Christmas Tree Day

It's Christmas Tree Day in our household, the day that we put up our 2013 Christmas Tree. Last night we went out to my Mom's and set up their tree (see picture), it has been decorated so far with bulbs that kids, grand kids or great grand kinds have made. I think it has turned out well so far.

Today we do our tree. No need to run and get it, it's already been purchased, trimmed and sitting in the tree stand outside to allow the branches to fully extend before we bring it inside today.

Where we put it needs to be cleaned out, Hayley and Jared are moving out this week and have placed a bunch of boxes right where we are going to put the tree, so we'll have to move that pile of stuff before we put the tree up.

Other than that not much planned for the day, the Mountaineers play their final football game of the season today, and to be honest when we were driving around yesterday evening you could count the number of RV's that we saw (normally a large number) on two hands between the Coliseum and the lot on Van Voorhis. I'm guessing with a losing season at hand, the students out of town on break and less than favorable weather, that they are going to have trouble getting 35,000 fans today.

Have a great day and stay warm.

Black Friday

Let the chaos begin, or should I say let the rest of it all begin. Today is the biggest shopping day of the year, the day when people line up for hours to save a few bucks on the items that are going up for sale.

Michelle and her sisters have been or are out shopping as we speak and I'm probably nestled up to a warm fire and watching TV. I'm smart enough to completely avoid all that chaos, shoving and waiting. Michelle lives for this, I on the other hand am happy for her, but am not joining her....LOL

To them it's a game, to me it is a situation to avoid. When we were on vacation this past summer they had a sale something like this on the boat, Michelle was right there in the middle of it all, I stood outside and watched.  

I'm planning on putting Mom's tree up sometime this afternoon, not sure of the time yet. I want to give people a chance to relax and/or get off work and meet up at a good time.

To those of you out there in this chaos, stay safe.

Happy Thanksgiving

Your normal Photo Flashback Thursday and tomorrow's Bog Ole Hairy Friday Blogs will return next week. Today is Thanksgiving and tomorrow is Black Friday so I'll talk about these items the next couple of days.

Our Thanksgiving plans are pretty much the same that they have been the past few years. Michelle's side of the family has a great big Thanksgiving Day dinner at the Cassville Firehall that they do every year.

If memory serves me correct this will be my sixth time attending this event. I will definitely gobbling till I'm wobbling sometime later today as we set up the feast.

After dinner and cleaning up, then it is strategic planning for everyone who is going to go Black Friday Shopping. Newspapers will be spread out all over the place and store and sale times will be noted and planned out accordingly.

Load up on the tryptophan today and gobble till you wobble.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Big Ole Hairy Wednesday

Yeah Yeah Yeah, I know it's only Wednesday, you know the hump day spiel that I give every Wednesday. Guess what, after today, I am on a  four day Holiday Weekend so this is kind of like a Friday to me I guess.

We will be heading out to the Cassville Firehall this evening to start setting up for Michelle's family Thanksgiving tomorrow afternoon. I suppose I will be the potato peeler extraordinaire this evening as I was last year. Last year Michelle was working on the home made noodles, but I think she told me that her mom was going to make those this year. Who knows what we'll be doing, but we will be doing something this evening to prepare for tomorrow's feast.

I'll be home on Black Friday while all the chaos will be going on, Michelle I am pretty sure will be out with her sisters doing that shopping thing in all that chaos. I'll be snug as a bug in a rug while they are out doing battle and having fun as they call it.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* well that cold and dreary Monday is once again behind us. The Blue footed booby and the sloth have been wreaking havoc around the house, singing Henry the 8th I am over and over and over again. I still can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* 2,083 days ago I had an evening that would forever change my life as I took Michelle out on our first ever date together.

* 1306 days ago in the wee early morning, I asked that special lady to be my bride.

* 843 days ago in front of our closest friends and family we tied the knot.

*  I've got 6,579 days until I officially retire.

* 253 days to go until I will celebrate my third wedding anniversary.

* 35 days to go until we hit New Years Eve and I get to wrap 2013 up in a final blog post of the year.

* 29 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* 10 days and counting until we go and see Jeff Dunham in Pittsburgh.

* I've got 5 days left in my life under 50. I've already received my AARP card so I am ready for the post 50 life.

* This is my 3,454th post as a blogger. That is a lot of posts, covering a variety of subjects in a variety of manners. From writing blogs, to using the telephone to blog to video blogs. I've done it all.

* I guess we are do for a bit of a snowstorm if it has not already hit yet. I same blame Michelle since she chopped my hair off a couple of days ago and was running around doing her snow dance.

*  Reminder to everyone, we are going to set Mom's tree up this Friday afternoon, I guess that means I have to get with it and get our bulbs done or made. I'm such a procrastinator that I'll wait till tomorrow to procrastinate.

* Have I ever mentioned before in myu blog or to anyone in person that there is a distinct possibility that I hate snow?

* Josh Judy has switched Major League ball clubs once again. He started with the Indians, then went to the Reds and the Angels last season and he has finally inked with the Los Angeles Dodgers.

