Zoo Crew

Today was the last field trip of the year for Natalie's class. Thankfully things worked out that I could be here for it. Doreen's been to the Chattanooga Zoo like four times and I haven't been at all. Doreen's got a major exam coming up tomorrow (Wed) so it was nice I could go so she could stay home and study.











Natalie and I had a ball going through the zoo and seeing all the different animals they have. She even had fun climbin' up on this gorilla's back! :)








Occassionally in a petting zoo area she's been a bit timid, not this time. She strode right in like she owned the place and went right to feeding the critters and petting them and thoroughly enjoying herself!







Of course she was more than willing to post for me on this little rock as a little cutie!

What a fun day we had!!!

1,000 Post!

As I was 'posting' last night, when I finished up I looked at the dashboard to see if any other family members had posted recently.

When looking - I noticed a number on my page - 999. Wow, nine hundered and ninety nine posts. That's quite a bit.

I started posting on my page Aug 26, 2004, 3 years and 8 months ago. My how time has flown. My how things have changed!!! :)

Got to looking at some numbers and stats. Interesting - well, I think so anyway.

44 months 1,000 posts averages to 22 posts per month.

Obviously I haven't been that faithful.

The month I had the mosts posts; June '07 44 posts
The month I had the least posts; It's a 4 way tie. 7 posts in Apr '05, Sept '06, Dec '06 and Sept '07.

In '04 I posted 114 times, '05 365 posts, '06 172 posts, '07 260 posts and 83 posts this year so far.

The most comments I ever received on a post was 6 on 12/30/06 "Long Trip."

I love having this page to go back and read the events of our lives, especially the small things, I write about. And I have to go back and read them, because I typcially forget about them! My memory, as my wife has pointed out to me on occasion, isn't the best! :)

Hope each of you have found as much enjoyment reading it as I've had writing it!

Well, here's to the next 1,000 posts.

Hurray!

More Photos from Our Memories!

Some more GREAT memories through a camera!


This was the first time we met my twin nieces Emily and Sarah. My sister and brother-in-law brought them out to a truck-stop near Denver to visit with us as we were passing through. They were so precious!!! My sis is a super-sis being able to take care of twins!!! Good job sis!




This was the first time we met Doreen's niece, Carlie, at a family get together in Kansas. Aren't they precious together?!!










Doreen's nephew Calvin operating some 'heavy equip.' What a little guy!










One winter visiting my inlaws in Omaha, NE - we got over a foot of snow and I jumped in to prove it... then ran back in the house to get warm again! :)









Took some time to do some sight-seeing when we were near Washington D.C. Took a tour through the Smithsonian Air and Space Museum. Brought back some great memories of visiting with my grandparents. We also went through Ford's theater where President Lincoln was shot and the house across the street they carried him to along with this stop by to see the White House.







One trip we got down into New Mexico and visited our friends near Alb. Their son, Michael, loved to mess with his Dad's tuba. Precious.







Here's a couple of 'Hicks' from the backwoods area...












...visiting this Minnesota hick!













One of the last 'sights' we saw before getting off the truck, was to watch a Bronco game in Mile High stadium. The Broncos beat the Packers. Nice!








One weekend near N. Illinois we went to see an old western town where they had a TON of cool authentic era pieces and stuff. It was lots of fun, and I just had to 'squeeze' this photo in for good measure! :)

Project #1 - Completed

Here's an update on the project I wrote about earlier. I didn't want to mention it cuz I was gonna suprise my folks, but dad asked about it when we talked on the phone the other night, so I told them what it was, so now I'll update it here.

A year ago, my family came from Colorado at Spring break time to visit. They traveled out here in my folks 5th wheel.

One afternoon, I was sitting in it talking with my folks and saw their tapes. Mom mentioned some of them were getting wore out. So I volunteered to transfer them to a digital medium.

I intended to get right on it, but then things got in the way, and our tape player went bad and I put it on the back burner. Occassionally, I'd have to move the tapes out of the way, and think, "I need to get on that project."

Not to long ago I was looking at the calendar and realized it'd been a year since their visit - then I had to move the tapes and realized I'd procrastinated terribly.

So I got on it.

I transferred all the music from the tapes to my computer, cleaned up the tape hiss etc, and just tonight finished transferring it all to CD's.

DONE!

Yee haw.

Man, getting something accomplished like that is sure a good feeling. Of course, I'd feel better if I had this feeling 6 months ago! :)

Oh well, better late than never.

Enjoy your stuff when you get it Mom and Dad!!!

Report Cards - 3rd Period

Had parent-teacher conferences today at the girls school. So far they have been nothing but a great experience! Today was no exception!

Both Mrs. R and Mrs. A had excellent reports for Joelle and Natalie! Praise the Lord!!!

So at 2pm we met with Mrs. A, Natalies Pre-K teacher. She said the only problem she has with Natalie is that periodically she conveys a negative attitude to Miss Miller (The assistant) because she's intently focused on what the Kindergarten class is doing and doesn't want to do what Pre-K is doing. In fact, when Mrs. A asks the K students a question, sometimes Natalie will answer! He, he, he! Mrs A told us she can't wait to have Natalie in K next year. "She'll soar and feel more comfortable being able to do more 'big kid stuff.'" We agree - but also feel we're doing right by keeping her right where she is. She'll do better later on in schooling!! If that's the only problem we have - I'LL TAKE IT!!! :)

At 2:30 we met with Mrs. R, Joelle's 1st grade teacher. She had super positive things to say about our little girl. She wrote on her progress report, "Joelle has made good progress in reading. She is a solid learner." Wonderful. Mrs. R told us that she could tell that 'reading' just clicked recently with Joelle and is excelling. She also let us know that she is doing much, MUCH better in class focusing. Wheeew! She still fidgets quite a bit, but really gets down to getting her work done!

I must say, we are blessed to have two wonderful little girls!!! They are truly the apple of my eye!!!

Memories

I have had a ball going through all the pics that I was pulling off those floppy discs. Got many of them renamed - but still have a few hundered to go! :)

Anyway, Here's a few I'd like to share with ya.

Look for more in the future!

Enjoy!


Doreen and I had a weekend in Crescent City, CA and rented a little auto and went to see the Giant Redwoods. We actually drove the car 'thru' this tree. Coolness!









Here's my sweet with our truck. Put a lot of miles and spent a lot of time in that vehicle. It was a good truck and a great blessing to set us up for where we are today!







Here's a shot of Doreen with her little nephew Calvin playing basketball. Of course the basketball is almost as big as he is! Cute!!!















Here's 3 generations of Pesters. My Dad, Grandpa and me!







I believe that we were giving a trip to get us to the Northwest the weekend my Uncle was in a bus wreck and passed away. The timing, could have only been Divine.
What an awful wreck!!









This is one of my favs. Me, my nephew Brian and bro-in-law Scott all sporting our Bronco jerseys! Go Orange & Blue!!!










One winter we visited my folks in Colorado and rented some snowmobiles and took them up into the high country - only accessable, at that time by a sled. What a fun time!










Here's my snowmobiling girl - who was a crazy driver! :) We did have a blast though.

















Here a photo of me and my uncle Marv. I think this was the last time I saw him.


















We got together with Doreen's family near Kansas City. We went for a walk to see the lake and I grabbed a shot of this beautiful sunset.











Lots of fantastic memories!!!

Sick - Off Again, On Again

Natalie went back to School on Wednesday. She'd had 4 whole days at home to rest and recouperate, and we kind of figured that was enough.

That morning at 7a the Bakery called asking me to run a 9am Relay trip out to Arkansas. Fine. So Doreen heads to school. I finish getting the girls ready for their school. Then I rush around and get my gear and pack a cooler of stuff to take with me on my trip.

Get there and wait an hour for the trailer to be finished.

I'm off.

Around 2p, the school calls. Natalie's low-grade fever has returned and she's been crying in class, won't eat and has no energy. So they bring her into the sick bay and lay her down and want to know what to do with her.

I'm in Arkansas, Doreen's in clinic and unreachable except for extreme emergencies. Humm?

So we just have her rest until she gets picked up by our friends. Turns out that Joelle's teacher Mrs. R who'd been out for a week, came back and then stayed another two days at home - her fever returned. Another friend of the girls, Ben - had his fever return. Among others.

We decide to keep her home the rest of the week in hopes that she can go back on Monday.

Well - yesterday, Doreen gets home with a splitting headache. She felt a little queezy at the stomach too. She eventually goes to bed and feels much better this morning.

This afternoon, I played a racquetball match with a friend, just to play. (He ended up beating me all three games though - oh well.) Then we run to the church for Larry & Doreen to practice special music for Sabbath. When they finish up we boogie for Moe's for supper!

Yummy. I was starved. Perfect for eating at Moe's.

When we left there, we had to run to Sam's for TP and Papertowels. So we make that stop.

On the way home - I start noticing I don't feel right. Then it dawns on me, I've got a headache, A SPLITTING HEADACHE. It hurt right behind my eyes and at the base of my neck. I have not had a headache like this in quite some time. Plus, my stomach felt a bit queezy!

I had Doreen look in the glovebox and luckily we had a couple of Advil in there, so I quickly pop those. Once we got home, I laid down for a bit.

Feeling a bit better - but I need a good nights sleep!!!

Man, can't wait for this ALL to go away!!!

Paid in Full!

Our little Joelle has (hopefully) learned an important life lesson.

Each week, they have chores they have to do, just because they are part of the family and we all have chores to do to keep the household running.

They also have a set of chores they need to do if they want to get 'paid' every week. (Sort of an allowance thingy - but they have to do 'work' to earn the money.)

Anyway, we'd been doing this for a while and Joelle REALLY wanted to buy a character from the Transformers movie, Bumblebee. For quite a while the store didn't have one stocked. So she decided to buy a different Transformer. A few weeks ago, they got some Bumblebees in and Joelle wanted to get one. The only thing was, now she didn't have enough money. She kept begging and we'd kept answering, "Do you have enough money?" Finally she came up with, "You can use your money and I can pay you back."

Hummm, we thought. All right.

So we gave her a 'loan.' We also set up a payment plan so she can pay us back. On her first payday, she kinda freaked when all she recieved was her 'Jesus' money and savings.

Then we pulled out the agreement and showed her how she'd now began paying her 'loan' off.

Finally it sunk in.

Well, today, she made her final payment. Now she's ready to start 'saving' up for the next item she wants to purchase.

I'm hoping and praying that this helped her now and for the future!!!

Old Family???!!!

I was looking for another pic today and ran across this one. This is me with my folks and sisters. If I remember right - and I'm not sure I do - we had this done in either 1985 or 1986.

Anyway, it's fun to look at! :)

Enjoy!

Projects & Patience

Lots of things going on here in our neck of the woods.

Nice thing is, that even with everything going on - I'm able to get some projects going around here.

I've got two big projects going on. One - I'm gonna keep under my hat for now. Only to say I've been putting this one off for a year. Once I realized that, that was the motivation to get me going.

The second, though has been something that I've been meaning to do for quite some time and just never 'got-round-to-it.'

Well, once I started the 1st project, I was motivated to start the second and I'm making excellent progress. I've been wanting to 'scan' all the photos in our albums just to have them electronically and to have a back-up of them.

Then I remembered that for quite some time, we'd get our pics developed (this was before we got our 1st digital camera.) and order the pics on floppy disc too. Didn't remember where they were for the longest time, but finally found them.

One problem though was - not long after we got our computer Joelle and a friend jammed something in the floppy drive and it hasn't worked since. Part of the reason I hadn't done anything yet.

Then I decided to use the computer in Joelle's room - the one my folks gave us on our last vacation out there.

Ah ha!

So I've been working on it. We had 72 floppy drives with pictures on it going back to 1996.

Man that is awesome!!! Some of them were starting to fade - but with Google's Picasa cleaned some of them up nicely.

Cool!

Patience issue...

...a week ago, the right mirror on our car got bumped, broken and knocked off. This is the second one. Poor design I guess.

Anyway - last Monday (3-24th) I ordered a replacement. It was supposed to arrive Wed. Went in that evening and no mirror. Thur afternoon, still no mirror. Friday morning - problem found. Parts warehouse had mirror sitting on its shelf with no paperwork. No idea where to ship it. It'll be shipped to arrive Monday. Go in Monday, not there - driver dropped it at the wrong stop. It'll be here Tue - guaranteed. Go in today, sure enough it was there. Looked good. Take it out to the car and realize from the shape, they sent me the left one. AAARRRGGGHHHHH!!!!

Take it back in and find out the guy who originally ordered it screwed it up royally!

The Bible says "All things work together for good..." Ok - I'm waiting to find the good in this situation. Maybe I'll have to wait for heaven.

