Back from th"Dead Fred"

Here it is, Sunday morning (late) and we are back at Kate's house. There will be a gathering of some of the clan later today. Nan is busy making a 'Tomato Pie' for later and El is busy in the kitchen along with Kate.
Last night was "Dead Fred's " party and it was a great time for all It was good to be with so many old friends and meet some new ones. There aere 3 young people there from the modern Battalion, and 2 of them sat at our table. One is already retired and the other is a current member. The unit is being activated for deployment in Iraq. They leave on September 19 for Camp Shelby Mississippi. I gave the young Leiutenant my E-Mail address and he promised he would keep in touch, I hope he does.
This morning we had breakfast with my friend Robbie and his significant other before Mass.
So now we are getting ready to meet the other relations and enjoy each other.
Tomorrow we will motor (I hate that phrase) to NJ to visit my sister and my sister in law. I should be able to blog from there.
I just finished the book "The Last Lecture" and it is spectacular. Thanks Sue. This is a book for all ages and as soon as Nan finishes it, it will be up for grabs. It is wonderful reading.
Love.

In Philly

Today was another calm and quiet day on the road. The traffic was not bad and the weather was great.
I am writting from Castle Kraher tonight. Kath and her mother send their love to all.
I'm not sure I will get a chance to write tomorrow because of the party, but I will definatly write on Sunday.
Love.

Still going

Well the first day was a good one. We are safe and sound in Roanoke VA. We just had dinner in a lovely Mexican restaurant on the premises. The traffic and weather were both very good today. The only delays were getting out of Gwinnett County. There were school busses and rail road crossing and of course the traffic.
Just wanted to let you all know that things are well with us. (Thanks for the check call Bill.)
Love.

Here we go again!!

As usual, I'll try to catch everybody up. It was good to hear from Mike again. I knew he was still around because I saw him at church.
Last Sunday afternoon, we went to the Aurora Theater to see "Dam Yankees". It was a well done, good performance. A bunch of us then gathered at the "Sweet Tomatoes" restaurant to make the day just perfect.
Tonight we went to Smoke rise Baptist Church (it is Wednesday after all) to watch our neighbor's children in a show. It was "Willie Wonka Junior" with all kids. It was well done and very enjoyable.
Tomorrow we will be leaving on our trip north. We will be in Roanoke tomorrow night, then at Katherine's Friday night. Saturday night is 'Dead Fred's Party' so we will be in Holiday Inn, then it's back to Katherine's for Sunday night.
Monday we will go to Jersey to visit Re & Dot. We will leave Re's on Tuesday morning and spend the night in Harrisonburg VA.
Wednesday we will drive to Peg's and spend the night with her. Then it is home on Thursday and back in our own bed.
I'm putting all this in writing so all you kids know our schedule and don't call our friends looking for us.
Love.

Seems I'm always catching up.

Last Monday was very uneventful and seemed normal (so to speak) Tuesday, after my walk I decided ti clean up the yard from leaves and limbs that a local storm deposited. In hind site, this was not a good decision. It was very hot and the job was bigger than I had anticipated. By the time I finished I was really exhausted and hurt all over.
I seemed to bounce back on Wednesday when I joined Dennis, Kelly, Jimmy, Michelle, Hannah & Heather for a trip to the Planitarim and the Fernbank Science Center. It was a good time and I have missed seeing these 2 places for many years.
Just as an aside, many years ago I had taken Mike, Tom & Dennis there of an evening when my sister called. When Nancy told her I took the boys to Fernback, She thought Nancy said "Sperm bank" and almost choked. Nancy was still laghing when we got home.
Thursday evening I was feeling poorly and went to bed early. I wound up with a sore throat that only got worse on Friday. So, first thing Saturday morning I went to the doctor and got some dedication. I have been taking it easy since then and getting better each day. The Doctor said I had used all my energy cleaning up the yard and couldn't fight off the cold bug.
Right now I am getting all my ducks in row for our trip to 'Dead Fred's' party on August 23rd. Sorry I won't get to visit with Peg on the trip up, but should see her on the return trip. We will leave here on Thursday the 21st and stopover in Roanoke that night. Visit Katherine on the 22nd. We will be at the party site the23rd then back to Katherine's on Sunday the 24th. Visit mt Sister on Monday the25, then start back on Tuesday the 26th with a stop in Harrisonburg that night and hopefully get to Peg's house on Wednesday the 27th. (If peg beats us home from Texas.)
I will be catching up again soon.
Love.

