Monday

All good things must come to an end, but this is an exciting day to end the weekend on. Now we have to take our collective noses and stick them back onto that grindstone known as life and get back to doing what it is that we do for a living to make this a better rock to live on.

Well my funding with Parsons ended last week, we have work to do but it's just a matter of getting money moved around and with the current landscape of everything, things are slowing down. I did hear on Friday they they are going to try to get me 80 billable hours for the month of April, but they will be meeting on that today (it's still March). I have a few other things in the works with a few other companies, one I feel pretty good about but we'll have to wait and see. 

I like working from home and that is what I am primarily trying to have continue, but there is always the possibility that I may have to start commuting, so I can't eliminate that as an option just yet. I want to continue to work in the Geospatial Sciences Field, but we'll have to wait and see. YOu never know I may have to start stripping...lol

Have yourselves a great day. 

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit on a quiet Sunday Morning. Our local Chefs known as Kiwi and Peanut, have decided that they are both Chefs and intend on making dinner on the Blackstone Grille this evening for Michelle and I. Something tells me Michelle and I will end up being the sioux chef and clean up bitch, I am the clean up bitch/sioux chef BTW. It's about time to fire it up now that the warmer weather has gotten here. Looks like some kind of stir fry they are preparing for us. 

We pretty much got all of our running around done between Friday and yesterday, so today can be a relaxing day and a chance to get ready for the week to come. 

So what is new with everyone else? I guess Val's husband Aaron got laid off a few weeks ago, but he is back to work at the same mine as my brother-in-law Roy. Not sure if they are at the same mine, I know Roy wanted him on his crew, so we'll have to wait and see. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a semi-quiet household, I'm early listening to Kiwi talk to Peanut about playing some Baseball outside, but I think in his description he has confused Baseball and Cricket. Maybe bird baseball is interchangeable between the two sports, so I am just going to have to sit, watch and listen and learn from these two. 

I did have to disappoint them, neither one of them got the WVU Basketball Coaching job that they interviewed for earlier this week. They are both heart broken. WVU this week decided to go into a different direction and hire University of North Texas Coach Ross Hodge earlier this week. He's still coaching his team this season and will take over the Mountaineers once the NIT Tournament has concluded. His team is in the Final 4 and will be playing on Tuesday and possibly on Thursday if they win on Tuesday. He's a defensive minded coach and Kiwi wanted a high flying offensive team, that is why WVU chose a different direction. They both said they would be ready to step in if needed. 

So what is on my agenda for the day? I honestly don't know. My work has concluded this week with Parsons for the time being. There is still work to be done, but funds aren't being released yet. I also have a few other things in the hopper so to speak, hopefully my downtime is limited. 

I did the Sams shopping yesterday, Michelle will do the regular shopping today, as she is much quicker at it than I am. Other than that, I'm just hoping we do not lose power for the third straight weekend. 

Have yourselves a great 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 again the dawn of another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

No big plans for the weekend to the best of my knowledge, or should I say by press time. We all know with a couple of rambunctious pets who dictate our lives that those plans or lack of plans can change in a heartbeat. Kiwi has his own schedule and agenda and if our schedule or agenda disagrees with him, tough luck he says as he has priority. Peanut has the exact same mentality. 

I was hoping the WVU Spring game was going to be this weekend, and in the back of my mind I thought this was when it was going to be. I'm wanting my first glimpse of the new Rich Rodriguez coached team, but alas, that is next Weekend. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look at some of the 30,000+ photos that I have stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I either captured with a lens, scanned or just stole from someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been a lot of fun.

This weeks pic is from the last Johnny Koon Light Up Night which did not happen last year due to John and Michelle's daughter (Johnny sister) getting married last year. I have been asked if there is going to be one this year, but I haven't heard anything yet. My sister Pam was asking me a couple of weeks ago, but I don't have the answer. 

Back to this weeks pic, we grabbed this shot of Brittany, Matt and all their Bridesmaids as well as my sister Kim and I even somehow managed to be included in the picture (someone volunteered to take the pic). It was a fun evening. 

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is once again completed; you know what that means. It's time for a Tidbits!!!!

* It has been 22,370 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,045-day Calendar. 

* It has been 7,623 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. I love what I do and am thankful to still be working on my field. 

* 6,210 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together. That's 17 years and 3 days ago. 

* 5,421 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. I've been the luckiest guy since that fateful day. 

* It was 5,459 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, it was a great day with friends and family. 

