Entry for Monday June 28, 2010

Sometimes I'm the turtle and sometimes I'm the hare. Mostly the turtle although I'd like to think I have the agility of the hare, I really don't and never did. Slow and steady wins the race! This reptile was crawling across Patrick's backyard Saturday evening. Nolan was intrigued by it to say the least. I tried to get some better pictures, but it didn't want to cooperate. I always enjoy seeing the odd natural wonders.

Saturday I spent the day with Gin, Caris and Thomas for a little shopping and general lazing around. We drove over to Patrick's for pizza dinner with Jessica, Nolan and Dean. After dinner Patrick, Nolan and I went outside to see Nolan drive his John Deere Gator car. No, it wasn't at full size Gator, It was the plastic battery powered toy version. Gin also came out to see Nolan's first attempt at driving (in front of us) which resulted in a little fender bender. He took off in 2nd gear and ran into the back of our truck. I happened to video record the event and it was quite comical the way he hit the truck, stood up afterward looking at the front bumper of the car and pointing at Grams (Gin). He didn't get hurt and we had a great time watching his reaction. The funny thing in my mind is that a 2 year old reacted the same way I have seen adults react after a car wreck.

After Caris and Thomas said their goodbyes and headed east, we settled in the den to visit with the kids and watch the Clemson-USC baseball game. The sweetest thing happened during that part of the night. Nolan fell asleep in my arms and Dean fell asleep in Gin's arms. It was a special treat to watch Nolan slowly wind down as he talked about a lot of things while becoming less active.

I watch what people say about Mondays and how much they hate that day and the end of the weekend. I have had those feelings about Monday from time to time. Since returning to work and still having the unemployment blues in my mind, I look at the day as a blessing. I have been blessed with employment again and it is rewarding to earn my wages rather get pitiful handouts from the unemployment commission. Today (Monday) I was up at 4:30 and on the road to Chattanooga by 6:00. It is a little over four hours from home to the VW project. That is the hard part. The easy part is getting to ride through the Great Smokey Mountains along the Nantahala River Gorge as well as the Ocoee River area. After all that driving, I still had plenty of time for meetings and drawing reviews for installations. All in all, it was a good day.

Enjoy each day and don't worry about which day of the week it is. They're all equal in every way except the way you treat them. There are more important things in life. A lesson I am still learning every day, including Mondays.

P@

Entry for June 20, 2010

Fathers Day has once again come and gone. Being empty nest parents, Gin and I usually get a good part of Fathers Day (and Mothers Day) to our selves. Being Catholic enables us to attend Saturday evening Mass which provides even more freedoms to do whatever we want on those celebrated Sunday mornings. This being Fathers Day I chose to play a round of disc golf at a new (to me) course at Brevard College. One might think that a town nestled in the mountains would make a disc golf course challenging with hills and valleys. This was not the case for BC. With the exception of two baskets, the entire course was flat and mostly wide open. Even with the openness, I managed to loose a disc on #9 into a swampy overgrown area. The cool thing about disc golf is, if your write your name and phone number on your discs, someone will contact you if the happen to find it. This happened today and I was pleased to know that my favorite driver was found this afternoon.

At the last tee of the day I spotted a white squirrel being chased by a grey squirrel. Gin headed for the truck to get the camera and I finished my round. The picture above is what Gin captured after many attempts. Some pics were blurry, some were shadowed, and some of just the tail. Gin's determination and the technology of electronic data storage, allowed her to capture a perfect image. Oh, back to the game, I finished with a 71 which was +5 for the non-pro players like me. I enjoyed the game, but am not sure if I would play it again.

We returned home around 1:00, ate lunch, and cleaned up for our afternoon visitors. I prepared a pan of lasagna for dinner and was putting it all together when Patrick, Jessica, Nolan and Baby Dean arrived. Nolan did all he could to keep me occupied while I was putting the final layers together. Even when I was done in the kitchen, Nolan made it difficult for me to hold Dean. He would climb in my lap when I was first trying to hold Dean. The easy thing was to hand Dean back to Gin and pay more attention to Nolan. I finally got the chance to hold Dean after dinner. I am proud and grateful of my son Patrick and his wife Jessica. They had a rough start with their family by overcoming the loss of Beau and Haley, only to be blessed with Nolan and Dean. They do an amazing job for such young parents.

Friday I finally finished my 30 hour OSHA Safety course in Greenville. We have to have this certification for the Volkswagen project in Chattanooga. A lot of what was shared is stuff I've learned at other jobs, but it never hurts to take a refresher class.

Even though I've been working for over two months now, I am still experiencing the after shocks from seven months of unemployment. Gin and I attempting jumping a major hurdle this past week. We won't know the results of our efforts for another week or two. We pray about it daily and would welcome your thoughts and prayers for our road to recovery.

I know some of this is boring to some of you. I'll not apologize for that. I write to clear my mind and to create a record of events in my life that my Children and Grandchildren may possibly enjoy after my final day has passed. I want them to remember me by more than just a picture.