* It's not even Christmas yet, heck it's not even Thanksgiving yet and I'm ready for Groundhogs day.

* Day two of hunting season in West Virginia, I hope the hunters who are entering the woods get their trophy bucks and everyone returns home with no accidents.

* Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Valarie Nicholson

If you happen to see my beautiful niece Valarie on this day, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and wish her a very Happy 30th (or ninth anniversary of her 21st birthday) Birthday today.

As you can tel by this picture which I managed to steal from none other than the birthday girl, they celebrated her 30th Saturday night. If you look at this picture however, it looks like Bobby had the most fun celebrating.

I don't think I will ever forget when Val was born. I was actually at a Morgantown High Playoff Football game earlier that evening at Mountaineer Field here in Morgantown, I did not know until the next morning that sometime after that game my Sister Terri had given birth to lovely baby girl.

I'm not sure what Val's plans are for the day, but if you do happen to see  her make sure that you wish her a very Happy Birthday today.

Back To Work

All good things must come to an end, and that includes the fun filled weekends that we have grown to love so much. One must come to an and its fruition lived and embedded into our memories before a new one can start.

I would like to start out by saying that today is the start of Buck Season with a gun in West Virginia. It's a time when many men and women schedule their vacations around and anticipate all year. It's the dream of getting that big buck with the trophy horns atop of it's head that every West Virginia Hunter dreams about all year long.

Since today is the start of deer season and it is the day when the most hunters will be out in the woods, if they are not already out in their tree stands already, awaiting the sunrise and that perfect shot of a buck. Since it is the day when the most hunters are out in the woods, I would like to wish all the venison trophy hunters the best of luck, and I also hope that each and every hunter manages to safely make it to their families each and every day of the season.

For me it is off to work since I am not a hunter, but in this state at least it's arguably one of the least productive weeks of the year considering Thanksgiving is Thursday and Friday is that nightmare of black Friday.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning BRRRRRRR

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, he fireplace is a going as it is a very bitter 18° F Outside. I'm not sure who won last night's fight, The Sandman or Jack Frost but I have a fireplace a going pretty good and have since yesterday afternoon.

Michelle is still sleeping, but would imagine she will be waking up in the next hour or so. We still have our grocery shopping to do today as we shampooed the carpets yesterday in a very good and efficient amount of time. Two machines going, two people working together and filling the machines at different times and having the other person set up, we managed to get the carpets done in an hour and 20 minutes. It usually takes much longer, but two Machines had us working like one big two headed carpet scrubbing machine.

I'll have to split some firewood and fill up the racks that we have inside by the fireplace, as I have managed to burn most of the wood that was in here and in those racks. I did manage to make a dumb move yesterday and grab a large burning log with my bare hand because I thought the fire had went out, I quickly learned that this was not the case.

Grocery shopping, watching some football and just plain relaxing in this bitter cold weather is on our agenda today. Maybe even another battle with the Sandman once again, since it is cold, snowy and not a whole lot of fun to be outside (now I understand why bears hibernate for the winter), so another nap may be in order on this day.

I wonder if my niece Val is hung over this morning or if she prayed to the porcelain god, Ralph be thy name last night as they were celebrating her turning 21 again (30).

Have a great day and stay warm.
 

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit on a quiet Saturday Morning, Hayley and Jared are off camping so it's just me and Michelle here, not forgetting a couple dogs, cats and the Pipmeister (Hayley's rabbit). It's quiet and peaceful, other than some movie playing in the background and the sounds of the fans in the bedroom creating a rhythmic and relaxing humming sound. I was the first one knocked out by that dreaded Sandman last night, and I am the first to recover from his beating this morning.

Last week when we were at Lowes, we were looking at Christmas Decorations and THIS ONE caught both mine and Michelle's eyes. It was perfect and I was looking at it yesterday online, so I had to have it. Yesterday evening we went to Lowes and they were all sold out. The only one they had left was the display and he said he would give it to me for $60.00, I thought for a whole millisecond before I responded with a simple "We'll take it". It's animated, plays music and lights up, it was actually significantly heavier than I imagined and it is now ours.

We are two weeks away from turning our kitchen into its annual day of being a "Cookie Factory", when Michelle bakes all the Christmas cookies and I'm quality control/tester.

Today however is a day of our pre-holiday winter cleaning when we shampoo and scrub the carpets. We have a rug doctor that we got pretty much brand new for a song last year, and we're going to go and get a second one so that we can get through this pretty quickly and with both of us shampooing carpets and working together.

Next weekend's agenda is Christmas Trees. I'm going to try to set my Mom's up Friday Afternoon and Southern States gets theirs in on Monday so we'll be setting up our live tree next Saturday.

It's supposed to be a cold this weekend and the fireplace is already set up and ready to go, all I have to do it light one or two pieces of paper and it's set up to do the rest and give us a nice warm fire.

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.

High School Football action you ask? There is none around here tonight. Morgantown lost to University High last week, the Hawks advance to play Capital tomorrow, but that game is in Charleston.Clay Battelle lost last week so their season like Morgantown's in also complete. Only University High has any hope to bringing a Championship back to Monongalia County this season.