* I have now lived 2,596 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong, slowing down but still going. 

* Michelle has been living a clean and productive life and beat that alcohol demon 1,254 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,273 days, I've now outlived him by 1,113 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* I have 2,506 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.

* 314 more days until Phil steps to center stage once again for Groundhog Day.    

* 281 more days to go until my Goodbye 2025 Blog is posted. Hopefully, I can put some better content together this year.

* There are 274 more shopping days left until Christmas 2025.

* There are 253 days until I hit the age of 62. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* Pitt comes back to Morgantown in 183 more days. I can't wait. Revenge time for Rich Rod!!!!

* There are 134 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Fourteenth Wedding Anniversary together. 

* There are 87 days to go until summer. 

* It has been ∞ (infinity symbol) days that I have hated both Pitt and Penn State.

* I have written 7,885 blogs in what is now 20 years since I started blogging. Two decades ago.   

* 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.   

* Yes the Air conditioner is still in the bedroom window, now we are thinking about leaving it in for the winter. It's almost time to uncover it. WIN!!!!

* Life is much better when you eat Girl Scout Cookies, just saying. I've made my order already. 

* Still playing Monopoly Go. I'm still in 5th place among friends and family. It's been a back and forth and I currently sit at 4th place again. 

* This is my favorite Tiktok for this week. Eli Yoder is someone I follow on Tiktok. He is a former Amish who never returned after rumspringa and instead chose to live the life of the world. He has made amends with his Mother and I thought this was heart warming. He's worth a follow. 

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

All good things must come to an end, but this is an exciting day to end the weekend on. Now we have to take our collective noses and stick them back onto that grindstone known as life and get back to doing what it is that we do for a living to make this a better rock to live on.

As many of you have already heard, WVU lost it's Basketball Coach last week when he left for a job at Indiana. WVU has been interviewing potential coaches this past week, with a couple being highly considered. Ben McCollum who took over for our previous coach at Drake and had a better season, and a former WVU assistant who lead Fairmont State to the National Championship game in Jerrod Calhoun. UPDATE: McCollum accepted the Iowa Job. 

There are a couple of surprise Candidates that will be interviewing today, they are both multi-purposeful and make a great team. Kiwi and Peanut have now officially thrown their names into the Coaching search and want Wren Baker to consider them. They'll work for seeds and cat food and a few other demands that they claim they will explain in their contract negotiations. Wish them luck. 

Have a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household, I'm not sure what is quite up, Kiwi and Peanut are both trying on different suites and are coming up with some kind of a game plan. I'm not quite sure what it is that they have cooking, maybe we will have to just wait until tomorrow to see. They are going back and forth in their own animal like dialog like they are preparing for something specific. Crazy pets. 

The week of quiet that Morgantown experienced last week is now over with as the University Students slowly return from their Spring Break last week. Traffic around town should start to pick up and be a little bit heavier than it has been the last week. They have six more weeks of classes and a week of finals and then they are out of here for the summer. That just means it gets busy with all the road construction and repair that will be taking place around town and in front of my house. 

So what is on today's agenda? We got all the shopping done yesterday so today is going to be a relax and chill kind of a day. Maybe watch  good movie or something. 

Last week I did watch the final season of Orange is the New Black. I watched the first six seasons with Michelle and then we kind of just did our own thing for the last season. Six years later I get around to actually watching it. 

Have yourselves a great day, make it special. 

Saturday

Here I sit in a quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut are playing indoor gold so I am hearing the occasional FOUR! That's to let me know that they are teeing off and driving the ball towards me. They built the golf course where they had the bowling alley a few weeks ago, only they have to do trick shots since it is smaller space. Like drive it to hit the picture, off my head, off the fireplace with 3 bounces and onto the green. They seem to have this really perfected. 

Well it looks like I have a few more hours for Parsons, I was done Thursday and then I was told I have been given a few more hours, and they want a few more things done. There is a lot of work that needs done, it's a financial thing. How much money they have allocated to this task and how much is left for the contract which runs until the first of August. I was supposed to have been done at the end of January, and this will be my third time being extended for hours. Keep your fingers crossed, maybe we'll here more next week. 

Well WVU lost their basketball coach this week, Indiana offered him a huge contract, one that WVU was not going to match and to be honest I think is well above his market value. 

So what is on our agenda for the day, well last Sunday I was planning on finalizing our taxes, but we ended up losing power for 9 hours so that never got done. No worries I'm getting money back from the Federal and the State, it's just I haven't filed yet. 

