Photo Flashback Thursday

It's once again that time of the week when I take a little bit of quality time out to look through all of my pictures that I have on my computer that I have captured through the years. I like to select one special picture to write about and tell a little story about. Sometimes finding those pictures is easy, sometimes it's a struggle to find that one special one. It's always fun.

This weeks picture comes in an early Sunday morning in June. The day before me and my Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Team had competed in the first round of the trivia tournament and were one of the six quarterfinal winners to advance to the next day and the semi-finals and ultimately the finals (we won the entire tournament). This picture was taken at 6:00 AM outside of the KDKA Studios. Michelle and I had arrived a little early, so we walked down to the point before meeting up with Chris and Randy to win our semi-final match. 

Michelle had taken a seat on a bench right before Chris showed up and I took this picture. 

After winning the Trivia Show, we treated ourselves to a Primanti Brothers sandwich. It was a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Ok, first of all let me apologize for yesterdays Blog and the formatting of it. I wrote yesterdays blog in my old editor and forgot to manually place the HTML tags for to to appear as I wanted. It's all fixed now and more reader friendly.

Well we've had a day off and we got yesterday in, now if you look up over this noon time hump, just on the other side of a photo flashback you can see the dawn of another weekend in the horizon. You have to love these shorter work weeks.

I saw yesterday my cousin Lynne, who basically grew up as my sister growing up, had joined Facebook recently and had started putting a few pictures up. She looks great and is a grandmother of four right now and we're now friends and did a little bit of catching up. We used to send an occasional e-mail when I was in college, I was working at Ag Sciences and she was working at Engineering but we never got together. It was nice to see life has treated her so well. her and I and her Sister Sharon have to get together sometime this summer, it's been too long.

Lifting and cardio so...

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is now behind us, it was a three day extended weekend and this is the first day of work this week kind of Tuesday, but I still for the life of me can't find a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

 * It's been 1,537 days since mine and Michelle's first date.

 * 760 Days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

 * 297 days ago we partied down at the Marilla center as we exchanged vows in front of our closest friends and family.

 * There are only 210 more shopping days left until Christmas.

 * 103 More days until we cruise to the Bahamas.

 * 30 more days until we party down with Jimmy Buffett.

 * 26 more days until Val has Erica and Josh's birthday party.

 * 11 more days until my Niece Amy's Baby Shower.

 * I finally updated my Garmin Nuvi. I bought it with a lifetime map update service and updated it last year when I bought it, and finally updated it again this weekend. Now my GPS knows there is a new road at Cheat lake...lol

 * Michelle and I BBQ'd at home yesterday, since it was so hot we just stayed home and threw a couple nice steaks on the grill and I made roasting eers. It was a nice relaxing end to a weekend filled win sun, cookouts, BBQ's, Celebrations, graduations a little sight seeking and a chance to recharge a little for the start of summer.

 * It's going to be a Cardio day for me today. I'm giving my body a small break from lifting and giving muscle tissue a change to regroup. I would have normally lifted yesterday, but I'll give it more more day and get back on my normal lifting routine tomorrow.

 * Hi ho hi ho

Memorial Day

As we take today and extend our weekend one more day, and unofficially kick off the start of summer, let us not forget the reason for this day. The day is called Memorial Day, it's a day when we reflect and thank those of us who fought in our Military and died so that we may enjoy the freedoms that we enjoy today.

It's time to honor those who have not only fought, but paid the ultimate sacrifice for us or to protect our way of life.

Our Military is currently stationed in Afghanistan in the Operation Enduring Freedom. As of the time of this blog we have lost 6,438 during this entire operation which also included those who died in Iraq.

As you sit and enjoy the near 100° temperatures today, eating your hamburger or hot dog on the grill and just generally relaxing for the day. Take a little bit of time out and remember the reason that we are not in our offices working today if you are one of the ones fortunate enough to enjoy this benefit.

Happy Memorial Day.