Haley and Jared are getting a place together in Westover in the very near future. They are getting an apartment where his parents live, but it is separate living quarters and that is where they will be moving to soon. So for the first time since Michelle and I moved in together, we're going to be empty nesters as Chad and Laiah now live in Fairmont and Hayley and Jared will be living in Westover.

My agenda this weekend, scrub carpets. It's the first of many busy weekends for us starting with a good carpet shampooing and cleaning. We do it a few times a year and always do it right before the Christmas Holiday season before we set up our Christmas Tree. We already have a Rug Doctor, we're probably just going to rent a second one to get it done quicker.

I've decided to target November 29th to set Mom's tree up. That is Black Friday and I am planing on setting it up possibly that afternoon. Anyone who would like to assist or have any input on where anything is going, let me or Mom know and we'll try to coordinate schedules that day.

Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out. Time out to look through all of the pictures that I have either taken, stolen, scanned or stolen through the years and stored on my computer, or somewhere else on the world wide web. There are literally tens of thousands of images that I could look through and find one special lost moment of time to write about. Sometimes this takes a while and is not an easy task, sometimes the image just sticks out and you find it very quickly. One thing this always is, is a whole lot of fun and a chance for me to walk down memory lane.

This weeks picture goes back 838 wonderful days ago. A time when our closest friends and family joined us in a celebration of a Union. It was the day that Michelle and I took our wedding vows, with the help of someone fulfilling something on his bucket list, at the Marilla Center in Morgantown.

We had feasted on an over abundance of food provided by Jean Hall and then it was Michelle and I wondering around the park with Michelle's nieces Amanda and Laura to get our wedding photos.

I've always like this one, it was one they added a few special effects to to give it that fade in look, which in my opinion made for a very good photograph of a couple of pretty awesome people.

We chose to do a very non-formal let's call it a Jimmy Buffet type theme of hula skirts, Hawaiian shirts and about anything you would see any other parrot heads wearing outside of a Jimmy Buffett concert. It rained in the morning and heated up in the afternoon, so our secondary objective was to feed everyone and for everyone to have a great time. If you have what our primary objective was, it was our wedding.

A magical day for the two of us.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Woot Woot....wait, they are blue footed booby's. Oh well, it's that day of the week that you can get up on your tippy toes and look over the noon time hump and look at something awesome off in the horizon. Just on the other side of a Photo flashback you can see the dawn of another fun filled (actually carpet scrubbing) weekend.

A simple question for everyone. Since Michelle and I started planning out weekly menus earlier this year, which makes it much easier to prepare for, we have always done Wednesdays as a Pasta Day in our home. This week I have to confess it's a frozen lasagna tray, but we usually are much more creative with our pastas. My question is simply this, does anyone else plan out weekly menus and have one night of the week designated as a pasta night like we do? It does help making the weeks menu much easier, and it tends to a lot less eating out at some restaurant.

I have to admit, that I am not that creative at this time. The creative juices just are not flowing at this particular time and I'm struggling to find something to write about so let me reflect on something for a second because life is too short and it goes by way too quick.

It seems like it was just yesterday that I was a young teen aged kid, I had a new motorcycle that my dad had bought me for Christmas and I was living with my grandmother right beside where Starbucks is located on Van Voorhis Road. It was a summer of playing basketball, riding my motorcycle in the field where all the development is at now where Applebees is located. I was young, worry free and getting my butt kicked playing football for Satan over at Suncrest Junior High School. It was the summer of 1978, the Steelers and Pirates were both very good and Morgantown was a much smaller and simpler place then.

We had summer cookouts and dinners where the family would come over and we would play croquet in the back yard. We had a big garden and my Grandmother canned a lot of food (that I never ate) as she had done her entire life.

It's amazing how fast time goes by, my Niece Val is getting ready to turn 30. in the above scenario,  Terri wasn't even a teen ager yet and now her daughter is getting ready to turn 30. Van Voorhis Road went from a small two lane road with stop signs to the five lane gridlock monstrosity that it is today.

Do I have a point? Life goes by very fast, we're only here for a few short years and if you stay healthy a few more. All in all though it is still just a very brief moment in time, don't waste it. When you are young you think you have all the time in the world, then you realize you don't and it goes by quick.

So much for filling this blog post up. Time to chase the blue footed bobby and a sloth who have been terrorizing our home (or it could just be the dog leaving her toys everywhere).

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well that dreaded Monday is now behind us, other than watching the Sloth  and the Blue Footed Booby go running through my house doing cartwheels while eating pickles I can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* 2,076 days and still counting ago the most marvelous woman entered my life and granted me an evening of  fine dining (Pizza Hut), horrible cinema (10,000 BC) and great company. We have been in others lives ever since.

* 1,299 days ago I got down on one knee and asked this very special woman to be my wife.

* We are now entering day 836 of marital bliss, 836 wonderful days that has lead us to foreign countries, and places we had never been. To concerts and dinners, from heartache to celebrations, I have been able to share my life with a very special lady.

