This blog is not a sexy blog nor a particularly funny blog. Think of it like your local water cooler where people meet to exchange stories. I will share what is going through my head at the time. Feel free to do the same.
Welcome to my little corner of the Internet.
The family reunion was held at a park this year off of a good size lake. So hows about we start out with Captain Jason, my brother. He brought his boat with him and the following are a few pictures of it. Of course we had to have the captain picture. I was up in the nose of the boat, on display, looking pretty. OK, that is a lie. No one wanted to see that.
He spent the day taking people out for a tour of the lake and returning them safe and sound. On one such trip they stopped for a for some fishing. Key word fishing, not catching but that is OK.
This is about the best picture I got of his boat. He picked it and a trailer up the beginning of this year for under $1,000. Now it is a 30 plus year old boat (Chrysler) but in this area you really can only use a boat 4 to 6 months out of the year if that so it is not all that old and looks in good shape.
A picture out the back of the boat. I thought the wake was rather nice.
And now one for Strumpet and G-Man. My brothers flag on the back of his boat.
Lets move on to the wildlife. There was much more than I captured here but that is OK. How about some swans. How many was it in that song? Seven Swans a Swimming? Well this only shows 5 but there were 10 in this little group if I was not so zoomed in.
I thought this picture turned out nice.
You can not see how nice this was but this swan was stretched all out and then shook off big time. I think it was it's version of the Saturday night bath.
And finally Mr Squirrel. He had a fascination with us for about a half hour. I thought he was going to join us at the tables a few time. But then he retreated to the tree.
A while ago I stumbled across an interesting blog out there. The name of the site is blog interviewer. They provide a place to leave a brief interview about your site and allow people to vote either thumbs up if you are in favor of the persons blog, or vote thumbs down if you are against it. A running total is kept of how many thumbs up you receive so you can see who gets the most votes in a month. Then everything is set to zero and you start over again with the voting. So for you the blog owner you get some exposure you may not have gotten and get an idea of how your blog compares to others.
For everyone else you get to go and vote for your favorite blogs to help them win for the month. More importantly, you can use this to see if there are any blogs you might be interested in reading. A link is provided that will take you right to their blog.
And of course for blog interviewer they get more and more traffic which allows them to get paid for what they aer doing.
Basically it seems to be a win/win/win to me.
I have talked to one of the people with the site, Mike, and he seems to be ambitious about this and a super person to boot. If things keep up they way they have this could develop into a place to bookmark for sure. Speaking of bookmark, if you wish to visit them, click on the picture below.
Now for the second part of this post. I know three people that are running in the top 5 that would really love a vote from you if you can manage. It will not cost you anything, wont take long, and I have not seen any mail from them. All you need to do is click on one of the links before (please visit all three however) and give them a thumbs up. They allow you to vote once every 24 hours but, at least this time around, the clock runs out at the end of the day and then everything is reset to zero.
So if you have a moment, it would be nice if you could click the following links, and then click on the thumbs up symbol at the top of the page. I know they would appreciate it and I would too.
Thanks so much. Oh and give Blog Interviewer a try sometime. They are just beginning and I already see a potential to be a pretty useful site.
UPDATE:
Provided there was no cheating and no votes get thrown out, here is what the top 5 look like. Go Crabby.
Crabby's Cowpie Field- Crabby +230 rating raymi the minx- Raymi Lauren +217 rating Read This Sign- Signgurl +86 rating I want to see, too!- Teresa Deak +81 rating Gabalot's bits- Gab +73 rating
Thanks everyone. Congratulations to Crabby, SignGurl, and Gab who did super.
I am on my way out the door sometime tomorrow morning for a family reunion and probably will not be back until Sunday night. Have a great weekend everyone.
Now the layout. I am looking into placing a picture in the header. I am not sure what it is like doing this in the new layout but I am still using the old layout. After a lot of attempts I finally got something I kinda like. The problem is it looks great (well OK) in FireFox but not very good at all in Internet Explorer. I will try and work on that some more but I don't know, I have already spent almost 2 hours trying to figure out why it is so different and fix it.