Anyway - they promise it will be here in 3 to 5 days. We'll see!

Later!

Sickness in the Land

Seems like a bug of one sort or another has been going around this area forever! Joelle had the flu not to long ago, I had something a while back and in fact just Friday half of Joelle's class was missing. There were only 8 students in attendance.

Anyway, Natalie woke in the middle of the night and needed something, so Doreen gave her a drink of water. Then she woke up about 45 min later complaining of a stomach ache. Thinking she might be a bit hungry, we gave her a few crackers. Then 30 minutes later she came in saying she couldn't get back to sleep. So we had her crawl into bed with us. She cuddled right up next to me and went right to sleep. (We think she was cold and I warmed her right up to a good sleeping temp.


She got up and got a shower for church, got out and started crying. Then got dressed in some warm clothes, not Sabbath clothes cuz we hadn't had breakfast yet, and was complaining about being cold. So we bundled her up and tried to get her to eat. She did - barely.

Doreen mentioned that she ought to stay at home with Natalie. After a moment, I agreed. I took Joelle and went to church. Before leaving though, I had to get these two pics. Natalie was 'so cold' she went to lay down on the heating vent. Of course Doreen took the opportunity to lay right back down too. Hummmm! Did I get the bummer end of the stick?

Nah!

A Stroll Down Memory Lane

Today I was looking through a drawer and came across some pictures. A bunch of them from a 'few' years ago.

Well - this was one of them. Who is this 'dark-eyed' beauty? My precious wife. As I sat and looked at this photo this morning, it dawned on me. It's no wonder that I fell for here. She was, and still is, extremely beautiful! Both on the inside and outside!!!






As I was rifling through the pics, I found this one, a shot of us at our first banquet together. Good memories.










Then I found another one, this one. I believe this was taken the summer between our Freshman and Sophmore years at college. We'd gone to 6 Flags over Texas this day with her sister and a couple of friends.

Here's a funny story about this photo. We decided to have it taken, and while Doreen was in the dressing room we hear a big 'bang.' Turns out she wacked her head on something and started bleading. So Shelly got her a tissue and they got a band-aid from the photographer and go the blood flow curbed. We took the picture, and to cover the band-aid she 'flopped' her bangs down over it.

Another good memory.

You know, I have lots and LOTS of good memories with my precious, precious wife!

What an unexpected, yet fun stroll down memory lane today!!!

Racquetball Tournament - Round 1

I had my first game of the racquetball tournament. It's a double elimination tournament and for that I'm extremely glad because I got whipped!

Rodney and I played 2 weeks ago, and that was the last I've played until today. I beat him then and today, he handed me a loss quite convincingly. The match only went two games. He beat me 15-11 and 15-10. The second game I had him down 7 to 1 and couldn't capitalize.

This pretty much sums up the game. I had pinned him in the back of the court a couple of times and hit soft dribblers into the wall he couldn't get. I had another opportunity to do another one and decided to wack a hard kill shot, cuz he was sneaking up. So I nailed it and he 'flailed' his racquet, hit the ball with a perfect high lob that died in the back court that I couldn't get to. The whole game will filled with stuff like that.

Man, that was frustrating.

So, now I have one loss and cannot lose again or I'm out of the tournament. I drop to the 'losers' side of the bracket, which should make it somewhat easier - but still. I really dislike losing!

Oh well - Next Round!!!

Thoroughly Inspected

This is a two part post.

A - informative
B - requesting prayer.

So, my inlaws have a chance to retire from trucking. They had some property here in the Chattanooga area that sold, and now they are hoping to sell their truck. If that happens - they'll be pretty much set, for a while.

In the mean-time, they are taking a Home Inspection class to build a new business for themselves.

Well, they've got 7 people in the class, and they needed houses to inspect for practice and to learn. So we offered ours for the class to use.

Today was the day. 7 people, plus the teacher, walking around our house really giving it a go-over.

What I've come up with is that our house needs some serious work. Tomorrow in class they'll be going over what they saw a 'write' up a report. Can't wait to see the official results!

It was kind of fun! I even learned a lot, not that it's that suprising! :)

Prayer request, pray that things go through for Larry & Sandra to be able to permantly make the transition!

1st for the Season

Today I mowed our lawn for the first time of this season. It's actually needed it for about a week or so, but we've been too busy to get to it.

