Skywatch Friday = May Day

May Day Sunrise

2007

Here are three photos from May Day 2007. Jack and I were in the second week of our 39 day cross country road trip and cruise to Alaska. On May 1'st 2007 we toured Antelope Island in the middle of the Great Salt Lake in Utah and watched the sunrise. We saw lots of water birds and antelope on our drive around Antelope Island.


This was a very memorable May Day for Jack and I.



Please click here to see other Skywatch Friday photos: http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Belated Happy April Birthday to Tom

Today is the last day of April 2009! It sure did fly by fast!

I must admit I failed to post a birthday greeting to my nephew Tom, the son of Carl and Esther y, who celebrated his 51'st birthday this past April. Tom also celebrated his 28'th wedding anniversary on April 4. Tom is married to Dorothy who is a nurse practitioner in Ohio.

In the above photo taken in the summer of 1968 Tom who was around ten is driving a lawn tractor. Now in the photo below taken in the fall of 2008 (forty years later!) Tom is on another tractor holding his grandson who was born in January of 2008. Tom loves to drive and he does a lot of it every day that Russia Local School is in session when he drives a school bus for the school. Tom is part of the custodial team for Russia Local School as well as a Russia, Ohio farmer.

Happy Belated BirthdayTo Tom

Grandson of Leo and Teresa

Son of Carl and Esther

Nephew of Joann

Waylon says " Don't Drop Me Grandpa! This tractor is tall and I'm a just a short little fella!"

Marissa and Andy at the Covington Prom

Marissaa and Andy

Covington Prom

April 25, 2009

Covington High School in Covington, Ohio held its prom last Saturday night at the St. Remy Community Center in Russia, Ohio. In the photo above is the daughter of my niece, Debra Gariety Wirrig of Bradford and Russia. Pictured with Marissa Wirrig who is a junior at Bradford Local High School is her prom date, Andy Sparks who is a senior at Covington High School. Don't they make a lovely couple. It reminds me of that old line from the Marty Robbins '50s song: "A white sport coat and a pink carnation I'm all dressed up for the dance." Marissa looks exactly like her mother Debra did at that age. She also looks a great deal like my oldest daughter Jennifer.

My World Tuesday = Last Bouquet of Spring Flowers

This was my last bouquet of spring flowers from the gardens around my house. For the past five days we have been experiencing temperatures in the 90's. Pretty amazing for April. The heat did in the early spring flowers but my irises and roses are starting to set buds now. The heat is also doing in Jack and I because our air conditioning went on the fritz as soon as the 90 degree temps arrived! Thank goodness the repairman will be at our door Tuesday morning. How did I survive without air conditioning when I was young? I don't know!

News Flash: The heat must be affecting my brain. I forgot that April 28 (today) is Dragonquilter's birthday. Happy, Happy Birthday Dickie, aka Dragonquilter. Folks if you go down my blog list, you can click on Dragonquilter's blog and leave her a happy birthday comment. Your reward will be seeing her glorious wisteria arbor that is sending heavenly scents across our neighborhood today. It is a shame that Smell a blog hasn't been invented yet. You would then have a real treat.

Have a good Tuesday everyone. Now go visit some other My World Tuesday blogs by clicking here: http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

One Question For Jack Aidan

Name five things you enjoyed doing while you were living at Grandma and Grandpa's house?

Listening to UTube videos on Grandpa's computer.
Listening to Johnny Cash songs on Grandma's blog.
Watching the birds at Grandpa's birdfeeders.
Strolling around Grandma's gardens.
Playing TBall in the basement. I can hit that white ball from one end of the basement to the other end. I'm in training to play for the Red Sox in 2027.

Three Questions For Jenn

You went to closing?
Yes!
You moved in all your household goods?
Yes!
You have everything unpacked?
No way! Ask me that question again on May 25'th.

So as Scarlett would say tomorrow is another day and I will worry about that tomorrow.

Skywatch Friday = Cherry Trees in Bloom

I shot these three photos around 7:00 P.M. Thursday night. These are some of the flowering cherry trees that line Piedmont Vista Drive in our Piedmont community. I just love how these big luscious pink blossoms look against our Virginia blue skies.