Now the picture. I talked to Crabby and asked her for a picture or pictures of Lucy that I could add to my header. Well not only did I get some cute picture of Lucy that I will find a way to work into an even better head picture but she also included this picture of Friday, a dog who has since passed on. When I saw the picture I just knew with a little cropping I could use it as my head picture until I can get together an even better picture. So no, that is not my dog. And thank you so much Crabby for allowing me to use the pictures. You are the best.
The others are so jealous how good she is. All the clarinetists so want to be first chair.
In honor of the summer time it just felt right to tie it into band camp and why not do that by picking on the liquorish stick aka clarinet. My sister used to play clarinet and was often first chair. She was pretty good despite having braces. I managed to do so so with it but I did not know all the fingerings and boy did I like to squeak the high notes. Maybe I just did not have the reed wet enough. Maybe I was just destined to be 159th chair if I ever tried out.
This has been a 55Flash Fiction Friday. If you would like to join the group of people and give this a try we would love to have you. We promise not to count how many words or criticize. If you do decide to give it a try, just post it up on Friday and let Suzie (G-Man for this week) know that you played by leaving a comment on their blog so everyone can come and visit.
If you want to know more about doing one of these you can click on the link on my side bar or feel free to ask about it. It is not all that bad once you give it a try and it gets even easier.
A recent post was a picture I found of the WayBack machine. I posted the picture and everything looked fine. Then today I look and there is a face in the picture now. Now where did that come from?
Here is the same picture I just found on the WEB again so you can see it without the face.
Now I did not change that top picture and I am sure you did not change it. I doubt the Blogger would change it (or would it?) So the only possible conclusion is I am haunted. And it is not even Halloween. Yikes. I am scarred.
I went a wandering yesterday. Well truth be told I was going to get me some cheap Mexican. Number 13 with hot sauce. Yum. Anyway I was on my way walking past the Hallmark store and I was curious so I looked in the window. There is was...
It’s Christmas in July. Well they do not call it that but they do release their Christmas keepsake ornaments in July every year. Here are but a few that they have. The first two do not arrive in the store until October however.
I have always threatened to do my Christmas cards in July and mail them out since I never seem to have the time at Christmas time and before I know it, it is past Christmas. Maybe his year. I have about a week left ...
I found out something interesting after I left work last night. I was minding my own business going to the home improvement store (Home Depot) to get some grass mending supplies. I have had enough of how many weeds I have so I figure a little water since we are not getting rain (OK so a lot of water) and some weed and feed and some quick grow seed for other areas... and I will probably see no improvement but I just have to try. Anyway I am getting off subject.
There used to be this small building at the entrance to the parking lot. That is now torn down and the ground is all worked up and there is now a sign.
Coming Fall of 2007... Tim Horton’s.
Whoo Hooo. Hey maybe the G-Man may even visit more often now. :) I clocked it, it is about 2 miles from my house, near a legitimate stop (home improvement place) and, if I change the way I go into work, on my way to work. I need to give it a try once they get it done. Looking forward to it. I have enjoyed what things I have had at other Horton’s in the past. The only problem... my gosh, I swear there are coffee houses everywhere. Downtown (which this is not downtown) there are 5 within two or three blocks. Seems like a bit much to me.
It was only a matter of time before she would swoop in for that fatal bite.
Alas she holds something over me as I did not even struggle to get away.
Finally the Red Cross nurse cleans my arm and inserts the needle. I hope I don’t become undead now.
OK, giving blood is not all that but it is still an important thing to do if you can. They are always in need of fresh meat ... I mean more blood as they always seem to be in a critical shortage.
If you would like to give Flash55 a try it is simple. Click on the link in my side panel. It will take you to a prior post that Suzie posted about it. It is easy to do and I think you will like it. Once you have posted please stop by and let Suzie know you played.
