Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut have both are getting excited for WVU Baseball. They watched our first home game of the season on Wednesday and are planning on watching the Mountaineers this afternoon as they take on Kennesaw State, but they are a little sad that the game is being played in Georgia rather than here at home. They both love their Mountaineers. 

So what is on today's agenda other than hiding the lawn tractor keys from a rambunctious conure who likes to hide and steal the keys from Daddy. No lawn donuts this weekend my little feathered friend. 

Our agenda? Michelle will once again do the grocery shopping, she can do it so much quicker without me tagging along plus she is pretty proficient at it. 

Anything other than that will be pretty much ad libbed, when or whatever we feel needs to be done today. The weathr should be a little bit warmer, I guess Phil and Mother Nature are going to take it easy on us this weekend after the crap of last weekend. 

Have yourself a great day and 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!!!

Kiwi and Peanut have indicated that they are both tired of winter and are ready to start planning for Spring by doing a little Spring Cleaning of the garage. Organizing Dad's tools, straightening up a little etc is what they said they are planning on doing. Personally, I think they have some kind of ulterior motive, like storing materials for this waterfall they are planning on making happen. I have to give them credit, they are in fact, big dreamers. 

Michelle is going to run and do our weekly shopping and that's all we have planned for the moment. 

Do you believe that it is almost March? This year has just flown by, I'm not complaining as I hate the Winter months, but we are getting closer to my favoite time of the year which is spring. I should keep an eye out for the daffodils to start sprouting and blessing us with their beautiful color and aroma. 

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 goes back to 2018 when I had to travel to Las Vegas for work. I'm actually standing at Caesars Palace, looking across the famous fountains that Evil Knievel about killed himself trying to jump. The building at the right was Hell's Kitchen in Las Vegas and across the street was the Flamingo where Donnie and Marie had a residency at the time. 

I don't know why, but one of the things I wanted to see was the Fountains at Caesar and there I was. 

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

Dear Journal,

Today began like most Wednesdays in our household — with me, Lucy (brilliant, beautiful, slightly chaotic green cheek conure), supervising operations from the curtain rod while Peanut (striped menace, professional napper, part-time tiger) pretended not to be plotting something.

By 10:17 a.m., the gang had assembled. Peanut. Kiwi (who insists he is the responsible one, which is adorable). And the usual crew of backyard consultants who still owe me for the waterfall project.

Naturally, we decided civilization needed our presence. So we went to the Morgantown Mall.

---

🛍️ Operation: Mall Mischief

The automatic doors whooshed open like we were royalty. Peanut strutted in like he owned the place. I took flight and immediately established air superiority near the food court signage.

We conducted a full inspection:

• Escalators: ridden. Twice.

• Decorative plants: lightly investigated.

• Mall directory: aggressively critiqued.

• Random kiosk with phone cases: suspiciously shiny.

At one point I landed on the big mall map and made an announcement:

“Did you all know KMart used to be in here? Right there.”

I tapped the old anchor location with my beak.

Before it went up on top of the hill. And then… well… we all know how that story ends.

Peanut nodded solemnly like he personally remembers 1998.

“Retail history is important,” I told them. “Respect your fallen big box stores.”

Kiwi tried to eat a pretzel sample during this moment of silence. Disrespectful.

---

🍟 The Food Court Incident

I will not confirm or deny whether a napkin dispenser was involved.
Or whether Peanut attempted to “liberate” a French fry.
Or whether security gently suggested that “pets are not permitted.”

We prefer the term mobile chaos consultants.

---

🚜 Field Trip: Rural Curiosity

After mall operations were completed (you’re welcome, Morgantown), we decided to head up the hill to Rural King.

The second those doors opened, Peanut’s pupils expanded like he had seen the gates of Valhalla.

• Tractor supply section? Fascinating.

• Work boots? Excellent for scratching.

• Baby chicks? EXTREMELY intriguing.

I perched on a rack of camo hats and declared:
“We could absolutely build a superior waterfall with these supplies.”

Peanut found the feed section and acted like he was reviewing agricultural investments. Kiwi attempted to interview a bag of sunflower seeds.

We maintained what I would describe as moderate chaos levels.

---

📝 Final Thoughts

Malls may change.
KMart may vanish into retail legend.
But one thing remains constant:

If you let a conure and a tiger cat loose in public, you are going to have a story.

Tomorrow we may focus on world domination.
Or snacks.

Probably snacks.

— Lucy 🪶

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is over with good reason to do a tidbits. 

* It has been 22,707 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. mom is at 30,361 which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 7,959 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. 

* 6,553 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,757 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 5,794 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 2,932 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 1,586 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,273 days, I've now outlived him by 1,449 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 164 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 2,185 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.

