Live Life! Get a little exercise ...

This didn't seem to work the first time I attempted to post it on my blog ... so I tried to put it here.  I'm sure my baby-sister will think this could be a wonderful thing to run to the store on ... ?  You could even take the little one with you ... !  :-)

Just Driving

Driving down this country road,

I saw this beautiful home,

and just had to take a foto of it.

Hope you enjoy!

Out of Service

We had no internet service for most of this week.  

Time-Warner a.k.a RoadRunner had Daniel jump thru the hoops on a Windows machine (none of those dirty Linux or Apple machines please).  And they finally reached the conclusion that is was their own fault ... somehow they were losing 3 out of every 4 packets being sent.  It wasn't just us ... the computers in the town library had the same problem (also RoadRunner Internet).  

I was shocked when I was able to log on this morning and get something other than: "contacting server ..." endlessly with no response ... or very minimal activity happening.

So, YAY! they fixed it ... we once more have co0ntact with the world!!  :-)

Nothing Edible

The are now 4 blossoms open today.

Beautiful lilies.

Yes, I sat it up on the trashcan to take the foto.

Garden box #1 is flourishing ...

Of course, most of it is marigolds and basil 

from last year, that multiplied and reproduced.

Garden box #2

There are tomato plants in each corner

and the rest of what you see are potato plants.

NON-edible greens ... they are nightshade family ...

poisonous.

And something has decided that it really likes our kale plants.

We like them too,

And wish whatever it is would go away before it eats them all gone!

Another Foto of the those Pretty Flowers

It is just so pretty out there in the rain.

and close enough to the porch that I don't have to get soaked

 in order to take a foto of it.

more puppy fotos

He will walk with the leash ... provided he controls it ...

which is why it appears to be coming out of his mouth (and clenched teeth).

Smoky Joe's Shadow

The world is so big when you are so small ... 

Dog Sitting Over

We are finished with dog-sitting Ali ... for the moment.

YUM -- Black berries are coming on in the back pasture ...

And I've got the thorn scars to show for collecting these.

Gma has decided to be the owner of a black male puppy.

And so the adventures begin ...

Garden Flowers

These flowers are getting more beautiful each day.

squash blossoms

and a LOT of volunteer marigolds.

Monday at the Beach

Monday was our wedding anniversary ...

And my wife really wanted to spend the day at the beach.

We drove, and drove, and drove ...

When we got there, she refused to stand in the ocean water.

We did have a very delicious dinner at a seafood restaurant.  Char-broiled Fillet of Grouper with butter, lemon juice and little rings of green onion; fried calamari with a mellow marinari sauce; a Greek salad with a Mediterranean  olive, fetta cheese, Italian vinegarette; soft rolls with a crunchy crust, and butter; and water with lemon slices.

Followed by a drive back to the beach.

We stood on the white dunes with the sea oats waving in the breeze ... and watched the sun change from dark orange to red ... and finally wink-out as it dropped below the horizon.

Sunday Flowers

These grow each year at the bottom of the steps

These were recently planted bulbs in the shade of the oak tree.

Flowers on the potato plants

Neighbor's dog hoping for a bacon grease coated biscuit.

The happy cripple

And a thanks to all of you who sent directions on how to make changes ... won't have time to do it today ... my wife wants to go to the beach ... :-) 

Babysitting ...

Ali is a BIG girl ...
we are babysitting her and her two sibling cats.

Which gives us access to a big screen TV and
all the DVD & VHS movies we could ever want to watch.

Of course, you have to take Ali outside and play ...
kick the soccer ball until she gets tired of chasing it.
Then you get a brief respite while she recovers in the cool of the house.

Dum ... duh-dum' .. duh!

I prayed ... then I studied ... then I prayed some more ...

--- Disclaimer: The following narrative is entirely fictitious --- (but my sisters will enjoy reading it)

I didn't make too many mistakes on the pre-inspection test ... I managed to complete the backing test without running over any cones this time (They get really upset when you run over their cones ... they say they are like people or something which you just squashed flat.) ...

Did you know that buses are longer than cars??!? They are. When you turn a corner, just like you are driving your car, the bus rear wheels tend to run over the curb ... I didn't do that more than 3 or 4 times ... and honest, I didn't scrape that Stop sign ... no idea what that sound was.

At least I stopped before I was on top of the railroad tracks. They don't like you stopping on railroad tracks either ... something about how it takes a train about a mile to stop ... after it bashes it's way thru the middle of the bus. So I did good!

I loaded and unloaded imaginary children. There was no screaming, nobody's hair got pulled, and there were no fist-fights. Imaginary children are so wonderful and responsive.

I did the emergency stop, followed by a high-speed backing maneuver on the grass in front of a church. Then he wanted to see how dangerous it could be, driving thru a little housing area.

Anyhow, I did manage to finish the test ... And, tho the examiner's window was open, he didn't climb out of it ... and he didn't jump off the bus and kiss the ground when I was done. He said, "You did about as good as anybody else. You pass." (he said that kind of flat like ... you almost wondered if there was a question mark at the end).

As soon as he signed the paperwork, I pulled it out of his hands (before he changed his mind) ... jumped off the bus ... and went down to the state troopers office to get the PS endorsements added to my CDL license.

**Reality: out of the 3,000-4,000 tests that he had given, he said that mine was perhaps the best that he'd ever seen. (Praise the Lord!)**

So, I still need a urine test (drugs & alcohol) and a $55 fingerprint/background check before I can become a substitute bus driver of school students.

But in the meantime,
I'm legal to haul toxic waste and hazardous chemicals.
:-)

Passed the Written Test

This is a belt driven bicycle ...

Notice how they had to make the frame down around the belt, because they couldn't take the belt apart to fit it thru the frame.

Anyway, after 12 hours of classes, I passed the state written exam for school bus driver.  Tomorrow I have the pre-inspection and road driving test.

From Mother's Day

Remember that song from the musical about HAIR!

These are the wild onions going to seed.
one of the tomato plants.
And some of our potatoes that are flowering

The herb box ... parsley, oregano, basil, marigolds, rosemary, cilantro, lettuce, radishes, and some turnips ... what? No catnip??!

Our neighbor's crippled dog ...
no digging in the garden boxes ...
or we may have Kugoki.

The Humdrum of Life

We started today with a little TMI, washed the dirty dishes, went to Hardees for Sausage & Egg biscuits, then Home Depot to buy 2 types of parsley and some oregano plants, back home we had to clear space and plant then in the garden boxes, and then clear the area under the oak trees where my wife wanted to plant some shade-loving bulbs, tuna-egg salad on onion rolls for lunch, a little time online IM-ing with Bruce, Sherri, j.i.m., Bill and Mike, a little relaxed reading, dinner of chicken tenders with spicy hot mustard and chipotle raspberry sauce and some potato salad, talked on the telephone with most of my children, drove to WalMart where we bought pomegranite-blueberry ice cream, and a little carrot cake, back home we sang a song, dug into the dessert, and rushed the ice cream up the hill to Sister Jones' freezer before it all melted, a little blog typing, a little more reading, and it will soon be time for bed. Perhaps your day was more exciting ... Ours was just kind of mellow (which has nothing to do with the color yellow ... even tho it rhymes). Our best to you and yours. :-)

Oh, thanks go to the grandma that sent the sentimental zebra card ...

Have you ever seen?

Have you ever seen your Congressman up close and personal?

Ours showed up in the little mobile trailer (which we call a bank) and proceeded to shake hands and answer whatever the people asked him (wasn't but 10-15 of us there). He was driving his own black pickup truck. (It looked like it had seen some wear.) Based on the way he talks ... and on his actions (how he votes in Congress) ... I like what he's doing.

A walk in the Jungle

One of the grandsons has really taken to the idea of walking thru the overgrown backyard of one of the homes here in town.

This backyard is VERY OVERGROWN!

It will take a sharp machete to hack your way from the side of the house to the back steps ... an almost impenetrable jungle.

One of the joys to be found in the jungle are this Chevrolet Pickup truck next to a VW sedan.

Somewhere past them you reach the piles of old junk ... and the bamboo stands.

School Bus Pre-Trip

The above foto is of one of those cats that seem to hang around
just scrounging for food ...

Having passed the written tests for Passenger and School Bus ... I am currently studying for the hands-on portion which comprises the pre-trip inspection and the driving around test. I'll see if I can go back and practice again today.

Next week I have to sit in class for 4 days and on the 5th day do the driving test.

Then we'll see what kind of employment I can get ...

Artist Drawing Class

This fellow was the model at an artist drawing class that I attended today.

He had to hold the pose for 30 minutes at a time ...
And you can see that he used several different outfits.

He actually STOOD still for 30 minutes while wearing this skirt thingie

This was the last outfit he wore ...
a dishdasha, tea towel, and beads.

No Break for the Weary.

Yesterday was the normal grandkids visit day ...

The boys and I trimmed all the growth from around the oak trees, ate lunch, took a bicycle ride around town (to include a scenic trip thru the cemetery). Rode the bicycles over some dirt piles, took a walk thru the jungle down to the bamboo growth/stand. Took a walk thru the cow pastures down to the woods, along the creek, saw the waterfalls, back up the hill thru the pastures back home. Then they used the swing blade to knock down a few weeds before we had to shop at Target, take the kids home, eat dinner, and toss the whistling, nerf, football dart back and forth for half an hour (playing catch). Grandpa was pooped!

Since their mother just worked an all-night 12-hour shift at the hospital ... I just learned that they are coming back over for more today!!

Takes a lot of energy to keep up with grandkids ...