for the brief time and hope that this is continued throughout our lives. Thanks Chris for having dinner with us. You know you can always call me if you need to talk. Tell Alicia that we missed her.

Gin and Jean headed back to Ghent in one direction and I in another. I managed to arrive a little behind them due to a ramp closure on the interstate in Downtown Norfolk. I choose to drive through the scenic VB Blvd neighborhoods. I was only a few minutes behind them in time. After arriving back at Jean's we discussed and decided on dessert at Fellini's on Colley Ave. Jean had a butter pecan cake, Gin had cookie dough cheese cake and I enjoyed a carrot cake. It's good to be bad. Back at Jean's we did some more music file sharing then loaded Google Earth satelite software for Jean's enjoyement. She was excited to be able to get a bird's eye view of Norfolk, Kate's neighborhood and our house. We managed to get to bed earlier Monday night for some well deserved sleep. We were up by 6 Tuesday morning and out of Jean's by 7:40. Jean, thanks again for putting us up for two nights. I enjoyed spending the time with you and sharing our little family reunions.

We drove up Gramby Street to the I-64 ramp past Tausig Blvd. Traffic jam (#3) was just a 1/2 mile up the road on 64. We jumped back off at 4th view and drove through OV to the ramp near Monkey Bottom. The interstate was still crawling until we finally passed a wreck on the east bound side. The rubber necking was at it's worse. Once we got moving again we made it to Lightfoot and the Williamsburg Pottery by 9. Gin wanted to pick up a serving platter in which the selection was pretty sad. I remember that place having so musch variety in plates and dishes. Now it seamsto be a seconds place for factory rejects. We got what we needed and departed. Gin drove up to the outskirts of DC (Woodbridge) where we stopped for lunch. Taco Bell was the decision and it was spectacular. I took the wheel for the rest of the journey to Kate's. We had some heavy traffic through DC but experienced not delays. We made it to Kate's by 1:30 just after making wrong turn (#6) at the US-29 on ramp (my fault) which only put us out of the way by about 1/4 mile. Kate wasn't home when we arrived and Gin was crossing her legs. Gin reached Kate on her cell phone and a neighbor provided a spare key. We entered and let Molly free from her pen. After being smothered by boxer dog love, Kate arrived and all was well. We talked a while and played on the trampoline with Molly. Sammy arrived a little later and we had some fun conversations proclaming several "Man-Laws" about various topics. David arrived close to 6 and went back out for his training run before the Saturday 1/2 marathon (Good Luck). I drove over to the high school to pick-up Richard from football practice. Once every one was home and cleaned up from all the sporting events, we went out for a delicious meal at a lakefront restuaraunt. We picked up Richard's girlfiriend Angela along the way (Watch out Rich, I think your brother will take your place if you ever mess up with her). I have to admit, I fell out of the health nut tree and into the high calorie/fat pit. Luckily I am able to rebound, plus spinach is making it's way back to the grocery stores. We retreated back to the McDuff's for more conversation and a good night's sleep. Wednesday morning we were up with the family and said our goodbye's as each of the guys left for work and school. Gin and I met met Molly's boyfriend Clark before we hit the road. Kate, David, Rich and Sammy, thank you for entertaining us and sharing your time and home.

We planned on taking the scenic mountain route home and it was a good decision. We hit a few showers in southern Virginia but nothing major. We did loose a windshield wiper blade sometime after Roanoke. The RainX helped keep things clear until we arrived in Johnson City. We witnessed two different rainbows in the southern part of Virginia and near Johnson City. Overall the drive was relaxing even though it took about 10 hours (not counting rest stops). I highly recommend taking a trip on I-26 between Asheville and Bristol for some of the most spectacular mountain scenery in the Appalachian Mountains. We were in Spartanburg County by 8 and met Caris, Patrick and Jessica for dinner at Nacho's near the lake. It was great to be back home. The trip was well worth the time, miles and wrong turns.

I would like to do a similar trip like this again sometime in the near future. I started writing this Blog entry Thursday morning and sat down at the computer for several sessions, pecking away at this with two worn out fingers. Thanks to all my family, I appriciate all your love and support you share with Gin and me.I consider my family as my best friends.

P@

Entry for October 01, 2006

Wow! Another week has passed and it's time to BLOG again. There is not much to report on the house this week. Gin did get the propane tank removed last week. The lines kept leeking and we hardly ever use it. The cost to rent a tank is not worth messing with. We purchased a kerosene heater last year during the ice storm black out, and it seemed to keep us warmer than the fireplace insert. I'll be removing the fireplace sometime in the next year. The foundation under neath needs to be rebuilt and the thing lets a lot of our heat out.


