June 18, 2010
Rest In Peace Mudbone

We lost a good one this week; John Taylor passed away Monday night in Rocky Mount. He was not only a good friend and husband to my cousin, but truly someone with whom you always had fun; whether he was telling you a Richard Pryor story for the 50th time, or giving sage advice. We relied on him much more than we could ever thank him for helping with our parents, especially over the past few years. Betty Ruth and John were in Morehead last week to chauffeur Dink to Jackson's graduation, and again, we truly enjoyed their company. I can not remember ever being with John when I didn't enjoy his slightly offbeat and off color point of view, and usually with sore sides from laughing so hard. There is a big hole in my heart; he will be missed.

So I looked for a good picture of John, and decided on this one from his Facebook page. I like it for its simplicity; it looks like John is just sitting there waiting for the next bus; which I guess is what he has figuratively been doing this week.

During John's funeral one of the pastors asked forgiveness for doing something that might be a bit different for a funeral service. He said that if we were not willing to forgive him then we were welcome to leave right then. Therefore in John's memory, the humor in this blog is going to get a little rougher than normal, so I suggest that if you can not forgive my indiscretion in John's memory, then you should perhaps surf on over to another web site right now. Might I suggest www.screwyouifyoucanttakeajoke.com

FYI, I cleaned that joke up for you prudes

And, you are welcome to participate in the fun; there will be audience participation later.

On to other events; Jay and family were here last weekend; here is a shot of Cooper at the wheel of Nana's boat.

And a shot of Jackson a couple of years ago, notice any resemblance? Cooper's orange hat is a hand-me-down from his father to Jackson and now to Cooper. Years ago we would let our boys wander around Duke football games with that same hat on; no matter where they went in the stands we always knew where they were.
Cooper later petered out, and was doing this at 25 knots. Don't know if he's going to have salt in his blood or not, but we're trying.
Are you still there? Speaking of petering, OK, time for audience participation; insert your caption here.

Also from Pennsylvania, another funny sign. I've made a few of these, but never considered cooking with the energy generated by a few Heineken's, some pinto beans and onions; or whatever your personal magic recipe is. Again, any more ideas on captions are welcome.

So that's it from here on that old eastern shore. Get your red cups and Sharpies out, next week is Beach Week for the in-laws. OK, last chance to insert your caption here also. Terri has a seminar scheduled (how did she do that?) Should be real

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fun

Don't forget to insert your own captions, and next week I'll clean it up a little, maybe

June 12, 2010
Oh what a week!

It was a great week indeed as we celebrated our young man's graduation and enjoyed a lot of time with friends and family.
Monday night we co-hosted a party at the Cader home on North River. What a view of Harkers Island and the light house. All of the kids had fun, and from what I saw the adults did as well.

One special guest was our new granddaughter Keelyn Marie Riley; ever so coy and demure as she went to her first big time party Friday night; the Keli Wagner Lady Anglers Party at our civic center. By all social accounts she was the belle of the ball.
Graduation !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Now for some long awaited video; Jackson acts as cool as cool can get; listen carefully and you'll hear someone yell at him to "LOOKUPHERE" (3 Amigos joke, I'm thinking 3 of you will get that)

And then the silly string begins; there was so much that the offensive odor was really strong even up where we were sitting. Or at least that is my story and by all acouunts I stuck to it.

And then it was time to REALLY party, and dance like it is 1999, or something like that. Now I promised the young lady in this video that I would not put it on YouTube with her name on it, and I haven't. But after the week we've had I can't help but show it here, and use it to celebrate a wonderful time. Enjoy, and no no no you teetotalers out there, no alcohol was used to stimulate this dance of happiness; a wonderful lady having a wonderful time on a wonderful night!

(video removed after dramatic family pressure.awwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww)

Off to PA (yuk, Sunday travel) in PA, NJ, MD and VA through Wednesday

June 4, 2010
Sorry Kristi(e), it's all about me

If you tuned in to see a cute picture of my sweet niece Kristi(e) then I apologize. I have one tuned up and ready, but this post is all about ME. But enough about me, what do you think about me?

