From Our Family to Yours...

Real DOUBLE Trouble

Hey Now!

What a week it has been - and boy am I thankful for the Christmas holiday and the time I have off this and next week!!!

So here's my story.

Sunday morning, I take a 36 hour run to Chicago, IL. I get back 9ish Monday night.
Tuesday morning they have me scheduled out at 8am for Baton Rouge, LA. Cool.

Get to the bakery and the guy I'm running with wants to drive all the way down, we unload, and I drive all the way back. Fine, it's only 500, or so, miles. No big deal.

So we get to Baton Rouge about 4p and I'm hearing every time he hits his brakes, a serious air leak. Turns out, on the interstate, he was following a doublewide being transported. Well that doublewide blew two tires and rubber was flying everywhere. It just so happened that one chunk flew under out trailer and broke an air hose to one of the brakes. So everytime he stepped on the brake, pffhhhhhssssssssssttttttttt!

Once we got to the warehouse, the first thing we did was call the shop back at the bakery to get us someone to come out and fix it while we were working. They did, and called back to let us know they'd be out soon. So the towing company calls and my co-driver tells them we'll be working here for 4 hours just to make it in that time. Mistake!!! They didn't end up showing up until 10:40p. Of course it only took 10 minutes to replace the broken airline, but meanwhile we sat for 2 1/2 hours waiting. I of course saw no need to just sit and wait, so I climbed in the bunk and slept.

We finally got to the 2nd drop, emptied out and I started driving us home a midnight. At 3am I crossed the state line from LA into MS and had to pull into the weight station. I got the green light and as I worked my way up through the gears heading down the on ramp, I hear this extremely loud 'Pop' under the hood. Well, that got my adrenline a pumpin. The by product of this pop was that I had no power. The truck wouldn't go more than 45 miles per hour.

I pulled over at the next off ramp and looked under the hood for problems. None to be seen. So again I called the shop at the bakery to let them know of the problems. I found a truck stop at exit 15 and pulled in and shut it down. This truck stop was also 'shut down.' Nothing open. So the bakery calls back telling me they're trying get in touch with the Supervisor at our Pervis, MS outstation to get them to bring us a tractor. I figured it was going to be a while, so I climb into the bunk to snooze. They call back at 7:20a to say a replacement tractor is on the way and after it's delivered, we need to hang out with the broken down tractor until the tow truck picks it up.

All right. At 9a, the replacement tractor shows up. We talk with the guys for a few minutes, then they take off. We swap tractors, and the gear inside, then settled down to wait for the tow truck. It was supposed to be there by 10:30a. That time came and went, 11:30 came and still no tow truck. I call the bakery, "Where's the tow truck?" They call the towing company, um He had and emergency run for the police and is leaving to get our tractor right now. Should be 40 min. An hour goes by, I call again - still no tow truck. They call - Oh he's getting close - should be there soon. We wait 40 minutes, still no tow truck. Another call, and then another call. The tow truck didn't get there until 1:30p. We sat there for 14 1/2 hours. Over all we got close to 17 hours of delay time on this trip for the 2 breakdowns.

Aarrrgh. What an annoying trip!

I am thankful to be home for the holidays!!!

Merry Christmas you all!!!

Family Photos

Every 6 months we go to the Wal-mart portrait studio and have a picture taken of our Birhday Daughter. Of course they LOVE to take extra photos to try and sell you a BUNCH more pics and poses etc. So a while back we decided to get an updated family photo every year and this year we decided to change it to the fall.

So when we went in to get Natalie's 4 year old pic, we had some other poses taken and here they are!

Happy Holidays and Enjoy!



This pose was actually 100% Joelle's idea! CUTE!!!

GeoCaching Milestone - Belated

We recently hit a big milestone in our hobby of Geocaching and I'm extremely suprised that I neglected to mention it at all on my site here. Shame on me. Wonder what else I am failing to post about?? Probably quite a bit because I don't have the time or the access as I once had to update on a regular basis.