In preparing for our trip east, I needed to repair the Blazer's lack of heat output. Apparently the work on replacing the radiator and coolant jug did not solve my problems. I had the heat working at the time of the previous repairs, but it is not needed June through August. Now that the nights are getting cooler we learned that the heater core is not getting enough coolant. Saturday I started to analize the problem. My first test was to check the coolant level in the bottle (it was low) and fill it to the proper level. I removed the radiator cap (new) from the radiator (new) and discovered a large amount of sludge built up on the stopper of the cap.

After a very brief discussion with Gin, I was cleaning up what was visible on the cap and re-attaching it to the radiator. Next was removing all of our belongings and trash. I vacuumed the interior and washed the exterior. Then I removed the CD changer and we were off to the car lots for a trade in.

It didn't take long to find what we liked. The Chevy dealer in Spartanburg had a 2002 Ford Explorer 4x4 on the lot that was reasonably priced and had a warranty. We worked out the details and drove home with a decent SUV and left behind a possible (probable) lemon. Maybe we were taken advantage of since we were quick in settleing for what we bought. Maybe the dealer was taken advantage of by giving us full resale value of our Blazer with a hidden secret in the engine. I'll never ask.

We are making our final plans for the trip east. Details will be coming soon.

P@

Entry for September 25, 2006

Last week was a busy work week. I became fully involved in buying equipment and services for our BioDiesel project in Illinois. I was in the office most of the week by 6am and out by 5 or 5:30. Friday afternoon my boss told me I could leave early if I was caught up. Ha! Ha! I finally got caught up around 5.


Gin and I ran Friday evening at the church across the street. We made it 3 miles with a few rain drops for part of the run. We made it home and fixed some quick dinners and relaxed for a little while. Then we realized we needed to make the yard sale signs for Saturday, so much for getting to bed early. 11:30 rolled around and it was off to bed.

The next thing I knew it was 5:30 Saturday morning and time to get moving. It was nice to sleep in for a change. We started checking the local radar for the rain and moved the yard sale items to the porch. I had to make a few stakes to mount the signs and also make a clothes hanger using some rope, a pipe and one of the red maple trees. It was touch and go with the radar watch. There were scattered rain bands in the area. Jessica and Debbie showed up after 6:30 and started helping Gin with the set up. I hooked the trailer to the Blazer and loaded some sheets of plywood on the back for a table. I pulled the truck and trailer to the front and spread a tarp over the boards. Debbie set her wares on the makeshift table and I set 5 interior doors against the Blazer. The ladies were ready by 7:30 and I was instructed to place the signs. I also parked my car at the bottom of the driveway. I didn’t want to have a bunch of bargain hunters fighting over a prime parking spot, and also wanted to see expressions of people wondering who got the good parking spot but didn’t allow room for others to park.

People came and went like a hurricane sends in mist and downpours. Speaking of rain, we did get a brief rain shower that lasted about 15-20 minutes. We managed to get most of the items that need protection up on the porch. Then the sun came out for the rest of the day and everything was brought back to the yard. We sold all the interior doors, an old mantle, the elliptical trainer, a TV set and several walking sticks.

We met a couple that lived in our house over 20 years ago. We walked them through the house and heard some interesting stories of how things looked back then. The lady said she would drop off some pictures of the house from their time here. They said the side where our mud room is, used to be an open porch. The man said he used to sell miscellaneous used items in the long out-building and worked in the smaller building repairing cabinet hardware. They had the hard wood floors when they were here, so whoever lived here between them and us put down 2 layers of linoleum and a layer of carpet. They always wanted to finish the upstairs, but never acted on their intentions.

The yard sale ended around 2:30 and the cleaning up didn’t take too long. We loaded up the trailer and hauled the leftovers to the out-buildings. Patrick showed up just in time te help unload the trailer. He had to drop off a key to his old truck tool box which was being sold to a Mexican gentleman. We sat around and watched some college football while the ladies counted the loot. The ladies decided to make a trip to the outlet mall, Patrick and I continued with the football games. The Mexican showed up after 4:30 and Patrick left soon after that. This gave me the perfect opportunity to take a little nap on the couch. The nap lasted about a half hour when the ladies made it back home from the shopping expedition. Gin and I fixed a little dinner and got cleaned up for a trip to TCBY for a cup of yogurt.

Sunday morning I was up by 4:30 and back in bed by 5:30. I managed to sleep until after 8 which is unusual for me. We made our grocery list and hit the store before the crowds arrived. After getting back home I had two things to look at on each vehicle. The Blazer is not putting any heat out and the Lumina had a rattling noise under the hood. First I diagnosed the Lumina as needing a new belt tension pulley, minor procedure. The Blazer may have an obstruction at the heater core, major headache.

After looking at the cars we had lunch then headed out to Greenville to check out the Whole Foods Market. This place is a natural food market the size of any super size grocery store. They have a large salad and hot bar, fresh baked Italian food, seafood market, fresh bread bakery and large full service deli. They also had free sample displays throughout the store. We had smoked salmon salad, pita chips, fried cinnamon tortillas, vitamin-c drink, blue corn chips and protein bars.