Well - my scheduled finally lightened up a bit. I've been home more than 12 hours. So I was able to get the mowing done today. I tell ya it looks a LOT better. Especially our back yard. It was getting hairy.

The only problem with starting the mowing, we gotta keep up with it now.

The nice thing about it is, we've got a push mower, so it is good exercise. And with weed wacking, mowing and picking up sticks and Mocha's junk, I can do it in just under two hours.

Not bad!

I do love the smell of fresh cut grass though!! :)

Mustachio

Well, I'm now back home for a few short hours, between trips #1 to OH & #2 to LA, and I wanted to blog these pics for you to enjoy!!!

Sabbath was QUITE a day for us. In fact Doreen told me on the phone, as I was laying in the bunk of a truck heading North and we were just talking about the day, that both the girls had told her Sabbath was the BESTEST day! Guess cuz we had so much going on! Let's see, Sleeping in, Sonrise Service, Lunch with Grandparents, afternoon rollerblading, evening Church social. Yeah quite full and lots of fun.

Just for a bit of a back-story, the social was a 'welcome' to our new associate pastor coming in. It was basically fingerfoods, singing and games, after sundown.

Just before game time though, a couple of ladies got up and did an improv 'skit' as Ricky & Lucille Ball of the "I Love Lucy" show for an official welcome. It was hilarious!

Well they had some 'fake' mustaches they used as a prop for the skit. Afterwards they let the kids play with the stuff...

...and my kids took full advantage of it. Joelle couldn't WAIT to try that mustache on. Once she had it on, she didn't want to take it off! :) Too funny!










Natalie wanted to get into the act too. She was impressed that the mustache matched the color of her shirt.
















Then Natalie became the photographer and put the mustache on me and snapped the photo! Too precious!










This set of 'green' antenna was used in the skit and you can see how happy Natalie was to try it on!

Rollin' Down the Sidewalk

After taking the kids rollerskating a couple of weeks ago, some neighbor girls have in-line skates. Joelle mentioned she'd like a pair.

I'm not stingy, I don't mind spending money on stuff that will last a while. I don't, however, like buying things that they'll just grow out of in a few months.

So I went to the local 'Thrift Store' and dug through 4 bins full of helmets, racquets, balls and roller blands and found two pair. One to fit Joelle and one to fit Natalie.

Here's the kicker, I only paid $2.27 for both! Whooo hooooo!

Natalie has tried hers a bit. Not too thrilled about it though.

Joelle, though, with the neighbor girls just took off and has been rollin all over the neighborhood!

That is gonna be AWESOME for this summer!!!

SONRise Service

Today instead of a normal church service, we went to the 13th Annual SONRise service at the Collegedale Church in association with Southern Adventist University.

They started us in the sanctuary with a 'modern' day tale, then 'time-warped' us back to Jerusalem in Bible times. We got to 'walk-thru' the city with all the shops and stuff.





The girls got a chance to pet a donkey, a baby camel, a cow, a llama and see some goats and sheep.
















It was nice because we walked all over campus and got to see it's beauty. Here, Joelle and Natalie are watching 'Jesus' in the Garden of Gethsemane.









Larry, Sandra, Doreen and Natalie are sitting on the sidewalk behind the gym as we witness the scene on Golgotha.

















Here is the scene of Jesus and the two thieves on the cross. Then we went into the gym for the resurrection! What a very powerful portrayal of what Christ did for us!

Very, VERY nice!!!

"John" Repair #2

No, not that number two.

A couple of months ago I had to replace the 'guts' of one of our stools in the bathroom. Just wasn't working right.

Well, this week, on the day I was home 12 hours, the potty in our main bathroom, got stopped up.

I was annoyed to say the least because someone put too much paper in it. Well, I got it to flush and in doing the clean-up, found that the hose from the water-line to the tank was leaking.

A blessing in disguse? Probably!

So I shut the water line off and yesterday put a new one in - no problems now!!!

Such is the life of a home-owner! :)

Under the Sea OR A Day Off

Today, Good Friday, the kids had no school. Thankfully I was home. (Doreen was too, but she NEEDED to get some studying done.) So Joelle, Natalie and I went to the TN Aquarium. Yes, Natalie and I had just been there on a field trip, but Joelle was wanting to go - so we did. And boy did we have a ball!

At the last section of the "Ocean Journey" building they have a huge cave system build under the HUGE sea water tank. It's awesome to go through. Well, Natalie all of a sudden got in the posing for pictures mode. So she'd pose and say "Daddy, take a picture." Well, I never pass an opportunity to take a pic of my kiddos!

One of the photos, the girls lay down on a ledge together and it was just so cute, I had to share it with you!!!

Enjoy!

John 15:13,14 "Greater love...

... hath no man than this, that a man lay down his life for his friends."

This evening we went to a combo Communion service and Baptism for a couple of boys. It was actually a great way to begin Easter weekend.

The pastor told a story though, I'd never heard before. One that really was amazing at what this man was willing to do. Maximillian Kolbe. A Polish Priest in a German Concentration camp. Let me share it with you.

A prisoner had escaped from Auschwitz. The camp's rule was that if one prisoner escaped, ten died in his place. All day the weak and underfed men from the escaped prisoner's block were made to stand in the sun without food and water. When the man was not found, a prison guard randomly called out the names of ten men who were to die in his place.

When Sergeant Francis Gajowniczek heard his name called, he cried out, "Have mercy! I have a wife and children." But mercy was a commodity in short supply in Nazi death camps.

Into the gap stepped Maximilian Kolbe. He moved forward silently. Asked what he wanted, he replied, "I am a Catholic priest from Poland; I would like to take his place, because he has a wife and children." Hesitating a moment in face of this noble gesture, Commandant Fritsch accepted the replacement. Maximilian and nine others were sent to Building 13, to starve to death.

During those two weeks when typically men are screaming and groaning in agony, Maximilian led the victims in hymns and prayer. When he became too weak to speak aloud, he whispered his prayers. After two weeks, only four of the ten were still alive. Maximilian alone was completely conscious. The guards needed the space for more prisoners and decided to hasten the deaths with lethal doses of carbolic acid. Maximilian was last.

Wow - would I be willing to do that?

Humm - something to think about!

Cool Formation - Just Wingin' It! :)

Just happened to come across this photo this evening of the U.S. Navy Carrier Air Wing Eight jets fly in formation from USS Theodore Roosevelt in 2003. Awesome.

Now let's see, the first 4 planes are F-14's, the 8 on the left and right are F-15's. I believe that one in the center is an F-4 and the one at the very tail is an AWACS plane, but I'm not sure what the other two in the back section are. Help?! :)

Enjoy the photo!

A Not so Close Call

Last weekend was a big dental exhibition in Atlanta, GA they have every year.

Doreen could have gone as a student, but since it wasn't required and as a Dental Hygientist, she'll probably need to go in the future - she decided to pass on this one.

Well - turns out it was a good thing.

A half a dozen of her classmates and a couple of instructors were there and we got a scary e-mail Sat afternoon.

Her collegues who'd gone down were right in the middle of the area that got hit with the tornado. They could feel the hotel swaying and shaking. Windows in the convention center were blown in. Chairs and stuff were strewn everywhere - including outside, they spent the rest of the night huddled in a stairwell.

Ooofff. That must have been an awful experience!

Sure glad Doreen passed this one up!!!

Extra Holes Filled

As you'll read in a later post, on Wed, I was home less than 12 hours.

For two of those hours, I was sitting in a dentist chair getting a couple of extra holes in my head, that weren't supposed to be there filled.

For those dental type people, it was teeth 14 & 15 that had the problems.

Then, one other thing. Years ago, I chipped my right front tooth, just on the edge.

It didn't look the best, so my dentist at the time fixed it. It didn't look much better. It was a different shade of white and was shaped funny.

Quite a while back, that addition chipped off, and being leary of another dentist screwing it up again - I just left it.

Well, Dr C looked at it a couple of weeks ago and said when we fill those cavities, I'm just gonna clean that chipped tooth up a bit.

Ok.

So he did it Wednesday and it looks awesome. In fact Doreen can't almost tell that it's there.

The shading is perfect and the shape looks completely normal!

It is so awesome. He really seemed to enjoy that part of all the work he did on me that day.

My father-in-law says that some people are 'artisians' at their profession and do an excellent job at what they do just because they want to. It is not a job for them - it's almost an artform.

Well, that is Dr C. He's an artisian!