P@

Entry for June 17, 2010

So I missed writing my entry on Sunday night. I had a great reason to miss my personal scheduled blog post. As you can see in my picture above, I was called away for the birth of my Grandson, Dean. Dean was born early Monday morning. Gin and I were called Sunday evening and informed that Patrick had taken Jessica to the hospital. At the time I was finishing up the back half acre of grass cutting. When I was finished and cleaned up, Gin and I made our way to the hospital to lend our moral support. As the night dragged on and the uncertainty of when Dean would arrive, we decided to head home a little before 2am. Dean was delivered at 3:32am. I guess he just wanted to be with his Mommy and Daddy for the first few hours of his new life. On the sleep deprivation side of things, I was in bed by 2:30am and up by 5:15am. I worked the day away with the help of way too many Diet Dr. Peppers. After work Gin picked me up and we met Dean for the first time. He slept through most of our visit and was being awakened by his Mommy just before we left. We got a few wide eyed stares and enjoyed seeing him stretch and try to curl back up to sleep. I slept good Monday night!

The rest of the previous (work) week for me was spent between Greer, SC and Chattanooga, TN. I'm still enjoying my work and waiting for the pace to pick up on the Volkswagen project.

Saturday I played disc golf at the Boiling Springs course. I decided to try the Pro tees out just to give a little variety to my experience there. I think overall I did alright with an 82. I had a few penalty strokes due to discs that landed in creeks or retention ponds. I probably should have penalized myself for the "S" word a few of those shots. Each one I thought I lost for good, only to find the missing just before giving up the search.

Sunday afternoon Gin and I made our favorite dish. We don't really have a name for it and I'm not sure if we can name it. Maybe it should be called The New Prospect? The name of the area we live in has a fire department, an elementary school, a Baptist church and a corner store. That's it! Anyway, the dish has onions, Anaheim peppers, green peppers, garlic, wheat berries, spinach, mushrooms, Orzo pasta, ground turkey, fennel seeds and red pepper powder. It takes both of us an hour to chop veggies and cook everything, but it is always worth the time to prepare.

I've been reading a lot lately. I'm usually not much of a book reader, but for some reason it just clicks right now. Maybe I'm getting myself ready to pull my personal observations together in my own publishing. I'm not talking about a novel, but a layman's record of what life is like from one (my) point of view. Blogging helps me clear my mind. I know I'm not a great word-smith and probably could use an editor every now and then. I really don't think the every day, real world, person cares that much about perfection of grammar. Sometimes the subject or the message is what captivates people. Then I think some people just want to know that they are just as whacked out as me and that is normal.

Thanks again for reading my ramblings. Leave a comment anytime.

P@
aka Pappy

Entry for June 6, 2010

 On my trip to Chattanooga through Western North Carolina, I witnessed unbelievable fuel mileage on the company car. At times the electronic message read 75mpg, 95mpg, 135mpg and then 200mpg. So maybe it wasn't exactly safe to snap a picture with my camera phone, but I had to capture a 200mpg reading. The downhill slopes of I-40 were steep enough to throw the computer off just a little.

I played a round of disc golf at The Sinks disc golf course near the TVA's Chickamauga Dam along the Tennesse River. The Sinks is named after the numerous sink holes throughout the course. some are pretty deep and some are full of water up to ground level. I was more conscious and cautious of the ones full of water than the deep empty ones. The disc doesn't float and the water is muddy witch would make retrieving a water bound disc nearly impossible. I did really well keeping out of the sink holes and was extremely lucky on one sink hole that was about 20 feet in front of a basket. I hooked a tee shot that went straight toward the sink hole. When I walked up to the area where it landed, the disc crossed the water and was on dry land. The strange thing was, the disc was soaking wet and the water looked undisturbed. Overall I enjoyed playing the new course but I am not a big fan of its layout. I guess I enjoy the rolling hills at the courses near home.

Today I decided to get back in touch with the overgrown plant life around the out buildings. I made good progress around the big building cutting back the iron wood, ivy and trimming the Crape Myrtle that was brushing up against the roof. I turned my attention to the patch of mulch between an oak and pecan tree. There were some bushes that decided to sprout up in the mulch bed. As I was clearing the overgrowth around the pecan tree, a strange and painful feeling was shooting through my right thumb. Then another pain in my left forearm. As I looked at my forearm I noticed a bee methodically inserting his stinger. So..... I swatted and slapped every place I could as I ran like a little baby to the house. I was hit twice on the thumb and once on the left arm. I managed to get the areas cleaned up and with Gin's help, inspected the sting sites and applied medication.

I retreated from the work around the mulch bed in lieu of a safer location. I completed trimming back the brush along the property line beside the long out building and called it a day. Again, I learned a lesson about home invasion and the right to bear arms. Bees, hornets, yellow jackets, mud daubers, wasps and fire ants have the same rights as you and I. The difference is ,they will shoot to kill and not worry about asking any questions. 

Gin and I are excited about Baby Dean's arrival any day now. Jessica is doing good and wanting the little guy to make his arrival very soon. Nolan has become more talkative and understandable as far as his language skills. When we stopped by their house to pick up the lawn mower, I said "Chattanooga" to him and he repeated a very close pronunciation of the city name. We are so proud of him and his parents for the way he responds. plays and communicates. Being a Grand Parent is one of the most rewarding rolls a person can live.

P@