We picked up the part for the Lumina on the way home and I installed it in less than 15 minutes. Gin started cooking the ground turkey for my pot of chili and I mixed in the beans, corn, diced tomatoes, tomato sauce and chili powder. I relieved Gin at the stove and finished cooking the ground turkey and turkey sausage. Once the crock pot was full, it was just a matter of time, temperature and stirring to have it ready for lunch on Monday. We spent the rest of the evening reading and watching a police drama.

Other than that, we didn’t really do much this weekend.

P@

Entry for September 18, 2006

Last week Gin and I managed to run Tuesday through Saturday. The break in the weather makes it a little easier to get moving. Gin is up to 3 miles a day and has been for the last few weeks. Her pace is slow and steady, but at least she is out there. I tend to run a little faster than necessary and have been working on pacing myself to last longer distances. I managed to get two 3 mile runs complete without too much trouble. I have also been including about an hour of strength training and abdominal workouts 3 days a week.

Saturday I set up some used items by the road for sale. We have 5 interior doors given to us by the people Gin used to baby sit for. I also set out our old stove/range unit, a kitchen sing (never used), two ceiling fans and Patrick’s toolbox for a small pickup truck. We had a few nibbles but no takers. While I was waiting for someone to stop by and buy, I cut down the overgrown bush on the south side of the house. I finally brought all the merchandise in around 5. We went to Wendy’s for a deli sandwich and then to Patrick’s to pick-up the lawnmower. Patrick was getting ready for a party with some friends to watch the FSU/Clemson game. After we returned home we managed to get our nightly run complete before dark.

Sunday I was out of the house by 8 to cut the front lawn before I put my wares out for display. Next I set all the merchandise out for sale again. Finally someone bought the stove for $70. The rest of it had to be hauled back in, again. We drove back over to Patrick’s to pick-up the yard sale items for next weekend. We loaded up the Blazer and the trailer with boxes of stuff. Back home, Gin made room in the dining room for the load of stuff and packed it in so it didn’t take up too much space. I finished cutting the back yard before dark. Dinner was leftovers from several lunches ago. Gin was in the kitchen preparing a batch of chicken, pasta and cheese for the weekly lunch meals.

P@

Entry for September 11, 2006

The busy weekend started out with a high school football game Friday night. Gin and I attended the Blue Ridge HS vs. Travelers Rest HS game. My co-worker Nikki’s son Jerrel is a wide receiver for the Travelers Rest team. We arrived just before kick-off and parked in a church parking lot behind the school. The game is played every year as “The Battle For The Jug”, in which the winner of the game gets a large ceramic jug painted half Blue Ridge colors half Travelers Rest colors. The game itself was over within the first 10 minutes. Blue Ridge picked up 4 fumbles in a row and turned them into touchdowns within a few plays each. Travelers Rest was facing a 28-0 score with 8 minutes left in the first half. They managed to pull together enough to score one touch down before half time but that was too little too late. The Blue Ridge team was dominating from the beginning. Jerrel played well, but was no match for the speed of the Blue Ridge defense. We did enjoy sitting with Nikki and hearing her yell at people for one reason or another.

Saturday we dropped off the lawn mower at Patrick’s house for his use. After visiting with Jessica for a few minutes we went to the mall to check out the sporting supply stores. Saturday night we attended the Jonathan Byrd concert at the Unitarian church in Greenville. There were about 30 people in attendance in the small social hall for the show. He started out good with a few brain farts where he forgot his place on a few songs. He sang our favorite Matt Fockler tune and several JB classics.The last song of the night was a tribute to the one person who never receives any recognition for the hard work at festivals and fairs, the “Porta-Potty-Man”. We laughed so hard we had tears. The lyrics were cleverly crafted to utilize every pun and innuendo known to man. We made it home around 11pm and were in bed by 11:30 knowing we had an early day planned for Sunday.

Sunday we were up by 5am and out of the house around 6:30 headed for the western NC Mountains and a rafting trip. We made it to the Appalachian Rivers Rafting Co. around 9am and met up with Caris, Thomas and his family plus several co-workers of mine. Jon Leuschel provides a free guided trip down the Nantahala River every year for family and friends. We loaded up a trailer full of rafts and put-in around 10:30. The weather was sunny and clear with temps in the mid 70’s. The water was like ice but eventually became comfortably numb. John Hahn guided a raft with his wife Debbie, Gin, Nikki Dodd and yours-truly. We pulled off several times for breaks and stretching along the way. The entire trip took us about 3 hours to complete. At the end of the run is Little Wesser Falls which drops off pretty fast and rough. I was thrown to the floor of our raft when we hit the bottom of the falls (no damage done). After all the rafts were put away Gin and I joined my co-workers for a meal at the River’s End Café.

