Happy Easter

Happy Easter

Here I sit on a quiet Easter Sunday Morning, I'm the only one who has recovered from a losing battle with the sandman. Michelle and I are the only ones home as Chad and Laiah have already went to Monaca, they are going to stay up there for a few days and help Michelle's nephew and niece put together a nursery as they are expecting their first child this fall.

We attended the fundraiser last night for the Neese family and actually won three silent auctions. We drove the price up on a couple of the items and won a couple of pastry bids that were also at an escalated price, but it was all in good fun for a good cause. Dave and Mary Neese were there last night and I would venture to say there was a pretty penny generated last night. Jim was an absolute howl doing the auctioning, I can say his humor alone raised quite a few prices and helped generate a nice little bit of funds. The Neese's were actually in the back of the room smiling an laughing at Jim's antics. People were just having a ball with all the baked goods auctioning. I don't think anyone really cared if it was going home with them or not. Hat's off o the Cassville Fire Department as a whole, they did a remarkable job.

Michelle and I will be heading out later this morning, I promised her I would let her sleep in this morning, and heading north. We have a Geocaching Travel Bug that I need to unload from my inventory and we want it to be in a state it has not been hidden in yet (Ohio).

Have a great day, and have a Happy Easter.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again on an Early Saturday Morning, being the first to recover in the household from a losing battle with the sandman. I don;t think the dogs or the cats are even stirring round at all and Michelle is still sleeping pretty good. I'm up watching the move the Babe with John Goodman, the life story of Babe Ruth.

Funny little story about the household. As many of you know I was softball teammates with Josh Judy who made his Major League debut a couple of years ago with the Indians. Josh was the second person born ion Morgantown to make it to the Major Leagues and later that season former WVU Catcher David Carpenter made his debut as a Pitcher. The first one player from Morgantown was back 50 years ago with the Indians, so Josh was second, David was third and on Opening Day, the San Diego Padre's starting second baseman for the season will be Chad's old team mate from years ago Jedd Gyrko who I have seen play in both High School with Josh and in College at WVU. I can say I have had the pleasure of seeing all three of these guys play before they were Major League players. I remember going to see University High play Morgantown High once when Josh was pitching against them, and this is the only time I've ever cheered against my Alma Mater. I remember turning to Steve, Josh's Dad after Jedd got a lead off hit and saying now that is a pure hitter, don't be surprised if we see two of these kids in the Majors someday. Jedd will make the second. Congrats to Jedd.

Today will be a shopping and running around day for Michelle and I. We're traveling tomorrow so we'll get the rest of our shopping and everything done before we travel tomorrow.

If you are doing nothing today and you have a few dollars in your pocket that you don't need, there is a fundraiser today for the Skylar Neese family at the Cassville Firehall. This will be to help the struggling family cover the cost of a decent funeral for Skylar Neese who was first missing and later found dead earlier this year. If you have only a few coins, please stop by. My brother in law Jim will be doing a bake sale auction.

Have a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Cherry Blossoms in DC

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.

Well Michelle and I decided, planned and finalized our getaway weekend for next weekend. There were a number of options that we considered, but she really wanted to head down to our nations Capital next weekend for a day around DC and to be there for the Cherry Blossom Festival that will be going on. With the recent colder weather, they are talking about next weekend possibly being the peek weekend to see all of the Cherry Blossoms around our nations capital.

We had a few ways we considered going down, one was to drive to Martinsburg, WV and ride the Marc-Train in early in the morning. The only problem is there is a couple of hour commute each way and and the trains leave early in the morning and return late afternoon for all of the commuters. The other idea is to drive to DC and take the Metro into downtown. We're going to be staying in Gaithersburg and the hotel has a shuttle to the Metro Station which will take us right down into the heart of DC.

This weekend is also going to be full of travel. We'll do most of our shopping today and tomorrow morning for the weekend, and then we'll head out early on Sunday Morning to head to PA and Ohio. We have a travel Bug we want to drop off someplace and we're going to Michelle's nephews for Easter Dinner.

Have a great day.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of my pictures that I have stored either on my computer or one place or another. I like to find just one picture, one captured lost moment in time and take a little bit of time out from my daily blog and reflect upon the image. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task, sometimes it's not so easy, it is however always a whole lot of fun and one of my favorite blogs of the week to write.

This weeks picture was one of those hard weeks to find that special picture. So I thought since we have been getting all of this cold weather recently I would just like  to share a picture of a few years ago of the fireplace when we used to use it.

