Sunday

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, with the exception of Kiwi giving me his opinion on everything this morning. He is definitely a chatty young fellow, and by chatty I mean loud and opinionated. He sings what he wants when he wants. 

We managed to do our taxes yesterday, or should I say Michelle managed to do them while I was working. You never know what is going to happen when you do taxes and this year was no surprise, or should I say a pleasant surprise as we are getting money from both the Federal and the State. That hasn't happened in some time, so I'm not complaining in the slightest. 

The agenda for the day is a little grocery shopping (Michelle is going to do that) and I'll do a few chores around the house while she is doing that. We started adding a weekend Aldi trip to our shopping routine and I have to say that they are a surprisingly inexpensive store. I actually think we have most of our meals planned and bought already, so she'll just be picking up some weekly staples like eggs, milk, etc. 

Have yourselves a nice and relaxing day. 

Tuesday's Tidbits

 * Monday is behind us, it's raining so I still can't think of a better reason to do a tidbits.  

* It has been 21,670 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,000-day Calender. I do have to say I start to feel my age or older than 21.  

* It has been 6,930 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. A field that I am still passionate about. 

* 5,518 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, the pizza hut is gone, the movie was 10,000 BC and it sucked to high heaven. 

* 4,735 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. 

* It was 4,280 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, for the most part, Michelle and I became husband and wife at the Marilla Center, we poured sand into a vase and said our I do's and we were hitched. 

* I have now lived 1,902 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. It's almost two years according to my birthday age calendar. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,266 days, I've now outlived him by 425 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! To my younger siblings, bow down to my age seniority. =)

* I have 3,170 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, but I love doing what I do. Who knows though, doing what I do I may never retire. 

* 277 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day, I'm loving the springtime. 

* 243 more days to go until my Goodbye 2023 Blog is posted, I'm just now getting started on content for that one. 

* There are 237 more shopping days left until Christmas 2023. You still have plenty of time to prepare and get ready. =)

* There are 213 days until I hit the age of 60. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are 136 more days until the Pitt Panthers bring their butts to Morgantown so we can get some revenge on our game this year. 

* There are 130 more days to go until the Mountaineers travel to Happy Valley and get another shot at an old-time Rival, Penn State. It's a game that will be at nighttime on NBC so it's going to have a big audience. 

* There are 94 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Twelfth Wedding Anniversary together.  

* There are 50 days until my second favorite season, the Summer of 2023.

* I have written 7,163 blogs in the now 18 1/2 years plus a couple of days of being a blogger. 

* Older Drone still needs to be sent out for repairs, not a big priority at this time. My little drone is awesome and I really like it....when I take time out to fly it. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm seriously a slacker. It's getting to be that time of the year though. 

* Speaking of drones, I have a little free time on my hands, providing the weather is nice it is time to fly. 

* I went and bought a nice breaker bar yesterday, we had a little trouble getting the bolts out of the mower this weekend, we needed additional leverage to break them loose. I had to borrow a breaker bar to break them loose. So I went and bought one yesterday, yes I bought the Harbor Freight. 

* How about I start doing my favorite Tic Tok of the week? This is this weeks Tic Tok, gotta love the Minions and how they relate to West Virginia. 

* Have a great day.  

* I'm looking I'm looking

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household, Kiwi and I are up discussing some complex questions about internet searches. He is always a great resource for me to fall back when I need it. He's such a good bird. 

Well everything I would have done last night or early this morning I did yesterday Morning. That means I don't need to take a trip tp the laundromat this morning and dry clothes, they are already washed and dried and I did Sams and Walmart yesterday Morning. 

Michelle did have a little bit of an incident this week. Her bottom jaw started to hurt on Monday and spread across her mouth. To the point where her jaw was swelling and I told her to get to the dentist in case it is an abscessed tooth/ It was pretty concerning and it was causing her a whole lot of discomfort and pain to the point where she could not sleep. 