On the trip in Oct to Myrtle Beach, Doreen and I found ThePesters4 100th Geocache. We got into geocaching in Nov of 2004 and it took us almost 2 years to rack up 100 finds. Well, as of today (this week we found 4) we now have 110.)

So that tells me, we've got to step it up a bit and get out more to go GEOCACHING! Yeee haw! :)

Today, we just found our 1st "First to Find." Basically that means that someone hid a geocache, published it on the the geocaching.com website and we were the first to go find it! Sweeeeet!

It was a fun find too. Had to scale a small 'mountain' to get up to where it was hidden. What a blast!

I love Geocaching!!!

What a Week

Hoooooowwwwwwwdeeeeeeee!

Well, we have had quite the week here. Plus the weather is getting freaky, so - quite the week, quite the week! (It got down to 12 degrees last night, that is EXTREMELY cold for TN! :)

It all started with me only asking for 2 trips this week because Joelle & Natalie were going to ride a float in the Collegedale parade and I wanted to be here for that.

So I had the pleasure of being home the entire weekend, last weekend.

Got to enjoy my little ones in the parade - I'll have to get caught up on some pics here soon - and then got home, chilled for a bit, then left for work. Took a trip up to Toledo, OH. Not a bad place - just a kind of a pain on the where we pick up our back haul - slowville! It kills us on our log books.

Got home Tuesday at 8am and left back out at 3pm for a Mississippi run. 3 Simple stops, easy run.

On the return home the bakery called asking me to take another quickie run. So I said "yeah." The plan was to arrive at the yard a 2a, hook the tractor up to the trailer and run for Dallas, GA. Well - you know about the best laid plans of mice and men, yup that's what happened here.

Got in and my co-driver wasn't back from his previous trip yet, the trailer was waiting on some cases they were short of and to boot, my name had come up for a random drug screen. I had to go pee in a cup before leaving on the trip.

I headed over to the nurses station disgusted, because I had JUST gone before leaving the house.

So I sat there for about 45 min, drank about 8 glasses of water and finally was able to 'participate' in the drug screen.

All told, we get through the gate on the way out at 4:45a. So on the way south, we do run into a bit of rush-hour traffic in N Atlanta. We get to the drop and empty the trailer and head home. Week over - work wise.

So we've been 'gearing' up for a baby shower we're throwing for some good friends of ours on Sunday. Unfortunately, I've been at work, Doreen has been studying for some tests and we've had other things taking our attention.

Well, a few lists later, we get a plan of attack and get to work. This afternoon, we got a HUGE chunk of stuff done.

Hope it comes off right or this will be a 'bad' week.

So far, it's been unusual, extremely busy but very, VERY good!

What a week! :)

Little (but growing quickly) Elves

We finally were able to get our Christmas stuff put up this week. We were gone for Thanksgiving, which is typically when we put up our holiday stuff. So - when my trips for work finally finished for the week, we had Thursday afternoon to put up our Christmast stuff. Of course the girls HAD to put on the Santa hats we have. It was so VERY cute that I had to snap a quick photo of my little elves! What precious cuties!!!

They're going to be in a Parade on Sunday. Hope to get some good pics of that to put up for your enjoyement in the future!

Happy Holidays All!!! :)

A Walk Thru Bethlehem OR Project Almost Done

It was cool. We ran some errands today and ate at our favorite Chinese restaurant after Doreen finished an A&P II test at school. (By the way, she scored a 98% on it. Awesome!!! She only missed one question. During lunch she kept 'kicking' herself for missing that "easy" question.) We got home at 3p and about 3:15 some friends called wanting to know if we wanted to go to a local church in Ringgold, GA to 'Walk thru Bethlehem?' tonight at 5:30p? Sure we replied and so we quickly did some things that NEEDED to get done, slapped a quick munchie dinner for the girls and headed out. It was awesome. This church does a GREAT job of recreating Bible times on their property with stores, and the inn and the gate going into Bethelehem - with a 'tax collector' to Roman soldiers and angels, disciples, wisemen, shepherds etc! It is very uplifting and we're super glad we went.

So, a few weeks ago, I made a passing mention on a project we were working on. Well - it is 95% finished - so let me unveil it. (Especially for those of you who can't or won't ever see it in person.)

I've always wanted a 'Denver Bronco' room - and NOW, now I have it.

We've been working on painting it and getting stuff - read "JUNK" - cleaned out of it and getting it fixed up to be the ultimate 'Pester's' Bronco room.

Today we put most of the final touches on it by hanging my Bronco memorabilia, putting up a curtain (Which is Bronco Navy Blue) over the closet and hanging a new window shade, which is also Bronco Navy Blue.

We've still got a few small things to finish and stuff, but for the most-part it is all done and just very, VERY cool!

You gotta come visit and sleep in the guest/Denver Bronco room. It is awesome, and would be awesome to have you come visit! :)

Selective or Not Selective Hearing??? Eh?

You know it's funny how an ear works. Since I've had some kiddos, I find that hearing is optional.

A couple of times this weekend, both Doreen and I at one time or other tried to get the attention of both girls for various reasons. Typically we were usually within a foot or two of them, we spoke the name clearly, usually 3 or 4 times trying to get their attention, even going so far to 'tap' them on the shoulder to further attempt to gain their attention. Finally they'd respond.

Well, Doreen and I were in a conversation with some family. The girls were about 25 feet away up at the top of the stairs playing and making noise etc. Anway, we were talking about music and going to see the Gaither..., and Joelle popped up with "Vocal Band."

See - her ears work - when she wants them to.

Fascinating! :)

Thanksgiving And/Or Laser Tag

Hey, I hope you are enjoying your Thanksgiving as much as we have been. It has been awesome being here in the hills of North Carolina visiting with family, enjoying delicious meals and just being thankful to be together!!!

I was talking with my mom from Colorado on the phone yesterday and as I was talking, I was sitting on this huge porch, in a rocking chair, looking out over the hills with the blue sky all around. Gorgeous!! Maaaaaavelous! Very Cool!

Today, we all decided to go to the Fun Factory they have here in Franklin, NC. Basically it's like a Chuck E Cheeze on steroids. The building used to be an old factory, so it's about 56,000 square feet. It is huge. They've got it filled with a play area for kids, arcade games, mini golf courses, bumper cars, 3 eating places, laser tag, bowling alley, etc, etc, etc

Well, while the kids were in the playland area we decided to play laser tag. Man - I have never done that before and now am wondering why. It was an absolute BLAST!!! Doreen played once and I played twice and for each 10 minute segment, you're running around like crazy playing 'tag' with laser guns. What a fun thing to do.

I think Doreen scored a Space Laser Cadet and I got to level of a Laser Private. Pretty low, but not bad for our first time in the game.

You know what? I'm 'a gonna have to do that again in the very near future.

I love hearing "Great shot" and HATE the 'hit' noise and the vib on the pack I was wearing.

Man - what a complete blast!

Yeah haw!!!

Don't Hang Out in the No Zone OR I had a Fender Bender Last Week.

I'm sure that many of you have seen this logo OR seen this on a semi-trailer OR seen this slogan on a TV commercial at somepoint - however why is it that SOME people do NOT get a clue!!!

So, I was working Local on Monday. Basically taking full trailers to a location to be emptied, take it somewhere else to get it filled up, then doing a drop-n-hook and doing the same thing with another trailer.

I'd taken a full trailer to Rome, GA to be emptied. After making the drop, I left the warehouse and headed to the next pick up. I had to take a right turn on Broad street from 1st Ave. Sitting at the red light, I watched the cars cross thru the intersection. After they all passed, I decided to go ahead and turn. I looked out the right window to see if I saw any pedestrians about to cross, none, looked back at the light, still red, look to the left to see if any more cars coming - none, I began my right turn. Half way thru the turn I looked in the right mirror to watch the trailer come around the corner and WOAH, A CAR's THERE! So I slam on the brakes, but too late. the front tire of the trailer axles hit and crunched the front left quarter panel of his SUV. Hyundai Tuscon.

Oh - I was mad. So I pulled the brakes, jumped out and said, "Man - did you NOT see my blinker? Did you not see the sign on the back of my truck that says 'Wide Right Turn?'" He said "It doesn't matter because you hit me." A witness who had stopped said, "Man, you know better to try and beat a truck through a right turn - it was your fault."

Thankfully all this info was given to the police for the report.

It just so happened that 1 mintue later a cop pulled thru the intersection. So I whistled her down and she flipped a U-turn and came back so we both talked to her and then another cop pulls up and we both talk to him, and then the two officers talk and then they end up citing the SUV driver. Thankfully!!!!! Of course this whole process took about 40 min.

After the report was 'filed' I had to call work and answer a series of questions. Then finished my day and then back in the dispatch office - I had to fill out a report. Then in a couple weeks or so, I have to make a verbal report to the transportation safety committee.

All that trouble for some guy trying to 'beat' a truck around a corner.

Aaaarrrgghhhhhhh!

Full Circle - Teacher to Student to Teacher Again

So I get a phone call from, I'll call him Buford (you know who you are) tonight. He got it working.

Ok - here's the whole story.

"Buford" got a GPS for his birthday and was looking for a Topo map program for it. My brother-in-law had one, so I asked to borrow it from him so Buford could see if it would work on his GPS.

When Buford got it in the mail - he couldn't get it working. So he's had it for the last month or so. Finally to get it back to my brother-in-law I work stuff out that I'll get the CD's back, call Garmin, get the unlock codes and get it working with both their systems.

I get the CDs in the mail, call Garmin and lo and behold, with the Topo Map program
an unlock code is not required - I had loaded up the program in my computer and when the tech told me that, I tried and opened it right up and voila - it worked.

So I call 'Buford' and let him know an unlock code was unnecessary and to look in a drop down menu for the map. He said he'd try it when he got off work.

Then he calls me tonight and it works. It was there the whole time - he just didn't look in the right place. Most excellent.

So I got to thinking, years and YEARS ago, I showed 'Buford' how to turn on a computer and get on the internet. Well, Buford has completely surpassed me in computer knowledge. In fact, a couple of times I've called him for assistance on computer related things. It's nice to know that I can still teach him a thing or two about computers, albeit a very small thing!

He, he, he!

Enjoy 'Buford!' :)

Girls 1st Concert

Tonight we took the girls to their very first concert. It was a Mark Lowry concert along with LordSong. Man what a very, VERY good event. The girls didn't get all his 'joke's' but I tell ya what - the music was fantastic and the message in with the humor was awesome!

What a cool event! If you ever get a chance to go see him - GO! It'll be worth it.

It's just a great top off to a great week.

Only had to take 2 trips this week. Left Sat night for Nashville, TN. Was home by 1:30p on Sunday. Then left for Houston, TX on Tuesday at 5 am and got back Thur at 2a. So I was home Sat, most of Sun, Mon, Thur & Fri. I'll be home Sat & Sun and have to work local on Mon, so I'll be home Mon evening. Don't know when I'll go out next, but whenever will be fine. We're getting stuff done around the house. (Specifics will be a later post when it's all done! :)

Since I'm gonna be home tomorrow night, we're having some friends come over to watch the movie Napoleon Dynamite - we've been waiting to watch it with them. Should be a good evening!

Have a great weekend y'all!

Movie Weekend

Hey - hope you had a great weekend!

Ours was great. Had lunch with some friends, went to a work party/dinner thingy. It was OK - last years was much, MUCH better!

Had a quick run, left Sat night back Sun by lunch.