Talk about an inefficient fireplace, a double fireplace that is open is not very efficient, but it was pretty aesthetic on a cold December night of a few years gone by. It was nice to look at, but that was about it.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Here we are again, getting ready to go over that noon time hump. If you look off in the horizon, just beyond a photo flashback, you can see the dawn of another weekend off in the distance.

I'm still looking for ideas for a weekend getaway next weekend. Michelle has been working her butt off and needs a break, so we'll just have to give her one and allow her a chance to get away and relax. We've had a few ideas, but nothing concrete as of yet. Hopefully we'll be coming up with a game plan here soon so we can plan.

Our house guests are still doing fine, the first night we kept them all separated at night, so I guess the newness of a couple strange animals here has worn off and they seem to be all getting along now. The more time that passes it gets easier and easier to have them all together, however it's not like it's been any level of difficulty.

The good news announced yesterday was that Morgantown will be getting a Minor League Baseball team in 2015. I'm actually pretty excited that Morgantown will be getting minor league baseball here. I pulled up a random teams site and priced tickets. Anywhere from about $5.00 a seat for Grandstand to $10.00 for premium box seats. I know I can't wait, I've had to retire from Softball a couple years ago, but I miss going to the ballpark I do have to confess.

Hi ho hi ho

Make that 3 Concerts this year

Well we have just added our third concert of the summer for 2013. I have always wanted to see Peter Frampton and I saw he was going to be in Pittsburgh. Ticket's started off at $150.00 each and that was a little too steep in my opinion.

Then I saw that the prices dropped to $25.00 plus about Ticketmasters $8.60 per ticket or about $33.60 each or $67.20 for 2 tickets that I would have paid to see the greatest guitar player of all time.  I was really contemplating buying them today at that price.

Then comes an e-mail from Groupon where I could get them for $17.00 each or $34.00 for 2 tickets.

That was an easy choice =)

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again behind us, leaving us staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I still can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It's been 1,838 days since I was blessed by Michelle to allow me to take her out for dinner and a movie.

* 1,061 days ago I got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* 598 days ago she said "I do" in front of our closest friends and family.

* There are only 274 more shopping days until Christmas, but looking at the weather outside I would start to question of that is accurate. Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow.

*  In 166 more days (these are going by quick) we once again set sail to the Caribbean, a place I wouldn't mind being today. .

* 114 more days until we join all the other Parrot Heads in Pittsburgh to hear Jimmy Buffett sing.

* 88 more days until we go to see Kenny Chesney in concert.

* In 87 more days it will actually be "Summertime".

* We're dog sitting now, we have a couple of bundles of joy in our household for the next ten days. Lilly and Rocki from upstairs are visiting us for a while. I'm glad we did a "getting to know" play date Saturday with the cats, last nights transition was rather smooth.

* We'll be traveling this weekend for Easter Dinner. It'll be an up and back the same day for us, but we'll be going to Monaca for dinner.

* We're still trying to decide on what we are going to do for our weekend getaway.

* We're contemplating buying tickets for a *gasp* Third concert this summer. Peter Frampton will be in Pittsburgh the weekend before Kenny Chesney.

* Hi ho hi ho

Mondays

All good things must come to an end and that includes the weekends. Even though this weekend's weather was/is horrible, it was still the weekend. So it is time to stick our noses back on the grindstone for another fun filled week of work today. So much for the enjoyment of the weekend, or should I say the hibernating due to the horrible weather.

Speaking of the weather, it's spring time. The students are off on Spring Break, we should be planning on what we are going to do with our garden this year and shorts and sandals should be the normal attire. Instead we keep getting more and more snow, it's like this winter just keeps lingering on and on and considering that it started with a heavy snowfall last October, this is five months that we have had of this crap. I'm ready for spring, bring on the warm temperatures. Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow? I'm starting to see more and more people who claim that they used to love it joining my opinion that this stuff needs to stop until December.

We'll be dog sitting this week as Michael and Ashley are away. This household should be interesting with three small dogs and two cats, not to forget a couple > 6' Snakes and a few other choice reptiles that could take a finger off with one swift bite.

Cardio day if my feet are OK.

Hi ho....oh screw it, I HATE SNOW!!!!

Scandal Going to be Exposed

I think my gig is up, as many of you know I bribe Phil every January and February with beer and hookers. I make sure he can have his little butt drunk and disorderly right before Groundhogs day. Yes it was me that got the little rodent intoxicated with the beer and hookers. 

