Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household where everyone is sleeping except me, I'm up early because I fell asleep early and I'm watching Friends with Benefits streaming on the Roku through Amazon where we own the digital copy of the movie. The bread is once again in the bread machine kneading and rising for us to eat here in a few hours as part of our breakfast.

No real plans for the day or the weekend other than our shopping. Not sure what the weather is going to do, but my iPhone says it is the days high of 57° right now and calling for rain. We're expecting a low of 39° so I guess weather wise its all down hill from here today. Might be a good do nothing type of day.

Stopped over at Mom's last night, her TV blew up and she bought a new TV from best Buy that I hooked up for her. I think she'll really like the differences in the TV's, this one will be much sharper than the old CRT type TV that went kaput.

Pam called yesterday evening when we got home and told me that she is a bit under the weather. Michelle and I both convened and decided she can keep it, we don't want it. She did mention that Moke will be home Sunday from flood duty in the Southern Par of the state.

Have a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword 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 once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

No plans for this weekend other than working around the house possibly. I wanted to get the back patio ready for the summer time weather and this just might be a good time to do it. Get the table, lawn chairs and the easy up set up and maybe even string the outside lights to light up the easy up at night and we'll be ready to go for the spring and summer.

For any of you interested, Jimmy Buffet tickets go on sale Monday at 10:00 AM for the show in Burgettstown this summer. We are once again planning on going and attending, so if anyone wants to join the parrot head nation assembly, Monday is your chance to get your tickets. Act fast because they go quick.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of my pictures that I have acquired through the years and select just one picture from days gone by and write a little blog about it. Sometimes it's really easy, and sometimes it's not an easy task, but it is always fun.

This weeks picture come from almost four years ago, Michelle Hayley and myself decided to do a little Geocaching and spent the day at Blackwater falls. We passed by the smallest church in America and the smallest post office in America on our way there.

We did a couple of geocaches on the way down, and also had a little pic nic that day at the park. This picture is of Michelle and myself at the Falls obviously on the lower observation deck. It was a very memorable day to say the least.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well we finally have a Monday and a Tuesday behind us, if you look over the noontime horizon you can see the dawn of yet another weekend on the other side of Thursday.

A friend of Michelle's who actually made it in for her Bridal Shower last year has finally had her book published. It's called My Daughter, My Hero and is available now online. I ordered a copy for Michelle, maybe the Author would be nice enough to sign it for us, because I know she has been wanting to read it. I don't think it's available for the Kindle or any electronic readers as of yet, but I bought a hard copy for Michelle.

I have to say that I'm not very fond of thee cold mornings, the heater in my car is less than warming to say the least, and if I leave it outside it just never seems to defrost on mornings when it freezes over. Yesterday morning was a disaster from the get go and not only did I get to the gym late, all the treadmills were in use so no cardio day for me yesterday. That was OK, I had a busy day lined up and needed to just relax a little before I got busy at work.

Speaking of that four letter word

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again behind us and we are looking straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It's been 1,474 days since Michelle spent four hours to get ready for our first date, a trip to pizza hut and to see the movie 10,000 BC.

* It's been 697 days since our engagement.

* We're on day 234 of marital bliss.

* There are only 273 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* We're down to 166 more days before we cruise the open seas on our way down south.

* Pam called me over the weekend, actually it was later last week, and told me that Moke has been deployed to the southern part of the state to assist with all of the flooding that took place down there in the past few weeks. She estimated he will be there for three weeks.

* The students are out of town this week and I have to say that traffic has been more than manageable with the absence of about 30,000 horrible drivers clogging up our roads. I have to say it is quite enjoyable to say the least.

* I see that Josh made the Red's 40 man roster, but has been assigned to pitch in AAA for the Louisville Bats. Hopefully he'll get called up a few times this season, I know I missed his debut last year but would love to see him play at Pittsburgh.

* Weather is a little cold for my taste, not that bad, but no where near the pleasantry of the 80° + weather we experienced last week. I'll take it though.

* I'm pretty sure my garden is ready to go for the year, the soil is tilled and stirred, now it's just a matter of buying a few starter plants and getting them planted sometime soon.

* Congratulations to Kevin Jones for making yet another All-American team this year. he was named to the John R Wooden All-American Team yesterday.

* Cardio for me

* Hi ho hi ho

Back To Work

Well the weekend is now in our distant memories and it's time to put our noses back to the grindstone for the next five days. We do it so we can enjoy the lifestyles we live and to pay bills, mostly just to pay bills. LOL

How's everyone's NCAA brackets doing? Mine is screwed. I picked Michigan State to win it all and they tanked in the Sweet 16 to eventual Final 4 team Louisville. Maybe it must be because I don't watch as much basketball as I used to, but this years bracket just like many others tanked big time.

Not much excitement for us this weekend, we basically stayed home yesterday and cleaned the house. We ended up BBQing some awesome steaks for dinner and just relaxed and prepared for another week of work.

Speaking of work, hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Well here I sit once again, in a quiet household where everyone is sleeping with the exception of me. We have a fresh loaf of bread about to be ready in the next 30 of so minutes and I'm just sitting here surfing the world wide web and collecting my thoughts for the day.

Yesterday dd not turn out as I thought, it rained and was dreary most of the day so we made alternate plans. Did a little clothes shopping me both me and Michelle, and really didn't get into too much of anything due to the cold rainy weather. It's not calling for anything any better today, so it might just be a little more of the same as yesterday.

One nice thing is that the students are out of town and traffic is going to be a little more manageable this week as the students are on Spring Break. Couple more months and they will all be gone and this town can return to normal for a few months this summer. I just wonder what road they are going to tear up this year, seems like they do it every year when the students leave for teh summer.

Have a great day.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

I sit here once again in a quiet household with everyone her but me fighting a losing battle with the Sandman. I've got the movie "Man on the Moon" playing in the background. I always like Andy Kaufman when I was a kid, so I watch this movie when it is on.

Hayley is in DC this weekend for the Cherry Blossom Festival and a big music concert. I was thinking about running down, but I would prefer to go down on an extended weekend where I am not rushed to get there, rushed to see anything and then rushed to get home so we can get everything else done.

I think Chad and Laiah are going to a reptile show in Pittsburgh today and will also be taking a trip to the Pittsburgh Zoo. They always manage to make it there at least once a year or so, or at least it's been like that since Michelle and I have been together.

WVU is playing baseball here this weekend, so that may be a possibility for us.

Have a great day and enjoy the weather.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again behind us and we are looking straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It's been 1,474 days since Michelle spent four hours to get ready for our first date, a trip to pizza hut and to see the movie 10,000 BC.

* It's been 697 days since our engagement.

* We're on day 234 of marital bliss.

* There are only 273 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* We're down to 166 more days before we cruise the open seas on our way down south.

* Pam called me over the weekend, actually it was later last week, and told me that Moke has been deployed to the southern part of the state to assist with all of the flooding that took place down there in the past few weeks. She estimated he will be there for three weeks.

* The students are out of town this week and I have to say that traffic has been more than manageable with the absence of about 30,000 horrible drivers clogging up our roads. I have to say it is quite enjoyable to say the least.

* I see that Josh made the Red's 40 man roster, but has been assigned to pitch in AAA for the Louisville Bats. Hopefully he'll get called up a few times this season, I know I missed his debut last year but would love to see him play at Pittsburgh.

* Weather is a little cold for my taste, not that bad, but no where near the pleasantry of the 80° + weather we experienced last week. I'll take it though.

* I'm pretty sure my garden is ready to go for the year, the soil is tilled and stirred, now it's just a matter of buying a few starter plants and getting them planted sometime soon.

* Congratulations to Kevin Jones for making yet another All-American team this year. he was named to the John R Wooden All-American Team yesterday.

* Cardio for me

* Hi ho hi ho

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword 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 once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

If I have to say so myself, that was a pretty quick work week. Absolutely no complaints from me and we are once again at the dawn of another fun filled weekend.

I think weather permitting we are going to go ahead and get the outside set up for the summer. I'm going to borrow Mike's power washer and set up the canopy and the chairs and just do a general tidying up the yard to set it up for the spring season that is now upon us.