just to catch up some.

This past week has had it's ups and downs. Last Wednesday my computer caught a worm. This is not a good thing to happen. I was alerted while on line that I was under attack. So I ran my AVG software. It caught, and put in a vault, 3 worms. I was very happy. The software told me everything was good and I was fully protected. Then something started to open 'Internet Explorer' pages faster than I could close them. I ran the AVG software again. This time it over 6 hours to complete. Thursday morning I took the old desk top into the shop. The technician was quite familiar with the problem and said it would take all day to clean it up. About 2 o'clock Friday afternoon they called and said it was ready. It is now up and running just fine.
Sunday started ot good and got better. We went to Mass at Holy Cross for the first time in several weeks. It really felt good to get back with so many of our friends. It was breakfast Sunday and of course I over ate. I don't know why they always come around to me with seconds. Maybe because I never refuse them. Later in the day we got a call from the bulging Katie. She and Bryan were stuck at the Atlanta airport for the night. I won't go into the details, she will probably do that, they were on their way to Florida for a vacation with Bryan's family, but she needed someplace to stay. We called Mike and he was more than willing to pick them up at the North end of the MARTA line. They were both worn out from their ordeal. (Only 3 hours sleep the night before.) We had a reral nice visit with them and got caught up on what was going on in their lives. Monday morning I took them to the airport to continue their adventure.
Today was Primary day here and I did my civic duty. One of the questions on the ballot was about bring MARTA rail into the county. I'm all for that. I think of the uture when I can no longer drive and would like to get places on public transportation. I got to vote for John Linder who is sponsoring the "Fair Tax" bill in Congress. I also voted for the Republican party to press for the passage of that same "Fair Tax" bill.
Tomorrow is Aquarium day and I am looking forward to another day of fun.
Love.

Jim fights the mower and wins!!!

First off, let me say that I can now access the Google Reader. It seems that you cannot have both 'Internet Explorer' and 'Mozilla' trying to access the same files. I was using Internet Explorer without success. I am now on Mozilla and it works fine.(Boy am I confused.)
Now, about the mower! As I related in a previous blog, I wanted to cut my grass (read that as green weeds) before going on vacation. I got the front lawn done and when I went to the back yard, I hit a tree root and bent a blade.
At first I tried to figure out how to jack the mower up to get at the blades. This proved futile, so was resigned to remove the mower deck. This required laying on the hard garage floor and work at arms length under the mower. Each time I thought I had the deck loose, there was another connection I had to find and overcome. After finally freeing the deck I found that the blades were on real tight. Using chains to hold the blades fixed and a pipe to give more leverage, I got both blades off.
I replaced the blades and reassembled the deck to the tractor. All seemed in order until I went to cut the grass late in the afternoon. The drive belt for the blades just wouldn't stay on. I made an inspection and found that the pulley that tensions the belt was evidently damaged and needed replacing. Now that I was aching all over and completely frustrated, I decided that it would have to wait till I got back.
So yesterday I went at that mower nice and early. Since I already knew what coupled the deck to the tractor, it only took me about 15 minuets to get the deck free. The bolt holding the damaged pulley came loose real easy. I got a new one and had the machine assembled in no time. I was able to get the grass cut, all before noon.
I really feel good that I met the challange and came out on top.
Till next time.
Love.