Have yourselves a great day, make the most of it. 

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 again the dawn of another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

Yesterday as of press time was the last day for my funding with my project with Parsons (yes I have heard that twice before) until May, so if I am not working I will in all likelihood be doing the Sam's Club Shopping today. Michelle usually does it, but she is going out to dinner with a few people from her office to celebrate a wedding and a birthday of two co-workers. So I'll be handling the duties on this spring day homefront. 

Tomorrow the house will change it's decorations from St Patricks Day to Easter. Can you tell me wife's office is right beside a dollar store? Kiwi and Peanut are ready and willing to assist, they like decorating as they did the St Patricks Day Decorating (with some major assistance from Michelle). 

Morgantown has been quiet this week as the students are on Spring Break. A nice little reminder ofwhat it will be like here in a couple of months. 

Have yourselves a great Day

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look at some of the 30,000+ photos that I have stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I either captured with a lens, scanned or just stole from someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been a lot of fun.

So some may ask, what is the purpose of a random bird eating a morning worm? Well to me this indicates that birds have migrated north from their winter retreat and they are back here for the spring and summer. What could be more spring like than a portion of wildlife looking for food in the early morning?

Today is the First day of Spring 2025. It is the start of my favorite season of the year. It's a rebirth after a cold winters nap, when you can open the doors up and let the fresh air into the house (of course in my case they are building a new bridge right in front of the house, but I'll take it. It's BBQing and Blackstone season!!!!!!

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Amy Dalton

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

One thing I can't figure out is where did the 39 years go as today is her 18th anniversary of her 21st Birthday. 

Amy is amazing and inspiring to all, she is one who sets out goals and goes out and accomplishes them, no matter how big or how small. Whether it be raising a family, career path or simply building and paying for a new house for her and her family. She is always focused and goal-driven. 

Amy is also a very creative photographer. She has that photographer's eye on how to create a great shot that I wish I had but do not. It takes a certain level of creativity that she exhibits and I don't have.

She's an amazing mother with two kids with all the tools and guidance to accomplish anything they choose and that starts in the home that Amy and Ralph have created.

If you happen to see this amazing young woman today, make sure you wish her a Happy Birthday.

Happy Birthday, Amy.

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is once again completed; you know what that means. It's time for a Tidbits!!!!

* It has been 22,363 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,045-day Calendar. 

* It has been 7,616 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. I love what I do and am thankful to still be working on my field. 

* 6,203 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together. That's 17 years and 3 days ago. 

* 5,414 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. I've been the luckiest guy since that fateful day. 

* It was 5,452 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, it was a great day with friends and family. 

* I have now lived 2,589 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong, slowing down but still going. 

* Michelle has been living a clean and productive life and beat that alcohol demon 1,247 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,273 days, I've now outlived him by 1,106 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* I have 2,513 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.

* 321 more days until Phil steps to center stage once again for Groundhog Day.    

* 288 more days to go until my Goodbye 2025 Blog is posted. Hopefully, I can put some better content together this year.

* There are 281 more shopping days left until Christmas 2025.

* There are 260 days until I hit the age of 62. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* Pitt comes back to Morgantown in 190 more days. I can't wait. Revenge time for Rich Rod!!!!

* There are 141 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Fourteenth Wedding Anniversary together. 

* There are 94 days to go until summer. 

* There are only 2 days to go until Spring 2025, my favorite season of the year.  

* It has been ∞ (infinity symbol) days that I have hated both Pitt and Penn State.

* I have written 7,877 blogs in what is now 20 years since I started blogging. Two decades ago.   

* 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.   

* Yes the Air conditioner is still in the bedroom window, now we are thinking about leaving it in for the winter. It's almost time to uncover it. WIN!!!!

* I had a Doctors appointment last week and did a good bit of blood work since it had been two years. My A1C went from 11.8 to 5.5. That's a reduction of 6.3 in 2 years, what happened? I gave up diet soda. I still have one on the occasion when by blood sugar drops too low to raise it a little, but that is me completely eliminating diet soda and especially aspertame from my diet. Unsweetened Iced Tea (that I brew) and water from my Cirkul I would say is the biggest contributing factor. Yeah Me. All of my test results are within normal range of every test I took (about 40 or so of them). 

* Life is much better when you eat Girl Scout Cookies, just saying. I've made my order already. 