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Maxine "Nana" Snider

I would like to take this opportunity to wish a very young and beautiful lady a very Happy Birthday today. Today we celebrate Maxine "Nana" Snider's 21st Birthday. She is the youngest Great-Grandmother (may even be a Great-Great in there I'm not sure) in the world. I may be off on her age by one or two years give or take, but I am quite sure that I'm pretty close.

If you see Maxine today, make sure that you wish her the very Happiest of Birthday's today. A Great Grandmother this young needs to be told.

Happy Birthday Nana.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out to look through all of my thousands of pictures that I have taken through the years and select just one special image that I can tell a little story about. Sometimes it's an easy find, and sometimes you have to spend time and struggle for that one special picture.

This weeks picture is of Michelle a few months after I started dating her and Layla the flower girl at our wedding Layla Marie Rosiak. Michelle and I had stopped over to see Trish because the WVU Mountaineers were getting totally manhandled by East Carolina that day and one half was all I could stand to watch. So dressed in our WVU gear we went over and paid a little visit.

Trish had her all decked out in a WVU Cheerleader outfit and with Michelle wearing her jersey, it was a photo opportunity that we just couldn't pass up on.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well that's once again two days down, and if you look just over this lunchtime hump off in the distance, you can see the dawn of another weekend just on the other side of Thursday.

We took a little road trip last night down to see Mich and Sheila, their internet has been down and Michelle and I headed down to Clarksburg yesterday evening when we got home from work to get them back up and running. They're all back up and running and good to go.

Other than that and a little bit of nice weather, there is really nothing new on the home front. I think Michelle caught a little bit of a flu bug Monday, but she was feelign good last night and kicked it pretty quickly.

Lifting and cardio day again for me so.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well the dreaded Monday is once again behind us and we are looking straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* First off, Good Bye Winter, Hello Spring time!!!!!! Today is the first day of spring 2012, winter can now officially be called finished for the season. I do have to say this was the mildest winter I think I have ever seen in my life around these parts.

* It's been 1,467 days since mine and Michelle's first date. That's a little bit over four wonderful years we have spent together.

* It's been 690 days since our engagement.

* We entered into marital bliss in front of our friends and family 227 days ago.

* There are 280 more shopping days left until Christmas, provided the Mayan's were completely wrong and there is time past Winter 2012.

* There are 173 days left until Michelle and I head out on our cruise to the Bahama's this coming fall on Carnival Cruise lines.

* You have to love this early spring time weather we have been experiencing, this is MY favorite time of the year, I love the spring.

* I see in the local paper that there were 37 fires downtown Saturday Night. 18 Dumpster fires and 17 street fires. All this and we didn't even play a basketball game or kill a terrorist.

* It's a cardio day for me in the gym.

* Hi ho hi ho

* Yeah, winter is over!!!!!!

* I hate snow =)

Happy Birthday Amy Dalton

I would like to take this opportunity today to wish my beautiful Niece and Mother again to be Amy a very Happy Birthday today. If you should see or talk to Amy today, make sure that you tell her to have a very Happy Birthday.

Let me see if I can guess her age. I'm 21 (again) and that should make her about....21? That sounds about right, because no one should ever have to get any older than 21. She caught up with me in age..LOL

Happy Birthday Amy, I hope it is a great day for you.

Back to Work

It's time for all the fun to cease and time for those of who work Monday thru Friday to put our noses back to the grindstone for another week of work. Stop the partying and get back to work in other words.

As a re-wind for yesterday we really didn't get into too much, did our grocery shopping and a little spring cleaning. Michelle scrubbed out the fridge as I cleaned a totally messy and unorganized computer desk. I pay all my bills electronically, but when a bill comes in the mail I put in next to my computer and let it stack up. It just needed cleaned up, my computer needed blown out and everything needed cleaned so we did that.

Yesterday afternoon I started to get the garden ready for 2012. I still have some mint growing from last season, but I tore everything else up including the weeds that had started to grow there and tilled all the soil up. I would imagine we'll start planning soon, we're still in the planning stage as to what we want to grow this year. Eliminate the things we didn't have much success on and grow more things that we did.

