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!!!

You looking for a little bit of High School Football action? Well what do you know right here in Morgantown, even on my side of town, Morgantown High and University High will go at it tonight on Bakers Ridge Road. Clay Battelle will also be at home hosting Oak Glenn this evening out in Blacksville. Good luck to 2 of the 3 teams, as all 3 can't win this evening. 

Tonight is Halloween so I'm not sure of our plans. I know Michelle talked about going over to Chris's to hand out candy to the kiddies, me I'll be listening or watching the Mohawk Bowl. 

Have yourselves a great day and lets get this party started. 

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 somewhere on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up, recalling or reliving the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task, and sometimes it's not that easy, but one thing it has always been a lot of fun.

Since the greatest daughter anyone could ever ask for loves Halloween so much, it is her favorite Holiday of the year believe it or not, I decided to steal a pic from her on Facebook from a Halloween past. 

This one is from 2021 with her cousin Abby and Luke's biological Mother getting ready to take Lukeout in search of Halloween treats. 

Have yoursleves a great day Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

“The Case of the Missing Snacks”

Dear Journal,

This house has a serious problem. A crisis. A catastrophe of the highest order. All the snacks… have vanished. I, Detective Lucy Louise Fluffington, was enjoying my morning grape Kool-Aid (because I’m a lady of sophistication), when I noticed the treat jar was EMPTY. Not low. Not almost empty. EMPTY.

Naturally, I summoned the squad.

Kiwi flew in first, shouting, “EVERYONE REMAIN CALM! I REPEAT, PANIC IMMEDIATELY!” He is terrible at crisis management.

Peanut slinked in next, claiming she already had a theory, which she refused to share because she “wanted dramatic timing.” Typical cat.

Then the Quacker Twins waddled up, quacking over each other so badly that we understood absolutely nothing except maybe the word “snickerdoodle.”

Suspect List:

1. Peanut — because she looks sneaky 24/7

2. Kiwi — because he eats like five dinners a day

3. The Twins — because they are chaos with feathers

4. Myself — but only for fairness, because I am an honest detective and also innocent and perfect

We conducted interviews.

Kiwi swore on his favorite sunflower seed that he didn’t do it. Peanut refused to answer questions without “legal representation,” which was just a sock she called Mr. Flufferson. The Twins brought alibis in crayon. None of us can read duck handwriting.

Finally, I noticed a trail… tiny crumbs leading to the laundry room.

We followed them, hearts racing, suspense building, music swelling — and there, behind the basket of unmatched socks…

WE FOUND THE SNACKS.

And also: Peanut.
Curled up. With the treat jar. And crumbs on her face.

Peanut blinked at us and simply said, “I plead the Fifth.”

Case closed. Snacks retrieved. Peanut sentenced to 10 minutes of listening to Kiwi sing the “I’m Sorry” song, which is honestly a fate worse than any jail.

Disaster averted. Order restored. And I, Detective Lucy, remain the hero this household needs.

Until the next crisis,
— Lucy

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is yet once again in our rear view mirrors, Michelle is still loving her new job and that's a good reason for a tidbts. 

* It has been 22,587 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. 

* It has been 7,840 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. I love what I do and am thankful to still be working in my field. 

* 6,434 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,638  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 5,676 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 2,813 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 1,467 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,273 days, I've now outlived him by 1,330 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 45 days ago, I'm happy for those two. 

* I have 2,297 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.

* There are only 283 more days to go until Michelle and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary. 

* There are 143 days until my favorite season begins, a lot of people love different seasons, I am a Spring person who loves the Springtime. 

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

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

* There are 57 more shopping days left until Christmas 2025. We're down to double digits, quick everyone panic. 

* There are 36 days until I hit the age of 62. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

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

* I have written 8,124 blogs in what is now 21 years of Blogging. 

* 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.  

* It's still football season, Basketball should be gearing up soon. 

* Jim and Chris have scheduled their Christmas Auction for the 18th at Woodland United Methodist Church on the Mileground.

* Are you looking to buy some Girl Scout Goodies? Well Releigh has started her campaign to sell chocolates, candles, stationary and other things. This is her store. 

* Are you looking to buy some Girl Scout Goodies? Well Bella has started her campaign to sell chocolates, candles, stationary and other things. This is her store. 

* They both have their own stores, their own campaigns and their own goals to meet. 

* Let's keep it in the same household, go give Crown of Scars a listen. It's my Nephew Moke and he tells his life story through song, so listen to the lyrics, it's pretty deep. 

* Still playing Monopoly Go, but not as often. 

* This is my favorite Tiktok, you have to love AI. 

* Progress on my Selfie in Space, right here. We are ready for liftoff and holding. 

* I think my AI skills are really expanding, I'm using a number of them doing all kinds of different taks (other than drawing pictures). 

* Have yourselves a great day

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

All good things must come to an end—but if you’ve got to wrap up the weekend, today’s a pretty exciting way to do it. Now it’s time to take our collective noses and press them firmly back onto the grindstone of life. Back to work, back to the hustle, back to doing our part to make this spinning rock a better place.

Kiwi and Peanut have decided they are working today, they are just going to relax and take a few naps while Mommy and Daddy go out and make this a better world to live in. They are planning on sitting at home on the couch and watching all the Star Wars movies back to back to back as we head out to the office. 

Nothing too earth-shattering is scheduled this week for Michelle or I. I did have to go to Parkersburg to work last Friday, but I spent half my day traveling back and forth. I was productive when I was at my computer, but I honestly could have done that from my office in Morgantown as something else came up as priority over what they brought me down for. 

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit in what I thought would be a nice quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut are up listening to some Bee Gees music on Alexa (Kiwi loves the Bee Gees) and they are preparing dinner for us today. Reubens are going to be on the menu. I do have to say I am very thankful for them, especially with all that we needed to do yesterday, between changing the oil in Pearl and Kiwi driving it up to Sheetz to fill it up. He's a pretty amazing little bird to drive a 5-speed all by himself. Peanut took Ice and filled her up, she has trouble driving a 5-speed and opted for the Automatic. 

So what is on my agenda for the day? Of course I have a few weekly household chores to do, same ones I do every week. Thinks like cleaning up the cats litter box and Kiwi's cage and putting fresh bedding down. He does have a tendancy to poop on it during the week. 

After that it's probably going to be my favorite part of the week, which is the weekend nap. A time when I can sleep and not having to worry about waking up in time to be someplace or do something, the older I get the more I appreciate these kinds of things. 

Have yourselves a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household. I just happened to mention to Michelle that I am going to have her oil changed in her car this morning, she is thinking I'm going down to The Ranch Quick Lube Express in Sabraton like I always do, truth be told I have a couple of  Mechanics here who have volunteered to do it. Kiwi and Peanut you know are master mechanics and love their mommy very much. 

I had to take a trip to Parkersburg yesterday for work, no complaints on my end as it is 4 hours of drive time and I get paid mileage, so I'll make out going there today. Usually, on Fridays, Hope lets their employees work from home, but I'm a contractor and we are in the middle of a mapping freeze, so my boss asked me to go to Parkersburg for the day. It makes for an easy day and a lot of music to listen to. 

WVU plays this evening at 6:00, it's probably going to be ugly but none the less I love my Mountaineers and I know Rich is changing the culture. We'll get there as a team eventually, he just needs to build the team and time to do it.

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!!!

You looking for a little bit of High School Football action? Well Morgantown is off this week in anticipation of playing the MoHawk Bowl next week. University High will be on the road this week at Preston in anticipation of the whooping they will receive next week. Clay Battelle is at home this week, taking on Sherman. Good luck to both teams this evening, hopefully, bring home a couple wins. 

I'll start talking about it now to give people time to plan, but Jim and Chris's Christmas Auction will be on November 15th starting at 4:00 PM at Woodland United Methodist Church on the Mileground. Michelle will be working it, so go and grab yourselves some Christmas KnickKnacks. 