P@

Entry for September 05, 2006

Earlier last week I received an email from WNCW radio informing me that I won 2 tickets to the Friday night Bruce Cockburn (Co-Burn) show in Asheville. Bruce Cockburn has been around the small time coffee bar circuits for about 25 years. I’m not too familiar with his music but decided to enter the contest anyway. I figure it is better to get free tickets and not waste money on someone we may not like.

We left home around 6:15 Friday night heading for Asheville. Our thought was to get there early enough to get dinner and make it to the concert hall by 8 when the doors open. The first mistake was forgetting that it was the beginning of the Labor Day weekend and the interstate would be bumper to bumper. We were about 10 miles from Asheville when we slowed to a crawl. You know when you think about getting off the interstate to avoid the heavy traffic; well I should have taken the first exit when it first slowed down. We finally made it to Asheville around 7:30 and found a place to eat one block from the concert hall. Gin and I split a pulled pork BBQ sandwich and a smoked turkey wrap at a Cajun theme restaurant.

We finished dinner around 8:15 and walked down to the concert hall. There were about 20 people waiting in line to pick up their tickets at the will call window. We figured we were still early enough to get a seat. When we finally entered the building we realized we underestimated the draw this concert would have. There was not an empty seat in the place. We lasted through 40 minutes of waiting for the show to start and listened to 4 songs before we decided to leave. My days of standing for an entire concert left me 25 years ago. The music was good but not good enough to keep me there on my feet. Hey, it was a free show for us, so leaving early didn’t bother us at all.

Saturday morning I started working upstairs on the driveway side windows. I wasn’t sure how I was going to work the outside part, so I just winged it the entire day. I removed the old windows from upstairs using a crow bar and hammer. They came out fairly easy. Next I trimmed out the area for the replacement windows. New framing was installed to support the new windows and attached to the existing frame work. Gin helped me set each window in place with no major problems in their fit. All the work was done from the upstairs without the need to climb a ladder.

Sunday was a day of recovery (sort of). We made it to the hardware store and grocery store in the morning. After lunch and a nap I cut the grass and trimmed a few low hanging branches. We went for our evening run between rain storms.

Monday was another slow day. We made our running trek late in the morning since we were expecting storms later in the day. We were correct in deciding to run early, since we had three storms come through in the afternoon and evening. I helped Gin hang her new Roman blinds on the French doors and kitchen window. She made the curtains last week during her free time. The curtains look good and will help with shading the kitchen and dining room in the morning.

P@

Entry for August 28, 2006

Last week Gin and I concentrated on our evening workouts and proper diet plans. We switched to having our dinner type meal at lunch time and a lighter meal in the evening. I'm not quite sure what Gin ate for lunches during the week. I made a big pot of turkey chili and brought that to work every day along with a green chili and corn muffin. We would have spinach salad in the evening prior to our workouts. The change helped with our evening runs. We felt less bloated and were able to make our goal distances without feeling sick.


Friday after work I completed my circuit training and 1.5 mile run. Gin took the day off to rest. We had a deli sandwich from Wendy's then loaded up some yard sale items to take to Jessica's for Saturday.

Saturday morning we were up early and out of the house by 6am to help Jessica set up the yard sale. Debbie Stroud also made it there and the set up time was about 45 minutes. I carried several items out thinking they were to be included only to be told to take them back in the house. C'est la Vie!

Patrick and I went to the big high school football game in Duncan. The game matched up the #2 (USA Today) Byrnes HS (Duncan,SC) against Glades Central #5 (Palm Beach, FL). With a noon kick-off, it was a sweltering day for football. We sat at the 25 yard line 3 rows from the top of the stadium. Patrick and his friend Chris Honeycutt managed to get in the gate early enough to get the seats. I waited in the shade for about an hour before I finally entered the heat wave. The game was an ESPN broadcast on their high school showcase game of the week.

Both teams matched up very well. I think the heat contributed too several miscues from both teams. The local team managed to win a deffensive battle. The game lasted 3 1/2 hours plus we were in the stands 2 hours before kick-off. Everyone was sun dried and burned-up as well as burned out.

Jessica's yard sale turned out very well as reported by Gin and Jessica. They were done a little after noon and enjoyed a relaxing lunch together.

Sunday Gin and I made the weekly grocery store trip. The rest of the day was spent resting and relaxing.

P@

Entry for August 20, 2006

Our location in relationship the the school and church across the street is actually pretty convienent. There are times when traffic is heavy due to various events, but overall it is nice and quiet over there. Gin and I have measured several different courses to (and I use the term loosely) run or jog to help our exercise programs. we run at different paces which would be a hassle for a typical route. The parking lots and surounding entrance roads to the school and church offer enough distance to be creative without being too boring. We have measured a full 1/2 mile course at the church which incorporates a few long uphill parts that reward us with the same downhill section afterward. We usually try to run at least a mile each time out for five to six nights a week. If we feel good enough we will make and extra 1/2 mile to a mile longer run. Gin likes to run the courses in one direction for the first loop and reverse on the next cycle. I prefer to continue in the same direction at all times. The nice thing about each place we use to run is that we are never too far from each other that we don't know what's going on and we can work at our own pace.

Gin stained the boards last week, for the new wall cabinet doors. Saturday I glued the boards together and let them sit overnight to cure. The rest of the day Saturday I took the mower to Patrick's and cut his grass while he was at work. Patrick has been working 60 hour weeks for most of the summer. I wanted to give him a little break from the 2+ hours it takes out of his free time to cut the grass. With that done by noon I was back home to cut my own grass in between putting the doors together.

Saturday night we watched "Runaway Jury" with John Cusak, Gene Hackman and Dustin Hoffman. I read the John Grissom book several years ago and forgot most of what was to happen. The movie had several twists and turns which kept our interest.

Sunday morning I routed a groove on the inside of each door to insert a recessed panel. We discussed several options for the panel such as oak plywood, preferrated sheet metal or plastic light diffuser panels like those found on a flourecent ceiling light fixture. We tried the sheet metal and liked the look, but the price per sheet has doubled since we last bought some. Oak panels would be OK, but we want something unique. We opted for the plastic diffused panels in which Gin will accent with some type of paint. She is experimenting with different styles and colors to find the suitable design.

For those of you who read this weekly blog, you are more than welcome to comment on anything including my spelling. I am definitely a victum of the spell checker and this (YaHoo) service does not offer such a thing. So please understand that I am not ignorant, just lazy. I think I have most of it covered phonetically. Thanks for your patients.

P@

Entry for August 13, 2006

Last week was pretty easy at work. Wednesday I had a hard time staying alert all day. Still having problems sleeping through the night. I have no problem falling asleep, I just have this internal alarm that gets me up somewhere between 3:00 and 5:00 almost every day. I took a day off Thursday which is make up time from the 84 hour work week last month.

I spent Thursday morning looking for items to sell in a garage sale. After lunch I cut the back yard and raked up the piles of grass. It was pretty tall and needed to be raked since the grass was too wet to bag.

Friday night Caris and Thomas came down from Albemarle and joined us for dinner with Patrick and Jessica. We ate at Nachos, which was packed and slow. After dinner we went back to our house to continue the visit. The evening was part of our celabrating Caris' 22nd birthday.

Saturday it rained all day which made for a good time to catch up on some rest. Gin, Caris and Thomas went to Greenville for the day looking at gift registry items. I lazed around the house most of the day. I did manage to go grocery shopping to save Gin from having to go back out after being in malls all day. The afternoon was spent enjoying conversations with both of my Moms. My Mom celebrated her birthday on Saturday and I was able to catch up with her and all the things going on in Rocky Mount. I also had the pleasure of talking with my adopted Mom (mother-in-law), I call her Mom as well. Jean is like a back-up mom to my birth Mom. For the past 25 years she has included me in their family as if I was one of her own. I love both Moms and am not afraid to admit it.

Enough of the mushy stuff. Time to get down to some real thinking and engineering. Saturday afternoon Gin and I were discussing what type of hinges to put on the cabinets. We talked about the various styles which none of them really appealed to us. While watching the PBS show "The Woodwright Shop" I got an idea. The episode that was showing did not give the inspiration, but the previous week's show did. My thought was to make the hinge out of the same wood as the cabinet doors. The episode I was inspired did not show this idea but did show several ideas of how to make things with one piece of wood. I did some searching on the internet and found detailes on making a wooden hinge. Sundays task was at hand.

Saturday evening Gin grilled some chicken breast in the kitchen for sandwiches. we visited with Caris and Thomas for most of the evening. Caris' friend Summer came over to hang out with the young ones. Summer shocked us when she came in the house with blonde hair. Some of you may recall meeting her at Patrick's wedding, she has naturally black hair. It was hard getting used to seeing her as a blonde. I regress. The kids went shopping for part of the evening and returned just before 11.

Sunday Caris and Thomas left for Albemarle in the morning and I started the hinge making process. My first try was a little rough and had some wide gaps between the two parts. After reviewing and correcting my mistakes, I managed to make 4 hinges for two cabinet doors. I also cut out the other boards for each of the two doors that go to the sink cabinets. Gin applied poly to the wall cabinets and a trash bin. The door parts will be stained this week and glued later in the week or next weekend.

P@

Entry for August 09, 2006

Last week I had a rough time with sleeping and working. Lack of sleep and working 10 to 11 hour days adds up to being really groggy and non-productive. Not to mention consuming mass quantities of caffeine.


Saturday I was up fairly early and finally convinced myself to lay back down and sleep a little longer. I slept a little bit but definitely not enough. The task for the day was installing the face boards on the two corner cabinets I built last month. Gin had already sanded and stained all the pieces that were previously cut. This ended up being a simple task taking up about 4 hours of my day. So I was done with that by around 2:00 and decided to try taking a nap. I did manage to sleep a little while which helped for the evening.

Saturday night Gin and I traveled up to Saluda for a concert. We stopped in Columbus on the way up for a deli sandwich and ate in the front of an old primary school. About half way through my meal a few bees decided they liked me and wanted to be with me. I was having a wasp sting on the roof flash back and decided the bench was not for me. Gin and I moved to another bench and finished eating without incident. Next it was off to Saluda and a little outside venue called the Front Porch Coffee Bar. This place is a railroad caboose with an attached covered porch. They serve fresh brewed coffe (yuck), soft drinks, bottled water and home made ice cream. We attended the Brooks Williams show. Brooks is an acoustic guitar player who writes his own folk, jazz and blues songs. I discovered his music through a neat little web radio site www.pandora.com . This guy sounds a little like James Taylor and plays guitar as if there were two of him playing different parts. Gin and I enjoyed the show and will probably see him again when he is in the area.

Sunday Gin and I drove over to Patrick and Jessica's house. From there we traveled in Patrick's new Toyota Tundra to see Caris and Thomas in Albemarle, NC. We met up with Caris and Thomas at their church as they were just finishing the service. We were introduced to the pastor, his wife and several other frinds from the church. Next was lunch at Legends resturaunt in Badin. John and Debbie Hahn joined us for sandwiches and conversation. After lunch we drove up to Morrow Mountain State Park for a view of the Uwharrie National Forest and lakes.

After the state park it was off to Papa J's house for some home made ice cream and apple pie. We met Thomas' paternal grandparents and his uncles, aunts and cousins. Papa J showed me his unique collection of antique tools from different industries. He had coal boring drills, two man timber buck saws, ice saws, shoe cobbler seamers and so many others that I was overwhelmed. We thoroughly enjoyed meeting Thomas' relatives and understand how Caris fits in with the group.

After the visit at Papa J's we drove over to Thomas' house and a quick tour of the property where they will build their home. Thomas had bush hogged the field earlier in the week so we were able to get a good feel for the lay of the land. They have beautiful views in all directions and plenty of separation from any neighbors. They are truely blessed to have the support of Thomas' family for this property. Papa J has allowed each of his granchildren 1 acre of land from his farm land.

This past weekend was one of the best this summer and will be placed near the top with Patrick's wedding. I was extremely tired on Monday at work, so I went to bed early and woke up later. 9 hours sleep is unusual for me, but it was needed and worth having. If you have read this Blog and there was no picture, it's because I left my camera in Patrick's truck Sunday. I will post a picture once it is returned.

P@

Entry for July 31, 2006

I did not take a week off. Although I did not write a Blog last week, unfortunitely I had to work an 84 hour week to finish a proposal. Hopefully we are succesful in getting the project at the tune of $29mil. I eneded up missing my nephew's baseball tournament in Myrtle Beach as well as spending time here with Gin. It's all water under the bridge.

Last week I worked on recovering from the long weekend. I managed to work out every day and eat healthy all week. Friday night Gin and I stopped by Lowes for a box of siding so I could make some repairs to the areas where doors and windows were replaced. We ended the short trip with a few cold ones. That's right, we chugged a large bottle of YooHoo chocolate drink each and it was worth it.

Saturday I started out with the intention of making some siding repairs. First I cut some trim boards to go around the doors and windows. While Gin was staining them, I started pulling down the aluminum cladding and soffit boards on the front of the house. Most of the boards under the aluminum were rotten. They were an add on with the siding and are not part of the original construction. Once they were removed, the true archetecture of the house is exposed. I like the look of the roof rafters showing under the eve extentions. Unfortunitly for the wasps, their homes were exposed and a lot of them didn't enjoy the change.

Just before noon, an unexpected rain stopped all exterior work for the day. This left me no other option than to take a little well desrved nap. Stetson made sure I didn't sleep too long as he sounded the alarm to wake up after 20 minutes.

Sunday I started to work on the shed dormer at the front of the house. I managed to install the trim boards and was nailing the corner moldings when all of a sudden I was being attacked by some pretty angry (PO'd) wasps. I know I must have looked like I lost my mind as I swatted them away, threw my hammer off the roof (obviously to keep from hitting myself or breaking a window), scrambled to the ladder and maybe touched two rungs on the way down. I was stung once on my left arm and once on my right shoulder. Gin was sitting on the porch and heard the "S" word and a lot of scuffling and thumping above her head. I think she was waiting to see me hit the ground without the use of the ladder. Where is a video camera when you need one?

