There Was Something Else......

.......that I wanted to say and danged if I didn't forget it. But anywho we are in the middle of a string of big weekends. Last weekend we went to cousin RAT(L)'s wedding and boy oh boy did we have fun? No seriously, did we have fun? Here's a great picture of the blushing bride

Yes I know, should have kept that one to myself. BTW her exploration was unsuccessful. Hope they're having fun on their honeymoon for many many years.
Then off to DC for the spring AHRI meetings; I was glad to end my time with Skuttle doing this. I've always enjoyed the section work in this organization and will miss seeing that fine group.

And SWMBO did get to eat at Old Ebbitt's Grill, followed by a walk around the White House and down Pennsylvania Avenue. Nice exercise trying unsuccessfully to walk off that bread pudding. 

Cooper Riley: this one is just for you. I'll get you started....................KNOCK KNOCK

Tomorrow morning, no wait, this morning we have to unpack, repack, get Terri's car from the shop, get Dink's van from the shop, take the seats out of the van, drive to Farmville, VA and get everything Jackson owns, then to Midlothian for a good night's sleep. Then back to HSC for festivities and the baccalaureate service and back to Midlothian. Up early Sunday, drive to HSC for the 10:00 graduation, lunch and festivities; then to Morehead City to unload and repack because I have a 5:20 AM flight Monday morning to Texas to start a new job. Whew, I'm tired just thinking about it.  But very excited to see new opportunities for us.

Leaving a good job is difficult, I don't do this very often but I've still got a fire in my belly and look forward to many years with Ventamatic. How does one say goodbye? TAR claims that every time I say something funny it is because I stole it from somebody, well, OK, I'll admit many times but not every time, just nearly every time. So I will give proper credit to one of the AHRI crew, and one of their brightest stars Mr. Eric Chen who looked said this to me Wednesday night and then walked off
"I'm not very good at saying good bye"

ChChChChChChChchanges

Captain Columbus landed one of his ships in Morehead last weekend and we were there to capture it on film. Some of the natives thought we were capturing their souls in our magic box but we convinced them otherwise. 

Actually took this picture myself in Roanoke, I've called them to work out an endorsement deal with TAR.

While on the water last weekend we found a familiar boat, glad to see her out and running.

And not catching fish either, as shown here in a remarkably good photograph

Happy 23rd to Jackson. We'll see more of him in the very near future.

Just plain funny as we see Yankee fans boo at a picture of Robinson Cano upon his return to Yankee Stadium as a Seattle Mariner. Is there something wrong with trying to improve your financial package? 

I was able to go through Farmville Tuesday night and have dinner with Jackson. He remarked that his last college class was that day, he didn't know where the four years went. I thought about that yesterday when I made what was probably my last call for Skuttle. Where did those 16 years go? Wow. Next week I will be in DC (for Skuttle) at the AHRI meetings, then to VA for graduation on Sunday, then a 525 AM flight the next day to start a new career. 

Better hang on, or better yet as Ferris Bueller said "Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it.

Daisy

This is our grand-dog Daisy. Elizabeth brought her in as a stray, amazing to see a street tough dog learn to trust and love. But with my new job travel schedule we are still not ready. Even though Daisy did whisper in my ear how much she liked Morehead City..........................

We had a fun Easter although it was chilly, windy and rainy, so no travel on the boat. Good times with a great feast Saturday night. And then the house got very quiet Sunday afternoon.

................and then I was off to Indiana Monday morning for open houses all week. I'll be done at 2:00 this afternoon, drive to Marietta to drop the Skuttle-mobile off and pick up a rental, then drive to Morehead for fishing tomorrow morning with the Fishin Optishin. You might want to MAPQUEST this little trip, not much sleep for the next 48 hours, maybe there will be a boat-nap in there somewhere.

Then off to VA Monday, Charlotte Wednesday, and home Thursday night. Getting to the short rows of my time at Skuttle.

Please allow me to introduce for your intellectual and philosophical pleasure, the Tony Basil twist on Swan Lake. If you're curious about Ms. Basil there is another song I can find, but if I were you I would not open that can of worms; Ms. Basil if you please................

New Beginnings

First of all congratulations to Bubba for winning the Masters again; he seems to be a nice down to earth guy who has his head on straight. I'm not sure the Masters management enjoyed his exit from those hallowed grounds, but he owns one of the Dukes of Hazzard cars and he is who he is. 