* There are 260 days to go until our third anniversary.

* There are only 42 more days of blogs left this year before my wonderful year end goodbye 2013 blog is posted. I hear they are wanting to make it a screenplay with Kevin Smith Directing. Woo Hoo Silent Bob!!!

* There are only 36 days left until Christmas, has everyone noticed that retailers are now raising prices so they can give you their Black Friday discounts? I have. I guess you watch a specific item long enough, you notice things.

* In 17 days I get to see Walter, Peanut, Jose and Achmed as we head up north to see Jeff Dunham in concert.

* I've got (gulp) only 12 days left to go until I turn 50. That means I only have 6,586 more days to go until I retire =)

* For the second time Sunday night I got to watch a series finale of my favorite show East Bound and Down on HBO. I'm going to miss the legendary Kenny Powers, but then again I missed him after the last series finale so to Danny McBride I say, get off your lazy butt and give us some more chaos and hijinx.

* This is my 3,447th blog post. It's hard to believe that I picked a hobby that I have been involved with for so long and so consistently that didn't involve a uniform, team mates, some bats and some warm days of summer.

* The Christmas tree Project for Mom is going good, I know Amy is going to be creative with her bulbs, now I just have to get with my wonderful wife and ask her what we should do for ours. I'm not sure if I should just go buy a bulb that holds a picture, or somehow get creative with crafts. I'm not the most creative person however and may rely heavily on Pintrest  for my creativity.

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday Morning???? Really????

Well all good things must come to an end, my three day weekend is now complete and it is time to get my butt back to work for another fun filled week of work.

I have to say it was a three day weekend, but it seemed to go quick as I was running around all day Friday and Michelle was sick the rest of the weekend. As of the time of me writing this blog, she is still pretty much under the weather. I did the grocery shopping yesterday morning because she was not feeling very well at all. That may actually be a first for her since we have been together, if that tells you how hard this is hitting her. Maybe I will advise her to get a flu shot once this thing is over with.

I did manage to get the fireplace all cleaned out and set up again, it's match ready to produce another nice, warm aesthetic fire for us to sit, watch and enjoy the wonder and warmth of a nice fire. I'm still a summertime shorts and sandals kind of guy, but you do have to appreciate a nice warm fire in the fireplace.

This was our last "Off" weekend before Christmas, from here until Christmas we have plans every weekend whether it be shampooing carpets, putting up trees, baking cookies, traveling, shopping or whatever else you have to do to get ready for the holiday season. Up first will be shampooing carpets this weekend. WE have a commercial shampooer, but we will probably rent a second one to be able to get this job done quicker and more efficiently. We do them about 3 times a year and they are due to be done.

Until then however, Hi ho hi ho

Back from Computer Life Support

I guess that is the best way to put it, My Mom's old and outdated computer was a Compaq Presario c500 that when we purchased it had 500 MB of RAM and Windows Vista. An operating system that was less than liked by this individual. I did double her RAM a couple of years ago when I had to reformat her computer because it became unbearably slow.

Well computers get old, new technologies come out meaning more upgrades are needed and about anything you buy will eventually be outdated, it's just a matter of when.

We had an souped up Windows 7 Laptop here that I never use that I exchanged for her Computer. My thinking that since I like Linux and have used Ubuntu last summer when I was trying to figure out the problems with my old desktop computer. In thought I would install it on the old C500 and see how it worked.

It ran fine, the only problem I was having was that the wireless is it's own individual button and it I was unable to turn the thing on. I found a number of people who believed they all had the solution, but none of them did and I had to have it hardwired for the past week to use it because it lacked the appropriate firmware.

Last night in a teminal window I typed the following code:

Code:

sudo apt-get install --reinstall b43-fwcutter firmware-b43-installer

Code:

sudo modprobe b43

Code:

rfkill unblock all

and all seemed to be fine and the wireless worked. 

I now have a working wireless Ubuntu laptop to play around on. Feeling kind of accomplished today, I love playing with Linux, but not too keen on it being my primary operating system on my main computer. The main OS on a laptop I can now play with is another thing, now it's time to play with Linux and not have to worry about it being my primary OS. 

Sunday Morning

Here I sit on a quiet Sunday Morning, a morning where all is peaceful and and the house is silent other than a few fans spinning in a relaxing harmony in the bedroom. I've got American Reunion on the TV behind me and I'm just up collecting my thoughts on this early Sunday Morning. I've recovered from that butt kicking I took from that dreaded Sandman yesterday evening.

It was a bit chilly yesterday morning, son as you can see I had the fireplace set up and ready to go so we started and maintained a fire in the fireplace the whole day. I managed to let it go out over the night, but it is also nearly 60° outside so it's not that big of a deal. It was nice and warm and toasty in here yesterday.

