Wednesday

Tuesday's

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

* It has been 22,838 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. Mom is at 30,487, which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 8,093 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? 

* 6,686 days ago, Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,890 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 5,927 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 3,065 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 1,719 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,280 days, I've now outlived him by 1,576 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 297 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 2,053 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.

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

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

* There are 170 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 155 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah, I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* WVU Football opens the season in 60 more days as they play Host to Coastal Carolina. 

* There are only 39 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

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

* I have written 8,417 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 and Peanut have both decided that they are too weekended out and need to take a day or so to rest and recover. They have one again decided to both stay home and sleep all day. 

Well it may be back in the office for me, they sent us all home on Wednesday last week since the Air Conditioning was out in our entire building. They are doing a lot of remodeling to the third floor, I'm not sure if one is related to the other. Hope bought the building earlier this year and is making a number of renovations, including acquiring the entire top floor as well. People are going to be moving around, so I'm just waiting to hear if I will be staying put or if I will be moving up to the third floor. Anyways I am planning on being back in the office today if they don't tell us to work remote again. 

Have yourselves a great day, I hope everyone had a Happy 4th of July. 

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit once again in a quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut are out in the yard cleaning up all the discarded fireworks that they let off last night. Let's just say they didn't order the snakes and sparklers and wanted stuff that went boom so this is what we get. 

Yesterday was pretty productive. Michelle was out of the house early to grocery shop, and I was going to tackle the grass that has been growing for three weeks. Rainy and wet weather had prevented me from cutting it, and with showers on the horizon, I knew I needed to address it yesterday before the 90°+ Temps started to kick in. Let's just say my tractor has headlights...lol

I put Ice in the shop on Friday to get new brakes and get it inspected. My front brakes were shot and have been for a while, but with 2-year inspections now a thing, I was waiting until it had to be inspected again. She is all good to go; now I have to put new tires on Pearl, and the white Subaru is ready for inspection. It could probably pass but her tires are a little worn and with Michelle having to possibly make a few maternity visits with Hayley, I would just feel safer with her having new tires on the car. I would have had it done yesterday, but 4th of July and all. 

Have yourselves a great day

Happy 4th of July

Here I sit in a semi-quiet household, Kiwi and Peanut have a big day planned as they are planning on pulling out the Weber kettle grill and doing some hot dogs and burgers on the grill as they prepare for their own homemade fireworks that they plan on letting off this evening. I'm a little worried. I was cutting grass and noticed they installed a blast shield to protect themselves. 

Today is the 4th of July, it was 250 years ago today that we officially declared ourselves a country. My Great-Great-Great-Great-Great Grandfather's brother was Lyman Hall, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. I've always had a copy of it hanging in my home to honor my family lineage and our country's formation. I've just recently leanred a little more information about him, so it's going to make some interesting research. Something my readers might be interested in and finding out about their own heritage. No time like the present. There is a great movie called 1776 that was done in 1972, I linked it to the bottom. Great movie, worth a watch. 

So agenda for the day, I'll try cutting the grass this morning, and Michelle will do the grocery shopping. Other than that and a BBQ it's going to be a quit 4th of July. 

Have yourselves a great 4th. 

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 and see no one. It's July 3rd and many people have it as a Holiday, but I'll be working. I'm sure the city of Morgantown is doing something to celebrate the 4th of July.

Ice is in the shop today; she has some repairs that really need to be made, namely my brakes and my inspection for the two-year period. I need to do Pearl next month on her normal schedule, but I'm goiung to put 4 new tires on it before that. They are fine, but one of them is starting to show threads so I'll just replace them all and stay ahead of the game. 

Have yourselves a very special day, for me it is 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 picture was taken last Thanksgiving, it's of Chris, Michelle and Dani and notice Michelle's shirt. She can finally wear that shirt again because this one is going to be healthy and spoiled. I can't tell you how excited she is for this whole thing. 