I confess I started the movement to have Phil removed if he saw his shadow and have him and Groundhogs day replaced with Lizard's Day.

So here we sit, in late March with a good bit of snow on the ground for this Spring Day. All because I wanted the Spring Flowers and smell of Spring to be right around the corner. Mother Nature must not have like the fact that I had gotten Phil Drunk nor the fact that he has committed suicide, but his death and partying are on her, I swear I'm innocent.

I'm sure I'll be a key suspect when the FBI starts to investigate the drunken disorderly conduct of our little rodent friend and his eventual demise. We're all being punished with this white stuff on a nice spring day. Argghhh

My backyard this morning. 

Sunday

Here I sit once again, being the first one in the household that has emerged from a losing battle with the sandman last night. I'm up with a Saturday Night Live from the 2000's playing on Netflix in the background. I've tended to start watching a lot of the episodes lately, I no longer stay up that late and I've always enjoyed the show.

I was up a number of times last night, my sugar for some reason was elevated and it caused me to have a restless night. I didn't get to do any cardio last week due to my right ankle being sore for a few days and then cutting my left foot wide open on the corner of the bed. I'll obviously need to get back to it somehow this weekend even if it is finding something else to do rather than working out on the treadmill.

We stopped down to see my sister Terri yesterday. She had surgery this past week, so we wanted to check in on her and see how she was doing. I have to say I think she is progressing very well, we even took a little walk yesterday down to the barn and back. You can tell she has zero desire to be bedridden and is doing everything possible to fully recover and get back to work. Her friend Lori stopped by to help with the dog and straighten up a little and someone from Big Kahuna's brought her a cassarolle for dinner last night.

We're going to be watching Michael and Ashley's two dogs for the next ten days. We brought them down yesterday to see if they got along with the cats, I think they'll all be fine together. There might be a little bit of excitement, but nothing where any of them can't either get away or handle themselves.

Today is just going to be a routine Sunday for us, grocery shopping and laundry. I hope your Sunday is as fun filled as ours is planned to be.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Phil Commits Suicide

Here I sit in a quiet household, this first one in this household to recover from a losing battle with the sandman, My niece Amy has already been up wondering where in the world my blog post is. I've been up watching Saturday Night Live on Netlflix, but a little late with the blog this morning.

I guess my old buddy Phil has committed suicide. He lied to us all about Spring being right around the corner last month. now it's Springtime and it's still cold and snowing. Time  for some groundhog stew before he can resurrect and be our rodent meteorologist again next year. I just want to point out that it is currently 81° in Grand Turk, come on cruise.

Not sure what our plans are for the day, I know we have been planning a weekend getaway for a couple of weeks from now but no solid plans yet. We're running a few ideas around and we'll decide here in the near future.  

I got a chance to talk to Steve Judy yesterday and asked about Josh. He's no longer playing with Louisville, the Reds AAA affiliate and is now playing in the International League for the York Revolution. He had contacted a number of MLB teams over the winter, but there was very little interest. I guess getting stuck in baseball purgatory last year in Louisville didn't do too much to help his career. Hopefully he can start lighting it up again and make it back to the Majors Leagues soon.

Have a great day.

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.

What in the world is up with this SPRINGTIME weather? It's supposed to be warm and sunny, not snowing to beat all hell outside like it was doing yesterday. I think my old buddy Phil, is in hiding because that rat is wanted for fraud. If you see Phil along the road, run him over.

Not sure what is on our agenda for the weekend, I know Chad needs some help getting some things moved over to his storage bin and we're going to give him a hand with that tonight after dinner.

Michelle and I are thinking about doing an extended weekend sometime in the near future, travel somewhere and just relax a little bit. She has been putting in long weeks all year long and hasn't had a holiday break since January 1st, the next one for her will be the end of May, so this is about the halfway point and she's earned a long weekend getaway.

I've taken this week off from cardio, earlier in the week I thought I had a stress fracture but it seems to have pretty much healed up. I may start the cardio again next week and maybe the lifting next week or the week after again. I've taken a couple of weeks off from that other than showing off a little bit on the bench press one day at work, my shoulders are still pretty sore.

Have a great day.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Randy walking on water

Once a week I like to take a  little bit of time out and look through all of the pictures that I have stored on my computer. Thousands of digital images that I have managed to capture through the years that were lost moments in time captured with my camera. I like to select just one of those pics and write a little blog about it. Recapturing the lost moment in time in my blog for a day. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that picture and sometimes it's not so easy, it is however always a whole lot of fun.