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

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

* There are 303 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 280 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are only 164 more days to go until Michelle and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

* There are 23 days until my favorite season begins, a lot of people love different seasons, I am a Spring person who loves the Springtime. 

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

* I have written 8,260 blogs in what is now 21 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 Tiktok, how about a places to eat in Morgantown post? 

* 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.

I had the strangest question asked of me this morning. Kiwi said George, because George is easier to say than Daddy but Mommy is no problem. He said George, does the lawn tractor have any gas in it. I said I think so and mentioned I have a couple of gas cans if not, and all he said was OK George, Thank You. With the snow on the ground, I have no concept of what they are planning to do, but something tells me I may not approve. I think he's hiding my tractor keys under his wing. I know we are all ready for Spring, but be patient, my little friend. 

So it's back into the office today, I wrapped up a task of teaching a department about a mapping website the last couple of weeks, 4 training sessions a couple of hours each and I was hacking up a lunch as I was trying to train and take questions. This week, just head down and a lot of tedious repetitive work, entering handwritten coordinates into an Excel spreadsheet so I can create a feature class with the attributes. It's something I can do blind folded, but OCR readers aren't developed well enough where they can read and interpret hand written chicken scratch with any degree of confidence. so we're doing it the hard way. 

Have yoursleves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit yet once again in a quiet Household. I mentioned to Kiwi and Peanut that I haven't done our taxes yet and will probably need to start inputting all the information to do them, they said they would help. Peanut for some strange reason, seems to know what she is doing, I think her and Michelle have been talking shop and she has picked up some tricks from her. 

I just have to wonder if I get audited, if I can blame any potential mistakes on my Cat and the Conure? I had better double-check everything just to make sure.

No big plans for the day other than simply doing my taxes. I know Michelle is planning on making a batch of Zuppa Toscana today, it's one of the few soups that I really like and it's always good a second day. 

Naps and watching the Olympics are on my agenda for the day. 

Have yourselves a great day, Make it special. 

Saturday Morning Rambling

Here I sit on a quiet Saturday Morning, Kiwi and Peanut are making plans to help Mommy take the house from Valentine's Day decorations to St Patricks Day decorations. They are two very special little members of the family who just like to help out and do their part. And they work for food, attention, treats and cleaning up their poop. 

Well both Michelle and I have been down with this damn flu bug pretty hard this week. They actually sent me to work from home on Monday as I sounded that bad. No worries, doesn't take me long to pack up my computer and go home and plug it into my docking station at home. 

We did kind of miss a big announcement: Michelle is officially a Swanson's Employee as of Monday this week. She is a full-time employee with benefits which she hasn't found herself in that position since Xtreme Labor Solutions shut down a few years ago. Congratulations Michelle!!!!!

Other than that, no real plans for the weekend, I think we both honestly just need to rest up and get better. Of course with this weather the way it has been it's a hard thing to do. Do you know it's supposed dto snow this weekend? 

Have 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!!!

Kiwi and Peanut are bound and determined to build that waterfall, so much so that they had a backhoe delivered (from Temu) and are fully intending to build a waterfall in the back yard. Kiwi wants to divert the stream water into and out of the waterfall, but he doesn't get the concept that there is about a 20'-25' (I haven't checked it) elevation change going uphill to get to the waterfall, but he said that is Peanut's department she is the engineer. I asked her and her response was simply "Meow". They are bound and determined, that is for sure. 

As of press time I don't have an "Official" Start date for Michelle at Swanson Industries, she accepted her offer letter last week and has her paperwork submitted and even did her drug screen, so ducks (not the quackers) are all in a row, her start date may even be Monday. 

Other than that, no big plans for the weekend. It is that time of the year when we are all just waiting for the next season to get here, Football is over with, Baseball is getting started and I'm just waiting for the flowers to bloom. 

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.

This week's pic goes back to 2015, back to when I was not only the McDonald's KDKA Pittsburgh Steelers Trivia Champions team member, but I was also the individual Carnival Pride Trivia World Champion. This was an international competition as we were somewhere in the Caribbean in the Ocean when I won this Championship, which is what made it worldwide. 

I won this coveted ship on a stick trophy and I was supposed to do the talkshow circuit, Oprah, Late Show, Steve Wilkos, Waynes World, etc. but I decided to forgo the talk show circuit to go back to being a Geographer. 

Speaking of, have yourself a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

February 18th

Dear Journal,

Today started like most ambitious project days around here… with Kiwi declaring, “We are behind schedule.”

Behind schedule for what, you ask?

The Great Backyard Waterfall Project of 2026, of course.

Kiwi has been talking about this waterfall since last fall. Peanut pretends he’s not invested, but I caught him staring at the backyard this morning like a tiny striped foreman calculating soil displacement.

---

The Problem: We Need a Backhoe

Kiwi announced from atop the curtain rod:

“Lucy, waterfalls do not dig themselves.”

Peanut flicked his tail and added,

“Also, we are not hand-digging anything. I have paws. Not excavators.”

Fair point.

So the crew gathered:

• Kiwi (Project Manager / Airborne Supervisor)

• Peanut (Heavy Equipment Inspector / Nap Consultant)

• The Quackers (Unionized Observers, easily distracted)

• Me (Clearly the only one with opposable thumbs)

---

Attempt #1 – Borrow One

Kiwi insisted we “just borrow one.”

From whom? No idea.

Peanut tried calling the neighbor by sitting on my phone.

The Quackers suggested we “trade shiny things.”

We do not have shiny things.

We have bottle caps and a missing sock.

---

Attempt #2 – Peanut Becomes the Backhoe

This was Peanut’s idea.

He marched outside, dug one (1) hole approximately the size of a cereal bowl, and then flopped dramatically onto his side.

“This is exhausting,” she declared.
“Also, I may have struck bedrock.”

It was a tree root.

Kiwi circled overhead yelling,

“You are inefficient machinery!”

Peanut did not appreciate this feedback.

---

The Breakthrough

After several minutes of chaotic online searching (and Kiwi typing entirely in caps), we somehow ended up on Temu.

And there it was.

A backhoe.

A very small backhoe.

Like… suspiciously small.

The Quackers gasped in synchronized deja vu.

“Have we ordered questionable equipment from here before?” they whispered.

Peanut squinted at the screen.

“Does it come in tiger stripe?”

Kiwi zoomed in on the listing photo.

It might have been a children’s ride-on toy.

But it did say “Heavy Duty.”

Technically.

---

The Hijinx

Kiwi accidentally added 14 of them to the cart.

Peanut laid across the keyboard and applied a coupon code that may or may not have been “MEOW10.”

The Quackers somehow signed us up for promotional emails in Mandarin.

At one point, the page refreshed and everything was priced in a currency none of us recognized.

I briefly considered abandoning the waterfall project entirely.

---

The Final Decision

After much debate, tail flicking, wing flapping, and one accidental order cancellation, we settled on a “Compact Utility Excavator.”

Will it arrive?
Will it be full-sized?
Will it be dollhouse scale?

Only time will tell.

Kiwi is confident.

Peanut is skeptical.

The Quackers are emotionally preparing for disappointment.

As for me?

I’m just hoping we didn’t order 14 neon-pink sand toys.

Until tomorrow,
Lucy

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

* Monday is over with good reason to do a tidbits. 

* It has been 22,700 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. mom is at 30,354 which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 7,952 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. 

* 6,546 days ago Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,750 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 5,787 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 2,925 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 1,579 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,273 days, I've now outlived him by 1,442 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 157 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 2,192 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.

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

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

* There are 310 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 287 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are only 171 more days to go until Michelle and I will celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

* There are 30 days until my favorite season begins, a lot of people love different seasons, I am a Spring person who loves the Springtime. 

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

* I have written 8,252 blogs in what is now 21 years of Blogging. 

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

* I need to get some new bullet points. I like to keep a certain number that are regular, I need some more count downs or count ups. 

* This is my favorite TikTok, does anyone remember my brief career as a truck driver years ago? I ran rolled steel and Michelle's first father in law met his demise like this. 

* Have yourselves a great day

* 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 are bound and determined to build that waterfall in the back yard. Peanut is analyzing 3D data and created a TIN Model  based on some data they had flown and and plan on building a DEM with the TIN. They want to do an analysis on the best way to bring water into and exit the waterfall. They are bound and determined, I'll say that much. 

So what is up with us? I was sick all weekend. I woke up Friday morning with a sore throat from hades and it just never let up. Runny nose, fever, coughing, you name it I felt downright miserable all weekend long. 

So what is on my agenda for the week? I've sat down with half of a department and trained them to use mobile maps at work, provided feedback to the developers, and now I have another week of addressing the other half of their department. They work in teams, 12-hour shifts, and you rotate week to week between the day and night shift. I'm too old to do that. I like my regular sleep pattern, so I'll teach those young go-getters how to use the maps. 

Have yourself a great day and a let's get this week started. 

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday

Here I sit yet once again in a semi-quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut have stayed up all night playing Cards, I think they are playing Texas Holdem, they also ordered a case of Creme Soda and they had Popcorn, they must have eaten all of that. 

So what is on today's agenda? Not much of anything, probably a few chores early this morning, the ones we do every Sunday morning and that should be pretty much it. 

Michelle already got all of the grocery shopping done, so it's going to be a relaxing day, which might have a nap on the agenda, believe it or not. The older I get, the more I really appreciate 

I'm feeling under the weather, have been since Friday Morning, so my creative juices just aren't flowing.