On to this past week, up in Portsmouth OH this week for a customer's grand opening. This is a new type of location in that it has both a contractors and a retail side. Portsmouth is a small town so I hope Lute will be able to fill the Lowes/Home Depot void. Shhhhhhh, don't say anything. Skuttle was welcomed on their impressive sign for a Tuesday evening reception and an open house Wednesday.

After the open house I drove to Falling Waters WV, famous for being the hometown of TJ Jackson; but also the location where Pvt (CSA) John W. Riley was captured, and General Pettigrew was killed in July, 1863. I asked around, no one remembered our great grandfather. I got up early Thursday morning and headed for an APR open house in New Oxford, PA. Of course I had to drive through one of my favorite places, and observe the North Carolina high water mark of the Confederacy, the Bloody Angle, and Little Round Top. Certainly one of the landmark areas which made our country.

Saw a pretty rainbow Thursday evening and pulled over to take a picture. Nice, huh? Grandma said to make sure and enjoy these; you don't know when you'll see another one. That's a lot nicer story than the one my Sunday School teachers taught me when I was a kid....that one scared the hell out of me.
And hats off to Mr. Jim Joyce and Mr. Armando Galarraga. This incident may be a good thing for baseball as it showed good sportsmanship and understanding. The knee jerk reaction calling for instant replay is superficial; the real story is in the actions of the participants, not the "fans." I mentioned in my tweet this should be required viewing for all amateur athletes' parents. The constant griping I've witnessed over the past 25 years from the stands becomes more childish, boorish, but yet in my old age amusing every year. Come on folks; they are games designed for children to get exercise and enjoy it. Try not to have a cardiac over it. Now on the other hand, NASCAR..............well I've rambled enough on this subject.

And last, my new superfoe, the black ant. I had a little incident last fall when I got up at 430AM and proceeded to argue with my bed partner over my unscheduled wakeup time. I looked outside, saw the paper had indeed been delivered, and proceeded to retrieve it. By the time I poured my milk on my cereal I had some odd symptoms; dizzy, feverish, sweating....why I thought I was in love (actually I am). I was bitten by something on top of my foot, thought it must have been a spider. Well guess what? Last Saturday while working in the yard I saw one of these bite me. Not a fire ant, not a spider, not a hybrid Godzilla-type superant; no.................. a black ant. Within minutes the same type of symptoms appeared, I went in the house and asked Terri for some benedryl tablets. After she looked at me she called 911; the EMTs were there within a few minutes (sorry the details are a little fuzzy, I don't recall exactly what happened). They put me in the ambulance, hooked me up to an EKG, supplied some oxygen and observed my vital signs whcih were all good. Although I felt really bad the medicine worked quickly and they let me out. I felt like I had the flu for the rest of the day, but much better on Sunday. All because of this super-villain!

And so an eventful comes to an end, but with a fun weekend and week planned. Jackson will enjoy Senior Sunday at church, give the closing prayer at the Baccalaureate Sunday evening, a few parties and then graduation Thursday night! Jay, Holly, Cooper and Keelyn will be here from Wednesday through the weekend, and the Big Rock Keli Wagner Lady Anglers party is next Friday! Whew, I'll be worn out.

Have a good weekend

Oh, guess it was all about you Kristi(e)

May 28, 2010
Ever feel like this?

Busy week, much busier than anticipated....so what's up with that? We are still doing a lot of school year-end stuff; all of which is enjoyable as we celebrate Jackson's accomplishments and graduation. Last weekend was beautiful on the water Sunday, caught enough fish for a good dinner or two, or three. Been in the office every day except for Thursday when I played golf with the Ludwig family from PA. Terry is a good friend and customer, and visits the coast each year with his family. We play golf every year and it is always a lot of fun. This year we played North River, which was my first time. It is a difficult course with lots of sand and water. I busted over 50 on the front (first time in a while) but calmed down to a 46 on the more difficult back side. I recommend the course if you're in the area, especially on a weekday like today; not very many people playing. The course is wide open so wind is normally a factor; however I'm pretty sure I would only play it in some wind, as I'm sure the skeeters and no see'ms are plentiful.