While I am scanning slides and possibly pictures I thought I would post a few that I find that were cute or possibly interesting. So I am going to try and do that on Wednesdays for the next several weeks and see how that goes. I hoped that there were some real old pictures but it looks like, at least in the slides, we only go back to about 1964.
This is something I always remember. Now it is not because it was such a fun place to go to. It is more because my Dad took a couple of pictures and I remember seeing the slides over and over again. There first two are from a park. I thought it was in Wisconsin but now I am thinking it may have been in Indiana or Illinois somewhere near the border with Michigan. You can see both me (at about 6 or so?) and my sister who is 18 months younger. The picture I always remember, and I am glad I now hae a copy of, is the one of the two of us in a pumpkin. It is funny, I do not really remember the park but I do remember going around inside that pumpkin to find the holes so we could poke our heads out.
These I do believe are a couple of pictures from the Wisconsin Dells. I tell you, my Dad did not do to bad with the old camera. It would have been fun to take pictures with him. My Mom is the one that takes the pictures now. You know, I think I know the Chiefs name ... I think it was something like OhWhatABuckOfBull. Oh wait, I think that is a politician I am thinking about.
Well this is all for now. I have been so busy I did not get many slides scanned since Sunday but I am sure I will find a few more by next Wednesday. Happy hump day everyone.
OK, how about something a little lighter here. Over the weekend I have been scanning my parents slides. I am probably going to be putting in another 50 to 60 hours to get it done. Well while doing this I found a few pictures of me from back in 1975 when I was a senior in High School. So how about I put those up...
First here I am (on the right) with my parents. I can not believe how young everyone is.
OK, I know I have mentioned it before but here are a couple of pictures of me in Band-A-Rama. It is a band show that brings together all the bands that my director taught. You would hear music, see marching, have to put up with skits (that I thought were very funny) and in general you were entertained for 2 to 3 hours. It was usually very well attended and we would put on 4 separate performances. Anyway, here you see me marching in using a French Trumpet. Since I played French Horn and not many people in their right mind march with a French Horn, I either marched with the French Trumpet or mellophone. Anyway, I am up front, the third person from the right or right in front of the much shorter person.
OK, now I was not sure I wanted to put this one in but I figured I said I wanted to keep it light, right? In this picture I am the second from the right, third from the left... you know, the real super geeky looking one looking at the camera. That be me.
Finally, here we have Raggedy Andy. We had set the theme for homecoming as Through the Eyes of a Child. When you think of it that is a pretty cool thing. Try it sometime just seeing all the wonder there is in the world when you are seeing it for the first time. Anyway we built a winning float (hey we had some creative people on board) that featured Raggedy Ann and Raggedy Andy. So that just seemed like a natural to dress up like Raggedy Andy for ... well for what ever. I think I made a not to bad Andy. Boy I sure did get skinny in my senior year.
Well there you have it. A few treasures from my past, 1975 to be exact. As I continue on with this project I will see if there are a few other pictures I can sneak up here. I know there is a picture of me and my sister sticking our head out of a big pumpkin from somewhere in Wisconsin I think. Have a great week everyone.
And that is no joke. Living alone has it's pluses and minuses. One in the minus category, if there is ever a medical emergency there is no one around to help you. Well that is what happened today.
I was dinning on steak among other things long about 9:30 Friday night. I cut a rather big piece and apparently did not chew it like I should have. When I swallowed it I knew I was in big trouble. It was not going down. I took a little sip and hopped that would help but no way did that help.
About now I realized what a predicament I was in. Here I was about to choke to death. How on earth was I to perform the Heimlich on myself??? I got up and dashed to the bathroom. I was not having any luck. The next thing that flashed through my head was to run to the neighbors but A) who knows if she was home, B) I did not have pants on and how on earth would that look frantically pounding away on her door? Would you answer the door? C) How on earth would I get across what was happening?