Now it's back to the office today, it is once again a lifting and a cardio day (I do cardio every day), so it's time to get in there and going.

Hi ho hi ho

Road Trip

Yesterday the weather was absolutely beautiful, so we grabbed the GPS's and set out on the road to do a little bit of geocaching. We wanted to make the most of the day.

I asked Michelle if she wanted to go someplace she had or had not been before and she chose the had not option. So we packed a lunch and jumped inside Pearl (Our Subaru) and headed south. I have taken Michelle to Charleston before, but I know she had never been to Parkersburg, so we set that as our days destination.

We stopped and did a couple of Geocaches along the way, and even stopped and saw a submarine memorial at a park just outside of Parkersburg. Saw some beautiful scenery and spent a little bit of time down on the Ohio River and their Riverside Park before returning home yesterdat afternoon. I still have a Geocache set up from a few years ago that I have not planted, maybe I will set it up one of these days.

Enjoy your Sunday, it's a shopping day for us and Michelle is already up and drinking her coffee.

Happy St. Patrick's Day

It's time to kiss the Blarney Stone (If you're in Ireland), time to drink the green beer, or a Shamrock Shake, or even just plant your potatoes (something I picked up from my grandparents), but we need to celebrate our Irish heritage today on St. Patrick's Day. Make sure you avoid getting pinched today, unless you're into that kind of thing, and wear you green today.

Anyone fill out a March Madness Bracket? I did one with a few guys I work with for fun and one at WVAQ. The one at WVAQ I am in 94th (out of 235)place after one round and I'm tied for second place at the one at work, but I have the highest possible remaining points. As a big surprise yesterday, not one but two #2 seeds lost yesterday as Norfolk State beat #2 Missouri and Lehigh with their first ever tournament win beat Duke (a game I did watch). Round two starts today and finishes tomorrow before the 16 surviving teams get a break for a few days before the chaos picks it up a notch.

Have a great day, I think we're going to try to do a little Geocaching.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword 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 once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

I have to say that it has been a rather busy week for both me and Michelle, both with work and Doctor's appointments that all turned out to be A-OK. Michelle had two and I had one and all three appointments returned very good results and clean bills of health. Maybe I'm just getting to an age and time in my life when you really learn to appreciate that. It'll actually been years this May that I quit smoking, so I guess for me that was a starting point...LOL

Not sure what the weekend will have in store for us, we mentioned doing a little geocaching and we have also talked about going to the Cherry Blossom Festival this spring too. They just are not ready yet this weekend. I guess we'll have to wait and see how the weather turns out for us, before we make a final decision on what we are going to do.

Yesterday marked four years since Mine and Michelle's first magical date.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and reflect through all my pictures that I have and select just one from days gone by to recall a little story about. Sometimes it's an easy task, sometimes it's rather difficult to find that one picture.

This weeks picture is once again from a family pic nic that we had at Krepps Park. I must be ready for the pic nic season because I seem to be picking those types of pictures lately.

Anyways this is a picture that I snapped of Jean and Sheila walking around Krepps. I think this is from the summer of 2004, but hold me to that specific year. We had yearly pic nics back then and sometimes it's hard to differentiate between the years, but this was the first one that Jean and Mick through.

It was a great day with lots of food.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Well that's two days down, if you look on the other side of this lunch time hump, you can see the dawn of another weekend off in the horizon.

Well with all this nice weather Michelle and I made it to the rails to trails once again this year yesterday. She had a couple of doctors appointments and got home early from work, so we took advantage of the 80° weather yesterday afternoon. I think our little secret place on the trail is getting out, they built a parking lot at the end of Van Voorhis and that is where is seems everyone goes now to use the trail.

I'll be coming home early today after my eye appointment. I'll have my dilated eye exam this afternoon, it's been about a year and a half since my last exam. I think I'm doing well with the exception of me starting to get older eyes and needing reading glasses more and more.

Lifting and Cardio day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Once again Monday is now in our rear view mirrors and we are looking straight down barrel of a Tuesday, I can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* It's been 1,460 days since Mine and Michelle's first date, this Thursday will be four years since that night. We celebrated last Friday night with a nice dinner at Oliverios.

* 683 days ago we became engaged.