This weeks picture was a picture I was actually talking to Randy about earlier this week at the hospital waiting room. We were talking about back at Nick and Terri's pool and that I captured some pictures of him catching a ball over the water. I quickly told him I did have one unique picture that I caught just right, one that made it appear he was just walking on water and that is this weeks pic.

Nick and Terri used to have a nice pool, everyone would congregate there on evenings or on the weekend and hang out and swim. This just happened to be one of those evenings and I caught the moment just right.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

That's two days down, now if you take a look over the noon time hump, just on the other side of a Photo Flashback you can see the dawn of yet another weekend of in the distance.

Yesterday went pretty well, Nick, Amy, Val, Randy, Bobby, Erica, Josh, Pam, Gary, Mom, Michelle and I took turns hanging out in the waiting room all day. It kind of sucks to get everyone together to reminisce under those circumstances, but everything seemed to go very well. We were talking about anything and everything one could imagine just a carrying on and passing the time, 12 hours worth, that we were all in there.

A special thanks to Val, Amy and randy for keeping everyone who was in and out informed as to what was going on throughout the day.

It's back to a normal day for me today, as one of my office mates returns from his Florida vacation that he has taken over the last week.

My Tuesday's Tidbits has been wrong, TODAY IS THE FIRST DAY OF SPRING!!!!!!!! Bye, bye winter and hello shorts and sandals.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again behind us and we are staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday. I still can;t think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

*  1,831 days ago Michelle and I went on our first date together. That has been a little over five fun filled years we have been together.

*  1,054 days ago we became engaged. I got down on one knee and proposed marriage and she said...

*  591 days ago Michelle and I exchanged our wedding vows in front of our closest friends and family at the Marilla Center.

*  There are only 281 more shopping days left until Christmas.

*  In 173 days my wife and I set sail on our second cruise. We'll be taking the same cruise as last year since we enjoyed it so much.

*  In 121 days we'll be assembling with about 25,000 of our Pittsburgh Parrot Heads to hear Jimmy Buffett sing once again.

*  In 95 days Michelle and I will be be partying down with Kenny Chesney in the Burgh.

****** Important Notice Only 2 days left until SPRING!!!!!!!!!!!!!*************

*  I'll probably be heading to the hospital early this morning to check on someone pretty special. I'll probably be in contact with quite a few people today and will be making a few trips there throughout the course of the day.

*  My right foot was killing me yesterday, I didn't do any cardio and now am wondering if I have a stress fracture on that foot. I swear getting healthy takes a toll on you...lol

*  Cassville VFD

On SATURDAY MARCH 30 at 500p Cassville VFD will be sponsoring a benefit event to support the Neese family. We will be having Tupperware , Pampered Chef ,basket raffles and 50/50 drawings and many more exciting events . So please plan on coming out and help support this family. Any questions contact Kathy Tennant 304-216-5069.

* There will be a benefit for the Neese family as stated above. Dave and Mary have been suffering some financial hardship and Skylar deserves a decent burial with no financial stress to the family. This is one my Brother in law Jim is associated with.

*  Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Amy Dalton

I would like to take this opportunity out to wish my very beautiful niece Amy a very Happy Birthday today. 

She is not going to be a hard person for me to find today, as I'm sure I'll see her a few times and probably in be in contact with her throughout the day.

Unfortunately it is probably going to be a very long day for Amy today, with that being said she is probably going to need more birthday wishes today.

If you have the chance to see or talk to Amy today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and wish this special little girl a very Happy Birthday.

Monday

Looks like somebody has a case of the Monday's. 

It's time to stop all of the enjoyment and it's now time to stick our noses back on the grindstone for yet another fun filled week of work.

I guess Morgantown survived this Saint Patrick's day after all the wildness last year. I didn't hear of too many incidents and everything was pretty much kept under control, unlike last year when Get Shmacked was here filming a movie of the events.

I did get a chance to talk to my Sister Pam yesterday, we caught up on a few things including our Sister Terri and what is going on with her, the Skylar Neese case and what Moke and Ang have been up to. She's excited to know that she will have this coming weekend off.

This is the last week of classes before Spring Break at WVU. Students are here this week, but next week traffic should return to summer time levels for a week as the students are off and having fun. Should be about another month after that and they will be returning home for the summer, of course that just means they will tear up more roads around town in preparation for the fall.