Yesterday was a bit of a tragic day in Football for me. First off the Mountaineers lost to a Conference foe that has not won a league game since 2010 and 2009 based on the current league lineup. It wasn't a close game, we pretty much were beaten handily by Kansas 31-19  after falling behind 31-7 late in the 4th quarter. This OFFICIALLY ends the Mountaineers hope at a post season bowl and puts our record at 4-7 with one game to go in the season. I thought yesterday's and the next game were both cake walks, I guess I was wrong. I said 5-7 at the start of the season, if they beat Iowa State (who knows if they will) they will reach that 5-7 mark.

In High School Action University beat Morgantown 9-3 for their second win this season against the Mohigans. Morgantown could not get Chazzy Thomas healthy enough as he only managed 6 yards on 3 early carries. I really thought the Mohigans were the best team in the state this season, but alas it was not to be. Congratulations University High.

It was not a very good sports day for me to say the least. Hopefully today will turn out a little better for me. Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit early on a Saturday Morning being the first one to recover from a losing battle with the sandman last night, of course I was the first to lose the battle as well. I'm up early watching Dog the Bounty Hunter on whatever channel Michelle left the TV on last night.

I thought going to the WVDMV in the middle of the month would be less of a headache and less crowded, that was a gross miscalculation on my part to say the least. I was there about an hour and a half from the time I walked in until the time I walked out of the door. I guess there they are starting to voluntarily switch over from State ID drivers Licenses to National ID's, but it is all voluntary at this time. They are talking that by 2018 in West Virginia it will be fully implemented. Being you are going to need a National ID to do a number of things in years to come including getting on an airplane, collect social security, or gain access to any Federal Building (Like NETL or any other National Lab when you are a visitor) so I just decided to opt for the National ID. I have a temporary paper copy that server as my drivers license for now, and they will send me the permanent card in a few weeks.

I didn't use it for identification for my drivers license, but my Social Security card has been through the washer a couple of times and is in a couple of pieces, so I stopped by the Social Security office and applied for a new card. It used to be you went in, filled out some paperwork and you had one. Not anymore, this is now a time consuming process and good thing I had my paperwork from getting my license earlier, so that made the process a little easier. I was there a good 45 minutes to an hour, you have to sign in electronically, get a number and fill out the paperwork before they will see you.

Last night Michelle and I stopped and shopped at Lowes for Mom's Christmas Tree this year. We got it last night and took it up to her place. It'll be nothing to put up, as it's a 6 1/2 pre-lit three piece tree, it'll be easy to put up or take down. I just need to coordinate a time with everyone to get together, put it up and decorate it. Like I said the lights are already built into it and it's just three pieces that fold up, so we're talking a brief moment to assemble it. It's giving it a life and a personal touch of everyone in the family is where I need help. I'll move stuff around and set the tree up, so that will be most of the work, we just need everyone to give it a personal touch to give this tree a life. I am asking everyone to bring a personal bulb or ornament and bring as many as you want that are personalized. It's easy to grab a box of bulbs, but that doesn't give the tree any significance, meaning or life. A true Christmas tree is one that you look at and can reflect and tell a story about each and every decoration on it.

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.

Well my weekend is actually starting today, I'm taking the day off to do a little bit of running around. I have to go to the WVDMV today to renew my drivers license for another 5 years. The DMV is always hit or miss as to how long you will be in there, so I decided to take the whole day off so I'm not rushing around at the end of the month.

Looking for a little High School Football action tonight? Forget it if you live in the Morgantown area because Morgantown and University will once again meet in the first round of the playoffs tomorrow night. Morgantown is trying to give their star running back as much time as possible to recover from an injury a few weeks ago. Hopefully Chazzy will be 100%, if not it could be another long night for the Mohigans. Clay Battelle travels to Wahama tomorrow night as well for their first round playoff game.

Have a great day, I'm going to try to.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and reflect. Looking through the tens of thousands of pictures I have either taken, scanned or stolen off the internet over the years and writer a little blog about it. A small lost moment in time, one that I can reflect upon and briefly relive and share with everyone. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, it is however always a whole lot of fun.

The sexy beau hunk you see in this weeks pic is none other than yours truly. Yes I used to be thin and believe it or not I used to have hair. Actually I had a great deal of hair at that time, and my part was no where near as wide as the one I enjoy today.

This pic is from I believe 1979 or 1980, I can't remember the reasoning behind it but it was the fall of that year and I had went over to stay the night at my Mom's place. I can't remember the reasoning, I'm thinking Dad and Jean went somewhere and Pam and Gary stayed down at the Toth's, but that is just an educated guess as I do not know the specifics of that now.

Days of my youth gone by, sheesh I'm looking at 50 in a few weeks.

Hi ho hi ho oh no

Hump Day

Yes it is once again time to que up the Geico Commercial, or not. It's that wonderful day of the week that if you look just over that noon time hump, you can see the dawn of another weekend of in the distance.

Well we got our first snow of the season yesterday morning, have I ever mentioned I hate snow, that powdery white crap was all over the place. I thought we just had a slight dusting, so I went out to start the cars up and warm them up wearing my crocs. Talk about an absolute mistake, my little toes were cold as heck by the time I got back inside. I'll try to avoid making that mistake again this snow season. Michelle was excited to see it, so that makes a grand total of one of us. Give me the hot beach, sandals and shorts, I'm not into this winter thing.