Have yourself a great day. 

Saturday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit on a semi-quiet Saturday Morning, Kiwi and Peanut have been up all night practicing the "If You Don't Know Me By Now" song that mine and Michelle's Wedding Dance, I think they have got their two-part harmony going with Kiwi taking the lead and Peanut doing the melody. They want to surprise her when she wakes up. They said it is Valentine's Day and they want to surprise their Mommy. 

It is Valentine's Day, which means that it is a special day for my Valentine and love of my life. I am so lucky for this wonderful woman to have came back into my life. 

Anyone ever hear the story of how Michelle and I first met? I was driving a route truck for Mister Bees years ago, and I was trying to drum up some new business and went to Patty's Valley Mart to see if I could enlist where I once worked at as a new customer. Michelle was the manager of the store and caught my eye. In a trip that should have taken me 10-15 minutes to set up, I think it took me a couple of hours to actually set the store up, all because of this really attractive manager Patty had working for her. Little did I know it was glimpse at my future. 

Michelle was married at the time and I was just getting ready to start college. Pan ahead a few years, I'm out of college, Michelle's first husband had passed away leaving her a widow and the window of opportunity presented itself once again with a chance encounter at WalMart. That was the year we did Christmas at Klaer Lodge and I had invited Michelle to come and spend Christmas with us. She stood me up, but that's another story..lol

Happy Valentines Day to my lovely wife Michelle and to all the happy couples out there. 

Make it special. 

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!!!

Kiwi and Peanut are feeling both happy and a little sad. It is Friday (the 13th, mind you), but Phil saw his shadow, which means spring isn’t quite here yet. They’re both clearly ready for warmer days—doors open wide, fresh air drifting in, and that unmistakable hint of spring beginning to fill the air. Kiwi says he can’t wait to see the daffodils push through the soil and make their cheerful springtime debut in the backyard.

This is actually one of my least favorite times of the year. Football and the Superbowl are over with, Baseball really hasn't started, it's still cold and wintery outside and I'm just sitting here waiting for my favorite season of the year, Springtime where everything is reborn. Whoever came up with the acronym SAD (Seasonal affective disorder) was an absolute genius because they just came up with a good technical name for Cabin Fever. 

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 is a picture of me actually outside of my office at Frostburg State nearly 20 years ago. By this time I was working remotely from home pretty much exclusively, but still went to my office (about an hour drive) every once in a while. I rarely put myself a the center of these images that often, it was due for an exclusive. 

I was acually looking at the Campus on Google Maps and I have seen a lot of changes that have occured to that campus since I last worked there. The Washington Redskins used to do their training camp here, like the Steelers do St Vincent's College. 

Have yoursleves a great day, make your own memories. 

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

\

February 11th

Today we made the executive decision—by “we,” I mean Kiwi stood on the back of a chair, puffed up like a tiny green foreman, and screamed until everyone agreed—that it was time to get serious about the backyard waterfall. Fall may feel far away, but according to Kiwi, planning season waits for no one.

So off we went to Rural King, the one place where you can buy chicken feed, fencing, and a tractor part you didn’t know existed—all in the same aisle.

Kiwi rode in like royalty, perched high and scanning shelves like he was pricing materials in his head. Gravel? Approved. Pond liner? Questionable. Solar pump? He stared at it for a full thirty seconds, which I’ve learned means yes but later.

The Quackers, however, did not make it past the livestock section with their dignity intact.

That’s where they saw them.

The ducklings.

Tiny. Yellow. Peeping like squeaky toys possessed by joy.

The Quackers froze.

All four of them.

One whispered, “Haven’t we… been here before?”
Another swore they remembered choosing ducklings once.
The third looked deeply unsettled and muttered something about “the timeline repeating itself.”
The fourth tried to adopt one before I could blink.

Full-blown déjà vu hit them like a feed-bin to the soul. For a moment, I genuinely thought we were about to relive history in aisle seven.

Peanut, observing from the cart like a judgmental gargoyle, seemed disappointed we weren’t bringing home chaos in a cardboard box.

Eventually, we regrouped in the lumber aisle. Kiwi began outlining the waterfall design by knocking small boards onto the floor in what I assume was a very advanced engineering language. The Quackers recovered enough to debate whether the waterfall should have vibes or mystical energy. Peanut voted for “something fish-adjacent.”

We left with pond stones, tubing, and a suspicious amount of zip ties—because every project requires faith and zip ties.

No ducklings followed us home.
The timeline remains intact.
For now.

Kiwi spent the evening staring out the back window, already imagining the waterfall. I swear I heard him whisper, “Fall is coming.”

I believe him.