Today is the last day of finals, any remaining students have to be out of the dorms by I think tomorrow and in case you haven't noticed the town is a little bit emptier. Some still are around waiting for Graduation, but I would say a majority of the undergrads who are here just for the school year have left and returned home for a few months. This gives locals like me a chance to relax from the excessive traffic, but have to suffer from all of the road work that will take place now that they are gone. Kiwi and Peanut are both happy the town is theirs now.
Michelle is going back home with her sisters and her niece for the day to play purse bingo for Maddies school. That means it will be me and the scranimals (as Michelle refers to them as) holding down the fort and taking care of the household. I may be cutting grass but Kiwi wants to do figure 8's all around the yard.
We are still about a month away from the Summer Concert Series, but step at a time. The students are leaving!!!!
Have yourselves a great day
Hi ho hi ho
Lucy’s Journal — May 6, 2025
This morning started with one of those bright, golden Appalachian suns that practically orders you outside. The kind that makes even the laziest among us (I’m looking at you, Quackers) feel like stretching their legs and pretending we’re the outdoorsy type.
So naturally, we decided to head down to the rail trail in Morgantown.
Now, getting everyone organized is always an adventure. Squeakers insisted on bringing snacks (which he ate before we even reached the trailhead), Quackers kept asking if there would be “rest stops with bread,” and Marvin—well, Marvin just stared thoughtfully at a stick for a good ten minutes before declaring it “a walking companion.”
Eventually, we made it.
The trail was alive today—joggers, cyclists, and folks just out enjoying the day—but once we got a little farther out toward Van Voorhis, things settled into that quiet, peaceful rhythm you only find along the rails-to-trails. The kind where your footsteps and the occasional bird call are the loudest things around.
That’s when old Mr. Jenkins, who seems to appear out of nowhere whenever a story is about to be told, slowed his pace and pointed down toward a small, weathered house tucked just off the trail.
“You see that place?” he said.
Of course we did. It wasn’t much to look at—just a modest little house, the kind you might pass by without a second thought. But something about it felt… still. Like it was holding onto something.
“That’s where Ellis Hall used to live,” Mr. Jenkins continued. “Best fiddle player you ever heard.”
Now that got everyone’s attention.
Even Quackers stopped asking about bread.
Mr. Jenkins told us that Ellis Hall wasn’t famous in the way you’d hear on the radio, but around here, his music carried. Folks said you could hear his fiddle drifting down the valley in the evenings, bouncing off the hills like it was part of the land itself. On summer nights, people would sit on their porches just to listen. No invitations, no tickets—just music finding its way to whoever needed it.
Squeakers asked if Ellis played fast tunes or slow ones.
“All of ‘em,” Mr. Jenkins said with a smile. “But the slow ones… those are the ones folks remembered.”
Marvin, still holding his “walking companion” stick, asked if the music is still there.
Mr. Jenkins didn’t laugh at that. He just looked back at the little house and said, “Some say if you walk by here quiet enough, you might still hear it.”
Well.
You can imagine what happened next.
We all got very quiet.
No crunching gravel. No chatter. Even Quackers held it together (a minor miracle). We stood there, listening to the breeze move through the trees, the distant hum of the trail behind us…
…and for just a moment, I swear, there was something else.
Maybe it was just the wind catching the right angle. Maybe it was imagination. Or maybe—just maybe—it was a faint, lingering note of a fiddle that never quite left.
We didn’t say much after that. Just nodded to each other and kept walking.
Sometimes the best stories aren’t the loudest ones.
Sometimes they’re the ones you have to be quiet enough to hear.
—Lucy
* Monday is over, now we are staring straight down at another spring time Tuesday, time for a tidbits
* It has been 22,775 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new, new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. Mom is at 30,431, which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar.
* It has been 8,029 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.
* 6,623 days ago, Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then.
* 5,827 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 5,864 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 3,002 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 1,656 days ago today.
* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,280 days, I've now outlived him by 1,512 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again!
* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 234 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 2,115 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.
* 273 more days until Phil steps to center stage once again for Groundhog Day. I'm still mad at the damn rat
* 240 more days to go until my Goodbye 2026 Blog is posted.
* There are 233 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026.
* There are 218 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21.
* There are only 101 more days to go until Michelle and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe
* There are 48 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 8,341 blogs in what is now 21 1/2 years of Blogging.
* It's Finals week at WVU, they should be pretty much gone by this weekend.
* 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 got to love Lady Gaga.
* Hi ho hi ho
My week ahead is pretty much up in the air, who knows what I will run into in the office and what fires I may have to put out. Michelle rushed around last week to get all of her billing out by the end of the month, so no idea what she is up against this week.
Kiwi and Peanut want the students gone for the summer. They said this is their town and for all of those out of state college kids to go back home until August. They want free reign over this city.
Lather, rinse repeat.
Have yourselves a great day
Hi ho hi ho
So what is on today's agenda? Not too much, Michelle got everything done yesterday morning, now it's just up to me to do a few chores around the house and prepare for the upcoming week of work. It's just a repeat of every other week.
I have been in contact with my nephew Daniel and he has informed me that he has completed all of his course work for his Associates Degree and I told him I would pass the word along. He's also indicated that he may be back home (here) around July 1st, but that is tentative at this time and not set in stone. I have not told him any personal information about anything that is going on in anyone's lives back here, not my place to deliver the news to him. Others should have that honor. He knows of Terri's battle with Breast Cancer and that Brittany had gotten married and that's about it. Very Proud of Him.
My brother in law Jim was in a pretty bad wreck this past week, he's hurt his wrist and it may require surgery, and Michelle has indicated that his new truck was totaled. Happened Thursday and he ended up going home that night from the Emergency room, but he is a little sore.
We are less than a couple weeks away now for Layla's HOSA Graduation. She will also give the address at Commencement and this will be seperate from her HS Graduation. Everyone is very proud of her, she has been laser focused and probably because Trish had a heart transplant has been motivated like no other.
Josh has completed his second year at WVU, I know he made Presidents list last Semester and this Semester is in finals so he is probably laser focused as well.
Wow, this is one of substance rather than the regular fill.
Have yourselves a superfantastic day.