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Well we got a Graduation and a Graduation party in yesterday, now its time for the p[art of the weekend when we relax and BBQ.

We still are planning on doing our grocery shopping this morning, but we are talking about returning to Ohiopyle and doing another cookout like we did last week. Temps are going to be in the mid to  upper 90's both today and is supposed to get close to 100° tomorrow according to the weather report. Tomorrow might be a day we just stay home and throw a couple of steaks on the grill.

As you can see by my picture Danielle had one heck of a nice Graduation cake that I guess one of her Aunt's made. We stopped over after the MHS Graduation and had a pretty good time. Gerald was going all gangsta with his red sweat band, I think he is part of the WV Bloods...LOL

We went to Lowes and got a few more plants for the backyard garden, some of the cucumbers we bought were not exactly the lick of the litter and were dying off before they could get a start in all of this heat. The Burpee truck was there so we actually got our pick of the pride of starter plants so to say.

Have a great day, stay cool and be safe and most importantly have fun.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, everyone has lost a battle with the sandman and I'm up early watching some movie on HBO and collecting my thoughts for the day.

We have a semi busy day planned with attending Morgantown High's Graduation this morning and another graduation party this afternoon. Congratulations to all of the graduates this year, you have put in some hard work and it has finally paid off.

Since we usually go shopping on Saturday Morning, we decided to do it last night and get it done. Every once in a while you see an item that you say you would like to have, but aren't paying that much for it. Then you go one time and know Sam's Clubs codes and knowing a C is a Conditional item, meaning they only buy it on a one time purchase (A is an always item) and knowing that when you see an .01 price at the end of it they are basically getting rid of it at cost. Yesterday we found a Cuisinart Compact Blending/Chopping System for that magical $33.01 price that we knew we couldn't leave behind. I think we should start calling our Kitchen the Cuisinart Kitchen for as many Cuisinart products that we have purchased.

Weather is supposed to be AWESOME,  so have a great day.

What will the reaction be tonight if Clemson's BOT says it is officially exploring other options outside of the ACC?

Stole this from HERE, but VERY funny considering all the rumors going around College Football.

Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of ACC fans who started this crap by invading the Big East origially.



Clemson Fans:

FSU Fans:

North Carolina Fans:

Duke Fans:

Wake Fans:

Miami Fans:

Boston College Fans:

Pitt & Syracuse Fans:

Texas A&M and Mizzou Fans:

Baylor, ISU, Kansas, Kansas St and Texas Tech Fans:

Louisville Fans:

BYU Fans:

Texas Fans:

DeLoss Dodds:

Bob Bowlsby:

Dan Beebe:

Chuck Neinas:

Jim Delany:

John Swofford:

Chadd Scott:

Addendum #1 To all of the people who have emailed me saying they are going to have the internet police chase me down for posting a picture of a real suicide, IT ISN'T REAL.

Addendum #2 By popular demand:

West Virginia Fans:

Georgia Tech Fans:

Big Ole Hairy Three Day Weekend!!!!

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword to, when we can take time to cease the labors for the week and take a little bit of needed time out to enjoy the fruits of those labors. It is once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday and a three day Memorial Day Weekend!!!!

It looks like the weather is going to be cooperative with us this weekend in this region according to this map. It looks like we are going to have a heat wave here, which means this is definitely my time of the year. It's a time for shorts and sandals and good times with friends and family.

Tomorrow we have Morgantown High's Graduation to attend tomorrow morning and then Danielle's graduation party tomorrow afternoon. Other than that and our weekly shopping, we're free the whole weekend.

Not sure of any plans at this time, but rest assured there will be at least one nap this weekend. I would probably like to return to Ohiopyle once this weekend or something similar.

Tonight however it'll be dinner and probably just stay home to watch a movie or something along those lines. I know Michelle has had a long week, she was actually up yesterday morning at 2:00 AM and stayed up all day, so she had that Chinese disease yesterday. I think they call it Dragonass.

Lifting and cardio day

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of my digital images that I have on my computer and select just one picture to tell a little story about. Sometimes it's an easy task to find that one moment in time that you want to reflect upon, and sometimes it's a little tricky.

This weeks picture takes us back to August 16, 2003. My neice Valarie was getting married that day to her husband Bobby. They managed to hold their reception at the same location that Michelle and I were married.

Terri hired a DJ to entertain everyone with Music and to Emcee the event. The guy who was the emcee did a couple of characters  as a stripper for both Bobby and Val. This was Bobby's 'Stripper" so to speak for the evening. If you pay real close attention you can see his beard...lol

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well we now have two days done for this week, and if you just look up over that noontime hump and on the other side of a photo flashback, you might see the dawn of another weekend off in the distance. This will be a special weekend as it will also be a three day holiday weekend.

Speaking of that three day weekend, I know that we will have a graduation and a graduation party to attend. The party will be Saturday afternoon as we help celebrate Danielle's graduation from Wheeling Jesuit.

We are also planning on going to the Morgantown High graduation on Saturday morning to see the Meg Delaurier , John and Stephs Smith's  daughter, graduate from Morgantown High School.

It's going to be a busy weekend one way or the other.

Happy Birthday George McClain

I would like to take this opportunity to with my brother from another mother George McClain a very Happy Birthday today.

George is the man I owe a billion and one favors too and they have accumulated through the years from a wide variety of requests.

If you happen to see George McClain today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out to wish him the happiest of birthdays today as he is more than deserving.

Happy Birthday George, I hope all your wishes, dreams and hopes come through today.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is now in our rear view mirrors, and what a sad one it was, I still can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* I the Mountaineer nation weeps today with the sudden passing of former Head Coach Bill Stewart yesterday.  Our thoughts go out to his bride Karen and his son Blaine.

* It's been 1,530 days since mine and Michelle's first date a little over four years ago.

* It's been 753 days since I got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* It's been 290 days since we exchanged or vows and became Husband and Wife.

* There are 217 more shopping days left until Christmas.

*  In 37 days We'll be heading to Burgettestown to party with Jimmy Buffett.

* In 110 days we'll be setting sail for the Bahamas on our cruise!!!!!

* We are at 122 Geocaches found....and counting.

* It's a cardio day

* Hi ho hi ho

RIP Head Coach Bill Stewart

 RIP Coach.

Great Day Yesterday

Before we let this weekend expire and return to our jobs to put in another week of work, I would like to take a little bit of time out and reflect upon yesterday. Mainly because I'm just not ready for the weekend to be over with yet.

Michelle and I packed up Pearl and headed north to Ohiopyle State Park  to start the day off with a little pic nic and a little bit of geocaching.

We started off by going to our favorite pic nic area and pulling the subaru down by the creek and just having a great time. It was very aesthetically pleasing, ear candy to put it in short. A running stream, no one around, birds chirping and you have the place basically all to yourselves.

After the pic nic we did a couple geocaches there, one on top of the overlook and the other down by the natural water slide. The people were out in full force at the water slide as the water was running good and hard and there were a lot of people laying out and enjoying the warm sun.

After Ohiopyle we decided to get lost and try to find our way to Coopers Rock without going any of the traditional ways. We had the GPS with us, but didn't use it for navigation, just a reference point. I had made the trip from there to Bruceton once before, but that was 25 years ago and I thought I knew the way. We did manage to make it to Bruceton, but not the traditional way through Markleysburg that I thought we were going to go.

We finished off the day with a return trip to Five Guys, since our first trip there when they opened was a disaster. I was impressed to say the least. Orange flavored Diet Coke, you have to love their machines....LOL

Lifting and cardio day so

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Pam McClain

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my youngest sister Pam a Very Happy Birthday today.

I have no idea how she and her husband George will celebrate this, I know his birthday is in two days, but I'm sure they will do something special.

If you get the opportunity to see my Sister Pam today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and wish my beautiful sister Pam a very Happy Birthday today.

Happy Birthday Pam, I hope all your dreams come true today and that this day turns out just exactly how you want it to turn out. May you be surrounded by friends and family who love you and help you celebrate this day .

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Once again I am up early, much earlier than yesterday, writing an early morning blog. Everyone else in the house has lost a battle with the sandman after an exhausting week and I'm the only one up.

As my brother and sister in law are enjoying their 25th Anniversary Christmas present from their kids with a vacation in Hawaii, they have had the remodeled the store and had the grand opening of the P and P Family Auctions store, located across from Wings Ole on University Avenue. The suckered Michelle's nephew Devin to walk around town yesterday wearing a recliner suit (see pic) to advertise it.

This past week all of the Paugh's kids, grand kids, friends, family, and about anyone else you could imagine spent time at the store cleaning and remodeling and just getting everything ready for the surprise when Jim and Chris come home. We were down there late Friday night and Michelle was there early yesterday to get things ready.

As she was doing that I went and got the Taurus inspected and did our weekly shopping at Sams Club. We really got a whole lot accomplished yesterday including getting our patio Garden finally put in this year. It's a little later than last year, but not by too much. We're trying a different approach this year based on last years successes. We'll see how things turn out this year.

Have a great day.

Oh and if you want to see what Jim and Chris wake up to every morning looking from their balcony...

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household, I'm the only one up at 6:30, but I just woke up and this is probably the latest I have slept in in a while. Everyone else is sleeping after an exhausting week for everyone to say the least.

Today's schedule may be a little bit altered, I am going to try to get the car inspected this morning and Michelle is going to help out a few family members this morning down at the store. Her her sister Chris are in Hawaii this week and everyone is lending a hand with their new store.

A special shout out to day to our Friend Trish, it's her birthday today. If you see her today, make sure you take a little time out and wish her a very Happy Birthday.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword to, when we can take time to cease the labors for the week and take a little bit of needed time out to enjoy the fruits of those labors. It is once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

I have to say that this was a rather quick week for me, even if I do have to say so myself. I went out yesterday and paid our taxes and got the license renewed on the Taurus, I tried to get it inspected yesterday but it was getting late and no one wanted to do it that late in the day.

In case anyone hasn't noticed, I have shut down my hosting account for George-hall.net. I have three domains there and two of them were pretty much undeveloped, for the time being I am going to use the free hosting account, they still give you 10 GB of space, but a whole lot less options. It just didn't seem worth $100.00 a year for domain space that I really was not utilizing at all. The only thing really lost is my pictures, but I'll start looking for another host to host them, one that is significantly less costly. It wasn't really the money, but I had a hard time justifying paying $100.00 a year for something I really wasn't using anymore. I still own the domain names, but I may only keep the one that I use.

West Virginia University got one heck of a gift recently. A gift to the tune of $425 Million donation to the University from Siemens Corporation. It is the largest single gift ever given to West Virginia University, and not by just a little bit. The next largest donation was $35 Million. It was a great day to be a Mountaineer.

Speaking of the Mountaineers, we will kick off the 2014 season in Atlanta against the current defending National Champions lead by Monongah native Nick Saban. I'm eagerly anticipating that game.

Lifting and cardio day.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out to look through all of my old pictures that I have stored in digital format on my computer. I like to look and find one special picture from yesteryear to take a little time out and reflect on that precious captured moment in time. Sometimes it's very easy to find a picture and some times it's not that easy.

 This weeks picture I knew Tuesday that I wanted to use. Yesterday was the 35th anniversary of his passing in 1977, so it was probably the easiest choice for a photo flashback that I have ever made.

This is one of my favorite pictures, that's Grandpa Hall there on the left and that cute little bundle of joy that he is holding is the future author and creator of your favorite blog, George's Journal. That's none other than me, you might be able to recognize me by my hair...lol

I would imagine that this picture was taken sometime around 1964 while we were living down at our old house in Van Voorhis, he would have been about 70 or 71 in this picture. It was a time of yesteryear when all I had to do all day was lie around and create an occasional clean job for who ever was willing in my diaper.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well we have a couple of days now under our belts, now if you look over the noontime hump and on the other side of a Photo Flashback, you can start to see the dawn of another weekend off in the distance.

It was eight years ago today that I graduated from college and it's been 35 years today that my grandfather passed away in the early AM at the University Hospital.

This date for some reason has been entrenched into my life for a long time, for some reason I never seem to forget any May 16th or let one go by without taking a little bit of time out to reflect on my grandfather, his life and sometimes his music. At the end of my blog, you can click the location link and it will map you to where we were living when he passed away.

It's a lifting and a cardio day for me. I think I'm going to try to start cutting down a little on the ibuprofen and suck up the pain in my shoulder a little. My rotator cuff is messed up and has been for years, it's just really giving me trouble this spring. It hasn't slowed me down though...lol

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is now in our rear view mirrors and we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I can't for the life of me think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* My brother and sister in law Jim and Chris are probably heading to the Pittsburgh Airport as this posts, they will be flying out at 6:00 this morning and heading on their way to the Hawaiian Islands.

* It was 1,523 days ago that I was fortunate enough to go out on my first date with Michelle. She spent hours getting ready, it must have been a good evening.

* 746 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to Michelle.

* 283 days ago in front of our friends and family, we entered into a bond of marital bliss.

* There are only 224 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* In 117 more days we will be heading out into the Atlantic Ocean as we start our trip to the Bahamas.

* In 43 days we will be partying down at Margarittaville and joining all of the other parrot heads in Burgettstown.

* Chad is going to be working down at the Paugh family store this week helping set that place up as a surprise for when Jim and Chris return from Hawaii.

* I talked to Pam a couple of nights ago, she's been on Midnight shift lately and informed me that Calvin has twisted his ankle and sprained it pretty bad last week. George had to go and pick him up from school.

* I hope everyone had a very good Mother's Day Sunday, I know Michelle tried to send out a gazillion text messages. I tried to tell her to send a mass text, but she wanted to do it one by one to make them more personal.

* Josh Judy is pitching in AAA Louisville this season. The Red's picked him up but did not add him to the 40 man roster. He's went from winning the A Championship, the AA Championship and back to back AAA Championships, to being on the team with the worst record in AAA. He's pitching strong, but the team is struggling this season.

* Michelle's Dad got some good news recently. He owns a Golf Pro Shop in Ohio. He owns the building that it resides in, but a local Private Country Club made him an offer to move his shop to it's location and operate rent free because they have had a slight reduction in membership. He builds custom clubs and is himself a scratch golfer.

* It's a cardio day for me today

* Hi ho hi ho

Weekend Wrapup

Well before I start the week I just want to comment a little bit about yesterday. To say that I ran all over kingdom come is an understatement due to Mother's Day and Graduation an the Graduation party last night. My day started with me waking up at 3:00 AM and I knew would end sometime around 9:00 last night. I got lucky and everything was done by 8:30 last night.

Graduation was very nice, the school of Medicine did it right at the Morgantown events center. My brother in law Jim brought an air horn and as Amanda was called we all hollered and Jim let the air horn go. It was a great time..LOL

ANYWAYS, now that all the fun has been had for the weekend it's time to stick or noses back to the grindstone for the next five days to do our thing that allows us to enjoy the weekends like we do.

It's a lifting and a cardio day, so...

Hi ho hi ho

Regular Sunday Morning Blog

Yeah yeah yeah, you know the routine by now, I'm up and everyone else is sleeping yadda yadda yadda. This is my fourth blog of the day, and one that I use to close a few loose ends of my morning blogging. The other three blogs that I have written this morning, have all been events that warranted their own space.

