Extravaganza Blog

The annual Christmas extravaganza is history. I tried to give people time to blog, but nothing. Katie, I will fill you in.

All the usual suspects were in attendance. We gathered about 1:00 and visited for a while. Once we were settled in, dinner was served. As usual we had more food than we needed, and all of it was outstanding.

After the meal, we were all ready for the presents that were calling to us. It is good to see that Santa's helpers are getting younger each year.

Now the biggest present in the room to be opened had my name on it. Turns out everyone in the room, and others, were in on this. I have wanted a BIG GREEN EGG for a long time and my personal Santa made it happen.

As usual Mom and Dad were the last to open there presents. Looks like they were well taken care of. I think all of us were. We wish you, Bryan and Maddy could have been with us but life sometimes gets in the way. We always have next year.

Now the real EGGstravaganza

HO HO HO that was Eggstreamly funny.

Great Day.

The weather was great for getting out and enjoying. I got a call from our friends Dan and LaFaye this week. LaFaye is taking some classes and has been so busy we have not gotten together in some time. We decided to go riding. We called Tim and Terri Collins and Larry and Connie Collett and headed out.

Dan heard that Kennasaw State University has a part of the Berlin Wall on display so we headed to see it. Turns out General Lucius Clay engineered the Berlin airlift in 1948. His grand son Senator Chuck Clay was asked to go to Germany for a remembrance of the General. He was expecting a plaque and was given this.

I guess he has no place to keep it.

Next we headed up to Cartersville to the Booth Western Art Museum. Relay cool place with some great cowboy art. This place has a reciprocal agreement with the Smithsonian. You are not allowed to take pictures inside but it has some great bronzes out side.

We got home about 6:00pm just before the dark and cold. What a good day.

Catching up.

Been wanting to blog but haven't made time. Since the last blog I went to Vegas for a trade show. Allot of people but no real leads. Work is still slow but we have a few things going on.

This past weekend Deb's family came in for a get together. They did a Low Country Boil. They also did crab legs. Everything was great. I was back and forth to Heflin Alabama all weekend to do an AKC hunt test. We had great weather, and a large turn out. 40 dogs were tested each day. I had the best time of all, hunt birds all day and come home to a great dinner. (What a life)

We are getting quotes on replacing our Heat Pump. It is 17 years old, and given us very little problems but we know it will not last foe ever. The electric company did an audit for us and think we will lower our bill by 40 to 60%. That will make it worth wile alone. I will keep you all up on the project.

That's it for now, I'm at lunch and saw KT's blog and felt guilty.

Mom's Party

I have decided to use Sue's idea, lots of pictures and few words.

Friday was a reunion night
All the girls were there

They just kept coming

waiting!!

It's OK, I'm with the band

Deuce of Cakes

Surprise!!!!

Remember Home Alone?

The Birthday Girl

Are we at Tybee?

Again, all the girls made it

?

THE END

The Great Smoky Mouintians

We spent the last weekend in Pigeon Forge Tn. For Chris and April's 5Th anniversary. We had a great time. Deb and I picked up mom and dad about 8:00 on Friday morning and headed to the mountains. I had planed to go up Hwy 129 threw Blairesville then up to Cherokee NC. and take Hwy 441 to Gatlinburg. With all the bad weather last week I decided to stick to the bigger road and took 985 to 441 in Clarksville, and stayed on 441 all the way. It was a good call and we got to Pigeon Forge 2 hours earlier than expected. We met Chris, April, Katie, Bryan and Maddy, Peg and Steve and got to spend some time before the cabin was ready.

The view from the cabin was spectacular. April's family arrived at the same time as we did and we all settled in. A bit later Kelly and Josh showed up, safe and sound.

Chris and Bryan cooked hot dogs for us for dinner. (notice the hot dog in my hitch. I can see Steve's finger prints from here.)

We woke up on Saturday to a heavy rain and a breakfast of home made biskets pork tender loin and gravy thanks to Aprils parents and grandmother. It was good.

Aprils family went in to Gatlinburg but the Shore side of the family decided to hang in the cabin. That evening we had the anniversary celebration and we were joined by some of April's family as well as Chris's college buddy Jason and his wife Brandy.

I think we all had fun watching TV, playing games or just hanging. On Sunday we woke to a beautiful morning and got ready to hit the road home. Our side of the event stopped for breakfast (thanks Pop) before going our separate ways, Thanks again Chris and April for including us in your celebration.

September 22nd

Happy Birthday to my brother Jimmy and Happy Anniversary to Jimmy and Sue. One of the new status symbols in this country is a long marriage. You can not buy it, you have to earn it. Congratulations.

Never Forget

9/11 by the Numbers

Total number killed in attack 2,819
Fire Fighters / Paramedics Killed 373
NYPD killed 23
Port Authority officers killed 37
Number of employees lost tower 1 1,396
Number of employees lost tower 2 614
Number Killed on Flight 93 40
Number killed in Pentagon 184
Number Killed on WTC air craft 152

The numbers speak for them self. Today I heard more about the man that called Obama a lyre and ACORN than I did about 9/11. This should be a day of reverence and reflection, not politics. I am not one who thinks this should be a national holiday. Americans tend to make national holidays as a day off and forget what they are all about, look at July 4th and Christmas. I think it is up to all of us to keep this day a raw memory. How many people under 50 can tell you about Pearl Harbor?

I have been wanting to blog since last weekend but just haven't had time. I got a call from my buddy Larry Collette telling me he had use of a cabin in Blue Ridge Ga. and wanted to know if Dan and I wanted to take the bikes and go up with him. We have stayed in the cabin before and it is great so I told him to count me in.

Dan and I met up at 7:00 Saturday morning and headed north to have breakfast with Larry in Canton. We hit some rain in Atlanta but out ran it by the time we got to Marietta. Larry was waiting at Cracker Barrel and when we were finished we took a round-a-bout mountain ride to Blue Ridge. We got to the cabin at 11:00. We drooped off our clothes and groceries and took off. We headed north/west past the Olympic white water sight and found our way to Telico Plains Tn. The Cherahola Skyway starts here and is one of my favorite rides. Check out the pictures and you will see why I come here,

The Skyway goes east from here and in about 50 miles you wind up in Robbinsville NC. We picked up HWY 129 and headed back to Blue Ridge.

The cabin is a log cabin and most of the furniture is made of logs and branches. Check out the pictures and you can see why I come here.

Larry did the shopping, I think he did well. Can you see why I come here?

We ate dinner on the back deck, it is hanging over the Toccoa River.

We had a few drinks, relaxed and hit the sack. This is my sack, see why I come here"

In the morning Dan and I headed south/east threw Suches, Dalonega, and home. Larry went west to meet his wife on her motorcycle and spend the day riding.

Great weekend, great ride, Great friends.

Haven't had much to blog about lately, so I just wanted to let everyone know Deb and I are doing well. We have both been working a bunch, and Deb has been out of town some. She took her mom up to Tennessee when she got home from Canada and called on a customer up there. Too weeks later she went to a family reunion in Louisiana.

It has been to hot to ride the motorcycle so I have been working around house and relaxing. I pressure washed and sealed the deck two weeks ago and took my grill apart to clean and replace some parts this weekend.

Like I said not much going on, we are looking forward to seeing Katie, Bryan amd Maddy next week. Talk to you all soon, Bill

I guess it's my turn to blog about the 4Th of July. I took off last Thursday and deb and I headed out about 8:00am to run some errands. After the errands we got to mom and dad's house about 9:30 and on the road by 10:00. We took I 85 to Greenville and picked up Deb's niece, Sydney. Syd is heading to Canada for the summer so we got to spend a few days with her before she flew out. We got to Peg and Steve's about 3:30 or so and just relaxed the rest of the day.Some games were played and some baseball was watched. Friday the weather was great, the deck is in the shade and was the perfect place to hang out.Steve cooked hamburgers and hot dogs on the grill and we watched the Braves. Saturdays weather was just as good and everyone basically hung out all day. It was great to have Mike, Michelle and the girls with us. All three girls Hannah, Heather and Sydney are all big readers, so when they were not playing games with grand mom and aunt Debo they were scattered around the house with books. Steve put a pork shoulder and a bunch of ribs on the smoker in the morning and let them go all day. After the feast we watched the NASCAR race out on the deck. then came the fire works. Steve had a nice selection that would have awed the crowd until the neighbor broke out the professional set. just one of those things was 2 feet high and 12 inched across. Thay were wild.

On Sunday we headed home. After dropping off mom and pop we made a stop at Sam's for some grocery's then home to get ready for another work week.