Power Restored

Praise God we got our power restored last night!

Irene Update

Good morning everyone on this beautiful monday morning. Just a short note to say we are all safe in Halifax, NC although Irene tried her best to make life difficult for us. The north side of our house was pounded all day saturday with 45 to 55 MPH winds and horizontal rain. We did not receive any property damage except for a lot of pine tree debris to clean up.

The worst part is that trees came down everywhere along the roads taking down power lines so we are without power and probably will be for a few days. It has been a chore keeping our generator running but at least it is saving the stuff in our fridge & freezer. Doesn't help much in the way of comfort us though. It is hot and humid and fans just blow hot air.

I am at work and the A/C here sure feels good. Hot as it is, I never knew how cold our water could be until this morning when I had to take a cold shower. Really woke me up. I won't be in any hurry to leave here today.

Hopefully today I will find time to check out some of your blogs to see how others fared. I am especially curious to know how Jenna at Cold Antler Farm in New York is after seeing reports of flooding in that state.

Have a great week everyone and I will check in and leave comments as I find time.

Questions?????

I've seen this set of questions on a number of blogs so I thought I would give it a try just for fun.

1. What time did you get up this morning? 3 AM I have this internal clock that wakes me up and usually I turn my alarm off before it goes off.

2. How do you like your steak? Well done, like I prefer all my food

3. What was the last film you saw at the cinema? SALT

4. What is your favorite TV show? Jeopary

5. If you could live anywhere in the world where would it be? On an island in the south Pacific.

6. What did you have for breakfast? 2 large plums & coffee

7. What is your favorite food? Cheese

8. What food do you dislike. Mushrooms

9. What is your favorite place to eat. Cracker Barrell

10. What is your favorite dressing. Honey Mustard

11. What is your favorite clothes. cargo shorts or pants

12. Where would you visit if you had the chance. British Columbia

13. Cup 1/2 empty or 1/2 full? 1/2 full

14. Favorite time of day. Early morning

15. Favorite sport to watch. Golf

16. Favorite fragrance. Stetson

17. Favorite fruit/vegetable. Peach/Corn

18. People watcher? Definately

19. Are you a morning or night person. Morning

20. Do you have any pets. Rocky my "taco bell" dog.

21. Any new & exciting news to share. Only that I started college after 44 years.

22. Any pet peeves? Slow people on the interstate.

23. Favorite flower. sunflower

24. Do anything spontaneous lately? Starting college

25. Last vacation. Long weekend at Celebrity Dairy and B & B

26. Last person you went out to diner with. My wife Linda.

27. Favorite color. Light blue.

28. How many tattos do you have? Zero

29. What habbit or habbits do you need to stop. Snacking in the evening.

Why I Call It Home

Happy Saturday everyone. Decided I would share a few scenes I discovered on Pinterest of North Carolina. This is such a diverse state with everything from the coast to the mountains. Something for everyone.

At the top is one of the many waterfalls found in NC and being near running water like this is so calming to me. To the right of the waterfall is a couple of scenes of the fabulous Blue Ridge Parkway. Imagine living close enough to see it every day.

The second trio is the famous Cape Hateras lighthouse, water scene near Blowing Rock and of course Mount Airy with Andy getting his picture taken by his statue.

Next is a scene from Corolla on the coast where wild horses run on the beach. A mountain lake and a distant view of Cape Hateras lighthouse.

Last but not least is a vintage scene of a store and you can still find many stores that have that weathered look. Wilbur's BBQ in Goldsboro has been a favorite of many in my family for a lot of years.

Hope you enjoyed the pictures and have a wonderful weekend. It is cooler here and cloudy. I've got a rack of ribs rubbed down with a special rub and in the crock pot so that will be supper tonight. Will be starting on week 3 of my studies so that should be fun. Take care all until later.

Wordless Wednesday - Cakes

Sunday Update

I finished my first week in my new college experience and it was really a lot of fun and I finished way ahead of the time allowed. I was even able to download week 2's information Friday so I have been studying this weekend and should have it accomplished by monday or tuesday at the latest.

The first week was on the computer and it's hardware. The text covered the components that make up the computer such as the motherboard, central possessing unit, expansion slots, memory and all the peripherals that attach and become a part of the computer.

Week 2 is going to be involving software and how to's for launching applications, making and using folders to organize data in a fashion that you will always know where anything is. There is much more detail involved but you can get the idea anyway. I can already see how this is going to help me even with the work I do at my office so it will be beneficial there first.

Hope everyone has had a great weekend and don't forget to visit the blog about the give away scheduled for Labor Day. Just drop by if you haven't and say you want to be included and I will add your name to the list.

Gifts from across the pond

This Monday I was very happy to receive a package from Saskia over in the Netherlands. She is a very sweet lady that has a blog titled Join My Joy and I encourage you to visit her today.

In the package was a variety of items, one being a post card that I failed to see until I had put my camera away. It was beautiful with Roses on it. Pictured below is some fun shapes that are very soft and stick to the window of my office door.

In the next picture is what I really loved as soon as I saw it. The flexible cooking device that gives you shapes like an apple and could even be used to freeze ice in the same shape. Also in the package was a set of colored pencils, some polished stones and a very nice pen that I will enjoy using. If you are seeing this Saskia I do thank you so very much.

Now for everyone in my blog family Linda is wanting me to have a give away just because we want to and to show my appreciation for all the wonderful people I have come to know in the past year. The give away will be a surprise box with a variety of items & will be filled to reflect a male or female winner.

We will do this for Labor Day and will be picking a winner on September 5th. I will be numbering the responses that you want to be included through the 4th of September and should by then know how to use the device that picks a number at random.

I don't have facebook any more so all you have to do is leave a comment that you wish to be included and I will take care of the rest.

Just so you will know school is going very well. I was surprised to find out that my first week has absolutely nothing to do with the books I received. This week was on the computer and the material dealt with the hardware inside your computer, how it is connected to each other and what all elements do. It was very interesting and I had to write a essay on "piracy". Some of the work was due tonight and the rest by sunday night. I had it all turned in last night. I am having fun with this course.

Report on Emma Joy

Praise God for His mercy and miracles. Emma came through the surgery fine and their comment was that it could not have gone any better. She is resting comfortably and everyone is very, very happy. One of the side effects from this surgery is that Emma will now have "warm feet" with the increased circulation. The family thanks everyone for their faith and prayers during this time.

For all the single ladies out there

For single ladies in a hurry to get married, here's a quick piece of biblical advice: Ruth patiently waited for her mate Boaz. While waiting on YOUR BOAZ, don't settle for ANY of his relatives: Brokeaz, Poaz, Lyinaz, Cheatinaz, Dumbaz, Cheapaz, Lockedupaz, Goodfornothinaz,Lazyaz, or Marriedaz and especially his third cousin Beatinyoaz. Please wait on your Boaz & make sure he respects Yoaz.

Multiple Prayer Requests

Pictured above is Emma Joy Groll who is 3 years old and a super trooper who has had numerous surgeries. She checks into the hospital today in preparation for open heart surgery tomorrow. All she has ever known is doctors and hospitals so please be in prayer for her and her family and for the doctors as she has her surgery tomorrow.

Probably a lot of you already know Missy over at "Is It Just Me". She has not been posting for a while because she has been with her mom & dad helped out on the farm since her mother has been ill. Her mother went into the hospital for a procedure and last Wednesday she came out of the operating room paralyzed from the chest down. The family is devastated and needs our prayers for God to work a miracle in this situation.

Last but certainly not least is our good friend Belle from British Columbia and a blogger at "Tales from a loser who is sometimes a winner". Last week her 21 year old grandson died suddenly and the family is understandably devastated and needs our prayers as well.

A lot going on folks but the good part is that we serve an awesome God who does His best work in times like this. Help me lift these precious people up in prayer.

Thanks

School starts tomorrow and I thought I would give you an idea of what I will be dealing with in my studies. This book is titled "Thinking Critically" by John Chaffee.

Thinking Critically (coming from the preface) is a comprehensive introduction to the cognitive process and helps students developthe higher order thinking abilities needed for academic study and career success.

Basic College Mathmatics by Ignacio Bello, born in Havana, Cuba. When he started teaching math at the University of South Florida he and the students hated the math books that were imposing, mathematically correct but boring. He took the challenge and wrote a math book that is student oriented with interesting applications, many suggested by the students themselves and even entertaining.

I have already gotten deeply into chapter 1 and find it the best math book I have ever seen and know I will enjoy this new challenge.

The Thinking Critically book has chapters titled, Thinking, Thinking Critically, Solving Problems, Perceiving and Believing, Constructing Knowledge, Language and Thought, Forming and Applying Concepts, Relating and Organizing, Thinking Critically About Moral Issues, Constructing Arguments, Reasoning Critically, Thinking Critically, Living Creatively.

So my friends as you can see I will be busy getting into these studies so I will post when I can but it will be limited.

You probably already know them - But just in case you don't

Lately I have been praising a couple of my blog friends for the outstanding quality of photography on their blogs and wanted to make sure all my followers knew about them as well.

I am referring to a mother and daughter, each with an amazing blog that not only is interesting but the photography will bow you away. Both these ladies are in South Africa which I never knew how beautiful it is until I spent time at their blogs. Desiree is the mom and Linda is her daughter. I have included samples from each blog for you to see.

The one below is from Desiree's blog

"Driftwood Ramblings" and you can go here to check her out see the beautiful sights of South Africa.

The next sample is from Linda's blog, "The Squashed Tomato" and you can go here to continue seeing awesome photography and get to know her and her new puppy Noodle who is a rescue pup. You really need to know Noodle's story.

Wordless Wednesday-Steven Kemler-President/Ultimate Medical Academy