Thursday she finally went to the dentist and low and behold, she had a popcorn kernel stuck underneath on of her teeth. The dentist took a water pic and forced the kernel out giving her instant relief. So I ordered her a Waterpick and it should be here today according to the tracking number. Needless to say when the kernel was released from under her tooth it was instant relief, so I figured it was worth the investment. 

Nothing really planned for today, although the Mountaineer Football team is playing their spring game today at 1:00. It's being broadcast on ESPN+ and I'll be watching it from the comfort of home. 

Have yourselves a great day, make it special and memorable. If you need something to do, go tickle a frog. 

Weekend is Over

All good things must come to an end, and that does include those busy but fun-filled things we refer to as weekends. Now it is time to take our collective noses and stick them back onto that grindstone once again to make this world a better place to live in. 

We traveled to Washington PA yesterday for the Ohio family Christmas. Julie came down from East Liverpool and we all thought that Washington PA was about a middle spot where we could all meet up. 

Looking at my week ahead, it's going to be uneventful once again on my calendar, but the students are taking finals this week so the town will have a significant decrease in population over the course of this week as they head out of town. My guess is a significant number of them will be gone by Wednesday. Less traffic for a few weeks, yes!!!!!

I'm hoping for some good news for Michelle soon, or maybe just news one way to the other. We'll keep everyone posted if we get any good news. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, Peanut is trying to keep up with Kiwi and has decided to write her own cookbook entitled My Stupid Humans where she demonstrates how she can manipulate the lives of her humans and get them to do what she wants them to do. I hate to see what Kiwi wants to do next, he's still working on those trillion Twitter followers. 

What is on my day's agenda? Heading to the Laundromat to finish drying the laundry for starters. I get up early so I don't mind going out and getting it done. I do need to make a trip to Harry's this morning to prepare for Christmas Eve. I'll get some Hot Sausage and have it ready to take to Terri's who is once again hosting Christmas Eve and the Chinese gift exchange. 

One thing I could start working on is my Goodbye 2022 Blog that I do as the last post of every year. I go through my previous 12 months and reflect with a few highlights month by month according to my Blog. I already have it formatted, now it's just a matter of writing it. I usually take 3 or 4 sessions to actually write it out as I only do three or four months at a time. I actually enjoy writing it and reflecting upon what I have written in the previous year. My thoughts and things I'm doing throughout the year is a nice reflection for me to say goodbye to the current year and as we welcome a new one. 

The Mountaineer Men's Basketball team does host UAB this evening at 6:00 so be careful when driving around the Coliseum this evening. 

Have yourselves a superfantastic day. 

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, it is once again that time of the week that we all look forward 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 bit of High School Football? Well 3-2 Morgantown on a 2 game losing streak is going to play host to Fairmont Senior tonight. 4-2 University High is also at home hosting Albert Gallatin. Trinity drops to 5-2 on the year after they had to forfeit their game against St. Johns Prep out of Maryland. Clay Battelle is off this week as they take on everyone's favorite opponent, Bye. Good luck to all Monongalia County teams this evening. 

The Mountaineers are off this weekend and will be playing at home this coming Thursday night against Baylor. Traffic is going to be horrible Thursday, especially anywhere near the stadium, so make sure that you allow yourself some extra travel time if you are going anywhere near the stadium. 

No plans on our agenda are as of press time. We are probably going to be taking a trip to Virginia in the very near future as I have mentioned before. 

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Monday

All good things must come to an end, and that includes those less than fun-filled bad football weekends. Now it is time for us to stick our collective noses back onto the grindstone for another fun-filled week of making this a better rock to live on. 

Looking at my week ahead it looks like Kim, Terri and the girls will tbe taking their third trip to where ever it is they go to hide from all the boys later this week. Michelle is not making the trip this year and will be staying here and working all week. Hopefully, everyone else has a good time. Val is going to wait until Friday to go down. 

I have to go sometime this week and get my fingerprints done, which I scheduled to do today after work.  It's for something up and coming that I haven't publicly announced yet, but there will be a blog post about it going into detail in the near future. If you may be affected by this, I have already contacted you, so the announcement should be nothing you don't already know. 

