Raining Acorns

A Friend's Story

2010-03-11T11:57:00.002-05:00

Michael and I were in a band together in Houston for a few years. Great story and I can attest he has a true servant's heart!

Here is his story

2009 Re-cap

2010-03-10T09:13:00.024-05:00

So, what happened in the Dale family in 2009? Let's see if I can net this down:

January

- spent New Year's eve in the North GA mountains, shooting guns, celebrating with friends at a campground near Helen.
- met with Malcolm and Amy Young to talk about being a part of a new church start-up in Cherokee County.

February

- Celebrated Michael's birthday
- Agreed to be a part of Life Bible Church ( http://www.lifebiblechurch.com ). Started meeting at a clubhouse with a few other families to see where this would lead.

March

- Celebrated Teresa's Birthday
- Went camping in the mountains again
- Helped Life Bible Church select a new location in a local warehouse, perfect location!!
- Bought a new (used) F250 truck
- Went camping in Alabama in the old camper

April

- Bought new 5th wheel camper. Since the truck could pull a camper much bigger than the one we owned, well.... we just had to upgrade.
- Went camping in north Georgia, make sure everything worked, found out it DIDN'T all work, got that fixed.

May/June/July

- Not much...

August

- Returned to the mountains to celebrate the 5th anniversary of our friends campground, Creekwood . More guns, food, friends and a chance to see if the fixes to the camper actually worked!!

September

- Big trip to Ohio/Pennsylvania. Teresa and I went to visit a friend who lives outside Pittsburgh, near the Ohio state line, and to spend a week in 'new' territory.

We stopped at a state park in Lexington, KY the first night. The next morning Teresa was not feeling very well at all so we stopped at a 'minute clinic' and found out she had pneumonia (ICK!!). She loaded up on drugs and said to continue the trip.

We drove up to a nice campground in Rogers, OH. We stayed there for the next 5 nights, visited our friends, saw a bluegrass festival, watched the Alabama/Virginia Tech game on TV and visited towns such as Columbus, Canton, Cleveland, Ashtabula and drove a nice road along Lake Erie.
Our return trip was thru the state of West Virginia, and is one mountainous state!! WE stopped in south Virginia at one more campground before heading home the following day.

- Late September we went to the Alabama vs. Arkansas football game. At halftime the university honored the 1979 National Championship team. It was a lot of fun to go on the field again and to see all my old teammates.

October

- I took my uncle Aubrey to the Alabama vs. South Carolina game. We had a good time and watch Mark Ingram run wild, putting him on the Heisman Trophy map. Rained like crazy before the game but the sun came out at gametime. Bama was starting to get some serious national attention by this game!

November

- My brother, Tim and his son, Tanner, met me in Tuscaloosa for the Bama/LSU game. We stayed in our camper, visited the campus and they watched the game from inside the stadium while I hung out on the quad to watch the game at a tailgate party. That was a new experience. It was great to see Tim at a ballgame again, he got us a tour of the athletic facilities that was first class! Tanner and I got to see many parts of the building including the locker room, lounge area where Tanner played ping-pong with a coach who was passing thru.

- In late November Teresa and I celebrated our 5th anniversary!!! We decided to sell our Auburn tickets and take the camper back to the mountains (surprise, surprise). This time we stayed the week of Thanksgiving @ Moccasin Creek State park, on Lake Burton. A new addition to our camping experience, and really part of roughing it, was Directv!! I was able to bring along a dish and got the system working so we could watch our favorite shows AND the Alabama/Auburn game. I know, that isn't camping but it works for us!!

December

- Attended the Alabama vs. Florida SEC Championship game here in ATL. Bama won big, headed to the National Championship game in CA (which I would up going to!!).
- We flew to Houston, TX to celebrate my parents 50th wedding anniversary!!! My siblings and I were honored to be able to get together and host a party for mom and dad, have our family portrait taken, spend time hanging out together and enjoying Christmas as a family. 50 years, amazing!!

So, 2009 was a good year and it ended, not surprisingly, with us going back to the mountains for New Year's Eve.

So far, 2010 is great and we will update our adventures and travels here.

Wow, I let Facebook take over my life

2010-01-24T15:36:00.002-05:00

Well, it has been nearly a year and I want to get back into this blogging thing.

It is a rainy, stormy January Sunday and we have done so much in the last year that I failed to blog about, and that is sad. Among the highlights, bought a new, monster camper, traveled much in that camper, watched God move at Life Bible Church (and he continues to do so), enjoyed a special year in Alabama football, attending several games and the championship in Pasadena, new jobs and adventures for Teresa, celebrating my parents 50th wedding anniversary and many more things.

I want to get back into this right away, I think a lot will happen in 2010 that I don't want to miss out recording for history's sake. There may only be 2 people reading this but hey, I like to write.

What we have discovered, Part II

2009-03-06T07:48:00.002-05:00

The story below led Teresa and I to finally land at a big church down in Marietta called Johnson Ferry (JFBC). Good people, solid teaching and full of 'grown ups'. We attended there about a year and enjoyed it, was a perfect place at the perfect time. We started feeling the call last fall to find a church local to our neighborhood as JFBC was over 25 miles away.

We started looking, again, at churches in Cherokee county and became disappointed, wondering if it was US that was the challenge? Nothing we found seemed to say 'this is it' in any manner. Come Christmas time we were really frustrated. Now, there were two couples back at the 'old' church we attended that both Teresa and I respected, liked and thought highly of, both on staff at the time. One couple left the church when we did, moved away and have since found a great peace in their lives after much turmoil. The second couple stayed at the church and we could not believe they were still there, so disappointing.

I December 2008 I decided to contact the second couple mentioned above as I discovered they too left the church not long after we did. I sent an e-mail to reconnect and had a good conversation with him (Malcolm). It was just nice to catch up, catch up a little and find them, amazingly, in the same boat as we were. It was also interesting that he mentioned several other people (not from the old church) who were in the same boat as well.

That got me to thinking and with my brothers encouragement I sent a simple note to Malcolm saying "If you feel led to start a church we would like to be a part of it". Well, Malcolm called me the NEXT DAY and said they have been praying and seeking what to do about starting a new church and our note was perfectly (God) timed. We met, they shared the vision, mission and purpose of a church and we thought it was spot on!

So, Life Bible Church was 'born'. We met a few times as a group of people to get to know each other and last weekend had our first semi-official 'service'. This church was not created to 'entertain' people, to put on a show or designed to be 'seeker sensitive', meaning be entertaining to reach people. It is, as the name state, a Bible church. We will study, teach and share the Bible.

This week we actually signed a lease on some space in town and will start meeting in ONE SPOT for the next year at least. That is great, no school, theater, city hall, civic center. A real building!!

I pray that this is the start of something good, faithful and true to what a church is/should be.

What we have discovered searching for a church home

2009-02-21T20:59:00.011-05:00

When Teresa and I moved to Woodstock, GA we found (on the internet) a local church that met in a theater up the freeway from us. Before we moved to town we actually went to lunch (@ Williamson Brothers BBQ, yum!) with the senior pastor and another guy on staff (Malcolm). We really thought the church had a good vision to reach people, especially those NOT from a traditional church background.

Some of the things we liked about what we saw:

- Upbeat music, great musicians with high energy.
- lots of people greeting you at the door, a good buzz
- met in a movie theater and seemed to be growing
- diverse people, all ages, races and backgrounds represented
- seemed to have their act together on Sunday mornings

We started attending not soon after moving to Georgia and decided we would get plugged-in right away. We both volunteered to be greeters and passed out flyers at the door each Sunday, helped new people find their way around and generally wanted to make people feel welcome. A little while later we were asked to help lead what they called a 'home team'. This is a Bible study group comprised of people from the church, which met weekly.

All was well, or so we thought, for several months. About 8 months into the process our eyes were opened wide, we discerned serious problems with the leadership (confirmed them) and direction of the church, decided it was time to move on, told the pastor so (and why) and left. Looking back it was the right thing to do as God used that to teach us (and continues to do so today).

Since then Teresa and I have learned so much about the purpose, function, leadership and importance of a church. We have visited so many little churches around us, started by so called "church planters" over the past year and are amazed at how exactly the same they all are. This has led us to study, research, pray about and pay attention to the state of today's 'christian' church.

Cherokee County (and the entire southeast region) is covered in new churches. They meet in every school, theater and civic center available.

Here are some of the qualities of a 'new', real, hip and relevant church started by a planter today, based on our observations.

- say NOTHING matters but reaching people for Jesus

Using this first statement justify the following:

be as offensive to other Christians as possible, it is cool to show how stupid Christians are. I personally was told from day one that "I didn't get it, that I wouldn't make it". That much was true, a source of some level of 'pride' now, for lack of a better word!!

be as offensive to other churches as possible, other churches are stupid too you know

home teams must be more social in nature, do not study the Bible, talk about the sermon from last week. Do not stray or you will be cut off.

use crude and vulgar language on your blog, twitter, in the service and in your publications and events. This is designed to show the non-believer that you are cool too and that it doesn't matter how you act or what you say if you are a believer. Some of the best words and phrases (these are NOT made up, I have them all available for reference), and I apologize for this, are 'suck', 'freaking', 'ass', 'balls to the wall', "I'm going to punch him in the throat", "I'll come kick their @##", and make jokes with crude sexual references constantly, talk about how 'hot' your wife is and hint about your sexual prowess.

Bible study is to be done on your own time, topic sermons are the way to go

going deep is a joke, people don't want to study deeper in the Word

the leadership of the church is accountable only to God, they started the church so they are the only ones that should know what is happening behind the scenes.

every third sermon series has to be about the history of the church.

every second sermon series has to be about sex, post pictures of couples under cover in bed, kissing, pictures of people's backside, etc. Send flyers out to the community and laugh when someone calls back saying the flyers are rather offensive.

be obsessed with secular music and television, telling everyone about it and how you make your day by filling your head and life with the stuff

Go to every church planters conference available, hang out with your 'pastor' buddies all the time

Talk about how cool your church planter friends (pastors) are and how cool you are, remember YOU are the only one that knows what God wants from your church/ministry.

Remove anyone who ask questions, then make fun of them.

If someone leaves the church tell everyone remaining to ignore them, do not contact them, they never existed and it is THEIR problem. Even if that person was on staff, they are persona non grata, useless to you.

show pride in having the police called to your church, having the neighbors upset with you and threaten to beat them up, or send someone from the church to do so

twitter every thought you have, the more vulgar the better (remember, that makes you 'real')

I could go on... but I will not. It is hard writing this without coming across as EXACTLY what I am speaking about. I do not say these 'planters' are stupid. However, I do believe many are misguided and dangerous to the faith.

This was therapeutic, I'll have more to say about what else we have discovered - THAT IS POSITIVE, AMAZING, HEARTWARMING AND A REAL BLESSING.

2009-02-18T07:28:00.002-05:00

Well, Teresa and I did it. The SUV, Pathfinder, that we owned was OK for towing our little camper on back roads and such but once you hit the freeway it really struggled and the MPG was terrible (8 or less). We decided to get a Ford F250 so we can pull our trailer AND when we upgrade it would handle that one too.

We looked around at several trucks and met a nice guy named Stephen at Mall of Georgia Ford who showed us a nice F250 but it was too expensive. We explained to him (and a couple other dealers) exactly what we were looking for. We wanted a 2004-2006 F250, Super Cab, 6.0 litre turbo diesel, auto, leather, as many options as possible in the cab (auto temp control, power everything) and NOT WHITE in color and a specific price range. (side note, it amazes me how dealers push "monthly payments" when I specifically said PRICE!!!!). They don't really like informed buyers I think.

Stephen went out and they bought a nice 2006 model and called us. We looked at it this week, negotiated for many hours and I returned last night to pick it up. Teresa said a sad goodbye to the SUV, it was super nice but too weak for us.

Our plan is to keep this for many, many, many years. Can't wait to get out and pull something in it. It feels like it could pull our house off it's foundation!! Amazingly enough, however, it gets the same or BETTER gas mileage than the SUV and towing should be no problem at all for it.

Thankfully we have our little Mazda for every day driving.

Should have sold the tickets?

2008-12-08T11:32:00.003-05:00

Teresa and I had tickets to the SEC Football Championship game here in ATL last Saturday. Alabama was taking on the Florida Gators for a chance to play for the National Championship in Miami in January. However, it was not meant to be!

We arrived at the Georgia Dome about 4 hours before kick-off and checked out all of the fan 'stuff' around the area and settled in to our seats, ate a hot dog and waited for the game. While the game was great, losing is not!!

All around the stadium people were wanting to buy tickets. I heard during the week that tickets were going for $350-$400 each in the section we were sitting in. Having bought them for $70 each that would be a tidy profit!!?? We decided against it and looking back perhaps we should have!?

NAAA, no way.

ROLL TIDE anyway. Beat Utah in the Sugar Bowl (that's weird... beat UTAH?)

Snow is pretty but....

2008-11-21T14:21:00.002-05:00

Teresa and I are in Sugar Mountain, NC again to celebrate 4 years of marriage and we awoke to a good 4-5 inches of snow on the ground. It is beautiful, cold and very nice with a fire, coffee, etc.

One problem... last night Teresa pointed to the sign that said "4WD or Chains required" that was flashing as we entered the community. Well, silly me didn't think much about it because the roads were fine AT THAT TIME. The forecast was for maybe 1/2 to 1 inch of snow. Now, we have a winter storm warning, blowing snow and frozen roads.

That, along with not so new tires on the SUV, means I had to call the local wrecker company, buy some chains and have them delivered to us here. The guy was nice, has the chains and said he will "put us in line" after he pulls a couple of cars out of the local ditches.

Oh well, that is what you get when you mix a southern boy with snow - NO COMMON SENSE. At least we will have chains for the next time I decid to drive somewhere in the mountains during winter.

Adventures in camping....