Then had all day at home today - getting stuff done, running errands etc. Sure nice!

Gotta go to Houston, TX tomorrow am (Tue).

Got a chance to watch some movies this weekend - hadn't done that in a while.

Watched "Inside Man." Didn't realize it was a Spike Lee directed film. Very good.

Got "Curious George" for the girls and we all loved it!

This evening we watched Oceans 11. My In-laws hadn't seen it. Kinda along the same lines as Insdie Man - but much'a more better!

Gotta get to bed! :)

82nd Airborne - Paratroopers

Recently while on a trip I was driving in the middle of the night, sometime between 2 and 5am. The hardest part of the day for me to drive. Even after a good 6 hours of sleep! Anyway, I was flipping channels on my Sirius satellite radio and came to the Discovery Channel and heard some stories of the 82nd Airborne Paratroopers in World War II.

Of course, when I think of paratroopers, I automatically think they're a bit mentally unstable because they're willing to jump out of a perfectly good airplane! But my grandfather, Gerald Sabes was a paratooper in the 82nd airborne. He jumped out of a plane and he was one of the most sane men I know! But knowing my grandfather was part of the 82nd airborne division, kept me awake and listening for the next two hours to the stories of all the 82nd airborne did to help eventually secure the Omaha and Utah beaches on D-day in Normandy from the Germans.







These guys floated down and had to caputure objectives behind enemy lines to interrupt supply lines to the front and help box the Germans in once the beach was secured. Talk about jumping from the frying pan into the fire.

Once these guys landed they were automatically surrounded, just by their location and had to fight hard just to get to their objectives, then had to fight even harder to keep the guys back they just fought and try to capture a bridge or something essential to a Normandy D-day victory.



My grandfather never told me many stories about his time fighting as a paratrooper. I know that until the day he died, he carried German shrapnel in his shoulder that would bother him occassionally, but wasn't worth the risk of having it removed. He was injured, shot, as he floated down on a jump behind enemy lines.

All I know is we can be very thankful for the men of the 82nd division, actually of all the regiments of all the branches of the military that volunteer to keep our country safe!

Hip Hip Horray - Hip Hip Horray - Hip Hip Horray!!!!

Toy Assemblage = *&$@##&(*$#&!!!

My youngest just had a birthday. So being good parents and grandparents and friends, we all got her some gifts. Of course we're still at that stage, where we still the our oldest a gift at the same time so she doesn't feel left out. That's all cool.

So we had a meal and some cake. Unfortunatly we dropped the ball and forgot to get ice-cream. How in the world do you have cake and no ice-cream. That is a travesty! :)

Then came the gift opening. What a ball. To watch my youngest open all her gifts and the simile on her face was amazing. Of course my oldest was pleased as pudding as well.

After all the presents were opened - then we had to take all the 'things' out of the packaging these companies put them in. Not only that, a number of them required 'assembly' as well. I tell ya - it took twice as long to de-package the things and put them together as it did to open the presents in the first place!!! Aaaarrrrggggghhhhhhhhh! I kept hearing "Daddy hurry, I want to play with it! Daddy, are you done yet? Daddy, just open it!"


I used a knife, scissors, my teeth, anything to try and speed up the process and there was just no easy way to do it. One person said to me once, "I can just see some little old guy in China chuckling to himself as he packages these toys thinking about some frustrated parent trying to get the toy detached from the packaging. Oy!

Unbelieveable how thoroughly they tie these things into the packages! Wow!!!

I prevailed though. (Said with a triumphant voice.)

Then I became my kids 'hero' for getting their stuff out!

Ok - it was worth it.

:)

Service or Lack ThereOf

As I was riding with a co-driver recently, we started talking about the 'lack of service' in service oriented businesses. A number of experiences I've had in the past few months - and I can't remember most of them right now to elaborate - has been sub-standard. It's like most people want to be served, and not to serve, even if it's their job.

One thing I remember. I was a McD's and placed my order. There were 4 people wandering around the front counter area, 2 in drive-thru and about 5 in the grill area. It took almost 10 mintues to get my meal. Even with the fancy computer system - they still forgot my order. What is that?

I did have one awesome experience recently. On my last trip to South Miami, FL - we delivered at a shipping company that was going to take the product on a cargo ship to the Bahamas. Now, as most of the 'truck drivers' in our family will attest - the majority of dock workers are extremely rude to truck drivers. And some of them rightly deserve it - but the majority of us want to come in, unload or load and head out - that simple.

Well - this dock foreman was EXTREMELY nice. Everything was Mr Pester, yes sir, no sir - very patient and even looking out for me to check and see if the pallets had been handled and the paperwork finished. That RARELY ever happens. Most of the time I've got to 'pester' them. (Believe me, I USED that name-pun to death - it does help a LOT!) I loved going to that warehouse and would go back there at the drop of the hat.

Service - yeah - it's still there, but not a prevelant as it used to! :(

Busy

Hey - Yup - I'm still here, just been extremely busy lately and not had time to write here recently.

Got a little list going of things to write - just haven't gotten to it - or the 'pics' option hasn't been working, etc!

Anyway - take care of yourself!!! :)

Good Day & Poser

What an AWESOME day!

Today at church, the message was about forgiveness. Pastor Mike talked about the girls exectued in Lancaster, PA and how the world has been shocked by how forgiving the Amish people are. (You know, why can't my religion be known for that type of stuff? No we've gotta be known for junk like the wackos at Waco!) It was a very compeling message. A very, VERY good one!

Then in Sabbath School, they celebrated my youngest's 4th birthday coming up on Tuesday and basically she'll be going to the next level of class starting next week. Kinda special!

After church we ran home, changed and headed off to some friends house with my in-laws and had a delicious chili meal and the kids all played together extremely well. So well in fact that we had most of the afternoon completely in adult conversation without the constant interuptions from little ones. That was kinda nice! :)

We got home and kinda hung out as family for a bit, put the girls to bed - I'm getting my gear ready for a trip to KY tonight - but I don't have to drive out - so I get to crawl right in the bunk as we take off!

Man, as I look back on it - it was a very, very blessed day!

Ok, so here's my poser for ya!
Today in Sabbath School a lady sitting next to Doreen and I was singing the songs, and she was SO very off key it wasn't even funny. I don't think she could carry a tune in a bucket if she had too - it was so bad!

It kinda reminded Doreen and I of a church that we occassionally attended in S. Illinois that had a head elder that would get up in front of the congregation for song service and would sing his little heart out - but wouldn't even get one note right. And I AM NOT exaggerating! This guy's singing was awful!

So am I mean for noticing and kinda chuckling under my breath, or just ignore it and let these people sing in their 'mannor' and hopefully be blessed?

:)

Guarntee 45 Min or Later!!!! :(

What is the deal with towing companies? The standard answer is, "We'll have someone there in about 45 minutes. They are NEVER there within that timeframe. NEVER, at least in my experience with towing companies.







Ok - here's the story to get me up on my soapbox on this topic. Yesterday we were in Michigan making our round of deliveries. We'd alread been delayed at our 2nd drop because the garage door keypad wasn't working and we had to wait for someone to come out and open the door so we could deliver. So we head get done there and head to our third drop. In the back of this warehouse is a large gravel area for us to pull a U-turn in to head back the right way.


So I pull a U-turn and and as soon as I do - I feel the truck start to sink, so I gun it, only to have to stop because the wheels weren't turning the truck and we kept getting closer, too close, to the fence. So we got stuck. Tried getting out - to no avail. So we call work - they call a towing company and then call us back to say, "45 minutes." Well an hour and 20 minutes later, they show up, work for about 5 minutes, yank us out and take off.