Speaking of a winter thing, I've talked to a few people and told them to talk to a few others in the family. My Mom and Gerald have a nice apartment now that they actually have enough room to put up a Christmas Tree. Here is my thought and this is obviously for family members. I've talked to Mom and I'm going to get her an artificial tree, I could get a real one but the artificial doesn't need cared for, and am planning on putting one up for her at her new home. What I would like for everyone else, whether we are speaking or not, is to create a personal bulb or ornament to put on this tree so that Mom and Gerald can enjoy it. I would like to see all the kids and spouses and grandkids, spouses and families either do a bulb or individual things to hang on the tree. Be creative, don't bankrupt yourself doing it but just personalize something as a family unit or as individuals. She will be 71 in January, I think it's time to do something like this.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well my three day weekend has come and gone, the blue footed booby  stopped by and we danced to some Zamfir music through the surround sound system. I can't think of any other reason better than that to do a tidbits.

*  It was 2,069 magical days ago that I had the honor of taking a wonderful young woman out on a date. It was our first date and one that I'll always remember.

* 1,292 days since I got down on one knee and proposed marriage to my wonderful girlfriend. Upgrade from Girlfriend 1.0 to Fiance 2.0

* 829 days ago in front of our closest friends and family at the Marilla Center, just before the feast we upgraded Michelle from Fiance 2.0 to Wife 3.0.

* There are 267 days to go before I upgrade my wife to version 3.3 for our third anniversary.

* There are 49 days left in this year. 49 more days of me blogging before I do my favorite blog of the year when I say goodbye to 2013.

* You have 43 more shopping days left until Christmas. If you haven't started yet, fear not, that mayhem known as black Friday is soon approaching.

* 24 days until we travel to Pittsburgh to see Jeff Dunham stick his hand up a puppets butt and bring it to life. Don't like that joke, go talk to my friend Achmed.

* 19 days until I become a fully advantaged member of AARP, Michelle has bought me my first year in AARP and I'm kind of excited about it.

* This is my 3,438th blog that I have written. It all started about 9 1/4 years ago when someone said they were a grogger, bot a blogger. I had no idea what a blog was so I researched it and started one. There have been a few minor changes through the years, but my blog is the same simple blog that is was when it started.

* We got our dryer fixed yesterday, it turned out to just be the belts and the guy from Millers Laundry was the one who came and repaired it. It was a lot of fun to talk to him and talk to him about me doing laundry there with my Grandmother some 45 years ago. I remembered the Grape Nehi I used to get with the vending machine that you pulled the bottle straight out on after you opened the door.

* WVU President Jim Clements  is leaving West Virginia University for Clemson University. Thank you to President Clements for his brief guidance and we wish him the best in the future.

* Hi ho hi ho

Happy Veterans Day

Today I get a day off, thanks to the brave men and women that have served our country as we elect a day to celebrate them. Today is Veterans Day and a Federal Holiday.

Although I never took the time out to serve, my Father, Grandfathers and my Nephew Moke as well as a few cousins did take that time out and served their country. It is because of their sacrifices, that I get to extend my weekend one last day.

I would like to extend a heart felt thank you to each and every person who has volunteered to protect our country, both past and present, for it is them and their sacrifices that allows the rest of us to enjoy the freedoms that we have today.

My plans for the day are not too much of anything of any importance. I need to go down to the WVDMV sometime this month to renew my drivers license, but this is a Federal Holiday and that is a State office that observes all Federal Holidays.

My lovely wife is not as fortunate as I am today, she's working today as it is not a Holiday for everyone. Maybe I'll make her some good home made bacon fried in a seasoned cast iron skillet and some freshly ground and brewed coffee to send her on her day.

Hopefully we get our drier fixed as the new bearings will have come in and they can be replaced.

Have a great day.

Sunday Morning Rambling

Yes here I sit once again on a quiet Sunday morning, I'm the first to recover from a losing battle with that dreaded sandman from last night and I'm up writing my second blog of the morning. I just got done watching Leap of Faith, the Steve Martin movie on TV, and am up collecting my thoughts and surfing around on the internet.

Today should be filled with our normal schedule of things like grocery shopping and watching the Pittsburgh Steelers this afternoon at 1:00. Hopefully they can turn this season around and forgets last weeks humiliating loss and bring home a victory this afternoon against the Buffalo Bills.

My brother in law Jim dropped off the first load of firewood for the year last night, so today will be spent organizing and stacking it on the back patio. Jared was nice enough to put together the 8' firewood rack that we bought a couple of weeks ago at Cabelas. It keeps the wood elevated and has a cover with it, so that will help keep the wood dry.

Have a great day and go Steelers.

Close but No Cigar

Well it was a heck of a game last night, one where it could have went either way when the Texas Longhorns invaded Morgantown to do battle.

I had no aspirations of winning this game last night, but the team played very well last night but came up a littler bit short in a 40-47 Overtime Loss against the Longhorns.

