Well here it is the 29th of May 2007 and I am at my daughter's house in Maryland with the grandkids getting ready for a birthday celebration of the girls today. We are having a outing and a BBQ in a local park later today. With what had happened in the past week I havc made it known that I will not be doing anything that has to do with a sharp knife. With my luck I would probable cut off a finger or something. Now in a couple of days my wife and other daughter will be going to Colorado for my nephew's wedding. He is the last of my sister's kids to get married. Her 3 daughters have already gotten married. I have asked her if she is experiencing empty nest syndrome yet but she says no. She gets plenty of time with kids at the school where she teaches. Her youngest the one that is getting married and he is 25 years old or older. I wish him and his wife the best of luck as they will be starting a new chapter in their lives.
Last night I finished a three years of a course called Men With a Mission. This has been a very fruitful three years. Now I want to go teach the course at my church in Hammonton, NJ. I just pray that it will be accepted by the elders and pastorial staff. Giving this class will be a great testamony to God by teaching men to become more involved in the ministry and the church. It is not to try to put down the women of the church because the women are what keep most churches running today. God Bless these ladies but I feel that the men need to be more involved. I pray that this will catch on and there will be men that want to become involved in the church. I pray that God will take this course and use it to build up his church.

Catching up at last

Now that my wife has retired I finally find that I have time to finally catch up on things around the house that I have been neglecting for the past three years. I finally had a chance to replace some tile in the kitchen that I have been meaning to replace for at least three years. I still have several tiles to replace but the job is finally getting done. I also have been able to get out into the yard and try to get things straightened out there. I have been able to put in some rasberry plants, blueberry plants, some grape plants. I am finally getting the property lines clearly marked and want to put up a fence around the property. The only problem I have is that I am a little accident prone and do stupid things. I managed to stab my left hand with a knife and sever the flexor tendon on the index finger of the left hand. Now I have no flexion of that finger. I thought this would be a big hassle but I am finding I can do most things that I could before I can still do. The biggest problem that I have found is that since I was trained in typing by the touch method is that my typing speed has suffered. I am trying to learn how to type without the index finger of the left hand. As all you typists out there you know that is an important finger used in typing. I will get along however. I never realized how much you would miss just one finger. But then again I nver realized how easy it is to do without the use of one finger. But one word of caution if you are reading this is be careful and don't do as I did. I was trying to seperate frozen hamburgers with a sharp knife when this happened. I knew better but being who I am I thought I could do this without any problems. Guess what, It didn't work out quite the way I had intended. That's life. I thank God that it wasn't worse. It very easily could have been.

Things around the house

Here it is about the end of the first week I have spent at home in quite some time where I didn't have to take care of some kids and I find that I have accomplished several things and I find that I have several more things to accomplish. Will it ever end or will I ever get caught up. The answer to that is "I hope so but probably not". So I guess what they say about having a house is the truth. It is a hole the length times the width that you are always throwing money into. Hopefully as time goes by there will be fewer things that I have to do and more time to enjoy doing a few things that I like to do. i.e. ride my motorcycle and things like that. Maybe I should just take the time and do it instead of do things around the house. Can't really do that however until other things get done. I think I will go outside today and get a few things done outside. It is such a pretty day it is a shame to spend it indoors. Besides I need the fresh air. I know that it is thursday and hopefully I will be able to get a few things done today. But they will never get done unless I get outside and do them. I just seem to lack the energy right now. So I guess I will just close this blog and get outside and do them. So until later. Have fun.