The picture above is of the nest I disturbed. They are living at the moment, I will take a contract out on their heads tonight. They will be taking a toxic shower later this evening.

Time to re-group and concentrate my efforts to the back of the house. Unfortunately, the wasps have friends back there plus a mafia. From places unknown, they kept coming out from little cracks in the siding near the bricks. The mofia I reffers to is the "Yellow Jackets" that decided to hang around my work area. That was it, I was done with that job until control and order is in place with the stingers.

Time to change speeds. I picked up all my tools and put away the siding materials. Cleaned myself up and fixed a nice grilled chicken salad and relaxed. Gin worked at Nachos all day, so I was in charge of the evening dinner. Patrick and Jessica came over for a turkey dinner. I must say the cornbread I made was the worst I had ever had. Gin's blueberry cobbler made up for the breaded misfortune.

After dinner, Gin and Jessica looked up recipes on the net. Patrick wanted me to play tennis across the street at the school courts. I managed to teach him three lessons. 1st I taught him how to hold the racket. Then the next two lessons were teaching him that Dad can beat him in a few games. He did pretty good for someone with no formal training. Thanks to Mom and her encouraging me to learn the game, I found out that I still have some of the skills I learned over 30 years ago. Good for me, bad for Patrick.

P@

Entry for July 17, 2006

Tuesday Gin and I enjoyed a trip through Western North Carolina for our 25th anniversary. I know it doesn't sound like a very exiting way to celebrate, but this is how we enjoy our time together. We headed out early Tuesday morning making short stops at several locations. The picture is from Dry Falls located between Highlands and Franklin. It was cool being able to walk behind the falls. Some of the towns we visited were Highlands, Dillsboro, Sylva, Waynesville and Brevard. We ate home made salads in Dillsboro and sandwiches in Brevard. The town visits involved walking the historical downtown streets and browsing the shops.

Wednesday we did some antique shop browsing from Tryon to Rutherfordton. In the afternoon we had to take Hoagie, our orange and white striped cat to the vet. Hoagie had an infected gum at the left fang. Unfortunately for him and our bank account,the fang had to be removed to the tune of $400. There goes the trip to Myrtle Beach. Hoagie actually had the surgery on Friday which included x-rays and teeth cleaning. We now have two cats with Bubba teeth. Ironically, Shelby had lost a tooth fighting with Hoagie last year. They are now bookends with opposite fangs missing.

Friday night Caris and Thomas arrived for the weekend. Saturday we set out early to take them to Dupont forest and a short hike to Triple Falls, High Falls and Hooker Falls. Hooker falls was featured in the movie "Last of the Mohicans" for the scene with a canoe going over a water fall. We had lunch at Hannah Flannagan's in Hendersonville. After lunch we drove over to Black mountain and browsed their downtown shops. I picked up a basket made from a red maple tree. The outside was left natural without the bark and the inside is carved out for the bowl and a handle. I might try my hand at making one sometime in the future. Caris picked up some accesories for her house.

Sunday was a day of rest for Gin and I. Caris and Thomas drove back to Albemarle.

P@

Entry for July 11, 2006

25 years ago today Gin and I were married in a little ceramony in Norfolk. I know there were some sceptics in attendance and maybe their thoughts were for what they thought was best. I have to believe now that we were right in our decision to stay together and become our own family.

If.... If could have changed a lot of things in the past 25 years. The word is powerful yet week. It has no truth in it's surrounding words until if becomes fact.

Is hind sight better than foresight? Anyone can say you should have done something different after what's done is done. I sit here this morning and believe that the foresight Gin and I had 25 years ago was right all along.

We will be the first to tell you, we made some mistakes both big and small. I know two things that happened in our marriage that are our greatest acheivements. Having raised Patrick and Caris and seeing them go through the cycle of life with their partners is the ultimate reward. We may never be financially rich, but we have the riches of family that fills us with joy.

I am happy to be married to Gin today as I was 25 years ago. Sharing our lives with each other and finding common interrests with each other makes the journey fun. We currently enjoy the same music, eating healthy, hiking and home renovation, design and decoration. These things we do with each other makes this marriage enjoyable.

Happy 25th anniversary Gin,
I love you,

Pat

Entry for July 09, 2006

Last week was nice. I worked Monday, then enjoyed the 4th at home, then 3 days of work. The big downside was the home office sent our paychecks to the wrong place. They found the checks Friday afternoon and we should get them Monday morning. It still sucks that they don't offer direct deposit to field offices. This is a sore subject with me and has been for a long time.

Enough about work.