To be honest I knew that this was a rebuilding year and did not have high expectations for the year, we lost about everyone from the season before and this team was full of inexperienced players struggling to find a little cohesiveness all season long, but I think they have found it the past few weeks.

We SHOULD win the next two games of the season, as it is the weakest part of our Big XII Schedule, doing so would leave us at 6-6 and bowl eligible. My thoughts for the season was a 5-7 season, but I think things are starting to come together and we'll win out the rest of the year and finish with a similar to last year 7-6 record when we win our bowl game.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, the Sandman once again knocked everyone our last night and I'm the first to recover. Some Tommy Lee Jones movie is playing in the background, but I'm not paying attention to it so I have no no idea what movie it is.

Well the big talk in the town last night is that actor Matthew McConaughey was out and about Morgantown last night. Word was spreading all over Facebook and Michelle wanted to go and try to find her eye candy as reports were he was at BW3 eating wings and having a few beers. McConaughey is a Texas Longhorns Alum and is here following the team.

In the movie We Are Marshall there was a scene where he came to Morgantown to meet Bobby Bowden and go over the veer offense that we ran at that time as we were the only one of two schools running it at that time. The other school that ran it?  McConaughey's Ama Mater and today's opponent in Texas. That scene however while true, was not filmed in Morgantown or anywhere close to here. So I guess this is his first trip here. I hope he leaves sad that his team lost, but I'm not making any predictions on my blog because when I do they always seem to be wrong.

Nothing planned for us today other than running to the laundromat this morning to dry clothes. There is a bearing out in our dryer and it won't be replaced until the part comes in Monday, so we washed everything last night and will take everything to the laundromat to quickly dry and fold everything. When you have a number of loads it's just easier to go some place to drying them all at once.

Have a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

7'2" 290 lb Josh Martin

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 another three day Holiday weekend as Monday is Veterans Day and a Federal Holiday.

I'm pretty sure that I will be the only one in my office today, so hopefully the day goes by quickly. I'm also running backup for a birthday boy who is off work today.

Looking for a little bit of High School Football action? Well that is what we have a little bit. Both Morgantown and University High have concluded their regular seasons and are off this week. Both will return to action next week when the first round of the playoffs start. Tonight however is the battle of the year for undefeated Clay Battelle as they take on the undefeated and #1 ranked Weirton-Madonna. Last week I talked about the Biggest Football player in the 7'2" 290 lb Josh Martin, but they play this week. I had my dates all messed up last week when I incorrectly said the game was last week.

The WVU Men's Basketball team officially kicks off their season this evening at the WVU Coliseum when they play hosts to Mount St. Mary's at 8:00. This will be the first official game of the season for the Mountaineers.

The WVU Men's Football team plays host tomorrow to a very good University of Texas team. I would imagine their fans travel well and we will soon be invaded by a bunch of Texas fans in the next 48 or so hours.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all the photographs that I have either taken, scanned or stolen off of the internet from someone else through the years. Little lost moments in time that I like to briefly relive and share with everyone on my blog. Sometimes it's pretty easy to do this, a simple task so to speak, and sometimes this is not so easy and a little troubling, it is however always a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic which I may have used before, not really sure but it is one has caused me to do a little reflection this past week. This is either Christmas in 1969 or 1970, my guess it is 1969 as I see the culprit tri-cycle in the back that caused me to have this permanent scar that I have between my eyes when the front wheel came off and I did a face plant into the parking lot of Drummond Chapel Church.

Also in this picture from the right is my Grandfather, my wonderful cousins and big sisters from another mister (yes I stole that) Sharon and Lynne with me bending down int he front. Yes I know, I was a very cute young one =). This was a Christmas and a time when you got Spirographs, Lite Brites , Wizzers and all other kinds of fun toys.

Closing out the picture was my Dad in the green shirt and my Uncle Ralph who will most likely be the subject of a near future heart felt blog in the very near future.

This was one of those magical Christmas' and a time when I had to pretend to be sleeping upstairs and poke my head around the corner with my cousin Lynne so we could possible get a look at Santa Claus and see if he had eaten the wonderful cookies that we had left for him.

I've had many wonderful Christmas memories throughout my nearly 50 years. This was one that will always be one of my favorites from my early youth. It was a time when I was young and innocent and a time when I had to watch walking through doors because Lynne was always there to scare the crap out of me.

My how time flies

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

You may need a little help with this, but if you get up on your tippy toes, high enough to see over than noontime hump and just on the other side of a photo flashback, you can see the dawn of yet another weekend off in the distance.

There has been many rumors going around the past few weeks about Oliver Luck being the front runner for the University of Texas's Athletic Director job. He interviewed last weekend and an announcement was believed to be coming this week. It did, Steve Patterson has accepted the position leaving Oliver Luck at WVU. I personally don't care too strongly for Luck,. he's done some nice things and he has made some mistakes. I personally don't seem to trust or care for him or the job he has done with the notable exception of everything he has done for the baseball team.

