Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is over, now we are staring straight down at a Tuesday. 

* It has been 22,761 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. Mom is at 30,417, which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 8,015 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 8,000 days? 

* 6,609 days ago, Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,813 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 5,850 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, for the most part, Michelle and I became husband and wife at the Marilla Center, it was a great day with friends and family. 

* I have now lived 2,988 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 1,642 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,280 days, I've now outlived him by 1,498 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 220 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 2,129 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.

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

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

* There are 247 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 232 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are only 115 more days to go until Michelle and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

* There are 62 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 8,325 blogs in what is now 21 1/2 years of Blogging. 

* Progress on my Selfie in Space, right here. We are ready for liftoff and holding. 

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies? Ryleigh's Page

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies still? Arabellas Page

* This is my favorite TicTok of the week. Reminds me of Peanut and Kiwi. 

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

All good things must come to an end—but if you’ve got to wrap up the weekend, today’s a pretty exciting way to do it. Now it’s time to take our collective noses and press them firmly back onto the grindstone of life. Back to work, back to the hustle, back to doing our part to make this spinning rock a better place.

It's going to be a semi-busy week, putting out a few fires first thing this morning. I have to generate a pivot table of about half a million records and break it down how it was requested. I also have to convert everything from meters to feet to get the right calculations and break them all down by type and company. Big task for someone who wasn't the master of large data and complex pivot tables. I should have it done and normalized within the first hour. I also have some training I actually have to do this week for something called Rextag. Already have my account set up and I've already familiarized myself with the website and all of it's functionality. 

I'm not sure what the pets are going to get into today, but I think they are planning some kind of mischief this week. Something about Pepperoni Rolls, but it's a big secret between the two of them. 

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit in a quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut decided to play an all night game of Go Fish, but they didn't quite make it all night. Now they are just snoozing away without a care in the world. Probably dreaming happy thoughts about that waterpark and waterfall in the back yard that they never built. 

Nothing really planned for the day, the temps are supposed to drop and our nice weather is going into a hiatus. 

With the NFL Draft starting this week, and it will be in Pittsburgh part of my attention will be on who the hometown Steelers draft. I look for the Steelers to start with an Offensive Lineman, probably a Guard, but that is just a guess. New Head Coach in Mike McCarthy and a new staff, so gone is Mike Tomlin and his staff and they mean a change in philosophies from the sideline. Ironically the last time the Steelers played in a Superbowl, they lost it to a Green Bay team that was coached by.....Mike McCarthy.

Other than that a few chores today and preparing for the upcoming work week. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a very non-quiet Household, Kiwi and Peanut must not have noticed last Sunday Morning when I fired up the lawn tractor and mowed grass. They still thought it needed cut when much to their surprise they go outside and see grass clippings everywhere. I think that they are both a tad bit upset with me that they didn't get the chance to cut the grass. Truth be told, I think they just wanted to ride around on the lawn tractor and create some mischief. 

So what is on today's agenda? Michelle will do the grocery shopping this morning and I'll pitter around the house for a while. Chris is wanting to have a birthday party for Jim at the New Hill Community Park, I have never been there before but I have looked at it in Google maps. I guess it is the housing development right before you turn into where Moke and And live, this will be a first for me going there. Or should I say a first when it was not part of a gold course. My Dad used to play that course a lot and I had fun riding around on the gold cart with him. Hopefully the weather holds out. 

Other than that not too much planned, but when do we ever really have anything planned anymore. I'm getting old and am no where near as active as I once was.  

Speaking of Moke, he has a new website up, one that has a blog and is more on the technical side of things rather than like mine for shits and giggles. BytesNation is a great site and worth a bookmark if you want to learn about Artificial Intelligence and things on the technical nature. It's actually very well done, and very informative. I can see it cited in academic research to be honest with you. Take a bow Moke. 

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!!!

Another week down, and I think my pets are trying really hard to try and tell me something. 

So what is on the agenda for the day and weekend? It's just a lather, rinse, repeat weekend to be honest with you. I guess the older you get, the less you think about running around and doing fun and exciting things, and try to concentrate on some of the most important things in life. Naps. I, at that point, where I enjoy waking up and knowing it was sjust a nap and I don't have to get ready to go into the office. 

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

This weeks pic is our trip to the Hovatters Zoo last year, a number of people from both sides of the family went up last year and enjoyed a zoo day. 

Speaking of the Zoo Day, Michelle and her sisters have been talking about planning another big get together if anyone is interested in going. If you are interested in going and making some memories that day, let us know. Last year we took up a bunch of food and sat out at the picnic tables and feasted. 

It was and will be a fun time. 

Have yoursleves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

Lucy’s Journal – April 15, 2026

Dear Journal,

This morning started with what Kiwi dramatically called “The Great Human Panic of Tax Day.” Everywhere we looked, people were rushing around like squirrels that just remembered they buried their nuts… but couldn’t remember where.

Peanut sat in the window, flicking his tail, watching cars zoom by like they were in some kind of race. “You’d think the government was handing out free tuna the way they’re acting,” he said.

Kiwi puffed up and chimed in, “Maybe they forgot to do their paperwork! Imagine waiting ALL YEAR and then—BOOM—last minute panic!” He flapped around like a tiny green accountant having a meltdown.

The Quackers were less concerned and more entertained. They lined up like little judges on the porch, quacking every time someone sped past. “Late! Late! Definitely late!” they declared, as if handing out penalties.

I’ll admit… we all laughed a lot this morning.

By afternoon, things had settled down, and that’s when Peanut got that look—you know the one. The “I have a terrible idea and I’m proud of it” look.

Next thing I know, we’re all down at the downtown parking garage.

“Alright,” Peanut whispered, like we were in some kind of heist movie, “keep your eyes open.”

“For what?” I asked.

“For opportunity,” he said.

Kiwi landed on a railing, looking suspiciously official. “We are conducting… inspections,” he announced.

Turns out, Peanut’s “plan” was to check for unlocked cars. And, well… you can probably guess the rest.

Let’s just say the Quackers thought this was the funniest mission of all time. They waddled around like a coordinated squad, giggling (yes, giggling) and keeping lookout.

Kiwi kept shouting things like, “Target acquired!” and “Abort! Windows up!” which made it feel way more serious than it was.

I tried to be the responsible one. I really did. But somewhere between Peanut’s sneaky tiptoeing and Kiwi’s dramatic commentary, I lost it and started laughing so hard I had to sit down.

We didn’t cause too much trouble (Peanut insists it was “just light mischief”), but we definitely left our mark on the day.

On the walk home, Peanut looked very satisfied with himself.

“Best. Tax Day. Ever,” he said.

Kiwi nodded. “Way better than paperwork.”

The Quackers just quacked in agreement.

And honestly? I can’t argue with that.

—Lucy 🐾

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is over, now we are staring straight down at a Tuesday. 

* It has been 22,754 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. Mom is at 30,410, which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 8,008 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 8,000 days? 

* 6,602 days ago, Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,806 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 5,843 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, for the most part, Michelle and I became husband and wife at the Marilla Center, it was a great day with friends and family. 

* I have now lived 2,981 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 1,635 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,280 days, I've now outlived him by 1,491 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 213 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 2,136 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.

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

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

* There are 254 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 239 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are only 122 more days to go until Michelle and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

* There are 69 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 8,317 blogs in what is now 21 1/2 years of Blogging. 

* Progress on my Selfie in Space, right here. We are ready for liftoff and holding. 

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies? Ryleigh's Page

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies still? Arabellas Page

* This is my favorite TicTok of the week. Reminds me of Peanut and Kiwi. 

* Hi ho hi ho

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 and Peanut decided to take a break from taking a break and are going into the office with me. They think they are the GIS Gurus. They have been playing with Open Source QGIS; little do they know I used to use it a great deal, but I prefer the commercial ESRI software. I always tried to stay ahead of the curve with the Open Source game, but Jack is my buddy, so I tend to lean towards the Commercial Stuff. Can't knock my pets for expanding their skillsets. 

So what is up with the week ahead? Still chugging along, same stuff, different day, so to speak. Still working on a tedious long-term project while wrapping up a couple of smaller ones. It is a new week, and I'm sure there will be new challenges. 

Have yourself a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit in a somewhat disappointed household, Kiwi and Peanut were all excited yesterday ad they thought that they were going to get a chance to ride around on the lawn tractor and have fun, they had their day all planned out and they got a double whammy. It was wet from raining the night before and I even tried to start the tractor up for the second time this season, did so a couple weeks ago, and this time the battery was dead. It would not turnover. Fortunately I do have a batter charger and have it hooked up to the charger. I was able to get it started but I let it charge the rest of the day to get a full charge before I start the mowing season. Maybe I'll get a chance today to cut it. 

Michelle is going to head up to Elwood City with Chris, Amanda and a few others for Maddie's Birthday Party. They are going to head north after church for the day. If the weather permits, I might ride around in the yard and put Kiwi and Peanut in a better mood. I'm just hesitant to do that when I'm the only human here, especially after giving myself a concussion a couple years ago holding back a tree branch that about knocked me out and caused me to be lethargic the next morning. Better safe than sorry, but the weather is supposed to be nice. 

I waas talking to Mom yesterday, she said she had been de-hydrated and I suggested Pedialyte Pops that are always really helpful for me when I am under the weather. I know I really like them and like them so much it is an unguilty pleasure I can have year round. 

Have yourselves a great day

Saturday

Here I sit on a quiet Saturday Morning. Kiwi and Peanut have been up all night watching the RADAR and hoping that it's nice weather. They said they want to help me cut the grass today, and they want to drive the tractor around the yard. I heard them secretly discussing doing figure 8's in the grass. I don't know what I am going to do with these two. 

Michelle will be doing the grocery shopping today and I'll be handling things on the home front. I wish I could say I am just going to supervise as Kiwi and Peanut drive around the yard, but you know how that goes. I was going to cut the grass last Saturday, but Val said that it is bad luck to cut your grass before Easter, and Michelle said it was going to rain, so I never got it cut. This is on my agenda today, weather permitting. 

Nothing much more planned for us today, although Michelle is going back home to Ohio for a few hours on Sunday. It's Maddies Birthday and she is going to go up with Chris, so I will be home holding down the fort for the day. Kiwi has been reading go-kart manuals, so he might want my help building a Go-Kart in the garage. 

Have yourselfs 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!!!

I think Kiwi and Peanut have broken into our old wedding stuff and have decided the celebrate the start of the weekend Jimmy Buffett style. They are really in a festive mood and they have Jimmy streaming on the Alexa app. I think they like this time of the year as well, very festive of them. 

So no plans on the agenda as of yet, but you never know what may come our way or what we will end up doing. 

I'm still a couple of months from starting my Friday blogs with the free concert series, helping me fill up content for people to read. 

Have yourself 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 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.

Can you guess who this sexy Geospatial Genius is sitting on Grandma Hall's lap? It is none other than your favorite Blogger/Geographer, me!!!!

Don't ask me what year this picture was taken, being I'm only 21 I'm going to guess that this picture was sometime on or before 2004, but that is just a guess on my part. Forget that Grandma Hall has been gone since 1980, she had a time machine she hopped on to help pose for this picture. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

Lucy’s Journal – April 8, 2026

Dear Journal,

Today started with a very serious plan. Kiwi said we were going on an adventure—like in that movie where the kids walk along train tracks and have a big journey and discover themselves (or at least find something dramatic).

Peanut was immediately on board, mostly because he thought there would be snacks involved. The Quackers didn’t really understand the assignment but loudly agreed anyway, which is pretty standard for them.

So off we went.

Kiwi took the lead, puffed up like some kind of feathery explorer, declaring, “All great adventures require train tracks!” Peanut nodded like he knew exactly what that meant, even though I’m pretty sure he was just hoping for a hot dog stand somewhere along the way.

We walked. And walked. And walked some more.

Around neighborhoods. Past the river. Up a hill. Back down another hill. The Quackers argued the entire time about which direction “felt more train-tracky,” which, for the record, is not a real navigational method.

At one point, Kiwi climbed up onto a fence post, looked around dramatically, and announced, “They have to be around here somewhere!”

They were not.

Peanut started to get suspicious about an hour in.

“Are we sure Morgantown even has these things?” he asked, flopping down dramatically on the sidewalk.

Kiwi refused to admit defeat. “All great stories involve perseverance,” he said.

“Yes,” I said, “but most of those stories also involve actually finding what you’re looking for.”

After what felt like forever (and at least three wrong turns suggested by the Quackers), we all kind of just… stopped.

There were no train tracks.

No grand discovery.

No dramatic movie moment.

Just us, a little tired, a little confused, and very aware that we had absolutely no idea where we were going anymore.

That’s when Peanut said the smartest thing anyone said all day:

“Ice cream?”

And just like that, the adventure changed direction.

We found a little shop, piled in, and ordered way too much. Kiwi tried to “sample” everyone’s cones (without permission, of course), the Quackers managed to get ice cream on each other, and Peanut dropped his scoop and stared at it like his whole world had ended… before immediately ordering another.

We sat there laughing about how we set out for this big, meaningful journey and ended up completely failing to even find train tracks.

But honestly?

It didn’t feel like a failure.

It felt like one of the best days we’ve had in a while.

Turns out you don’t need train tracks to have an adventure.

Sometimes you just need your favorite crew, a questionable sense of direction, and a really good ice cream cone.

—Lucy

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is over, now we are staring straight down at a Tuesday. Good time for a tidbits. I like these 8 hour days better. 

* It has been 22,747 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. Mom is at 30,403, which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 8,001 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 8,000 days? 

* 6,595 days ago, Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,799 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 5,836 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, for the most part, Michelle and I became husband and wife at the Marilla Center, it was a great day with friends and family. 

* I have now lived 2,974 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 1,628 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,280 days, I've now outlived him by 1,484 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 206 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 2,143 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.

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

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

* There are 261 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 246 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are only 129 more days to go until Michelle and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

* There are 76 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 8,309 blogs in what is now 21 1/2 years of Blogging. 

* Progress on my Selfie in Space, right here. We are ready for liftoff and holding. 

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies? Ryleigh's Page

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies still? Arabellas Page

* This is my favorite TicTok of the week. And people wondered why I never pitched, seen too many of these through the years. 

* Hi hoi hi ho

Happy Birthday Terri Rehmani

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my amazing sister Terri a very Happy Birthday today, by my count she is still just 21, but I never use traditional calendars and use my own unique temporal measuring system. 

 
Terri is a strong and inspiring woman and now she has the title of Breast Cancer Survivor to go along with everything else. She is an amazing woman/ 

Terri is one of the most unselfish and amazing person you could ever meet or come across. If you have someone like this in your life you're pretty lucky and I'm pretty lucky. It was her that picked me up at the lowest point in my life and dusted me off and put me on the right path despite me having the fears that I had at that time, that makes her pretty damned amazing in my book and I'm thankful she is my sister.

Not sure if anyone will see Terri today, but if you are fortunate enough take a little bit of time out and wish her a very Happy Birthday today.

Happy Birthday, Terri.

Monday

All good things must come to an end—but if you’ve got to wrap up the weekend, today’s a pretty exciting way to do it. Now it’s time to take our collective noses and press them firmly back onto the grindstone of life. Back to work, back to the hustle, back to doing our part to make this spinning rock a better place.

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

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

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

Have yourself a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Easter

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

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

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

Have yourself a great day, make some memories. 

Saturday

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

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

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

Have yourself a great day, make it memorable. 

Big Ole Hairy Friday

Yes, it is once again that time of the week that we all look forward to when we can take time to cease the labors for the week and take a little bit of needed time out to enjoy the fruits of those labors. It is again the dawn of another weekend and a Big Ole Hairy Good Friday!!!

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

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

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

Have yourselves a great day. 

Photo Flashback Thursday

Once a week, I like to take a little bit of time out, time to look at some of the 30,000+ photos that I have stored on my computer. Little lost moments in time that I either captured with a lens, scanned, or just stole from somewhere on the internet. I like to find just one and post it up, recalling or reliving the picture to the best of my ability. Sometimes this is a pretty easy task, and sometimes it's not that easy, but one thing it has always been a lot of fun.

This one goes back to either 1977 or 1978. I had bought my first camera, a Kodak 126 (That was the film). It was the summer after Grandpa Hall had passed, and we were having a cookout at our house. This was Grandma Hall, you can see my dog Rocky off in the distance and we were playing a game of croquet in the side yard. We usually set up back by the garden, but we sat it up here for some reason. 

I grabbed a Picture of Grandma Hall that day as well as a few other ones, but this one means a lot to me. It was a time when it was just Me, her and Rocky. 

Have yoursleves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

Lucy’s Journal – April 1, 2026

Dear Journal,

I should have known something was up the second I woke up and heard what sounded like… splashing? Not the normal “someone knocked over the water dish again” kind of splashing. No, this was full-on river level splashing.

I wandered outside, still half asleep, and nearly dropped my coffee.

The backyard was… gone.

Well—not gone gone—but completely transformed. Where grass and the little half-finished waterfall used to be, there was now a full-blown WATER PARK. I’m talking winding slides, a towering waterfall cascading into a sparkling pool, and—get this—a lazy river looping all the way around the yard.

And right at the center of it all stood Kiwi and Peanut.

Kiwi (the tiniest construction foreman in history) was perched proudly on top of the waterfall, feathers puffed, chirping like he’d just engineered Niagara Falls. Peanut sat beside him, tail flicking with that “yes, I did this” look, like a gray tiger-striped mastermind.

I blinked. Twice.

“Did… did you two build this overnight?” I asked.

Kiwi chirped loudly.

Peanut just slowly blinked at me like, obviously.

Before I could even process it, the Quackers came waddling past me—wearing what I swear were tiny inflatable floaties—and hopped straight into the lazy river. A moment later, I found myself being gently “encouraged” (nudged, splashed, and mildly harassed) into joining them.

And you know what?

I did.

Next thing I knew, I was floating along in the lazy river with the Quackers, drifting under the waterfall Kiwi and Peanut had “built,” listening to the peaceful sound of rushing water. It was actually… kind of perfect. The sun was shining, the water was just right, and for a brief moment, I thought:

Wow… they really did it. They finished the waterfall. They built a whole water park. This is amazing.

That’s when the first duck bumped into me and whispered (well… as much as a duck can whisper):

“April Fools.”

And just like that—

POOF.

The slides vanished. The lazy river disappeared. The grand waterfall shrank back down to its half-finished trickle.

I was sitting in a slightly damp lawn chair. The Quackers were standing in a kiddie pool. Kiwi was hanging upside down from a branch like nothing happened. And Peanut? Peanut was sprawled out in the sun, looking extremely pleased with himself.

I just sat there for a second.

Then I laughed.

“Okay,” I said, pointing at them. “That was a good one. I’ll give you that.”

Kiwi chirped triumphantly.

Peanut didn’t move—but I know he smirked.

Still… for a minute there, it really felt like we had our own backyard water park.

And honestly?

I kind of wish it was real.

—Lucy

Wednesday