June 21-The longest Day, Baby Tornado, CMA Fest

In a way, June 21, the “longest day of the year” is the happiest day, but also the saddest day. It is the “longest day”, which I love, but it also means that the days will only get shorter and winter will follow!

I always decide I just need to “enjoy the day”, but there is always that nagging feeling that the days are getting shorter and winter is coming!

I am enjoying my new bicycle, after some problems with the gears were fixed. I thought at first it was just my unfamiliarity with the new shifting system, but there actually was a defect in it. The weather has been cooperative.

Saturday, June 17, I was sitting outside (our house has kind of a “protected” area of the patio and then an open area) watching the rain, when a high wind came through. Only the next day did I learn that I had sat outside and watched an F1 (a baby) tornado come through! The electricity went off for awhile, but I thought it was only high winds. There wasn’t any damage in my neighborhood, but 28 houses received minor damage in a nearby neighborhood.

Aliene is in OKC and has been since last week. (She missed the baby tornado!) Her daughter-in-law had an operation and Friday and her daughter had one Monday, so she had quite a week! (Both are doing fine.)

Aliene and I went to the CMA Music Festival (Country Music) in Nashville June 6-11 and really enjoyed ourselves. (We celebrated our 9th Wedding Anniversary in Springfield, Tennessee, where we stayed. It is a small town about 20 miles from Nashville.) I was going to write a full report on it, but, as happens, I wanted to block out enough time to write a report and haven’t done anything! I will write a full report, but briefly, we really enjoyed ourselves.

We saw a lot of the Country Music stars and especially enjoyed the autograph and exhibit sessions. I’ll write a full report (sometime!).

Anniversary!

Ten years ago tonight (June 6, 1996), I was sitting at a table with some other dancers after dance class.

One of the women at the table I was talking to gave me "a look" that I remembered for 10 years! One year and one day later (June 7, 1997) Aliene and I were married! Of course, she doesn't even remember it!

Oddly enough, we didn't see each other again for exactly six months, until December 6, 1996. On January 19, 1997, I went over to buy some weights I saw on sale, went to the "dance practice", met Aliene there and the rest is history! We started dating and were married on June 7, 1997.

We actually knew each other fairly well as friends and dancing partners, but just didn't get together until January of 1997. Once we started dating, things moved fast!

I can honestly say it has been a wonderful ten years and I am a very lucky man! Tomorrow, we celebrate our ninth Anniversary, but I will always mark June 6 as a special Anniversary also!

Summer 2006 (part 1)

I am enjoying my new bike, even though I don't have a "high gear". I thought I wasn't working the new shifter correctly, but I finally took it back to the dealer and they advised there was something wrong, they just need time to check it out.

They told me to go ahead and keep it over the weekend (the weather was wonderful until rain hit this afternoon), and they will work on it next week.

We have a bike rack which is easy to use, so I have the chance to ride throughout the city. It took a while to find a bike rack that a non-mechanical person like me could use.

Hopefully I'll get the kinks worked out on the bike so I can get to seriously riding it! I've been trying out some of the trails in Lakeland etc. that were just constructed, which is fun.

I joined "TagWorld.com", so may start blogging on that site. (My screen name is "blipntime".) I will give plenty of notice if I move. Also, my .Mac account has a nice blog, when (this sounds familiar!) I get time to figure it out.

We are really enjoying our new house. I have been reading outside a lot (we look out at trees) and enjoying the antics of the squirrels at times. I am surprised that any squirrels survive, as dangerous as they live! They jump on a limb, which goes way down, and then get thrown up to a higher limb. (I really feel old, talking about watching squirrels!)

Work has really been busy. The budget is basically approved, so that is a big relief!

Memorial Day 2006

Memorial Day, the start of Summer! This is my favorite time of year, as most of you know.

I am currently sitting in my back yard, enjoying the early morning. It is bliss!

Recent events:

-Went to OKC to see Michael and Sara graduation ceremony. It was an enjoyable time. You can see time pass fast in children! Both of them plan on attending college next year.

-Eleanor and Rebecca visited over the weekend. We "shopped till we dropped" (or at least Aliene, Eleanor and Rebecca did!), took a cruise on the Mississippi and visited!

The City budget is almost done (will hopefully be approved this week), so I am glad that is out of the way for another year!

The Mighty Mississippi!

Recently I had the opportunity to visit with a Mississippi River boat worker. It was an interesting conversation (he works 30 days on and 30 days off).

In an eerie way, he reminded me of many of the old (old to to me at the time) farmers I knew when I was a child. They loved and lived their job, were independent, opinionated had a lot of common sense and generally seemed to enjoy their career choice in spite of what are seen as negative aspects of the job. The only real difference seems to be one makes his living on the land, one on the river.

I enjoyed our conversation and wish I knew his name so I could have a cup of coffee or a lunch with him in the future and keep on with our discussion.

One of the things I love about Tennessee and this area is when I realize how similar, yet different it is from where I grew up and how I really notice the difference when I visit family in Oklahoma or Kansas. (Oklahomans and Kansans are great-kind, generous and just fine people. I have found Southerners to be the same, at least in this area, with the addition that they truly know how to be hosts and are truly courteous people.)

Also, I have found drivers to be much more courteous in Memphis. In spite of our tendency to run streeeeetch yellow lights and make frightening close left turns, there is little tailgating and I have yet to have another car not let me in, even when I was in the wrong! (If you drive the Canada Road and I-40 interchange area, this is demonstrated on a daily basis.)

I was always fascinated by the Mississippi River when I was a child, and I can remember how excited I was at my first view of the River!

One of my secret obsessions for some odd reason is the Mississippi River Level in the paper each day! I really don’t even know what it means, (except generally) but it fascinates me. I still get that “tingle” when I first see it and every time we have relatives or friends visit, I am always glad because it usually gives me a chance to take a Mississippi River Cruise or at least walk the Mississippi! Now I know that when I cross the “Mighty Mississippi” I am almost home!

I enjoy the drive to Oklahoma City to visit family. It starts in beautiful Lakeland (it is more than just "hometown pride", Lakeland truly is uniquely beautiful!), through Memphis, across the "Mightly Mississippi" (where, depending on the time, I call someone and tell them I am just crossing the "Mightly Mississippi"), across the flat plains of east Arkansas, through Little Rock and then through the beautiul mountains of western Arkansas, on through eastern Oklahoma to OKC! It has a certain rhythm and rhyme to it that can almost be set to music.

New Bike!

Today I will pick up my new bike a "Trek 7500". I am looking forward to trying out my new bike (if it ever stops raining). Sometime I will need to learn to ride in the rain, but ...

Everything has been really busy, finishing up the proposed City budget etc. We went to OKC to see Sara's "Gold" award (Girl Scout equal of Boy Scout's Eagle award) and it was fun. It was good to see some of the activities they did to earn the award.

We went to our annual Dance Conference last weekend and really enjoyed getting into dancing. One thing we really miss is a good place to dance without any smoke! We enjoyed the dancing. I'm not sure what you call it. It isn't a "contest", just a lot of dancing and dance lessons!

Goodby Old Friend!

Well a 7 year relationship has ended and I will soon be starting a new relationship. I am talking about my bike!

I have spent a lot of time with my bike, a gold painted “Diamondback Wildwood”. Not the best bike in the world, but a good bike for me. I got it in December of 1999, and have ridden it faithfully ever since, with some long absences and some major repairs! I put over 6,000 miles on it, so at 10 miles an hour, that is 600 hours with it! Considering my actual speed, it is probably more than 600 hours.

It gave me good service, but yesterday (Saturday, April 22), I took it out to ride and realized it was hopeless. There was just too much wrong with it to make it financially feasible to fix. I will donate it to a local group that fixes bikes to give free to children who need a bike and hope it provides a good bike for a child to learn the wonders and enjoyment of riding.

I have my eyes on a Trek Multitrac 7300, and am looking at others. I need to get another bike pretty soon-I’m missing out on super bike-riding weather! The Trek 7300 is cheap enough I can upgrade to a better bike if needed, but it will be good for my type of riding.

I have enjoyed my old bike, but I realized I was trying to keep it too long, especially when I almost ended up pushing the bike back 3 miles yesterday! Something went wrong with the gearing, and I did ride it back, but my maximum speed was about 6 milers per hour and it wasn’t any fun. This happened several years ago, and it cost me about 50% of the cost of a new bike to fix the old bike, so it's just not worth it. Hopefully a volunteer can fix it up so a child can enjoy it.

Of course, I’m looking forward to my new bike, while saying goodby to my old bike.
I’ll keep you advised!

Grand Canyon and "Standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona"

We went to Arizona last week and I finally got to the Grand Canyon, and I found it truly is a GRAND Canyon! We saw a big part of the canyon and enjoyed our drive to the Canyon.

We flew out Wednesday (April 12) and met Aliene’s mother at the Phoenix Airport and drove her to see her sister in Tucson.

Aliene and I then drove to Flagstaff where we stayed in Flagstaff and went to the Grand Canyon Thursday and the Petrified Forest and Painted Desert (as well as “standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona!) on Friday and had a lot of fun. We went out to the Meteor Crater, but didn’t stop when we found it cost $15 apiece to get in! (It wouldn’t have been so bad, except it closed at 5:00 p.m. and it was 4;15 p.m. when we stopped by.) If any of the pictures come out (especially the “standing on the corner in Winslow, Arizona”) come out, I’ll try to post them to the web page.

We went down to Tucson Saturday and picked up Aliene’s mother and went back to Phoenix.

It was an enjoyable trip. We discovered there are millions (yes millions and that is putting it lightly) of bugs at the Grand Canyon. Fortunately they didn’t bite! We heard that they will all be gone the next week when the sparrows come! Our white rental car actually looked black with all the bugs on it!

Overall, we enjoyed the Grand Canyon-I always wanted to see it, but we probably won’t go back except with Grandchildren etc.

I had always wanted to see the Petrified Forest since I was a kid-I remember my parents had a small piece of petrified wood, although I don’t know where it came from.

Overall the weather was great, except for Friday, when it was exceptionally windy and rained Friday night (after we were safely at the hotel!).

We barely got back Monday, when I had to go the Nashville for the Tennessee City Managers Conference Wednesday. We were reminded we were in Nashville when we went to a “writers session” at the hotel and suddenly realized it is a Song Writers session, not a “writing” session!

Enjoying the conference. They have some excellent sessions. I’ll be glad to get back to Lakeland though!

I am so glad Spring is here! Our back yard is greening up and it is beautiful to look out.

The new Tennessee vehicle tags are UGLY!

I hate the new Tennessee vehicle tags! I don’t know who in the world approved such a junky looking car tag, but when it comes time for us to buy a new tag, we are going to get a specialized tag so we don’t have to have such a ugly tag on our vehicle!

The tag appears to be a mountain, I assume the Smoky Mountains in eastern Tennessee. Another reason not to like the tag. Shouldn’t a STATE tag represent the entire state, and not just a small portion?

Enough of this rant, but if you see the new Tennessee car tag, let me know what you think!

Don't buy "low profile" tires or an Acura TL!

We’re currently watching a storm come into the Lakeland area. The tornado sirens went off, but the “warning” was just over. Signs of Spring!

We went to Conway, Arkansas to see Michael play in a soccer tournament. While there, I hit a small pothole (after a stop, so I was going very slow) and ruined a tire. On the Acura, they are $300 tires and we only got this tire two months ago.

We checked and found they couldn’t get another tire until WEDNESDAY (this was on a Saturday), but we lucked out and found a used tire that fit. The tire got us back to Memphis.

We have decided that these tires have a design defect (this is the third tire that has been ruined in less than 38,000 miles on the car). Since we can’t change the tires on the car, we are going to trade the car.

We feel the tires have a design defect and are dangerous. I can’t believe they allow them to sell such a fragile, dangerous tire.

So, we are looking for another vehicle. We love the car (an Acura TL), but can’t take the chance on such a dangerous tire, and worse yet, when we can’t get one if we need it! (The first one that blew out, even the ACURA DEALER couldn’t get one for three days!

Take that as a warning! Don’t buy any car with “low profile” tires, especially Bridgestone tires. They have a design defect and are dangerous. (Of course, they always have an excuse about the reason for the ruined tire-I “hit something” etc.)

Where is Spring?

I wait, and wait for the "true" Spring to arrive! Actually, the weather isn't bad, I am just waiting for Spring weather, flowers, greenry etc. to arrive! Sometimes I think March and early April are the worst months, since we normally have some very nice weather, but good (read "warm" or even "hot") weather is not really here yet! At least I know it's coming!

There is great joy in Memphis, as the University of Memphis advanced in the NCAA tournament! I had a conflict when Wichita State University and Tennessee played in the NCAA tournament. (I got my M.A. and Wichita State and I like to see Tennessee win.) I resolved it by being glad for the winner (Wichita State) and sad for Tennessee when it lost.

I am working "on-line" computer courses and discovering stuff I never knew the programs could do! Thus far, I have completed a "Microsoft Outlook" course and am currently working on "Word" and "Excel". Excel has been especially enlightening for what I didn't know!

March musings

It has been a while since I posted on this, and I will try to be more diligent in the future! It is so nice to see Spring in the air! I noticed my first crocus (I think I spelled that right) the other day and the trees are starting to bud. I love Spring!

I am almost ashamed that Memphis, on the Oscar show, is symbolized by a group of people who for some reason embellish the low-life of any City. I don’t watch the Oscar’s, or even really care who gets one, but it is embarrassing to be from near Memphis and have that type of scummy music/words actually “win” an Oscar and somehow indicate that is what Memphis is about! ( Obviously other people have their own opinion of it.

Actually, Memphis and the area (frankly, especially Lakeland) is a wonderful area and has a lot of good sides and especially a lot of super people! I have always been intrigued by the Mississippi River and like to see it at different times. I like to look at it and imagine what it was like to actually ride a raft down the Mississippi River!

This is a busy time of year, so we are keeping busy. I still have a cough, so I haven’t gotten outside and ridden my “real” bike for several months, although I am keeping in shape by riding a stationary bike and walking the treadmill. It isn’t the same as riding outside. I am doing much better and expect to be able to ride outside again soon (just in time for Spring!

Ice!

Saturday, February 18,2006: A combination os ice rain, rain, sleet and snow (I guess it is called a "winterly mix" has hit Lakeland. I think this is worse than just staight snow!

We are enjoying having blinds on our windows and are really enjoying our new house, although it is frustrating to have to continue to work with the unfinished/uncompleted or incorrectly completed construction items.

We are generally "moved in" although we still have some details to work out, as far as pictures etc.

We are definitely looking forward to summer!

Snow and privacy!

Friday, February 10, it snowed in Lakeland. Probably snowed about 3-5", which in this area, is a major snowstorm! City Hall closed early and traffic was a mess getting home. Of course, no one knows how to drive in snow, and snow removal is not quite as efficient as it is in areas with a lot of snow. The snow came a little earlier than expected, which created some of the problems since no one was expecting it that early.

We also got our "blinds" on our windows in our house, which was REALLY nice. Although I doubt that anyone (other than a deer or two and squirrels), it is nice to feel some privacy.

It this snow is like past snows, it will be gone in a day or two as the temperature rises. The snow was a very wet snow and it was even snowing when it was 37 degrees! Or, at least it was "slushing" at 37 degrees.

February 2, 2006

Amazing that it is already February of 2006! I know I seem to always say this, but time just seems to glide by. As I mentioned recently, I see time pass in how fast children grow up and in the large stack of very thin coffee filters and how fast a large stack can disappear!

We went to OKC last weekend for Michael's "Best Young Soccer Referee" award. We enjoyed the trip, with generally good weather,and excellent weather for the drive.

I am alway surprised at how much colder Oklahoma City is, even with the same temperature and the wind! It can be 50 degrees in Lakeland and I feel fairly comfortable, whereas 50 degrees in OKC is not. I guess the wind and the higher elevation make up the difference.

Overall, we are getting settled in and starting to feel better. I feel much better although I still cough occassionally. I am starting to exercise again, which feels good!

The winter has been very mild. While I'm sure some hard winter days are ahead, it is still nice to enjoy the mild days and know that we are coming one day closer to Spring and Summer! I think we will especially enjoy our house this summer.

January 15, 2006

We are getting moved in and I am starting to recover from bronchitis. I still cough some, but it is bearable. My Doctor said I should get better soon. I have been coughing since approximately December 11, 2005, so I am ready for it to be over!

We are really starting to feel “moved in” to our new house. It has been a long process, with us being sick, Christmas etc. Aliene did a lot of work on it. She is good at this!

We are planning on going to Oklahoma City in the near future to see Michael get an award and we plan on having “Christmas” for Angela, James, Kali and Katherine since they were sick on Christmas Eve and while we were there over Christmas. That is, assuming the weather is nice. The weather has been so good it is easy to forget the ice storm on the Christmas of 2004!

Aliene feels well enough to make her “Christmas Candy”. Her mother always makes it and she makes some for city personnel and other friends.

Moving 2006

We made a lot of progress in moving this weekend. I'm feeling better, thank goodness, although I still have some cough.

We got some furniture moved in, some pictures put up etc. and feel much more like we are "home", although we still have a lot to do.

The paint job in the house is horrible. An extremely poor paint job, with paint overruns etc. I need to remember the painting contactors name to make sure we never use him for anything.

It feels good to get everything set up.

2006

2006 is here! We are settling into our new house. We have basically gotten the cars in the garage and the essentials up and running! We are still moving and will be for some time, but at least the emergency stuff is done. We were delayed by both of us getting sick and then Christmas.

I am lucky Aliene is such a good packer and organizer. We have an "attic" with a regular stairs, which is nice, although we may be tending to save more than we meant to! We stored a lot of our stuff for six months (while we were in the apartments) and we thought, "if we got along without it for six months..."!

New Year Day we saw 4 small deer out our window early in the morning.

We had a nice time New Year Eve at a local party, and basically spent the holidays moving in. I am still coughing, although I hope it is getting less and less.

I am looking forward to 2006, and especially getting over this cough! I haven't been able to walk for exercise or bicycle since I developed my cough and I really miss it!

Back to work tomorrow (January 3).

Christmas

Overall, a good Christmas, marred somewhat by colds etc. While Angela, Kali and Katherine and I had a good visit before Christmas, both Angela and Kali were sick and unable to attend the "Christmas Party" and open gifts etc. It was still nice, but nothing is more fun than watching children opening gifts!

Aliene and I are still feeling the lingering effects of being sick. I still have a cough etc. (sometimes I wonder if I've always coughed), but I feel a lot better today and hopefully it is basically over.

We are visiting with Kim, Eleanor and Rebecca in Tulsa and having a good time!

December 21

December 21 is one of my favorite days because it is the "shortest day of the year", which means Summer is ahead! Of course, there is still a lot of cold weather, but at least the days are getting "longer".

Actually of course, in Memphis, Winter really doesn't normally get bad until about January and continues through late March with a lot of nice days. However, the "chill" of winter doesn't normally recede until late April, which you really feel Spring is here and Summer is ahead!