* Still playing Monopoly Go. I'm still in 5th place among friends and family. It's been a back and forth and I currently sit at 4th place again. 

* This is my favorite Tiktok for this week. Gary Oldman (a great and underappreciated actor) on Stephen Colbert. 

* Hi ho hi ho

Happy St Patrick's Day

All good things must come to an end, but this is an exciting day to end the weekend on. Now we have to take our collective noses and stick them back onto that grindstone known as life and get back to doing what it is that we do for a living to make this a better rock to live on.

As you can tell Kiwi and Peanut are already in the St Patricks Day Spirit. Kiwi believes he is Irish simply because he is green, and Peanut is up for a party anytime. 

Michelle ordered a green St Patricks Day shirt from Amazon especially for today that she is planning on wearing to work and to visit her Mom this evening. I'm not sure if I even own a green short anymore, but I'm not planning on going anywhere today so I won't get pinched. 

I know Mom has two different Doctor appointments today with her Cardiologist. They wanted to schedule them on Friday, but it would have been way too much on her getting out of rehab, getting situated at home and going to two different appointments. Today however she will have her appointments. I believe today will be the last day for Gerald's rehab and he will be coming home tomorrow (or today) I believe. Either way Mom, Gerald and Lucy are or will be all back together at Unity Manor by tomorrow at the latest.

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit in a quiet household, Peanut and Kiwi and still sleeping after wearing themselves out with their Badmitten Tournament they held outside yesterday. They wanted me to make them a pitcher of lime Koolaide to drink as they spent the day frolicking around in the fresh air yesterday. I'm not sure who won, but they were both laughing and having a really good time it looked like. Did I mention that they are both really in the St Patrick's Day Spirit? lol

Yesterday Michelle once again got the weekly menu planned and all of our shopping done. She also reviewed all of our taxes before I file them, so it was a pretty busy day ass the two others were outside playing badmitten. 

A couple of weeks ago I bought a pair of  these electric scissors on Amazon. I have to tell you these things are amazing, especially for things like Cardboard boxes that you may need to cut up. I saw it on the tictok shop, but decided to buy a pair off of Amazon. 

So what are our plans for the day? As soon as someone tells me then we will all know. It might just simply be relaxing around the house to be honest with you. It is selection Sunday, meaning the teams for the NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament will be chosen this evening. That means we can all fill out our tournament brackets and compete in our office pools. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Saturday Morning Rambling

Here I sit in a much quieter household, Lucy went home yesterday as Mom was released from Encompass, of course Kiwi and Peanut were there to see her off. I'm sure Mom is happy to be home after nearly two weeks and Peanut is reminding me that it is getting warmer outside, or should I say Meoutside, meaning open the door and let me frolic. 

In reality we took and dropped off Mom's car with a lot of her stuff back off at her apartment on Thursday evening. Her car was parked in the normal parking space, although Lucy did drive it home as she insisted that she knows the way. It was going to be a big task getting everything back to the apartment so we got the bulk of it Thursday and then grabbed Mom and the essentials yesterday. 

So what are our plans for the day? Shopping and doing a few other things around the house, especially with the Spring type weather that has been bestowed upon us. I guess this means we officially won the AC in the window war with Winter. It stayed there all winter, whereas I usually take it out and put it in the garage for the winter. 

We are probably going to finalize and submit our taxes this weekend. I've got them done and thought I was going to owe the state, until I got to use the county taxes paid form that I got then my owing turned into a refund somehow. Not complaining. 

Have yourselves a great 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 again the dawn of another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

Not sure of the plans for the weekend, as of presstime Lucy I may still be here and Mom should be going home tomorrow. That is one big disadvantage of pre-writing blogs so far in advance, sometimes you are having to guess what will be happening like in this case. 

I do just have a few days to work, they are pulling funding for our contract or specifically my task and will re-evaluate at the beginning of May, so my task to which I bill to will have a stop work order put ion it temporarily, which means I'm looking for new employment. I'm still employed by Parsons, it's just I don;'t have any billable hours and things are a little slow right now in Geospatial work with the change in administrations. That's just the nature of the game. 

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 to look at some of the 30,000+ photos that I have stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I either captured with a lens, scanned or just stole from someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been a lot of fun.

This weeks pic comes from our prize reward after we had won the Championship of the KDKA McDonalds Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Show for the third time, we competed 4 times and came in third place once and won it the other three times. 

One of the prizes are field passes and tickets for a Steelers game, and this is us on the field before the Raiders game in 2015. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho