The move has started...

It's always exciting to be a new home owner. Jane and I can't wait until we are in our new home and settled. Still there is the moving that one can not avoid. Today we moved a car load and three large loads in the pickup. We are "only" moving the little stuff this week. The guys from the shop will be helping with the larger furniture on Monday.
I forgot what it is like to live in a two story home, and one with a basement as well (even though that is what I grew up in living in Walla Walla). I also forgot that Murphy's law applies to all awkward, breaking down or heavy boxes. Simply put it means they have to go up, or down a flight of stairs and probably through a door that is smaller than the box. . . Good news! Yes there is good news. I survived! I even scraped the garage to prep it for the epoxy coating. Then my scraper broke in two and I was no longer using a nice pole, but on my hands and knees. This has been so much fun today!
Tomorrow we are driving to Tyson's corner (VA) just outside of Leesburg because there has been no luck shopping for a dining set, book cases, or a computer desk. Penny's and Macys both have something we like. but, None of the ones around here are big enough to have furniture on display. Besides, after today... we need a field trip!
When we get home I will mow the lawn here at the rental, and then see about doing a floor coating on the garage... (I haven't quite got my head around that one yet - mix this with that, pour it all out spread it around... how complicated can it be?!!!) I guess we will see.
More to follow I am sure!

Oh My Goodness! . . . We've bought a house!

Well, It is done. We signed the papers this evening and took Charlie for a visit. I think he knows the excitement we were feeling (nervousness maybe) as he got sick in the kennel {both ends!} in the car on the way there. How nice was that! . . . Memories of "Grandpa's friend" in the air! . . . SO I rolled the window down and we made it to the house. He then cristened the house with another accident when he was let out of the kennel.
With all that "excitement" behind us, he settled in to exploring and sniffing the surroundings. He doesn't think much of the stairs as when we went upstairs to look around he sat on step number 3 and cried for us. I carried him up where we were and at his first opportunity he ran back downstairs to the main floor. I couldn't even get him to come to the basement with me.
We took him back home and he is still shaken up. But Jane and I are excited and celebrated with a Guinness ( for me) and a Becks (for Jane). and had a pizza delivered. It hit the spot!

On to the long weekend and who knows what? but I think probably there will be some moving in there some where. Once we are all moved I know Charlie will settle in and hopefully like all the room he has to wonder around.

The neatest part of this is that it was an excited Jane that wanted to take Charlie with us to see the house for the first time - OBVIOUSLY meaning that SHE sees Charlie as our little guy and a DEFINITE part of our family. She Loves him as much as I do... (and this coming from a girl who "doesn't like cats!") HA!!!! hahahahahahaha!

What a day this was...

It was perfect weather today at work. 70 degrees and a slight breeze. I had to go have some blood drawn ( routine old people stuff ). So I had to fast until 9:00 this morning. The rest of the day went well.. I ate food! that was good. I had a short class to learn how to train people in the Air Force ( after coming up on 33 years you'd think I know). and then I shot off and played Golf at 4:00. It was one of the worst rounds ever, but I had so much fun! I lost 13 balls in the woods, in the water... it was crazy. I also had some really nice drives, one awesome putt and some pretty good chip shots (obviously from my score it wasn't a lot of them!). I walked the course and there are LOTS of hills! So I am feeling it tonight, wow. Ain't life grand!
Where else can you go exercise, suck at it, relax, have FUN and laugh at yourself... and get healthy? Only on the Golf course for me!

All in all... This was a Good Day! I'm TIRED!!!!

This is going to be a L-O-N-G week!