I think these trees were all planted in the early spring of 1999. Notice how thick the trunks are already.

The little bees were enjoying these pink blossoms too.

That's it folks. Happy TGIF! Now go visit some other Skywatch Friday memes by clicking here: http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Today On Oprah

Today on the Oprah Winfrey show she will be featuring people famous from the '90s and where are they now? Like Tanya Harding. Like Lorena Bobbitt. Lorena Bobbitt? Yes, you remember the Manassas lady that used a knife to remove a part of her husband's anatomy and then got in her car and drove down the road to Centerville, VA where she threw it out the car window. This happened around the third week of June of 1993.

It was one of those media moments where you remember exactly where you were and what you were doing when the news broke via radio or TV. I was driving down Old Keene Mill Road in Springfield, VA when I heard it on the radio. Wow, some interesting local news that kept getting more interesting. First, came the shock over what Lorena had done to her husband in the wee hours of the morning. Second, came the surprise that she was driving with you know what in her hand. Third, came the new surprise that she threw you know what out the window into a field near Centerville, VA. Fourth, came the new shock that police hunted in that field and found that husband's missing part. At this point I can distinctly remember that I almost drove off the road I was listening so intently to the news report.

When I finally arrived at my school the faculty which was 90 per cent female at the time had only one thing on their minds---this story. Luckily it was the very last day of school so the students were just coming in to pick up their report cards and to say goodby to everyone.

After school ended before midday our school faculty headed to Bennigans Restaurant at Springfield Mall to have our end of year faculty luncheon. Again, everyone was abuzz about Lorena Bobbitt and what she had done to her husband. Soon someone mentioned that they had seen it reported on all the major TV morning shows and that the news wires were abuzz with the story. Someone else mentioned that truth is often stranger than fiction and wasn't it a real play on words that the husband was called Mr. Bobbitt. How puny can you get with this story.We were all adding our two cents to the story when someone looked out the window and spotted one of newly inaugurated President Bill Clinton's cabinet members approaching our restaurant door. Sure enough in walks Robert E. Reich, President Clinton's Labor Secretary. At any other time we would have been thrilled to have seen a cabinet member in our midst but not today. Oh, forget Robert Reich. Let's just get back to discussing the antics of Lorena Bobbitt. And so we did just that.

Well today you can relive all the memories of this '90s news story along with some others if you take time to watch Oprah this afternoon. She is on at 4:00 P.M. in Haymarket, VA.

Final note: the follow up trial of Lorena Bobbitt in the city of Manassas was probably the most exciting event to hit Manassas since the first and second battles of Bull Run during the Civil War. Sleepy little Manassas had reporters from all over the world flocking to the courthouse to cover that trial.

Catch Him If You Can

Run, run, fast as you can.

You can't catch him.

He's the pancake man.

Run Grandpa run.

Catch your grandson Jack Aidan.

He's on the loose!

Grandma is just a sitting.

She's all done in like a cooked goose!

Our older daughter Jennifer sold her townhouse last week and moved into our house with son Jack Aidan and hubby Terry last Wednesday. For this past week this is what life has been like at our house. Running after the pancake man who starts his day around 5:30 A.M. Why do babies and preschoolers get up so early? And how come once they start elementary school you can't get them up in the morning?

In fact life has been in the far left fast lane ever since Jenn and Terry made the decision to move to a brand new home. The past six weeks have been a whirlwind of home staging, real estate marketing, rapid selling, packing up and moving out and moving into temporary quarters (the grandparents bed and breakfast) and deciding on needed items for the new home and chasing after the little pancake man. Why it has been so busy around here lately that I have missed doing once or twice my daily blog. Now that's bad.

And as Yogi Berra would say "It is not over, till it is over!"

So this Friday Jenn and Terry close on the new townhouse and the moving company that has been holding their household goods in storage for a week will be delivering all that stuff to their new townhouse. Meanwhile Grandma is trying unsuccessfully to get some much needed rest because come this Friday noon there will be unpacking to do that will probably take a week at least because the little pancake man sure has accumulated a ton of clothes and toys.

Why do young couples move to a bigger home? Because the baby has taken over every square inch of the existing place with clothes and toys and baby paraphernalia and Johnny Cash music.

