Christmas Pictures

As promised, here are some Christmas pictures. Not feeling to wordy today, so enjoy the pictures.

Merry Christmas, Part 2

It is Christmas morning. We have been to church (really K and the kids, as I have a nasty cold and do not want to spread it among the church attendees) and have opened the presents. It seems such a wonderful day. Have a joyous celebration!

Christmas Cookies

As is our custom, each year we make Christmas cut out cookies using the "honey dough" recipe from my Grandmother F. This is same recipe that my mom made as well. This weekend was the weekend to make the cookies. However there is one problem. the dough is good tasting without making the cookies. It is so good that 1/6 of the dough is already consumed, before making cookies. We always make two batches for just this reason. I will post pictures when we make the actual cookies.

Merry Christmas!

Office Express Plus

B, K and B's Mother in Law now own a business of shipping and office supplies. Located nearly across the street from where B previously worked at the Dialysis center, B is now the Entrepreneur! Below is a picture of his new business. It has been a busy and exciting time for B and K. K still works for the hospital. If you look closely at the picture (enlarge it preferably) B can be seen in the pic. B is working hard enough that he has lost more than a few pounds.

Good luck to B, K and M-I-L in their new endeavor

Merry Christmas

Most of those visiting this blog will get this picture in a Christmas card that will be late. It is late because I could not coordinate the schedules of A and C until today. More posts later

It is an unfortunate sign of the times

Last week, a neighbor 4 houses down from us died unexpectedly, leaving a wife and daughter. They have lived there for about a year, yet we never met them and only learned of his passing through a neighbor. Both worked and the child went to daycare after school. We never saw them mowing or doing yard work, or just out.

I was out of town when he passed, but K walks through the neighborhood everyday and knew nothing. It is weird how you can live 600 feet from someone, yet not even know their names.

News form the home front

Only a couple more days of freedom. A comes home from college tomorrow and C comes home of Friday. It is great to see how they both have matured. Pray for A as she takes her exams.

My how time flies

It has been almost a month since my last post, so here are some ramblings...

Went to Ohio for Thanksgiving, everyone, A, C, K and I. We had fun but did not get as much F family time as I would have liked. As we all grow older, it is getting harder and harder to get together.

November was a relatively quiet month, but I just did a lot of traveling for my job. Same stuff different city.

I both love and hate those people that have already sent their Christmas cards. Love them because we get to hear from them, but hate their organization.

It is odd that we just found out that an acquaintance of ours passed away in September when K was having Gall Bladder issues. There was a nice article in the paper about her and her husband over Thanksgiving. She passed after a 7 year battle with Thymoma Cancer. We prayed for her daily, and now hope she has found eternal peace and comfort.

Final Flat E posting

Flat E and I were off to New York city for me to attend the Chem Show. Here is a picture of Flat E and me in my trade show booth.


As we were walking from the Jacob Javits Center we could see the Empire State Building to get a picture of it. The Empire State building is a little over 1000 feet tall and when standing next to it, does not make a good picture.



Walking out of the hotel, Times Square was only a couple of blocks away. Here is a daytime picture of Times Square.



Around the corner from the hotel was the place where David Letterman is filmed. I got there at night, so Flat e is not visible on this one.



This is Flat E in Times Square at night. Lots of lights, noise and people. It is a neat place.



And my final picture is of Flat E at most kids favorite place, The M&M Store with the big animated bill board. In this case, the M&M is pretending to be King Kong on top of the Empire State Building.



Since Flat E has been sent home, things are more docile around here. There is no excitement.

I didn't know you had it in you!!!

My M-I-L Adela was talking with my S-I-L, LU. Adela was telling my SIL that I took a girl friend with me to NYC for the trade show. She was also telling SIL that my girl friend stayed in my hotel room, went out to dinner with me, wandered around NYC and we were even seen at the trade show together, verified by pictures. And Adela also said to my SIL that my wife, K knew all about it and had no problems with the arrangements. According to Adela, she was talking with my SIL for several minutes about our escapades in NYC. Only after a significant time did Adela tell SIL that the girl friend was Flat E!

