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Wednesday, June 10, 2026

Lucy's Journal


Lucy's Journal – June 10, 2026

Wiffle Ball Madness at Monongalia County Ballpark

Dear Journal,

Today was one of the most exciting days ever!

The gang and I headed over to the beautiful Monongalia County Ballpark for what was supposed to be a friendly game of wiffle ball. Of course, when you put me, Peanut the gray tiger cat, Kiwi the green cheek conure, and the Quackers (those identical twin ducks who still insist they're easy to tell apart) together, "friendly" usually turns into complete chaos.

Our opponents were an unusual bunch: a team made up entirely of giraffes and mice.

Now, at first glance, that might seem unfair. The giraffes could practically lean over the outfield fence without moving, while the mice were so tiny they could disappear between the blades of grass. But we weren't worried.

The first inning started with Kiwi stepping up to the plate. He swung so hard he spun around three times before making contact. Somehow the ball dribbled twenty feet down the baseline. Kiwi flapped his wings and declared it a home run anyway.

"It was airborne for part of the trip!" he argued.

The umpire disagreed.

Peanut the cat was our next batter. He immediately tried to negotiate a trade to the giraffe team after noticing they had better snacks in their dugout. When that failed, he smacked a line drive into center field and strutted around the bases like he had just won the World Series.

The Quackers were unstoppable. The twins worked together so well that nobody could tell which duck was on base and which one was batting. At one point they accidentally switched places three times during the same play, confusing both teams and the scorekeeper.

Meanwhile, the giraffes had an interesting strategy. They simply reached over everyone and caught nearly every fly ball. One giraffe caught a pop-up while simultaneously eating a leaf from a nearby tree.

The mice, however, were the real challenge. They were so small that every ground ball seemed to roll right over their heads. One mouse somehow stole second, third, and home before anyone noticed he had left first base.

By the sixth inning, the score was tied 12-12.

That's when I came to the plate.

The crowd roared. Well, maybe it was just the Quackers quacking loudly from the dugout, but it sounded like a crowd.

I took a deep breath, wagged my tail, and swung.

CRACK!

The wiffle ball sailed high into the afternoon sky.

A giraffe jumped.

A mouse climbed another mouse's shoulders.

Kiwi offered helpful advice that nobody could understand.

Peanut tried to call dibs on the ball.

But it didn't matter.

The ball landed safely in the outfield, and I raced around the bases for the game-winning run!

Final score:

Lucy and Friends: 13
Giraffes and Mice: 12

After the game, we celebrated with cold treats and plenty of victory photos. Peanut claimed he was the team MVP. Kiwi claimed he was the team manager. The Quackers claimed they scored all 13 runs.

As for me?

I was just happy to spend another perfect day with my favorite friends.

Until next time,

Lucy 🐶⚾

P.S. Peanut is still trying to trade herself to the giraffes for a bag of sunflower seeds. We're monitoring the situation.

Wednesday

Tuesday, June 09, 2026

Tuesday's Tidbits

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

* It has been 22,810 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. Mom is at 30,459, which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 8,065 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? 

* 6,658 days ago, Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,862 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 5,899 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 3,037 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 1,691 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,280 days, I've now outlived him by 1,548 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 269 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 2,080 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.

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

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

* There are 198 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 183 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are only 67 more days to go until Michelle and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

* There are 13 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 8,383 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. 

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies? Ryleigh's Page

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies still? Arabellas Page

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday, June 08, 2026

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 told me this morning, he said: "Dad, I think Peanut and I are going to stay home today and relax, we want to play some PacMan". I think Kiwi wants to play Pac-Man because he knows the little guys moving on the screen will be like his own laser pointer, and he's planning on tricking Peanut into chasing them all day long. She is so easy to please sometimes. 

Still working 10's this week, I pretty much have my big analysis done, and I'm just tweaking a few things to make it more of a complete dataset. They are using this to find obscure easements that we have to get to wells that may be out in the middle of nowhere, based on our vehicles' GPS data in our fleet of vehicles. You would think that would sound simple, but every car puts out a signal every 5-6 seconds over the course of a year, and that was fleetwide (meaning upwards of probably 100 or more vehicles). Then, sorting through the data to make sure we don't capture things like employees who drive the vehicles home and such. No trips to the McDonald's drive-thrus for lunch, all of that had to be filtered out. I have it published, I'm just fine-tuning the results. 

