Looks like our traditional 2nd week of September vacation(this year was going to be Carolina Beach)just got put on hold.

Jack came by yesterday to tell me they plan on starting his chemo and radiation therapy next week. Five days a week for the next six weeks.

The doctor said it would probably be another six to eight weeks after that til he will be back to the strength and recovery level that he is at now!!

So with any luck, it may be October before he will be able to come in,in some sort of limited fashion.

Going to be a long summer!

Maybe we could do Thanksgiving in Atlantic City?

Maybe.

Our neighbor,Tootie, asked Karen if she would like to have these two wicker rocking chairs for the porch last weekend. She said she had them setting beside her pool for a couple of years and wanted to replace them with some resin loungers.

I think with a little work and a fresh coat of paint, these two are keepers.

Hmmmm. Kinda wishin' I hadn't taken these pictures now. Looks like I'm gonna have to get off my Butt and get the porch sanded down and painted too!

Groannnnnn!!! Does it never end?????lol

Happy Birthday curlytopchick1973

9:30 this evening will mark the 37th Anniversary of the night Karen and I first met. And it has been 37 wonderful years!

They weren't all good years, they weren't all happy years, but that didn't matter. We were together through them all.

We started our life together with nothing but each other, and if we end up with nothing but each other, that will be all right too!

Then

And Now.

Happy Anniversary, Darling!

After a grey drizzely start, last Sunday slowly evolved into a stunningly gorgeous spring day along the old river.

74 degrees, a light breeze, and beautiful azure skies!!

Seemed like the perfect day for the first Beer Can Chicken of the year!!!

Decided to do this one on the "new" grill (we've had it for three years, but I prefer to use the old red Char Broil instead) and in spite of taking a half hour longer, came out super crisp, juicy, tender, and the flavor was just WOW!!

Awesome

A very important person stopped by to visit for a couple of hours at work Friday afternoon !!

Jackson Baldwin

It's been 3 1/2 weeks since the 18 hour surgical ordeal Jack went through, and he is recovering much faster than the doctors expected!!

The 1st surgery that day was to remove a cancerous tumor in his right lower jawbone, part of his soft palate, and sinus cavity.

The 2nd was to remove the tibia in his right leg and use that to rebuild his jaw and facial structure.

He has a cast on his leg and is walking without the aid of a cane or crutches! Still has a feeding tube in and is restricted to a semi-liquid diet until the transplanted bone heals a bit longer. Told me he managed to get half of a beer down Thursday night and was bound and determined to drink a whole one tonight! haha

I think what bothers him most right now is the way his speech was affected, but he is talking much better now than he was when I spoke to him in the hospital 3 days after the operation.

This week he will probably be coming in for a little while every day to slowly work up to putting in 4 or 5 hours at his desk.

It's going to be nice having him around again.

(Message I received from Natalia) ..........          we're working on giving you a more accurate way to measure true status. and, to be honest, my numbers went down too! if you'd like to know how close you are at any time, let me know and i'll look it up.

(My reply to Natalia).......      I appreciate your quick response,Natalia. But I see a lot of people on here who were within 15 or 20 points of earning their True badges that are pretty hurt and upset by these changes. You should not be taking points away from members that were rightfully earned under the criteria established at the time they were earned. If you are going to apply these new standards to not yet True members accounts retroactively, you also need to apply them to True members accounts and remove their badges if they would not have earned them under your new guidelines for measuring status, whatever those may be.
I myself was at 86% and now you show me at 62%, thats a big cut. What do we not yet True members have to look forward to now? Should I keep this account and post more and more often and eventually work myself up to the point that I am at 96 or 97%, at which point the Xangateam can decide to arbitrarily change the way they measure status and drop me back down to 40 or 50%?? I think not.
Right is right and fair is fair Natalia. Put our accounts back to the the percentages they were at and apply the new status measurements from that point. Lets be real here, everyone that has a True badge today earned them under "your" old status measuring standards and many would not have them if you applied the new rules to their accounts.

Thank you, Harold

Saadia Ali Aschemann has chosen me as her featured Reader of the Month. I am honored indeed.

Saadias first book, lavish lines/luscious lies, is available online at Amazon.com.

Her second work, although she wouldn't call it work, WORDS GONE WILD, will be published this fall.

If you are not familiar with her poetry, stop by her sitehttp://www.xanga.com/SaadiaOnline, get comfortable, and spend a little time. I know you will not be disappointed.

This picture was given to my wife by a friend a while back. It's an actual print so the quality is not digital, but I've always liked the colors in it. Plus, I love electrical storms!

It was taken about a block downriver from our home, and is of the Ironton/Russell bridge. Have always had a passion for electrical storms, but then, I've never been struck by lightning! Feelings might change at that point!!

I think the first thing I'll do when I get home tonight is yank my wife's panties off.

Damn things are just too tight !! I haven't been able to bend over or sit down all day !! Don't know what the HELL I was thinkin' when I put 'em on this morning!!!