Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is behind us and we are looking at a Tuesday, Kiwi tells me I have to do a tidbits so here it is. 

* It has been 21,607 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,000-day Calender. I do have to say I start to feel my age or older than 21.  

* It has been 6,867 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. 18+ years ago and still doing GIS and enjoying every minute of it. 

* 5,455 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, the pizza hut is gone, the movie was 10,000 BC and it sucked to high heaven. Heck, even our Pizza Hut is gone. Luckiest day of my life. 

* 4,673 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. 

* It was 4,217 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, we poured sand into a vase and said our I do's and we were hitched. How many people keep track of hoa many days they have been married 11+ years later? 

* I have now lived 1,839 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,266 days, I've now outlived him by 362 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! To my younger siblings, bow down to my age seniority. =)

* I have 3,320 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. 

* 340 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day, I think he has lied this year and I'm liking him for that. Maybe someone paid him to see his shadow, but he's is playing both sides. Not much snow this winter. 

* 306 more days to go until my Goodbye 2023 Blog is posted, I'm just now getting started on content for that one. 

* There are 300 more shopping days left until Christmas 2023. You still have plenty of time to prepare and get ready. =)

* There are 276 days until I hit the age of 60. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are 199 more days until the Pitt Panthers bring their butts to Morgantown so we can extract some revenge on our game this year. Payback Kitties. I think we are ready to roll now. 

* There are 193 more days to go until the Mountaineers travel to Happy Valley and get another shot at an old time Rival, Penn State

* There are 157 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Twelfth Wedding Anniversary together. Moke and Ang celebrated theirs yesterday. 

* There are 27 days until my favorite season, Spring of 2023. Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow? 

* I have written 7,097 blogs in the now 18 1/4 years plus a couple of days of being a blogger. 

* Older Drone still needs to be sent out for repairs, not a big priority at this time. My little drone is awesome and I really like it....when I take time out to fly it. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm seriously a slacker. 

* I love fresh home made bread. We have made it four weeks in a row now experimenting. 

* Still working 12-hour shifts for Duquense Light this week. 

* How about I start doing my favorite Tic Tok of the week? This is this weeks Tic Tok, talk about a great Geocache. 

* Have yourselves a great day.  

* Hi ho hi ho 

Back at it

All good things must, unfortunately, come to an end, and that does include those fun-filled things that we all refer to as weekends. In Michelle's and my case, it was a weekend of feeling under the weather. Now it is time once again to take our collective noses and stick them back onto the grindstone for another fun-filled week of doing what it is that we do for a living. 

Both Michelle and I were a little under the weather all weekend, I've been running a fever since Thursday, but just slightly to the point, it's not preventing me from doing what I would normally have done this weekend. Hopefully, we're both feeling better by the end of the day. 

Looking at our week ahead, nothing out of the ordinary on my calendar. I'm still working 12's on this project as we try to wind this portion of it up. On Michelle's side their office manager is going to be off for a while and Michelle is going to take her place as well as do her own job while they're off and recovering. 

Would you believe that my brother Gary responded to a text from Michelle. That lets us know he's alive, but he still hasn't returned any of my phone calls. 

Michelle loves her new laptop. She used to research yesterday's bread that we ended up making. Last weekend we did a dutch oven bread that was amazing, she got on the internet looking for something similar but stuffed and she came up with pepperoni and mozzarella bread like we usually get from Pheonix Bakery. I'm really liking this Sunday Break baking we have been doing, Everyone loves warm bread. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet household, with the exception of a squawking green cheek conure who has an opinion on everything. He thinks he is an expert on everything and wants Michelle's old laptop, saying it's better than the archaic one that he got at the bird store. Always wanting to improve himself, can't blame him for that. 

Anyways yesterday's plans changed. Michelle and I were going to stop by best buy and find her a new laptop. So Friday when we were at Sams she found one she liked but it was the display model and she didn't want a computer with someone's kids boogers all over it, so we stopped at Best Buy to see of they had one. They didn't have that one, but they had one very similar that she really liked. It wasn't 17", but it had the numbered keypad that she wanted, it has Windows 11 Home instead of the S although I would have upgraded it. The S limits what the user can do and only allows aps from the Microsoft store to be installed. It has a backlit keyboard which she likes and it is a 2 in 1 laptop, meaning it folds where she can use it as a tablet (it is touchscreen) or any other position as the screen orientates to where it needs to be. It has everything she wants and it's a lot lighter. Plus it has a Solid State drive, which makes things so much better. 

Now on to our day, grocery shopping as we do every Sunday Morning. We'll work out our menu for the week and then use this morning to go and grab anything we need for the week. It's just going to be our typical Sunday Morning, nothing exciting. 

I have been feeling a little under the weather the last few days, so taking the day and relaxing may be what is on our agenda for the day. 

Have yourselves a superfantastic day, make it a memorable one. 

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I am once again in the early morning hours in a semi-quiet household. Kiwi of course let's me know that he is still here of course. He believes that he is an expert on everything and he's trying to tell me how his quest to get a trillion twitter followers is going. I don't have the heart to tell him he's still at 4 followers. Maybe he should lower his expectations. 

So what is on today's agenda? I'll be heading out here in a few minutes to head to the laundromat to dry clothes once again. It's part of my weekly routine, I get in and get it over with so that I can somewhat enjoy the rest of the weekend. 

One thing we are doing today is finding Michelle a new laptop. Hers is getting old and slow, and it's still running Windows 7 and she bought it about 8 years ago. It's just time to upgrade the hardware and the operating system. Everyone is running Solid State Hard Drives now, not as much storage, but much quicker. Plus she doesn't have a whole lot on her computer, so the bigger hard drive really isn't needed. We'll head to Best Buy this morning as well as maybe another place or two to see what we can find. Might end up just ordering one from one of the manufacturers and having it shipped here. 

In case no one had noticed, Jean's former boyfriend, had passed away this past week. Jerry McLean passed away on Monday and they had his funeral service on Wednesday. 

Have yourselves a great day, make some memories. 

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.

So what is on my redundant agenda for the day? Working, WalMart, Sam's out to dinner, and then home for this evening. We're pretty much like clockwork and we're just going through the motions. I'll head out tomorrow morning to dry laundry, that's when it all gets exciting. 

Michelle's Laptop is getting old and tired, it's slow and heavy on her words and it's just that time when you physically replace it with a new computer. Faster processors and upgraded operating systems, it's just time. It still runs Windows 7 as its operating system and the software end of life for that platform was three years ago. I run Windows 11 and that is probably what we're going to upgrade to. So today could be a little bit of running around so she can either get a feel for what she likes and order one or just buy one today if she finds something she likes. 

Have yourselves a great day, make it a good one. 

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 someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been a whole lot of fun.

This weeks pic goes back to somewhere in the mid 70's when I was just a young buy who used to go to the old Morgantown Speedway with my Aunt, Uncle and Cousins (Glenna Mae, Ralph, Sharon and Lynne) pretty much every Saturday Night. We would go and watch the stock car races and it was something the whole community used to go and watch. They would always get large crowds.

Well this weeks pic was when I got to meet my favorite driver, who was Mike Cole. He ran the Semi-Lates and was number 38, Jack Smith was the #38 on the Late Model cars, but Mike was my guy to cheer on. Everyone had their favorite, and Mike was mine. I only met him this one time, however his son was a couple years ahead of me at MHS. 

There is a local organization called Lauren's Wish, Lauren was Mike's Granddaughter. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is completed and we are off to a good start, let's do a tidbits. 

* It has been 21,600 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,000-day Calender. I do have to say I start to feel my age or older than 21.  

* It has been 6,860 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. 18+ years ago and still doing GIS and enjoying every minute of it. 

* 5,448 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, the pizza hut is gone, the movie was 10,000 BC and it sucked to high heaven. Heck, even our Pizza Hut is gone. Luckiest day of my life. 

* 4,667 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. 

* It was 4,210 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, we poured sand into a vase and said our I do's and we were hitched. How many people keep track of hoa many days they have been married 11+ years later? 

* I have now lived 1,832 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,266 days, I've now outlived him by 355 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! To my younger siblings, bow down to my age seniority. =)

* I have 3,327 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. 

* 347 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day, hopefully Phil does me a solid next year. French Creek Freddie did. 

* 313 more days to go until my Goodbye 2023 Blog is posted, I'm just now getting started on content for that one. 

* There are 307 more shopping days left until Christmas 2023. You still have plenty of time to prepare and get ready. =)

* There are 283 days until I hit the age of 60. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are 206 more days until the Pitt Panthers bring their butts to Morgantown so we can extract some revenge on our game this year. Payback Kitties. I think we are ready to roll now. 

* There are 200 more days to go until the Mountaineers travel to Happy Valley and get another shot at an old time Rival, Penn State

* There are 164 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Twelfth Wedding Anniversary together. Moke and Ang celebrated theirs yesterday. 

* There are 34 days until my favorite season, Spring of 2023. Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow? 

* I have written 7,090 blogs in the now 18 1/4 years plus a couple of days of being a blogger. 

* Older Drone still needs to be sent out for repairs, not a big priority at this time. My little drone is awesome and I really like it....when I take time out to fly it. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm seriously a slacker. 

* I love fresh home made bread. We have made it three weeks in a row now experimenting. 

* Still working 12-hour shifts for Duquense Light this week. 

* How about I start doing my favorite Tic Tok of the week? This is this weeks Tic Tok, she scared the absolute bejeezus out of me as a child in that toll. 

* Have yourselves a great day.  

* Hi ho hi ho 

Monday

All good things must come to an end, and test that does include these fun-filled bread-making things we refer to as weekends. Now it is time to take our collective noses and stick them back onto the grindstone of life once again to do what it is that makes this a better rock to live in. 

Looking at my week ahead I am still working my 12s this week for Duquesne Light, my guess is that will continue until the project is completed in less than a couple of months. I do have an interview this afternoon for a remote position for the Ohio Department of Transportation, so trying to line up some work for once this project completes is on today's agenda. Other than that not too much planned out ahead work-wise. 

We did do our third consecutive weekend of bread making, this week Michelle wanted to try some no-knead bread that is actually cooked inside of a dutch oven. It's not your typical loaf of bread but one you might be more than likely to find an artisan bread place. Plus we made a loaf from the Krogers' frozen bread dough that I cut up and toast for breakfast which is really good. 

Have yourselves a great day and a great start to a productive week. 

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here Kiwi and I sit yet once again, up in the early AM hours having a deep discussion of what came first the chicken or the egg. We of course take pretty much opposite viewpoints, I say the egg came first and Kiwi insists the Green Cheek Conure came first even before the chicken. Peanut, she doesn't care at all and is relaxing on the couch listening to some cat music. 

So what is on our agenda for the day? Grocery shopping and our typical Sunday Chores (cleaning out bird cage, changing the kitty litter bag, grocery shopping, etc). 

Beyond that, we're napping. We ended up running around yesterday and went to Pet Smart, our pets are spoiled, and a few other things. I know I wanted to relax yesterday, but it was honestly Michelle's idea to do a little bit of running around. We did manage to avoid the game day traffic that was in town yesterday, other than that we relaxed yesterday too. 12 hour shifts run you down. 

Have a great day. 

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here Kiwi and I once again sit in the early morning, I'm just waiting around for the Laundromat to open to dry clothes and let my relaxing weekend really begin. Kiwi is trying to convince both me and peanut to play some pinochle even though neither of us has ever played and we don't even have a set of cards to use. Not quite sure what that birdbrain is thinking. 

So what is on my agenda for the day? The Mountaineer Men's Basketball team is playing Texas Tech tomorrow at the Coliseum. Tipoff is at noon, so it might be best to avoid the Coliseum area around those hours if you don't want to get caught up in any traffic. Speaking of WVU, former player Joe Mazzula has been named the new coach of the Boston Celtics. He was coaching them on an interim basis, but he was named the full time permanent coach earlier this week.

I may download the tax software for this year and get a start on our 2022 taxes. I have no idea how this is going to turn out for us, I'm more than prepared either way. Hopefully, we get some money back, but we'll have to wait and see, we could also owe a lot of money once again. 

Other than that, I was a little under the weather this week, so I told Michelle that I would like to take a nap this weekend and kick my butt if I come up with other plans. 

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.

For some this is a three-day weekend, with Presidents Day being Monday (post offices will be closed), but unless you get the Federal Holidays it's a typical weekend. A couple of days off to rest and recharge. 

Some good news, WVU Alum Joe Mazzula who has been the Interim Head Coach for the Boston Celtics, he is now officially the Boston Celtics Head Coach as they have given him a new contract and it's now his job. Congratulations Joe, I was hoping he was going to be Huggin's replacement, but this is so much bigger. 

On  my agenda this evening after getting off work? WalMart and Sam's then out to dinner. I'm not sure if we have any plans for the weekend, but we'll have to wait and see. 

Have yourselves 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 someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been a whole lot of fun.

Everyone has seen the group of 5 picture that was taken that day in 1978 at Grandma Halls. But there are in fact other pictures from that day including this one of me and my brother Gary. We were standing on front of the old garage, where basically starbucks is now located on Van Voorhis Road when this and the other pictures were taken. 

It was the Summer of 1978 and I was in my Elvis Memorabilia attire that I would wear, he had passed the summer before and it was Elvis mania after he died and I had a number of his t-shirts. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is completed, it's Valentines Day, great reason to do a tidbits. 

* It has been 21,593 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,000-day Calender. I do have to say I start to feel my age or older than 21.  

* It has been 6,853 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. 18+ years ago and still doing GIS and enjoying every minute of it. 

* 5,41 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, the pizza hut is gone, the movie was 10,000 BC and it sucked to high heaven. Heck, even our Pizza Hut is gone. Luckiest day of my life. 

* 4,660 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. 

* It was 4,203 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, we poured sand into a vase and said our I do's and we were hitched. How many people keep track of hoa many days they have been married 11+ years later? 

* I have now lived 1,825 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,266 days, I've now outlived him by 348 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! To my younger siblings, bow down to my age seniority. =)

* I have 3,334 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. 

* 354 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day, hopefully Phil does me a solid next year. French Creek Freddie did. 

* 320 more days to go until my Goodbye 2023 Blog is posted, I'm just now getting started on content for that one. 

* There are 314 more shopping days left until Christmas 2023. You still have plenty of time to prepare and get ready. =)

* There are 290 days until I hit the age of 60. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are 213 more days until the Pitt Panthers bring their butts to Morgantown so we can extract some revenge on our game this year. Payback Kitties. I think we are ready to roll now. 

* There are 207 more days to go until the Mountaineers travel to Happy Valley and get another shot at an old time Rival, Penn State

* There are 171 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Twelfth Wedding Anniversary together. Moke and Ang celebrated theirs yesterday. 

* There are 41 days until my favorite season, Spring of 2023. Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow? 

* I have written 7,083 blogs in the now 18 1/4 years plus a couple of days of being a blogger. 

* Older Drone still needs to be sent out for repairs, not a big priority at this time. My little drone is awesome and I really like it....when I take time out to fly it. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm seriously a slacker. 

* I love fresh home made bread. Just putting that out there. 

* Still working 12-hour shifts for Duquense Light this week. 

* How about I start doing my favorite Tic Tok of the week? This is this weeks Tic Tok, I think it is pretty funny, been a long time since I wrote in cursive but I do drive a 5-speed. 

* Have yourselves a great day.  

* Hi ho hi ho 

Monday

All good things must come to an end, that includes Superbowl weekends and all the other fun that was associated with it. It was a busy but productive weekend, but that must now end as we begin another fun filled week of doing what we do for a living. 

Michelle and I did our first two loaves of from-scratch bread yesterday. I saw THIS VIDEO a couple of weeks ago and sent it to Michelle, so we decided we wanted to try to develop a bread-making skill because it's tough to beat a fresh warm loaf of homemade bread. Last week we tried some frozen bread dough because our rolling pin just seems to magically disappear, so I bought Michelle a new rolling pin that she wanted. We also bought a couple containers to store the bread in, to allow it to bread but not get hard. 