Let's all 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 somewhere on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up, recalling or reliving the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task, and sometimes it's not that easy, but one thing it has always been a lot of fun.

So I am scrolling around on Facebook, looking for a picture to post and I went to a group and saw this post from 6 yearas ago. Yes I was quite active in the conversation as was Sharon and Lynne. 

Both of these pictures were from an article that was written, and were taken years after we had sold that house, Grandpa was recording his music for the University at that time (I have it) and they took a trip down to the end of Van Voorhis to grab these two pics. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

 

Lucy’s Journal – October 22nd

Ohhh boy, it’s almost Halloween, and the chaos is brewing! Tonight was one for the record books — or at least for the “How to Get Grounded by Every Neighbor Ever” files.

Kiwi, Peanut, the Quacker Twins, and I had what I like to call “Operation Spooktacular Mischief Planning Night.” The four of us met up at the old Hero Hut — you know, that greasy spoon diner that closed for “renovations” last spring but still smells like french fries and adventure. We’ve made it our unofficial HQ until they reopen (any day now, supposedly). We brought a thermos of cider, some pumpkin donuts, and our wildest ideas.

But first, costumes. You can’t go creeping around the neighborhood without a proper disguise, right?

Kiwi strutted in wearing a tiny black cape and a domino mask — said he was going for the “avian vigilante” look. He looked more like a feathery Zorro, but we didn’t have the heart to tell him. Peanut showed up as a “shadow cat,” which mostly meant he rolled in the dirt until he was one shade short of asphalt and wore a pair of glow stick eyes taped to his head. Effective? Absolutely. Terrifying? You bet.

The Quacker Twins, bless their yellow, chaotic hearts, decided on matching “undercover spy duck” outfits — trench coats made from old grocery bags and tiny sunglasses they found in the lost-and-found bin at the park. They kept whispering into their coat sleeves like secret agents, but it was mostly “QUACK QUACK — affirmative.”

As for me, I went incognito in a hoodie, face paint, and an old bandana that made me look like a cartoon bank robber. The perfect setup for our “Totally Harmless Neighborhood Prank Extravaganza.”

Plans? Oh, we’ve got ‘em. Kiwi’s idea was to TP every yard that ever had a “Keep Off the Lawn” sign. Peanut suggested adding the pièce de résistance — a dab of Dawn dish soap on people’s windshield wipers so when they turn them on, it turns into a foamy mess. The Quacker Twins volunteered as the “getaway squad,” waddling recon style down the sidewalks, keeping watch with their spy goggles.

We practiced our “duck and cover” maneuvers in the Hero Hut parking lot until Peanut got tangled in a streamer of toilet paper and Kiwi dive-bombed to save him. We all laughed until cider came out of my nose.

Before we packed it up for the night, we sat under the flickering neon sign, dreaming about when the Hero Hut finally reopens. We decided that’s where we’ll celebrate after our “Halloween mission” — greasy burgers, thick milkshakes, and the sweet taste of victory (and possibly soap bubbles, depending how the wiper plan goes).

If we pull this off without getting caught, it’ll be the greatest Halloween prank of all time.
If we do get caught… well, I’m blaming the ducks.

— Lucy 🕸️🎃

Would you like me to make a follow-up entry for Halloween night itself — when they actually go through with their plan?

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is yet once again in our rear view mirrors, Michelle is still loving her new job and that's a good reason for a tidbts. 

* It has been 22,580 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. 

* It has been 7,833 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. I love what I do and am thankful to still be working in my field. 

* 6,427 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,631  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 5,669 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 2,806 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 1,460 days ago today. She is coming up on 4 years and I already have her 4 year coin. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,273 days, I've now outlived him by 1,323 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 38 days ago, I'm happy for those two. 

* I have 2,304 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.

* There are only 290 more days to go until Michelle and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary. 

* There are 150 days until my favorite season begins, a lot of people love different seasons, I am a Spring person who loves the Springtime. 

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

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

* There are 64 more shopping days left until Christmas 2025. We're down to double digits, quick everyone panic. 

* There are 43 days until I hit the age of 62. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

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

* I have written 8,116 blogs in what is now 21 years of Blogging. 

* 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.  

* It's still football season, Basketball should be gearing up soon. 

* Jim and Chris have scheduled their Christmas Auction for the 18th at Woodland United Methodist Church on the Mileground.

* Are you looking to buy some Girl Scout Goodies? Well Releigh has started her campaign to sell chocolates, candles, stationary and other things. This is her store. 

* Are you looking to buy some Girl Scout Goodies? Well Bella has started her campaign to sell chocolates, candles, stationary and other things. This is her store. 

* They both have their own stores, their own campaigns and their own goals to meet. 

* Let's keep it in the same household, go give Crown of Scars a listen. It's my Nephew Moke and he tells his life story through song, so listen to the lyrics, it's pretty deep. 

* Still playing Monopoly Go, but not as often. 

* This is my favorite Tiktok, my flower girl from our wedding has grown up into a beautiful young woman. 

* Progress on my Selfie in Space, right here. We are ready for liftoff and holding. 

* I think my AI skills are really expanding, I'm using a number of them doing all kinds of different taks (other than drawing pictures). 

* Have yourselves a great day

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

All good things must come to an end—but if you’ve got to wrap up the weekend, today’s a pretty exciting way to do it. Now it’s time to take our collective noses and press them firmly back onto the grindstone of life. Back to work, back to the hustle, back to doing our part to make this spinning rock a better place.

Kiwi and Peanut think they have perfected a super advanced pivot table and want to make sure Michelle really understands it so they are going to the office with her today. Personally, I think Kiwi just misses his Mommy and is doing everything he can to spend time with her. Peanut, she's just indifferent and doesn't want to stay home alone today, so she is going with them. Michelle has milk and creamer in her fridge that she bought for the top of her desk, so Peanut is good to go. Kiwi I think, will fly back to the snack room and play poor and see if someone will buy him a Snickers bar. That little kniver, such a manipulator.  

On my front we are going to experience a mapping freeze this month until the first of the month. It's due to a merger of multiple companies (Hope being the Parent) and bringing all the data together. I have been named the Administrator/Project Manager of the new GIS Sharepoint. I'll be creating content for the general used to understand what services we offer. I just found that out Friday. 

Have yourselves a great day, let's make this one special. 

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit on a quiet Sunday Morning, Kiwi and Peanut have decided that they are going to make dinner for Michelle and Me, Chicken, Noodles and Biscuits are on their menu for this evening. I swear they are a couple of multi-talented pets that just want to help out their humans. I just hope Peanut keeps her fur out of the biscuits. 

We were going to do the Breast Cancer Survivor walk yesterday at the stadium, there were no parking places and I had to park in the lot beside the stadium. We just decided to run and do a few things instead. We both get our flu shots at Sam's (we usually get them at the walk), but paid for them this year out of our own pocket. They were like $26 each at Sam's, but you got $10 back for each one so it ended up being like $15 out of pocket really. We are both flu shotted for 2025-6.

We ended up taking the air conditioner out of the window yesterday, I left it in last fall and the AC unit ended up needing replaced so we stuck it on the wagon and stuck it in the garage for the winter. With it in the winter last winter, it made it hard for the furnace to really bring up the temperature in here last year, so hopefully if can be nice and warm and toasty for the animals as we are working. 

Anyone watch the Mountaineer game yesterday? Have patience, Rich is changing the whole culture and there will be some growing pains obviously. 

Have yourselves a great day, make some memories. 

Four Years

It's hard for me to express sometimes just how proud I am of my wife. Four years ago she had something that controlled her and her life and she needed to get away from it. She had a problem with drinking and it was beyond even what I saw as she hid it quite well from me, plus I was doing a lot of traveling with RTI which made it easier to conceal. 

It was four years ago today that she knew she needed help and she went and got it. She was in a facility that helps people dry out, a gesture that she wanted to be healed.

Here we are 4 years later, she is alcohol free and loving life. I can't say how proud of her that I am and how thankful for many people along the way. To her sister Dani who first reached out to me and helped me understand how dangerous this problem was. To Amanda for her assistance, to Chris for showing her undying love and support. To Juan who beat his own battle and was always there for words of encouragement for Michelle. To my family for being so supportive of her and her battle. Thank you all for returning my wonderful wife to me and allowing us to be happy again.

The coin that you see is the one I bought for Michelle for her 4th Anniversary. 

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Kiwi and Peanut wearing Pink

Here I sit in a quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut are both excited this morning, they are planning on doing the Breast Cancer Survivor Walk at Milan Puskar Stadium in support of Aunt Terri. They are both really excited to do this, Kiwi said he may fly the walk if he can't keep up. 

Yes this morning is the Breast Cancer Survivor walk, this will be the second year Terri will be walking as a Survivor and her third year walking in it. When she was it diagnosed with it, she walked that year as well, but that was downtown. The past couple of years it has been at the Football Stadium. I'll be there with the camera in tow to grab a few pictures. 

After the walk I think I am going to try to pull the Air Conditioner out of the bedroom window for the season. I left it in last year and they are kind of expensive to keep replacing, so I'm going to stick it in the garage for the winter. We were going to do it last week, but Michelle thought we would have some warm days this week which really didn't come. 

I got a few messages from Daniel this week, some were pretty heart felt and in depth, like he just needed someone to listen to him. He's doing well, studying his butt off and trying to earn his Bachelors Degree so he is prepared when he gets out. He looks at life in a totally different perspective now, age snd missing so many memorable moments will do that to you. He does seem like he is on the right track. 

Have yourselves a great day and letss go make some memories. 

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!!!

Are you looking for a little bit of High School Football action? Well the Morgantown Mohigans will be at home playing against Parkersburg South. University will also be at home against Spring Mills. Clay Battelle is home against River View. Good luck to all three local High Schools this evening, bring home three wins this week. 

No plans yet for the weekend, the Mountaineers play at UCF tomorrow at 1:00. Kiwi and Peanut will be watching the game with me. 

How do you like this picture? I was talking to Kim when I generated it, I said what are my puts drinking as they are sitting on the porch and she indicated Apple Cider, so I asked if it gets a cinnamon stick and she said yes. I'm actually using another AI tool called Perplexity that I have been playing with and like. 

Have yourself 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 somewhere on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up, recalling or reliving the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task, and sometimes it's not that easy, but one thing it has always been a lot of fun.

This weeks pic goes all the way back to 2017, I know that is hard to believe it's been over 8 years, back to Calvin and Jeanetta's wedding. 

Michelle and I had traveled to this little church right down the road from James Madison University where Jeanetta graduated from and had a wonderful day watching these two souls be eternally joined in the bonds of matrimony.  It was our honor to be there and share this special day with them. 

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Brittany Talerico.

I would love to take this time out to wish my beautiful niece, Brittany, a very Happy Birthday today.

It seems like it was only yesterday that she was born, it's amazing how 35 years can go by in the very blink of an eye.... wait what?  When did that happen? It seems like just yesterday I was in the waiting room watching Who's the Boss and Kim and Ed were in the delivery room waiting for this bundle of joy. The amazing thing about all of this is that this remarkable young lady is now fourteen years older than me.

 She is an amazing young woman, and I think she has found someone very special to her to spend this day with. Wouldn't you know, she just got married to the love of her life, Matt, and they just celebrated their first Anniversary on Sunday. 

 If you get a chance to see or talk to this marvelous young lady today, make sure that you take a little bit of time out and wish her the Happiest of Birthdays today.

 Happy Birthday, Brittany.