Have yourself a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday, June 07, 2026

Sunday

Here I sit in a very non-quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut have turned into big WVU Baseball fans, and they are practicing their rendition of Country Roads. They have an email out to Rich Rod to allow them to perform for Football Post Game celebrations this fall, but he hasn't responded yet. 

We had the Memorial Benefit Dinner for Nick Rehmani at Triune Halleck Volunteer Fire Department yesterday. I'm not sure of any totals or how things went, but hopefully this will help Terri out moving forward and ease any immediate financial burden that she may encounter. 

The celebration is on in Morgantown, for the first time in School History, we have advanced to the College Baseball World Series in Omaha, Nebraska, starting this coming weekend. The Mountaineers beat Cal Poly yesterday 17-1 to win the Super Regional and punch our ticket for the World Series. 

Have yourself a great day, make some memories and make it special. 

Happy Birthday's Hayley and Tyler Ash

Tyler and Hayley Ash 
I would like to take this opportunity to wish both Hayley and Tyler (his is tomorrow) Ash a very Happy 33rd Birthday today and tomorrow. It is a funny story that when Michelle gave birth and Tyler's Mom was two rooms down delivering him. Same Hospital, so these two were in the baby nursery at the same time and at the same hospital. Now they are a happily married couple. 

I could not ask for a better daughter than Hayley, she is absolutely amazing, very driven and focused on whatever she wants to accomplish. I love her with all my heart. 

Tyler is the best son-in-law anyone would ever want. Hard working, resourceful and a great father to Luke. 

If you happen to see either of these two today, make sure you take a little time out and wish them both a very Happy Birthday. 

Happy Birthday Hayley and Tyler. 

Saturday, June 06, 2026

Saturday

Here I sit once again in a somber and quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut are both still sleeping and I'm up a little early, Michelle is going to do our shopping this morning. 

This afternoon there is a Memorial Benefit for the family of Nick Rehmani  at the Triune Halleck Volunteer Fire Department at 1189 Halleck Road from 1:00 to 5:00. All proceeds go to the immediate family of Nick to help assist with this transition. We would love for you to make and see you there, I guess they are raffling off baskets, so if you can make or donate a basket it would be much appreciated. 

Other than that, avoid the University Town Center today, it will be game 2 of the Super Regionals. We win this regional and this will be WVU's first trip to Omaha for the College World Series in it's current format. They last went in 1963, but it was a much smaller event. The ballpark will be electric just as it has all post season. 

Have a great day, make some memories and hope to see you today. 

Friday, June 05, 2026

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!!!!

Another week down and completed, so what is on the agenda for this weekend? There is a benefit for Nick's family tomorrow from 1:00 - 5:00 at the Halleck-Tribune Firehall. Terri's boss is putting this together for her, he has done so much for her between her diagnosis a couple of years ago to just being there for her all the time, can't say I have met him and his wife, but they are truly nice people. 

Other than that, Michelle will do our Sam's run this evening and the regular Saturday Shopping tomorrow morning before we head up to the Firehall. 

Hey I almost forgot, if you are not doing anything tonight, head on down to the Ruby Ampitheatre for the first act in the Summer Concert Series with Almost Queen hitting the stage this evening. The show starts at 7:00 and is free for anyone who wants to go. Should be some good music. 

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Gary Hall

I would like to take this chance to wish my youngest sibling a very Happy Birthday today. 

I've always loved this picture of Gary, Grandpa Hall used to refer to him as Jobo. No idea where he came up with that nickname, but that was what he called Gary. I used to call Gary BASH, which stood for Bozo, Arnetta (his made up Dad used to use for his Girlfriend), Suck-a-thumb, Hall. Don't worry though, Gary would always give it back to me so it went both ways. 

I know Gary has quit his job back up home and is planning on moving back to Morgantown sometime in the near future. Not sure as to when or where that will happen, but it's his plans. 

If you happen to see or talk to Gary today, wish him a very Happy Birthday. Is this 53? 

Hi ho hi ho

Thursday, June 04, 2026

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.

I bought this shirt for Michelle a few years ago. If you know Michelle, you know she loves her coffee. She also loves her Kiwi and she has a shirt indicating how to start a good day. Let me tell you, Kiwi has a big personality and he just electrifies the household. Although he was in a contract disput and refused to pose for this picture, he was holding out for more seeds. Greedy bird. 

Have yoursleves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho