News
July 2006
2006.July.30–Alfred, Ohio. Joe and I started the footer for the garage today. Gosh was it hot and humid. It was a miserable day for it but at least we got it started.
The international headlines are depressing. The fighting in the Middle East continues. It tears me up to see peoples lives being destroyed in minutes that took a lifetime to build. We have got to find another way of solving conflicts.
An article in the newspaper today about Israel and the Arab world was pretty chilling. It
2006.July.29–Alfred, Ohio. Joe, finished the building, Jeanie and I worked in the yard today getting ready to build a garage. Vince brought Angie over and we all had a nice visit.
Local news:
— our water supply is now C-8 free
— the bridge at the Coolville Mill property was demolished
2006.July.28–Alfred, Ohio. Steve went fishing yesterday and has started telling fish stories already.“It was 27 and 3/4 inches long” he claims. “The lower limit is 28 inches so I had to throw it back in”. Sure son… whatever. That is until I saw the pictures he just sent. Look at the beauty in the other picture. That is a keeper. Adrienne’s catch was 33 inches long. (Adrienne: if you object to this picture on my site let me know and I’ll remove it). Steve’s image will enlarge if you click it.
Loads has happened since I last wrote. It has been a busy couple of weeks. The highlights that I recall off the top of my head are a trip to Boston to visit Steve and Mary Ellen, a portion of the tunnel collapsed on the Big Dig less than 12 hours before we were to go through it, a trip to Cincinnati to visit Dad, buying one big mean machine from Doug, Jeanie and her sister Kate went to Virginia Beach for a weekend, and there is probably more that I just don't recall right off. I’ll try to fill in the blanks pretty soon. There will be more pictures as well.
2006.July.03–Alfred, Ohio. Happy Birthday Frogtails! Six years old today.
Congratulations Joe! No smoking for a whole year as of today!!
2006.July.02–Morehead, Kentucky. Nick took us to see the mushroom mine. It was once a coal mine it would appear. It is a very big place. It was interesting to see how they mine and leave rock columns to hold up the stone. By and large it was still intact.
Of course it was dark, damp, and more dangerous than I care to think about inside. People have dumped all sorts of trash in and around the place so it was a pretty filthy experience all around. Except for a few birds, I didn’t see any animals inside. Seems like any kind of critter could have easy pickings on any humans that ventured inside if they wanted. I won’t even mention the rocks that have fallen all over the place. Nick pointed out a couple of places where the ceiling has collapsed. This is a place I will avoid in the future and would gently recommend that others give it some thought as well.
2006.July.01–Morehead, Kentucky. We went to visit Nick today in his first apartment. It is a good thing to see your children grow up and become responsible. He was doing everything he could think of to make us feel at ease. Nick was scheduled to work in the evening so Jeanie and I saw a movie and got up to some mischief in Nick's room. Not what you think… :) We bought some balloons and streamers and re-decorated his room. We pretended to be asleep when he walked in. He was talking with Kate real quietly, walking down the hall in the dark, and then… “What the?” “YOU GUYS!” (talking into the phone) “You have to see what they have done to my room, they have streamers and balloons hanging all over my ceiling.”
It was perfect. Nick was feeling a little guilty about leaving us alone to go to work. He even called to make sure we were doing OK. The element of surprise was complete. I’ll die a happy man. :)