Friday evening I bought my first-ever electric toothbrush, Michelle had been using a cheap one that was ready to give out, so I told her to find one she liked at Sams Club. We got the Oral B I/O 5 that contained two brushes and chargers as opposed to paying $120 for one. It's a different feeling, I've always brushed my teeth old school and never used an electric toothbrush, wow what a world of difference it makes.

So much for the weekend recap, looking at the week ahead, still working the long shifts. but I do have an interview this afternoon with the Department of Defense for a job in West Virginia. Not sure if I'll get it, but they are interested in talking with me which is a good sign. Keep your fingers crossed, this one pays about $25,000 more than the one I was going to move to Fredericksburg for. Wish me luck. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho 

Happy 35th Anniversary Pam and George McClain

Everyone needs to take a little bit out and wish my Sister Pam and my Brother from another mother George a very happy 35th Wedding Anniversary today. 

It was on this day in 1988 Pam and George tied the knot at the old Drummond Chapel Church. Pam was still in High School when her and George started dating and when they got married, and here we are 35 years later parents of two wonderful sons, 2 Granddaughters and one on the way that we do not know the gender of yet. 

I remember the day very well, George and his two brothers Rich and Buddy all stopped up at my apartment when I lived at Barrington North to get ready, before we all headed down the road to the Church. Paam was downstairs at the Church getting ready. 

So if you happen to see these two wonderful people today, take a little bit of time out and wish them a very Happy 35th Anniversary. 

Pam said they are going to go out to dinner tonight, but she does not know where they are going yet. They are looking at Mama Di Roma in Fairmont, but she does not know for sure yet. She said George wants a steak. 

Happy 35th Anniversay. 

Saturday

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, Kiwi and I are up planning our day out. He told me I need to go dry clothes while he stays around and sings some Bee Gees and boogie his day away. He likes bossing me around and letting everyone knows that he rules the roost. 

What's on our agenda for the day? Well, I bought Break Making for Beginners off of Amazon, which is a really good book that goes through the entire process of many different types of bread. From plain white which is where we are going to start to artisan bread. Different ways to make them and even a troubleshooting page with each bread recipe so if something doesn't work out the way you thought then you can reference a quick guide for that bread indicating what went wrong and why. I mean honestly, who doesn't love warm fresh-baked bread? Really looking forward to learning this with Michelle. 

I do have to find some time today to head over to Mom's and activate Gerald's new cell phone. Mom said he got a new one this week and needs it set up. It's an android smartphone but all he needs to do is to be able to make and receive calls from it. Speaking of Gerald I found a nice picture of him from when he was in Junior School on Facebook this week. 

Other than that not too much is planned this weekend, I know that tomorrow is the Superbowl and I'm saying the Philadelphia Eagles will win it, but it should be a great game. Never countout Patrick Mahomes who I think is the best QB in the NFL. Who do you have? 

Have yourselves a great day, may it a memorable one. 

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.

Big news of this past week, we had to have a whole new furnace installed. The house uses baseboard hot water and the system is probably from when the house was first built, so to update everything a whole new system was stuck in including a new boiler, piping, thermostats, and control valves. Should make it a little easier to regulate the heat here. 

I ordered some stuff from Amazon this week to assist in our breadmaking, I have no idea where our rolling pin is, as it disappeared and hasn't been seen in some time, so I ordered a new one. Hayley had a habit of grabbing it and using it, so we just ordered a new one and some accessories. Also ordered a couple breathing bread containers for fresh bread. It'll help for when we make bread in preserving it although we just threw the rest of what we made last week in a zip lock back and put it in the fridge. 

Plans for the weekend are limited. I promised to set Geralds's new phone up, it's an Android so I really don't know what I am doing with it, but I'll give it a go and see if we can get it working.

Working 10 today, then a Sams Club and a Walmart run. 

Have yourselves 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 someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been a whole lot of fun.

Can anyone guess where Michelle and are at when this picture was taken? Directly behind us is Horseshoe Falls as we are standing in Canada at Niagara Falls for this picture. There is another set of falls off to the left in the picture that comes from the American side, but most of the time in movies when you see Niagara Falls you are looking at Horseshoe Falls. 

