Ack ! Its Almost August !

This was the work break that wasn't - I had to go into work on my day off for my annual firearms qualification. So I was at work from 7:30 AM until 2:30PM on Tuesday. I did shoot slightly above my personal goal for this year and I got the hearing protection I left at the range last time I qualified back. But I still lost a day off for less than a full day of work. I did go groom Irish & Louise, who are both looking good. Otherwise not much got accomplished. Bummer.

August will be here after this 2 day work cycle, 2/3 of the summer is gone already ! This weekend is catch up on chores and pack for A Laid Back Affair, which is an old school motorcycle rally. Kat, Jane & I are all going, the ALBA is held in a camp ground, most folks stay there while a few will motel it nearby. We do self organized rides and have a rally dinner Saturday evening. Its just a bunch of folks who like to ride motorcycles who get together a few times a year and, well, ride motorcycles.

I hope everyone out there is having a good summer.

Banks Are Weird

OK, so I have my mortgage and vehicle loans from the same bank. It doesn't happen to be the either the bank or the credit union where I have checking and/or savings accounts. I wanted to get online access to the loan accounts so I could check on when payments had posted and then set things up so I could make my loan payments online. So I went to the bank's web site to set this all up only the web site didn't recognize my account numbers. So I called their 800 number and got things setup that way. Except their web site has a broken link in the sign up process so that wouldn't work either. So I stopped at a bank branch while I was doing other errands to get online banking setup. Only because I had already started the process via the 800 customer service line they couldn't set me up unless there was a change in my customer accounts. But since I have 2 loans from them I can get a free checking account. So now I have another checking account so I can get online access for my loans. All of which seems like the long way around the barn door to me. Oh well, I can I can use this account for setting aside funds for rendezvous etc. Meanwhile I still don't have online access set up, I need to wait for the check card to arrive and then call the 800 number that comes with the card. I will get a $50 gift certificate by doing it this way so I guess there is a silver lining to the cloud. Meanwhile there are ads all over the bank's web site and branch office encouraging their customers to sign up and use online banking. Go figure.

A Camping We Will Go

A Camping We Will Go
A Camping We Will Go
Hi Ho the Derry-O
A Camping We Will Go

Part of the reason I pushed to get the house painting project solidly started was so I could go camping with my friend Jane. So Thursday morning I cleaned up my kitchen then packed up my modern camping gear, the long bows with their tackle and my guitar for 3 nights and 2 days of R&R at the Izaac Walton League site near Lynchburg. Jane got there first and had her RV all kitted out when I got there. But it didn't take me long to set my traps up while Jane cooked us venison burgers, fresh veggies and other wonderous stuffs. Then we got right into the serious camp work of making music around a campfire.

Friday saw Jane and getting down to the really really serious business of camping - fletching arrows for my Genesis modern bow, eating fresh blueberries with yogurt for breakfast, swimming in the IWLL lake, shooting the aforementioned bows, paddling on the lake, collecting ripe blackberries from the lakeside bushes via canoe and of course eating more great food. Night fall found us again at fireside making more music with a full moon and fireflies in attendance. Saturday was more of the same with a potluck camp meal to bring things to a close. After the dinner some other campers gave us a how-down of country classics from the likes of Johnny Cash and Jimmy Rogers as well as the country gospel tradition. A good time was had by all and sundry.

The Joys of Home Ownership

This is a banner for the Brother's of the Tomahawk, a Masonic Lodge of Rendezvous Men. I'm obviously not a member, but I sure have been busy as a beaver of late. As of today the wood window & door trim as well as the aluminum storm window frames on my house have all been cleaned, sanded as needed and primed. My feet and legs ache from all the ladder work, my arms and shoulders are a bit stiff from the scrubbing, sanding and brush painting but the door and window areas are ready for the green trim paint I just bought. I'm a very tired but very happy puppy.

Happy Birthday Urchin !

Twenty six years ago today at about 9:45 AM Kathleen Mathieu Cornell, aka "The Kid", aka "Urchin" entered this world. And the world hasn't been the same since. The Urchin who skipped 2 AM feedings as uncivilized arrived at my place today at around - ah, well - 2 AM. By 7:30 AM we were back up and on our way to her work with Sophie aboard. Urchin signed Sophie in for a bath and grooming session then gave me a tour of the Doggie Day Care & Boarding facility where she works. It is impressive, there is even a complimentary StarBucks coffee machine in the lobby. Then we cruised on over to the local Anita's for some New Mexico style brunch - which seems appropriate since Urchin's first restaurant visit as a 2 week old Kid was the original Anita's in Vienna. The inner woman fed it was then time for a nap at Urchin's digs. Well fed and reasonably well slept we decided Get Smart was a movie of the proper mood for the occasion, which it most definetly was - it had us laughing very hard more than once. From there we picked up Sophie and headed back to my place, a bit tired but happy. It was a very good day.

The photo is from Urchin's semester abroad at Doshisha Woman's College in Kyoto, Japan fall of 2003. I think the other young lady is her host sister. I don't know who the short fellow with the broom is, but if he is any good with that broom he can come to my house any time.

Farewell to A Good Friend

This is Noel, Queen to Ivan the Terrible and Calico Cat Par Excellence. For over 13 years she has shared my home, brought me mice for dinner, removed noisy crickets from my house & yard, and been a cuddle kitty laptop. Plus helped me raise my own Kat to adulthood. Noel died peacefully in her sleep late Sunday night after 17+ years of life. She is buried next to Ivan under the trees in the backyard. It is a most excellent cat place.

Happy Birthday to the USA

I got off work the morning of the 4th and took the county roads over to US 29 at Brandy Station. Seems there is a Brandy Station Battlefield area tour, I just hit 2 stops along the tour by accident. Humm - I see a pleasant motorcycle ride with camera in my near future. Anyway, I headed on over to D&D's place in Vienna for some sleep and a 4th party. Kat was already there when I arrived. After I got about 3.5 hours of shut-eye Kat & I washed her car, my truck and D&D's SUV. We just washed everything, it was starting to rain lightly so we didn't wax anything. D&D's SUV must be in shock, they said they had never washed it. It wasn't raining much so we went ahead and grilled burgers, dogs and BBQ chicken, steamed corn and tossed up a salad. It was a wonderful meal and the company was even better. It did start to rain harder about 8pm so we decided to skip Vienna's laser show along with any of the local fireworks displays. We did watch the TV broadcast of the DC Mall fireworks. (The photo above is from Vienna's fireworks a few years ago.) It was a most enjoyable evening.

The rest of my holiday weekend was a wash - mandatory OT Saturday night prevents me from going to church for Vespers & Liturgy. But the 4th was a fine day, so I'll rejoice and be glad for it.

Lazy Hazy Summer

June, July & August - The Lazy Hazy Days of Summer




Here's some pictures of some visitors to my yard.






I always expect summer to drag on for ever, a mindset developed in my childhood by the school schedule. Of course, it was only those childhood summers of unstructured time with lawn mowing my only responsibility during which summer unfolded with luxurious slowness. Now it seems to slip by all too fast. It has been 16 years since Kat & I spent today riding the Harley across the California desert and through an earthquake to Needles CA. Ten years ago Kat was touring Italy & Greece with her fellow Latin students and I was filling out financial aid forms for Chatham Hall. Eight years ago we were packing for Kat's freshman orientation at Wells College. Four years ago I was unemployed and Kat was frantically trying to get everything ready to move to Japan. Last year I was working a killer of an OT schedule at work, had 2 major events at church in June, a motorcycle rally in August and the Eastern Primitive Rendezvous in September. I only had a life at an event. Humm - my summer suddenly seems a quiet and lazy time.