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 is back into the offices today for both Michelle and I. She is coming off a five-day weekend, and I'm just finishing up a three-day weekend and rested and relaxed. I do go back to a normal 8-hour day today instead of those longer 10-hour days. You wouldn't think that's tiring, but in an office environment and sitting at a computer screen, that makes for long days, especially when you are doing tedious tasks like transcribing numbers from paper copies into a spreadsheet (handwritten, so OCR Readers are out of the question), so I can convert the coordinates into a geospatial dataset. It'll help us improve spatial integrity with where things are located. 

It was nice to see Hayley, Tyler, and Luke yesterday. They all came down for Easter Dinner thar Michelle (actually Peanut and Kiwi) prepared. It was an absolute feast, and it was great to see everyone. I hadn't seen any of them since Thanksgiving. 

So what is coming up in the week ahead? I have a weekly meeting first thing this morning, we use it as a skull session as to how we will be addressing projects. Michelle has an ever-expanding role where she picks up new skill sets all the time. She is quick to pick up on things, so she is becoming a bigger and bigger asset every day. She actually closed a $4 Million deal last week, which she was quite happy with. I asked her if we get to keep the whole $4 Million, the answer, unfortunately, was no. 

Have yourself a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Easter

Here I sit in a quiet household, well, that's a lie, as Kiwi and Peanut are begging me to go and hide some Easter Eggs so that they can find them. I told them I don't hide Easter Eggs, the Easter Bunny does. Kiwi asked me if this Bunny goes all around the world hiding Easter Eggs, ala like Santa does, and I said yes. They both think he is a righteous dude for doing that. 

Hayley, Tyler, Luke, and maybe even Gracie (who is getting old) will all be coming down for the day to celebrate Easter with us. It will be the culmination of a very busy but relaxing weekend for both Michelle and me. It'll be nice to see them, considering they don't get back to Morgantown that often when we are home, and we rarely get up there to visit. Busy lives, busy world, and everyone's schedules just don't seem to cooperate. 

I do love this time of the year, all the colors of springtime, the families getting together, and it's a rebirth of the earth after months of shorter, drab, and colder days. This is my favorite season of the year, always has been, I guess. You can open the back door up and let the soothing and natural smells of budding foliage emanate throughout your home, without it being too hot where you need to fire up the Air Conditioner. 

Have yourself a great day, make some memories. 

Saturday

Here I sit in a semi-quiet household, we're celebrating Michelle's long weekend and my three-day weekend. Kiwi and Peanut, or should I say the Chef Pets, have been starting to prep for Easter Dinner tomorrow. I did have to lie to Kiwi and tell him the deviled eggs were actually Pig Eggs, and he believed me because of the Ham. They are such helpful animals. 

Not sure what today really holds for us, I see that Morgantown has finally announced its Summer Concert Series for 2026. I like the Fabulous Thunderbirds and .38 Special, I have actually seen .38 Special before when they were at the Greer Pavilion years ago. I remember going to Greer and buying my tickets and going to Westover Park when they had the old bleachers from the old Mountaineer Field in there. There are a number of good acts and a nice mixture of artists, but I'm sure I'll cover that this summer on Fridays. 

Michelle has the grocery shopping and the Sam's Shopping done. Hayley, Tyler, Luke, and maybe Gracie will be coming down for Easter Dinner. I haven't seen them since Thanksgiving, so it will be nice to see them. I might try to put the Air Conditioner in the Bedroom Window. I'll get Tyler to assist if the weather permits. 

Have yourself a great day, make it memorable. 

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 Good Friday!!!

Kiwi and Peanut are celebrating Good Friday, Michelle is off and I think I may be off as well with me working the longer shifts this past week. I think they are just sucking up for some of Michelle's Deviled Eggs to be honest with you. 

Plans for the weekend? I think the kids are coming down on Sunday to visit, Michelle invited Hayley, Tyler and Luke to come down for dinner. Other than that no big plans for the weekend. I think Michelle may actually do all of her shopping today since she will be off, but you never know. 

I think my life has become so repetitive that there really isn't any excitement anymore to be honest. We go to work, do things around the house and lather rinse and repeat. I'm like clockswork. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

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!!