It's going to be a cardio day today.

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

Here I sit once again, the only person in the household other than our cat Sophie who has recovered from a losing battle with the Sandman. I'm awake and watching the movie the Benchwarmers on the TV behind me.

If you are Irish, and even if you're not, today is Saint Patrick's Day. We were driving around a little bit downtown yesterday and you could tell the WVU students were about to get wild. Everyone was wearing green and I actually watched one idiot chug a beer walking down the street downtown and throwing it in BB&T's grass. What a Douchebag.

We did do a little geocaching yesterday, but only found one of the three we were looking for and that one has to be the easiest one we have ever found. I think that one was meant for young children, but you don't know that until you really get there. We did grab a travel bug called  US History 101 and we are going to place it in Ohio, a state it has not been hidden in yet.

Have a great day, wear your green and don't drink too much green beer.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, so far I am the only one here who has recovered from a losing battle with the sandman from last night. I'm up a little later this morning and have not even turned the TV on yet.

Last night Michelle and I attended the WVU Gymnastics meet at the Coliseum, I'm pretty sure that this was our first live WVU sporting event of the year. We used to go to a number of them, but have slacked off a little bit this year especially when most of the WVU Baseball Home Games will be played in places other than Morgantown.

I did go yesterday and found my Aunt Glenna Mae Hall Jackson Lemley's gravesite. Since she was buried in 1981 I have continually went to the wrong location thinking there was no headstone for her grave. I found her entry at find a grave and saw that there was one. So yesterday I headed up there to see it with my own eyes fro the first time. I've been there numerous times visiting my Grandfather and my Grandmother's grave and have continually and unsuccessfully sought Glenna Mae's grave and could never find it. I've also found my Dad's Grave, I've added a picture for all the gravesites and need to find a good picture of Dad to upload.

It should be another Yoga morning. We've missed the past couple of weeks for one reason or another, hopefully we can get back on track again this morning.

Not sure what the Day's agenda is, I did buy a digital copy of  the four hour movie The Hobbit: an Unexpected Journey yesterday on Amazon.

Some good news, Michelle did a little bit of detective work yesterday about our cruise, and it seems they are offering a special now and we have the price protection. Thanks to Michelle we now have $278 worth of on board credit on our sign and sail card. We booked early enough that anytime there is some kind of a special and we booked early enough to guarantee the price protection, we get the difference. We already had $100.00 worth of on board credit due to a coupon I purchased last year at the end of our cruise, now thanks to Michelle it added another $178 to that total. I love my wife, she is the best.

Have a great day.

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.

You knew I couldn't not do the best blog of the week, I just had to write it to kick off the weekend.

As I previously stated Michelle and I are going out to dinner tonight, as we do every Friday Night, but tonight we're heading to the same Pizza Hut we visited five years ago today.

This weekends activities I guess will depend upon the weather, if it's nice we'll probably grab a few geocaches and if it's not then who knows what we will get ourselves into. Hopefully it can be something fun filled and enjoyable, since that is what we work all week to get to.

The Mountaineer basketball team is done for the year. It was a less than stellar effort this season, one that started out with high hopes and quickly developed into an uh oh all season long. This is normally the time I would start to organize softball, but with one diagnosed and probably a second torn labrum, that's just not happening anymore.

Have a Great Day

Five Wonderful Years

Your regularly scheduled Big Ole Hairy Friday has been interrupted this week to celebrate a milestone in my life. It was five wonderful years ago today that my life was forever changed.

It was five years ago today that Michelle took hours to get ready to go and grab Pizza at Pizza Hut and go and see a movie at the Theater.

I have to say that the dinner was good and memorable, so much so that we are going to repeat that experience this evening for dinner. I've always loved Pizza Hut and it's where we went to dinner on our first date.

After the dinner we headed out to see the Movie 10,000 BC. Arguably one of the worst movies that either of us have ever seen, neither one of us have bothered to watch it again and tonight will not be any different.

However after the movie I did get my first smooch from the at the time future and current day wife.

It was a day that has changed my life for the better ever since and a decision that I have never regretted. I have been very fortunate that she has not only entered but shared my life together with me.

I love you Michelle, Happy Five year Anniversary of our first date 1,827 days ago.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of the pictures that I have stored on my computer, those lost moments in time that we captured to relive at a later date. Sometimes it's pretty easy finding that one special picture, sometimes it's not so easy, but it usually is a lot of fun and one of my favorite blogs of the week.