Pop and Dink are doing well; although Pop seems a bit more confused lately. Nothing new there, but the lucid moments are been more infrequent. This seems more significant in the later afternoon and evening. Then Dink thinks of something which must be done immediately and we're off and running. I'll bet she'll be happy when Terri is out of school so she can use her 24/7.

Memorial Day is always the greatest weekend in motorsports, although the Monaco GP ran 2 weeks ago we are still able to watch 2 races in Charlotte and the Indy 500. I was lucky to attend Indy in its heyday and see Mario, the Unsers, AJ, etc. in what was definitely the greatest spectacle in motor sports. Looking forward to watching that Sunday afternoon, go Danica!

Next week I'm off to OH, WV, PA and MD.

Ever feel like this?
Know this young man? Heather, beware......your children may resemble this maniac!

May 20, 2010
Productive week

Got a lot of things done in the office this week, sat here and saw some nice days go by; still have a couple of vacation days to spend before month-end, and I should have gone fishing but had a little too much on the table.

Jackson has discovered the joy of golfing. I walked 9 with him twice this week; on Monday night he made a par on the second hole, his first! Putted for birdie and missed it, but was able to make a 2 foot downhill putt that would make the strongest man shiver a little. Good for him he didn't know just how hard the putt actually was.

He finished his senior project with a presentation last night. At this point in his high school career I believe he has nothing else to do except show up for practice and the graduation excercise. Stick a fork in him, he's done. Graduation is June 10th.

I plan to work in the office again next week, and maybe take a day if the sun shines right and the wind don't blow. Have you ever tried to sell a humidifier in May? Well do I have a deal for you!

May 17, 2010
strong>Honeysuckles
I've had the opportunity to be in the roadster several times this week, and on the boat three times; and the sweet smell of honeysuckle has been nosed up many times. We have some between our garages and I always enjoy catching that fragrant bouquet that always reminds me of times long ago..............
Did I mention the granddaughter? I went to see Keelyn Wednesday; we had a nice chat Her eyes seem very alert in this picture

Then I asked her to do an impression of Popeye...........................

A very impressive impression don't you think? Or at least that was my impression............

In town most of this week, graduation looms on the horizon

May 8, 2010
Special edition

Normally I try to post once a week, but this week was something special, yessssireeeeeBob, something special indeed; a heckuva fishing trip it was, and for a change I took a page from the Fishin Optishin's playbook and took pictures; yes I did, I took a picture of every fish I took, no duplicates, each and every one of them was photographed for posterity.

With an open Saturday, I decided to go to New Bern to try my luck fishing for bass; the wind was forecasted to be very high, and I knew that saltwater fishing was out of the question; so after finally getting to sleep around 1230 I was up at at'm a little after 3, to put the boat in about 530 in New Bern.

With the high wind the water was blown out of the river to the point that the bass tournament was scheduled to end early to make sure everyone could get their boats out safely. Sure enough when I pulled out at 1030 the USCG-Hoboken crew was pulling their safe boat out because they could not launch. There was a big Ford F-150 sitting in the left hand lane with the trailer off the end of the ramp, back tires in the slime, waiting for a tow truck. Everyone helped me back up to the edge, and although far from perfect I was able to get Nell One on the trailer well enough for the short ride home.

Just as I got her on the trailer I heard cannon fire from the Neuse River. Seems as though the Yankees are trying to take New Bern again (what do they think it is, Pine Knoll Shores?). Kinda wished I stayed around to see that but then again I was happy to be back on the trailer.

The wind was really honking on the way home; went by and saw Pop and Dink, both were doing well.

Oh, and Happy Mother's Day to all the mothers.

And did I mention the cutest little granddaughter in the whole wide world?
Although you might find this uncharacteristic, I digress, you wanted to see the fish pictures didn't you; well right below are pictures of all of the fish, enjoy...............

These critters were hanging around the Trent River; sorry the photo quality is poor.

I'm going to take a few days off next week, maybe I'll have some luck then.