March 11, 2011
Anticipation grows

Went to Raleigh with Jackson to help Lance and Kristi move; it was a lot of fun and great to spend some time with them. My favorite part of the day was a tie between the Char-Grill lunch (see Jackson, I told you we were get fed) and waving at all the neat airplanes flying over.
Up early Wednesday for a quick successful trip to Kentucky. I also hired two new reps in California I really wanted, so that helped make it a pretty good week.
In Blowing Rock NC Thursday night watching snow showers. I got up early Friday morning for a quick 45 minute side trip on the Blue Ridge Parkway but decided against it since it was still snowing.

Got home in time to walk nine holes with Jackson. We played quickly since it was our first time out; I managed four pars and Jackson got his first birdie on #6. Pretty exciting for both of us.....

And speaking of exciting, anticipation grows...........

Won't be long until we have a new Riley. Heather and Kevin are due within weeks..........
More news next week

March 4, 2011
The only day of the year that is a command
In the news this week:

Mr. Cook got 3 years in prison. Here's some words you won't hear very often "John Edwards was right, there are two Americas."
Pope Benedict XVI exonerated the Jews for Jesus' death. Wow, awfully big of you (or is it You?) to do that, wonder if DNA testing was used in that decision? Flash to Jerusalem where Jews are in the street rejoicing at the Pope's decision!
Charlie Sheen: insert your recap here, I'm tired of this mess. Let's get back to Lady Gaga and the egg she stayed in for three days. Secret clue: it was actually one of Rosie's pantyhose containers.
Twenty years since the Rodney King incident, how are race relations in your community after all this time? Are we all getting along now?
Enough ranting

Stopped by Sanford on my way home and got to play with my grandchildren Wednesday night, well, I got to play with Cooper, Miss Keelyn doesn't have much to do with me. Cooper wants to decorate the yellow jon boat with rainbows. Probably not, but we'll use a deep purple and dark pink somewhere on the boat for both of them. Yeah, can't hide class can you?

TAR has a new car, sounds like a song doesn't it? We don't buy cars very often and she made sure it was everything she wanted. It's a Honda Element and I like it too, very useful. The color reminds me of a deep red Scuderia Ferrari F-1 color they used for a couple of years

I can't remember where I saw this, but it's an old BMW on the back of a SUV. Nice looking old bike, ours is scheduled for delivery the week of March 14th. Ordered all the road gear this past week. Going to look like little lord Fauntleroy.............and no, if I may anticipate your question, the helmet does not have rainbows

Jackson is coming home for spring break. We're looking forward to seeing him home for a while. I have to be in Kentucky towards the end of the week but maybe we can go have some fun a couple of days while he's here.

February 25, 2011
Another Hamlet Soliloquy

To buy or not to buy, that is the question
Whether it be nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous four wheelers
Or to take arms against the sea of troubles
And just go ahead and buy the darn thing?

No, I'm not into Volkswagen Ghias, or jazz, or felt berets (obscure Jimmy Buffet reference) I saw this car in Jacksonville while getting my car serviced. Neat picture, neat car, huh?

Here's what I want

Now for the ironic story twist.....................

Think I'll buy it
Think I've bought it
Who wants to go to Wooster OH and ride it home for me?
Who wants to go to Crystal Bluffs and tell my daddy?
Yeah, didn't think so

1978 BMW 100/7, 1978 was a good year. The first time I laid eyes on TAR....(heart beats more quickly and now......a big sigh). And now at my ripe old age, my first motorcycle

And in case my offspring are reading this I'm not a hypocrite
When you're 55 and want to buy a motorcycle I will support you 100%

And so I close with the inspirational words of the famous philosopher Vicki Groome,.......uuuudden budddden

February 19, 2011

Another Busy Week

Sanitary is open again; after church we went and celebrated with some fresh shad roe, and then Sylvia II's birthday. Took off and delivered Jackson back to college Sunday afternoon, spent the night in Lexington VA then Monday up to Ohio. All over the state selling and interviewing, and even looked at a couple of old BMW airhead motorcycles. It was a productive week with everything; except for finding a bike. One day..............................

Came home last night; zooming around Raleigh about 7:00 PM and Dave called "want to stop by for a cup of coffee?" No thanks, want to get home. "Did I mention Kevin and Heather are here?" Yeah, guess I can stop for a while.............................

And so it was good to see the expecting couple. They are in town packing up stuff for their new place in Alabama. Kevin gave Jackson a bunch of camo, really nest stuff but we wonder if Jackson can still wear it.

Jackson is feeling better and returned to football conditioning Thursday. You could tell his voice even sounded better.

As part of one of his classes he is in Baltimore Saturday for a Star Trek convention. They are responsible for interviewing attendees. "How long have you lived in your mother's basement? Have you ever seen a live woman naked?" Just some ideas...................

Last but not least this subject was addressed a couple of weeks ago in a letter to the editor in Raleigh, this follow up article appeared today:

http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/02/19/1000135/unc-sends-mixed-signals-with-disciplinary.html

Double standards? You decide.........................

Working on the boats today, should be in eastern NC all week

February 10, 2011
Hey Kids, A Fun New Game!

See if you can find the loon............................

Find it? Yes, it's me; the decoy is a brant hand carved by Joe Fulcher Jr. as my trophy for winning my flight in the 2009 Seafood Invitational golf tournament.
So what surprises you the most? The brant, the win, or simply the fact that someone invited me to participate in a golf tournament? OK, so it was the 55th flight, actually it was the 7th; but I played well, shot a great round on Saturday and four strokes higher or Sunday still got the win. I know, when playing a handicap you're supposed to score better on Sunday than Saturday, but there is a special tree with a big limb that they use on people who do that at our club, so I got it backwards. And even today it still surprises me. I remember taking the trophy to Crystal Bluffs and celebrating with my father. Good day.
So what's that got to do with this week? Probably not too much.
Jackson came home sick Monday, I'll take him back on the way to Ohio Sunday. Other than that all is copesetic.

February 4, 2011
All You Need Is...........................

......................money, and lots of it. It was our industry's first trip to Las Vegas for the AHR Expo and the exhibitors were pleased with the turnout. This is a healthy sign for our industry.
While there we had some fun at night, went to the Beatles' Love Monday night and really enjoyed it. This was TAR's first Cirque du Soleil show and she was impressed. We noticed everyone of all ages in the lobby keeping the beat and singing along as we waited to go in. Great show, probably worth the trip if you are a Beatles fan.

Wednesday night we went to the Phantom of the Opera, 10 rows back center stage. We've seen it several times but it was really neat to see it in a theater built especially for this one play. And once again he tried hard but didn't get the girl. Great special effects

And what would Las Vegas be without Elvis? These gentlemen used this as their "attire" for their AHR booth. Remind me at our next show to not use this; I wouldn't want to infringe on their inspired idea. This was one night in a bar and they were having a lot of fun.

Nice fountain in the third floor of our suite. The Mirage hotel was nice, but we were both surprised at how the lingering odor of cigarette smell was in all of the hotels we visited. Guess this is about the only place you can still smoke. Saturday night TAR asked "are they open on Sundays?" Oh, this is the lobby, not our room.

SWMBO, a big jug, and our old friend Jack Vanacore. If we win the Tabasco, try to act surprised if your birthday is April 20. No, not you Mr. Hitler, the other one...........

Go ahead and insert caption here for this one. I still can't figure out who this goofball is, but I'll be that bike will do over 150; just not with me on it. Pretty bike, I offered a $1,000,000 purchase order for it; now what am I going to do with 50,000 pressure sensors?

Hampden-Sydney's president Doctor Howard with some of the Class of 2014's Eagle Scouts. Nearly 10% of this year's class are Eagles. If you haven't seen Jackson lately, he's third from the right

Looks like I'll be in town all of next week

January 28, 2011

Walking Round In Women's Underwear (sung to the Winter Wonderland tune, go ahead try it, I'll wait...........see, told you so)

Well if this ain't just JimFrigginDandy; another snow. I'm glad i drove through the night to get home last Friday, because lo and behold we had another snow all day Saturday.....and this was a biggun.....6-7 inches, by far the biggest since we moved here oh so many years ago.
But we were able to get FOOD NOW to Dink (a loaf of bread) and went out and spun around a few times in Jay and Jackson's old truck. SWMBO asked if that old truck is the best we had for driving in the snow; told her no, it's actually the worst, but it is definitely the cheapest thing we have so if we go in a ditch we haven't lost as much. That really made her happy!
So it snowed, everything was canceled, we got up Sunday morning and made mimosas and looked at it. Didn't go anywhere all day. Piddled in the office, paid bills, got caught up on the mail, watched the playoffs; it was a good day, best I remember anyway.
Couldn't go sledding because we don't have a sled, or a hill for that matter. Hush MeeMAW I'm typing on the danged old internet. SWMBO bought a sled 20 years ago and I told her only rich kids have sleds, didn't snow again for 5 years. We did have a lot of fun on Shannon Drive in Sanford way back when; but we gave the sled to a PTO thrift store when we moved. I'm so sorry.

Hey Davis, can't make it to the office, the snow is up to the window! DOHHHHHHHHHHHH, forgot, this shot was taken from my office window.
And here is the backyard, and yes, it was pretty.

And here is the snowfall in all of its glory Saturday afternoon. Very nice

How did I do with this week's entry MeeMAW? Was my language a little nicer? Little closer to a G rating? Didn't even say anything about that Fu King restaurant in Florida did I? Oooooooooooooooops
Off to Las Vegas tomorrow, picture Elvis singing it, hear the bongo drums; yeah, kinda like that....................Viva, Viva, Vivaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa Las Vegas!