Happy Holidays!

I can hear that old Irving Berlin song echoing around inside my empty head...from "Holiday Inn" for those who don't know it.

Dillon's turkey is something he and Grandma made when the three kids were here last weekend; they each cut, glued picked out their own feathers.

Thanksgiving was wonderful, as was gathering the clan again the next afternoon to go see "Happy Feet". Grandpa started something a few years ago when he bought a round of tickets for everyone to go see "Polar Express" the day after Thanksgiving; even though we are a few less this year, it was still great fun!

Also fun was keeping Dillon overnight that night by himself, as he and I had picked up a few models for his first projects several months ago, but those are hard to do when others are around. So that night we put together a "monster truck" and an F4U-Corsair...photos later (if I'm lucky)!

John and Noel have discussed putting in a dishwasher over the years; this year they decided they wanted that for part of their Christmas and birthdays, so I spent Saturday working on that and hauling sheetrock for them as they are insulating and re-rocking the older grandchildren's rooms.

Sunday I hauled sheetrock for the next room and then tried to do our shopping for the week, finishing just in time to get home and fix dinner for us as Dottie got out of the shower after work. A bit of TV, and my four day weekend was gone!

So now it's back to that 6 days in a row thing for two more weeks...my mind says ouch but my wallet is smiling, lol!

Missed you all, hope things are great; I'll be trying to catch up for the next few days, though Dottie is off tomorrow and we're talking about trying to go pick up our tree!

I feel guilty every year when we do that, especially with my Grandma's artificial downstairs, but Dottie loves the smell and it reminds her of home, so I try not to think about it. If I had more yard I'd buy ones I could plant after...maybe someday!

alan

It's really hard...

to go back to work after 3 days off, especially when you know your spouse is still at home!

We managed to get some things done, made it to a couple of movies, then we spent Monday driving around Hillsdale Reservoir, a place we fished a lot before my last truck died. New ramps, lots of new campgrounds, and a new marina with a floating heated dock (maybe a place to take the grandkids fishing after the holidays) that also sells bait and tackle and has a sandwich shop, etc.. The roads that were almost all gravel are now mostly paved; houses are going up at all around it now. We had looked at a place there 15 years ago that had 25 acres and 5 ponds on it; it's been broken up for a subdivision now and only one pond is on the property now. Had I been smart enough to buy it, breaking it up would have paid it off!

At the time though, I was going into the last long layoff I had from GM, before I had enough seniority to stay when they go to one shift. (Before I had 15 years in I was laid off as much as I worked.) The hour drive each way on a dry day would get awfully long in winter weather as well, not to mention the vehicles I'd have worn out doing it, so all in all it's probably good we stayed here. 7 or 8 minutes to work has a lot to be said for it!

"A Good Year" was awfully good (my kind of movie). "Stranger Than Fiction" was good as well, though a bit disturbing as well.

Monday after we got home we went out and rented "Click" and "Fast and Furious: Tokyo Drift", and enjoyed them both. Somehow the sacriege of dropping a Nissan motor in a classic Mustang disturbed me, but in the "making of" stuff you could see the Ford script on the valve covers and the big 4 barrel on top of the Ford V-8 in the car they said was "the hero car".

The real treat was the surprise at the end of the movie...

:o)

I'm going to try and catch up with you all before the weekend; Dottie's off both days, I work Saturday again, so it's one of those one day weekends for me. Her birthday is next Monday, so I have a vacation day that day. She's taking her last 3 vacation days and between her weekend off, Thanksgiving Day holiday, and her normal Friday off, she gets 7 off in a row. Needless to say if I get here it will be just for a few minutes, lol!

I hope life is treating you all wonderfully!

alan

Sunday evening...

Where my wife works you aren't allowed to take vacation during "the holidays" so she took the days she had left for Saturday, Sunday and Monday, between her normal Friday and Tuesday off. I get Monday for Veteran's Day from GM. so she has 5 off and I am in the middle of 3.

Sorry I haven't been to visit you all, but we have been enjoying some of our time and tryihg to get some things done while we're both off as well. I'll explain more later...

Hope you are all having lovely weekends!


alan

The exodus from Washington!

No, not really...not until January, anyway! But in the spirit of the coming holiday...lol!

When we came off one of the dirt roads and back onto pavement last Tuesday, I heard something scratching in the leaves. I stopped the truck, and on Dottie's side we saw these wild turkeys. I'm pretty sure when this park was built in 1938 there weren't any wild turkeys left in Kansas; I don't remember ever seeing one as a kid. Their repopulation started in the last 25 years, and seeing them further out "in the country" isn't unusual anymore, but finding them here was a real treat!

Hope you are each having a good week!

alan

Photo Sunday escaped 'til Monday!

Last Tuesday before the frivolity we took a ride around our closest lake; having a truck now we revisted some gravel roads I haven't been on since my boys were little.

The color is a bit past peak, but the worrisome thing is that this was Oct.31st and the trees still have so many leaves; the color has turned even more to rust now, but not many more have dropped...if we get any kind of an ice storm, it's going to be a major problem, and we're getting to that time of year!








I worked yesterday; this morning I rolled out at 9, cooked breakfast and we made it to see "The Prestige" at 10:40. From there, we worked on filling Santa's sleigh, since we don't get too many shopping days together, and now have the sleigh about 3/4 full.

Tonight we cleared 5 hours of "Supernatural" we were behind on, along with me fixing dinner and running laundry, then after Dottie went to bed I caught up with "Battlestar Galactica" from Friday night since she had watched it with Bill and Laura. I also watched "30 Rock" since she doesn't care much for that one...

Now the clock is ticking towards 3 and I should really crawl into bed!

I'm off Tuesday and she took a vacation day, so after we vote I'm thinking about trying to talk her into going to "Keeping Mum". So far I've only told her Maggie Smith is in it...I should mention Swayze as she loves him; if I mention Rowan Atkinson I'll be lucky to get to rent it on video, lol!

I have my fingers crossed for Tuesday, but not enough courage to hold my breathe...

alan

A "Toy Story" kind of day...

I had planned to post this before work on Wednesday, but went Christmas shopping instead...so before another day slips away:



John is wearing a pair of my old bibs from 2 years ago with a pillow to fill them out...I think seeing how big I really was (he was afraid to drive because his stomach was in the way) may have given him more motivation to watch his own weight than anything anyone might ever say!

:o)

4AM, off to bed...thinking of you all!

alan

Happy Halloween!

A few weeks ago all 3 grandkids spent the night, and Grandma wanted to make a scarecrow with them. A good time was had by all, though I got in a bit of trouble when I came home at 2AM (kids long since in bed, of course) as she was putting the finishing touches on him and pointed out he looked a bit like he might have been at Roswell!

alan

Blogger and it's snits...

I wrote a Saturday post, but Blogger wouldn't let me upload it and I didn't have hours to keep trying as it was a work day again...if you'll forgive me I'm going to drop it in here:

Ssturday!

For some reason I keep "hearing" an old "Chicago" tune rattling inside my empty head, but with the sun out, errands to run, my truck to wash, and work to go to, I don't think I'll be taking their suggestion today!

Tomorrow Bill and Laura are coming from Lawrence so we can change the oil in their Neon, put on the Blizzaks that I had bought for Dottie's Neon before we traded it for the Malibu and some winter blades, then I have some steaks to go on the grill and a couple of pounds of mushrooms to fry in time for Dottie to come home. My plan is to have her Malibu washed and waxed before 2 when the kids arrive. We have a 60 degree day today, and a couple of 70's tomorrow and Monday, so trying to make use of them, especially after all the cold and rain this last week!

I'm almost afraid to say anything about the national political scene for fear I'll jinx things for next week...

But I can't help wondering what happens if you waterboard a guy with a pacemaker, since that's obviously not torture?

alan

____________________________________________

Now it's Sunday morning; thanks to the time change I got a bit over 9 hours sleep and am waiting for the kettle to boil to make some oatmeal and a latte.