45 minutes my eye!!! Maybe I ought to start my own towing company with a 30 min or under guarantee, or 15% off your bill thingy (Depending on how far away they are of course! Grin).

Oh well - chalk that one up to experience! :)

Myrtle Beach

What a GREAT weekend. We had an adult weekend - the first in years w/out any kids. I love my girls, but to have our first weekend in a while with out them was kinda cool.

So here are a few pictures from our trip...


Here's Doreen, Tracy and Cheryl standing in front of some beautiful landscaping at the Myrtle Beach Convention Center.



Got a 'posed' pic of Doreen and I on the stairway to the 2nd floor of the convention center.













D,C&T in the seats we had for the 3 programs.



Here's the view from the seats we were in of the stage.


Wanted to get a pic of the house audio equipment right next to the stage for dad. He was pretty excited about seeing it - so here it is. They had a 2nd board in the back just for the video equipment. What an awesome setup!

Myrtle Beach, Cont...

Here are some of the artists on stage singing their hearts out! What a fun way to spend a few hours.



We had a bit of a break between the Sat am program and Sat pm program, so we hit the room and ate lunch we brought with us, then headed out to the beach!











The water was chilly when it first hit your toes. Check out Doreen and Cheryl's reaction. It 'got warm' after you stood in it for a while.

















We had a BEAUTIFUL day to be walking the beach.


I can't wait to get the girls out to the ocean there in Myrtle Beach. They'd LOVE to jump these waves and I think we'd have a TON of fun playing in the sand. Awesome!












Hey what happened, did I shrink on this trip? Did Doreen grow taller? Hum what happened here?
















Wait, she's still taller than me. Oh where'd my feet go? Lost a foot of my height to the sand. Oh that was fun!
















Of course we had to do some Geocaching while we were out there. Found four!


















After Saturday nights last program, we went to talk with our favorite Christian Comedian, Mark Lowry.












On the way back, Doreen had to hit the books - or the computer. She did a bit of studying as we made the trek back hom.

Thanks Mom and Dad for a GREAT weekend!

South Carolina or Bust

My folks intended to take a 'retirement' trip around the USA to see friends, to visit old haunts, and to make new memories.

Unfortunately - my father got some sort of strange infection in his leg the weekend before the trip was to commence and so they delayed it - and after the Dr gave them approval to leave the following weekend - my dad was feeling better - he had a severe allergic reaction to the meds he was taking.

So they felt like these were a couple of warning signs not to take the trip this year.

They had purchased some tickets for Gaither Fest 2006 in Myrtle Beach, SC. After they decided to cancel trip they were trying to decide what to do with the tickets - non refundable! :)

They offered them to us. We weren't sure, then decided it was a good idea. So we grabbed a couple of friends and left TN this morning for SC. Our kids are staying with some friends and we're having an adult weekend, enjoying LOTS of music and good company.

Oh - we grabbed a GeoCache on the way down too! Awesome.

Just got back and all settled in at the motel from a 4 hour concert. Wow, that was long, but almost ALL the music was awesome. My hands are gonna be sore from all the clapping after we return! Waaaa ha, ha, ha!

I'll have some pics for ya, hopefully, later in the week.

For now - see ya!

Why Are 'They" THAT Way???

We've got some friends that I'm having a hard time understanding. In fact they're pretty much - in some ways, downright annoying. I write about this because I'm trying to think through if we're just too caloused, or 'in the world' or justified in our thoughts.

These friends are pretty, apparently very, conservative. It started at a get-together this summer. It was kind of a potluck thing, and she sweetly asked people to bring things that were 'regular' - for the lack of my mind thinking of a better word - and vegan. (No dairy) I was on a trip, so I wasn't there - I was on a trip to MI probably, but some of 'those' who were vegan (Those there other than our friends) apparently kinda made a, I'm gonna use the word 'Scene' for the lack of a better word and kinda harsh, but yet it does describe how they kinda acting trying to find the 'vegan' dishes. Now our friend didn't make a big deal - she was very nonchalant about it.

