Geocaching 2011

We finally got our start on the 2011 geocaching season yesterday. We had been out once earlier looking for a single cache that we did not retrieve, so we tried it once again yesterday and once again failed. However we did manage to do a couple of other caches yesterday afternoon, officially giving us a start to or season.

One of the caches we did asked you to upload a picture of yourself, as the young couple that set the cache had met at this location.

I am hoping to do a little more geocaching this year than I did last year, mainly because I have now officially hung it up and retired from playing the game of softball. I'll miss the game, but I can keep myself busy geocaching.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Once again I sit in a quiet house with everyone sleeping collecting my thoughts. I've always been an early morning person, and yes I am up at 5:00 AM even on my days off. I think this sleep schedule was bestowed upon me by my grandparents as a child growing up and I have never really shaken it. I've had other sleep schedules, but this one has always seemed the most comfortable for me. I guess I'm a get up and get it over with so I can enjoy the rest of the day kind of a guy.

Well I guess I still have a place to go to work on Monday. Yesterday Secretary Chu announced that the DOE would continue operations with money that had no year associated with it and all employees, Feds and Contractors were to report to work Monday if Congress could not agree on a budget. So regardless I have to report Monday.

However last night at the 11th hour (Midnight actually) the Senate Approved a budget presented by the House earlier in the evening calling for 48 Billion in cuts (about to Billion less than Obama had called for) preventing a Government Wide Shut Down.

I think both sides were playing poker, but knowing a shut down was the last thing anyone wanted they passed a budget late last night.

I was prepared either way and may even start my own company on the side. When opening up a GIS business the one thing you need is first a market (it's there) and a work flow that will keep you busy and that might have just fallen into place Thursday by sheer accident. I was presented a chance to tie into a large company as an independent contractor, and I think I really want to pursue this market and make my own name on the side. More to come on that, it's something I have always talked about doing.

Enjoy your Saturday.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

I should watch what I am wishing for though as the Federal Government is fighting over a budget still and have a deadline of midnight tonight or the Government is going to shut down. What does this mean to a Federal Contractor such as myself? It means my office is locked up and we are not permitted on site or to be able to work until the budgeting issues have been resolved.

To say that it is on my mind is an understatement. I hope they get this resolved as soon as possible so that any Federal Employee or contractor can get back to doing what we do and earn our money.

Hi ho hi ho

Happy Birthday Terri Beth Hall Rehmani

I would like to take this opportunity to wish my beautiful sister Terri, aka "Teddy Bear" a very happy birthday today.

I could combine this post and talk about this picture as my photo flashback. This picture was at a party that she had at her house a number of years ago. She and Nick always had an open door and were always hosting get togethers if for no other reason than getting together. I think this is one of my personal favorite pics of her, I even remember using this photo in my wonderful world movie that I did a number of years ago. It was through her eyes that I got the inspiration to do the video.

If you see Terri today, make sure you wish Terri a very Happy Birthday today.

Hump Day

Well 14 hours after I left the house in wearing a tie I finally made it home. Talk about a very long day, at least I had dinner at the Hotel Morgan and someone else picked up the tab.

Now we're at Wednesday and day two of the conference. It'll all be over with tonight after we give them a tour of NETL this afternoon and show everyone a few things.

I hope everyone has a great hump day. I'm brain dead this evening (I usually write the blog the evening before) and really aren't the most articulate this evening. Have a great day.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesdays Tidbits

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

* It's been 1117 magical days since Michelle and I had our first date a little over three years ago.

* It's been 340 days since we became engaged.

* We are 123 days before our wedding date later this summer.

* I'll have a busy week this week starting today. It's the first day of the three Country NACAP Conference that WVU and NETL are hosting. Needless to say that this will be a very long day for me. Tomorrow shouldn't be as long as today.

* Trish, Arron and Layla stopped over yesterday evening for a nice little visit. It had been a while since we had seen them, so it was nice to see them as it always is.

* Yesterday was also Michael and Ashley's third year wedding anniversary.

* Hi ho hi ho, it's going to be a long, tie wearing day.