Awesome!

Pride Goeth Before a Fall

Man that verse is SO very true.

Last week I was 'braggin' that my job was the most awesome and I had like 5 days off, without taking PTO.

Well - all that bragging came back to bite in the bunz - HARD!

Left Sun eveing for a run to Erie, PA then to Gentry, AR.

Turns out I didn't get home until Wednesday morning. All three nights, I had to drive anywhere from 8 to 11 hours all starting around midnight. Man, that is ROUGH! A 2,700 mile trip.

With the miles/cases unloading ratio we have, I made my week - 5 days. Well, I hadn't taken two runs - so I get assigned another 700 mile, 5 stop run to near Macon, GA that left less than 12 hours after getting back from the 1st run.

I ended up making 7 days of work this week. Oy vai! Am I bushed.

Ok - that is the last time I brag like that again!

Aarrrgghhhhhhh!

I hate Murphy's law! :)

High Waters

On a run this week I ended up at our plant in Gentry, AR. Getting there was the fun part.

A TON of rain had come down already and in the weather report they were expecting another 6 to 8 inches to come down - THAT DAY!

I saw houses covered, a volleyball net just about completely under water. A set of basketball hoops just barely above the water line and LOTS of streams and creeks flowing like rivers.

Roads were flowing occassionaly.

We hit one puddle that was so full of water, the spray from our tires hit another truck about 25 feet away.

Of course, fueling, swapping trailers and equipment had us soaked - literally!

Wow - what weather!!!

Spring has Sprung OR Bloomin Trees

Spring has Sprung! Doreen was talking to her sis today & Shelly asked if we had trees blooming. Yep. We've got spring like weather today. Its coming Northward Shelly! Hang on! LOL

Eighth and Ninth Racquetball League Games, Plus One

Since I had most of the week off, I contacted the next two opponents in our racquetball league to see if we could squeeze the next two games in.

Got an e-mail back from one and she could play on Thur and didn't hear back from the second one.

So, for fun I set up a game with former elementary classmate from our days in Battle Creek Mi, Aaron B. We played Wednesday nite at 7p. It was a challenge. I won the 1st game and he the second and then I took the third. It was a lot of fun and great exercise!

Then my game against Sonya was Thursday evening at 5pm. She is ranked #2 in our league and had only lost one game. It was a hard fought game. I won the first game 15-13, she won the second 15-6 and the third 11-9. Man, I was wore out after that one.

I heard from the last guy, Thur afternoon and he wanted to play Fri. So at noon, the game was on. Doreen went with me to sit and watch and study, then we hit Subway afterwards.

For some reason, I felt like I was running in mud when I'd go after the ball. Couldn't figure it out. (Come to find out, I was sore and stiff - even though I streached properly - from the two previous games.)

I eventually ended up beating Rodney 15-11, 15-11, on both games. Wheew!

My record for the season is 6 wins and 3 losses.

Now, we just wait for everyone else to wrap up the rest of their games and then we seed the championship tourney. It's a double elimination tournament.

It looks like we'll have 13 people in our "B" league division. If it all holds true, it looks like I'll be seeded 6th.

What lots of FUN! Plus I get the added extra of good exercise!

Field Trip # 3 - TN Aquarium

Since I still 'float' in my job, I asked the scheduler to make sure I had Thur off to be able to go on a class field trip for my youngest daughter. I LOVE going on these things with her. Well, in an earlier post, I talked about getting stuck in the snow - well - it was all worth it because I was done with my week of work by Tuesday morning at 6:30am when I got home and I've had the rest of the week at home to be home! Nice!!!


Thursday, we did the field trip thingy at the Tennessee Aquarium. Here's my precious little Natalie, on the left, with two of her very good friends, Alyssa (c) and Caroline (r).

















Here Natalie and I were in the butterfly room and she was trying to get one one land on her and was feeling kind of disappointed that none were. (To those of you who know my daughter this is a HUGE change of opinion for her!) So I knelt down with her and cuddled her into a hug, and not 30 sec later this butterfly lands on her wrist. You can tell by her face how incredibly pleased she is!


I had to chuckle, because we walked into the Bayou room and I was talking with another parent, I turn around, look through the glass and see Natalie opening and closing her mouth at the baby alligator floating in the water. It was hilarious, yet extremely cute, so I snapped a quick pic!