This weeks pic goes back about three years. back to a hot June Summer Day and Michelle and I were out doing a little bit of Geocaching on the day. We had one or two caches that were in the Core Arboretum that we wanted to get as well as a few others around town.

We loaded up the backpack with water, swag and a probably a snack or two and sought the hidden treasures. As I recall we found one of the two at that location that day, there was one hidden in the classroom that is there, we found the classroom but couldn't manage to find the cache. Not all geocache searches end up with a find or a happy ending, but we do manage to get the vast majority of them.

I'm thinking about doing a little Geocaching again this weekend.

Cardio day.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

If you look up over that noon time hump, just on the other side of a photo flashback, you can see the dawn of yet another weekend off in the distance. We're pushing past the half way point in the workweek and heading towards another fun filled few days.

From what I am understanding Mother Nature wants to go out with a fight and since we're supposed to get a dusting of snow. If it does come something tells me it will be a very temporary thing, like gone by the end of the day of we even get any accumulation.

I'm needing to find another series to watch on Netflix, I've watched House of cards and now I'm needing to find something else to watch. Something I can watch a couple episodes a night of a show I haven't seen and can watch it at my own pace. Anyone have any suggestions?

Cardio day, holding off from lifting still. I do a four day workout program so I'll start again Monday.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is once again in our rear view mirrors and we are once again staring straight down the barrel of a Tuesday. Can anyone think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits because I sure as heck can't.

* It's been 1,824 days since mine and Michelle's first date. This Friday evening we're going to go to Pizza Hut, the site of our first date together five years ago on Friday. Happy Five years to my sweetie.

* 1,047 days ago I got down on one knee in the backyard, at 4:00 AM no less because Michelle hadn't slept, and proposed marriage.

* 584 Days ago in front of our closest friends and family we exchanged our wedding vows to each other and feasted like kings at the Marilla center.

* There are a mere 288 more shopping days left until Christmas. It's never too early to start.

* We're 180 days out from sailing the Atlantic Ocean and doing some much loved snorkeling in the Carribean again. We loved our trip last year, so we're more excited this year because we already know how much fun it's going to be.

* 128 more days and we will be partying down with Jimmy Buffett and the rest of the parrot heads in Pittsburgh. Fins up!!!

* 102 More days and Michelle and I will be partying down with Kenny Chesney at Heinz Field. I'm ready for a little "Summertime".

* 9 days until Spring when we can officially say we are done with old man winter. Bring on the shorts and sandals, I'm ready for warmer weather.

* Does anyone else shop at JC Penney? Is it just me or has that place went over a cliff in the last year or so. I used to buy all of my clothes there, now I'm starting to look other places. They screwed up their business model and screwed up that store last year, now they know it and they are screwing it up worse.

* I've decided to take another week off from weight lifting. It's like a never ending battle with my torn labrum(s). I'll always do cardio, but I keep injuring myself further with the lifting it seems like. I was doing 60 grams of protein and doing heavy lifting three days a week for about a year solid and then about six months on and off, now I'm just out to maintain.

* I'm liking this time change, it stays light longer in the afternoon which is awesome. It get's light later in the morning, but it was already dark when I was heading to work around 6:00 AM to go to the gym.

* No updates thus far on Josh Judy. He told me he was released by Louisville just before Christmas and has not been picked up by any other teams. Hopefully he can hook up with someone soon, this is the first Spring training in four years he hasn;t been with a Major League ball club.

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

All good things must come to an end, unfortunately this includes the the things we like called weekends. So it is time to stop enjoying the weekend so much and time to stick our noses back on the grindstone for another week of work.

Yesterday's weather was absolutely beautiful, that is the kind of weather that you hope for on a weekend when you are off. Local temps actually got a little bit warmer than expected and reached the mid 70's. It's getting closer to that time when we start hitting the trails in the evening.

Today however it's back to work for both Michelle and I. I'm thinking sometime when the weather breaks we need to head out for a pic nic someplace, last year we made numerous trips to Ohiopyle and it's always been a favorite place of both of us.

Depending on how I feel later this morning, I may start lifting again this week after taking last week off and just doing cardio. I was throwing the football around a little last night with Christopher and I could really feel my labrum every time I tried to throw it. Cardio is an every day thing, I may try to switch a few things up on weightlifting again or just get back to what I was doing a couple of weeks ago.