Have yourselves a great day

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

 

Lucy's Journal – July 1, 2026

Dear Journal,

What started out as a peaceful Bocce Ball Tournament in the backyard somehow turned into the biggest water fight of the summer!

Dad marked out a beautiful bocce court in the grass and announced the first annual Backyard Bocce Championship. Naturally, everyone believed they were destined to become champion.

I, Lucy the tan and white Shih Tzu, proudly declared myself both Team Captain and Official Scorekeeper. I even carried around a little clipboard, although I may have accidentally added a few extra points to my own team every now and then. Totally by mistake... probably.

Peanut, the gray tiger cat, claimed she had "cat vision" that allowed her to determine exactly which ball was closest to the little white pallino. Conveniently, every measurement seemed to favor her. When nobody was looking, she gave one of her team's bocce balls the tiniest little nudge with her paw.

Kiwi, our clever green cheek conure, decided the easiest way to win was from the air. He'd swoop down, land beside the pallino, loudly announce, "Looks good to me!" and then quietly roll the little white ball an inch or two before flying away whistling like nothing had happened.

The Quackers, our identical twin ducks, formed the most suspicious team of all. Whenever one duck rolled a ball, the other would "accidentally" stand in everyone's line of sight, flapping her wings and quacking loudly while her sister secretly repositioned another ball with her beak.

Just then our friends arrived.

Gracie, the black and white Shih Tzu, smiled sweetly and said she was only there to cheer everyone on. Five minutes later she was hiding bocce balls behind flower pots and pretending she had no idea where they had gone.

Then, floating gently into the yard, came the Ghost of Maybelline, our sweet brown pit bull. Being a ghost gave her one very unfair advantage. Every time someone rolled a nearly perfect shot, a mysterious little breeze would appear and gently curve the ball just enough to change the score.

Nobody could prove it was Maybelline...

...but everyone knew.

After nearly an hour of playful accusations, suspicious measurements, disappearing bocce balls, and ghostly breezes, Dad finally laughed and declared that absolutely nobody was playing by the rules anymore.

That's when Kiwi had a brilliant—or terrible—idea.

He flew over to the garden hose.

Before anyone could stop him, he turned the nozzle just enough for a tiny stream of water to spray across the yard.

"SURPRISE!"

The Quackers immediately charged into the puddles, splashing water everywhere with their happy little feet.

Peanut darted behind a lawn chair, grabbed a small squirt toy, and soaked Lucy right on the nose.

"Oh, it is ON!" I barked.

Gracie found another squirt toy and joined the battle while laughing so hard she could barely aim.

Kiwi flew overhead making bombing runs with tiny drops of water he'd scoop up from a birdbath.

Ghost Maybelline drifted through everyone, creating cool gusts of mist that made it feel like a magical summer rainstorm.

Within minutes the backyard had become complete chaos.

Everyone was soaked.

Everyone was laughing.

Even the bocce balls ended up floating in a little kiddie pool that the Quackers had completely taken over.

As the sun began to set, we all collapsed on the patio, tired, dripping wet, and smiling from ear to ear.

Dad handed out treats to everyone and officially declared the tournament a tie.

Personally...

I still think I won.

After all, I was the scorekeeper.

Until next time,

Love,

Lucy 🐾

Wednesday

Tuesday's Tidbits

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

* It has been 22,831 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. Mom is at 30,480, which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 8,086 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? 

* 6,679 days ago, Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,883 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 5,920 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 3,058 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 1,712 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,280 days, I've now outlived him by 1,569 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 290 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 2,060 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.

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

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

* There are 177 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 162 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah, I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* WVU Football opens the season in 67 more days as they play Host to Coastal Carolina. 

* There are only 46 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

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

* I have written 8,408 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.

I guess all of the animals decided to extend their fun another day, they all stayed over last night and decided to have themselves a sleepover. Michelle and I have to go to work, but they are all staying here and sleeping in. I guess they don't fully grasp the concept of a workweek.

I talked to my old roommate Gregg late last week. He and Lefong have not set a date yet but said they wanted to do something small and informal when they do. It was nice catching up with him for a few, I butt dialed him accidently and he called me back. 

