Say A Little Prayer...

Just a quick post to say that we are keeping the people around the Gulf of Mexico in our prayers tonight. Hopefully, the hurricane will pass quickly...

New Pictures

Here are some new pictures of the dogs and Siobhan. The dogs are staying over tonight for the first time...Doug agreed to a 24 hour custody arrangement. We went over to Barb and Doug's last night. Maureen brought the baby over. She giggled and laughed and played for about an hour, and then passed out cold from fatigue. Caitlin says she's finally sleeping through the night now, sometimes for ten and eleven hours! Whew!

Pictures below:

34

When I was younger, I thought 34 was old. Now that I'm here, I realize that the older I get, the younger everyone else is getting. My perception of old now is anyone over 100, but I suspect if I make it to that age, my perception will change.

Liz already made me a birthday meatloaf. (It was the "meat" cake I requested...) I find it funny that when asked, a meatloaf is what I would like to have for my birthday. I would have never thought at "10" that I would eventually find joy in meatloaf for my birthday. I'm also getting a Pepperidge Farm cake, rather than the traditional, buttercreamed, lump of dryness that I can't stand. I've never been much of a cake person, but Pepperidge Farm beats Buttercream Traditions any day of the week.

I already bought myself a new digital camera, and cleverly disguised it as Liz's Birthday present back in July. (I told her it was a shared thing up front though...)

At "10" I was just a kid, at "34," I'm a homeowner, a taxpayer, a professional, a husband, a movie connoisseur, an author, and most recently, a New Yorker.

I intended none of this adult life, and was content in my basement room with the aquariums, the stereo system, Papaw's old orange chair, and the lights that I kept on from 5th grade through 10th grade.

I'm satisfied, though. I like where things are, but I wish they would slow the hell down. I'm too old to time travel this fast anymore.

On a related note, I got a letter from the AARP recently, and apparently I am eligible for early admission. In light of that, I've rewritten the lyrics to the birthday song:

Happy Birthday to me,
I'm joining the AARP,
Dinner's at 4:30, and,
Bed after Jeopardy!

-Mike, newly 34.

Day Trip

We went down to Lily Dale today, about an hour south of Buffalo. It's a psychic/medium community, and is the place that inspired "Mediums At Large." The medium that I normally see was booked today, but I did get to speak to her briefly, and another medium that I know, Virgil, both of whom I used as characters in the novel. Liz got to see somebody, and had a good experience. It's mainly like counseling if you haven't done it before, but the main draw is how pretty the place is. It sits on Canandaigua Lake.

I was kind of hoping that the psychic said something to Liz about how soon we should consider an institutional placement for her father, but she forgot to ask. I feel it coming soon, though, and I'm NOT even close to being clairvoyant. (Yesterday, Doug's one-sided lunch conversation was about blind people and their bathroom habits...I don't know where he comes up with this stuff...he thinks he's hilarious until Liz and Barb start shushing him, and smacking him around a bit. I think he is losing that part of himself that tells him subconsciously which topics would be better for private conversations and which would be better in public...)

We spent a few hours there, and then came back so that Liz and her parents could enable each other's addictions at the casino. (They won, though, so they are still in my good graces...) I preferred to stay home and watch the Comedy Central roast of Pam Anderson.

We've got two more weeks of vacation before school starts, so Liz and I are planning a couple more day trips next week...maybe back over to Canada to buy Frozen Food not found in America. (We bought these meat pies yesterday. I had a couple today and they were incredible. They're like little individual shepherd's pies!)

Below are some pictures from our day down in Lily Dale:

Random Backyard Pictures...

I took some random pictures in the backyard this morning, including these flowers and a really nice bracket fungus. (Though I bet that most of you would not consider a bracket fungus "really nice." I also bet that most of you don't have a collection of "really nice" bracket fungi in your closets at work either--such is the life of a science teacher...)

House is Sold!

We just talked to my dad down south. The house down there is sold and clear! (Just in time to make the first payment on our new mortgage!) It's been over a year of waiting, and we're glad it's finally over...thanks to Kannapolis Real Estate and Bob Hill! WHEW!

All the girls in the pool...Barb, Liz, Caitlin, and Siobahn! 

The back porch is finished, with our tables and chairs out. The carpet looks great, and we can finally use this room! 

The back end... 

Another view... 

Baby Siobahn swims on her own! 

Peek A Boo! 

The Carpet Finally Came!

The carpet for the sun room finally came today, after four missed appointments. The guy came at 6:30, and it took a couple of hours to install. I'm glad its over. If you ever use Custom Carpet Centers...prepare yourself for a hassle. We've gone around with these people for six weeks, but at least it's finally finished, and looks really good. I'll post pictures later in the week.

Liz starts at Starpoint tomorrow. They are having introduction days that she has to attend, but she will be done by Thursday. We both start back formally on September 1st, but will probably work the week before.

I'm still dealing with Bronchitis and a pulled muscle in my chest from coughing. Even getting up and down off the couch hurts, and doing hand stands underwater in the pool didn't help either. I've still got several days of the antibiotic left, but the prednisone is done, thank goodness.

Liz went to Paula's for a Partylite candle party tonight. She didn't spend much; I'm proud of her. However, she's hosting her own party on September 10th, so we've got a month to get the house in tip top shape!

Other than that, not much is going on. While Liz is gone tomorrow, I'm thinking of going to see The Dukes of Hazzard movie...as no one up here can appreciate that level of sophisticated humor, and refuses to go with me. If any of you New Yorkers are reading this and feel any sort of "cinema sympathy," I'm going to the 1:00 show...call me.

TTFN

-Mike

Raven Symone...and my BROTHER!

Raven's management company called Adam last week, and asked him to guest DJ for the Raven Symone concert in Charlotte last Saturday for over 5000 people. (See his Karaoke website in the left hand column for more pictures...) He DJ'ed on stage with her for an hour, and then got to meet her afterwords. All the kids went to...Raven's company gave him extra tickets!

We're Back Up North!

Our whirlwind tour of Kannapolis is over, and, as promised, I've uploaded a lot of new pictures from our trip. We had a great time, and got to see a lot of people. We should have gone down this weekend, though, instead, as it is the family reunion. But, we had to be back here for a couple of meetings at school, and we're still waiting on the carpet for the back porch to be delivered. They've tried 3 times, and come up with some lame excuse about why they couldn't do it. They're trying again on Tuesday...we'll just see if it actually happens. Pictures are below!

Rock layers on Hwy. 19 in West Virginia. 

The mountains of West Virginia. 

We stopped and took pictures of Cannon Mills while in Kannapolis. These are soon to be torn down. 

More of Cannon Mills. 

Cannon Mills smokestacks close up. 

We got to see Dale while we were home. 

Anna Glass, master photographer, took this picture of Liz and I. 

My sister's new car. 

Bernard with chicken.