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit yet once again in a semi-quiet household, 4 cats and a green cheek conure can make a little bit of noise when the humans are asleep. I'm up collecting my thoughts for the day and trying to plan the day out. 

Michelle and I will be doing our Sunday shopping today, we have to take Hayley's car to the airport tomorrow as Michelle will be working this upcoming week. We'll drop it off for her so she can pick it up when she gets home later this week. Doing that means we move some of tomorrow's chores to today including our weekly grocery shopping. 

Weather permitting we will probably be cutting grass today as well. It's not like either one of us will be available during the week anymore to cut any, so we'll knock it out. 

My travel plans were changed this upcoming week, I will not be working in Romney and will instead be spending some time in Martinsburg working. The quarter ends June 30 and we have a lot of work in that segment of the state that has not even been addressed. I've worked the Northern and Eastern Panhandle this quarter, might as well finish it in the furthest point in the panhandle. There is so much work that they are bringing in someone from Virginia to work half of it as we are now allowed to cross state lines to work. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Welcome to the Other Side

Here I sit on a quiet Saturday Morning on the other side of the worst year on record, I'm sitting here watching Little Nicky on Netflix and waking my tired butt up and preparing for the day. Peanut is running around somewhere, I heard her little bells a couple of minutes ago. 

I hope everyone had a good New Years, did everyone enjoy your Pork and Sauerkraut for good luck yesterday? Hopefully we all had some and it will bring us a more prosperous 2021. 

This is usually the day that I'm getting on a plane in Pittsburgh and flying to St Louis. We usually do our certifications for doing fieldwork for RTI over the next couple of days, but that has been delayed this year due to COVID and many of us are contracted out doing Contact Tracing for Partners In Health for at least the next month. Our certifications this year are going to be done virtually and no official word on when they are planned. 

I begin my work week today after a couple of days off today, so it's back to making phone calls and doing contact tracing today. In can't say that it is that bad of a job, you figure everyone I am speaking with has COVID and are all pretty receptive as we are trying to help them through their quarantine. 

It was an eventful couple of days, the Mountaineer Football team won their bowl game against Army on Christmas Eve. We looked horrible and undisciplined as a team, but the backup QB came in and lead us to the scores we needed. WVU Men's Basketball team lost our McDonald's All-American as Oscar Tshiebwe indicated that he was sitting out for personal reasons, Bob Huggins indicated that he will not be back. Sounds like that is not a temporary thing and he may be gone. 

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Big Ole Hairy Friday the 13th

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 the 13th.

Jim and Chris are supposed to have an Auction tomorrow down in Osage, they own the building and it is where they have their shop. As of the time of my authoring this particular blog they don't have the auctionzip site set up yet. Follow the link and if it is updated it will be in their list of auctions. I think Michelle has been recruited once again to work it.

What's on my agenda for the weekend? Not sure, with Michelle working the Auction tomorrow it might just be a power lounge day for me as last Saturday was. Plans however can always change at the drop of a hat. As long as I don't run into Jason Voorhees tonight, tomorrow should be good.

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

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.

Here we go again, FRIDAY!!! It's going to be a big weekend, first and foremost Sunday is Super Bowl Sunday. The Kansas City Chiefs will take on the San Francisco 49ers and compete for possession of a Lombardi Trophy. My prediction you might ask? I'm going with the Chiefs from the AFC to win it all and bring home the hardware. Kansas City is a 1.5 point favorite and I have to put faith in Patrick Mahomes to bring home the hardware and be the games MVP. These are my predictions in case anyone was interested.

Jim and Chris are having an Auction tomorrow at their store down in Cassville. At Press time the auction zip site does not have their auction on there, so everyone will have to wait until tomorrow mornings blog to find anything out about it.

This is my last day working for AECOM, the Management Services Division has been sold to the affiliates of American Securities LLC and Lindsay Goldberg. Yours truly is being credited for naming our inter-services website. They asked for names and my selection was chosen as the site where 30,000 of us will collaborate. The company asked for permission to use my name and and said there will be a small token of appreciation what ever that is supposed to mean.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Two days are behind us, two more ahead of us (or should I say most of you), now all we have to do is get up and over this noon time hump and it will be all downhill as we work towards another fun filled weekend.