It was both Michelle and my only trip that we have ever made to Canada. We did it with a Groupon Coupon for about next to nothing. 

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Wednesday

 How about a Chat AI Story instead of a Youtube video. 

Once upon a time, there was a Green Cheek Conure named Kiwi. Kiwi lived with two cats named Sophie and Peanut. Although they were from different species, they were the best of friends and loved to play and communicate with each other.

One day, while they were playing, Kiwi had an idea. He remembered learning bird morse code and suggested they try to communicate with each other using it. Sophie and Peanut were skeptical at first, but they were willing to give it a try.

Kiwi began by tapping his beak to spell out "Hello" in bird morse code. Sophie and Peanut listened carefully and were amazed when they figured out what Kiwi was trying to say. They eagerly tapped their paws in response to say "Hi Kiwi!"

Over the next few days, the trio continued to practice and improve their communication skills using bird morse code. They would tap out messages and try to guess what the other was saying. They even started to play games, like 20 questions, using only their new mode of communication.

As time passed, Kiwi, Sophie, and Peanut became experts in bird morse code. They could communicate with each other easily and quickly, making their friendship even stronger. They continued to play and have fun together, and their love and understanding of each other only grew.

And so, the story of Kiwi, Sophie, and Peanut, and their unique method of communication, became a legend in their neighborhood, reminding everyone that true friendship knows no bounds and that creativity and determination can lead to amazing things.

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is completed, no other reason that makes it a great reason to do a tidbits. 

* It has been 21,586 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, and improved 1,000-day Calender. I do have to say I start to feel my age or older than 21.  

* It has been 6,846 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. 18+ years ago and still doing GIS and enjoying every minute of it. 

* 5,434 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together, the pizza hut is gone, the movie was 10,000 BC and it sucked to high heaven. Heck, even our Pizza Hut is gone. 

* 4,653 days ago I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. 

* It was 4,196 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, we poured sand into a vase and said our I do's and we were hitched. How many people keep track of hoa many days they have been married 11+ years later? 

* I have now lived 1,818 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,266 days, I've now outlived him by 341 days making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! To my younger siblings, bow down to my age seniority. =)

* I have 3,341 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. 

* 361 more days until Phil steps to center stage again for Groundhogs Day, hopefully Phil does me a solid next year.

* 327 more days to go until my Goodbye 2023 Blog is posted, I'm just now getting started on content for that one. 

* There are 321 more shopping days left until Christmas 2023. You still have plenty of time to prepare and get ready. =)

* There are 297 days until I hit the age of 60. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are 220 more days until the Pitt Panthers bring their butts to Morgantown so we can extract some revenge on our game this year. Payback Kitties. I think we are ready to roll now. 

* There are 210 more days to go until the Mountaineers travel to Happy Valley and get another shot at an old time Rival, Penn State

* There are 178 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our Twelfth Wedding Anniversary together. Moke and Ang celebrated theirs yesterday. 

* There are 48 days until my favorite season, Spring of 2023. Have I ever mentioned that I hate snow? 

* I have written 7,076 blogs in the now 18 1/4 years plus a couple of days of being a blogger. 

* Older Drone still needs to be sent out for repairs, not a big priority at this time. My little drone is awesome and I really like it....when I take time out to fly it. 

* No Drone flights this weekend, I'm seriously a slacker. 

* Would you believe this coming weekend is Super Bowl Sunday? I got Philadelphia to win it this year. 

* Still working 12-hour shifts for Duquense Light this week. 

* How about I start doing my favorite Tic Tok of the week? This is  The best video of the Russian Spy Baloon being taken out on Saturday. 

* Have yourselves a great day.  

* Hi ho hi ho 

Monday

All good things must come to an end, that does in fact include those fun-filled things we refer to as weekends. Now it is time to take our collective noses and stick them back onto the grindstone for another fun-filled week of doing what we do for a living to make this a better rock to live on. 

Nothing big on my Calender this week, just working 12 hours a day from home doing what I do. I don't see anything out of the ordinary scheduled for me this week, so I'll just keep grinding. 

Michelle is feeling a little bit better between Pedialyte and Immodium we have pumped into her over the last four days I think she may be getting over this bug. I'm just wondering if it was a bug that she caught or what, I know she came home last Thursday and basically slept 24 hours straight for some reason.  

I'm rested and ready to go, let's get this week started. 

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here we are once again, Peanut, Kiwi and I are up talking about the stock market arguing with both of them that Groundhogs have a day but they don't. Peanut is sad, but OK with that where Kiwi wants to move on towards his Trillion Twitter followers and change that. he wants a Green Cheek Conure Day or his Birthday to be a Federal Holiday. I told him we would work on that. 

Michelle has been sick, so we didn't get into too much yesterday. although we did do our Friday evening shopping yesterday morning. Michelle was sick Friday so I ran to do all the shopping and pulled into Walmart and realized, my wallet was at home. All my cash, debit cards, and credit cards were back on the other side of all that rush hour traffic so we did our shopping yesterday. It's less crowded on Saturday mornings than it is on Friday Nights which was nice, I hate crowds. 

Today we're going to go and do our weekly shopping, we have our menu for the week and we're going to go and fill in what we need from Krogers. Other than that it's going to be a relaxing day, of course, but that can always change at a moment's notice. I would like it as a recharge day before we start another work week. I did find a bread that I want to try making this week, bread making skills are something I would like to learn. Everyone loves a fresh loaf of warm bread. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Saturday

Here I sit in a quiet household, Kiwi and I are up speaking back in forth in Mandarin Chinese about how lucky we are that cows can't fly. Can you imagine the attack of cow chips from above, it could get messy. It's one thing to have a bird poop on your windshield, but a cow? 

Michelle has been home sick the last couple of days, lingering effects from a migraine plus diarrhea has not made the last couple of days pleasant for her. 

My agenda for the day is to run and dry laundry at the laundromat. I usually wash it all on Fridays then go early Saturday morning to dry everything. I'm an early riser plus Kiwi never lets me sleep in, so I don't mind. Now if I can just teach him how to dry and fold it I would be sitting pretty. 

Cold weather means no plans for us today. This could be a day when I come home and take a nice nap, or spend the day playing on the XBOX. 

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.

I was 1 for 2 yesterday. Phil started my day by seeing his damned shadow, but French Creek Freddy says screw you Phil, spring is right around the corner. 

It is Friday and it's my shortest day or longest day depending on how you want to look at it. I work today then meet up with Michelle to do our Sam's shopping for the week before going out to dinner. This week Michelle says she wants El Pollen for dinner, so that is what she will get this evening. 

It is the start of the weekend, so have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Phil for Dinner AI

Once upon a time in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, there was a famous groundhog named Punxsutawney Phil. Every year on February 2nd, thousands of people gathered to watch him emerge from his burrow and predict the weather.

One year, when Phil emerged from his burrow, he saw his shadow. This meant that winter would last for six more weeks. The people cheered and celebrated, but little did they know that this was the last time they would ever see Phil.

That evening, as Phil was relaxing in his burrow, he heard a knock on the door. When he opened it, he was greeted by a group of hunters who were searching for their next meal. The hunters saw Phil and thought he would make a great addition to their dinner table.

Phil tried to run away, but he was too slow and was caught by the hunters. They took him back to their cabin and cooked him for dinner. The hunters enjoyed their delicious meal and talked about how much better it was than any other game they had hunted before.

The next day, when the people of Punxsutawney gathered for their annual Groundhog Day celebration, they were shocked to find out that Phil was missing. They searched for him everywhere, but he was nowhere to be found.

Years went by, and the legend of Punxsutawney Phil and his annual weather prediction continued. But, the people of Punxsutawney never forgot about the groundhog who had once been a part of their community and the delicious meal he had become.

And so, the story of Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog who saw his shadow and ended up being dinner, became a cautionary tale for all animals to be careful and always be on the lookout for danger.

Damn Rat

Phil, the great Groundhog from Punxutawney who is the seer of seers, the prognosticators of prognosticators has spoken to his handler. The language is known as Grounhogeze, a language only a few of us speak has informed his master handler of his prediction for 2022.

The little SOB saw his shadow. 

Groundhog Stew, with Bacon and Natural Wild Rice

Marinate the woodchuck, brown it, braise in stock, remove meat from the bones, then sweat some diced vegetables, add back the meat and cooking liquid, along with some rice, season it up, and voila. Have some good bread around, you're going to want to wipe the bowl clean.

Prep Time12 hrs

Cook Time30 mins

Course: Main Course, Soup

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Groundhog, Small game, Stew, Woodchuck

 

Servings: 2

Ingredients

• One roughly 2-3 lb groundhog skinned, gutted, rinsed and quartered (see photo above)

Marinade

• 3 cups dry white wine
• 1 bulb of garlic cloves lightly crushed with the back of a knife
• 1 large sprig rosemary leaves torn off the branch
• a small handful of fresh thyme sprigs roughly 6-7
• 2 fresh bay leaves optional
• Kosher salt and pepper
• 1/4 cup blended olive oil or neutral vegetable oil

For the Groundhog Stew

• 3 cups mixed vegetables diced 1/4 inch (I used a mix of carrots, potatoes, onion, celery and fennel)
• 1 large tomato
• 3 qts chicken stock preferably homemade
• 4 ounces smoked pork belly or slab bacon diced 1/4 inch
• 1/4 cup wild rice flour for dredging the woodchuck, optional
• 1/2 tablespoon garlic minced
• 1/4 cup dry sherry
• 1/2 cup wood parched / natural wild rice or 1 cup cooked wild rice
• 1 ear of sweet corn
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• Tobasco to taste, optional
• Sliced scallions 1/4 inch, tender white and green parts only, optional

Instructions

Marinating

• The night before hand, trim the groundhog pieces of as much visible fat as possible, then season liberally with salt and pepper, toss with the garlic cl0ves, oil, thyme, bay leaves, and rosemary. Put the seasoned groundhog pieces in a wide dish or casserole and pour over the wine. Allow the woodchuck to sit overnight or at least for 4-5 hours, turn it around in the juices now and then if you have time.
• Cut the corn from the cob, then cut the cobb into 2 inch slices and reserve both separately.
• To prepare the stew, render out the fat from the bacon in a wide 10 inch braising pan, remove the bacon and reserve, leave the fat in the pan.

Browning and Building the Stew

• Remove the groundhog pieces from their marinade, pat dry and remove any rogue herbs or pieces of garlic. Toss with the wild rice flour, then brown on medium high heat in the bacon fat. Pour off the spent fat from the pan, deglaze the pan with the sherry, reduce by half, then add the stock, corn cob, cover the pan and reduce the heat to a gentle simmer. If you have time, skim the albumen and fat that rise to the surface of the pan occasionally as it makes a cleaner tasting stew. Simmer the groundhog gently for 1.5 hours, or until the meat can be picked from the bones.
• Meanwhile, cook the wild rice in the chicken stock until just done, then strain out the rice and lay out on a plate or cookie sheet to cool. Reserve the wild rice liquid to add to the stew. It adds really good flavor, and that's why you're cooking the rice in chicken stock in the first place.
• Remove the woodchuck pieces and cool, then pick the meat from the bones, give it a rough chop, and reserve. You should have about 2.5 cups of meat.
• Remove the stock from the pan and reserve then strain it. You should have about 1 qts of liquid.
• Wipe the pan, then melt the butter and add the diced vegetables and the garlic. Sweat the mixture until it's well cooked, and the vegetables are soft, about 15 minutes, then add the reserved woodchuck liquid, wild rice liquid and simmer for 15 minutes more.
• Finally, add the woodchuck meat, corn kernels, and wild rice. Season the stew with salt to taste, then serve immediately with some Tobasco on the side. If not serving, chill immediately, transfer to a labeled, dated container and reserve until needed.

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 someplace on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up and recall or relive the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task and sometimes it's not that easy, one thing it has always been a whole lot of fun.

On this day, my old friend Phil (as seen above) will determine if we are going to have six more weeks of winter or if we can expect an early Spring as the prognosticator of prognosticators make his appearance this fine morning to let us know what to expect. 

There have been very few bribes for Phil this last year, the little rat saw his shadow last year and the year before that even. So I'm hoping he doesn't see it this year.