Retirement and the Nanny

As I sit here after my wife retired last week and has gone to take care of the grandchildren for a while, I have the time to do a few things around the house that have been lacking for some time. I have kept busy doing several things so far this week. I have hardly had any time to get on the computer and see what is going on. I will say this however, since I have been taking care of the grandkids for the past three years and being at home while my wife is taking care of the grandkids it feels a little strange. I suppose I will get used to it however. Yesterday I had the chance to do a few things in what I call my tool room. I put in a counter that will give me some space to work. I have make a few places to use for storage of parts and etc. Hopefully if this continues I will be able to make a place for almost everything. Hopefully. How am I going to adjust to having the free time and not with the kids every week. I really don't know the answer to that at this time. At this time I am having a few mixed feelings about this situation. I guess that comes from taking care of them for so long. However time will tell so I will just wait and see. Its not like I won't seem them any more. Maybe now I will be able to just be the Grandpa and enjoy them on an occasional visit. Maybe I will enjoy that more. I have however made a lot of friends in Maryland where the grandkids are and I will miss not seeing them as often. The church family I have in Maryland has been a real blessing to me. I will not forget all that they have done for me.

Is Spring really here?

Yesterday on Friday it was the best day of the year so far this year and I was anxious to get out on my motorcycle and just ride and allow the wind to blow in my face. Because of this I decided to ride from MD to NJ last PM. The problem is I waited about 1 hour too long. That last hour on the Motorcycle was downright cold. That was from 8 PM to 9 PM. After the sun went down it got chilly quick. But I had dressed for the cold and the ride was great. I think everyone should enjoy a good motorcycle ride just once in their life. The clear view of everything around you, the smells that we miss riding in the airconditioned car with the windows up. The fresh air blowing all around you. I think that there are many advantaged to riding today especially when the gas prices are now around $3.00 a gallon. Even buying the premium it is much cheaper than riding in a car. I drove 150 miles on 2.7 gallons of gas last evening. That computes out to be a little over 55.555 miles a gallon. I can live with that. The great thing about that is I have a big motorcycle and I get a comfortable ride. So why not admit it? I really enjoy the motorcycle. It is however tough to carry a lot and you cannot carry many passengers and with Grandkids they cannot go with me but lets face it. Everything has its drawbacks or is it a blessing? I will let you decide if you are reading this. May you at least once enjoy the ride on a motorcycle and I will wish you good weather. Oh yes it is a little tough in the rain and snow but that goes without saying. I will close in saying "Happy riding and RIDE SAFE!!!!!!!

Peace at last

This past week was Easter and our grandkids were here for the week while my daughter's kitchen was being renavated. Four grandkids ages 8,6, and 4. The 6 yr old are twins. This is a handfull for anyone of the retirement age. Don't get me wrong I love the grandkids dearly. However I am getting to the age where it is hard to keep up with them and my patience is getting to be less and less. I was very happy yesterday to take them home to their mother for a couple of days before I have to go see them again. To take them home was a 300 mile round trip. I did however attend a class last night before I returned home. I have been taking a 3 year course for Men With A Mission. I have 3 classes left before I finish the 3rd year. I have really enjoyed this class and have learned a lot. I hope to teach this class to others after I complete the course. I only hope and Pray that I will be equiped to teach this class. It is a lot of information to be able to give to other men. So this has been my past week. I know how really blessed I am and I need a way to express my feelings sometimes So I blog. If you are reading this you might know how that works. So if this is your case Blog. It helps to relieve tension.
Thank you for reading my ramblings. If you wish to respond please do.

Easter

Well here it the day before Easter and Guess What! Its trying to snow this am. This is late for snow and low temps but it is freezing today. Temp this morning was 32 degrees outside. So what is on tap for Easter. Today we are going to have the Easter get together here at our home. We are going to grab that Easter Bunny and squeeze all the eggs out of him and have an Easter Egg hunt for the kids. We are having the Grandkids, Nieces and Nephews and friends. Hopefully everyone will have a good time. What a thankful time of the year to be able to have so many people and family for us to have here for a get together. The worst part of this is cooking an cleaning after the Easter meal. But how thankful we are to be able to have plenty to eat and a place to call home. So if you are reading this I hope and pray that everyone should be lucky to be able to celebrate this Easter Season. Have a nice holiday.