Sure I could call 911 but that would take a while for them to get someone on the way and, even though the fire department is fairly close who knows if it would be soon enough. So I went back in the bathroom and started to do what I could to try and dislodge the steak.
No gross details or anything but I did manage to get it loose and now all I have is a semi raw throat.
I AM SO LUCKY TO BE ALIVE!
Well now you know my excitement for Friday night. I sure hope you had a better Friday then me.
Update: Per a comment from Strumpet I did a little search and found this article on performing Heimlich on yourself. Very good to know in case of emergency. Thank you Strumpet.
The tree lights up and I gun it smoking the tires all the way. I am not the first off the line and I will pay dearly for that. I manage to get her under control only to have to slam on the breaks and come to a quick halt. City driving is a b*tch.
There, not my best but that is certainly fiction if you have ever driven with me. I do squawk the tires on occasion but that is about it. Watching people drive sometimes reminds me so of those drag race cars and the scene depicted here. Have a wonderful weekend every one. Oh and do go visit Suzie and give a 55 flash a try sometime. Click the link on my side bar if you want more info about the 55 flash.
Boy was that fun. Last Friday just as I was getting ready to head out for the weekend I saw them. There were a few ants. Not really sure where they were coming from and could not tell where they were heading. I had no choice but to head out and deal with them when I got back after the weekend.
Oh My Gosh there were a lot of them when I got back. Not like a million in on place or anything but still. Having taken my computer down with me over the weekend I decided to not hock it back up and get some work done. I knew if I hooked it up the temptation of bloging would be to great.
Well finally after midnight Wednesday (so early Thursday) I finally hooked the computer back up. So are the ants gone. I thought I did pretty good but you know, I just looked and they are again crawling on the power cord for the computer. Arg!!!!
Any thsi weekend was fun. I went to the Detroit area to celebrate my birthday once again. Cake, ice cream, BBQ, swimming, and prizes later it was time to head off for the evening entertainment. First up the Hard Rock Café in Detroit. The music was very enjoyable, the place was nice but you know what... it was the person that waited on us the made this a very enjoyable evening. She was so funny and observant and witty and went along with things like a trouper. We were held up waiting for two cousins to show up. We were there probably over an hour waiting. Well she asked some questions and when they showed up she said ah Paul is here now, we can get started. A little while later the manager showed up with a drink and said “here is your drink Paul” and a few other staff did similar things. Paul is the kidder so he was having a good time with it to.
In the end it was super and the best time I have ever had at a restaurant ever. Oh and I ended up with a nice tasteful Hard Rock Café Detroit shirt too. What more could one ask for.
Next up a short stroll on the streets of Detroit and we were at the Greektown Casino. Now I have never been in a casino before. There were machines and people EVERYWHERE. It was something else. Maybe it was because it was 7/7/ 07 which was suppose to be lucky. Anyway I wander every which place and then plunked myself down at the penny slots. Yes I am a big spender. I hate to gamble since I know it is far more likely the house will win and I will lose.
I was spending between 1 cent to 20 cents per push on the slots and sometimes I did OK, other times not so good. I still have no clues on what payed off sometimes. Final results, I was down $5.00 after 1 hour of play and that was only because I was trying to bet bigger at the end since some of our party WAS READY TO GO pretty early. Video poker was not kind to them. I am not going to get addicted or anything but I can see myself going back. Oh SignGurl...
Oh and by the way, I felt out of my element at the casino otherwise I might just have sat there and people watched. I mean there were ladies with tons of tattoos all the way through people in fairly nice suits. Heavy people, skinny people, tall people, short people, oh and a ton of people watching the Detroit Tigers play and win their baseball game in the 13th inning. The place went crazy for a second when that happened. I thought someone hit a huge jackpot. I am sure if I were to look around a little more I could have found just about anything there.
