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 one goes back to either 1977 or 1978. I had bought my first camera, a Kodak 126 (That was the film). It was the summer after Grandpa Hall had passed, and we were having a cookout at our house. This was Grandma Hall, you can see my dog Rocky off in the distance and we were playing a game of croquet in the side yard. We usually set up back by the garden, but we sat it up here for some reason. 

I grabbed a Picture of Grandma Hall that day as well as a few other ones, but this one means a lot to me. It was a time when it was just Me, her and Rocky. 

Have yoursleves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

Lucy’s Journal – April 1, 2026

Dear Journal,

I should have known something was up the second I woke up and heard what sounded like… splashing? Not the normal “someone knocked over the water dish again” kind of splashing. No, this was full-on river level splashing.

I wandered outside, still half asleep, and nearly dropped my coffee.

The backyard was… gone.

Well—not gone gone—but completely transformed. Where grass and the little half-finished waterfall used to be, there was now a full-blown WATER PARK. I’m talking winding slides, a towering waterfall cascading into a sparkling pool, and—get this—a lazy river looping all the way around the yard.

And right at the center of it all stood Kiwi and Peanut.

Kiwi (the tiniest construction foreman in history) was perched proudly on top of the waterfall, feathers puffed, chirping like he’d just engineered Niagara Falls. Peanut sat beside him, tail flicking with that “yes, I did this” look, like a gray tiger-striped mastermind.

I blinked. Twice.

“Did… did you two build this overnight?” I asked.

Kiwi chirped loudly.

Peanut just slowly blinked at me like, obviously.

Before I could even process it, the Quackers came waddling past me—wearing what I swear were tiny inflatable floaties—and hopped straight into the lazy river. A moment later, I found myself being gently “encouraged” (nudged, splashed, and mildly harassed) into joining them.

And you know what?

I did.

Next thing I knew, I was floating along in the lazy river with the Quackers, drifting under the waterfall Kiwi and Peanut had “built,” listening to the peaceful sound of rushing water. It was actually… kind of perfect. The sun was shining, the water was just right, and for a brief moment, I thought:

Wow… they really did it. They finished the waterfall. They built a whole water park. This is amazing.

That’s when the first duck bumped into me and whispered (well… as much as a duck can whisper):

“April Fools.”

And just like that—

POOF.

The slides vanished. The lazy river disappeared. The grand waterfall shrank back down to its half-finished trickle.

I was sitting in a slightly damp lawn chair. The Quackers were standing in a kiddie pool. Kiwi was hanging upside down from a branch like nothing happened. And Peanut? Peanut was sprawled out in the sun, looking extremely pleased with himself.

I just sat there for a second.

Then I laughed.

“Okay,” I said, pointing at them. “That was a good one. I’ll give you that.”

Kiwi chirped triumphantly.

Peanut didn’t move—but I know he smirked.

Still… for a minute there, it really felt like we had our own backyard water park.

And honestly?

I kind of wish it was real.

—Lucy

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is over, now we are staring straight down at a Tuesday. Good time for a tidbits. 

* It has been 22,742 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. Mom is at 30,396, which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 7,994 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. 

* 6,588 days ago, Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,792 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 5,829 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 2,967 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 1,621 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,280 days, I've now outlived him by 1,477 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 199 days ago, I'm happy for those two. I asked him a couple weeks ago if they set a date yet, he said we would be the first to know. 

* I have 2,150 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.

* 308 more days until Phil steps to center stage once again for Groundhog Day. I'm still mad at the damn rat

* 275 more days to go until my Goodbye 2026 Blog is posted. 

* There are 269 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 253 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are only 136 more days to go until Michelle and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

* There are 83 days until my second favorite season begins, Summertime!!!!!!

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

* I have written 8,300 blogs in what is now 21 years of Blogging. 

* I've taught all of my classes on the Outage Management System. 

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

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies? Ryleigh's Page

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies still? Arabellas Page

* This is my favorite TicTok of the week. You've Been Pittsnogled!!

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.

It's going to be an altered work week for me (Life of a contractor), with Friday being Good Friday and a Hope Gas Holiday, I will need to make up the hours and work four, 10-hour shifts this week in preparation for Friday. 

Kiwi and Peanut are not too happy about it, they know with Michelle working out of state and me working later this week, that they will not be getting fed at their normal feeding time. If only they had opposable thumbs. They look so sad that they will be getting fed just a few minutes later when Michelle gets home. Maybe I should set up a go fund me site so they can order from Door Dash. Would you donate to help a poor, impoverished animal eat on their normal schedule? 

My boss is on Vacation this week, don't worry I always have plenty to do. We already have a nice upgrade to the Outage Management System, one where they can track where all of the Hope Gas Technicians are located, they way they can assign whoever is closest to the outage event. We had this at Duquense Light, there is so much information associated with this and we just installed Starlink in all the vehicles, so they can connect to the internet even in the most remote locations. 

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit in a quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut both decided that since next week is Easter, they wanted to color Easter Eggs. Kiwi had an epiphany when he realized that those are bird eggs and he came from an egg. Could these be his long-lost cousins that they are sticking down in artificial food colorings as a human celebration process? I told them they were Hippopotamus Eggs and they were both fine with that. No one tell him Hippos are mammals and have live births, be's content with thinking that. 

Nothing really on our agenda other than our typical Sunday chores that we do. It's not very exciting talking about sorting out my pills, gathering up the garbage and taking it to the dumpster, laundry, etc. No excitement in that other than comparing the times that you do it to the previous week....lol

Michelle did all the grocery shopping yesterday, so it's just a day of preparing to work another week. Michelle is working Monday and Tuesday, Friday is a Holiday for them and Thursday she had taken off anyways, Wednesday she has an initial Doctors appointment with a girl who came to my softball games with Michelle years before she ever entered Med School, Michelle has been friends with her for years. Me I'm working 4 10-hour shifts this week to make up for Friday being a Holiday. So short week, but long days for me. 

Have yourselves a great day, make some memories. 

Saturday

Here I sit once again in a semi-quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut are up once again without a care in the world. Kiwi and Peanut set up a basketball hoop in the driveway and have been playing pickup Basketball all night long. Peanut is very quick, but Kiwi has the vertical game and has a little bit of an edge. I swear these two have no trouble finding something to do, I'm surprised they haven't fired the lawn tractor up yet. 

So Michelle will be doing the early morning grocery shopping, and yours truly now that I have my Parsons computer equipment and the old Air Conditioner out of there (Jim is going to strip it down for parts and recycle it), I can get some room to move around a little in the garage, I think I am going to do a little bit of straitening and organizing. I have a number of big heavy boxes in there that are empty that I am going to cut up and organize the pallets and get the garage ready for SUMMERTIME!!!! Maybe I can get the basketball-playing critters to come and help me. 

I'm going to have to work 10 hour days again this coming week, friday is Good Friday and it is a Holiday for Hope Gas. Although I may see if I can just work it, since there will be people there. 

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!!!

I hope that everyone has had a good week. I've finished up all my training sessions on the Outage Management System (I'm teaching), and it has gone very well, even if I do have to say so myself. I've had a number of VPs and the President sit in on the training, and they loved it. 

No big plans for the weekend just yet, but I know there will be some grocery shopping involved and who knows what else. Kiwi and Peanut keep us occupied with their shenanigans. 

Have yourself a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho