Ah, the fun time of the YEAR!

Yes, when the sweet aromas from kitchen tickle your sense of smell you know it is that time of year to rejoice.

What am I talking about.  Well, it turns out to be fudge being made and then turned out on the counter to be cut in small squares.  The first is a new recipe my wife used called Tiger Bark.  Oh, is it creamy.

Then there is the common chocolate fudge with pecans. 

And last but not least there is my favorite.  Peanut Butter Fudge.  The taste is sensational and oh so satisfying. 

Could this be the reason people gain weight this time of year?

In the Drive Through, REALLY!!

Most pharmacies now a day have a drive through.  I would like to get hold of the person that thought that this was a great idea but that will be another blog.  Oh, it is a great convenience for the elderly, sick, parents with small children, and disabled. 

The other day just before ending my shift, the call buzzer that alerts us that a vehicle has entered the drive through sounded.  The pharmacist that had just come on duty sounded out, Oh my GOSH!!

Well, you can see from this photo what the person was riding and driving.  This is the first time we have had a person in a HOVER ROUND come to the window.  She did pick up four prescriptions and then motored off.  Motorcycles and motor scooters but not this.  I just had to take a picture of this as no one would believe me. 

I wonder if she has snow chains and a overhead cover.  She will need it in a month or so.

If it is Santa, Christmas is just around the corner.

My daughter bought a little Santa outfit for her nephew.  He is only three months old, or will be three months old soon but she had to buy the outfit.

She claims that it was too cute to pass up and besides this was her nephew's first Christmas.  Oh, when he grows up he will look back at these pictures and cringe at what his mother and aunt had him wear.

As you can see here he does not look thrilled.  Oh poor guy I really feel for you. 

Road Complete

Man, are these guys fast.  Simpson Construction Company, located in Dublin, VA finished this road in three days. The post from the previous day showed several piles of dirt at the entrance of the new road.

Well I can announce that the road is complete.  It is a little long to pave so it will be gravel for several years.  Paving will be done in stages.

 

I will need to take the farm tractor and ride over the entrance area to pack that section down.  This was the area that had to have the fill dirt.  Once we start building, the trucks driving to the work site will also compact the dirt and gravel. 

Next step, nail down the cost of the house.

Road to the Top of the Hill

Yesterday was the first step in what will be a multiple of steps to get a house built.  After spending about thirty minutes with the contractor as where to place the road on the property, the equipment showed up an hour later to move dirt.

They scratched out the outline of the road and installed a culvert in the low spot for water drainage from rain runoff. 

It rained during the night so I figured today would be a day without construction.  WRONG!  At 7:30 a.m. the equipment roared to life and now moving dirt started in earnest. 

Fill dirt to help elevate the roadbed

If you look close at the photo you will notice a single tree at the top of the hill to the right of the road.  The house will be located behind that tree. 

At this pace the road will be in by the end of the week.  This is the easy part.  Now to work out details with a housing contractor.  So much to do and so little time.

Definetly for the male gender

This past weekend I spent time with one of my son-in-laws.  This son-in-law is into games and computers. 

He had to show me one of his neat toys. 

It came with the computer game Call of Duty.  They don't make these anymore so this should have a good dollar value.

I tried to fly it first but my control was not the best.  I gave it up because I did not want to break it and then I would be MUD!

A Thankful Day!

Thanksgiving Day was celebrated with my wife, daughter, and son-in-law.  It was a day to reflect on the blessings that life has bestowed upon us.

Thankful that we made it to our daughter's house and that we had a smart phone to help us navigate after taking a wrong turn.

Thankful that it was a day from work.

Thankful that it was a pleasantly warm day of sunshine.

Thankful that my new grandson is healthy and has a fantastic mother and father.

Thankful that we ate ham and not turkey.

Thankful that the first batch of yeast dinner rolls I have ever made turned out just fine.

But most of all I am very thankful to be born and raised in this magnificient country where we enjoy freedom and liberty.  This is truly a great country and by the grace of god I must give all the THANKS!!

Nice little napster

While visiting our oldest and husband this past weekend, my wife was giddy with joy to again see our grandchild.  It had been at least six weeks and she was having major withdrawal.

He is growing and beginning to smile when spoken to 

This is so much better than crying when hungry or his diaper was wet.

Then the inevitable happened.

 

Grammaroo and grandson both fell asleep in the chair. 

 

Two tales of One Tree

It is that time of year when the morning air has a chill to it and the leaves of trees start to change color.  This is a picture of one small maple outside the window at work.

The crimson color is so vibrant.  It seemed to enjoy the nice sunshine but it was not to last.

The colder days moved in and even thought the sunshine was still present, the tree could not hold onto its leaves. 

Now it sits naked to the cold and the wind, although sunshine still baths it with light, it will have to wait until May until the leaves start to reappear.
But one nice things about this cycle is we know to expect more leaves in the spring.

Great View at Lunchtime

Prior to our move, a friend and I stopped for lunch at the local golf course and the restaurant called "Bull and Bones".  It is a micro brew restaurant located on the New River overlooking the river and the Pete Dye Golf Course.

As you can see the leaves are changing colors and falling from the trees.  It was a little cool this day but still offered a wonderful and good food.

The 18 hole golf course is designed to follow the river for all holes.  One heck of a water hazard.  This is the course that the golf team from Virginia Tech uses as their home course.  It is a highly rated course.  Oh, by the way the public can use this course, so if in the area drop in and play a round of golf.

QR Code

Ever thought about making your own QR code?  QR Hacker allows you to make your own free.

This code is embedded for this website.  Just scan this code with your cell phone and it will direct you directly to this site.  You will need a bar code reader, I use RED LASER.  Of course you can make a code for anything you need, especially if you are a business.

Moving is OVER!!!

Thank goodness for movers.  We moved from a four bedroom, 3 1/2 baths, a full basement, and four car garages to a three bedroom, two bath, one garage and about ten feet of basement space.

The day of the move everything started at 8:30 a.m. It took two trucks and five workers to load everything onto two trucks and have it unloaded by 3:30 p.m.  Talk about cramming things into this rental house.  Luckily the living room and kitchen is good size but the bedrooms are a little smaller.  The garage is bursting at the seams.  Two bedrooms are stacked with mattresses, bed frames, head boards and boxes. 

This is the laundry room piled high

I must say one thing though, if it wasn't for the wife we would not have been able to complete this move.  She packed the whole house in three weeks with help from a daughter one weekend and a friend for about four hours one day.  She did it all.

Now the truly hard part is ahead of us.  Not only finding what we need in all of those boxes but settling on a builder and starting the build.  The building process will not start until the spring.   It was fun the last time we did it nineteen years ago.  Hopefully the same enthusiasm and getting the job done attitude will be present this time around.

Packing and Moving!

Just to let everyone know I have not had much time lately to blog.  We are in the midst of packing our house and moving an hour away.  I will return to the blogosphere the end of October. 

Gameday Grandson

Can this be.  He is sleeping on Game Day.  I know he is getting in his nap as he will be up late as it is an evening kickoff.

It won't be many years before he will be out running and yelling and into everything. 

Cluckers grown!

I have noticed the wild turkeys from early summer until now.  How things have changed.  Little pullets have turned into full grown turkeys.  They are always in this front yard.

Hmm, I wonder if the neighbor would mind if I shot one for Thanksgiving Dinner.

House selling and then renting!

Gads, talk about a crazy week.  First the appraiser came by to appraise the house.  Two days later the home inspection was done along with the radon testing.  So far so good. 

Then the reports came back.  Radon a little high at 5.8 above the 4.0 set by EPA.

Several outlets tested showed reverse polarity.  Been that way since the house was built. 

Appraisal came back at or above the selling price.

So what to do.  Well, first we will have someone come in and fix the radon problem, called remediation.  Sounds like taking a course over ago in college.

Have an electrician come in and fix those outlets that were tested.  Make sure the north pole is connected to the north pole and same with the south pole.

So if that is not the only thing, my wife is out of town visiting our daughter and son-in-law and our new grandson.  So there is no one else to call to schedule things while I am out of the area working.  Luckily the real estate agent is opening the house to take care of some of the fixes that have to be completed.

 Whew, thank goodness the appraisal was good.  The banks only lend the amount based on the appraised value.  This is sure a change from twenty years ago.  If it had been lower, then the deal would have been off.

Now we have to find a house to rent until we build.  Used Craigslist for rental property in the area we would be moving.  Could not even think about signing anything until the appraisal came in.  Trouble was the homes I was following ended renting before I could go and view and talk about renting. 

So today, it all ended on the rental side.  We had looked at a home three weeks ago and luckily it had not rented.  I sign the rental forms and sign over a check to the owner tomorrow.  Thank goodness for that.  I dreaded the thought of having to store most of the stuff and then rent an apartment.

An Apple Fan

Yes, I am definitely an APPLE software fan.  I just updated to the latest IOS6 and truly love it.

The new feature of PASSBOOK is something I can use.   You don't have to lug around all of those crazy store cards.  You know the ones you get when you sign for a discount but then have to show the card to get the discount.  This will make life easier.

The Apple maps is fine.  I don't see anything wrong with the feature compared to Google maps. 

The Facebook integration works well especially the ability to sync your device's Calendar and Contacts apps.

Siri now can update your Facebook.

Panorama.  How about that.  Even IPhone 4S has this new camera feature.  I can use this.

Yes, APPLE has done it again.  I only wished I had bought the stock back in the 80's.  Who would have known???

Definetly a Grandparent NOW!

The birth is over but it had to be a c-section.  Like mother like daughter as the now mother was born by c-section.

 The little fellow was born at 11:20 p.m.  Everyone is well.  Mother and Father are both fine and now getting rest.  Mom leaves the hospital tomorrow.

Aunt Lins admiring the new born