I may have spoken too soon about blogging in July

In the last blog I stated that July was a dry blogging month, well I may have been a bit early in making that announcement. I gots another blog to do, and it is just under the wire. Lots has happened in the last 48 hours.


I bought and sold a vehicle. I sold my Ford Explorer which was on it's last legs, or axles as the case may be. I bought a 2008 Chevolet Aveo LS. I wanted to get a smaller car and to save gas mileage as well.


Two weeks ago I started looking, and then I found this vehicle. More or less stumbled upon it, yesterday, took it for a test drive, was offered a price, I wanted to check another place and they were able to beat the first dealer, by a little. I called the first dealer to let them know I may be getting a car elsewhere and before I could tell them anything, they gave me a much better price, so I called back the other dealer to let them know and they countered with a much better offer, which I took. Had I been impolite, and not called to let the know, I would have not gotten as good a deal.

Now onto the Ford Explorer, the last few cars I have had, were donated to the kidney foundation, and I used it as a tax deduction. I was planning to do the same with the explorer, due to the transmission which was wearing out, as well as having a non-cooling air conditioner, or as I would call it, my inboard hair dryer, and since I have not much hair, I did not need that extra feature.

I took the Explorer to my dad's so he could try to sell it, today I went over and cleaned out the car and washed it. My dad took it to a neighborhood auto shop, to have the guy check it out, and he was given an offer to buy it. I was offered a bit more than I would have be okay to sell it for and sold it.

So July still ended as a low blogging month. And the neat thing is that I was able to do all the car dealing with the help of my dad.

July a dry blogging month

It seems that July has been a dry blogging month for me. I guess it is the heat, or my new work schedule, or looking for a new car, or making new creatures for SPORE.

SPORE? You ask...uh what is SPORE? It is a computer game. Well actually it is a number of computer games smashed into one single game. For those that are not computer gamers may not understand, but most games can be put into groups. I have not yet played the actually game, but have been working with the creature editor. With the editor, one can create any number of animated creatures like those seen in a Pixar movie. The game is being released on September 7, 2008. If you are intrested please drop by for my review.

I moved to another department in my job, and have to deal with the new aspects of what to do, and well it is more like being thrown into a situation and having to make it work. Which is fine but somewhat frustrating. It is that when I was done with work, I just was not up for any blogging.

I have wanted to get another car, for reasons of gas, as well as it is getting about time to get a new vehicle. I don't drive that much, work is close as well as any where I need to go, however, I still need a car. The other thing about my car is the transmission is messing up and has been for a while, as well as the air conditioner does not work. I could spend $1500.00 to fix the transmission and some more for the air conditioner, but then I would still be driving a car I don't like. I will be going car shopping with my Dad and it will be fun for us to harrass the sales people. By the way, the other week when we when looking at the cars, the sale person said they were flying off the lot..so be careful when you go past a Toyota lot.

I will need to do any update on the parking area, which is operational, as much as parking a car on it, but there is more to do, and we now have two more pallets of flagstone. Will it ever end? Oh and there is talk of getting railroad ties to boarder the parking area...oh what joy it will be, hauling that around.

July is about over and I need to do a blog, at least once a month. So this is that blog.

Blogging

I have decided to post yet another blog about blogs.

It seems that there are thousands of blogs laying around cyberspace and most are unique, but basically it is one person's means to express themselves, or at least communicate something that others will find as having value.

Most of what I blog is for my family, therefore limiting the meaning or value of the blog to those not related. Unless they find my family interesting for themselves. I find some personal blogs interesting, but I'm not going to invite it over for dinner and a movie. I have no time for Blogs that are out to sell something. Not the ones with an ad, but when the entire blog is about what they are selling.

I have a cluster map which shows that there are many people looking at my blog. I did post a poll to find out which of my favorite television shows were liked by those that visited my blog and for 6 days only one person responded and stated they did not like them. One person..that's like 100% of the number of people that participated in the poll did not like my favorite shows. What up with that? There have been 200 people visit my blog, I know at least 19 of those folks. So who are the other 181? And which one answered my poll?

I think my stuff is interesting. Jorge Garcia, the guy that plays Hugo Reyes on LOST, one of my favorite television shows that was listed in the poll (see above), he has a blog. He post about stuff, just normal everyday stuff, like growing plants, his dog, or the time he was in Monte Carlo. Okay touring Monte Carlo is not normal everyday stuff, well not for me anyway. However, he gets lots more comments than I do. I post about normal stuff, well not Monte Carlo. My time with my family at the beach was great and normal. I guess I would have to be an actor starring in a hit show, to get more comments. Still a comment would be nice, maybe I will blog about something controversial

It seems that I have gotten to my preset limit on the length of a blog. I think the longer blogs are not read as much as shorter ones. Maybe I will post a poll on the length preferences that folks like to read, and if they like or don't like to make comments.

A Day at the Beach Part Three

A day at the beach part three.

It has been about a month since the beach trip, however, there are still a few more things left to share about my time with my family.

This "Day at the Beach" blog is about my mom. She is a special lady. She is patience, caring and very helping. She is a great Mom!

She loves to spend time with her Greatgrand children.

Savannah and...

Mason, to name a few.

She likes cooking for the family.......

She enjoys visting with friends...

And to go on walks with her husband.

She is a great Grandmother, Mother, Friend, Wife, Cook and Housekeeper

I am proud of my Mom.

I am not ashamed to be out in public with her at my Dad's 80th birthday dinner.

But when the cards hit the table and the shuffler come out..

She is a sight to behold.

She whooped up on her sons, with the help of my wife Susan. When it comes to Canasta, my mom become a machine..but not an adding machine...as my dad states.

She don't cheat just makes math errors...

Seriously, I love playing cards with my mom..who wouldn't..well someone that don't like to lose..that's who.

A Week at the Beach Part Two

The following sequence of events happened during a week at the beach. This is what occurs when a Great Grandfather decided to play with a Great Grandson. They decided to wrestle and the gloves..or rather the socks came off..and the winner of the match goes to....

I guess I would fall down if I smelled those toes!

In pure Tyler fashion he bounces back..

Tyler wins with a Knockout!!!! (We all know that Dad also won..see the smile on his face.)

A Week at the Beach Part One

A week at the beach, part one.

Yeap, that's about it, when looking out over the great expanse, the final frontier, the big blue sea, well you get the point. It just keeps on keeping on, wave after wave. All I did was step in.
Do you think the hat is a bit much? It is either that or sunburn on the ole noggin. It was very windy the day we walked on the beach and had much to be concerned with like loosing my hat, and what hair I have left..However, Katelyn, figure out an intresting was to keep from being blown away..
Lucky for her, she had friends and family about, to make sure any wayward dogs, did not find their way to her spot on the beach.

There was one person in our group that was not effected by the blustering wind, because he moved a bit faster than the malstrom..

Tornado Tyler, Joe and Amy's son and Savannah's younger brother. Here is a better picture to see what happens when Tyler is confinded indoors.
What Tyler lacked in staying in one place, he made up in just being so darn cute.

Laying Flagstone or How to Drop Flat Rocks

Previously on.....Extremely Slow Yard Makeover.
Phase One: Digging the dirt, aka clay aka red mushing stuff when it is wet or red cumbly stuff when it is dry.
Phase Two: Covering the area with a base of gravel, and leveling it as much as possible which is more not as possible as it is possible since the area has a slight slope. You think that is confusing, try leveling on a slope.
Phase Three: Spreading a layer of sand, or creating a tempting bathroom for the local feline residents


Now we are into Phase Four: The laying of the flagstone.


There are many way to express oneself, the written word or painting on a canvas. I've always looked for way to express myself through art and for me writing is bout right, however there are other means that I have explored. I have found out that placing flagstone as a means of artistic expression is not the way to go. It is not as complex as other venues, just carry and drop.


This is the best help anywhere, My Dad, who I think is part mule due to how hard he works, not to mention his near-mule like stubbornness.
Picture by Mom

I am glad my Mom was there, so she could hang out with us while we worked, she read and took a few pictures.
Picture by Susan


This is Buddy, he just watched.

He did not take any pictures, but was a bit upset due to what we did to his outdoor "sandbox"


Here are the results of some hard work and patience. The hard work was done by Dad and myself, and the patience part was Susan, who was the "artist" of this project.


She is the one that is solving the "jigsaw" puzzle, cause only she has the picture.

So basically here is how it was done.

Chose a flagstone:
Which consisted of picking up the closest one, look at it, then look where it can fit, which is almost anywhere, however, there are some decisons to be made, see Susan above.

Then carry the flagstone to that location and drop. This by far is the easiest aspect of the project, but one must be alert as to where one's toes are during the dropping. Then all you have to do is...............

Dust off and repeat....

Over and over and over again......

This is mid stage of Phase Four. There will be more flagstone to lay, and then shift them around until they "fit". Then onto Phase Five, getting this thing finished.