And enjoyed his dinner that night at the Waffle House. No sirrrrreeeeeeeeeeeee Bob, not unlike Popeye he am what he am.

The FishinOptishin celebrates his birthday Sunday, and it is one of those that ends with a zero, that's all I'm going to say other than I'm itching to go fishin..................Maybe April 26-27?

The boat-owner and her captain went out Sunday afternoon for the first time this year; we made a concious decision to pursue a more active lifestyle Sunday afternoon, rather than lie about on the sofa napping we went out whereby SWMBO promptly positioned herself on the front cushion and slept for two to three hours. We are active seniors. Couldn't find any fish to bring home but did see a huge pod of dolphins having fun.

Since it's Easter do you want to hear the funniest religion joke of all time? I'll bet some readers just uneasily shifted in their chairs, this is funny. From Emo Phillips: Hang on a second. As you start this, yes, I know it's a little fuzzy, and yes, I know you can't stand his voice or his appearance. Try to hold all that in long enough to listen to the joke, it's a good one. It's hard enough for all of the people and all of the religions of the world to get along with each other, ever know of a church to have issues, major issues within itself? I guess it seemed critically important at the time, but I think we are all missing the point of the Great Commission far too often. 

Jay, Holly and the grandchildren are on their way to Morehead for the weekend. Jackson and Elizabeth and her new dog Daisy are coming this afternoon. Am I to feel responsible for introducing Jay and Daisy? Pretty obscure wasn't it? Great (f) Scott!

New beginnings, ah yes. After sixteen years I resigned from Skuttle and am heading towards  a privately owned Texas company called ButlerVentAMatic. http://www.bvc.com/ Coincidentally I interviewed in the mid 80's with that very same company; I guess they ran out of candidates. I'm very excited about this new opportunity. I'll start with them May 12th, heavy travel schedule for Skuttle until then culminating with the spring AHRI meeting. 

And best of all, the tomb is empty. Happy Easter. 

Flag The Tape

This was a noteworthy week, I feel like this dog:

I've had a couple of dogs that liked to wallow in feces like that, especially the human variety; not the dog, the feces, you get the idea. 

Dink is in the hospital, blood running a few units low. The hospital staff took up a collection to send her on a vacation trip to Australia, guess that's as far as they think they can get her away from them. TAR gave most of the money. The princeAss has been............well you know.

Kyle Larson: I knew him when.....................just listened to the Darlington Nationwide race; I guess Kyle Larson is the old man of the circuit now. 

This is called a West Virginia steak sandwich by those uppity folks in Kentucky. It is actually a bologna and cheese, mine came with non-Dukes mayonnaise, tomatoes and red onions, more from those onions later. 

Let's just go ahead and pay them, I mean come on, why not? Oh yeah, is it because the NCAA and the holier than thou schools make zillions on the backs of these scholar athletes? Is it because they all sell their likeness jerseys without their names imprinted? And who can afford those? The people less likely to be able to afford them? I enjoy and relish my judgmental side. Hmmmmmm, follow the money!

Me at a young age hosting a party with all of my friends. I found this picture while looking for something else, I remember when it rained I would make dams in the street with dirt..and bricks...and whatever I could find. The the city would come by and ask me where I found that Dempster Dumpster.  

I ate here this week, no, I pulled up to the stand and ordered food, paid for it, and sat there while they fixed my plate. In my little OCD world I think I could speed the process up a bit, but I decided not to suggest it to the pretty young lady who fixed my dinner. She liked me I guess, she called me "honey."

And this is my dinner. No, I don't think I'll suggest anything except for napkins, lots and lots of napkins. Oh, and the banana cream pie.....................

Did I mention this was a big week?

Blue Ridge Parkway

During my travels this week I arrived in Asheville about 6:00 PM Wednesday, checked into my hotel and ran for the Blue Ridge Parkway. It was a nice warm evening and I thought a pleasant 45 MPH ride would clear the cobwebs. As I pulled onto the parkway I saw an antique Jaguar XKE go by; nice day for a top down excursion. After I realized the top doesn't go down on my VW wagon I drove north for about 5 miles, saw the detour sign and realized I was being routed to Hickory. DANG. Doubled back and went South to Mount Pisgah, beautiful scenery although driving into a setting sun gave me a bit of a headache. I followed Penelope (the British lady inside my GPS) to go home.............that's what I usually call my hotel du jour. Penelope thought it would be humorous to route me on a one lane dirt road for about ten miles. Fortunately there were enough people in the woods to keep the cross-eyed banjo pickers at a distance; and yet also enough room between hikers to pull over and take a long overdue leak. Nice ride through some countryside that still hasn't seen spring budding.