Well I got an early birthday present from my wonderful wife yesterday. Ask and you shall receive, I am now a member of AARP, but the full membership doesn't kick in until December, but it is something that I have actually wanted. Plenty of discounts, benefits and other perks.

I'm off to see if I can find those blue footed booby's that have been singing and dancing around my living room.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* That dreaded and dreary Monday is now behind us, the workweek has a pretty good start and we're now looking at a Tuesday. Other than a blue footed booby knocking on my door and singing "Don't worry Be Happy" while doing the moon walk. I can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.

* I'm still waiting for the blue footed booby.

* This will be my first Tidbits without the assistance of my iGoogle. My trustworthy handy dandy little tool that I used to track everything for my tidbits.

* It has been 2,054 days since my first date with the women who would forever change my life.

* 1,285 days ago I got down on my knees in the wee early hours of the morning and asked the lovely lady sleeping beside me to step outside so that I could ask her a question. I gave her some hardware to go along with the question.

* 822 days ago I gave her the rest of the hardware to wear around her finger.

* There are only 274 more days to go until our third wedding anniversary.

* There are 56 days left in the year, start planning your parties now.

* 50 more shopping days left until Christmas. It's creeping up on us quicker and quicker, it's time to start checking those lists.

* 31 days until we go and see Jeff fa fa Dunham DOT com in Pittsburgh.

* I have 26 days to go until I am eligible for my full discounts with AARP. To tell you the truth I'm actually a little excited about that.

* Michelle finally got her stitches out of her foot from her surgery yesterday. Her foot is still really sore, she has her good days and her bad days, so we'll have to see.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to the Grind

You know I love the weekends, the time when actually have a little bit of time to yourself and get a chance to watch football, do chores and what ever else it is you want or need to do. It's the time of the week when we don't have to do that repetitive thing we do during the week and do what we want. That's all fine and dandy, the only problem is those days are now behind us and we're sticking our little noses back to the grindstone for another week of work.

Just to reflect a little however on our weekend, the belt on our dryer broke yesterday morning and Lowe's doesn't carry them in stock. The only place in town who does carry them was closed yesterday, so that meant a trip to the laundromat to do our weeks worth of dirty laundry. We went to one in Dellslow that was advertising all new machines, only problem is they were all electronic and they were screwing up royally. We did manage to get everything washed and dried though, so it should be back to normal next week as we'll replace the belt on the dryer here this week.

Maybe I'll like next Monday a little better than today, but then again next Monday is a Federal Holiday and I'll be at home all day.

Hi ho hi ho

Fall Back Sunday

Well here I sit once again in a quiet household, I'm the only one so far who has recovered from the knock down drag out battle with the sandman last night. I'm up early watching that wonderful family Christmas A Very Harold and Kumar Christmas. Every boy should have a waffle bot of their very own.

Make sure you have set your clock back last night, if you didn't you're going to be an hour early today. Most of our clocks are automatic and automatically adjust for the end of daylight savings time, but we will have an old fashioned one here and there such as the automated coffee pot that need to and have already been set.

Congratulations to the Mountaineer Men's Football team and their 30-27 OT Victory over TCU yesterday. I haven't had too much confidence in this years team and I predicted 5-7 at the beginning of the season, with the Texas Longhorns next up I wasn't too optimistic about the remainder of the season. However with the remaining schedule I can see them winning two of their last three and becoming bowl eligible this season at 6-6. Of course that would mean  a possible middle of the winter return to New York City in the Pinstripe Bowl, but a bowl is a bowl.

Yesterday Michelle and I went to Streets Store and stocked up a little on their butchers meats. They have whole pork sausage and you actually have to add grease to it, it's that lean.

Normal Sunday planned, shopping, Laundry and a Steelers Game.

Saturday Morning Sadness

First of all I want to say Congratulations to the University High Hawks for their hard fought 14-3 victory against the Mohigans in the MoHawk Bowl last night. As a Mohigan Alum this stings, but I follow and support both schools so I'm happy for University High, just a little sad this morning.

The Mountaineers play TCU this afternoon at 3:00, but I'm not expecting from the Mountaineers this afternoon. When this season started I thought we would end up 5-7, since it's a rebuilding year. I can see a couple more wins on the season, however this week and the Texas game are two games I don't expect to see as wins.

Nothing planned for us today other than running to Masontown to Streets store to buy Michelle some more of that fresh cut bacon she likes. I was thinking about stocking up on it this time.

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.

Looking for a little High School action tonight? How about a lot of High School Football action tonight? It's that time of the year when cross town rivals the Morgantown Mohigans do battle with the University High Hawks in what is known as the MoHawk Bowl. A game not too long ago that was so big that it had to be held at the WVU football stadium. Both teams have one loss on the season and both team's will be vying for a home playoff game this season. If Chazzy Thomas is healthy, look for the Mohigans to roll the Sparrows, I mean Hawks. (not hard to tell of who I am an alumnus of is it?

Clay Battelle will be hosting Madonna who has what may be the tallest football player anywhere in the country if not this year any year. It's not too often that you see a 7'2" Offensive Lineman if ever.

Hi ho hi ho