When K told me this, I was driving in rural SC and about got into a wreck laughing. Nice job Adela, I did not know you had it in you!

And BTW, LU, if you are reading this, I appreciate in a good way some of the comments that were relayed from Adela.

Flat E and the trip to Virginia

Flat E and I went on a business trip to western Virginia. Visiting Lexington, VA we stopped at VMI, Virginia Military Academy. This is a place the some of our forefathers had some adventure during the Civil War.









From Lexington, VA, we traveled along the Maury River were the leaves were pretty. We also found an old lock set for traveling the river, the pictures are below.





After doing some business in Lexington, VA, we traveled to Buena Vista, VA that was only a few miles away. This is another small town in the Shenandoah Valley. Since it was during the fall, the colors were pretty. We also saw a cool sign in the city.





After I did my business, we then traveled back toward Lynchburg, VA from Buena Vista,VA along HWY 501. It starts out along the Maury River, then at the peak of the mountains, 501 parallels the James River where again the colors were great. The views are not as great as out west, but for Eastern Mountains, the view was pretty great.









And then we saw a cool snail. Flat E was too big to fit into the picture.



Hope you like the pictures. We are off to NYC next.

Last Update for K and the Gall Stones

K is doing much better today. She is eating without nausea and has only limited pain, typically A. A will get her laughing and the incisions will hurt, and A will keep going making K laugh harder, making it hurt more, but in a good way, I guess.

K and the Gall Stones, Update 3, Plus other stuff

It is now about 6 PM and K is feeling like she got run over by a truck. All of the nausea, as well as the two procedures have irritated her throat, so when she tries to eat or drink, it hurts. But she says that she feels way better at home than at the hospital, so that is good. Doing anything I can to help, but mostly just leaving her alone to sleep.

Meanwhile, A is on Fall Break but had to take the PCAT this morning. I got up at 6:25 this AM to make sure she was up, but apparently she had slept through her alarm. I knew that I was to hear noises and there were none. I made sure she had a good breakfast before going to the test. The test started at 8:45AM and was done at about 1:30PM.

C also wanted to spend some time at home this weekend, so I have also been making sure her laundry was done while she visited friends today. She needs periodic breaks from school and took Friday and today to give her mind a rest.

Hope your day is going great.

K and the Gall Stones, Update 2

I got the call from K this morning at 6:45 AM. The Doc officially said that she could come home. I will be leaving in a few minutes to get her, but first had to get A off to take the PCAT.

I will post more information later today.

Update, 9:00AM

K is now home and is resting as comfortably as possible given that she had gall baldder removal surgery. She is happy to be home, because the hospital is no place to get any rest.

K and the Gall Stones, Update

K ended up spending last night in the hospital as today the doctor is going to do a ERCP. That means that there was an escapee gall stone that was left over from the laparoscopic procedure that needed to come out. They do this by endoscope (the E in the above acronym). The doctor either destroys or extracts the stone, but one way or the other, it means another painful procedure.

It was done on K at about 1:30 PM today and the Doc says that everything is now fine. This miscreant stone is the probable reason that K had such bad nausea after the initial removal and over night. Now that this is done, K seems in good spirits, is eating liquids without nausea and if she can eat solid foods later this evening or tomorrow AM, should be home by noon.

Thanks for the calls, thoughts and prayers for K. We appreciate the concerns.

The first Flat E trip

E from the left coast sent a Flat E to me so that it could travel the world and report back to her class on those travels. So traveling we went. Below is a picture of Flat E getting ready for our road trip by hanging out at my car. She is waiting to leave on a 900 mile round trip driving from Greensboro, NC to Baltimore, MD.


No matter who you are, it is important to buckle your seat-belt!



Our first stop was at the University of NC to see my cousin A. We had breakfast but did not go onto the campus.



The next stop was some business that D had to do in Raleigh, NC. All Flat E saw was the outside of some industrial building, so there was nothing to photograph.

After that, D and Flat E stopped to see cousin C at the School for Science and Math. We had a great lunch and we got to take some pictures.





As you saw in another post, Flat E and I got to see our cousin ME outside of Washington, DC. Unfortunately it was late and too dark to go see any of the sights, but man are there a lot of cars in Washington, DC.

But a really cool thing happened, Flat E got a bead of her own at the Hotel.


The next day, we visited the Inner Harbor in Baltimore, Maryland. Many roads are called Francis Scott Key after the guy who wrote the Star Spangled Banner, our National Anthem.



We got to see a big, huge coast Gard Ship. It was 200 feet long.



Here is a picture of Flat E and the harbor



And this is a sailing ship docked at the Inner Harbor. It was huge with all that rope!



At Flat E and I got to see a real submarine docked. It was fierce looking. One of the employees was nice to take the picture.



And here are a couple more views of the Harbor.





It was a fun place to go. Flat E and I are going off to the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia next week.

Visit to The Suburbs of DC

As noted on someone else's blog, I stopped by to visit MEH in MD on Tuesday evening. She had just come from a soccer game of Sh's, so we met about 7:30PM. ME was kind enough to offer me some home made tacos that were delicious. Thanks ME

As we visited for about 2 1/2 hours, we discussed the many changes in both of our lives. We laughed at many thing, seeing the funny side to many of the day-to-day life issues. In the end, she and I solved many of the problems that we face, but those that have the power to implement those changes have not yet called us. We wait for that call.

As my travels will take me that way more often, I will get to see her on a reasonably frequent basis. It is always fun to share time with her or any of my cousins.

On a fun request from the left coast blogger I brought Flat E with me and got a picture of ME and Flat E together. Here are the pics.

K and the Gall Stones

K had gall bladder removal surgery today. She had some nausea during the day and even up to dinner time, was unable to keep any liquids down. This alone would have kept her int he hospital overnight. Everything went rather as expected but during recovery, the Doc told me that there appeared to be an inflamed duct indicating recent gall stone activity.

Because of this, they are keeping K in the hospital tonight and going to do a endoscopic test tomorrow making sure that either the stone has cleared or they will clear it. So for tonight, K is in the hospital, feeling rather badly after the surgery.

On a positive note, she did have half of a fruit smoothie this evening that she was able to hold down.

More updates tomorrow.

C and the Roomies

While this sounds like an old Motown group, it is C and her two roommates. So far, they are getting along great for 3 people living in a 14 x 18 space. Thought those interested would like to see.

Picture Frame

A got a panoramic picture at the Smith Center in Chaple Hill earlier this year. She got it because she coudl see herself in the picture. The panaramic picture needed a custom frame, so this past weekend, a frame was made. This picture is too far away for you to see where A is, but she is on the right side, about 2/3's the way up. She is in the group that spells out TAR HEELS. Anyway, here are the results:

The Hutch

The above is a picture of the desk hutch that I built for A at school. As you can see, she has pretty well filled it from the start. She says she likes it.

School issue

C has been home for a couple of days due to a head lice break-out at school. He dorm hall was infested, as were several other halls, so they sent 40 kid away to help curtail the outbreak. It was the first ever outbreak of this kind in the 28 year history of her school. I guess there is a first time for everything.

We got a call about 11PM on Saturday evening asking for help. K and I went to the big W and purchased shampoo and spray to begin the control. C called on Sunday AM, saying that she was told to come home to get all her laundry re-done, all washed in HOT water and dried on HIGH heat to kill any live lice or eggs (called nits, and the origination of the term nit-picking).

K and I took the laundry to a local laundromat, spending about $40 on cleaning the clothes in about 2 hours. If we had done them at home, it would have taken about 2 days to do all the laundry, and then we still would have needed to go to the laundromat to do the comforters and blankets.

In the process of delivering the supplies to C at about 1 AM Sunday, I apparently hit a piece of shredded truck tire with my Passat, cracking the oil pan. Fortunately the oil leaked out slowly and did not cause any issues other than needing a new oil pan and a minor oil spill hazard on I-85. The only way that I found the leak was seeing the oil under the car on Sunday afternoon. When I checked the oil, prior to starting the car, it was down 3 out of 6 quarts. I added enough oil to get it on the dipstick before starting the car, and put the car on ramps so that the repairs could be made. Monday, I went to the local VW dealership to get the pan and gasket. Installation took about an hour, including oil change.