And now for your entertainment: Edith Piaf

I liked that, did you get the connection? Since I gave up Lent for alcohol.........I mean the other way around, here is your Lent joke for today:

An Irishman walks into a bar in Ireland orders three pints of Guinness and sits in the back of the room, drinking a sip out of each one in turn. When he finishes them, he comes back to the bar and orders three more.

The bartender asks him, "You know, a pint goes flat after I draw it; wouldn't you rather I draw fresh pints for you one at a time?" The fellow replies: "Well, you see, I have two brothers. One is now in America and the other, in Australia. When we all left home, we promised we'd drink this way to remember the days when we drank together."

The bartender admits that this is a nice custom, and leaves it there. The fellow becomes a regular in the bar, and always drinks the same way: He orders three pints and drinks them in turn.

One day, he comes in and orders two pints. All the regulars notice and fall silent, speculating about what might have happened to one of the absent brothers. When the fellow goes back to the bar for a second round, the bartender says, "I don't want to intrude on your grief, but I wanted to offer my condolences on your great loss." The fellow looks confused for a moment and then a light dawns in his eye and says: "Oh, no, everyone's fine. You see, it's just that I've given up beer for Lent."

Since you haven't laughed enough this week I hope you will enjoy this from Jimmy Kimmel:

Off to WV, KY and OH next week for open houses, home late Friday/early Saturday, so heads up local MENSA branch: I'll miss my meeting next Friday morning. 

Kyle Larson (part two)

In case you missed it last week KL won the Nationwide race in Fontana. If you watched, you saw him take his victory spin  and burnout with the steering wheel outside his car. I looked it up, that's his thing, did it when winning before, I think part of that is his unbelievable throttle control. 

Got a little crazy in victory circle, did another burnout in front of a lot of people, I'm thinking NASCAR probably talked with him about that. 

..........and in case you forgot, and normally I would but not this time, this is from February 9, 2013:

Remember this guy. Kyle Larson. He's either going to knock every NASCAR fence down or be a champion in the future. He will drive in the Nationwide series next year, not for the best of the teams, but this guy has a boatload of talent. He'll be the KY that the Fishin Optishin likes. Wait a second, that sounded funny. Not that kind of funny, never mind 

Oddly enough he did knock the fence down during the Saturday race, fortunately no one, especially any of the nearby fans was hurt. I heard his crew chief last week on the radio, said KL is the first driver he's ever worked with who doesn't go for comfort in the car, only speed. The first time I saw him he was practicing a K&N car at Rockingham; it wasn't hard to see how quickly he got in to and out of corners. Head and shoulders above the rest. During that race he was in third place on the last lap; the guy in second took out the leader and KL won. He also won the championship because the race leader had the points lead until he was moved. Shows how luck, or being in the right place at the right time is a huge factor in motor sports. Hope he keeps getting to the front; there is a "boatload" of talent in that little guy. 

This was seen in upstate NY on the back of a garbage truck: "all you can eat buffet" Sick humor. 

This found on the internet. I'm not sure what it is or means but it is a funny picture of Ol Roy finding out that they were not going to put time back on the clock last weekend. Lots of drama:

Pygmy said good bye to his old Jeep using the cowboy method last week. I felt like doing that to mine many times for other reasons, but he got great service from his; more than 275,000 miles.

And the Eagle has landed. She came into Morehead City today. Several years ago TAR and I were a few miles offshore and saw her appear through a midday fog bank, mighty impressive sight and a beautiful tall ship, reminds me of meeeeeeeeeeeeee own tall ship sailing days of long ago.............................They were good times with Jay

Florida last week, brought home some weird juicy tangerines, orange blossom honey and some Honey Bell marmalade. Let me know if you want some. Next week Columbia SC and follow up from a partially aborted trip to the mountains of NC. Come on warm weather.