Have yourself a great day, let's go change the world. 

Hi ho hi ho

Sunday Morning Ramblings

Here I sit in a quiet Household, I know everyone is anticipating a big announcement, and as of press time, it has not been made just yet. So to play it safe, I'm waiting for the concerned parties to make the announcement and the reveal. 

My plans yesterday morning were to get up, cut the grass, and have a number of things ready by the afternoon. Mother Nature really wasn't too cooperative yesterday and Friday, as it rained like Cats and conures, and the grass was just way too wet. 

I think I have to switch out Mom's computer today, she is having issues with it I guess and I'm just going to give her my Chromebook that I never use anymore. Maybe I can switch with her and bring her old one here as a backup. I don't think there is anything wrong with it, based on past dealings with a similar issue, I just think she has problems plugging in a USC-C Properly and she lets the cord dangle and puts pressure on the port. Maybe I need a clothes hanger to take the excess pressure off the port. 

Have yoursleves a great day. 

The Big Announcement

The Big Announcement is that Hayley and Tyler are pregnant once again, we also had the gender reveal this afternoon. 

I have it on video, but I am waiting to get the OK from Hayley before I make it public. 

Michelle was so excited as being the keeper of the gender, she did a heck of a job of getting everything ready. 

Everyone was super excited, Luke already has a little brother so he really wants a sister and that is what he will be getting. 

Saturday. Big announcement?

Here I sit in a quiet household, wondering if we may possibly may have some visitors today. I will be cutting the grass with some help from Kiwi and Peanut, and Michelle will have a good bit of running around today in eager anticipation. I just have a funny feeling the Ghost of Maybelline is here watching over us for some reason, Kiwi and his Ouiji Board. 

Hopefully the weather holds out today, we may be having some visitors come over, so we have enlisted as much help as we could find. More information coming in tomorrow's blog, or not, you should stop by and see what is going on. 

I have to put Ice in the Garage later this week. She needs brakes real bad to the point that they are grinding, plus my inspection is about due, so I'm taking it over to Haartsells and having a few things done this week. My inspection sticker from two years ago is about peeled off for sme reason, it's due in August so I figure a month early won't hurt anything. 

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!!!!

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. Grammy Award-winning Tonic will be the headliner this evening. Kiwi and Peanut asked for money to Uber down but I threw them some change and told them that they can take the PRT, it's cheaper and less headaches. I told them to have a good time, but not too good of a time as we have to cut grass tomorrow. 

There may be an announcement this coming weekend, more to come as I find out more and as the weekend progresses. It'll be worth waiting for, so just have a little patience. 

Have yourself a great day, make some memories. 

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.

Since WVU Baseball just had a magical run and fell short of the World Series Finals, I thought I would go back a few years to a baseball game Michelle and I went to when we first started dating. I would say Michelle got a picture of the Mountaineer, but that's Brock who was a friend of mine and just happened to be the Mountaineer. 

It's amazing how far the program has come since Michelle and I first started dating, considering we were playing in Omaha last week in front of 24,000 fans and on ESPN. This day however, we were just a couple of the fans in the stands and Brock had just been named the Mountaineer. He had graduated and tried for it again (he was the backup for two years) and if he did not get it he was going to move on, but he got it and entered Grad School. Brock was the Little Mountaineer years ago when his Uncle Rock Wilson was the Mountaineer. It was a great human interest story, now he works at Marshall, the moron. 

Have a great day. 

Hi ho hi ho

Lucy's Journal

Lucy's Journal – June 24, 2024

Dear Journal,

Today turned into one of the funniest days we've had in a long time. Dad decided the backyard needed some cleaning up, and naturally, that meant the whole crew had to "help." As always, things got a little wild.

I, Lucy the tan and white Shih Tzu, appointed myself Foreman of the Backyard Cleanup Crew. I wore my invisible hard hat and supervised everyone from my lawn chair, barking instructions every few minutes.