Another time, they were talking to us about 'guns' because she is apparently concerned about them. Their little boy isn't allowed any interaction with anything that resembles a firearm. We shared our thoughts with them.

Then another time, Doreen was talking about the kids singing at church and she asked if the music, "Had a beat" to it.

Then finally in talking about camping, her husband is not going to be around, so she decided not to 'camp' but to attend the event. "Besides - she didn't want to put her 'tent' up on Sabbath.

Now we have some other friends, who are kind of conservative in their ways, and we NEVER hear any of these statements, or questions (that have the intention of informing us of their strong beliefs.) or anything from them. They are very, VERY nice people and super thoughtful.

So am I a bit calloused by feeling annoyed at the Music Beat question, or the putting up a tent on Sabbath or watching people make a 'deal' about finding the 'vegan' dishes?

Why is it 'these' people, and why is it typically the extremely conservative crowd, are this way? Why do they 'HAVE' to let you know their conservative feelings - and then I do not enjoy my time around them nearly as much for fear of discussing a topic that would 'offend' their sensibilities in some way.

When Doreen told me about the "Putting the tent up on Sabbath thing" I was really annoyed because it's like - back to being a Pharasee or Saducee and having a little irritating law about every little thing. So can I shave on Sabbath? Can I open my refrigerator door on Sabbath - is that working?

Oy vai!!!

And why are these people always worried about a 'beat?' ANY orchestra or band music - "Has a Beat." Does that make that music evil as well?

So, am I callused or justified in my feelings?

I don't know - "do they have a beat?"

He, he, he!!!

A Garage - I'm Lovin' It.

Man, I tell ya what, we are super thankful for our garage. This is the first house we've owned that has a garage in it - and I'm LOVIN' IT!

For the first little while after we moved it - we had too much junk just laying around so we couldn't get the car in. Finally after a few days of that - I got my hiney in gear and got some of the stuff OUT and got things arranged so we could get the car in. We've been lovin' it!!

I've had time now and then, and the motivation, to do a little organizing in the garage and hope to have it 'perfect' one day, but for now it is very useable!

A number of times, to or from church or shopping it's been raining - pretty hard, and to be able to get in & out in the garage and keep our Sabbath clothes dry is a blessing. It's even more of a blessing to be able to carry the bags of groceries in the house without having to make a number of trips in the rain. I'm lovin' it!!!

Then - just this morning, I had to leave early for a chiro appointment. I looked at the thermometer on the way out and saw it was 34 degrees outside - burrrr. So I took the car, sitting in the warm garage. Man, I am LOVIN IT!!!!

It's a one car garage - I'd love a 2 or 2 1/2 or even a 3 car garage - but I amd extremely thankful to have this garage and frankly, I'm Lovin' it!!!!!

A First or This Week

This past week has been a pretty good one. I got in 3 trips for work, but they were all kinda short, so I was home quite a bit! Very nice.

Sabbath we had some friends over because after 12 years they're/she's pregnant and gonna have a little one - so we wanted to congratulate them!

Friday was a GREAT day as well - and I'll tell ya about that in a sec.

Thursday we took the girls to do something they've never done before - Roller skating. They had a blast - obviously, they didn't do very well, but they had a BLAST and are asking to go again. Doreen and I will have to get our wheels back on and do it again soon!





Friday, we were getting the house ready to have visitors and the girls were helpful in cleaning up. Then - they were also very helpful in assisting me make dessert. Of course they got to lick the yummy stuff off the beaters - and obviously that is the best part of cooking! :)





A friend told us that there was a replica of the Nina' - Christopher Columbus' favorite ship that he took in search of the new world. So we went and checked it out.



It was really, REALLY neat seing it. One thing that struck us was how small it actually was. Imagine being on the tossing ocean in something pretty small. Wow! WOW! 27 people packed on that ship is amazing. These guys had heart.

What a cool week!