This is the hutch that I built for the back of A's desk at college. It is her design, so it should complete the storage for her room. There is one shelf for the small cubby on the right end, but I need to get shelf pins. I will deliver it tomorrow, an then post a pic of the installed look

It has been too long

and we have been busy. The quick update:

Over Labor Day weekend, we went to the beach, Myrtle Beach that is. It was hot (95F), humid and sunny, just like it is suppose to be this time of the year. C was with us, but A had school things to do, so she stayed home. We only went for two nights and came home on Sunday because C had some homework to do and the Condo we rented did not have high speed Internet. C also forgot her charger for the computer so had little battery left to do anything.

It seems that C has a small bit of blond in her. We left Friday for the beach, we got about an hour from Durham and C announces that she has left her keys back in the dorm room. No real problem, security or her roomies will let her in. As we get further into the trip to Myrtle Beach, C announces that she does not have her cell phone, and probably left it next to her keys in Durham. No problem, we loan her K's phone so she can enjoy a little freedom from us but still be in contact. During the weekend, C accidentally locks the keys in the Van, but no problem as we had the other set with us, in K's possession, about 100 yards from where C parked the van.

As we get back to the house first, and then back to Durham, we empty the van of all things C, and cannot find her cell phone. It is about 8:00PM when C gets into her room, finds her keys, but cannot locate the cell phone. At about 10PM, I get a call from C on HER phone. She says she found it but, giggling would not tell us where. Finally, earlier today, she said she had it with her all the time, but did not know it. It was in her purse.

Somebody may need a smaller purse.

So it seems that C really likes her new school. Yes the classes are harder, but she is adapting well to the pace and requirements.

A is adapting to the university life again. She is rushing a sorority, so we will see how far that goes. I hope she likes it, if she chooses that direction. A is also involved with Carolina Fever, the UNC student fan club charged with distributing the student athletic tickets fairly; the Water Polo Club, is a committee member for the Dance Marathon; job shadows; and is involved in other things that I cannot remember.

K and I miss having either of them around, but we get to see A about once per week as she comes home to "Job Shadow" a pharmacist near our house. She seems to like it.

Small Town NC

As A was going to the beach recently, she spied this as they drove along I-40 east of I-95:



Yep, the small town of Faison is near Mt Olive and has a large pickle plant (Mt Olive Pickles) Just thought it would be interesting for some others to see.

Cedar Chest

My sister J was changing houses and downsizing to quantity of stuff she is required to cram into her domicile. She asked and I accepted the possession of a cedar chest that belonged to my maternal Grandmother. There were two minor issues, it was in Toledo and it was locked without a known key.

The first issue was no problem. My van can handle the cedar chest and with help from my nephew BW, it was in the van in no time.

The second issue proved slightly more challenging. My father had tried every skeleton key in his possession in an effort to open the chest. The closest thing to working was the key to the door of the grandmother clock, but it would not work.

So K and I get the chest back home and get it unloaded from the Van. It is heavy because it still has STUFF in it, stuff that is not mine. So K and I go looking at the usual places for a "blank" skeleton key without success. After 5 PM, we get a suggestion to try an Antique dealer in the Downtown area, but they close at 5.

So the next day, K goes to the Antique dealer and buys a blank key for $4,using the one from the grandmother clock as an example. The dealer voiced scepticism to K that I could get the key to work and he provided the name of a local Locksmith to make this key for us if needed.

The glove was thrown down. It took me only about an hour of drilling, filing and fitting, but I found success. It took drilling out the center of the key to make it fit over the pin, shortening the flange part and install the groove in the right location. Below is a picture of the crude key that I made. It works fine.



So J, if you find a key that looks something like this, I am open to having it sent to me.

Quilt that K made

Below are a couple of pictures of a quilt that K made as a baby shower for my neice, B. She is due to have her first in about 6 weeks. The quilt looked wonderful and the pictures do not do justice for the quilt, but I cannot stuff the quilt onto the computer screen.