2008-11-19T08:36:00.002-05:00

Teresa and I wanted to take the new camper (see previous post) to a campground close to home and make sure everything works. It is better to do this close to home, as we discovered, that to go far away. Their is a lake close to us called Lake Allatoona so we thought that would be a great place to go. The campground was called McKinney Campground and was only 10 miles away.

We were able to get it to the site, leveled, hook up all the power, water without any problems. It was a nasty night in Georgia Friday as it was rainy, warm and muggy. We were pleased that the camper didn't leak during the rain so one major hurdle was crossed. The next morning we got up and did a little grocery shopping, lunch then headed back to the camper. A cold front came in that evening so we decided to light a campfire outside, turn on the heater inside, cook some dinner and watch a little TV while warming by the campfire (roughing it, huh?).

We settled in to sleep while the temperature outside was plummeting into the 40's to 30's by morning. Around 1:00 am I woke up FREEZING and the heat was not blowing at all. I checked the thermostat, electricity and everything was good, just no HEAT!!! Now, we purchased this camper with 2 full (so we were told) 20lb propane tanks just two weeks ago so I'm not thinking there is no propane just yet. Freezing and frustrated I sat there in dismay as to how did this happen when it hit me.... PROPANE!!! I went outside and sure enough, the tanks were empty. This was really frustrating as I didn't expect to have 5 hours of heat with two full tanks of gas. I put on more layers of clothes, grabbed the blankets and curled up on bed for a long, cold night.

We woke up early, made some coffee and packed up quickly as it was just too cold to enjoy the day without a little heat, plus I was frustrated. I searched on the web site and read the owners manual and discovered there was no way that we should have run out of propane that quickly, which leads me to the fact we did not receive the agreed to full tanks from the dealer. I will deal with that now!!

We plan on going out again in a few weeks and will take a little space heater as back-up. Lesson learned!!

We now return to our regular life....

2008-11-06T07:53:00.005-05:00

Election is over, I'm now an official member of the loyal opposition. Life goes on and a new president/congress/government is not who we put our 'hope' in anyway.

Last weekend Teresa and I decided not to go to the Alabama homecoming game in Tuscaloosa so we could go camping one more time in our little pop-up camper. We headed up to northwest Georgia this time, right at the point where Alabama, Tennessee and Georgia all meet. The state park this time was Cloudland Canyon State Park, and wow, it was a beautiful place, elevation 2,000 feet.

We arrived Friday afternoon and set up shop on the west rim camp ground. Since it is not the 'peak' camping season we were able to get a pretty good camp site. The weather was perfect, lower 40's at night, near 70 or so during the day, lot's of sunshine.

We had a great time, the trees were in full color mode Saturday and Sunday. While we were hiking the canyon trails they were just stunning in their colors of red, orange and yellow. The hiking trails were very nice, a little challenging and the views of the canyon were impressive. Each time we go to a Georgia state park we are more impressed with the beauty of this state.

We left the camp site Saturday to drive around, head into Chattanooga to watch the Bama game at a local sports bar and to look at bigger campers at a huge Camping World store in town. Since we enjoy camping so much and the little pop-up, while nice, is just too darn small for us now, we have been considering upgrading almost since the first time we used the pop-up.

We looked at a ton of pull behind trailers and spent several hours there mulling over a few. We really liked a couple of them and the prices, in today's economic environment, are incredibly low. We left and headed back to our little camper for the evening. Sunday we hiked a little and decided to head back to Camping World...... and we decided to take the plunge.

We bought us a little 19ft Jay Feather camper that can easily be pulled by our SUV but is big enough (fridge, full shower, stove, oven, microwave, couch, TV. We really do want to 'rough it' when camping, huh??

The Morning After

2008-11-05T06:50:00.006-05:00

Why is my US Flag displayed Upside Down for today?

The upside down U.S. flag is an official signal of distress. It is not meant to be, and is not officially recognized as any type of disrespect when so displayed for the right reasons. To the contrary, here is the relevant part of the US Code of Laws regarding how to fly the flag when in distress:

THE FLAG CODE
Title 36, U.S.C., Chapter 10
As amended by P.L. 344, 94th Congress
Approved July 7, 1976
� 176. Respect for flag: No disrespect should be shown to the flag of the United States of America; the flag should not be dipped to any person or thing. Regimental colors, State flags, and organization or institutional flags are to be dipped as a mark of honor.
(a) The flag should never be displayed with the union down, except as a signal of dire distress in instances of extreme danger to life or property.

Vote, for goodness sake, vote

2008-10-27T13:01:00.001-04:00

But read this first!

From the PatriotPost.us website.

A Parody: "I think the government will do a better job of spending my money than I could. When we pull out of Afghanistan and Iraq, I know the Islamic terrorists will stop trying to kill us. I believe people who can’t tell us if it will rain in two or three days can now tell us the polar ice caps will disappear in a century if we don’t comply with Orwellian government economic oversight. English has no place being the official language in America. I’d rather pay $4 for a gallon of gas than allow drilling for oil off the coasts of America or in that vast Alaskan wasteland, ANWR. ‘Big Oil’s’ five-percent profit on a gallon of gas is obscene, but the government tax of 18 to 35 percent on the same gallon of gas is just fine.”

The parody continues: “I believe businesses in America should not be allowed to make profit—it should be confiscated by the government so politicians and bureaucrats can redistribute that profit as they see fit. I believe guns cause crimes and murder, not the sociopaths using them, and, thus, should be confiscated. Besides, when someone threatens my family, I know the government can respond faster with a call to 911 than I can with a gun in my hand. It’s a right to kill millions of babies while objecting to the death penalty for murderers. I believe five elitist liberal judges should rewrite the Constitution by diktat to suit Leftist agendas that could never pass proper amendment.”

For SEC Football Fans

2008-10-16T09:26:00.001-04:00

Funny video, watch the subtitles....

Catch up blogging.... UGA/Bama game

2008-10-10T08:13:00.009-04:00

Yes, Teresa and I did go to the Alabama/Georgia game two weeks ago in Athens. We had a great time, stayed in our new little camper at a local state park called Watson Mill Bridge, just east of the campus. That was a much better deal than either driving over there and back in a day or getting a hotel room (which was not possible).

We took off Friday afternoon, with a full tank of gas, and began the 90 minute trip. The drive over was uneventful as rush hour traffic had not yet kicked in. When we got to Athens we found a gas station that had fuel (a miracle at that time!!!) . After filling up the SUV again we had a real sense of relief that we would make it home without a problem!! We arrived at the state park around 4:00 pm or so and set up shop.

The state park is beautiful. Has a covered wooden bridge over an old dam on the river that people used to divert water to an old, now destroyed power plant. It was a smaller camp site, probably only 20 or so campers were there. However, there were 2 other big motor homes there with their Alabama flags already flying!! Teresa and I said hello to them before sunset, they were nice folks from Alabama, retirees who go to all the games they can now. What a life!!

Saturday morning arrived and we were initially thinking since the game was at 7:45 pm (ick) we would probably drive the 15 miles to campus around 4:00 pm. As we were eating breakfast a cop came thru the camp site and told the other Bama people that the campus was already filling up and that parking is hard to come by. We changed our plans and headed out around 12:30, right after lunch. On the way in we stopped in at the Cup of Karma Cafe in Comer, GA to use their wi-fi to pay some bills on the computer. That, my friend, is roughing it when you go camping!!

We arrived in Athens and were in a parking spot waaaay across the campus around 2:00 pm. With nothing else to do we took off walking the mile and a half to go towards downtown. The place was already crowded with tailgaters and people buying tickets. We could have just made some big bucks and left then but no way were we going to miss the game. Since we had about 6 hours to kill we just stopped at various restaurants to watch some other games on TV and watch the crowd. Everyone was nice, all wearing black (Blackout Bama weekend!) and as the day wore on people were getting more and more wasted. (note: College kids are getting vulgar these days, I've never heard such trashy language in one day - I'm getting old!!).

We finally sat down to eat around 6:30 @ Amici Cafe. It was a nice break from walking around aimlessly. After dinner we went straight to the stadium and climbed about a million steps to our seats THREE ROWS FROM THE TOP. Man, that was waaaay up. It felt like you were falling when walking around up there. I didn't feel too bad about the seats because all of the Alabama people were up there too.

The game, needless to say, was GREAT! We stayed until the Rammer Jammer song, couldn't resist!!

On the way back to the car the Georgia people were no longer noisy or vulgar, they were stunned. It took us a while to get out of the area then finally returned to the camp site around 1:00 am.

Sunday was sleep late and hiking day. We checked out some trails in the state park then headed home around 1:00 pm. On the way home, dragging the camper behind us, we stopped to eat and as we were getting back on the freeway someone behind us was blowing the horn but I couldn't make out who the were upset with. As I turned onto the entrance ramp and got up to speed I looked in the rear view mirror and to my horror my camper was leaning to one side.... FLAT TIRE!!!!!! I quickly pulled over and parked under a bridge on the side of the freeway. Guess those people were honking at us??

We struggled our way thru changing the tire, which took forever because there was a piece of the bumper in the way of the spare tire and I had to un-hitch the camper, leave it on the side of the road, and go back to a Home Depot for a hack saw! We returned, camper still there, and sawed off the offending piece of the bumper, changed the tire and headed home. My next project is 3 new tires for the camper (2 for the camper and new spare). I'm not taking any more chances with that!

It was a good weekend, our second weekend in a row using out camper. We went to Fort Mountain State Park the weekend before to break in the camper for a long weekend. A lot of hiking, a horseback ride and relaxing in the woods @ 3,000 feet up!

Alabama vs. Georgia

2008-09-26T08:34:00.003-04:00

This weekend Teresa and I are heading over to Athens, Georgia to watch Alabama/Georgia football game. I've debated all week whether we should go because of a few items:

1) Tickets are selling for a ton of money ($200-300 per ticket)
2) There is no gasoline in ATL!?
3) Georgia fans... not sure I like them.

This should be a good game, entertaining and gut wrenching no matter what. I hope Bama win, I know they can, but they are playing what appears to be a better team in UGA.

Here's the UGA theme for the weekend.

Alicia and Ike, no friends of Houston!!

2008-09-12T10:41:00.004-04:00

Twenty five years ago I graduated from college and loaded up the Chevette and moved to Houston, Texas as I waited to start my new job as an equipment manager for the Houston Gamblers USFL football team. I was living at my parents home for a couple of weeks at most when in August a storm named Alicia was in the gulf and close by. When I woke up early the next morning all heck was breaking loose outside as the hurricane decided to turn at the last second and come right up thru west Houston.

The power went out pretty quickly after sunrise and the winds picked up, and up, and up until they were probably 60-90 mph. The big pine trees were leaning into the wind, snapping and falling on homes. I remember garbage cans, little plastic pools and other items flying up the street all morning. The eye of the storm arrived so we went outside to pull the fallen limbs out of the way, basically storing them between houses. When the storm returned the wind was blowing the other way and more trees came crashing down.

I don't remember a lot of what happened after that other than with no power and it being August in Houston it was pretty bad. I think the water was out a few days and power about a week. Thankfully I could go to work at Oshman's (no longer around) Sporting goods as they had power and A/C. I really didn't like Houston all that much yet and this didn't help AT ALL.

After all was said and done Houston picked up the pieces and moved on. It is still a little bit of a frontier town that doesn't let things get them down. I think with this latest storm it will do the same.

FOOTNOTES:

- I worked at Oshman's a couple of long and terrible retail store months.
- A local hospital offered me a full time job as an HR representative, I accepted.
- Never worked for the Houston Gamblers, and they were only around for 2 years anyway.
- Everything worked out great!

The Palin Effect

2008-09-11T09:09:00.004-04:00

A political moment... from a right winger.

I did not know much about VP nominee Sarah Palin but I do know that her pick and story has energized both Teresa and I to pay attention, speak up and even, maybe, possibly, get involved! Yesterday I went to the local Republican Party office and, for the first time EVER, picked up a yard sign.

We are wondering just how long it will stay in the yard (theft/vandalism) but for now, it is there for the whole street to see!! McCain was not our first choice (Fred!!!) but I've become more energized lately watching McCain and with the addition of Palin, and the more I learn about her, we become more motivated to vote too!!

And here is where it gets even 'worse' for those of you on the left... We are going to the Right Wing Tavern Saturday morning to hear our representative, Tom Price, speak and to see if there is a way we can get involved in the local Republican Party. Oh, wait, it does get worse... one of my best friends is the Chairperson of the Texas Repubilican Party!! She's encouraged us to get involved too!!

Oh my... I may be loosing some 'fans' here but sometimes elections matter a lot (today is 9/11, remember that date?), and this is one!!!

Alabama 34 - Clemson 10

2008-09-02T11:58:00.002-04:00

Wow, Teresa and I went to the Alabama-Clemson game this past Saturday night in the Georgia Dome. How nice it is to go see Bama play in our own town, no 4 hour drive to Tuscaloosa (and back). We had to take MARTA because the traffic downtown was brutal. There was the game, an outdoor concert by the local Christian station, some convention and other items going on. The city has been working on the downtown interstates and they closed many lanes this past long weekend to get a lot done.

We caught the southbound train at the very first station, took a seat among a sea of Crimson (Bama) and Orange (Clemson) shirts, hats, etc. When we stopped at the second station, more people, the third station pretty much filled up the train to standing room only the rest of the 30 minute trip to town. We realized then that coming back on the train would be a real adventure. Once we arrived downtown we got off a station 'early' and walked the rest of the way since we were so early.

We found out seats inside the Georgia Dome and bought our dinner for the evening (hot dogs and pretzels). Once we settled in a guy came by and sat right next to us. Sure enough, it was an old college buddy who was an equipment manager with me at Bama. I've not seen him in 25 years so we caught up a little. I saw another old manager friend, Big C, so we chatted a little too.

The game was great, it was over quickly as Clemson never made any attempt to come back on the Bama team. It was loud in there, but only on the 1/2 of the stadium dressing in Crimson and White. The orange half of the stadium was empty by the middle of the 4th quarter.

After the game we headed to the MARTA station and as expected it was a ZOO!!! The line to get on the train was 20 people deep so we decided to catch a train the opposite way, switch back at the next station and not have to wait for the outbound train. That worked OK but the problem was we had to switch trains to the northbound rail at the next station. So, we got off the train and got back in line 20 deep. We did notice that the last train was generally empty (or less full) than the other cars so we muscled our way to the back of the platform and sure enough, jumped on the first train out!!

We got home around 2:00 pm and were too wired to sleep so we ate pizza and watched some of the game on TIVO. Bama still won it on the recorded version too. ;-)

The next game we will attend is in Athens, GA against the top ranked Georgia team. That is going to be fun!!!

Tuesday thoughts...

2008-08-26T11:05:00.004-04:00

We sold Teresa's little Honda Accord last night. She was sad as it has been her car for 12 years. She bought it new in 1996. Good little car. The new owner, a young guy named Michael, was thrilled with it. He was so excited when he and his mom paid for it last night. At least it is going to a good home.

It has been cool for many days now and the rain started Sunday night/Monday morning, pretty much non-stop since then. Everybody is so happy here, the lakes are filling up too.

HURRICANE UH OH... look out along the Gulf Coast and fill up your cars now:

I just found out this morning that my little Mazda car, which I believed since I bought it 18 months ago, is a 2003 (not 2002). Cool and weird all at the same time. The dealer I bought it from 18 months ago also said it was a 2002 and I priced it based on the 02 model pricing. Now I feel even better about buying that little car.

How's this for a headline? "9-year-old boy told he's too good to pitch". THIS story in today's paper was ridiculous. We can't have some kid that is better than others now can we? ;-)

Alabama plays Clemson this weekend at the Georgia Dome. It will be so nice to travel 30 miles to a game rather than 225 miles to Tuscaloosa. Clemson is good so Bama better be ready to play!! Teresa and I will go down early and enjoy some of the festivities.

This blog is named "Raining Acorns" because our first year here a large oak tree dropped a zillion acorns on the house. That resulted in a constant BANG, BANG all day and night, scaring cats and keeping us up. Well, they're BAAACK... the recent storms started knocking some of them out of the tree. We are in for another long fall season here.

Old Car/New Car

2008-08-20T08:58:00.004-04:00

Teresa has owned a 1996 Honda Accord since it's "birth" in Houston over 12 years ago. It is a great little car but we decided to make a change. Well, watching the price of SUV's drop like a rock lately we decided to investigate purchasing something. I do not drive to an office and Teresa's new job is just 3 miles away so we wanted something bigger and newer. I know that is not 'politically correct' but I've never been really accused of being that.

We looked online for a while then started going to test drives last week. We drove a Honda Pilot (too boring), an Acura MDX (nice), a Lexus RS330 (very nice!), a Volvo XC90 (slow) and a Nissan Pathfinder (Teresa really liked this one). We finished looking at cars for the weekend and mulled it over all week.

Last Sunday we went to a little, local dealer that had a bunch of Acura and Lexus vehicles for good prices. We drove a few and were about to leave when the sales guy asked what what we were going to do. We said we looked at a Pathfinder up in our area and he got all fired up and said he had one for 'much better price' than the one we looked at. We looked at it, drove it around and decided to go for it after a looooooong afternoon of deliberation.

Well, it is now sitting in the garage and has a name. "Brutus the Beast" Teresa calls it. We already used it to 'haul' stuff as we had been trying to borrow a neighbor's truck to bring home a grill we wanted. Well, last night we brought it home IN OUR OWN TRUCK!!!

We are fortunate that we are in a position to buy a new (used) vehicle. We hope to get many years out of this beast.

I put a sign in the Accord's window yesterday and already had 2 people call within a few hours. I had one call from a guy who saw our ad online @ CraigsList. I show it to them later today, pray it sells!!

Some quotes of note...

2008-08-06T14:47:00.002-04:00

Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) on Friday announced an “Emergency Economic Plan” that would give families a stimulus check of $1,000 each, funded in part by what his presidential campaign calls “windfall profits from Big Oil.”

The first part of Obama’s plan is an emergency energy rebate ($500 to individual workers, $1,000 to families) as soon as this fall.

“This rebate will be enough to offset the increased cost of gas for a working family over the next four months,” Obama said. “Or, if you live in a state where it gets very cold in the winter, it will be enough to cover the entire increase in your heating bills. Or you could use the rebate for any of your other bills or even to pay down debt"

Alexis de Tocqueville, "The American Republic will endure until the day Congress discovers that it can bribe the public with the public's money."

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

John McCain, "“There’s one big difference between me and the others—I won’t take every last dime of the surplus and spend it on tax cuts that mostly benefit the wealthy. I’ll use the bulk of the surplus to secure Social Security far into the future to keep our promise to the greatest generation.”

James Madison, "I cannot undertake to lay my finger on that article of the Constitution which granted a right to Congress of expending, on the objects of benevolence, the money of their constituents."

July 30 Quick Hits

2008-07-30T08:01:00.006-04:00

Need to get busy and post some pictures from Ecuador... CLICK HERE

Never miss 3 years of going to your favorite place. After 3 years of not going to Ecuador I forgot just how much that place helps to "settle me down"... change my focus in life.

Last week I went to the local IBM office to stock-up on supplies, etc. I heard that President Bush was in Atlanta and that he landed at Dobbins Air Base so I decided to drive by and see Air Force One. I was impressed, not sure why, but seeing that beautiful aircraft gave me chills. Everyone was slowing down to look but you had to look fast, guys with big guns were looking back at you.

It is HOT again in ATL. I had to laugh at a friend of mine who moved from upstate NY to Houston this past spring. We both own old Oldsmobile cars and for years I would put my car away in May (got too hot) and he would get his car out in May (in NY). Then, come October I would pull my car out and he would put his away. Well, the other day we were talking and he said it sure is HOT there in Houston. Well, what do you expect I said, I've only warned you about that for years. He and his wife made a great move to Houston as their taxes have dropped dramatically, his wife found a great job there and they can buy a nice, nice house for a reasonable price. Since they are snowbirds I'm guessing they will like the heat.

Since I had the brilliant idea to clear the brush and trees out of a large portion of our back yard I've been struggling to cut the grass with a push mower. Silly me, cutting grass on a hill is a real pain. Well, I broke down last weekend (just like the push mower finally did) and bought a self-propelled Toro. Now, cutting the grass is so much easier, all I have to do is keep up with the mower!!

I just heard a story about a soldier's funeral in Massachusetts this week. A lady attending, who didn't even know Sgt. Jimenez, said this ""I was leaving work yesterday for the wake and my manager said to me `Why are you going? You didn't even know him.'" said Sharon Dupont, 57, of Lowell. "You know what? He didn't know me but he went over there for me," she said as tears ran down her face." WOW.... WOW....

Out of touch for a while....

2008-07-23T10:12:00.003-04:00

We've been out of touch for a while due to work and travels. We just returned from Ecuador and will be posting updates of our time in that wonderful country soon.

For now, I get back in to the political battle with a telling quote from a story in today's Atlanta paper about the savior and messiah, Barak Obama:

""Without truly realizing it, they (Europe) love him because he represents a weaker America — an America more willing to listen to European hand-wringing, less prone to bullying, less determined to fight international terrorism, less inclined to topple brutal dictators, and overall less likely to hold a mirror to European hypocrisy and cynicism," said Patrick Keller, coordinator of foreign and security policy at the Konrad Adenauer Foundation in Berlin."

Just what I want... a weaker America. "Vote Obama for a weak America" - that is a slogan I can believe in.

It is well....

2008-06-23T08:20:00.002-04:00

Reading the paper, watching the news, listening to the politicians can sure drag on a person's spirit today. Since it is an election year the reporting of doom and gloom is even worse, the press has a vested interest in making sure we feel very bad about ourselves and our lives right now (see here as to why).

The latest 'shot' came from the AP titled "Everything seemingly is spinning out of control"

People are hearing a bunch of words that mean absolutely nothing and calling it "hope". People are turning away from churches because the church "pastors", in trying to become "relevant" are leading people far away from the truth, weak, boring and powerless (this is not aimed at Johnny Hunt but at the decline). People are looking to the government to relieve them of any burden, responsibility and hint of challenge in their lives and people demand the "right" to happiness (not the right to life, liberty and the PURSUIT of happiness).

If you think those last few statements are harsh, check out these stories, just from the past few weeks:

Uncle Sam can fund retirement

Stories like these

Government should bail out my bad purchasing decisions

Government should fix gas prices (by raising taxes no less)

Government should take over US companies

Bottom Line, times are tough (kind of feels, smells and sounds like the late 1970's to me!!)

Yesterday in church (yes, I still believe in that) the praise band sang an old, irrelevant, outmoded, old fashioned, not cool and really unhip song called "It is well with my soul". That song sent my soul flying unlike any song I've heard in a long, long time.

If you want to know what to think about today's society, events and challenges please take a moment and click on the movie below and read these words along with the instrumentalist music.

When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Refrain

It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

Refrain

My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!

Refrain

For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

Refrain

But, Lord, ‘tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh trump of the angel! Oh voice of the Lord!
Blessèd hope, blessèd rest of my soul!

Refrain

And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.

Refrain

Stupidity strikes my county....

2008-06-13T16:14:00.002-04:00

Just last night I was telling Teresa that I don't think we live in an area that would be to inclined to do dumb things like other towns lately... see HERE to see what got us started on it.

Well, I was wrong. Seems like Holly Springs has decided to try to charge a 'surcharge' when they catch someone speeding or otherwise 'violating city ordinances'. They want to charge an extra $12 fuel surcharge.

What the heck is that about? Just raise the fees or cut the budget! Everyone is dealing with higher fuel prices but this is just a dumb to tax people more and not call it a tax!! It is easy for some people to support, say "yeah, you get caught speeding that is your fault, etc" and "people should pay more for speeding", etc. It is a 'feel good' tax on people, like saying "I'm doing this for the sake of the children".

May have to go to our city (Woodstock, next door to Holly Springs) council meeting soon and see what they are up to!

Glenn Beck for President!!!!

2008-06-11T14:00:00.002-04:00

Check It Out!

Michael & I had the privilege of seeing Glenn Beck live on Saturday, June 7th at the Cobb Energy Center. What an incredible performance. Up close and personal since we were on the 5th row. We could see the sweat dripping off his nose! :)

Woodstock Sand Storm

2008-05-27T07:42:00.002-04:00

I checked the weather forecast this morning to see if my flight to NY (later today) may be delayed and was surprised to see that Woodstock, GA is now a desert!! Check out the "Current Conditions". Somebody is messing with the weather site because yesterday afternoon the current conditions said 'Clear, 46 degrees' when it was 85.

MPG challenge

2008-05-26T08:30:00.004-04:00

One of our little cats (Maddie) and I are sitting on the back deck this Memorial Day morning. I'm drinking coffee and reading the paper while she's watching birds, laying in the morning sun. It is a beautiful morning.

Of course the paper is full of stories about gas prices as people head out on their holiday trips. So far, high gas prices have not hurt our budget, we just moved $$ around a little. We are fortunate in that in February 2007 I bought a little Mazda Protege5, trading in my big F150 pickup truck. I do not drive to work each day so again I'm fortunate in that aspect but we do use the Mazda to go on our little weekend trips to the mountains. I went by the gas station Saturday morning and spent nearly $50 for a fill-up. The poor guy next to me was filling up his monster SUV when I arrived and was still filling it up when I finished as well. I am sure he spent nearly $100. As a result of higher prices I decided to try what is called 'hyper-mileage' driving. My little car has a 5 speed so I can coast down hills, drive slower, not accelerate so fast, etc and really improve mpg. My last tank, 100% city driving, averaged 34 mpg. It is amazing how much of a difference you can make just by paying attention to your driving style. I had been averaging around 30 previously.

I would like to say I was psychic and saw this coming but... I DID!!! Living in Houston for 25 years and working for an oil & gas company like I did for many years makes you pay attention to what is happening out there. I do not see the price going down anytime soon but my gut tells me we are near the top (for now). Supply and demand (plus speculation) has caused this problem and there is nothing the government can do about it right now. Raising taxes on the oil companies is 'brilliant'... like that will lower prices!? We should have started drilling in the US 10 years ago.

Here's how it looked....

2008-05-23T11:15:00.002-04:00

This was taken about 1/2 mile from the house. These poor guys were in the middle of it, we were on the edge.

It all starts around the 3 minute mark then he wisely closes the door.

A disaster area....

2008-05-22T06:59:00.002-04:00

Teresa and I took a quick drive yesterday to check out the storm damage and I'm stunned. As you drive around the area it is a strange sight, light where there used to be a nice green covering of trees, houses that have been crushed by trees, and the tops of trees snapped clean off across the hills. The edge of the tornado, which was estimated to be a mile wide, was only 1/4 mile away. You see it on TV but in person, it is powerful. Georgia Gov. Barnes came out and declared us a disaster area (mom always said I lived in one during college but now I really do). I do want to give kudo's to Cherokee County, they were out immediately, power was restored quickly, trees moved from roadways and people were getting help as soon as possible. The county was ready.

HERE is a good newscast, all, for the most part, filmed within 1 mile of our house. The first 6 minutes of the video is our community. (I sometimes wonder why everyone they interview on TV has such a deep southern accent? We do live in the suburbs but wow, that is funny sometimes.) During the video they show a clip from a guy who was filming it, that is similar to what it looked like at our house, sideway wind/rain, hail, limbs flying around but thankfully we were just on the perimeter of the tornado. I've got to clean up some big limbs but nothing more.

I've already received a few calls, automated, from contractors wanting to help and all day long trucks, with contractor names on the side, are driving around the subdivision looking at the houses (trolling).

Blown away big time....

2008-05-21T11:17:00.006-04:00

Just in case anyone out there saw the news from last night and wonders 'is that near Teresa and Michael?' the answer is YES!

I left the house last night about 5:50 pm to go get a massage to relieve some stress. I get to the place and the clouds were building on the horizon but I thought it was probably no big deal, just a rainstorm again. Well, about 15 minutes into the appointment the owner knocks on the door and said 'everybody has got to go, tornado warnings are up and the sirens are going'. I decided that was best so I could get home before the storm.

I left the office, it was barely raining, and had gone only 1 mile before all heck broke loose. The rain started going sideways, limbs were flying everywhere and before I knew it the hail started coming down. I couldn't find somewhere to stop to take cover (besides under a tree, which was NOT an option) so I just kept going. I drove out of the storm and hit the gas trying to get home ASAP (only was a mile away by that time).

Unfortunately my next turn took me right back towards the worst of the storm. I called Teresa real quick and told her to get in the basement, hoping I'd make it home by then. I no longer was worried about the hail damaging my car, I was worried that I was not going to make it at all so the car was no big deal. I plowed on, got home in a few minutes and joined Teresa in the basement. I turned on the weather radio and the guy was saying 'tornado on the ground in Holly Springs'. No kidding!!

The worst was over as quick as it started, just a few minutes of terror.

Interestingly enough the painters had just left about 2 hours before the storm. I was concerned the wind/hail/rain hurt the paint job but they came back today to check and everything looks good.

Spotted a cool bird today...

2008-05-06T09:51:00.003-04:00

The creek in our back yard attracts a lot of animals and birds. I was working and a bright red flash went by that wasn't the same color as a cardinal, it was a Scarlet Tanger today, what a beautiful bird!

Shenandoah Band, Part II

2008-05-05T13:44:00.007-04:00

Teresa and I took off again this past weekend and this time we ended up in Saluda, NC to see the band Shendandoah play again. This time they were playing in a nice place, but still in the middle of nowhere, called the Saluda Mountain Jamboree.

As only we can do, we take a 2 1/2 hour drive and turn it into 5 hours. We took the back roads all the way there, not hitting the freeway once. It is nice and we went thru some towns that we have never seen previously like Lula and Taccoa, Georgia we well as Clemson, SC.

We arrived mid afternoon and checked in to the Saluda Mountain Lodge. Don't let the name fool you, it is NOT a lodge but a nice motel on top of a big hill that was recently renovated to include some wood ceilings and nice paint that look like it COULD be in a lodge. However, it was a nice little place, very clean, so it worked out well.

The concert that evening was great, Shenandoah sounded great as always. A little local band called "Legends" played first so we had to suffer thru that a little bit. The crowd was nice and really got in to the music so the band seemed to be enjoying themselves a lot. The old dude, Bob, that owns the place kept going up on stage with Shenandoah, grabbing the mic, and shouting stuff to the crowd. Bob actually played the guitar on one song with them and sounded pretty darn good! We hung out with the band afterwards until midnight then they headed home, we went back to the "lodge" for the evening.

A couple of observations:
- We saw a pick-up truck with bullet holes in the tailgate, spooky.
- Super nice people run the place and the crowd was very nice.
- Kids were enjoying the concert with their parents, and nobody was 'text messaging' like the kids around here.
- They served beer and wine (in little bottle).. and people drank the wine straight from the bottle, like they were drinking beer. Cracked me up.
- Saluda is a cute, quiet town and Teresa and I would go NUTS living there.

Sunday morning we woke up, greeted by a beautiful day. We headed out to take the long way home again. First stop, Tryon, NC to have a little coffee and check out the nice little downtown area. We then headed off towards Etowah, Brevard and Highlands, NC. The last town, Highlands, is a nice town way up in the mountains, about 4,000 ft elevation. We looked at a couple of neighborhoods but realized it is a pure tourist town, dead during the winter and busy during the summer. Most homes there are owned by people from Florida who come up for the summer. That means EXPENSIVE! The weather was nice up there at 4,000 feet, the trees are just starting to bloom.

We headed home after Highlands and arrived last night, about 7 hours after we started out. Seems we set a personal record for how long a 2 1/2 hour trip can take us yet again.

A Day Off, Pro's and Con's

2008-04-29T06:28:00.003-04:00

Teresa and I took a day off from work yesterday to enjoy a trip to the north Georgia Mountains and ride the Blue Ridge Scenic Railroad. It was nice to extend the weekend by one day.

Pro's:

Spending a day with Teresa.
Riding a train.
Getting a day off from work.
Beautiful scenery along the 13 mile trip.
It was a quiet day and the train was mostly empty. Since it was a Monday Teresa and I were the youngest people there!!
It stopped raining right before we arrived in Blue Ridge.
Saw an Osprey Eagle, some turkeys, beaver dams (no beaver) and horses along the way.
It was warmer on the return trip.

Con's:

IT WAS COLD!! After the rain came the cold front.
We were in an open car. Thinking it would be warm. When we booked the trip that decision made sense.
The train 'hostess' talked too much on the trip. When you are riding a rail along the beautiful tracks and mountains... be quiet and let us enjoy it.
Nothing to do in the town where we stopped for 2 hours.

We can say now we've "been there/done that".

Quick Hits from Woodstock

2008-04-15T06:41:00.003-04:00

I've been super busy on a project at work for the past 6 weeks and the end has finally arrived. This week I hope to see the fruits of my (and my team's) labor at the office.

Here are some 'quick hits'...

Someone turned the heat off this sprint... woke up yesterday it was in the mid 30's, this morning it is 36 and it is supposed to be in the 30's the next two nights as well. At least it didn't freeze and kill the plants like last year.
Spring, despite the cold, is just beautiful here in North Georgia. The azalea's are blooming, the tulips are coming up, trees are just turning green, pollen is blowing down the roads like snow, cars turn yellow and the birds around here are active and noisy.
I got a rare treat last week. My entire leadership team at work, 90 plus people, got to fly to Armonk, NY for a meeting. This was the roll-out of our new structure and the project that I've been working on so long. After 2 years on the job in this division it was very nice to see my team face to face. Relationships can be so much better if you just see your peer in person at least once. Working from home is great but I sometimes wished I lived close to an office with all of my team so we could collaborate more.
The hummingbirds found our new feeder within hours. So far I've only seen one female ruby throated but hope more show up soon.
Teresa and I went bowling last weekend with some friends. I have not bowled in years so of course my first game was great, a 167, but as I got tired and 'confident' my score in the second game dropped 45 points... need to just throw the ball and not think.
14 months ago we bought our little Mazda Protege5 wagon with about 75,000 miles on it. Today it is approaching 99,000 miles. That is a lot of miles, especially with gasoline prices moving into the stratosphere, but it has been a great little car. We should break 100k soon!
Teresa and I are getting ready to go back to Ecuador this summer. I've agreed to be the trip leader and Teresa is going to help with the vacation Bible school efforts. It will be a great trip, can't wait to go back.
We broke down and signed a contract the get the house painted. This house is tall, tall, tall. On the front side it doesn't look so back but on the back and side the house is 3 1/2 stories tall. The painter estimates 4-5 days worth of work. We are also getting the porch and deck stained as well. The house should look great once completed as we are getting rid of the icky tan color scheme and going with a more gray main color with black/green shutters and door color.

Have a good spring everyone, enjoy the beauty of God's creation.

Boone, Banner Elk, Sugar Mountain again

2008-03-24T15:55:00.001-04:00

More to come, we just got back from a long birthday (Teresa's!!) weekend in North Carolina again. Wish we could just move there today.

Rough 24 hour period in ATL

2008-03-17T06:52:00.006-04:00

Friday night Teresa and I went to a Ballroom Dancing event sponsored by Johnson Ferry Baptist Church. Teresa asked me what the weather forecast was and I told her "nothing is expected until Saturday". Boy, was I WRONG!!! We left the dancing event a little early (it was too crowded to dance much unfortunately) and it was raining a little. As we were driving home Teresa pointed out some significant fast moving clouds that contained a a huge lightning storm off to the south. It was a beautiful sight but we did not realize at the time what that storm was doing to downtown.

It was 9:38 pm and at that moment a tornado was ripping through the heart of Atlanta, right where we had just watched the Rockets/Hawks game at Philips Arena two nights earlier.

The weather action started up again early Saturday morning but this time it was in the north side of Atlanta, right through Cherokee County. I was awakened around 5:30 am with a start by some thunder. I got up and went down to our sun room to sleep (I love the sound of thunder and the rain on the roof in that room). That storm lasted about 30 minutes and contained a lot of lightning, thunder and some heavy, heavy rain. After that storm I slept a little more and then got up to run some errands before the next storm arrived.

Around noon the next storm hit with a vengeance. Teresa and I were watching the newscast of the overnight storms when the Fox weather guy said that 'dangerous storms are forming in Paulding county and heading east/northeast. He showed warnings for rotating thunderstorms containing possible tornadoes and they were pointing right at our area!! A few minutes later we heard the tornado sirens going off all around us. That is an eerie sound!! The storm blew through quickly and the worst of it went just a mile or so north of us. An hour or so later another big storm headed our way and it was quick and violent just like the other one, but no warnings.

Teresa and I decided to run some quick errands between storms so we went to Publix. The kid working the checkout counter said that that the strom that just blew through there contained golf ball size hail. We finished our tasks and headed home, dark clouds brewing on the horizon.

A little later yet another storm blew through and the warning sirens went off again. Teresa and I heard a loud 'whooshing' sound and looked out the window to see pea size hail bouncing off the deck. The basement door was open and we were ready to run if necessary!! The rain was intense and the wind was blowing hard up on the hill but our house is a little protected because we are down at the base of a hill. Our little creek, however, was a raging 4-5 wide river of muddy water for a little while. We've lived here 2 years and it has barely rained so that was a new sight for us.

One final storm came through about an hour later then the sun came out.

Sunday dawned a cool and perfect day and we are thankful to have made it through a wild, wild Saturday without any problems.

Rockets streak continues, despite me

2008-03-13T11:43:00.004-04:00

Last night Teresa and I went to the Atlanta Hawks vs. Houston Rockets NBA game. The Rockets came in with a 19 game winning streak, going for 20!! We attended the game as the guest of the Hawks high-flying mascot named Skyhawk. Skyhawk is a cool mascot who does the jumps, flips and dunks during the game to entertain the crowd.

I was afraid that by my going to see the Rockets play I would jinx the streak but it worked out well. The Rockets played their worst game of the year and STILL WON, whew.

We arrived at Philips Arena and found our seats, right next to a guy in a Texas A&M sweatshirt and hat. He has his kids with him and they were all (except the youngest boy) cheering for the Rockets too. During the game Skyhawk came to the seats and gave the kids little toy basketballs and gave me a hard time for cheering for the Rockets. He doesn't talk but he pointed at me and made the 'crazy motion' with his hands. The kids loved it and everyone around us was enjoying Skyhawk's visit. After he left I spoke to the Aggie guy and found out that he too was a friend of Skyhawk. As we chatted we discovered we live in the EXACT SAME SUBDIVISION. I thought it was just absolutely bizarre that I go to an NBA game, sit next to an Aggie, cheering for the Rockets, who is a friend of my friend and lives in my neighborhood. A true small world event.

Lot's of religious silliness in just one day

2008-03-10T16:02:00.005-04:00

Check out these stories I just saw TODAY... one day's worth of silliness.

From the Houston Chronicle today:

'Reverend' Matt Tittle, religious write in the paper says:

"I believe that Jesus lived. But I do not believe he was THE savior, as I do not believe there is any singular messiah. I believe there are many paths to the divine and to salvation. Jesus was one. The stories about him are among the most powerful ever recorded in human history, but they are not THE story for all humanity in my humble opinion."

From Israel, a story in the news:

Moses was high on drugs

" Moses was probably also on drugs when he saw the "burning bush," suggested Shanon, who said he himself has dabbled with such substances."

From Reuters:

Vatican lists "new sins," including pollution

" So the Vatican has told the faithful that they should be aware of "new" sins such as causing environmental blight."

And from the Southern Baptist today:

Southern Baptist leaders shift position on climate change

"The signatories pledged to do their part to fight global warming "without any further lingering over the basic reality of the problem or our responsibility to address it. Humans must be proactive and take responsibility for our contributions to climate change -- big and small.""

Patience, patience, patience

2008-03-02T16:31:00.002-05:00

Teresa and I again went to the NC Mountains last weekend. We had an opportunity to stay at a local community called Leatherwood for a weekend. We stayed at the Lazy Elk lodge,
WAAAAY up on top of a mountain with 360 degree views of the area mountains. We looked at property and homes in that community. It is a nice place, great privacy and a lot of horse people live there. We saw a ton of deer, a few skunks and some beautiful sights.

On Saturday we got up and drove around the Boone, Blowing Rock and Banner Elk areas just looking at homes for sale. We saw a sign for a new community called Headwaters. We met Tom who was nice enough to show us around the community. We fell in love with this community and will be going back again and again. The patience reference in the title is because of this community, we would love to move tomorrow.

We will head back to the mountains late this month, pray I don't break down and buy something.

Vandals on the loose in Walnut Creek

2008-02-20T09:06:00.002-05:00

Teresa and I went to a Walnut Creek (our subdivision) meeting last December and at that meeting the previous board members were begging for new blood to help out as each of them were tired and had been on the board for a long time. I don't know what came over us but Teresa volunteered to help with Social activities and my hand went up to volunteer to be on the board (Member at Large).

We had our first board meeting last week, simple enough, and Teresa has to coordinate an Easter Egg Hunt with some of the other ladies in the neighborhood AND write the community newsletter. I think I got the easy end of this bargain! Anyhow, neighbors awoke Tuesday morning to nearly 20 smashed mailboxes and two street signs smashed and a stop sign destroyed. Since Cherokee County schools are our and we've had trouble with teenagers before our logical conclusion is 'TEENS!!'. The sheriff came out and opened a criminal case for us. We shall see what happens next. I feel bad for the homeowners as they have to replace mailbox posts and boxes, which is not exactly cheap.

I hope they are caught as the previous board members shared stories of teens smashing fences, lights, pool items, etc. in the past year or more.

Parents anyone?? Are there parents out there?

Hope... I have hope so that is all I need

2008-02-18T13:28:00.003-05:00

I have listened with interest to the presidential candidates speak and have come to the conclusion that Obama says absolutely NOTHING... and does it well. I heard of this column today, read it and about fell out of my chair.

Hope is a good thing to have, of course, but hope alone gets you nowhere. I 'hope' that I am a good husband but if I do nothing to love my wife, it means nothing. I 'hope' I am a good employee but if I do not work hard, I get fired. I 'hope' that I have enough money to retire one day but if I do not save, I have nothing in 20 years. I 'hope' that I live a life worthy of salvation but if I do not believe in Christ's birth, death and resurrection then I am lost. Do you see my point???

Here are a couple of highlights from the column:

"Why are people walking around armed to the teeth?

The only reason I can think of is that too many people have lost hope."

The ONLY reason??

"On the stump, however, Obama has had to defend his faith, and jokes about his critics calling him a "hopemonger." But Obama's ability to inspire people -- in urban areas as well as in rural towns -- is a gift the country needs."

"Obama is surging ahead because a lot of people are tired of believing they are powerless to heal an ailing nation."

Can't people do something for themselves or do we need a politician to 'inspire' us??

Back to work... sorry if politics is not your thing, but it is ours.

1 Thessalonians 1:3

3We continually remember before our God and Father your work produced by faith, your labor prompted by love, and your endurance inspired by hope in our Lord Jesus Christ.

Mountain Homes

2008-02-04T06:35:00.000-05:00

Teresa and I have always loved log cabins. We go to the mountains and look at new log cabins on a regular basis. We decided to go up to Jasper, Georgia and attend a seminar by Kuhn Brothers log home builders. We wanted to learn more since have no idea what a log home costs, how it is built, what are the benefits, challenges and other questions you might have. Well, we've answered the questions now and have moved off of the log cabin idea for a future home. It is expen$ive!!!!

The seminar was held inside a log home located in a new master planned community outside of Jasper called The Preserve at Sharp Mountain. It is a beautiful location just 1 hour or so north of Atlanta. The homesites are impressive, large and most have awesome views of the local mountains. I'm not talking Rocky Mountain heights here but it is beautiful nonetheless. Most of the homes were at about the 2,000 foot elevation. It is nice and almost nice enough to consider buying a home in but... we still want to go to Boone, NC in the long run.

After the seminar we headed out to eat at a little restaurant in Marble Hill, Georgia called Fireside Cafe. Teresa had purchased a coupon from Restaurant.com which saved us a ton of money. It was a nice little place and looking out the window we could see signs for a place called Big Canoe. The sun was going to set soon so we decided to take a quick look at the community. Once inside I could not believe how beautiful this place was and that we had never found it before in all of our adventures. It is a huge, master planned community similar to The Woodlands (in Texas) for those of you in Houston, except it has hills!

We found a few model homes to look at and they were the best looking, best built homes we have seen in Georgia. The floorplans were great, the master bedroom on the main floor with the guest rooms and a second living area BELOW in the terrace level. They had screened in porches, fireplaces in both living areas, in the screened in porch and some had a fireplace in the master. This is exactly the floor plan and style Teresa and I have been looking for. Since the sun was setting and the local on-site agent was locking all the doors we had to leave. We will return, however, and get some good ideas for our future home in the mountains!!

January 26, 1983

2008-01-26T10:11:00.001-05:00

It was a chilly morning 25 years ago that I headed out from my apartment at the University of Alabama to Bidgood Hall to attend a couple of classes during my final semester as a college student. I was somewhat disappointed in the day as I originally had an appointment to meet with Coach Bryant that afternoon that was to be re-scheduled. Coach had gotten sick the previous night and gone to the hospital for tests. No big deal, I thought, I'd get him to sign the picture of us, the football from the Liberty Bowl and a reference letter at a later date.

It was after lunch and I was between classes standing on the top of the stairs at Bidgood watching a cameraman and reporter speak to students and professors. I didn't know what was going on so I asked a guy who had just walked by the reporter "what is going on". He replied, "Coach Bryant just died". I was a little stunned and I think I said "no way". He said it was true so I went down to hear what the people were saying and sure enough, it was true. I ran back up to the classroom where my next class was, asked the professor... well, told the professor, I had to miss class and he understood why, said "go".

I ran all the way across the quad, between a few other buildings, past the gauntlet of reporters, camera's and others into Bryant Hall. My teammates were milling around, stunned and quiet, just in total disbelief that he was gone. I decided to go to the equipment room (housed in Coleman Coliseum) , my home away from home, and be with my fellow student managers and trainers. I don't remember much else the rest of the day except extreme sadness. I didn't even give much thought until a little later that I missed my appointment, this time forever, with coach. I had just spoken to him the day before and kept wondering how could this have happened?

Many things happened over the next few days I will never forget. A memorial service, with a tribute by Steadman Shealy and the funeral, which was held in downtown Tuscaloosa. After the service we rode on team buses up to Birmingham for the burial. Looking out the window of the buses the entire ride to Birmingham were sights unlike anything I've ever seen nor will ever see again.

We saw tributes great and small from people all across the state of Alabama. Some of the unique things we saw were new cars lined up in the dealership with their lights on, people hanging banners from all of the interstate overpasses, old soldiers saluting as we drove by, tears in their eyes, people stopping on the interstate and crossing the median to put their hands over their hearts as we passed by and an entire downtown freeway system in Birmingham covered with tens of thousands of people, waiting just to pay their respects one last time.

You can see much of what I saw that day at this link. It was an honor to be included in the main service at the Methodist Church and to be called an 'honorary pall bearer' for coach Paul 'Bear' Bryant.

Something I'll never forget.

Thoughts on a Presidential Candidate's statement

2008-01-25T06:25:00.000-05:00

Since it is the presidential election season I thought I would throw out a statement by one of the contenders... Barack Obama. Politics may bore you but it fascinates me.

Read the answer carefully.

Q: Do you consider yourself born again?

"I am a Christian, and I am a devout Christian. I believe in the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. I believe that that faith gives me a path to be cleansed of sin and have eternal life. But most importantly, I believe in the example that Jesus set by feeding the hungry and healing the sick and always prioritizing the least of these over the powerful."

I think it is awesome that Barack believes in 'the redemptive death and resurrection of Jesus Christ'. I do not doubt his faith, his belief, nor his sincerity as his relationship with our Savior is not for me to judge, it is between he and God. It is the 'But...' that is so troublesome and deceptive.

'But MOST IMPORTANTLY' he believes..... I can find nothing that would be more important than the death and resurrection of Christ and sharing that good news with everyone. His faith, his driving beliefs, are also in a social Jesus it would appear and that is something I do not agree with. I do believe in taking care of those less fortunate, helping my family, friends and others in need and my wife and I take an active role in that duty today. HOWEVER, that active role is NOT giving more money to the government so they can give more money to other people. It is NOT taking money from the so-called rich, by force, and re-distributing it to others. This is called socialism, wrapped in wonderful words of 'redemption', 'Jesus' and 'feeding the hungry', etc.

Who is NOT for feeding the hungry? Who is NOT for helping those in need (in general)? When someone in government says they want to 'help those in need' I believe their intentions are 'good' but the results are not. But Michael, you say, "if the government doesn't do it then who will?" We, as a society, have failed to do our job as a society and as the people of God in many cases. We now expect the government to be our charity, we look at our taxes (and they are huge) as charitable giving. I remember 10 years ago our VP released his tax return. He made nearly $200,000 and gave $353 to charity. My thoughts at the time were the same, I believe he considered the taxes he paid as charity. Many studies have shown that people of active faith (nearly all major faiths) give significantly more to charity than do secular individuals. People of faith from ALL income brackets give because they too believe in helping those in need, but not because they are forced to give, they give from obedience and from the heart. That should be our motivation, not the IRS, not coercion, not fear, not laziness.

You can tell I'm working on my tax return, can't you?

What do we do now??

2008-01-22T15:24:00.000-05:00

Statement from Sen. Fred Thompson

McLean, VA - Senator Fred Thompson today issued the following statement about his campaign for President:

"Today I have withdrawn my candidacy for President of the United States. I hope that my country and my party have benefited from our having made this effort. Jeri and I will always be grateful for the encouragement and friendship of so many wonderful people."

I'm going to keep saying this... Fred08.com!!!

2008-01-18T08:59:00.001-05:00

Here is a good column for those of you who are trying to figure out who to support in the upcoming presidential primaries. I can't stop saying that Teresa and I are 100% convinced that Fred Thompson is THE candidate that can win the November presidential race. More importantly, he is the ONLY conservative in the entire Republican field. I do not say that tongue in cheek, it is serious.

David Limbaugh is a good columnist, Christian gentleman who writes a regular column. Here is his endorsement of Fred.

Please read THIS.

And for your viewing pleasure....

The loss of a bass player for Shenandoah

2008-01-17T15:52:00.000-05:00

As you may have seen on a blog from last July, Teresa and I had the opportunity to spend a day with the Country Band Shenandoah. We had a great time with them, hung out on the bus just laughing and talking with all of them before and after the concert.

I just went to the web site and sadly see where the bass player, Ralph, passed away in early December 2007. So sad for his bandmates, friends and family.

Here is a good tribute to a down home guy.

Make an on-line slide show at www.OneTrueMedia.com

Going back for a few pictures of our November trip

2008-01-17T07:35:00.000-05:00

I found a way to post pictures of our November trip 'up north' in a slide show format.

This is Boone/Sugar Mountain NC.

Heading to Hershey, PA and in Hershey

Valley Forge, PA

Philadelphia, PA

Fells Point, Maryland (Baltimore)

Happily Mistaken

2008-01-17T06:45:00.000-05:00

So, we finally got our first snowfall in the nearly 2 years we've lived here. It started snowing last night around 5:30 and by 6:00 pm it was coming down in huge, puffy flakes and continued for two more hours. Teresa and I went to our favorite little restaurant, shared some fajitas and watched it snow. Beautiful!!

We came home (roads were not too bad) and many people had built snowmen in their yards. I tried to take some pictures of the house but they didn't turn out too well because it was dark.

This morning it is a little cold but the snow is melting in a light rain. Hopefully we will have another round of this before the end of winter!

Today's forecast, misguided weathermen/women

2008-01-15T08:50:00.000-05:00

Wednesday
Night

Wintry
Mix
Lo 31°F

Thursday

FzgRain
Likely
Hi 40°F

Thursday
Night

Slight Chc
Rain/Snow
Lo 32°F

Friday

Slight Chc
Rain
Hi 46°F

Friday
Night

Slight Chc
Rain/Snow
Lo 26°F

Saturday

Mostly
Sunny
Hi 43°F

If you have read this blog for any length of time you know I love to watch the weather and have promised Teresa snow for nearly 20 months. Well, the forecast for tomorrow night and Thursday says we have a good chance.

Michael's forecast for Wednesday night, rain... NO CHANCE it will snow. It is a curse.

I'll check back in Thursday and update you. I really hope she gets her snow storm one day.

A New Toy!!!

2008-01-11T15:50:00.000-05:00

Teresa and I put so many miles on our car, going no place in particular, that we decided to buy a GPS system. Those things are so amazing and so cheap nowadays. My father got one for Christmas and it was so easy to use that we just had to get one too!!

It is easy to use, has a TON of points of interest on it, AAA ratings on places, can use our phone with it, download upgrades and many other things. Fascinating now, big brother can follow us around no matter where we go!!

We may go up to Boone, NC (our new favorite place) in a month or so and see how it works up there! We may go up to the mountains this weekend just to get lost and have it bring us back home.... what a life.

What conservatives should be looking for....

2008-01-08T12:49:00.001-05:00

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year

2008-01-02T07:39:00.000-05:00

Happy New Year everyone.

Teresa and I flew to Houston for Christmas to spend time with the Dale family and see a few friends. We had to fly to Hobby Airport due to flight costs and times and that is now considered a 'lesson learned'. That means we will NOT be doing that again. Hobby is a long way away and arriving on a Wednesday afternoon at 4:30 pm is not a smooth move. Thankfully my brother-in-law, Fred, was working in the area and picked us up.

We spent the first night with my parents, slept in a little then took off to our home in North Zulch, TX. It was nice to get out there again and for 2 days we did absolutely NOTHING (except once to go out and eat Mexican food). The place looks great, the weather was nice, typical Houston winter (around 74 degrees each day). We went back to Houston and ate Mexican again, this time at Pappasito's with our friends and former neighbors, Jimmy and MaryAnna Bosshammer. They are great people, good friends and we sure do miss them. We then hung out with my folks for the rest of Saturday. We got up Sunday morning and went to our old church, The Met, and had a good time seeing the people, talking to Sal. The Bosshammer's came to the service that morning. It was great to have them there with us!

After church Teresa and I decided to look at some of the new houses being built in Houston, compare quality and prices. We quickly remembered that Houston has much better quality for a LOT less money. A $300,000 home there is like a $500,000 home here in the Atlanta area. Some of the homes we saw were very nice but they were missing a few important ingredients - hills, 4 seasons, trees and a basement. Sunday night and Monday were spent with the family. After a big Christmas meal of Turkey, dressing, etc. (yum) we went to a Christmas eve service at my parents church, Champion Forest Baptist. That is a big, big church with a new paster everyone really likes.

Christmas day we got up, had some breakfast and opened presents. My sister and her family came over and it was fun to see a kid, Jordyn, open her presents on Christmas morning. We had to return to Atlanta that evening since both Teresa and I were working the next day.

We had a good trip and are glad we went but it is also nice to be home. For New Year's eve e went to a restaurant in downtown Canton, GA called The Downtown Kitchen. We had a small meal, for a big price, then went upstairs and listened to a guy from Austin, John Michael Rose, and his band ring in the new year. Once he got warmed up we discovered he was really good at playing the blues and some classic cool songs. We said Happy New Year and midnight and decided to hit the road before too many other people who partied too much did.

It is 19 degrees outside now, cooooold, with some snow showers in the area. Tonight and tomorrow are going to be even colder so we are all bundled up here!

2,376 miles, finally ends

2007-12-26T12:37:00.000-05:00

Sorry for the delay, it is the busy season at work/home/life around here. Can't believe it has been a month since I updated the November trip.

Teresa and I left Hershey and headed to Philadelphia for a day/night. On the way we stopped at Valley Forge. It had a great visitor's center where we watched a movie about George Washington and the troops who stayed there. We drove around the huge park, which was covered in wild animals, mostly deer.

We found a good deal on a hotel downtown, walking distance to the historical district. We went down to see the Liberty Bell and the other cool old buildings around town. Since it was our third anniversary we decided to go back that evening and eat at The City Tavern Restaurant. It was cool in that the wait staff dressed the part of Colonials from the 1700's. The food was OK, the atmosphere was interesting. We stopped at a Cuban tavern on the way back and hung out watching people go by.

We got up the next morning and checked out Independence Hall, etc. then headed off to Baltimore. On the way down we took back roads through significant places in history like Brandywine and Chadd's Ford. It was a nice drive along non-interstate roads.

In Baltimore we stayed down on the waterfront in an area known as Fells Point. That is a beautiful area where the TV Show 'Homicide, Life on the Street' used to be filmed. We stayed at an incredible hotel called The Inn at Henderson's Wharf Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving day. We ate dinner at a local restaurant on the waterfront then walked around a little enjoying the area.

Thanksgiving morning found us tired and deciding to head back to Georgia. I had the brilliant idea I would drive down the Maryland peninsula and stay somewhere around Virginia Beach for the evening. We headed towards a bridge over Chesapeake Bay and got stuck in a huge traffic jam about 2 miles from the bridge. We were committed to going that way and 1.5 hours later, when we covered the two miles, we got to the bridge and had to PAY $2.00 just to cross it. Thinking that was a rip off ended a few hours later when we crossed the bridge to Virginia Beach and it cost TWELVE DOLLAR$$$$$$$$$. We were so far behind schedule by then we decided just to drive on, as far as possible.

We did stop in Norfolk and had our thanksgiving dinner at Ruby Tuesday. Not turkey, I think I had a burger and Teresa had a fancy salad or something like that. We drove on deeper into North Carolina after dinner, stayed around Smithfield. Friday we headed home, arriving mid afternoon.

It was fun... next time we go to one place and stay there for most of the trip!!

2,376 miles, part 2

2007-11-26T14:14:00.001-05:00

As I mentioned, our destination for this trip was Hershey, PA. Hershey is a cool little town east of Harrisburg, PA. As you can imagine, there is a lot of chocolate there, being the home of Hersey's chocolate, Hershey Park, Chocolate World, The Spa at Hershey Hotel, etc. Teresa found a good deal for us to stay at a resort there for a few nights (the only problem here was the room didn't have a fireplace and jacuzzi tub as the place showed on the web. We ended up in the building that DID NOT have that option. We complained but it didn't really matter to them, we didn't get another room.

It started to snow Saturday evening and it was beautiful. We got up Sunday morning and went to a little church called Community Bible Church in Palmyra. We arrived and it was snowing and the greeter said 'I see you brought the snow with you' and I smiled and said 'and we love it'. He looked at us like we had horns growing out of our head. We explained that we were from the south and liked the snow. Obviously, they don't like it that much!! The service was nice and there were about 300 people in attendance. We went to eat lunch and took another long drive around the area before heading back to a treat for us!!!

The snow continued off and on for the rest of Sunday so we went to the Spa and had a relaxing massage. You can spend a lot of time there visiting the 'relaxation room' and eat chocolate, visit the 'aroma therapy room' and eat chocolate or go to the 'quiet room' and eat chocolate. Lot's of chocolate everywhere!! This was our anniversary gift to each other (a little early). We wanted to go to the park but because of the rain nothing was really open. We rented a couple of movies and went back to the hotel to relax and stay warm again. The snow started coming down harder that evening and ended up accumulating about 2 inches worth.

On Monday we ate breakfast at a little family restaurant and struck out on the road to visit some of the little towns and cities nearby. We ended up in Reading, PA, a nice size town about 1 hour away from Hershey. We returned back to Hershey and decided to check out of the hotel the following morning and go to Philadelphia.

More to come....

2,376 miles, part 1

2007-11-26T07:35:00.000-05:00

Teresa and I left Thursday, 11/15 for a long road trip to celebrate our 3rd anniversary and Thanksgiving. 2,376 miles later, and last Friday, we made it home. Everything went well, no breakdowns, etc.

On Thursday we took off and drove up back roads to Asheville, NC then on to our first stop in Banner Elk, North Carolina to stay at a friend house in the Sugar Mountain ski area. It was a nice drive up, lots of nice color still left on the leaves and when we got there it started to snow. We unpacked and went to get some Italian food at a local place and the snow started to blow sideways and in huge flakes. It didn't mess up the roads but it stuck to the ground, probably 1/2 inch or so. We went back to the house and lit a nice fire, watched a movie and stayed warm!!

Friday's adventure found us driving up the back roads of NC for a while and then to Blacksburg, VA. I went to Blacksburg a few times back in the 1980's to recruit college students from Vir ginia Tech because I remembered it was nice, lots of mountains, etc. When we arrived I realized that what I thought were mountains were just nice hills. Living in Houston so long must have really messed up my perception if I thought those hills were mountains!! We looked at the campus then decided to head to Charlottesville, VA for the evening. On the way to Charlottesville we took a few hours ride on the Blue Ridge Parkway. That was a great drive and recommended if you are not in a big hurry. We went to their historic downtown area and walked around looking for some food but didn't see anything we liked so we went towards the University of Virginia campus and found a nice little place to eat and relax a while.

Saturday found us driving up the middle of Virginia, through places like Manassas and Leesburg, close to Washington DC, into Maryland and into Pennsylvania towards our planned stay in Hershey, PA.

More to come.....

Vacation/Anniversary Update

2007-11-19T18:42:00.001-05:00

For those who might check this.... more detailed updates to follow.

We made it to Banner Elk on Thursday evening and it was SNOWING!!! Very pretty. Friday we took off up the Blue Ridge Parkway and ended up in Charlottesville, VA. Saturday we took off up thru Virginia and made it to our destination for now of Hershey, PA. Sunday it started SNOWING!!! About 1-2 inches on the ground but the roads are clear, which is great for us.

We've decided to leave Hershey early since we didn't realize the rides and park are closed Mon-Wed so there is no need to stay. We are off to Philadelphia tomorrow morning and will check out the Liberty Bell, etc. then head down to Baltimore Wednesday.

Detailed updates of each stop will be coming but since our hotel has NO fast access we are on dial-up. I remember dial-up, painfully slow.

Tomorrow Teresa and I celebrate 3 years together. Nov. 20, 2004 I married the most beautiful lady I've ever known. I love her more now than I did that day 3 years ago. Can't imagine life without her!!!

Happy Thanksgiving NC and TX families, we love you all.

Like seeing a ghost....

2007-11-12T08:42:00.001-05:00

Teresa and I ran some errands and got a bite to eat Friday night, nothing special just getting caught up on some items. We came home and Teresa went upstairs to call her mom (Happy belated birthday FAITH!!) to wish her happy birthday. I was enjoying the fire when I hear a loud yell from upstairs... "MICHAEL". Thinking I was going to go upstairs and kill a bug I didn't rush.

I get to the stairs and Teresa says "Smudgie's here". I asked her if she was sure because the little cat has been gone for 5 weeks now (see previous post). Sure enough I hear a pathetic little squeek coming from under the guest bed. She thought she was seeing things when she first saw him before he ran under the bed.

I ran downstairs, got some food and he came out to eat. Holy Cow, he was skinny, dirty and pathetic looking but alive!! You have to wonder where he has been for 5 weeks and how in the world did he make it back home. Thank goodness Teresa left the garage door partially open the entire time because that is how he got in the house.

We took him to the vet who gave us some advise and some IV fluids. We are pumping him full of liquids and feeding him small portions. So far he is reacting very nicely, looks so much better and is getting his energy back.

It is amazing he came back, the people at the shelter said to never give up hope and they were right.

Preacher talked about 'giving'

2007-11-05T09:58:00.000-05:00

Squirming people all over the worship center yesterday, Bryant talked about giving/tithing.

He did show a great video, it is 3 minutes long and worth watching.

Camping in the Mountains of Georgia

2007-10-29T10:06:00.000-04:00

Teresa and I went camping at Ft. Mountain State park this past Friday to Sunday. What a beautiful weekend to go camping with sunny skies, cool temps and beautiful fall leaves all around.

We left Friday around noon and got to the campground and picked out spot #40. It was close to the 'comfort station' so that was nice. The camp sites have water, electricity, campfire pits and a picnic table so this was not really roughing it too much. Other people had giant pop-up campers, little tents, huge motor coaches and small coaches so it was a real variety of housing out there.

We drove into Ellijay, a pretty little town, to search for a Wal-Mart, since we forgot a couple of things (of course) and on the way down the mountain we had our windows down and we heard a jet. We both thought it was a fighter jet so we were looking up to see it and all of a sudden a huge, HUGE, military cargo jet flew over just a few hundred feet off the ground. It was startling to see this thing go by so quickly and so low. We thought is was going to crash because it was so low but it just kept going, we didn't see or hear anything to indicate a problem thankfully.

We hiked several trails around the mountain each day, cooked breakfast/dinner on the Coleman stove and hung out by the fire to stay warm at night. The fire was a little troublesome as we could never get a big, roaring fire like the campsite next to us. Teresa was going all over the place picking up twigs, sticks and small limbs to burn but we could never really get the wood burning with big flames like she wanted. However, we didn't freeze because, as a the true outdoors couple we are, we brought a little heater for the tent. One can only 'rough it' so much you know!!

Now we want a nice pop-up camper and a pick-up truck to haul it around everywhere. We can't wait to go back.

I didn't say anything about the Tennessee Game

2007-10-29T08:28:00.000-04:00

I was busy last week and forgot to post something. This should do!!!!

Michael's Politics test results....

2007-10-25T10:21:00.000-04:00

I took a political test today, was easy, quick and interesting. Here I am!!!

The Political Test

You are a
Social Liberal
(68% permissive)

and an...
Economic Conservative
(80% permissive)

You are best described as a:

Libertarian (80e/68s)

Link: The Politics Test on Ok Cupid
Also: The OkCupid Dating Persona Test

Environmental Wackos live in our house now

2007-10-24T17:03:00.000-04:00

I've become an environmentalist now AND I'm a conservative. What brought me to this you ask? Well, since it never rains here I thought we would install a 'water catchment system' on our house to capture what little rain does happen to fall here in Woodstock. We are behind in our rainfall for the past two years, the lakes are drying up, the yard cannot be watered anymore and the prediction is for a dry winter.

Now, 'water catchment system' is a fancy phrase that stands for "two garbage cans, some pvc pipe, glue, sealant and a couple of brass faucets". We've taken the downspout from our roof and re-directed it into two 32 gallon plastic garbage cans so when it rains we can have up to 60 gallons of water available to water our plants, flower beds, etc. If this works well we may just buy a big water container (a few hundred gallons perhaps?) and then we could put a pump in the tank and actually water our yard and use the water for other things as well.

Let's see how this works.

Mother earth smiles on us I'm sure.

Mass Bay Marauders TRAMPLE Woodstock Warriors!!

2007-10-18T15:03:00.000-04:00

I recently took over a Fantasy Football team. A LOSING team, might I add. This is my first adventure into the world of Fantasy Football. Apparently I am learning how this all works because I took down the undefeated Woodstock Warriors, owned by my dear hubby.

This is too funny, but stupid too

2007-10-11T12:26:00.000-04:00

I can't help but wonder what people in Washington DC think about the 'rest' of us. This is a good answer:

Congress considers Concord hazardous?

WASHINGTON --
"NASCAR fans might seem rabid, but are they actually contagious?

Getting a hepatitis shot is standard procedure for travelers to parts of Africa and Asia, but some congressional aides were instructed to get immunized before going to Lowe's Motor Speedway in Concord and the racetrack in Talladega, Ala."

I've been to both tracks and am still alive and kicking!!!

Geez, people think southerners, and NASCAR fans, are barefoot, uneducated chain smoking hicks.

My memories of Alabama Homecoming 2007

2007-10-07T21:05:00.001-04:00

HOT!!

I miss my little buddy

2007-10-07T20:58:00.000-04:00

Our cat Smudgie, the one with seizures, is missing. I sure do miss the little fella. He got out last Thursday and we haven't seen him yet. It makes me sad to think he is out there all alone.

I hope he comes home soon.

B G O, B G O, B G O, B G O

2007-10-01T10:38:00.000-04:00

Man, can't help but put another Biggio tribute out here. This guy is such a class act and I will miss him on the field. I've never met him but loved watching him play, never heard him say anything negative, never saw him with a clean uniform, never saw him take a break on the field. He never gave up and is an Astro forever. Amazing.

Quiet Sunday afternoon

2007-09-30T16:51:00.001-04:00

It's a quiet, clear and cool (not cool enough) Sunday afternoon in Woodstock, GA. Here's what is happening.

Teresa and I went to the North Georgia State Fair yesterday. It was HOT outside. IBM had a tent so we got free water but that didn't help me. Riding those crazy rides that spin you round and round makes me wacky now. I can't do what I did when I was younger. I skipped the last ride and let my young wife and our friends ride it. I watched!! Took me the rest of the night to get back to normal, felt like I was spinning all night.
Alabama never got in to the game with Florida State, a total whipping.
It must be Atlanta vs. Houston day today. The Falcons beat the Texans, and I don't care. Only thing I can say good about the NFL is I love fantasy football. My team is 3-0 right now but I think I'm in trouble today.
The Astro's just beat the Braves. Today was Craig Biggio's last day as an Astro. 20 years with one team, a total class act, a representative of Houston second to none and now he's hanging up his cleats. I can't imagine watching the Astro's without him. He will be missed by this fan.
Church today was seriously challenging. Bryant brought up some things I've never, ever thought of and need to look into them some more. Seems the more that church 'goes deep' in the Bible, the more they grow. According to some 'experts' today that shouldn't happen.
I'm off to Chicago later this week on business. Wish Teresa could go with me.
I've watched in amazement at what is happening at our old church here in town. They decided it would be cool, real, relevant and hip to host a poker tournament and a local sports restaurant. It appears that some of the people had too much to drink so the pastor had to say something on his blog about it (could that be a joke?). I've discovered you can't criticize some of the things that churches do today because they do it for a good cause (charity, Jesus, reaching people, etc). No matter how crazy, no matter how questionable, no matter how dumb, no matter how irrelevant or worldly, it is all for the Lord so that makes it OK. I'm not buying.
There is a cricket chirping in my office down here in the basement... how weird.
We had 3 families look at the house yesterday. One couple came back for a second look. They really liked the private back yard.
Everyone else who looked at our house the past few months said 'no back yard' as the reason they didn't like it. Well, we have 3/4 of an acre of yard with a creek, trees, hills, etc. I guess kids today need flat land, smooth grass and no chance of having fun. I would have been in paradise with that back yard as a child.
Teresa and I are off to Tuscaloosa for Alabama's Homecoming game this weekend. How odd, they are playing Houston of all teams.

Roll Tide, Go Astro's and have a great week.

Rough Saturday Evening

2007-09-24T09:45:00.001-04:00

Well, Alabama has spread joy all around the state of Georgia (AGAIN!). The last time UA played UGA I was here and the result was similar. This trend has GOT TO STOP. While Georgia certainly had the better team Saturday night I remained a true believer, thought we could win.

If Alabama was not a good team to begin with, as many UGA people say, then why is this a significant win? A couple of my UGA friends are tired of hearing about how good Coach Saban is, etc., etc.

Well, tough, I'm a believer.

Roll Tide.

Go Bama, Roll Tide

2007-09-17T09:57:00.000-04:00

My Georgia friends will not come watch the game with me this coming weekend (Bama vs. Georgia) and my Auburn friends are ignoring me completely.

I want to enjoy this while I can!!!

What a nice weekend it was

2007-09-10T08:15:00.001-04:00

We just had a nice weekend. Here are some highlights:

Our friends and former neighbors from Houston, The Bosshamers, are in Atlanta for a glass convention. We gave them a tour of the North Georgia mountains, showed them some nice log cabins (hoping they might move here?!?!) and stopped for a late lunch in Helen, GA.
Alabama defeated Vanderbilt as it should have.
South Carolina defeated Georgia, makes me chuckle.
South Florida beat Auburn, which makes me laugh out loud.
My fantasy football team appears poised to win as well, barring a 30 plus point miracle by my opponent tonight.

So for one weekend the football 'gods' lined up nicely for me.

I r a hi skool graderate

2007-09-06T16:41:00.000-04:00

Let's talk Presidential Politics

2007-09-04T10:49:00.000-04:00

My wife and I are excited about Fred Thompson joining the Republican Presidential field. I've been a fan of his for years, not just on Law & Order, but as a conservative politician.

Tuesday topics

2007-09-04T10:18:00.000-04:00

Alabama ran over a lowly football team that in recent past they would have barely won.
Summer will not go away here, today's high, 93.
I'm amazed sometimes at how rural my area of town can be sometimes. Teresa and I were filling up our gas tank the other day and their was a lady in the pick-up truck behind us pulling out a tooth with some needle nose pliers. How oh so very odd.
We had someone look at our house (it is for sale) last Saturday. They said they loved it and that they would buy it BUT their new master bedroom furniture doesn't fit. We have priced the house to sell but with a back yard full of trees instead of grass it seems nobody wants it. Gotta have a flat, grassy yards for kids nowadays.
We took the convertible out Sunday night and looked at some nice homes in the area. Good to drive a car with some muscle every now and then.
Reading a good book right now, "The Right Thing" by Scott Waddle. He was the commander of the submarine, USS Greeneville, that rammed a ship off the coast of Hawaii in 2001. Hat tip to my father-in-law, Bill.
Our pastor at church this past weekend taught a deep subject. Teresa and I were challenged and loved it. That word, deep, used to be a bad word in our previous experience. It is actually nice to study the Word sometimes and learn in church!!
How come when I sell stock it goes up $4.00 a share within 2 days of my decision?

Tis the Season... for College Football

2007-08-28T14:36:00.000-04:00

For some reason Teresa thinks I'm obsessed with Alabama football. I can't figure that one out!?!

Oh, check out this quote on Alabama football from Bill Curry from CBSSportsline today:

"The Bear is why everyone chased Alabama all those years. When the great coach died, Alabama began chasing its tail. 'Bama paid for some of its screw-ups and mismanagement over the years, but a magical thing tied it all together. Each one of the coaches who has followed Bryant (except Mike Price, who never saw the field) has won 10 games in a season.

"It's the players," Curry said. "You can take an ordinary athlete and put that Crimson shirt on him and he turns into Superman on Saturday afternoon. It doesn't matter if they're from New York City or Sylacauga. They will fight their guts out."

August 22nd happenings around Woodstock

2007-08-22T08:58:00.000-04:00

A mommy deer and two spotted fawns came into the yard this morning. One of our cats, sitting on the back porch, was charged by the mom but nothing happened, they then retreated to the woods.

Teresa and I had dinner last Friday with our realtors, Daniel and Brandi Clotfelter. It was so hot and muggy we stayed inside and 'grilled' on their George Foreman grill. We shot some pool and darts in their basement after dinner. It was a nice night out. Now, we just need to sell our house!!

We had dinner last Saturday with two of my friends from high school. Pat and his wife Ina along with Bill and Lori met us at Rainwater Restaurant in Alpharetta for a good evening of catching up and getting to know each other and our spouses again. It is strange to look at your friends get older and realize that I AM TOO!!

Dinner out with friends for two nights in a row is a rare event for us.

It remains 'Houston' hot here. This is ridiculous.

My Alabama season tickets should arrive today or tomorrow. I'm ready to go to a couple of games this year.

KISS is on the XMRadio right now, yikes, gotta go change the station!!

RIP: Bama. My brother's chocolate lab, BAMA, passed away last week after a long and happy life. She was the sweetest dog, not real bright but a fun loving and loyal friend. She always seemed to recognize me when I visited. I can't be sure because she really loved everyone.

Tough times for an old friend: The son of a good friend of mine from college days , Jeremiah Castille, was arrested last weekend in Tuscaloosa. The son, Simeon, has made a major mistake and I'm sure it is tough on Jeremiah too.

Work is getting busy again, everyone is back from vacation now. Gotta go.....

Iron Chef America (not me)

2007-08-14T13:14:00.000-04:00

Teresa and I (I admit it!!) watch a quirky show on the Food Network called Iron Chef America. It is a "battle" of chefs using a specific food and they have to create 4-5 courses for a panel of judges and the 'best' food wins. It is hosted by a crazy, hyper gentleman named Alton Brown.

Last Sunday as we were leaving church I told Teresa to look at the guy standing by the door with his daughter, "he looks just like that host on Iron Chef". I was amazed at how much he looked like him that I really wondered if it could be HIM!?

After looking him up on Wikipedia we found out it really WAS him. Amazing, thought he would live in NY City or something like that.

May have to say hello and maybe he can teach me how to cook!

It's like a heat wave, burning outside!!

2007-08-08T16:41:00.000-04:00

I know it is hot today but this may be exaggerating just a little bit.... it is from the weather web site wunderground.com.

Current Conditions

109.0 °F / 42 °C

Mostly Cloudy

What are you going to do for ME!?!

2007-08-03T09:33:00.001-04:00

As part of the 'Joel Osteening' of America I wanted to share what I saw in the paper today. This reporter was interviewing a waitress in a cafe right before Mitt Romney shows up for a campaign visit.

Her answer to the question 'what are you going to say to Romney when he gets here' is scary.

Click HERE

Giving up too early

2007-08-03T08:50:00.001-04:00

After the Braves stomped the Astros on Tuesday and Wednesday I was a little frustrated. Living in the land of Braves fans can be difficult enough but when they beat your team like a drum it is even worse.

Well, last night I decided to watch the game on TV. After going up 5-1 the Astros decided to give up 8 runs and when they were down 9-5 I GAVE UP and turned off the TV. Checking the newspaper this morning I see the good guys won 12-11 in extra innings. YEA!!

I hate that I gave up but the Astros are not doing well this year and I only never give up on one team only, The Alabama Crimson Tide.

College football starts soon doesn't it?

GET SERIOUS.....

2007-08-01T14:45:00.000-04:00

You don't have to watch the whole thing but I just found out that during a televised presidential candidate "debate" of the donkey party they actually fielded a question from a stupid snowman.

Isn't the role of the President of the United States supposed to be a serious role? I hope we elect a grown up in this next election.

Good night Marvin Zindler, Eyewitness News

2007-08-01T14:10:00.000-04:00

Back in 1978 my parents moved from Memphis, TN to Houston, Texas. Not long after they left me, alone, my senior year in high school, living with a neighbor (yee ha!!!) they mailed me a cassette audio tape of a guy on the TV in Houston named Marvin Zindler. They couldn't believe what they were seeing and wanted me to hear him for myself.

It was the strangest thing I had heard during a serious nightly newscast BUT it continued until just a few weeks ago. I always wondered how Dave Ward (anchor) sat there with a straight face for all those years as Marvin did his 'roach reports' wearing all kinds of funny glasses and his ever changing looks.

Sadly for his family, Marvin passed away this past weekend. I'm sure a lot of people will miss his TV reports and flamboyant life.

Rest in Peace.

Quiet Summer Days

2007-07-31T16:07:00.000-04:00

On this last day of July I thought I'd update, not much happening in the Dale house right now, dog days of summer are here.

Teresa is sick, nasty summer cold. Those are the WORST!!
We went to Gulf Shores for a few days last week. Didn't get too sunburned, got hit by a couple little jellyfish and didn't have a shark swim between Teresa and I like the last time.
We decided to join a church finally, Johnson Ferry Baptist Church in Marietta. We are thankful that our church adventures are now over. It was sad but of all the church's we visited only JFBC bothered to contact us. We filled out forms at every church we visited but only one bothered to reach out.
The Astros are in town to play the Braves. If we are up to it we might go down tomorrow or Thursday and cheer for the good guys.
My brother, Tim, and his family are coming to town this Saturday. I am excited and can't wait for their visit. We are heading to see the Braves play Colorado. GO COLORADO!!! In addition, Monday we are heading to the Georgia Aquarium to look at some fish and then eat some ribs at Dreamland BBQ, yum!!

East Tennessee Adventures

2007-07-09T08:37:00.000-04:00

Teresa and I headed to the East Tennessee mountains this past weekend for a little R&R and some country music. The route up took us past the Ocoee River, which is a big white water rafting area along the Tennessee/Georgia border. It was beautiful but I kept getting nervous because I thought I heard 'banjo music' playing in the woods at times. If that made no sense please go HERE. I know it is not the same river as the movie but it's close enough to be freaky.

We stayed at a little cabin in the woods called The Woodsman, one of a few owned by George Alexander and his wife. We didn't get to meet George, he was in Las Vegas at a karate show. We found out this guy is the highest ranked karate master in the US. Who would have guessed you would find a karate master in the middle of the woods in Tennessee?

On Saturday we got up and headed out for a little sightseeing. We went by the Savannah Oaks Winery to say hello to our friend Mike McGuire and his band mates in Shenandoah and check out the place. It was an interesting little winery and they made all kinds of fruity wines, not like what you would find in Napa valley, etc. They have a little pavillion that use for weddings, etc. and it appears they are trying to get the word out about their business to the community by bringing in bands such as Shenandoah, Ronnie McDowell, Confederate Railroad and they said they were trying to get the Kentucky Headhunters, which we would go back for.

The concert was scheduled for Saturday night so we wandered around the area and returned around 6:00 pm to chat with Mike and get a seat. Little did we know that wasn't a problem.... this was a small venue with little tables and folding chairs around. The stage was big but they only had two speakers, and I mean little speakers, for the band to use. We were amazed and wondered how it would sound!? While waiting for the show to start a gentleman sitting at the table next to us started talking to me. He was showing off his Ronnie McDowell hat and was so proud that he met Ronnie's bus driver, etc. He was a real big man, deep Tennessee accent and he had his wife and kid's with him. At some point in the conversation, and I can't remember how we got there, he started telling me (with obvious pride) about how he was recently ARRESTED by the local cops and how it took three of them to 'wrastle' him to the ground. My thoughts were 'why me' and 'where is that exit again?'. Well, he didn't go crazy or anything and had a great time taking pictures of the band and giving them the thumbs up all evening.

Well, the guys came up to play and they really sounded good. The lead singer commented, to the 100 or so people there, that they had never played in a place like this and it felt more like playing in someone's living room. We loved it!! We spent time afterwards talking to our friend before they headed out on the bus back home. Betty, the owner, asked us to hang out for a while so we did. They pulled out the karaoke machine and the locals sang away. All of them were surprisingly good except for one poor man, who looked like the Marlboro Man. He started to sing, I think that is what it was, and his wife was standing there cheering him on. He couldn't sign, couldn't stay on beat, etc. but at least he was up there trying. Teresa and I never went near the microphone!!!

Sunday was 'sleep in day' and we headed home after a late breakfast. Of course, we took the longest route home and this time found Fort Mountain State Park in North Georgia. It has one of the best campgrounds I've seen so we plan on going back in the fall for a little camping trip.

It's a good week....

2007-07-03T07:38:00.000-04:00

I'm sitting on my back porch this morning... what an amazing feat during summertime. It is in the lower 60's with a little breeze blowing, dew all over the plants, a cat wandering around my feet wanting to get outside the screened porch area and birds wishing she wouldn't.

This is a good week because of several things:

1. It is not last week!!! The end of the 2nd quarter at work was a real doozy. 'nough said.

2. I had to drive in to the office again yesterday, on the way to the office the traffic was extra light. I was going plenty fast when I spotted a big old (mid-70's) beat up pick-up truck coming up behind me in a hurry. I got out of the way, quickly. He zig and zagged around people until he got about 1/2 mile ahead of me when I saw a puff of blue smoke coming from his tailpipes. As he slowed and pulled off the side of the road with a broken down truck I smiled. I probably should have helped him but he and his truck were scary looking.

3. Tomorrow is a holiday.

4. Teresa and I head to the mountains again this weekend to stay at a little log cabin and see the Shenandoah Band play at a little winery in Tennessee.

5. The coffee is good this morning.

6. I can work from this screened in porch for a few hours this morning.

7. My wife, who is my best friend and the most beautiful women I know is asleep upstairs right now.

8. I get to see my family at the beach in a couple of weeks.

9. It rained last weekend.

10. The NY Times ran a hit piece on Fred Thompson yesterday. That makes me happy when the Times does that because it means they are concerned about him. This piece fizzled and died quickly because many people realize that nearly every congressperson has a family member working for them, even Democrats.

11. I'm going to New York again next week for a few days.

12. The Astro's are winning a few more games and Biggio has over 3,000 hits now. I can't imagine the Astro's without him, he's been their anchor for 20 years.

I need more coffee and must get to work, earn a living.

Raleigh, Hillborough and other parts of North Carlolina

2007-06-25T08:31:00.000-04:00

Teresa and I went up to Hillsborough, NC this past weekend to see her family. That is a 6 hour interstate ride from our home. We went up Thursday evening and I worked from the Research Triangle Park (RTP) IBM office on Friday. That was nice because I got to meet people IN PERSON that I've been working with for months. A rare treat in IBM is to meet people face to face.

Hillsborough itself is a nice little town west of Durham. It is not that far from RTP yet still has the charming feel of a small town. The homes there are historical, some built in the 1700-1800's, the downtown is active and nice, old buildings and historical markers everywhere. We had a good visit with Teresa's mom, dad and sister then headed home Sunday.

Of course we couldn't take the interstate home so we took the mountain roads again. I checked a map and said 'this looks good' and took several backroads we have never been on. What a fun trip it was going thru small towns and huge mountains. If you have never seen western North Carolina and North Georgia it is hard to explain just how magnificent the mountains are.

We are staying in town for a couple of weekends, heading back to our new church home next Sunday then have some more travels this summer including Gulf Shores, the mountains of east Tennessee again and probably Houston later this year.

Fathers Day 2007

2007-06-15T15:57:00.000-04:00

“The most important thing a father can do for his children is to love their mother.” -Theodore Hesburgh

There is a man in 'hog heaven' right now, riding a tractor, wearing boots and a cowboy hat cutting the grass around his east Texas property. He is 72 years young and is happier and healthier than I can ever remember. He has always been an active part of his family, loved my mom, provided everything we NEEDED, not wanted (the 77 Chevy Chevette as my first car proved that one), encouraged us, disciplined us, laughed and played with us, let us go when the time came and generally did everything the best he knew how for as long as I can remember.

He is everything I could have asked for in a father and more.

"When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much the old man had learned in seven years." Mark Twain

Something astonishing hit me the other day about my dad. When he was my age (46) he had 3 kids in college, a mortgage, bills, a job, stresses of everyday life. I never, ever remember him complain about the expense of kids, never felt like a burden to him and never thought for one minute he was nothing but a proud father. He didn't have to have the latest and greatest toys during that time of our lives, he sacrificed for us daily.

Now he has the best of everything he wants due to the grace of God and his hard work.

He is a smart man.... look at his family.

I love you Roy Dale.

Cowboy President Bush vs. The "holy" Pope

2007-06-11T07:58:00.000-04:00

This story from over the past weekend cracked me up.

I may not like much of what President Bush has done the past few years but this is a humorous story about a non-issue in reality. I think he did the right thing.

Kids are still kids

2007-06-08T08:07:00.001-04:00

Last night, after dark, I noticed two young boys standing in the street in front of our house looking at the yard and house and holding something in their hands. Since it was dark and I didn't know their intentions I decided to keep an eye on the little delinquents.

They stood there, did something with the items in their hands, looked at the house with excitement and..... started running around catching lightning bugs and putting them in a jar they each held. I felt bad, Teresa laughed at me. I assumed these little guys where up to no good immediately when all they were doing was what I would do 35 years ago at their age..... PLAY!!

I promise to be less skeptical towards future rug rats.

Rocky Raccoon

2007-06-07T08:09:00.000-04:00

Last night, right at dusk, the pizza man arrived with our dinner. As I was paying him Teresa yells at me from the sun room "HONEY, COME HERE". I thought she saw a roach or something so I was not in a hurry.... A second "HONEY, COME HERE" in a more forceful tone alerted me to something different this time.

When I walked into the sunroom a raccoon was standing in the doorway, nearly completely inside the house. We left the door cracked open so the cats can go out on the screened in patio area but never thought a raccoon would come IN!!! You would think that at least on of our cats would notice this intruder but nooooo, Smudgie was in the room but didn't even look up, Maddie was waiting for food in the other room (where the pizza was).

We chased Rocky away but the rest of the evening he kept showing up outside the screen area looking around. He's cute but we've got to make sure he is not setting up a nest or something IN the house.

I am no longer a Patriot!!!!

2007-06-01T11:05:00.000-04:00

The dictionary defines patriotism this way:

pa·tri·ot·ism [pey-tree-uh-tiz-uhm or, especially Brit., pa-] Pronunciation Key - Show IPA Pronunciation –noun devoted love, support, and defense of one's country; national loyalty.

Today I find out that the loony global warming zealots, including Environmental Defense Action Fund, say:

"Today, we recognize that patriotism is not only about love of country. It is also about a shared commitment to the welfare of our planet,"

I always thought that I was a real red blooded American patriot... oh well. I've got to run, I need to turn up my AC and take my car to Shell and buy some more gasoline.

It is hot outside... could it be I live in the south and it is summertime?

One year ago today....

2007-05-29T10:41:00.001-04:00

One year ago today, May 28th, 2006, was a Sunday and Teresa and I officially moved in to our new Georgia home. The place was dirty, the floors were not finished and all of our furniture was in the garage until they were, the walls needed painting, the yard was a mess and we had a lot to do.

Hard to believe it has been one year. The house is in much better shape and we like it here, such a beautiful place.

I'm glad we are here.

Smoke, church and water....

2007-05-29T08:24:00.000-04:00

SMOKE: Saturday and Sunday we awoke to smoke everywhere. This is the smoke from the forest fires in South Georgia. It makes our eyes water like crazy. Sunday we took off to the mountains after church just to get away from it. We found a little mom and pop restaurant on a river up near the NC border and had a good home cooked meal. Fortunately Monday was not as bad so we could spend some time on the patio cooking hot dogs for a Memorial Day meal.

CHURCH: Teresa and I went to 'big church' Sunday morning. We went to the contemporary service at Johnson Ferry Baptist Church. We had a good time, good music and Bryant was as good as always. He spoke on the 'pentecost' and we really enjoyed it. I think next week we may try another big church closer to home, see what that is like. It is nice to go to a church with grown ups.

WATER: No rain here for weeks... and no rain is forecast for a long, long time. Maybe I'll just let the front yard die so I don't have to water it then cut it.

Tail of the Dragon

2007-05-23T13:26:00.000-04:00

Last Saturday Teresa and I were heading home from the Smoky Mountains and after looking at our map we decided to take NC highway 129 near the National Park. As we got closer the scenery was spectacular but we noticed more and more motorcycles of all kinds. We then entered into a something called the 'Tail of the Dragon' which is a windy road with over 300 turns in 11 miles.

After a mile or so I decided to just go with everyone else on the road, which means "hang on dear"!! My little Mazda has a 5 speed and low profile tires and is super quick. I stayed in my lane to be safe but had a blast. Even though I was being aggressive I was being passed by sport bikes regularly.

That was a real interesting find on our part and once we got home we discovered that the road is really famous among bikers and car clubs.

Here is a couple of Youtube videos from cars on the dragon so you can see a little of what it was like.

Marriage made better, compliments of Texas?!?!?!

2007-05-15T14:30:00.000-04:00

Looks like Texas has the dumb idea that the state/government can make better marriages. THIS story from the Houston Chronicle is typical of the nanny state, cradle to grave junk we put up with by electing the people we do.

Some highlights (or lowlights) and comments:

"the Texas House approved a bill today doubling marriage license fees to $60 unless couples take state-sanctioned classes on how to be good spouses."
- like the state knows what makes a good marriage???

""We have far too many divorces, in most cases in the first three to four years of marriage," he added. "If we don't focus on keeping families together, then we're on a downward spiral.""
- and it is the governments job to bring down the rate of divorce?

"Chisum has said no special degrees or licenses are required to teach the class. Anyone wishing to instruct couples can take a class lasting only a day or two."
- just proved my point number 1, what qualifies the state to do this??

Dumb Texas.... dumb.

Mother's Day Message

2007-05-15T10:19:00.000-04:00

HI MOM!!! Teresa and I want to say hi and we love you both!! We missed you guys on Mother's Day 2007.

For church this past week we went to another little church in yet another school, this one real close to the house. It was small, 100 people or so, very low keyed and as a lady sitting next to me said when she found out we were visiting, 'this is a sweet church'. True, it was sweet and nice and low keyed. The people were genuine when they said 'welcome'. The pastor was a nice guy, smooth delivery and as the lady said, it was a sweet sermon about moms. Everything was OK, we will not go back, but one thing he said was as wierd as I've ever heard in a church.

They passed out greeting cards and said "write a note to your mom, even if she is no longer on planet earth. I believe the the Holy Spirit will find a way to get that note to her, no matter where she is." That was a little creepy for me.

OK, enough sweetness for one day alright!!!

We are heading to Gatlinburg, TN this weekend for some R&R. The weather looks to be nice and cool and it will be a nice getaway together.

The cats are on their own.

Another Sunday, another church to visit

2007-05-07T07:45:00.000-04:00

Teresa and I went to church in our area yesterday called Axios Church pastored by Ray Brim. It has to be the friendliest little church we've visited since our latest search began. The people made a serious effort to say hello, offer coffee, shake your hand, etc. By far the best first time experience of our recent visits. The church is a small one, recently started, that meets in a warehouse in Holly Springs. They have a great facility for a brand new church. The music was good, the style that we like the most, and the people leading it were pretty good, and genuine.

The kids were in the service during the worship time but when it came time for 'preaching' they all went to their own little service. During the time the kids were leaving the people were given a chance to break for coffee and say hello, which many did to us again. About 50+ people of all ages and races were in attendance.

The message was "Seeing God" and Ray was dead on in my opinion. It is refreshing to hear a new church strive to be 'relevant' by preaching the truth of the gospel. Ray spoke of "Aha!!" moments in life and I really appreciated his points and efforts.

Next week we continue our search. Hopefully we will be called to a new place of worship and service soon.

Reflections on a day at a NASCAR event

2007-04-30T13:02:00.000-04:00

Teresa and I went to the Aaron's 499 NASCAR event in Talladega, Alabama yesterday. Our neighbors from our previous house in Houston came to visit us and go to the race with us. This was Teresa's first event as well as our friend MaryAnna's. I think they are both good for at least 5 years before they ever go to another event in person. Me, I'd go once a year for sure.

Some thoughts on the event we witnessed yesterday:

Talladega racing is amazing, cars going 190 mph, 3 wide, for nearly 3 hours.
People were nice!! All around us we had the most respectful and friendly people.
My wife did something for me that was awesome, SHE WENT TO THE RACE.
It is good to have friends who will come see you after you move away to a new town.
The kind of people who attend NASCAR events has really changed since my first race in 1981.
One wreck happened right in front of us (see photo). You realize more in person just how violent that a wreck can be at those speeds.
There are still a few rednecks that go to races however.
A lot of Dale Jr. fans have no class.
The end of the race was disappointing (under caution).
We parked real close and still walked for two miles or so.
Some women need to just hold off on wearing short shorts and bikini tops.
Some men should put their shirts back on.
Butt cracks are not an attractive sight.
Mountain Dew taste even better when you are at a NASCAR race.
Jeff Foxworthy was the Grand Marshall... that was fitting.
Going to a race without listening to a scanner/radio broadcast is silly.
Cars going by at 190 mph is an impressive sight.
Cars going by at 190 mph generates an AWESOME sound.
I wonder how much money was generated yesterday, unbelievable consumption going on out there (and not just beer).
NASCAR fans love the military, the flag and the country.
NASCAR fans are starting, slowly, to reflect the country's diversity. Even at Talladega I noticed a real change.
Driving home I had to really hold back on the accelerator, wanted to drive 190 mph myself.
Red dust is everywhere in Talladega.... because of the red dirt!!
Rebel flags, while present, were not as dominant as they used to be.
I did not hear a SINGLE Lynyrd Skynyrd song playing on anyone's radio at the track. The US Navy band did play Sweet Home Alabama but that was all I heard. What is the world coming to?