 Got a call from Pam last night, she was a couple of days out from getting me this news but has informed me that Calvin had sprained his ankle. Not sure what he did, but I know ankle sprains can be very painful and in some cases it would have been better to break it. Here's to hoping Calvin has a speedy recovery.

 My High School reunion has finally set a couple of dates aside. August 17th and 18t this year with two events. Friday's events are yet to be determined, but Saturday we are going to meet at Coopers Rock for a pic nic and later than evening head to Archies for a little bit of Karaoke. This will actually be the first one that I have actually attended. This works out well for me, we will be in Cleveland the weekend before for her cousin Ronnie's wedding.

Have a great day, have all the graduates left yet???

Commencement

West Virginia University welcomes a number of students into the ranks of Alumnus today, one of those who will be included into those ranks will be Michelle's Niece Amanda Paugh will be not only be graduating today, but graduating with the honor of graduating Magna Cum Laude. It's a latin phrase meaning with great praise, and one heck of an academic achievement to say the very least.

This afternoon Michelle and I will have the honor of seeing Amanda receiving her degree from West Virginia University at the Morgantown Events Center followed by a party at the Paugh's this afternoon. Most of Michelle's family will be here, traveling from out of town and out of state to share in this moment with her.

Congratulations Amanda, and good luck as she is now entered into the Masters program for her field of study. It won't be too much longer and we'll be referring to her as Dr. Amanda Paugh.

I hope everyone has a great day and to all of the rest of those graduating today, hurry up and get the heck out of town, we want our summer of no traffic before the next crop arrives. =)

Happy Mother's Day

I would like to take this opportunity to wish all the mothers of the world a very Happy Mothers Day. It's a day that we take out once a year to honor some very special people, special enough that if it were not for them, none of us would be here. It's about the Mothers.

I have been blessed in my life to have a very special mother and step mother whom I will try to make a visit to on this busy day that I have in front of me. It is these women and my grandmother who have shaped me into the man that I am today, they have taught me my values, how to work hard, how to get up in the early AM every morning of my life (grandmother) and how to best touch someone elses life.

I consider myself very fortunate, it's made me who I am and I am very thankful to all of them for assisting in my development.

Happy Mothers Day!!!!

Happy 67th Birthday George Edward Hall Sr

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my Father, George Edward Hall Sr, a very happy 67th birthday today. It was 67 years ago that many of the people reading this blogs legacy was confirmed with the birth of a man we all loved and respected. He touched the hearts of all he came into contact with, he was definitely one person that always made you feel at home and made sure that you were more than fed when you left.

It'll be 13 years this summer that we lost a man that I knew as my father.

A lot has happened in those 13 years that we all would have loved him being around for. Val, Amy, Randy, Moke and Brittany all graduating High School with Moke and Brittany going on to the next level.

Kim, Val, Amy, Moke and yours truly have all gotten married since then, I can't speak for all but I'm sure everyone would have loved his presence at those special events. He was always a man about family and gathering.

The family has welcomed new additions of Erica, Josh, Kaiden and one more coming this summer. Four new souls that have entered into this world further continuing his legacy.

I have had the honor of graduating from college in the 13 years since he has left, I think he would have liked to have seen that and probably would have become very interested in what I do, especially since he was a coal miner.

There have been pic nics, Easter egg hunts, Christmas Eve's, and a lot of fun filled events in the past thirteen years. There has also been our share of tragedies since then, most notably the day we that he left us.

We miss you dad, Happy Birthday.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet house, everyone has lost a battle to the sandman but me and I'm up early watching some movie on HBO and writing this BLOG.

This is going to be a very busy weekend for both me and Michelle. We're going to try to get all of our weekend shopping done today so that we can have tomorrow free. Tomorrow being Mother's Day, which for those of you who did not know originated in Grafton, West Virginia, we are going to have a very busy day. West Virginia's Commencement is also tomorrow which we are attending for her niece Amanda.

This afternoon Michelle has a baby shower she needs to attend for another cousin, so to say this weekend will be busy and a lot of running around would be an understatement. We've acknowledge this already and are prepared for it, so it's not like it's something that has caught us off guard.

Have a great day, I'm pretty sure the weather is going to be cooperative.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword to, when we can take time to cease the labors for the week and take a little bit of needed time out to enjoy the fruits of those labors. It is once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

It's graduation weekend here in Morgantown, a few thousand graduating students will change from student to alumnus over the weekend. We will be attending Amanda Paugh's, Michelle's niece, graduation on Sunday at the Morgantown events center. She was the valedictorian four years ago from University High and she is graduating Magna Cum Laude on Sunday which is one heck of an accomplishment to say the least. I know Michelle is very proud of her.

Not too sure what we will be getting into this evening, obviously dinner somewhere which we do every Friday night as our weekly ritual. Michelle gets to pick where we go, we change off every week.

It's a lifting and a cardio day, so hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out to go through all of my pictures that I have on my computer, spend a little time and select just one special picture for that week to tell a little bit of a story about. Sometimes it's pretty easy, sometimes it's not that easy to find that one special moment in time that you want to relive. However, it is never dull or boring and it is always fun.

This weeks blog takes us back to a happier time of a few years ago, a day when two special people who are in need of a bright thought for the day today. A time when Ralph and Amy Dalton entered into marital bliss in front of all of their friends and family.

I love this picture, Amy had a picture of my Dad which made this just that much more special. The two beautiful women in this picture are my niece Amy and my Sister Terri with a couple of fine looking young men in Ralph and Kaiden.

I just want them to have a little bit of memory and joy today, they need it.

Hump Day

Went and visited my Niece Amy last night.  My heart really goes out to those two, they really need everyone's thoughts, prayers love and any help and support they can get right now in this time of need. I could never imagine going through what they have had to deal with, it would be beyond my worst nightmares. If you know my niece Amy or her Husband Ralph, please reach out to them.

On to your normally scheduled and routine Hump Day Blog where I start my spiel about looking on the other side of Thursday for the dawn of another weekend.

You know sometimes as a blogger you really have to stretch to find something to write. You tend to repeat yourself and make everything repetitive just to make sure you can still get your daily blog post out. I really enjoy doing it, it kind of takes my mind off of things sometimes and allows me to build my own little daily life history. I'll pass 3,000 blog posts sometime this year and that has allowed me to share a great deal of my life publicly.

There are days when I don't have much to say, and then there are days when you really don't know what to say because people around you are hurting so badly. Today is one of those days.

Make the most of this day as if it is your last.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is now behind most of you, I spoke a little too early as I took yesterday off to try to get rid of this lingering big that I have been fighting for a while, I can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It's been 1,516 days since mine and Michelle's first date a little over four years ago.

* It's been 739 days since I got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* It's been 276 days since we all partied down at the Marilla Center as Michelle and I exchanged our vows of marriage.

*  There are only 231 more shopping days left until Christmas.

*  In 124 more short days we set sail on our cruise to the Bahamas.

* It's election day here in West Virginia, get out and vote today, I am pretty sure polls open at 6:30 this morning. This is the Primary before the big presidential election this November. Go and make sure you do your civil duty and vote today.

* Got a text from Amy yesterday morning, she said Ralph and Kaiden are going to need a lot of prayers to get through this tragedy, I would also like to add her into this as this is her family. I don't to go into too much detail for respect for those involved.

*  Hi ho hi ho

Monday morning

All good things must come to an end, and in many cases that includes the weekend as well. So it's time to stick to stick our noses back to the grindstone and get back to doing what it is we do to earn a living for a few more days.

 It is with a heavy heart that I have to write today's blog. Thoughts and prayers go out to My Neice Amy, her Husband Ralph and their son Kaiden. They are going through a very difficult time right now after a traumatic event Sunday. They need everyone's thoughts and prayers at this time. My heart goes out to all of them.

I have been feeling a little bit under the weather for the past few days, nothing to really keep me down but just enough that you know it and don't feel like you are at your best. Hopefully I can shake this thing before long as I have been running fevers for a while. Like I said though, it hasn't been anything that has or would keep me down.

Lifting and cardio today so...

Hi ho hi ho

We Had a Nice Day

Here I sit, early on a Sunday morning collecting my thoughts once again. This time I am the only one who is awake, as everyone else is fighting a losing battle with the sandman.

Chad is back from Cleveland, they finally finished up the contract that has been on again and off again for about six months. In the next few weeks he's going to go down and help his Cousin Amanda in the store as my Brother and Sister in Law head to will be heading to Hawaii.

Michelle and I took a nice trip to Wheeling Downs yesterday. I have to admit that this was the first time that I have been there in a number of years. Last time I was there the dog track was there and the poker machines were just being installed for the first time in a couple of smaller rooms. Wow I have to say that place has changed. It's a full blown hotel and Casino now and has grown by leaps and bounds since the last time I was there.

Michelle has never gambled on any kind of dog or horse racing, we watched the first couple of races and then she ventured on trying a wager on the third races. She bet a Quinella on her first attempt at wagering. Somebody had a little bit of luck yesterday as beginners luck struck with her on her first race when she hit. Maybe I should have been asking her how to gamble instead of teaching here since she is the only one of us who actually won money. I wanted to take her to the meadows, but they do not race horses on Saturday afternoons, hence our trip to Wheeling. Maybe some Friday evening in the future will consist of us taking an evening and enjoying a little bit of harness racing at it's finest.

Hayley has finally taken her GED yesterday, judging by her pre-tests she should have passed with flying colors. We're both glad she finally has this behind her. She really is a very bright young girl, she was just bored in High School and tended to skip a great deal. She had no problem with any classes that she wanted to do, she would just get bored and sidetracked a little bit, like I said she is very intelligent.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit early on a Saturday morning, I would say that it's a quiet household but Michelle is up drinking coffee already. We are going to take Hayley across town this morning, so Michelle is up at at em rather early. I think she's about halfway through her first cup of coffee and about 90% awake now.

She is in an office pool at work today for todays running of the Kentucky Derby. All I have to say is I hope the favorite Union Rags wins this and she will enjoy a little bit of a financial windfall from her office pool.

We tried a new Restaurant yesterday for dinner, Don Patron in the pierpont plaza was one that we thought we would try. I have to say it may be the best Mexican restaurant that I've even in in Morgantown.

Happy Cinco De Mayo

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword to, when we can take time to cease the labors for the week and take a little bit of needed time out to enjoy the fruits of those labors. It is once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

To start this off I have to say that Blogger has finally fixed and repaired the schedule so your blog posts when you want it to post. Since they had switched the back end, it was a feature that was not only not working, but caused me a little bit of frustration in the process. It started working on May 1st, maybe they were just transitioning everything before the final commitment. I have to say that I am one happy camper that it's now working. Now I can start getting ready for blogs when we are on vacation in the Bahamas.

The weather appears to finally start looking like spring for once. Maybe it's time we start setting up the 2012 garden this weekend, since graduation is next weekend.

Speaking of Graduation, today is the last day of finals at WVU. I thought it was dead week, but that was last week. I think you will slowly see the population of Morgantown greatly diminish over the next few hours as many students will be packing up, if they haven't already, and heading back home for the summer. We should be able to drive around town, go to Restaurants and everything else without having to deal with a crowded city. !!!

Congratulations to all students who will be graduating this year, and for the underclassmen, breath a sigh of relief and relax a little bit. You have another semester of college under your belts and are just that much closer to your own commencement.

Lifting and Cardio day, hi ho hi ho