One Year Ago

Hard as it is for me to comprehend, one year ago today I hit the timeclock for the final time and ended my career at the Rushville Post Office at 32 years and 10 months.

The last year has not gone quite the way I had expected it to, with Peggy's Dad having had a stroke and less than a week later Peggy's Mom breaking her leg.

The past year didn't go quite the way we thought it would, and when Peggy started her two week vacation this past Monday, who would have believed that she would get a call that first morning letting her know that she had gotten the nod for a new job.

After nearly 13 years in the banking industry, Peggy closed out her days at MainSource bank and embarked on a new career with the County Clerk's Office at the courthouse. Therefore, her two week vacation lasted an entire day.

Even though our plans changed for the two weeks she would have been off, we consider the new job a total and complete blessing. No more workdays until after 4PM, no more irregular schedule week to week and no more weekends!

Peggy now has a regular schedule each and everyday, her workday ends at 4PM and she pulls no more Saturdays.

Better money, better hours, better benefits.

What an awesome God we have indeed!

Autumn Vacation

Hard to imagine but it's the first day of fall, or more properly, Autumn.

My absolute favorite time of year, and the month of October is my favorite month of the year without question.

Looking ahead to the next couple of weeks that my darling bride has off brings all sorts of posibilities to mind as to what we should do. Peggy is wanting to make a trip east to the mountains of Virginia, which are my most favorite mountains I have ever had the pleasure of seeing. Of course, if we make that trip, we will swing by her sister's house for a visit. I think this is the trip Peggy wants to make more than any other one.

There's a chance we might venture down to the Smokey Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina. Beautiful scenery and about half the driving time to Gatlinburg make this one more attractive to me, but then again we could combine the two trips into one and go to Virginia and then get on the Blue Ridge Parkway and drive to Cherokee, NC and head back up thru Tennessee.

We could also make a trip up to Sybaris, a romantic getaway I never, ever get tired of going to. Closing the door to that suite, in its own building, makes the outside world go away and allows us to have a 17 hour romantic interlude where the world ceases to exist around us, and it's all about just the two of us, intimate and unbridled, and a chance to just spend quality time with each other with no phone, no television and our own spa, swimming pool and steam bath. Best of all, Sybaris is only a short drive from here, maybe 60 miles total. A Longhorn Steakhouse sits right down the road about two blocks, and it's a great way to escape and simply fall into each others' love all over again.

It's hard to imagine, but in eight days I will have been retired for one full year. It's so nice to be able to enjoy each day now, free of the bonds of employment.

And another fabulous and carefree vacation and month of October lies ahead of us.

I can't conceive how anyone could not enjoy this time of year, this time of renewal in the seasons and the awesome colors God uses to paint his majestic background each year for us.

So, now to decide, Virginia, Tennessee or Sybaris.

Shame I'm not independently wealthy. We could do all three.

Besides, I don't need a romantic getaway to be able to fall into the love I have for my darling wife. I could do that anywhere.

The Dreaded Two Little Snakes Story

I don't remember where I first heard this, but for over 35 years I have been reciting it, time after time, and truthfully, I do it a lot better if I'd had a whole bunch to drink before I try it.

If you don't think it's that big of a deal, try and remember, I have always done this from memory and never used anything written down to do it.

Try reading it out loud as you read it and you will see how funny it actually is and you will probably also discover that it's really not that easy to read out loud.


The Two Little Snakes

Two little snakes were hissing in their pit. Their mother came out and asked them, “What are you two little snakes doing?” To which they replied, “We’re hissing in our pit.” The mama snake told them, “Well don’t hiss in our pit, go over to Mrs Potts’ house, get in her pit, and hiss in it.” So, the two little snakes went over to Mrs Potts’ house, got in her pit, and began to hiss in it. Soon, Mrs Potts came out and asked, “What are you two little snakes doing?” And they answered her and said, “We’re hissing in your pit.” Mrs Potts asked them, “Why are you hissing in my pit? You got your own pit to hiss in, so go on home, get in your own pit, and hiss in it.” So, the two little snakes went back to their home, got in their pit, and began to hiss in it. Very shortly, Mama Snake came back out and asked the two little snakes, “What are you two little snakes doing?” And they replied, “We’re hissing in our pit!” Mama Snake told them, “I told you two little snakes not to hiss in our pit, but to go over to Mrs Potts’ house, get in her pit and hiss in it.” To which the two little snakes replied, “We did, we went over to Mrs Potts’ house, we got in her pit, and hissed in it, and Mrs Potts came out and asked us, ‘What are you two little snakes doing?’ and we told her ‘We’re hissing in your pit.’ Then she told us, ‘You don’t need to hiss in my pit, you got your own pit to hiss in, so go on home, and hiss in it.’ So we came home, we got in our pit, and we started hissing in it.” To which the Mama Snake replied, “Well if that don’t beat all. I remember Mrs Potts when she didn’t have a pit to hiss in.”

For The 18th Time

Last night, at Klipsch Music Center in Noblesville/Indianapolis, I had the distinct pleasure of attending my 18th KISS concert, which delivered everything a KISS concert usually does, which is an awesome dose of rock and adrenalin!

After a fifteen minute delay due to storms in the area(and by the way, it never rained) a group from Cambridge, England called The Treatment took to the stage for a half hour set. Not too shabby of a band, who to me, seemed to have a bit of a punk sound but really delivered a good set.

Motley Crue was next, who played a full 90 minute set. They delivered a power punch to set the tone for the rest of the evening, including Tommy Lee on a circular traveling drum set that totally went upside down several times while the drummer played his butt off! Add to that lots of flames, lasers and dry ice fog plus the occasional bomb going off, and you got a good idea of what Crue was like.

Then, about 10:10PM, the masters of the ultimate rock show took to the stage and delivered their 90 minute set as only KISS can, belting out hit after hit, including a new tune from their new album "Monster" that is slated to be released this October. And of course, pyro shooting guitars, bombs, huge flames, a fire breathing and blood spitting Gene Simmons and a totally insane show of high energy rock brought the evening to a crescendo just past 11:35PM last night.

The house was packed, the lawn was full and the rains stayed away as the rock and roll vortex kept all the clouds moving away for the evening!

The picture shows just how packed Klipsch was last night, proving that even after nearly 40 years in the business, KISS are still the masters!