End of the Weekend

All good things must come to an end, and that includes weekends. The weather was a little less than cooperative for us, but we did manage to get out yesterday evening and help out Smitty and Stephanie find a graveyard that they couldn't find by using the GPS. Her grandparents are buried in a small graveyard off of Snake Hill Road and they were having trouble locating it. She had used Find A Grave to located the coordinates, we converted them to something our GPS could use and plugged them in. It took us right to it. When we got home I managed to find by Grandparents Gravesite on that site.

Michelle made a large batch of home made chicken noodle soup yesterday. I bought a canning jar attachment for our FoodSaver and we put it into 8 quart jars and a 2 quart vacuum sealed container. Michelle loves soup and will be taking them for lunch at work. She is one heck of a cook.

This week for me is going to be chaos starting tomorrow. We have the NACAP Conference here in Morgantown this week. It's not going to be the typical week for me and that's for sure.

Have a great day, hi ho hi ho

What is Up With This Damn Weather

Paging Punxatawey Phil and Mother Nature. What the heck is up with this weather? And Snow? In April? Give me a break, it's going on NINE, count them NINE weeks since Phil said we were going to have an early spring. By my count that is three weeks past your jurisdiction, and we are ready for Spring Time. So make with the spring time NOW.

I've had enough of this cold winter weather, it's time for shorts, sandals and Spring time weather. The past few days have been the most absolute craziest weather wise. One minute it's bearable, next thing you know it's pouring snow down. It was snowing yesterday and calling for 72° tomorrow. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Well April Fools is now behind us and I do have to say I saw and heard a couple good ones that were not even mine.

On WVAQ Kevin and Timmy kept apologizing for something that was said on air and offered a chance for viewers to chime in. Michelle, my co-conspirator on yesterdays pranks said they kept talking about it and wondered what was said. I just looked at her and say Ken in pretty good at this, just like a few years ago when he and Eric started an hour early and reported the time an hour ahead fooling many into thinking they were late for work. Good prank Kevin and Timmy.

Josh Hertlein a guy I work with actually had me second guessing on one that he did when he announced his wife had their baby. He had a lot of details and I almost bit, but once again I knew it was April Fools Day so I held of on congratulating them until today. Good thing, because that too was a good one.

I also tried one on Facebook telling people they could see who has viewed their status by using the windows command to close a window "CTRL + W".

Yesterday was a pretty productive day however, I finally made it to the DMV to have my address changed. It's only been two years and I've actually started using checks with my current address and now have the drivers license to support that.

We also stopped in at the Marilla Center and had a chance to go in and take some notes. I managed to grab a few pictures for those of you who have not been there recently or not at all.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

Hope everyone liked my first post today, it was a lot of fun trying to come up with something. We had to keep in par with what we did last year when we told everyone we ran away in the middle of the night to get married.

Well consider this, by the time this posts I'll already be off work for the day running some errands with Michelle.

Have a great weekend.

We're Going to Have a Baby

Michelle and I have been blessed, she did a pregnancy test this morning and it came back positive, we are going to have a baby.

We are both stunned and excited and can't believe we have been blessed with this little bundle of joy. It does come as a surprise as she is a few months pregnant already and we are thinking of moving the wedding up from August to later this month.

We are both very excited, we already have a name picked out for our little bundle of joy. Sloof Lirpa Hall. We derived the name from a special event.

Photo Flashback Thursday

Photo Flashback Thursday is starting to be one of my favorite BLOGs to write during the week. It gives me a chance to look back through Thousands of pictures and reminisce on days gone by.

This picture was long before I was even thought of, this was when my Mother and my Aunt Bonita were living in Hawaii and getting lei'd every day. Speaking of getting Lei'd, we're gonna make sure everyone gets lei'd at mine and Michelle's wedding.

Mom and Bonita shaking their rear ends in the grass skirts on the beaches of Hawaii. Why did they ever come back to the mainland? Actually I have it on good authority Mom's addiction to midget porn and lack of internet services in Hawaii lead her back to Morgantown.

Hi ho hi ho

Hump Day

Once again we are at the point of the week where the wait until the weekend is growing shorter and shorter. It is hump day and I couldn't be more excited.

However I am having that dreaded brain fart that hits me every once in a blue moon where the creative juices just aren't there. Some blogs are easy to write, some aren't that bad and then there are those where you could sit and ponder for an hour what the first word was going to be over a subject you still hadn't picked up on.

Either way, I am still committed to writing daily as I have for a few years now.