Bonnie Raitt was on Prarie Home Companion last night; at one point she was telling Garrison how nice it was to have someplace on the radio to find some sanity once a week, that she and her band always listen while they're on the road. She said that at least at Halloween there's an excuse for "scary", unlike the rest of the time as of late (me paraphrasing)!

That thought has been stuck in my head ever since...

Have a wonderful Sunday, each of you!

alan

Rinse, Repeat...

Started the next "cycle"...it would be 17 of 19 again, but I have Halloween off, and we get election day as a negotiated holiday. Worked an hour over last night sweeping...I know better, but too greedy for my own good (truck payments, car payments, Christmas is coming, a half dozen birthdays...)!

Mitch's birthday on Saturday was fun.

My sister's younger son Jordan, with my grandaugher Talia and my youngest grandson...



Caleb a few minutes later, lol...



This is Dillon, looking quite grown up for 7...



and of course, my brother-in-law Mitch being served his cake and ice cream by Miss Talia...



Next time I go back to the Nikon and the overhead bracket to get rid of redeye, these were all shot with the little Fuji and unretouched.

Sunday we made the 10:30AM show of "Flags of Our Fathers". Someday this will be ranked above "Saving Private Ryan" in the list of great WW2 movies. Knowing Eastwood shot a 2nd movie from the other "side" of things that won't come out until spring, I'm curious to see it as well.

If I am smart enough to leave when the line stops tonight, I'll be making the rounds this evening...hope I'm forgiven for not getting everywhere everyday at this point!

alan

I ran across this a couple of nights ago...

Maybe it's just me, but I thought it was pretty funny! (click the link above.) I don't know why it won't set up like a regular YouTube video, but this is the best I could do...

Hope someone else gets a weekend grin from it!

I've worked 17 of the last 19 days; finally I get two off in a row. Tomorrow is my brother-in-law's birthday party, delayed from the end of September due to scheduling conflicts. Sunday is hopefully "Flags of Our Fathers" early, shop our way home, then catch up with "Battlestar Galactica", "Supernatural" and some other things we haven't seen each other long enough to sit down and watch!

Lovely weekends to each of you!

alan

Wednesday, 4:10AM...

and I've been bloghopping for a bit over an hour...still need to put tapes in the VCR's for tonight, clock is set for 11:30AM...to much life and not enough hours!

Sunday was a blur of laundry and other chores...looking forward to a two day weekend this week!

"The world is still the same, you'll never change it"...(from a song most of you are too young to remember).

Korea and Iran whipsawing W. and his cohorts while Iraq descends further into chaos and more of our children die each day. More politicians with their hands in our pockets...more appointees under investigation, pleading guilty, going to jail...

and then on the way home tonight I heard that Ken Lay's conviction was thrown out!

I'm not surprised...disgusted, but not surprised!

Sometimes I think a whole lot of villages must have decided to exile their idiots...

to Washington!

alan

Saturday...(does it count if I have to work?)

Dottie was off yesterday; I managed to get up and we made it to an early show of "Man of the Year". I NEEDED THAT!

I don't care how many stars they're giving it, it's a good movie...not only things that need to be said, but some heart to it as well!

We shopped our way home (Sam's, Costco, Wal-Mart) then I went to work; slept later than I should have this morning (it's afternoon, lol) and I'm off to run a few errands before work.

The best thing about working Saturday (besides the paycheck) is cranking up "Prarie Home Companion" on my radio at 5pm! Things always brighten when I hear Garrison Keillor!

Hope you are all having wonderful Saturdays...

alan

Catching up...

Sunday, besides some time with the grandchildren until they left for church, I had planned on making it to the 2nd movie we had planned for the week before, washing and waxing Dottie's Malibu, cooking dinner, and watching some TV.

She picks on me a lot about how many hours I think are in a day...