* We have now been married for 220 wonderful days.

* There are only 287 more shopping days left until Christmas, (you still have time).

* and the biggie, only 179 more days until we set sail on Carnival Cruise Lines to the Bahamas.

* Speaking of the cruise, on that Friday when we are in Grand Turk, there is a Margaritaville located a half a minute walk from the dock. Something tells me I'll be having a Cheeseburger in Paradise. =)

* It's a Cardio day for me, 3.35 miles and 500 5lb curls with each arm are on this mornings agenda before I start work. Tomorrow I'll do my 50% lift and 50% cardio and do about half that distance.

* Michelle has two doctors appointments today. One for her foot and one to get her boobs smashed. I have a dilated eye exam tomorrow afternoon that she will be going with me to as well.

* Speaking of Margaritaville, Jimmy hasn't announced when he will be in Pittsburgh this year. I'l watching and eagerly awaiting the announcement and for tickets to go on sale.

* See Josh Judy pitched his second preseason game with the Reds. He pitched two innings, got two strikeouts and was the winning pitcher. God Job Josh.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back To Work

The weekend is now a part of our memories once again and now it's time to put our noses back on the grindstone for another week of work.

First though I have to reflect a little upon yesterday, the weather was awesome, the days are now longer and the sun was a shining and we got a little bit of a chance to enjoy ourselves.

Michelle and I went and saw the movie Safe House at Carmike Cinema yesterday. It had been a while since we had went to the theater since we went and saw We Bought a Zoo a couple of months ago.

We did manage to get to the rails to trails with Sadie for the first time this year with the little bit of extended daylight that we have now. I'm sure our frequency in visiting there will increase as times goes by, I don't want to do too much until Michelle gets her foot cleared later this week.

It's a lifting day and Cardio, so....

Hi ho hi o

Spring Forward

If you haven't set your clocks ahead (if they are manual clocks) you might be an hour behind right now. Yes we sprung the clocks forward a and we are losing an hour of sleep tonight, which is OK with me, it just means it stays light longer in the day.

It's pretty much a do nothing day for us, we got all of our shopping done yesterday with the exception of my grabbing some fresh vegetables sometime today for meals this week.

Have a great day, maybe I'll even sleep in.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Once again I sit in the early AM in a quiet household, everyone else is sleeping and I have the movie Independence Day playing in the background and contemplating on just what we may get into today.

Woke up yesterday morning with a nice little surprise, I guess my Niece Val and my Brother Gary finally got a Facebook page up and running for Jean. I tagged her in a few pictures, Val tagged her in a few and Kayla tagged her in a few, talk about a page that is getting a shot of instant life.

Michelle and I went to Oliverios for dinner last night. Dinner was awesome and we briefly ran into my niece Brittany on the way out, so we stopped for a quick hello. They were all eating so we didn't want to interrupt for too long, it was nice to see her.

Last night we stopped out at my Sister Pam's, she had a soup she wanted to give to Michelle, so we made the trip out to Core to see her George and Calvin, and we can't forget the puppy Spike. We had a nice little visit, I mentioned to her that maybe everyone in the family should plan on going somewhere this summer and having a big cookout like we used to. George suggested Chestnut Ridge Park, which I thought sounded like a good idea. I'll try talking to Terri and Gary and getting their input as well as everyone else.

Today's agenda so far is nothing other than our normal routine, that could change however but we'll have to see.

Have a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword 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 once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

It's going to be a short weekend everyone needs to keep in mind. As we transition from the winter months to a time when the days are getting longer and warmer weather is starting to come a little more often, we now will set our clocks ahead one hour this Sunday Morning at 2:00 AM. We will all be losing an hours sleep, but that doesn't bother me one bit because that means it's shorts and sandals weather for me very soon.

Not much on our agenda this weekend as far as activity wise. Don't rule it out that we will not get into anything, because I'm sure we'll come up with something to do if the weather is appropriate.

It's a lifting and a cardio day for me again. I'll do my lifting and finish it off with 30 minutes on the treadmill and that should be my workout for the week. I'm already up over ten miles for the week, today's total will just add to that.

Let's get this party started, hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback ThursdayO

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and go through my pictures to see if I can find one special picture from yesteryear to post and tell a little bit of a story about. I have to admit sometimes it's an easy task, and sometimes it's actually pretty difficult to select one image. All of them are special moments in time that we have managed to catch digitally.

This weeks picture takes us back a few years, back to the time when Erica Jean was a smiling youngin a little bit over seven years ago. This was a day when her Uncle Randy was getting a break from his training at the Challenge Academy and we all went up to see him.

I managed to grab this priceless piece of time right before we left to go pick Randy up. I was up at Jean's house and the little rug rat was there smiling up a storm, and the rest is photo history.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

That's two down, if we look over the horizon that we know as lunch time today, we can see the dawn of yet another fun filled weekend just on the other side of Thursday. When you start to get to this part of the week, you really start to look forward to what's ahead to another time of time off.

The hot topic issue for people in Monongalia County this week is the smoking ban that takes affect on Friday. The ordinance was passed a couple of months ago and they put a 60 day hold on implementing it, Friday will mark the 60th day meaning you will no longer be allowed to smoke in any public building, including bars in Monongalia County. I'm a little mixed on the issue as my Sister Terri used to own a bar, I understand the need for patrons to be able to smoke, I'm also a former smoker that knows it's not very healthy for you. It is a very expensive habit, both immediately by the cost of cigarettes and in the long term in terms of ones health diminishing.

Hayley got her job yesterday, she starts today with orientation and then goes straight to work after that at the BFS store on University Avenue. I think she is ready to get back to work, she likes money too much.

It's a cardio and lifting day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Well Monday is once again behind us and we are looking straight down the barrel of a Tuesday, I can't think of a better reason than that to do a tidbits.

* Michelle and I are at 1,453 days since our first date nearly four years ago.

* It's been 676 days since I got down on one knee and proposed marriage.

* We are eon day 213 of wedded bliss.

* You have 294 more shopping days left until Christmas.

* 186 more days until Michelle and I set off on our cruise to the Bahamas.

* Do you believe the snow that we were getting yesterday? I think I saw the heaviest snowfall of the year there briefly. Have I ever told anyone I hate snow? I think I can handle that little bit, as long as that was the end of it for the season.

* Chad is still in Cleveland working and Hayley has an interview tomorrow for Gloria Jean's at the Transit Center. She just was not getting any hours at Bed, Bath and Beyond.

* Michelle and I got a very nice wedding gift from my employer yesterday. It was actually my Boss's birthday and he doesn't like anyone to make a big deal about it, so we had a Happy Non Birthday Party for him...LOL

* Cardio day

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to Work Kind of Monday

That time of the week that we enjoy so much is now over with and we are starting another five day stretch of sticking our noses to the grindstone for another 40 hour week of working. It's everyone's least favorite day of the week, the day we stop enjoying the weekend and just get back to taking care of business.

I had the opportunity yesterday to talk to Steve Judy, Josh's dad, to see if I could get any updates on his progress. First of all I need to congratulate Steve though, he threw a 300, a 300, and a 240 for an 840 series this past week in bowling. He had back to back perfect games, and is Morgantown's third person to ever accomplish this fete. I have been associated with all three of these people believe it or not through softball. The first person to ever do it was the father of a softball team mate when I used to play for Sterling, George Willard was the first man to ever accomplish this task. It landed him in the PBA Hall of Fame. His son Keith, who I played Softball with did it on the same night, in back to back leagues. Final game of the series at Sycamore and the First game of the last night league at Suburban Lanes. This past weeks accomplishments were Steve's tenth sanctioned perfect games and fifteenth overall (unsanctioned). Congratulations Steve.

Talking about Josh, he's enjoyed a nice off season, for the first time he did not play winter ball due to the fact he and Vivian got married this past fall. Steve doesn't really know Josh's position with the Reds yet, we're both thinking that since they picked him up off of waivers in the off season they are wanting him for the Major League team. Josh should have lead AAA in saves this past season, but his extended stay in the Majors at the end of the season prevented this. I would rather see him in the Majors, we need to get that Official Josh Judy Major League Strikeout count up and running again soon. If the Red's play the Pirates in Pittsburgh when Josh is up, I can see a number of us going up to the game.