Hi ho hi ho

Tuesday's Tidbits

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

* If you are still counting, I know I am it has been 1110 days since that first magical evening when Michelle took four hours to get ready for a date with me.

* That mean's it has been 333 days since I got down on one knee and asked her to marry me.

* Speaking of, we're 130 days from that magical date this August when we will tie the knot and get married.

* What's up with this cold front? I'm ready for some 70°- 80° days here before long, this 20° stuff is really starting to get old. Warm up and bring us warmth and sunny days.

* If anyone is interested, there is a group of guys going to MVP Park this weekend to play paintball. A guy I work with and a guy I used to play softball with are organizing it. They will start at 11:00 Saturday Morning.

* Hi ho hi ho

Back to Work

Well it's time for most of us to put our noses back to the grindstone and get ready to start another week of work in our offices or places of employment.

The picture you see is of Josh Judy who should break with the Indians and be a part of the 40 man roster this season, but he will probably start the year om Columbus again. I saw the picture on MLB.com and thought I would put it up.

For me however it's back to the office today. This week should be finalizing a few things for the conference that we will partially host next week with West Virginia University for the North American Carbon Atlas Partnership (NACAP). A report due today, finalizing a few things and that is my agenda for this week.

Hi ho hi ho

We Made Butter

Well with yesterdays weather a little less than acceptable we decided to make it a day at home and try something new. I found a recipe for making butter, so to speak.

Neither one of had ever made it before and really had no concept of what to do. So with the weather being less than suitable we decided to give it a try. There has been a butter that we have found that we really like from Homestead Creamery , and if you have never had their milk it is the best I have ever had. WE go weekly to buy their dairy products at Krogers on 705.

However we wanted to try to make our own butter as something different. The ingredients are heavy whipping cream and a little bit of salt for your own preference in taste. The process is simply beating the heavy whipping cream (we have a kitchenaid, but any food processor will do) for about 10 minutes.

The butter comes out and separates from the milk leaving you two products. One is obviously the butter and the second is buttermilk. You just have to make sure you get all the milk separated from the butter. The butter is cheaper, healthier and can be seasoned to your own taste.


To see for yourself, here is a video we found on how to make two different kinds.

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Once again I am siting here in a nice and quiet house, one where I don't think that a soul is moving in other than me collecting my thoughts.

What happened to spring time? It's 28 degrees out this morning and I wanted to get out and do a little bit of geocaching this morning, instead it's cold weather. So much for wearing shorts this morning and going out and having a little bit of fun in flip flops. Instead it looks like blue jeans and tennis shoes.

It may just turn out to be a lazy day if the weather doesn't clear up a little bit.

Big Ole Hairy Friday

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

Well I'm not to sure if I am fond of this weather, it's springtime and a time for sunshine and warmer days than we have been experiencing this week. The students are on spring break, but today is the last day off and it will be back to the classroom Monday and traffic headaches around town. That's OK, they are getting to start the home stretch on the school year.

I would like to get out tomorrow and do a little bit of geocaching. It would be our first real time out this year.

Hi ho hi ho

Photo Flashback Thursday

I introduce to everyone, the worlds best looking baby that has ever existed. Look at that cute kid (I hope this is me and not Kim), isn't he absolutely adorable?

Obviously this is a picture of my Mom and Dad and of myself. It is one of the very few if only one that I know of that is comprised of just the three of us without anyone else in the picture.

I notice the picture was taken while my Dad was still in the Army and my Mom had the Jackie O hairdo of the day, even though she was a Kennedy at that time.

Michelle made the comment that looking at my dad, she really sees my Nephew Moke in this picture. Saying those are Pam's eyes. I have to agree with her.

Speaking of pictures, yesterday was Maxine Snider's Birthday and I took my camera for a few pictures.

Happy Birthday Maxine Snider

I would like to take this opportunity to wish someone very special a very Happy Birthday. Maxine "We all know her as Nana" Snider has finally reached the age where I think she can legally buy beer (which means at least 21).

I snapped this picture last summer and Michelle knew exactly which one I should use for this blog, so I can't argue with the boss.

If you see Nana today, make sure you wish her the very happiest of birthdays today. If you don't see her, make and effort to either call her and wish this very special lady the happiest of birthdays today.