Hi ho hi ho

Less Sleep Sunday

If you somehow forgot to set your clocks an hour ahead last night, it may be later than you think it is as we sprung forward for daylight savings time last night.

I thought my body had already made the adjustment, but then again I ended up sleeping in this morning even if we didn't turn the clocks ahead last night.

Michelle and I started out the 2013 geocaching season yesterday, I saw the nice weather out and decided to try and take advantage of it by doing a few caches. Nothing too difficult, but challenging us enough to a point where past skills had to be implemented on a couple of them. It's calling for it to be in the 60's today, might be a good outside day for anyone and everyone.

We're both up early, I'm writing my blog and Michelle is probably getting ahead of me in criminal case, we'll probably head out to the store within the next hour or so to do our grocery shopping.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Rambings

Here I sit once again, the first one to recover from a losing battle with the sandman in a quiet household. I've got the movie Tommy Boy playing in the background and am up collecting my thoughts for the day.

First things first, tomorrow is Less Sleep Sunday, meaning that you will need to set your clocks forward an hour before you go to bed so that you wake up at the new real time tomorrow morning. It's also calling for it to be in the 60's tomorrow, so that could very well be another sign of spring.

Last night Michelle and I traveled to Clarksburg for our Friday Night Dinner where were go out and eat. It had been a while since we had eaten at Denny's, not exactly a five star restaurant but we both tend to like it, so we took the drive down I-79.

No plans for Michelle and I this weekend as far as I know. I know last weekend she was under the weather horribly due to all the changing weather conditions associated with this time of the year. Maybe a trip to the mall sometime today to do a little bit of work clothes shopping.

Hope you have a great day today, don;t get caught sleeping in tomorrow.

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.

Once again Michelle and I really have nothing planned for this weekend. We're starting to become old fuddy duddys but spring time and weekend cookouts are just around the corner. It won't be too much longer and we'll be heading up to Ohiopyle or out geocaching on weekend days. Winter is starting to really draw to a close and we need to start making some plans.

I'm off once again today, making it a three day weekend for myself. I'll get some of our shopping done today and some of the chores before Michelle gets home. That way we are not rushed around this evening and Michelle can get a chance to come home and relax a little bit. She has earned it.

Have a Great Friday and a greater weekend.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of the pictures that I have stored on my computer. I like to find one special image and reminisce a little about that last moment in time in my blog. Sometimes it's pretty easy to find that special picture, and sometimes it's not very easy, it is however always a lot of fun and a blog that I always like to write.

This weeks pic goes back almost five years. Michelle and I had taken Hayley out for her Birthday to Cheddars and then took her and her date out night out to see the movie Kung Fu Panda, and believe it or not Hayley chose the movie.

This is a picture that Hayley took of me and Michelle having dinner together that night. It was pretty early on in our relationship, we had only dated a few months at that time and were another six months from ever living together. I have always like this picture, you can see my baby is all smiles that evening.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

If you look up over that noon time hump, just on the other side of a photo flashback you can see the dawn of another weekend. That's two days that we have in for the week and now it's over the hump and down the other side.

Hopefully by the time this posts, we will NOT have the foot of snow that everyone has been calling for and the temperatures will be a little too high for the snow. I know starting last October with that first large snowfall of the year, that I am done with snow for the season and am starting to get a little bit itchy for spring.

Just a reminder note to everyone, we turn our clocks forward on Sunday Morning. Meaning it will get dark a little after 7:00 PM now as the days start to get noticeably longer and warmer. Come on spring time is what I'm thinking, I'm tired of boots and Jeans and ready for shorts and sandals. I know our dog Sadie is really wanting the warmer weather as she is always wanting to go outside at this time of the year. For her that means walks on the rails to trails for a few months.

Hayley tested me yesterday and asked if she could steal the Wii. It's been sitting at least a couple of years since the last time either Michelle or I used to so we're going to let her have it. We never use it anymore, so at least this way a few girls can have a little bit of fun with it instead of it just capturing dust.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

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

* It's been 1,817 marvelous days since me and the love of my life went out together on our first date nearly five years ago.

* It's been 1,040 days since I got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* It's been 577 blissful days since Michelle and I exchanged our wedding vows in front of our closest friends and family.

* There are only 295 shopping days left before Christmas. It's never to early to start to shop or plan.

* In 187 days Michelle and I will once again set sail on the high seas to the Eastern Carribean. This will be our second venture off to foreign lands.

