Sunday

Here I sit in a quiet household, and Kiwi and Peanut are quite happy with themselves. They teamed up with Lucy yesterday to figure out the problem with Mom's Chromebook; it was doing some crazy things and couldn't log her in on her profile. Kiwi researched it and said maybe we just need to wash it (set it back to factory and then reload the profile), and wouldn't you know, that was the solution. It's back to normal, Lucy said. The storms may have corrupted the profile, and it could not recognize the keyboard properly. They did an amazing job fixing it. 

I did manage to wake up and get an early start yesterday, and got the grass mowed. I didn't know if it was going to rain or anything, so I made sure to get an early start to make sure I could get it cut. Michelle did the grocery shopping as I was cutting the grass, so we got everything done fairly early. 

So what is on today's agenda? Nothing much, just relaxing and taking it easy to prepare for the upcoming week. It's going to be basically just some downtime. Might even watch a baseball game, the College World Series is going on, and I kind of follow a team that is in it this year. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Saturday

Here I sit in a quiet household yet once again. Kiwi and Peanut are in a semi-anxious mood as they know that, weather permitting, Dad is going to have to cut the grass today. They are both up in the garage, fueling up the lawn tractor and getting everything ready to cut the grass today.

Michelle will do a grocery run, same as every other Saturday. Only this Saturday will not be as nuts as last weekend. She can probably go at a semi-normal time rather than attempting to beat the overflow crowd at a Baseball game with people competing for a spot on Randy's Ridge. 

Other than spending time with the animals, no big plans for this weekend. It might be one where I can actually sit back and relax for a little bit, maybe take a nice nap and rest up from the previous week. 

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!!!!

Are you looking for a little bit of Cheap Entertainment this evening, and by cheap, I mean free? Well, head on down to the Ruby Ampitheatre this evening. Leftover Salmon takes the stage at 7:00 this evening. Kiwi and Peanut said they are planning on attending. They said they have a really nice sound, kind of a Grateful Dead thing going on and they like that kind of music, although Kiwi is really a Bee Gees fan. 

No big plans for the weekend as of yet. Things change at the drop of a hat, so you know how that goes. Grass is probably going to me calling my name, so there is always that. 

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 weeks pic goes back to when the country was shut down because of COVID. I was just laid off and Michelle was working from home and we were both at home. Weather was nice and we were both home, so Kiwi got a lot of outside play time with his distant cousins, you know, the wild ones. They would stop by for a visit and say hello. 

The year was 2020, it's hard to believe that that was six years ago, but it has been. 

Have yourselves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

Lucy's Journal – June 10, 2026

Wiffle Ball Madness at Monongalia County Ballpark

Dear Journal,

Today was one of the most exciting days ever!

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

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

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

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

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

The umpire disagreed.

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

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

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

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

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

That's when I came to the plate.

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

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

CRACK!

The wiffle ball sailed high into the afternoon sky.

A giraffe jumped.

A mouse climbed another mouse's shoulders.

Kiwi offered helpful advice that nobody could understand.

Peanut tried to call dibs on the ball.

But it didn't matter.

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

Final score:

Lucy and Friends: 13
Giraffes and Mice: 12

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

As for me?

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

Until next time,

Lucy 🐶⚾

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

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

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

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

* It has been 8,065 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. I love what I do and am thankful to still be working in my field. Has it really been 22 years? 

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

* 5,862 days ago, I proposed to Michelle in the backyard at 4:00 in the morning. I've been the luckiest guy since that fateful day. 

* It was 5,899 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, for the most part, Michelle and I became husband and wife at the Marilla Center, it was a great day with friends and family. 

* I have now lived 3,037 days longer than my Dad did and I'm still going strong, slowing down but still going. 

* Michelle has been living a clean and productive life and beat that alcohol demon 1,691 days ago today. 

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

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 269 days ago, I'm happy for those two. I asked him a couple weeks ago if they set a date yet, he said we would be the first to know. 

* I have 2,080 days to go until I retire, give or take a few hundred days here or there, but I love doing what I do. Who knows, though, doing what I do I may never retire.

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

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

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

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

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

* There are 13 days until my second favorite season begins, Summertime!!!!!!

* It has been ∞ (infinity symbol) days since I have hated both Pitt and Penn State.

* I have written 8,383 blogs in what is now 21 3/4 years of Blogging.

* Still working 10's this week and probably next week as well. 

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

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies? Ryleigh's Page

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies still? Arabellas Page

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

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

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

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

Have yourself a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

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

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

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

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

Happy Birthday's Hayley and Tyler Ash

Tyler and Hayley Ash 

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

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

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

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

Happy Birthday Hayley and Tyler. 

Saturday

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

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

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

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

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

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

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

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

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Gary Hall

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

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

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

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

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

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

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

Have yoursleves a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

 

Lucy’s Journal – June 3, 2026

Mini Golf Mayhem and Slush Puppie Victory

Today started out as one of those “everybody pile into the car and hope for the best” kind of days. Peanut was already causing trouble before we even left the driveway. He somehow managed to steal the little scorecard pencil and hide it under the seat. Nobody noticed until we got to the miniature golf course.

The place had waterfalls, little bridges, fake caves, and one of those giant windmills that always seems to knock the ball away at the last second. The Quackers immediately declared themselves “professional athletes” and marched straight to the first hole like they were entering a tournament on TV.

Kiwi spent the entire first hole yelling, “HOLE IN ONE! HOLE IN ONE!” before anybody even hit the ball.

Things stayed mostly normal until hole number four.

That’s when Peanut cheated.

Lucy lined up the perfect shot, but right before the ball rolled into the hole, Peanut casually reached out a paw and tapped his own ball ahead when nobody was looking. He acted like it was completely accidental too. The Quackers started yelling “FOUL! FOUL!” and flapping their wings dramatically while Kiwi laughed so hard he almost fell off the score table.

Then Kiwi decided HE wanted to cheat too.

At hole seven, Kiwi picked up his golf ball in his beak and tried to drop it directly beside the hole while shouting, “Birdie! Birdie for the birdie!” Unfortunately for him, Lucy caught him immediately. Kiwi tried pretending he was “just cleaning the ball,” which nobody believed for one second.

Meanwhile, the Quackers actually played surprisingly fair. They took forever lining up every shot, though. One duck would stare at the hole while the other whispered “strategies” into his ear like they were planning a military operation.

By the final hole, the scores were close.

Peanut insisted he should win because “style points matter.”

Kiwi claimed he deserved bonus points for “aerial maneuverability.”

The Quackers tied for second place after both accidentally knocking their balls into the water hazard at exactly the same time.

And Lucy?

LUCY WON.

The celebration was completely over the top.

Lucy ran around waving the tiny plastic golf club in the air while Kiwi made victory music noises from the scoreboard. Peanut pretended he “let her win,” even though everyone knew that wasn’t true. The Quackers demanded a trophy presentation and tried to build one out of napkins.

After all the chaos, everybody went out for giant Slush Pupppies afterward.

Kiwi drank his too fast and got a brain freeze.

Peanut got blue raspberry all over his whiskers.

One of the Quackers mixed every flavor together and proudly called it “swamp juice.”

Lucy sat there smiling with her championship scorecard sitting proudly on the table beside her giant cherry slush.

Honestly, it was probably one of the funniest afternoons we’ve had in a long time.

And yes…

Peanut is still insisting he won.

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

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

* It has been 22,803 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. Mom is at 30,452, which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 8,057 days since I graduated from WVU with a Degree in Geography. I love what I do and am thankful to still be working in my field. Has it really been 22 years? 

* 6,651 days ago, Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,855 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 5,892 days ago in front of our closest friends and family, for the most part, Michelle and I became husband and wife at the Marilla Center, it was a great day with friends and family. 

* I have now lived 3,030 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 1,684 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,280 days, I've now outlived him by 1,541 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 262 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 2,087 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.

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

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

* There are 205 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 190 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are only 73 more days to go until Michelle and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

* There are 20 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 8,374 blogs in what is now 21 1/2 years of Blogging.

* Still working 10's this week and probably next week as well. 

* I actually have a Doctors appointment today, I'm switching Dr's to someone Michelle has known for years, she used to come to our softball games years ago with Michelle. I wasn't happy with my doctor at the POC and I was always seeing Residents who wanted to try new things. 

* There is going to be a benefit for Nick this Saturday. 

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

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies? Ryleigh's Page

* Looking for Girl Scout Cookies still? Arabellas Page

* Hi ho hi ho

Monday

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 have said it is Summer vacation for them and they don't want to go to work today. We made them a deal to vacuum and dust everything, and we can consider that working. Personally, I think they just want to stay home and watch talk shows all morning long. 

So I get a Summer intern starting today, she will be here from today until the end of July when they finish up. My boss is coming up from Parkersburg for her orientation and everything that takes place today. Hopefully, I can finish up an analysis on what I have been working on and get it published to the portal sometime today. My bosses Boss is wanting me to do a write-up to publish what I did and how I drew the conclusion of my analysis, and post it on the internal featured stories. I had already written my entire methodology out, so this should be simple to be honest. 

I have a Doctors appointment tomorrow, so still working 10's.

Have yoursleves a great day

Hi ho hi ho