We went and saw "The Illusionist" last week; I had also planned on getting to "The Guardian", but we didn't make. We did finally get there Sunday afternoon, though it wasn't the 10:30 AM show I had planned on. Good movie...I can see why it's holding it's numbers on the IMDB!

Washing her Malibu got put off; we stopped and picked up new tailights for the utility trailer my Dad had built, as I couldn't get the old ones to cooperate, and I came home and replaced them and got the front mudflaps on my truck just before dark as she started dinner.

Monday I ran some errands then came home and washed the truck and got a second coat of wax on it, looking towards the winter weather that's on it's way and knowing they like to put a lot more salt down here than sand so they don't have to clean it out of the storm sewers.

That reflections shot from yesterday was in the roof of the truck after I rubbed the wax off...

When I was done with the rest of it, it looked something like this:





Those two were shot with the Nikon, which seems to be fine after it's trip back to them to have the CCD replaced for free. The "Reflections" was shot with a new Fuji A350 I bought Monday while running those "errands"; 5.2 megapixel, for $90, the size of a cigarette pack. I had been looking for something that would fit in a pocket or Dottie's purse for times when I didn't want to carry the Nikon and lenses; something cheap enough if it fell in a lake, or something happened I wouldn't be distraught like I would if I lost the Nikon. It seems to work well...

My original plan for Tuesday was to wash and wax her Malibu, but it was already raining by the time I got up, so I rewired a pull switch in the ceiling fan in our bedroom; much easier when you don't have Frankie carrying off the wire "nuts", the pull chain, trying to play with the light bulbs...

Then I vacuumed out our main furnace (there are 3 in the house and one in the garage) and lit it off, as the predictions for Wednesday night range from 31 to 39. By the time I got those done, it was time for work again...

Now it's a bit past 4, and my eyes crossed about 10 minutes ago. Goodnight all! Happy Humpday to those of you who aren't working this weekend!

alan

Reflections on an Autumn Sky

via Silverado...

alan

Late Friday afternoon...

just in from "the rounds" (bank, GNC, Wal-Mart Neighborhood Market, Sam's Club and Costco). It's 3:30, I've got a half hour to unload and put everything away, eat, pack my cooler and be out the door...

Caleb is spending the night tonight with Grandma, Dottie's off this weekend, and I work tomorrow night. The other two grandkids will be here tomorrow afternoon so their Mom and Dad can go to a wedding...

So I won't be around much 'til Sunday evening late!

:o)

Thinking of you all, wishing you lovely weekends!

alan

Wednesday...not quite "hump day"...

for me, anyway; this is the first of two back-to-back 6 day weeks. It wasn't supposed to be, but it seems they want every Saturn we can build between now and New Years, so they switched some days and put these together to get another day's production.

In February we are supposed to put in requests for most of our vacation days so they can allot manpower; figuring out Dottie's weekend schedule against our Saturday schedule, I plotted out a lot of her Tuesdays off on weeks I would be working on her Saturday off that way we see each other on occasion. Yesterday was one of those, my next is Halloween. That will be my first Halloween off since my grandkids got to start "Trick or Treating", and I'm looking forward to it much, though I kind of wish I had next Tuesday in addition...

I had planned on doing two movies yesterday, but we slept an hour later than I had planned on, then had some "us" time (grin). Back in May we had some hail damage repaired on our Malibu, and the "ditch moldings" they had replaced on the roof were coming loose, so I swung by the Chevy dealer to see about having them replaced. They asked if I had a 1/2 hour, and we said "sure" so they did them right then!

While we waited we went down to the "Parts" department to see about some odds and ends for our new truck. I had bought a "bowtie" (Chevy emblem) cover for the receiver hitch that matched the one in the grill the day the hitch was put on; last Sunday while I was in Wal-Mart for about 20 minutes someone stole it. They actually pulled the retainer clip and pin from the hitch, took the emblem, and put the pin and clip back!

$20, it pissed me off some as I'm still paying interest on it, but made me think that perhaps I should worry about my spare tire, as being a "plain Jane" my truck didn't come with the tire lock as standard equipment. Having to replace a $200 wheel and $150 tire would really wind me up, especially when I need it and it's not there!

So I asked about it at the parts counter, and they had the lock in stock, keyed it to match our ignition key, and told me how to put it in. They also gave me 10% off since I'm a GM employee.

While we were there we picked up a set of mudflaps that fit without drilling. Whenever Dad and I fished the powerplant lake an hour south of here, the gravel entrance road would stone the amber running light off the boat trailer, so I figured it was easier to put those on one time than replace the lenses every time we fish there, lol!

After that there wasn't time to do two movies, and "The Guardian" will be around for a while (Sunday morning is looking good right now for us) so my art house movie "won" the afternoon.

"The Illusionist" starts a bit slow, but is a great movie! The snowball that starts so small picks up momentum until it finally ends up in a brilliant conclusion! Holding at 7.7 on the IMDB with almost 5200 votes in means this isn't just me prattling on...it's really a good movie!

For those of you who have a weekend and a chance, it's well worth your time!

alan

Grrrrrrrrr...

Went to bed at 1...woke up at 3 and couldn't get back to sleep. Finally at 4:15 I gave up and came in here to blog-hop for a bit...

Worked 11 hours last night. A long time in the saddle...especially when you consider that 2/3 of it is driving backwards, lol! Home at 4:30, to bed at 5, tried to get up at noon, but after I talked to Dottie I laid on the bed while watching the Weather Channel and waiting for the local forecast; next thing I knew it was 3 something!

When Dottie was still driving the white Chrysler everyday and I had an old AMC around for the boys to drive, I was driving a $400 Dodge pickup for a couple of years. It was a slant-six, running on five when I bought it, and after 2 years it dropped another cylinder. We bought Dottie's first new car about that time, I got the Chrysler, and the truck sat in the back yard for a year and a half.

I bought a wrecking yard motor (it ran when they got it, of course, but I never heard it; I'll never make that mistake again!) and spent part of my model change 2 years ago hanging it. Never got it to fire, thought it was in the wiring, and didn't worry about it. Last year, with my back still in recovery, there's no way I was hanging over a fender to work on it.

I started trying to fire it up again this spring, and finally got spark to it when I figured out it had lower compression than the one I pulled out...

It never did run.

The Chrysler left for the crusher on Friday morning (me still feeling guilty, like I let it down by not trying to save it). This afternoon I hitched up Dad's log chain between the new truck and the old one, and when Dottie came home from work we pulled the old one out of the yard and onto the driveway, then swung the 2nd motor into the back, along with all the extra wheels that were around from things, and I've been throwing all the AMC and Chrysler and Dodge parts out of my garage into the bed this week. It leaves on Monday morning...

I remember people speaking of STB's penchant for organizing and minimizing, and I'm trying to do a bit of that for the first time in my life...

I've spent so much time making things out of junk for 35 years it's really hard to let it go...that fear of throwing away something you might need some dark and stormy night is hard to overcome!

The one thing that's helping in this round is that I also fear taking the new tires on my new truck anywhere near the metal recycling plant!

:o)

A beautiful Sunday to you all...

I'm going to try to go back to sleep now...I had the clock set for 9...

I wonder how far it's going to creep this time...

alan

Three 10's...

and I feel I'm becoming very dull!

Volunteering for overtime beyond our normal 9 hour days...nothing like "hard labor" but I got home this morning a bit after 3:30, and I had left for work at 4. Feeling a bit braindead at the moment, lol!

My wife wasn't selected for jury duty, so Monday when she came home we went and tagged the truck. Looking through the papers I realized the sales tax was as much as Dad paid for his new Ford in '53!

Tuesday I cleaned it up and got part of it waxed, I ran out of time and had to get ready for work. Yesterday I cleared gutters and mowed ahead of the rain that moved through last night.

Today I need to pull the battery and some other parts from my Chrysler before it goes to the crusher. Dottie's off tomorrow because she works this weekend; beyond that I have no idea what's going on, other than one of these days I'm going to get 8 hours sleep again!

