And now the ‘fun’ begins…

Posted on by December 21, 2015

New plates, new driver’s license, buying food… etc…

OBTW, and doing this Christmas week, with everybody and their brother out shopping; hitting the malls, being stupid in traffic, and most of all, getting ‘gift’ receipts.

Do you how long it takes when SIX people all want gift receipts from the one harried salesperson? 28 minutes, not that I was counting… sigh

By the time you read this my furniture will hopefully be delivered. Nothing like getting a crew on a backhaul going home to ‘speed up’ delivery! 🙂

Again my apologies for the lack of commenting/posting. Hopefully tomorrow, if I’m not totally worn out.

Thanks to all for the nice comments and welcome to Texas! 🙂 And yes, I will be taking y’all up on the various invitations, as soon as I get settled and get book four out!!!

Made it!!!

Posted on by December 20, 2015

1661 miles,  four days, way too many tanks of gas. And little side trips that seemed always cost me money. But I made it!

It was great to see friends, family, and fellow bloggers but there  was never enough time to really have fun or to do anything other than a meal and a quick trip.

I’m calling it a night, so go read the folks on the sidebar tomorrow and I’ll try to return to commenting and blogging on Tuesday.

Oof…

Posted on by December 19, 2015

My body is reminding me I’m NOT 21 anymore…

1320 miles total, 520 miles today, and I think my left cheek went flat about mile 500.  Every mall I drove by in three states today was absolutely PACKED!!! Made good time on the interstates, cause everybody was at the mall! 🙂

I really have to stop doing these little side trips… They keep costing me money!

One more day on the road then HOME (well as soon as the furniture shows up, and I get everything unpacked)…

I’ll get back to reading and commenting on Monday, as soon as I get a new driver’s license and plates (just realized BOTH expire next week)… It’s ALWAYS those pesky ‘little’ details… sigh

Karma…

Posted on by December 17, 2015

It’s a bitch…

Federal Judge who outlawed racial profiling is a victim of black attackers…

Federal Judge Susan Dlott wrote the book on racial profiling in 2002.
Last week, she ripped it into one million tiny pieces when three black people broke into her $8 million Cincinnati home and started beating her and her 79-year old husband.
“There’s three black men with guns at our house,” Dlott told a 911 operator after she escaped the home invasion and ran to her neighbor’s house one mile away.
And just in case the operator did not hear her the first time, Dlott said it again: “My husband and the dogs are still there. There are three black men with guns and masks at the house.”
That’s Racial Profiling 101: Identifying the criminals by race, as if that had something to do with it. 
Read the whole article HERE.
Sometimes all one can do is laugh…

A three-fer…

Posted on by December 19, 2015

So I’m slacking yesterday… Only 410 miles…

But it was for a GOOD reason, well, actually three…

Breakfast with Snigs and daughter Miss M, lunch with Mr. G from My Daily Kona, and dinner with Joe the gunsmith.

Great to see the folks, and sorry to have missed two regular commenters in GA, due to work and availabilities…

Weather was better today, colder and more ‘seasonal’ as they say. But at least it was a ‘dry’ cold!!!

I always cherish the chance to get together with folks, and it was a pleasure to see each of them, if only for a short time… I never cease to be amazed by the level of conversation and the breadth of knowledge of the gun bloggers I’ve had the pleasure of meeting over the years. Y’all rock!!!

Thanks to all for the comments, and yes I’m being careful. It’s the other idjits I’m worried about!

Slogging down the road…

Posted on by December 17, 2015

450 of 1741 miles down…

FullSizeRender

All day in the rain yesterday…

There are some just flat ‘strange’ folks out on the roads…

Little old blue hair in a great big Lincoln, a huge guy in a little Ford Fiesta (the steering wheel was just about in his chest), the usual snowbirds heading south, and the normal quota of idjits in vans… Sigh…

11 miles (not that I was counting) of following two semis, one trying to pass the other…

And only two phone calls from the ‘former’ work…LOL

Sorry for the lack of commenting and posting, I’m concentrating on getting home! 🙂

TBT…

Posted on by December 17, 2015

The things one ‘finds’ when you move…

A real feed sack quilt- This one is at least 60 years old… I folded it so you can see both the feedsack side, which is normally down, and the top.

quilt feed sack

And this one is my baby quilt, so it’s at least 64 years old… These are what is known as patchwork star quilts. quilt baby size

I can remember the women at the reunions getting together in the old house and turning out two or three quilts over a weekend. I remember my dad referring to them as the ‘hen house’, and not a place for boys or men! 🙂

These will stay in the family, passed down to the next generation… Both my daughters and the oldest grandson spent time in that bottom quilt…

Posted in TBT

Done!!!

Posted on by December 11, 2015

One last look out the window of the office…

office

And DONE!!!

Retirement dessert

With career number two…

Going to be on the road for the next few days, so don’t expect much in the way of comments and/or posts…

Thanks to all of you who’ve sent kind words, and a few ‘other’ words too… 🙂

Packing out…

Posted on by December 13, 2015

Two and a bag(s) drag…

Movers are going to be here in a hour, and I’ll be putting an end to twelve years of working out of here.

I’ve always been circumspect about where I work and what I do for ‘reasons’, but this cartoon pretty much says it all…

Garfield cartoon

Except it was usually MULTIPLE holes… sigh…

One thing I am proud of, is that all the work we did over the last twelve years, we had ZERO fatalities, and ZERO major injuries to any of the folks.

Not going to say we always got all the ‘toys’ back… 🙂

It’s been real, and ‘most’ of the time it’s been fun.

Roasts and get togethers…

Posted on by December 13, 2015

So… I got roasted by my boss and about 20 co-workers Saturday night… But I think I got the better end of the deal…

booze

And no, I’m not telling what went on… What goes on at the roast, STAYS at the roast… 🙂  Seriously, it was great to get together with these folks for one last time, and I’ll miss ‘most’ of them.

Then yesterday I met Murph, Proud Hillbilly, Stretch, Wandering Neurons, and John…

Anyhoo, we did Hooters by the Dulles Expo Center, and I gotta admit Murph got me. He told them it was my birthday… dammit…

Blog meet 12 13 15 smudged

After a great lunch and conversation, we adjourned to Wally World for Toys for Tots.

Toys

We pretty much covered all ages from three up, boys and girls, and I’ve got to admit I was surprised at how much the 3/4 basket of toys cost. We split it up, and then started looking for a Toys for Tots drop box…

How many

How many people does it take to find a Toys for Tots drop off???

More than we had… sigh…

Thankfully the Holiday Inn at Dulles Expo Center was still taking toys for them. We talked to a couple of very nice young ladies, and they put the toys in the manager’s office with others that guests had donated.

It wasn’t much in the big scheme of things, but we all left smiling…

Don’t know when or if I’ll get back to the area, but this was a nice way to leave. Good folks all, and I’ll miss the whole DC area blogging/shooting crowd.