Peanut, the gray tiger cat, was in charge of inspecting leaves. She'd carefully gather a pile, only to dive into it and scatter them everywhere. She insisted this was "quality control." Every now and then she'd sneak behind someone and pounce on their tail, causing a burst of laughter and confusion.

Kiwi, our green cheek conure, was flying around carrying tiny sticks and twigs. He'd proudly deposit them into the wheelbarrow and then immediately fly over and steal clothespins from the laundry line. Whenever anyone asked where they went, he'd whistle innocently and pretend not to know anything.

The Quackers, our identical twin ducks, worked as a team. One would carry little weeds in her bill while the other waddled behind giving loud commentary. They spent half the day splashing in the birdbath and the other half chasing Peanut around the yard whenever she tried to nap.

Just when we thought the fun couldn't get any better, our friends arrived.

Gracie, the black and white Shih Tzu, came over and immediately volunteered to pull sticks into neat piles. Every time Lucy turned around, Gracie would sneak up and gently boop her nose, then run away laughing while Lucy pretended to be offended.

And then, floating through the sunshine, came the Ghost of Maybelline, our sweet brown pit bull. Even though she was now a ghost, she was still full of fun. She drifted around carrying leaves with her spooky breeze and helped cool everyone off whenever the afternoon got warm. Occasionally she'd make her ghostly bark, which startled Kiwi into dropping twigs all over Peanut's freshly organized leaf piles.

The funniest moment happened when Peanut decided to hide behind a flower pot and jump out to scare the Quackers. Unfortunately, the Quackers had already spotted her and quietly sneaked around behind Peanut. When she sprang out yelling "Surprise!" the ducks yelled "QUACK!" right behind her, causing Peanut to jump three feet in the air and land in a pile of grass clippings. Everyone laughed so hard that even Ghost Maybelline floated upside down with laughter.

As the sun began to set, we all sat together on the patio. The yard looked great, the birdbath was sparkling, and everyone was tired from a hard day's work and an even harder day of playing jokes on each other.

Ghost Maybelline gave everyone one last gentle breeze and promised she'd visit again soon.

Dad smiled at all of us and said we were the most entertaining cleanup crew he'd ever seen.

I think he's right.

Until next time,

Love,

Lucy 🐾

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 22,824 days since I was born, that is 21 years using my new,  new, new, and improved 1,069-day Calendar. Mom is at 30,473, which would make her 28 according to my new and improved calendar. 

* It has been 8,079 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? 

* 6,672 days ago, Michelle and I had our first date together. Life has been much better since then. 

* 5,876 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 5,913 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 3,051 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 1,705 days ago today. 

* My older Brother Jonathan lived 21,280 days, I've now outlived him by 1,562 days, making me Senior Supreme Sibling once again! 

* Old roommate Gregg proposed to his fiancée 283 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 2,067 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.

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

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

* There are 184 more shopping days left until Christmas 2026. 

* There are 169 days until I hit the age of 63. Yeah, I know, I'm really older than 21. 

* There are only 53 more days to go until Michelle and I celebrate our 15th Wedding Anniversary......maybe

* It's Officially Summertime!!!!!!

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

* I have written 8,399 blogs in what is now 21 3/4 years of Blogging.

* I need to figure out how many days until the Mountaineers play their first football game and how many days until next Spring, since Spring is my favorite season. 

* 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.

I'm not sure what Kiwi and Peanut are trying to do, something about an announcement next weekend and playing with an Ouiji board trying to communicate with the departed, not sure who they are reaching out to or even what the announcement is or will be. They are always up to something, even though we may not understand them at times. 

Still working 10's this week, I've done so ever since the night Nick died a month and a half ago. I got my one big project done and have been working on another project that I think will be really valuable. We did push out an update to our internal Outage Management System. We added easements that I created and also real-time vehicle locators, so the team in the back knows who is closest to any emergency that may happen. It's pretty amazing, and everyone loves it. 

Have yourselves a great day, make it happen. 

Hi ho hi ho