Johnny Cash music? Yes, the pancake man has discovered the music of Johnny Cash. So at 5:30 A.M. you can find Grandpa playing Johnny Cash on our blog playlist. Check out the last three songs on the playlist. Pancake man loves Ring of Fire, Folsom Prison Blues and Get Rhythm. I'm getting a little tired of listening to Johnny Cash and wish that maybe he would take a liking to Brad Paisley like his first cousin Jack M. up on Cape Cod has done. And Jenn is wondering if an under two fella should be listening to Folsom Prison Blues.

But someday when Jack Aidan is a little older I'm going to have to tell him that I attended a Johnny Cash concert in 1969 that Johnny put on for the the servicemen and women on Okinawa. When Johnny stepped up to the mike and announced: "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash." I thought the roof was going to fly off the Kubasaki High School gym because the troops went wild!

Book Club Meeting For April

If you click on this link, you will go to my other blog PiedmontReaders where you will find the recent photos I posted of the April book club meeting of the PiedmontReaders: http://piedmontreaders.blogspot.com/
Enjoy.

My World Tuesday = Spring Walk in Park

Green Springs Park is in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County. The historic home with its 23 acres was given to the Fairfax County Park Authority by the former owners in their will. Sunday we had lovely weather so we went for a spring walk in this particular park. Carpet phlox was in bloom in the rock garden. This park which is free to all to use has a wonderful indoor garden center with a library with thousands of books and magazines that pertain to horticulture. There is even a room for groups to use for conferences and and an art gallery that has rotating displays of what else but art work with a horticultural theme.

Daffodils were in bloom in the newly mulched perennial beds. I liked the quaint mailbox in this bed. In the distance you can see the barns and workyards for this horticultural park.

This is the great lawn by the historic manor house. Sunday the house was open for touring and the great lawn was hosting a dog obedience show. There were little signs posted in the flower beds that said no dogs allowed in the flower beds.

This was an unusual tree that was beginning to send out light yellow leaves. I don't know what kind of tree it is. If you click on the photo, can you identify it for me?

The gardens in this park are just beginning to come to life after the winter cold. By June they should be in full glory.

Now please go visit more My World Tuesday memes by clicking here: http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Comparing Interstate 95 to Interstate 66

Jack and I live in a community just north of exit 40 of interstate 66 in Virginia. Look at all the daffodils in these two photos. Each spring it is a delight to head east on interstate 66 to see the large patches of daffodils that have been planted about every five miles apart. (Please click on each photo to get a good view of these daffodils in bloom.) In addition we have the beautiful purple redbud trees blooming now and the dogwood trees are just beginning to open their white and pink blossoms. By the way the dogwood tree is the state tree of the Commonwealth of Virginia.

Interstate 66 is so different from interstate 95 here in Virginia. First of all Interstate 66 is mainly a commuter interstate for folks living in the western suburbs of the D.C. metro area while Interstate 95 is both a commuter interstate and the main travel highway for folks heading south from Canada and New England and New York and New Jersey for all points south including Florida and back to all points north.

Now I'm going to tell you something that you might find hard to believe. Every day 900 semi tractor trailors leave New York City's buroughs for southern Virginia. What is in all these semi tractor trailors? Would you believe garbage. Yep, the Commonwealth of Virginia's main import is garbage! We import more garbage than any other state in the union. Where does this garbage end up? On vast tracts of farmland in southern Virginia that used to be tobacco land but is now large landfills.

So when you are driving south on Interstate 95 and you see a really old beat up semi with a New York license plate passing by your car you can bet that it is filled with garbage and on its way to a huge landfill in southern Virginia. If those 900 semi tractor trailors were off the road and on a train, think of how much easier it would be to travel on Interstate 95. Why does the state of Virginia allow this? I guess because there is very big money in garbage.

Final Comment For Today: If you want to see some beautiful daffodils click on Heirloom Gardner down on the right on My Blog List and you will enjoy a virtual trip to a daffodil festival in Summit, New Jersey.

Margaret's Baby Shower

My younger daughter Jeanine pictured here hosted a baby shower for one of her co-workers at the Coast Guard.

Here is the guest of honor Margaret opening one of her baby gifts. Did you know that they now make baby wipes with a warming device so the baby has a warm wipe on his/her tushie? What will they think of next. Some folks are old enough to still remember only cloth diapers that had to be rinsed and washed and folded for reuse!

By the way it has been determined that Margaret is having a little boy.

Presents, presents and more presents for Margaret and her baby.

Yours truly in blue getting to know Margaret's Swedish relatives and friends.

Someone came with a one year old little boy named Max who had the cutest smile. Looking up is Margaret's mother. Can you read her mind? Soon I will have a little grandson to hug and spoil rotten!

I think this was the best baby gift. Margaret's aunt in Idaho sent her a handmade blue cap that she had knitted. It was so very tiny! It fit perfectly on the stuffed brown monkey's head. I hope it fits the baby.

Good luck, Margaret!

And Jeanine, you did a fine job hosting the shower for Margaret at your apartment. Momma was very proud of your cooking, baking and decorating for the shower.

Skywatch Friday = Blooms and Leaves

Skywatch Friday = Blooms and Leaves

Our three flowering pear trees have lost their white blossoms but now have pretty spring green leaves. The tree in the foreground is a redbud tree in full bloom. Virginia has lots of native redbud trees along the roadsides in bloom. Route #15 and route #29 are two state routes that have lots of redbuds in bloom right now.

After three rainy April days it is nice to see the blue skies once more. Friday afternoon we should reach 75 degrees! Yipee!

Now go visit some other Skywatch Friday memes by clicking here: http://skyley.blogspot.com/

April 15 and On The Run

It is April 15 and Jack and I are on the run today but we are not running around in this cute car that we saw at the local shopping center. But we are on the run today because:

#1

Our daughter is moving out of her place and into our house
till she moves into her brand new townhouse near us.

#2

There is a NARFE meeting. Here's to federal retirees!

#3

It is Tax Day and I have no sympathy for the folks who don't
want to pay taxes. You tea bag protesters, stop driving on our
public roads, stop using fire and rescue, stop going to all
our beautiful parks and libraries and public universities.
And don't say you are patriotic when you don't want taxes to
support our hard working and long suffering soldiers and
disabled veterans. Just go live in a cave like it is still 1776.

#4

It is our wedding anniversary. Jack and I tied the knot 35
years ago today on Tax Day. It has been quite a ride ever
since. If I could, I would go for a little spin down lovers
lane with Jack in that cute buggy pictured above in the photo.
We can dream can't we?

Joann's slogan for April 15:
GIVE ME LIBERTY AND GIVE ME MY TAX BILL. I WILL GLADLY PAY FOR THE RIGHT TO LIVE IN THE USA.

My World Tuesday = Book Club Book Review

My World Tuesday = Book Club Book Review

Last Friday the PeidmontReaders gathered at Bev's house to discuss the book pictured above alongside a glass pie plate of potatoes and potato peels. This was a great book read. If you would like more info on this book, you can go to my other blog, PiedmontReaders: http://piedmontreaders.blogspot.com/

And don't forget to go visit other My World Tuesday memes by clicking here: http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Once Upon A Time......

Once Upon A Time Part 2

Once upon a time in the Commonwealth of Virginia there were these bunnies living on Sudley Road in Manassas, Virginia. The littlest bunny was called Precious because she was so precious and cute. One day Jack and Joann drove to Sudley Road to see the white bikes. When Joann got out of the car to take photos of all these white bikes she pulled her camera out of her purse and in doing so dropped her business card with her blogspot address. Well, little Precious found that business card and learned that there was something in the world called the internet. She talked her father Peter Rabbit into getting a computer for their bunny hole so she could find out what the internet was all about.

Precious soon discovered what fun the internet could be. Why she learned that she could visit Joann's blog and from there travel to different blogs like Old Man Lincoln's Bird Blog and Fishing Guy's Critter Page. With just a flick of the wrist she could visit Wanda in California and Linda in Washington and June in Michigan. And Precious soon learned that she could learn a million things by surfing the web or by doing a little bunny search. She discovered that there were Bunny Hops in the '50's and that DJ's would play Pat Boone's April Love for the dancers. Precious also learned that dancing kept changing. Bunny Hops became Sock Hops and then Twisters and then Disco Mania Events with John Travolta wannabees. Why there was even something called Hip Hop and something else called Break Dancing.

Precious loved the internet but she wanted faster service so she talked Peter Rabbit into getting her a notebook computer that she could use at Panera Bread and Starbucks. Boy that sure was fun. Then Precious told her Momma Patty that she needed her very own Blackberry as well her very own I-Pod. Then one day when Father Peter Rabbit wanted go for a bike ride with Precious, Precious told him she didn't have time to pedal her bike because she had so much surfing and text messaging to do on her Blackberry. Could Father Peter Rabbit put her bike in his bike basket and she could ride along and text message her friends at the same time. And so that's what happened. (See second photo above where Patty Rabbit is getting ready to help Peter put Precious on the little bike in Peter's basket.)

And then one day when Momma Patty Rabbit asked Precious if she wanted to hop next door and nibble some fresh sweet organic grass, Precious said no to Momma. Why Momma I can have artificial dyed Easter grass delivered prepackaged to our house by accessing a site on the web. Soon Precious was spending 24 hours a day on her Blackberry and eating all that artificial grass. Then one day Poppa Peter Rabbit and Momma Patty Rabbit took a good hard look at Precious and discovered that she was no longer precious and cute. She was pretty peaked looking. In fact, she was downright Phat with a capital P! Why right under their bunny noses Precious had put on 30 pounds! She was absolutely obese. Then the very unfortunate day came when Precious could not even fit her bunny body on her little white bike that was in Poppa Peter's bike basket.

And the very last straw came the day Precious demanded that Peter and Patty Rabbit sign up for FIOS so that she could have even faster internet service. So Peter biked on down to the Manassas City Hospital on Sudley Road and talked to the nutrition and exercise department about Precious's weight gain. When Peter got home he told Patty that he learned they would have to give Precious some hard love. No more internet. No more web searching and blog browsing. No more prepacked artificial Easter grass for Precious to consume while surfing the web. There could be no more riding on the little bike in the basket on the big white bike because she couldn't get her Phat bunny frame in that basket. Precious was going to have to hop off the computer and go outside and get lots of fresh air and exercise as well as find her very own organic grass from the lawns for munching. And Peter told Patty that they were not the only parents with an overweight child. He said he learned thru the hospital nutritionist that 25% of four year olds in the U.S. were obese and likely to become diabetic. What a shame. What a shame.

Precious didn't like exercising and hopping around yards to get her own Easter grass to eat but she didn't like being the Phatest little bunny on the block either. She had really liked being precious and cute so she agreed to sign up to be on that new reality show called The Biggest Loser Bunny.

That was a great decision for Precious. She got the encouragement and training that she needed and she worked her little bunny tail off. Soon she was the winner of the show and on to another reality show called The Bachelor where she met the cutest fellow named T. Boone Pickens, The Third. Precious now lives in Dallas, Texas on the same cul de sac where both T. Boone Pickens, The First and former President George W. Bush reside. Precious has become a respected hospital nutritionist and is helping Laura Bush plan healthy homemade retirement meals for her husband George. Meanwhile back in Manassas, Virginia each year all the Easter Bunnies on Sudley Road have an Easter Parade where they walk their white bikes along Sudley Road. That's what you see in the top photo: The Easter Parade Walk.

The End

I want to thank Fishing Guy at That Is My Blog for leaving a suggestion for the middle and end of my bunny story about Precious. Thanks FG!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy Easter everyone! Here are more scenes of our favorite white bike display on Sudley Road in Manassas. Those bunnies are so cute. I got out of the car and walked up to the display to see how it was created.

There are up lights along the bike display so we will try to catch it after dark to see how it looks then. Sure would be fun to meet the owners of this display. I wonder if anyone has told them that they are on my blog and folks around the world are now enjoying their Easter Parade of bunnies and white bikes. I wonder why all the bikes are white. What would be the significance of that?

Here's a small bike for a small child, er I mean small bunny..

And here's a momma bunny with her big bike sporting a teeny tiny bike in the bike basket. Can't you just picture baby bunny riding in the basket. What a total hoot!

Closeup of the baby bunny bike in the bike basket.

Things like this are really creative.

Someone should write a little Easter Story about this bunny parade in Manassas. I think a book like this would be a big hit in kindergarten classes. Maybe I need to write it. Let's see. How shall I start this story. Well, of course, with once upon a time in the Commonwealth of Virginia...

Once upon a time in the Commonwealth of Virginia there were these bunnies living on Sudley Road in Manassas, Virginia. The littlest bunny was called Precious because she was so precious and cute. Her Momma was Patty Rabbit and she was married to that dapper male bunny named Peter Rabbit. This family belonged to the Sudley Road clan of Easter Bunnies who discovered that a parade of white bikes was just the thing for their Easter Parade and for an evening spring dance called the Bunny Hop. The only problem was that Precious didn't know how to do the Bunny Hop. Peter and Patty had been so busy riding those white bikes all around Manassas that they didn't take time to teach Precious how to do the Bunny Hop.

Well, that's the beginning. How should the middle and ending go? Anybody got some ideas? Help me write this bunny story by leaving a comment/suggestion here.

Skywatch Friday = White Bikes

Skywatch Friday = White Bikes of Manassas

In An Easter Parade

The other week I wrote about the homeowner who has a year around display of white bikes in his front yard. Well, Easter is here and the white bikes are now sporting Easter Bunnies. Some are Peters and have pink ties and some are Patties and have pink gauze dresses. They all are adorable. The pink saucer magnolia trees are real but the flowers on the ground are artificial. Take an upclose look below. Here are some Peter Rabbits.Here is a Patty Rabbit. Isn't she breathtaking!

Now Go Visit Some Other Skywatch Friday Blog Memes by Clicking Here: http://skyley.blogspot.com/

My World Tuesday = The Big Game

The Michigan State Spartans couldn't stop the Tarheels of North Carolina last night. As Magic Johnson said at half time for Michigan State to win they would have to play a perfect game and by the end of the first quarter their game was far from perfect. So that's that for another year. I had hoped Michigan State would win just to give the whole state of Michigan a boost in this economic down turn but I knew that it was highly unlikely from the start. The ACC is the premier basketball division. So let the celebrating begin in North Carolina. And to those folks who question Obama's decisions this is an example of a very wise choice. Do you imagine Obama will have a pick up game at the White House with the Tar Heels?

Final thought on the Tar Heels---do you know what the name Tar Heel means in connection with the state of North Carolina? From colonial times North Carolina has had lots of pine trees and these pine tree were cut and burned to produce tar, pitch and turpentine. This used to be a derisive term meaning someone who stepped in tar and had tar on their heels. Then during the Civil War or War of Northern Aggression (take your pick) the term Tar Heel became a rally cry for the rebels of North Carolina. So I guess we could say that last night we saw the south rise again to defeat the north. So that is that.

And in the meantime we can plan for the Frozen Four. What's that? You haven't heard of the Frozen Four? Well, I hadn't either but I do believe my alma mater, Miami University of Ohio, is heading to the Frozen Four in ice hockey.

Now go visit some other My World Tuesday blog memes by clicking here:http://showyourworld.blogspot.com/

Jeanine Is A Good Listener

Today is Palm Sunday so at mass we listened to the Gospel of the Passion and Death of Jesus according to Mark. This reminded me of my daughter Jeanine and something that happened on Palm Sunday when she was barely three years old. We were standing for the reading of the gospel at St. Mary's Catholic Church in Fairfax and the various readers were making their way thru this long, long gospel. Jack was holding Jeanine in his arms and Jennifer standing next to me. When the reader came to the part of the gospel where one of the high priests sent to arrest Jesus along with Judas reacted by cutting off the ear of one of the men. Jeanine screamed with all her might and in her loudest three year old voice exclaimed for the whole congregation to hear: "He cut off his ear!" I even think that the priest at the alter heard her make this protest.

This led to two quick reactions. First, anyone who had been half asleep while the gospel was being read was now wide awake. Second, the indignation of this little three year old to the ear lopping turned into muffled giggles that grew louder and louder. Jack and I were between a rock and a hard place. We too were awaken from our gospel reading stupor and we too had a bad case of the giggles. When mass was finally over I whispered to Jack that at least she is listening and paying attention in church.

This also reminds me of another time Jeanine was listening hard to what was going on around her. We had gone in to the Children's Museum in D.C. one Sunday when they were putting on a little show for the kids that included both a protagonist and the antagonist. I don't remember the name of the play or the characters but I do remember that Jeanine who was just two at the time was listening to the bad guy talk and she wouldn't have any of it. She kept yelling at the top of her voice: "You bad, bad man! Bad man. Bad man." Jack moved to the back of the room but Jeanine continued the good verbal fight with the bad guy. So much so that Jack soon had to remove Jeanine from the performance. Jennifer and I stayed to watch the ending but all I can remember now is that Jeanine was giving it to that bad guy. The moral of this story: don't mess with Jeanine.

Skywatch Friday = Anticipation

Skywatch Friday = Anticipation

April Showers Will Bring May and June Flowers

Photo Above Is How My Arbor and Swing Look On This Rainy and Foggy Friday Morning.

Photo Below Is How My Arbor and Swing Looked Last June With Everything In Full Bloom. Little Jack and Jennifer Enjoyed Last Year's Floral Display. This Year We Need To Keep A Watchful Eye On Little Jack Since He Is Running All Over The Place.

Hope You Too Are Filled With Spring Anticipation. Unless You Live Down Under And Our Anticipating Fall And Winter.

Now Go Visit Other Skywatch Friday Memes By Clicking Here:http://skyley.blogspot.com/

Pics From The Past

Here are some pics from the past. Winter and spring sports teams at Russia Local High School. In the first photo the basketball team is proudly sitting behind the basketball trophy they won in the 1950-1951 season county basketball tournament. You can't gather from this photo how close to the school walls the basketball court was in that old gymnasium. I think it was just little over a foot from the court to the wall.


My brother Harold is sitting in the first row on the far right----#6. I remember that these guys spent a lot of time on our farm up in the hay mow above the milking parlor. Why? Because my Dad did the 1950 farm version of setting up an area for hoops play. Dad had oak flooring of all things installed in the hay mow, lights installed and a hoop set up so that the guys could play. I can still remember lots of cars lining our circle driveway on a Sunday afternoon and the hay bales being moved aside in the hayloft for a pick up basketball game. I guess the playing paid off for they won the county championship that year even though Russia was the smallest high school in the county. About 12 students in my brother's graduating class. I can't get over how short and snug the boys basketball shorts were back then compared to today. Today those big baggy shorts reach their kneecaps.

This is the Russia Local Basketball Team posing for their spring photo circa 1950-1951. This time my brother is the second one from the right sitting between Kenny Monnin and little Billy Groff. My brother was the team pitcher on the team. He used to practice all the time at home while we were milking the cows. I'm afraid to say that he used our bull as target practice with small stones from our gravel driveway. PETA would have been on Harold's case back then if they existed back then. All I can say is that this practice fired up our bull and made him extra mean. I stayed away from that bull! Some of the same fellas played on the baseball team as the basketball team. I think the coach might have been a Mr. Kavanaugh. Harold set up our big back yard (half acre or more) between the milk house and the woods as the baseball playing field. He created a visual infield by mowing that part of the lawn an inch shorter than the rest of the yard so the infield was a long oval with my brother pitching from the sandbag mound in the center. Stray balls would either bounce off the chicken coup to the right or land in the grassy lane leading to the woods. If someone hit a long one, it might actually land in the woods which insured a home run because you had to climb the fence to get to the woods. My dad encourged Harold's sports talents but he didn't baby him. No car to drive to school and to drive back home after sports practice or a game. Instead Harold had to do a quick walk home from Russia thru Floyd Monnin's farm to eat a quick supper and be ready to assist in milking all the cows at 5:00 P.M. sharp. After the war my Dad made good money milking cows. I wonder if milking is still as profitable today. At any rate I thought you just might enjoy these old sports photos from the fifties. And my how time flies! All these guys if they are still alive would be in their late seventies for sure.