* 135 days until Jimmy Buffett, I received all the tickets in the mail yesterday. So tickets are in hand.

* In 109 Days Michelle and I will be spending a summer evening with Kenny Chesney and about 50,000 fans at Heinz Field.

* There are only 16 days left until Spring, but of course you know Mother Nature wants to throw yet another monkey wrench into my spring time celebration. Maybe I should send her a case of butter instead of chiffon margarine.

* Would you believe they are calling for another snowstorm in the area, it must be making up for last year when we really didn't get any snow during the winter. Hopefully this is the last snow of the winter and my daffodils can rise and bloom.

* Michelle and I are both still a little under the weather, hopefully this weather breaks and we both feel a little better.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back To Work

I don't know what I hate worse, Mondays or Snow? 

All good things must come to an end, unfortunately that even includes weekends that had nothing but bad weather. It's time to stick our noses back on the grindstone for the next week, and hopefully Mother Nature will be a little more cooperative next weekend.

Michelle was under the weather all weekend, it has to be less fun for her considering how many hours she sticks in at her job and then coming home to finish putting our dinner on the table every day. I would imagine that was partially a contributing factor to her illness this weekend. Maybe next weekend the weather will break and we can get a little bit of R & R. A number of new Geocaches in the area. =)

Not sure off the top of my head what is in store for me during the week ahead. I see the Farmers Almanac is calling for "4th-7th. Light snow or rain." fir the next few days, so at least the weather will be work weather where you don't mind being there as opposed to it being 80° and sunny out.

Chest and cardio today.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, Michelle is awake but I'm not sure if she is up for the day yet, and if she is I better get on my coffee duty ASAP. My wife functions the best when she has had coffee.

Yesterday's plans were a little bit sidetracked, Michelle woke up later than normal (I woke her up) not feeling that well. She had a sore throat and an upset stomach. Under the weather would be the best way to describe her condition.

Michelle's health altered our plans a little. The Mountainneer Women lost to Brittany Griner and the #1 Ranked Baylor Bears 80-49 in front of a record crowd for the women of 13,447. There were no free tickets, the men were in Kansas and this was an all-woman show. We've played the #1 team here numerous times, I've never seen a women's crown like that.

Coffee duty started, Michelle is up for the day and feeling horrible.

I stopped over to see my Brother Gary and take him some home made chicken noodle soup yesterday. He is also feeling under the weather and was home from work yesterday working on a computer. I gave him a copy of Windows XP and it seems to be working, he just needs the drivers for the ethernet card. Not sure if he got it, if not maybe I'll take a laptop and a flash drive over to give him a hand again getting this up and running.

It's going to be a day of rest, especially with all this damn white stuff on the ground. Phil delivered but Mother Nature must be wanting to be a pain in the butt.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, being the only one other than the cats that was recovered from a losing battle with the sandman. I'm up watching a 30 on 30 special on Netflix about Millionaire athletes who were broke at the end of their careers. Looks to be pretty interesting.

It's Saturday meaning that this will be a yoga morning for me, I can feel it starting to really help a little. I need to get my flexibility back and that is a slow process and the yoga is really helping.

I think tonight Michelle and I will be going to the WVU vs #1 Ranked Baylor Women's basketball game tonight. I had this game circled as soon as the schedule came out for the year. It should be a good one and it's a gold rush night.

Have a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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.

You know this is my favorite day of the week, the weeks labors are completed and it's time to relax for a few days and recharge your batteries that you call your life. It's the days that we actually have time to do what we want to do rather than what we have to do to maintain our lifestyles.

For Michelle and I not a whole lot planned this weekend, it just seems like the case during this time of the year. We are talking about going to a birthday party for Harper, the daughter of a few people Michelle works with. I'm also wanting to head to the Coliseum tomorrow night for the Women's Basketball game against Baylor. Baylor is the defending National Champions and ranked #1 lead by maybe the best womens basketball player ever to play the game in 6'8" Juwana Mann...er I mean Brittany Griner. There is not that often when a woman comes along who can Dunk a Basketball in a Division 1 Competitive game. The first woman to ever dunk was WVU's Georgeanne Wells a number of years ago, whom I think is close to my age. WVU is calling it a Gold Rush, wear your gold and come out and support Coach Carey and the girls. I think tickets are only $5.00 at the door.

I'm off today, so no work out for me today. I'll be breaking out the yoga mat tomorrow morning however and stretching my body and muscles into a number of positions it's not used to.

Have a Great Day.