This is a view of the house from the back yard

Well, The weekend has come and gone and I don't think Jane or I got any "real" rest. Friday after work we had to run to Sears and get our appliances ordered for the house. It seems the hood over the range, and the dishwasher are considered "real property" and as such have to be installed before the final appraisal can be done. So we bought a range, hood, and dishwasher and had them delivered on Saturday. They arrived close to their time and even installed the range ( Jane stopped and bought the cord as we were warned it does not come with one!) Then I set about installing the Dishwasher. . .x$%*&$^% there were problems! . . . okay, lets do the hood! @ %@&$ . .. more problems, AND... did you know that exhaust hoods do not come with the "power cord kit" anymore? I did not! OH YEAH! Did I mention the cabinet that the hood was to mount too . . . did not have any wood stringers to attach the screws to? . . . ********* still more problems! At this point... Janie was not happy with me, I was not happy at all... (she saw a side of me I don't like to show)... and I was off to Lowe's, and to Sears. Sheeesh! All in all things got better after that. I installed the dishwasher, I installed the hood and we got to go home at around 7:00 I think. I stopped at KFC and got dinner, and we relaxed for the rest of the evening. Needless to say, Sunday was a wash. We did n-o-t-h-i-n-g! Today we did our walk through (so the contractor can fix what we find wrong) and that went well. Jane has some running around to do getting water, sewer, power, phone, and cable hooked up or put in our name. Then on Friday afternoon while I am at work Jane will do the final walk through. At 5:00 we sit down and sign papers and get keys! . . . Saturday, I epoxy the garage floor! . . . Ah the pleasures of being a home owner!

Idle Ramblings

This I think is the best picture I have taken, and edited ( I made it sepia - and I liked it ). I have been saving this one... I don't know if I will ever get as lucky with a picture as this one. I do try though. I hope you like it.
I really like putting pictures that I have taken on here to share what we are doing. I like even more having photos of my kids, and my grand kids to share as well. I didn't take as many pictures this last time home because well, I think sometimes I am so busy taking pictures of everyone, that I am not sharing the time with everyone as quality time as it could be.
I may go and hit the little white ball tomorrow after work. It all depends on how I am feeling, and how tired I am after the day on the plane ( it will be a busy day tomorrow at work ). I am rowing after work every evening though. Even if I do feel tired. I feel it is important to remain committed to the rowing machine and getting back into shape. I am tired of tight fitting pants, and getting worn out from going up and down the crew ladder on the plane ( imagine climbing up and down a ladder to a three story building several times a day ). It wears me out, and it shouldn't.
Someone asked about oil today! That's good! . . . may have my first sell soon. I still haven't received my software to build my website though. Once we get moved there will be business cards as well with the website on them. It isn't going to make me rich that's for sure.
Well, it's after 10:00 here on the Eastern side of the USA. So Good Night! and Have a Great tomorrow!

It's amazing...

This is "Great Falls"... It is on the Potomac river just a short distance from Annandale, VA. It is a very beautiful place to visit and take pictures. But what is amazing is the history that runs beside the falls for 3/4 of a mile. It is a canal called the Potomack canal. It was used to move freight around the falls by barge and then up or down the river as needed. This canal is also unique in that the barges were not moved with animals (mules) but by men. The work began in 1785 and was not completed until 1802. The designing, and supervising engineer was non other than George Washington himself ( Who was President from 1782-1797 - so he was doing this WHILE he was President of the United States!) you won't see that happening in this day and age!His presence is seen in so many places that we visit. Routes that he travelled, visited, frequented. It is amazing to me because I never thought about it I guess. To have walked where possibly George Washington walked along a canal... had I visited here and done this at just about any other time in my life I would not have given it a second thought, or have been even slightly impressed by the thought. Below are a couple shots of the canal where it remains intact ( even is only partially ). All the places we have posted so far, and visited we have not been more than an hour and a half from. Most less than an hour. On another note. We sign for our house on the 29th of August. Then we will spend a couple of weeks moving. But at least it will be into our own home. Then any painting or yard work we do will be for us, and not a land lord. WOO HOO!!! (ps one more of the falls too)

It's finally the weekend

This was some week for us. I spent lots of time on aircraft working (which beleive it or not is a good thing). I changed out an APU -Auxillary Power Unit (they {2 on each plane} are used to start the engines, run systems like hydraulics, pumps, air conditioning etc...) And today we re installed an engine at #3 station (they count 1-4 from the left to the right as you are standing behind the plane). I also was tagged to fill in as the dayshift work lead because mine was gone all week, that was not a problem as that is what I did in AZ before I left.
After all our running around last weekend and the picture taking ( I later learned we were a short mile from Camp David at one point). We are probably going to take it easy this weekend and do very little ( no hiking for certain).
I am also now a licensed Amsoil Dealer. I will have my website up soon and if anyone wants to convert to synthetic motor oil or other mechanical lubricants for their motorcycles, boat motors, jet skis, snow machines, lawn mowers, etc... I can help with the information. Anyone can order direct from AMSOIL.COM and have the items delivered to your door step. If you want to give me credit for it just put in 1645051 in the referral block and it will help me out. If no one is interested... no problem. I use it because it works and it is the best thing out there. Personal opinion...

Sunday's Day trip

This is another part of the C & O Canal. It is called the Paw Paw Tunnel. It runs a mile through the mountain and once again was built by Irish, British, and German Immigrants. You can see the "light at the end of the tunnel" but, I should have heeded the note online that said bring a flashlight. At one point we were walking literally blind. You could not see your hand in front of your face, definitely not your feet, and the light was only at the end of the tunnel. We got the bright idea to take the hiking trail (over the top of the mountain) instead of going back through the tunnel. It was 2 miles over, and we are pooped. If you count the .6 miles to and from the tunnel to the car, we covered 4 miles. We agreed that we would take a day off from the rowing machine today... I think we earned it!
This is just after we entered the tunnel. The picture took because we still had light behind us illuminating the inside a bit. The path was originally for the mules.
This is the canal at the other end. You can see the mule path on the right. It is used for hiking and biking now. The picture on the right with the walkway is just after leaving the far end of the canal. this walk way probably did not have a rail originally as it was for the mules. The rock face you see just above the walk way goes down like that to the water, so they had to build the plank walk way for the mules to pull the barges.


The first picture is the trail on the way up. That is my VERY TIRED and EXHAUSTED Janie on the left of the trail. I am really proud of her for doing so well on this trek. Neither of us thought it would be quite so long... and hard! The other picture is a view of the Potomac after we crossed over the top of the mountain and headed down the other side. It was beautiful, but there was no place to get a better vantage point to take a picture and see the river and how really pretty it was. Even the drive over there, and back was beautiful!

Saturday Pics part 2

This is two pictures of a World War II Tank Destroyer or "Stewart Tank". Okay, it's not just because I like tanks or WWII history that I put this here. Kids, This is what your Grandpa learned to drive before he was transferred to the M-12 GMC (Gun Motor Carriage). Kind of nice to know.


These three pics are in Thurmond MD. At and below Fred Bentz Memorial Lake. I saved the best for the bottom picture, so If you didn't like the C-5's maybe you'll like this one.

Saturday Pictures

These three pics are of Cunningham Falls & Lake State Park.
The water is low.
The steams are dry!
The Falls had too many people...
So no pictures have I! LOLL

It does get better!



These are two bridges crossing Antietam Creek. The first two are both sides of the lower bridge. The Picture with the grass in front of it is actually the oldest bridge crossing the creek dated back to 1823, Irish immigrants built it working to pay off their debt to come to America. It was later widened and the cement facade added to the side shown here. The other side looks like the lower bridge (which like most of this style is still one way). There you go Jen... Dad got his feet wet taking the first pic!... I slipped!
I have more pics to post so look for part 2. I can't put anymore here.

Health Still Hurts!!!!

Well I stand by my previous words. I used to say it in Cross Country in High School. I used to say it in Softball... So lets add rowing and Golf to the list! I am here to tell you HEALTH HURTS!!!!
Jen says that for every week I have not exercised, I will be working a MONTH to get back to where I was. Well . . . Thanks daughter for the "good news"...(pure sarcasm there). I haven't been able to workout like I did before we moved here. That means that I haven't worked out since say March! 4 weeks in a month. . . that is 5 months (counting March) roughly 20 weeks! So for me to get back to where I was I am going to hurt for 20 months? THAT is just wrong!
Today I left work early and I played Golf. I WALKED IT JEN!. . . do I get time off for that? I mean... come on here! 18 holes! 5,514 yards of walking (if I walked strait - and I don't because I don't usually hit the ball straight!). . . With HILLS too! I REALLY think I ought to get some time off for that, AND I rowed when I got home too!
Did I mention Health Hurts?...
Well, It is nice to know how long it will take me to recoup the damage from me not exercising. I know that I will get better, and I will live through the pain. I actually enjoyed golf today. The pace is slower walking with the cart. I found I took time to stop and think about most every shot and what I was doing with each swing. Mind you... that doesn't mean every shot was good! I still had 6 penalty strokes ( If the ball goes into the woods, there is a good chance you're not getting it back!). I shot a Wonderful 103! If you were to discount the penalties I broke 100. But I don't discount them and I still haven't gone under that magical barrier of 100 without penalties. That day will come though!
All in all, it was a good day. Thanks Jen for the sharing of information, even if it does mean I have to work harder and longer before the belly goes away.
We may be going out and about sight seeing and picture taking tomorrow. If so, well I will post some more pictures.
Be Happy! :)

Some pics I have taken

This is the Antietum Iron Works Bridge. It is located not far from Lock 34 on the C & O canal, near Harper's Ferry. There are a lot of bridges standing and still in use with this design. This stream runs about a mile further down line and under a portion of the Canal that is now used for walking, jogging, and biking. Parts of the canal have been restored and you can actually ride a barge for a short journey being pulled by the mule teams just like the barges did when they moved freight in the 1800's. I really don't remember ever hearing about, or studying about this in history when I was in school and it covers several hundred miles. We want to visit and see as much of it as possible and so there will be more pictures I am sure.


This is a portion of the canal near Williamsport MD. What you are looking at is the mule path and the canal. Unfortunately most of the canal has gone back to nature and holds only fallen trees, rain water and other wild foilage. The path is maintained by the park service though and they even have rangers that ride much of it on bikes keeping an eye out for those who use that path.


The last picture is of Williamsport. This is one of the locations where the barges loaded and off loaded their frieght. Well I thought it was neat and I hope you like the pics.

Jane and I are rowing. Slowly and surely. The machine is the same type I used in AZ. but I am a LOT more out of shape than I was then and it is like starting from scratch all over again. I used to row for 30 minutes at a good rate. . . We've been rowing for a whopping two days now, and 5 minutes is where we stop. It's doing what it is supposed too as we are aching and creaking and squeaking, moaning and groaning.. . But, Like I have always said! " HEALTH HURTS!!!"... lol

Field Trip today!

Hello and Happy Monday!
I can say that because I FINALLY have a day off. I worked the weekend and it wasn't bad, but it seemed to take forever for yesterday to be over. All in all though weekends here (on a worst case scenario - are better than a great weekend working in Tucson!)
I have been looking for a "Water Rower" rowing machine. I used one in AZ at the community center that we had in Rancho Sahuarita, and it did work for me real well. But, between not having that, and not having the same schedule with work I do not get to go golfing as much as I would like. The good news there is that I have a push cart now for my clubs and I will be walking (9 holes at a time for starters) the course instead of driving it. Oh, back to the rowing machine... sorry! We finally found one that was in the price range that we were looking for and we are going to go and pick it up today. There isn't much space here to use it so I may have to wait until we are in the new house... but I think I may be able to figure something out in the interim.
The rowing machine is about an hour away near Leesburg, VA. So we are going to go over before we have to be there and then, pick it up and bring it home after the sight seeing. Who knows... maybe even some good pictures.
I have to get a new belt for the mower too, as the grass is getting long. So we will have a full day! I will enclose some pictures I took of Charlie (well I can't get the power point to work on this blog so I will have to work on that one), On the bottom of the page is one (a picture that is) of the whales ( Sorry, but I think that is what the C-5 looks like!).
The one at the top IS a Sunset in WV.