Gin has had this idea to paint the fridge black ever since we replaced the range a few yars ago. Saturday she got her wish. Since there was no paycheck, hence no shopping for the week's groceries (see explanation above), we decided to paint it. Gin moved all the necessary items to the mud room fridge, tossed the unused and unwanted, and I moved the monster to the porch. Yes, we did look like a regular redneck family with the fridge on the porch. The doors were removed and stripped down to the bare metal. Gin cleaned everything and prepared for painting. I went to work making the wall cabinets at the sink.

Saturday ended with the base skelleton of the cabinets complete and mounted plus a black fridge on the porch.

Gin also had this great idea about making copper pipe handles for the fridge. We had made some trips to the home center several times prior to this weekend to aquire the appropriate pipes and fittings. I used a solderless glue to assemble the fittings and Gin treated all the parts to a thorough cleaning and special baked on clear coat.

Sunday we assembled the fridge with the new door handles. It looks like a brand new appliance (see picture above). The handles work great and the fresh paint works wonders for the room.

P@

Entry for July 02, 2006

Last week was pretty uneventfull exept for the heavy rain we received Monday and Tuesday. The work week was busy and actually went buy pretty quick. I managed to exercise 5 of the 7 days, which is a first in a while. I really slacked off since December and it shows. I am not anywhere near what I was this time last year but I know I need to improve. Looking back on last summer I spent a lot of time, during each day, outside in the heat supervising a project. This year I am in the office sitting on my butt.

Saturday, Gin and I spent the day in Albermarle with Caris and Thomas' family. We walked the downtown area shops to get a feel for what may be interresting to visiting family the weekend of their wedding. Not much was open, but we did not see everything. We will make a list after some future trips there. Like most small towns, Albermarle has an old town district and a commercial district on a busy highway. There are several national chain hotels in the commercial district which will help when we all get together next year.

We ate lunch at a BBQ resturaunt, which was a 6.5 on a scale of 1-10. After lunch we stopped at the church to see the inside and reception hall. They are leaning toward having Thomas' relatives handle the post wedding affair which is something they have done for several of his cousin's weddings. The church was built in 1908 and has a nice layout other than no center isle. Caris most likely will dress in one of the classrooms and walk around the side of the church before entering. The church has a video system that can record the event and also a closed circuit TV system that can show videos and pictures. Thomas has a cousin that most likely will put together a slide show of Caris and Thomas through the years.

After the church visit, the men split off from the women and visited different places. We went to one of the parks and drove to the top of a small mountain that overlooks some of the lakes. After riding through the park, we met back up with the ladies at an antique store, where Gin managed to get a copper serving tray with a set of copper cups.

Dinner was at a resturaunt with the theme of a B-52 bomber that, legends tell, flew over the pilot's parent's house to tip his wing before flying overseas to war. After the wing wave the plane went down in the lake. There were no witnesses of the crash and no sign of the plane. In recent years the Navy has found the plane is working on a plan to pull it from the water. By the way, we ate a wonderful dinner.

Today I got up around 7 and exercised for an hour to get rid of the cake I ate last night. After Gin was up and about, we went to the store for the week's grocery items. I took care of the grass after lunch. Later on, Gin and I watched a very slow slide show of Patrick and Jessica pictures via the DVD player. I made an egg skillet dinner with turkey bacon, veggie sausage and cheese. I know it doesn't sound like it would be tasty, but it was pretty good.

I'll work Monday and have the 4th off. I think Patrick and Jessica are coming by Tuesday for some grillin' and chillin'.

P@

Entry for June 27, 2006

I had my anual physical last Thursday which resulted with good reports. I haven't seen my blood test results, but I suspect they will be fine since I have lost so much weight since my last test and that test was good. My weight has crept up a little and I know the major reason. I have slacked off the exercising for the last 4 months and it shows. Sure I can wear loose fitting shirts to help hide it, but I know I need to straighten out my diet and physical activity.


Last week was somewhat normal at work until Friday when we were slammed by severe thunderstorms and heavy rain. The office lost power around 4:00 which was fine with everyone there. The only problem was finding a safe time to exit the building between periods of rain.

Saturday I sanded the walls in the dining room for painting. Gin worked the rest of the weekend in the kitchen painting. I worked in the yard all day Saturday clearing some of the overgrown trees along the storage building, cutting grass and weed eating. Sunday was a day of rest for me as Gin continued the painting. I noticed after the second coat of paint that my drywall mud and sanding needs to be improved. There are several bad spots that need to be reworked.

Sunday night I started to watch a movie on AMC but the thunder storms decided to scramble the satelite and switched to the rabbit ears and watched documentary about scuba diving in Antartica, burrrr. The rain continued through mid afternoon on Monday. There are some areas that recieved 7 inches over 2 days.

Next Saturday we will go to Albermarle to visit with Caris and Thomas and check out what the town has to offer. We will make several trips over the coarse of the coming year and try to help plan for events leading up to their wedding.

P@