It's a lifting and a cardio day for me, so...

Hi ho hi ho

Passports Taken Care of

Once again I sit here in a quiet house writing my blog, Chad is on his way or in Cleveland for work this week, Michelle is sound asleep in lala land and I'm up writing my blog with As Good As It Gets playing in the background. The bread machine is once again helping prepare a fresh loaf of bread for breakfast this morning and I'm just waiting to hear the beeps to remove the paddle once again.

Well we finally went to the post office yesterday to apply for our passports. We actually got there at 8:30 (Post Office opens at 9:00) but they ONLY do 15 passports on Saturdays and we were #15 and 16, she did do both of ours. There were a dozen people in line behind us and probably another half a dozen that came in later. I had heard numerous people saying this was either their second or third trip to try to get one, and we managed to get there and get it on our first try and get everything processing.

I had to write two $110.00 checks (one for each of us) and and $80.00 check for the application fee and the picture fees. So for around $300.00 and a four to six week waiting period until they send us back our paperwork, we'll be able to travel anywhere in the world the next ten years. This will be the first trip outside of the United States for either me or Michelle. We're both pretty excited about that.

Have a great day.

Here are a couple videos of our boat and trip someone else took on the same boat.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household in the early AM> Everyone is sleeping peacefully except for yours truly, the TV behind me and the bread machine that is ironically just now beeping to allow me to remove the paddle at the very time I am writing this. I got to the word is in that last sentence and I hear my series of six beeps, informing me that I can take the mixer out of the bread machine, this way the bread just pops out easily and you don;t have to worry about the paddle.

Well so much for my quiet morning, I just saw three big fire trucks with their lights a flashing going past the house and up towards Bakers Ridge. They were all hauling rear to get there, must be something going on up the road.

I think we are going to finally going to go and start the paperwork for our passports this morning. Could end up being an adventure, especially with WVU's Spring Break approaching in a few weeks, might be some students trying to get to Mexico for the break.

Last night for dinner Michelle and I went out for dinner as we do every Friday evening, we went to Eat N Park and ran into and ate dinner with my old buddy Smitty and his with Steph. We joined each other and had dinner together, it was nice, hadn't really seen them since the wedding. We need to get together with them sometime.

There was one woman at Eat N Park that I can't forget. You talk about the most nastiest smelling person you have ever met inn your life. When we walked in, we walked past her and you talk about something that could gag a maggot. She walked by us again when we were checking out, and I have to wonder how anyone could stink that bad. I don't think I have ever met someone in my lifetime that had such an offending body odor as to what this woman had. GNASTY.

Have a great day.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes it is once again that time of the week that we all look foreword 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 once again the dawn of another weekend, and a Big Ole Hairy Friday.

Looking for something to do this weekend? So am I LOL. It's probably just going to be a boring routine weekend for us this weekend, we may actually go and start the process for us getting our Passports, we kind of talked about doing it last weekend but with Michelle talking about going home and her ended up spending Saturday with Jean making Somosa's, we didn't get around to it.

Chad is heading back to Cleveland next week to finish up a job they were doing the past December, the job hit a snag and got put on hold halfway through due to some minor problem, and now they are going up and finishing the job next week and maybe extended a little bit longer than that, it just all depends on how things go.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week I like to take a little bit of time out and look through all of my pictures and see if I can find one special picture for that week to write a little blog about. Sometimes this is an easy task, sometimes it's not that easy especially now that I have been doing this for a while and try not to get any duplicates.

This weeks picture comes from a family pic nic at Krepps park in 2004. Jean and Mick used to have some really nice pic nics during the summers, and I think this was either the first year that we did it looking back through all of the pictures.

Moke and Randy were quite young then, of course we are talking about an event that happened eight years ago. Looking through the rest of the pictures from that day that was a year when we went hog wild with food (when has anyone ever known Jean not to do that), especially the fish. I remember Mick brought four large boxes of fish, all of different kinds that we cooked that day.

Like any of our family gatherings, there is way much more food than there ever is people there and about everyone was there that day.

Have a great day and hi ho hi ho