This world we live in seems bent on it's own destruction in some form or another; no matter where you look you can find signs of it. There are times I feel guilty that I'm not screaming from a soapbox somewhere trying to point out the lunacy of it all, yet we all have to survive one day to the next as well. Signing petitions, writing letters, writing Congressmen, voting, contributing...sometimes it just doesn't seem like enough!

alan

I made it!

A one day weekend and I actually accomplished some things! (That doesn't happen often, or it doesn't feel like it most times!)

I worked last night 'til 2AM (6 day work week, though I burnt a vacation day on Tuesday for time with Dottie, since she worked last weekend), got to bed around 3:30, then got up at 9 this morning and we went to the movies to see "Flyboys". I am an aviation buff, and we lucked out and got in for $4 each (great movie, would loved to have seen it again, immediately). [There were some discrepancies and Hollywood liberties here and there, but not enough to ruin the movie for me, and probably un-noticeable to most.] We stopped at Costco on the way home, I fixed lunch, then went out and washed her Malibu and then cleaned all the road oil and bugs off it from the summer and got 2 coats of wax on it (getting ready for winter). By then it was dark. We had cooked a roast as she did things in the house while I was outside, so I ran through the shower and we ate while I started laundry, then we watched a couple of hours of TV and she went to bed at almost 1, I finished the dishes and put the last load of laundry in the dryer, and now it's a tick after 2...

Tomorrow if I get done at the courthouse early enough I will come home and wash my truck and try to get some wax on it, if I don't get home early enough for that I should mow and then do the other on Tuesday.

It's really a treat to drive something that does all the things it's supposed to, the windows go up and down, the doors open and close, it makes heat in the mornings when I leave work before I get 3 blocks instead of when I'm almost home, etc.. I still can't quite believe it's real!

Off to bed for me...hope you all had wonderful weekends and Monday is kind to you!

alan

Friday the first...

meaning of course, that Friday comes twice in my work week this week. Or I have a one day weekend...

As well, Saturday is Caleb's birthday party, so I'll be going to it for a few hours before I go to work. Last spring I took the day off for Dillon's party, but I didn't have a truck payment then, the holidays weren't coming so soon...I just can't say "no" to time and a half!

Frankie charged the back door as I was coming in from the garage yesterday afternoon at 3. He had slipped out twice on Dottie, but once he let her pick him up, the 2nd time he ran right back in. That was several months ago. This time, he ran back and forth several times like a little black rocket, refusing to come when I called, then ran around the front of the house and disappeared. For 24 hours. I called, rang a little bell on a toy he likes, both then and when I came home at 2:30AM last night. No luck.

We thought perhaps he would follow Angel back in when he got hungry or cold enough. Today it rained about an inch and a half. When Dottie came home she went out and called for him, but no luck. She let Angel out and the dog immediately went to our fence and was sniffing towards our neighbors doorless yard shed. Dottie put Angel back in the house and went over there, and could get him to meow at her, his pathetic meow he would use if we shut the bedroom door and he wanted in, but he wouldn't come to her. Finally she twisted her ankle on something and between that and the rain came home for a while.

She went back, and got him to meow again, but he wasn't in the shed anymore, he was between it and our fence. This time she stepped on something that crunched and watched him do his rocket impression under the fence and across our yard.

She gave up (it was 8:30 by this time) and came in and took her shower and ate. I called at 9, my lunch, and told her to just get ready for bed, that if he was wet enough, cold enough or hungry enough he would come back in.

At 11:30 when I called at my 2nd break, she had sat in the back room with the door open for a while, but no cat. She said she would put Angel out one last time and then go to bed. When she put her out, she saw Frankie and Angel "nose to nose talking" on the patio. When the dog came back in, the cat finally followed. She called and left me a voice mail about it, then when I got caught up I called her back and she said the cat was very wet and very cold, but seemed happy to be back inside.

I hope he stays that way!

He's now curled up in her chair sleeping...

Busy weekend, won't be around much; I hope you all have wonderful weekends!

alan