Sunday was much more low key but I got to visit with the folks a little before heading home and dealing WITH THE DREADED ANTS. I do have a few pictures I should take and post. Maybe I will do that after the 55Flash. Tonight I am off to a baseball game. It is Thirsty Thursday where the beer (and pop) are much cheaper. Who ever heard of a $2.00 beer at a baseball game even though this is a minor league game? Oh yes, tonight should be fun.
I hope to be back around either later tonight or Wednesday. Until then I thought you might enjoy something cute that I received in eMail...
New Rules for 2007
New Rule: Stop giving me that pop-up ad for classmates.com! There's a reason you don't talk to people for 25 years. Because you don't particularly like them!? Besides, I already know what the captain of the football team is doing these days--mowing my lawn. New Rule: Don't eat anything that's served to you out a window unless you're a seagull. People are acting all shocked that a human fi nger was found in a bowl of Wendy's chili. Hey, it cost less than a dollar. What did you expect it to contain?? Trout?
New Rule:? Ladies, leave your eyebrows alone. Here's how much men care about your eyebrows: do you have two of them? Okay, we're done.
New Rule: There's no such thing as flavored water. There's a whole aisle of this crap at the supermarket, water, but without that watery taste. Sorry, but flavored water is called a soft drink. You want flavored water? Pour some scotch over ice and let it melt. That's your flavored water.
New Rule: Stop screwing with old people. Target is introducing a redesigned pill bottle that's square, with a bigger label. And the top is now the bottom. And by the time grandpa figures out how to open it, his ass will be in the morgue. Congratulations, Target, you just solved the Social Security crisis.
New Rule: The more complicated the Starbucks order, the bigger the asshole. If you walk into a Starbucks and order a "decaf grande half-soy, half-low fat, iced vanilla, double-shot, gingerbread cappuccino, extra dry, light ice, with one sweet-n'-Low, and one NutraSweet," ooh, you're a huge asshole.
New Rule: I'm not the cashier! By the time I look up from sliding my card, entering my PIN number, pressing "Enter," verifying the amount, deciding no, I don't want cash back, and pressing "Enter" again, the kid who is supposed to be ringing me up is standing there eating my Almond Joy.
New Rule: Just because your tattoo has Chinese characters in it doesn't make you spiritual. It's right above the crack of your ass. And it translates to "beef with broccoli." The last time you did anything spiritual, you were praying to God you weren't pregnant. You're not spiritual. You're just high.
New Rule: Competitive eating isn't a sport . It's one of the seven deadly sins. ESPN recently televised the U.S. Open of Competitive Eating, because watching those athletes at the poker table was just too damned exciting. What's next, competitive farting??? Oh wait!? They're already doing that. It's called "The Howard Stern Show."
New Rule: I don't need a bigger mega M&Ms. If I'm extra hungry for M&Ms, I'll go nuts and eat two.
New Rule: No more gift registries. You know, it used to be just for weddings. Now it's for babies and new homes and graduations from rehab. Picking out the stuff you want and having other people buy it for you isn't gift giving, it's the white people version of looting.
New Rule: and this one is long overdue: No more bathroom attendants. After I zip up, some guy is offering me a towel and a mint like I just had sex with George Michael. I can't even tell if he's supposed to be there, or just some freak with a fetish. I don't want to be on your web cam, dude. I just want to wash my hands.
New Rule: When I ask how old your toddler is, I don't need to know in months. "27 Months." "He's two," will do just fine. He's not a cheese. And I didn't really care in the first place.
New Rule: If you ever hope to be a credible adult and want a job that pays better than minimum wage, then for God's sake don't pierce or tattoo every available piece of flesh. If so, then plan your future around saying, "Do you want fries with that?"
He served his country He’s a musician and a poet He has a kind soul He’s married to a wonderful wife He has a dog, cats and bunnies He and I have known each other for sometime He is my friend And one last fun little fact Today is his birthday Happy Birthday Top Cat
First Happy 4th of July to anyone that celebrates it. Did you know that here in the states, the 4th of July is the day when the most beer is consumed, or was that just alcohol? Follow that by Labor day, Memorial Day, and Super Bowl Sunday.