Just some mid week odds and ends and a reminder to everyone that tomorrow is Moke and Ang's 9th Wedding Anniversary. Seems like only yesterday but it has been nine short years, time moves too fast I  swear.

Nothing much going on for me, Michelle and I are just chugging along and working towards the next day. This will be another day that I am out in the field doing fieldwork.

One thing I am wondering is how my end of the year blog will look, more than any other year I think I have pretty much mailed in my blogs every week. I went from writing it daily, to writing all the weekly blogs during the week to make sure that one is published. It's almost becoming a redundant task that I keep doing just for the sake of doing it. I don't think I have missed a day of blogging since 2006, anymore it just feels like a fight to write it and come up with any meaningful content.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Ready Set...I'm already going

All good things must come to an end, and that does in fact include those fun filled things that many of you refer to as weekends, I refer to them as days I'm working out in the field. So it's time to stick our collective noses back onto the grindstone for another fun filled week of doing what we do for a living.

Looking at my week ahead, I'll be doing field work for RTI tonight and Wednesday Night. I like to do a couple of days during the week, takes a little pressure off of the weekends.

Michelle will also be working this evening after work, believe it or not we do see each other occasionally..lol

One good thing about this week, next weekend is a three day weekend for me with Columbus Day being celebrated next Monday. Not sure if I'll head out into the field or just relax, but it will mark my 11th Anniversary at NETL. It's nice they give everyone a day off on my Anniversary...lol

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Wednesday

Here I am once again, at the dreaded day of the week where I have the most trouble coming up with content to write about it. It's not a weekend, it's not a work week bookend and it's not a themed post, it's the one right in the middle of everything where I am usually the least inspired.

I need something to talk about, so let's talk about the NFL Draft. A sport we all love and have a local interest in as well as our favorite teams.

The first round of the NFL Draft is tomorrow evening and it starts at 8:00 PM. I had seen some previous mocks that had two Mountaineers going in the first round, but both players stock has seemed to have dropped and diminished since the end of the season. I don't see any Mountaineers going in the first round this season.

The Second and Third Rounds of the NFL Draft will take place Friday evening starting at 7:00 in the evening. The Mountaineers could see as many as four players drafted during these rounds. QB Will Grier, Lineman Yodny Cajuste, Linebacker David Long  and WR David Sills.

Saturday will be rounds 4-7, if any of the above players are still available they will be waiting along side Gary Jennings and Trevon Wesco.

I think all of these players will either be drafted or picked up as a free agent after the draft. I'm thinking the Patriots are looking at Will Grier and the Steelers are looking at David Sills, but when the draft is going on there are all kinds of curve balls that can be thrown.

It all starts tomorrow night.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

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.

Ah yes, another two day weekend for yours truly, I'm just hoping the weather holds out so that I can go out and do a good drone flight this weekend. I'm really itching to fly and with a new quarter stating soon for RTI, I'm not going to have that prime time to fly that I wanted.

No big plans for the day or the weekend. I do have an NCAA Tournament Bracket that I am playing for fun. Same group of guys I have played with the past few years. I have lost 2 of the last 3 years to the mighty Titus, but I did manage to defeat him last year for the fist time ever. I must beat Titus again this year, it is my mission.

Have yourselves a great day

HI ho hi ho

SPRING!!!!!!!!!

We have officially made it, Winter (my least favorite season) is now over with and we are changing to my favorite season which is Spring.

I know some are more partial to other seasons, but Springtime has always been my favorite. It's when we say goodbye to the doldrums of winter and embrace longer days, warmer weather and well natures beauty that she bestows upon us.

Whether it be the fresh smells of newly born foliage that emanates a smell tickling our taste of smell, to the beauty and color that trees and flowers start to present, natures own eye candy or whether it be the sounds of newborn birds calling out to their mothers to comer and feed them, this is and will always be my favorite season of the year.

Have yourselves a great spring day

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit way too early in the morning, I'm up for a trip to the restroom and am going to lay my big butt back down after I write this blog. While I am here though I will attempt to put together a coherent blog while I keep my eyes propped open.

Jim and Chris had a great auction yesterday, there were well over 100 people there last night seeking deals and quite a few of them found them. I would have called this the tool and candle auction, as he had plenty of each for sale. I ended up buying 3 boxes of 9mm practice ammo. Got a real good deal on 150 rounds and I jumped on it. Someone at the auction tried to say that 9MM Luger ammo might not fire in a regular 9mm, that statement is just simply false. Why do I refer to it as practice ammo, Full Metal Jacket ammunition is much cheaper to shoot, I use them to practice but my firearms are all loaded with hollow points and RIP rounds for self defense.

We're going to get a good start for the day, they are calling for as much as 9" of snow hitting Morgantown today and into tomorrow morning. It is best to just be prepared and we intend on beating the heavy snow that is going to blanket and cripple the area over the next 24 hours. We're going to make a big batch of Zuppa Toscana for dinner this evening, but other than that it is going to be a relaxing day.

Have yourselves a great day and remember to have your essentials in case you get snowed in. Oh by the way, I Hate Snow.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household, finally recovering from getting knocked out by the Sandman last night. I'm up collecting my thoughts for the day and attempting to make sure my eyes stay open.

Both Michelle and I are planning on working today, she's going to the Vet's and I'm going to go out into the field and work for RTI. My day is going to be rather short as I will be attempting to completely close one section and just trying to find a couple people home at the other one. Michelle is going into the Vet today, and I think we are both going to be off tomorrow.

Michelle went over tho her Sister Chris's last night for dinner, Jonnie and Maddie are in town and they were having a Pizza Party. I just came home after shopping at Sam's and put everything away then played on the internet for a little while. I didn't get into anything exciting and probably won't this evening either. This is the time of the year that I usually just wait patiently, or impatiently if that is more appropriate, for Spring.

Have yourselves a great day today as I continue to wake up.

New Streak Starting

Well my one day off and my one day weekend are now a thing of memories. Just like last nights Super Bowl it's just part of the past and now it is time to concentrate on the future. Now it's time to take our collective noses and stick them back on the grindstone for another fun filled week of doing what it is we do for a living.

I am out working again for RTI this evening and Michelle will also be at the Vets this evening, so this could be considered my long day for the week. It's the only day during the regular work week that I intend on being out, unless someone calls me or something changes, but I honestly don't see that changing.

Jim and Chris had an auction this past Saturday Night at the Church, they had a very good turn out and Jim sold a lot of tools. I showed for about an hour and a half of it and Michelle worked it to help them out with setup and the actual auction. Jim said he wanted to start doing more auctions again like he used to, so I'm sure you'll be hearing about one or two of them in the future.

Looking at my week ahead, I'm working tonight and tomorrow night I have a health coaching call with my insurance company. I have to obtain so many points throughout the year and I'm eligible to have reduction in my premiums. I'm already up over my minimum, now I'm just trying to rack up points to win a few prize drawings for gift cards that we have a drawing for.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

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 and the start of another fun filled weekend.

I am actually back in the office today, I've got some paperwork to fill out for my expense report and turn it all in so I can get re-reimbursed for everything. I do have a company credit card, but they want the balance paid off every billing cycle which means get your expense reports in so you can pay it off. Had I taken my own car I could have made a couple hundred dollars just on mileage alone provided there were no Federal Vehicles available. There were so all I would have gotten back was basically gas money so I'm using their vehicles and their gas.

This is my 31st consecutive day of working and I'm planning on going out into the field this weekend. I think my consecutive days streak will end on Sunday, considering it is Superbowl Sunday.

Anyhow, I get to wake up tomorrow morning and pay attention to what is happening on Gobblers Knob. I know my old buddy Phil will be up all night partying tonight, hopefully we can get the little rodent so drunk that he is blind and can't see anything. =)

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho