Tuesday's Tidbits

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

* It has been 22,852 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. Mom is at 30,501, which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 8,107 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. Has it really been 22 years? 

* 6,700 days ago, Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,904 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 5,941 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 3,079 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 1,733 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,280 days, I've now outlived him by 1,590 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 311 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 2,053 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.

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

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

* There are 156 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 141 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah, I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* WVU Football opens the season in 46 more days as they play Host to Coastal Carolina. 

* There are only 2 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

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

* I have written 8,432 blogs in what is now 21 3/4 years of Blogging.

* Still working 10's this week and probably next week as well. 

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

* 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 to go to work with their Mom this morning and are helping Michelle and her office crew today. I don't know how, but they both got their own shirts and insist on being named employees of the month. Such a demanding duo.

Me, I'm still working 10's this week, I actually have been since early May. It's just a normal day for me now, I get there before everyone else and leave after everyone else. 

Not much planned this week, just a normal week pretty much for the both of us. I feel with like I need to enjoy it for a couple of weeks before Morgantown gets inundated with an influx of young minds for the next 8 or 9 months. Traffic will be heavy, so I'm going to enjoy the light traffic while I can. 

Have yourselves a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit in a quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut are up and playing a competitive game of Centipede on one of the old consols that I have laying around. I told them I was pretty good at it back in the day but they pretty much told me to shut up and wait my turn. 

Had a good time at Jax's birthday party yesterday. It was nice to see everyone from that clan all assembled at the same place for something other than a funeral. Jax seemed like he had himself an absolute ball. Pam made a variation of the dessert dirt with golden oreos and it was honestly pretty amazing. I should have taken my camera for the day, but I didn't. 

I ordered and now have Lucy's Dog License in hand. It's a lot cheaper for me to order then for Mom to order them. I live outside of the city so it is $3.00, inside the city I think it was like $8.00 so I just went ahead and took care of that. I have them in hand. 

Have yoursleves a great day. 

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a semi-quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut are having an intense game of Perfection, a board game from the 1970's and I'm going to tell you these two are getting ultra competitive.

I cut grass last week, so I am probably not going to cut it this weekend, I usually like to wait a couple of weeks between cuts weather permitting. I think I need to go and fill my gas cans up, the mower is full but I have a couple of cans that I fill it up with and they are both empty, so that is something I could be doing today as Michelle is grocery shopping. 

Today is Jax's 3rd Birthday and Calvin and Jeanetta are going to have a birthday party for him at the community center where Moke and Ang live. That's this afternoon at 2:00 and I'm going to try to make it over for that. 

I finally did get a chance to speak to Daniel this week, namely on his birthday. I surprised Mom and him and added her to the conversation and that put a smile on my face. 

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!!!!

Are you looking for a little bit of Cheap Entertainment this evening, and by cheap, I mean free? Well, head on down to the Ruby Ampitheatre this evening and see if you are Tuff Enough. The Fabulous Thunderbirds will be here and both Kiwi and Peanut are both excited, they have been playing their music all day long and dancing up a storm. They like the 80's music meant to sound like 50's music. 

No plans for the weekend as of press time. I know Jeanetta is going to have a birthday party for Jax tomorrow, so that will most likely be on our agenda over the next couple of days. 

You know this summer has just flown by, watch the students start to pile back into Morgantown slowly after this weekend. The upper classmen mainly who live off campus, this is when they start to trickle into town. 

Have yoursleves 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 one was an easy one for me, I was in a Facebook group talking about toys of the past and they posted a picture of this bowling game that I used to have, so I found this picture of it and put it under my pwmn comment saying I had one and loved it.

I think that is me, Gary beside me and Trishia Trevillion there with us, it may have been Pam as they were all at Grandma's that Christmas. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

Lucy's Journal – July 29, 2029

Dear Journal,

What a day! I am writing this entry with very tired paws, a slightly singed tail, and a brand-new appreciation for people who make glass for a living.

This morning started like most summer mornings. Peanut was sleeping in her favorite sunbeam by the window, Kiwi was loudly informing everyone that "BREAKFAST WAS LATE!" (it wasn't), and the Quackers were arguing over whether breadcrumbs are better fresh or slightly stale.

Then, just as I was settling in for my mid-morning nap, there was a knock at the door.

It was Gracie! She had come to visit for the weekend, and not long after her arrival, the temperature in the room dropped about ten degrees.

"The Ghost of Maybelline is here too!" Kiwi announced dramatically.

Sure enough, there was Maybelline, her ghostly tail wagging and glowing faintly in the sunlight. She floated through the wall, which is still showing off if you ask me.

"I've got an idea," Maybelline said in her spooky voice. "Let's go explore the Rails to Trails!"

Now, Journal, if there's one thing our crew enjoys, it's an adventure. So we packed some snacks (mostly for Peanut), some grape Kool-Aid (for Kiwi), and several emergency breadcrumbs for the Quackers, and off we went.

The Rails to Trails was beautiful. Birds were singing, squirrels were plotting something suspicious, and Kiwi spent most of the hike riding on Peanut's back while pretending he was a pirate captain.

"Avast, ye landlubbers!" he yelled. "I seek treasure and sunflower seeds!"

After about an hour of walking, Maybelline suddenly stopped floating.

"It used to be right here," she said.

We all looked around.

"There isn't anything here," Gracie said.

"Exactly," said Maybelline. "This was the old glass factory."

Apparently, many years ago, there had been a bustling glass factory along the trail. Now there was nothing but a few old foundations, some bricks, and history slowly being reclaimed by nature.

We sat quietly for a few minutes imagining what it must have been like—workers tending furnaces, molten glass glowing orange, and whistles blowing at the end of a shift.

Even Peanut got sentimental.

"I wonder how many mice worked here?" she asked.

Before anyone could answer, Kiwi shouted, "FORWARD! TO MORE HISTORY!"

So onward we marched.

About another mile down the trail, we discovered something incredible.

Another glass factory.

Unlike the first one, this one was still standing and, somehow, still operating.

There was a sign out front:

COMMUNITY GLASS BLOWING DAY – ALL ARE WELCOME

"Well," said Gracie, "this seems oddly convenient."

Nobody argued.

The nice humans inside fitted everyone with tiny safety goggles. The Quackers looked particularly distinguished in theirs. Kiwi insisted on wearing his backwards because he said it made him look "cool."

Soon we were gathered around a demonstration table.

The instructor showed us how to gather molten glass and carefully shape it.

Lucy (that's me) made a lopsided glass dog bone.

Peanut somehow made a perfect glass fish and has not stopped bragging about it.

The Quackers teamed up and created what they claimed was a glass duck sculpture, although it looked suspiciously like a potato.

Gracie made a beautiful black-and-white glass flower.

Kiwi attempted to make a sunflower but accidentally created something that looked like a pineapple wearing a hat.

"I call it Modern Art!" he declared.

Then it was Maybelline's turn.

Being a ghost, she had a bit of an advantage. She floated the glass pipe in midair and gently spun it with spectral precision. When she was finished, she had created a beautiful glass heart that glowed softly from within.

Everyone became very quiet.

"That's lovely," I said.

"It reminds me that even when we're gone," Maybelline said with a smile, "we leave little pieces of ourselves behind."

Of course, the emotional moment was immediately ruined when Kiwi tried to blow into his glass pipe too hard and accidentally launched a blob of molten glass into a bucket of sand.

The instructor said it was the first time he'd ever seen anyone create "abstract beach art."

By the time the sun began to set, we were all exhausted. We carried our creations home in little boxes, laughing about our adventure and promising to visit the trail again someday.

As for me, I'm going to sleep with my glass dog bone beside my bed.

And if I know Kiwi, tomorrow he'll be trying to sell his pineapple-hat sculpture for three sunflower seeds and a cracker.

Until next time, dear Journal.

Paws, feathers, beaks, and ghostly woofs,

Lucy

Wednesday

Happy Birthday Josh Nicholson

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my great-nephew a very Happy Birthday today.

 
Seems like it was only yesterday that he entered into this world. If my math is correct, this would make this fine young man 20 years old today.
Josh is getting ready to start his third year at WVU (where I am so happy he is going as it is my Alma Mater) and has a very bright future in front of him. It's a journey, this is just year 3.

 
Not sure if Val has anything planned for this fine young man today, but knowing he is hitting that age just makes me feel a little bit more 21er.

If you happen to see Josh today, take a little bit of time out to wish him a Happy Birthday. Happy Birthday Josh.