Oops, that is not the 4th of July image I meant to put up ... or was it? Let's try again...
Boy last night the old fireworks were going off at my house right from ye old bedroom. Woo hoo! Things were really intense for a moment there. I tell you if there was ever a performance to oh and ah about, that was it. And it lasted so long too. I best stop, now I am just bragging.
Anyway most of the fireworks were very clearly visible from my bedroom. They had the usual, they had the crowd pleasers (I love those funny thing that just seem to either go in circle or very rapidly in every which direction and whistle for all they are worth). They had the Red, White, and Blue ones. They had shapes as I know I saw at least several red heart shaped fireworks. What firework show would be complete without the fireworks that just plain old go BOOM or Palm Trees or even those ones that look like the head of a big old dandelion that has turned to seed. Yep, they had them. It was a pretty darn good show and I saw all that right from my bedroom.
I could not believe it, people were leaving early too. There were people walking past my house 15 minutes before the fireworks finished and it would have taken then at least 10 to 15 minutes to get to there so they left before even half the fireworks were over. Why, especially if you are on foot?
The traffic was insane. Now I live in a somewhat small community, only about 36,000 or so people but there were people leaving the fireworks/park festivities an hour later. There were traffic jams and police directing traffic. I mean, it was an hour later. I do not think we can even handle that many people where I live. I have to check today. I bet where I live sunk at least a few inches from all the people in the area.
Onward to Third in a Series of Four ... Time to continue on the birthday tradition. Today, the 4th of July, is GAB’s birthday. Now I was suppose to be born on the 4th but I came early. GAB however pulled it off. Every year they light of fireworks in her honor all across the USA right on her very special day, her birthday. Happy birthday GAB. I hope you, Mr Gab and the grand kids can take in some grandma fireworks today.
First here is a link to GAB's blog if you would like to wish her a happy birthday. And here are a few links to John Philip Sousa's Stars and Stripes Forever. It seemed appropriate for today and for Gail's birthday.
I just had to wish Crabcake aka Crabby, a very Happy Birthday. If you get a chance why don't you stop by and wish her a Happy Birthday too. She is over at the Cowpie Field on the link bar on the side.
I know I was being a little selfish and celebrating my birthday on Sunday and forgot about Canada's birthday, a day of the year we both share. So I thought I would post this picture of a hot air balloon I found. What better way to wish Canada a belated happy birthday?
What fun yesterday was and I want to say thank you so much to everyone. It really means a lot that you all helped me celebrate my golden anniversary, being on this earth for 50 years.
It was a most unusual day but also superb. Getting to visit with friends and family (although no family yesterday) is always high on my list. Add to that being able to take two wonderful trips where I got to take in all the scenery as the miles just ticked away, never once getting lost even though most of the trip I was in virgin territory. Driving along in my minivan is not exactly a motorcycle or a convertible but I still had a fun time. Besides, I could just pretend I was in my car from years gone by, my Chrysler Laser with the lovely t-roof. Of course the t-roof would be stowed in it's bags and in the trunk for safe keeping. Ahhh, you know I am starting to enjoy my trip even more after the fact. Maybe I should picture the convertible next... lol
I will post more later when I have a few moments. I was so tired this morning that I over slept and need to dash into work.
Thanks again everyone. You rock, you made my day.
Update: OMG, they decorated my cubbie at work. I almost can't get to my computer to get anything done. But blogging of course... I will see if I can get ahold of a few pictures they took for me of the aftermath.
And now here is their handy work...
Now give me a break here, it was casual day and all.
Believe it or not, there is an office burried in there somewhere...
Oh boy, I always wanted a door to my cubicle...
And one final thing, the white board. I just want to know who has such good handwriting on a white board? Simply amazing.
