Halloween

 
I sent out about 280 invitations to our Halloween party this year. Twelve folks showed up. Now granted, I sent them out only ten days before, but still. That's about 4.5% ROI (Return on Invitation).

But you know what? Those of us who were there had an amazing time. Donna and I were both in lovely gowns. Her sleeves are big. Mine are, well... Never mind. Pictures? Of course! Go here to see the extravagance. We had a costume contest with prizes and a fog machine and dry ice and and and.. It was a great time.

I still want a D2h. I made the front page of sports for the last three weeks. Sometimes the front and back. I'll have to find those. They aren't too interesting, unless you were playing the football game. Made me miss marching band. A bit.

Along those same lines, got some more great pictures of the hounds. Dixie got spayed last week, so maybe she'll quit marking the house. If my mom reads this she'll let me have it - but beagles are not outside dogs. All the books say so.


Will and Meghan are parents again. That's just about as wonderful as it gets. Welcome John Patrick Chandler.

Reading Jamie's recent blog entries made me miss Alabama. Made me miss you all. 

Dixie; Fiddlers

 

Ohhhh Dixie Dog! Donna and I had decided we were going to adopt /search for a rescue beagle when we got back from Fiddler's convention. The Tuesday before Fiddler's, 'Soon to be named Dixie' was quickly dropped by two ladies (should I call them ladies? I don't know the whole situation, and since they are female, I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. Hell. Who knows? They may have saved her from the Interstate and were just on vacation or something. I digress.) on the road in front of our weekly Washington County News publication.

We took her down the road to the Lee Highway Animal Hospital which was the closest vet I knew of, and also happened to be the place we were planning on boarding Hambone while we went to Fiddler's. She's at home with us now.

And as Doug and Tom Millington, and their (and consequently mine) friend David are almost here from Villa Rica with a metric butt-load of some sort of video game auction stuff to take tomorrow, I will sign off for now.

I miss you all. I'll continue the Hambone Dixie saga soon. Maybe Donna will post something. You can check her (probably still empty) blog out at bellamammal.blogspot.com 

...And to get everyone in the mood

... And my other post below....

Oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy oh boy.

Heeee! Almost Fiddler's! One more day of work this week, and then..! Fiddles and Mandolins and Will's mom singin and playing behind the house and and and and and and and....

I finally got published in the Bristol Herald Courier this past Saturday. Unfortunately, our chief photographer got his shin and other bones in the area demolished by a high-school football player.. Fortunately (for me) I got to shoot football with a sweeet Nikon D2h the other night. My pictures weren't great, but they were okay considering I'd not ever used the camera, I was cold, and.. welll. It's been at least five years since I shot football.. The last being the Carolina Panthers when they really sucked with a manual focus 300/f4....... Either way.. pretty fun..

And a bit of me hates it. I've been looking into a digital back for all my Pentax lenses, and now, no matter what I get, it's not going to equal the dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit-dit- (x41) of that Nikon bursting through somewhere near eight frames a second before it has to write all those pictures to the CF card. Oh my goodness that felt good... And there's no way I'm dropping $5000 on a D2h with a 80-200 2.8.. but Mmmmmmmmm... Lottery...

Can't wait to see everybody.. When the hell are Geoff and Stacy getting back? Isn't it about time?

Oh.. And I started Donna a blog... Don't know if she'll like what I created, but she's not seen it yet.. nor does she even know about it yet.. bellamammal.blogspot.com... We'll see!

FIDDLER'S!

A Long Time Coming

 

On June 10, 2006, I finally married my best friend. Donna and I were married at our house in Bristol, TN. It was a long time coming. It was a small wedding with only family there. For that matter, if you're reading this, there is a decent chance you were in attendance. We had a reception later at State Line downtown. It was a magical day, and although there were many we would have like to be there, everyone who was there made it one of the best days of my life. I've never felt so loved by everyone around me. Everyone did so much, and there are so many people we need to thank. It seems nothing we could do would express our thanks to everyone to the level they deserve. Especially our families. All five sets!

I remember when I got a Powerbook 145B back from my Dad. It was a birthday present to him during from the year I left Evansville and moved back to Anniston. He gave it back to me because he didn't really need/use it, and I do collect old stuff like that. He had typed one ClarisWorks document that was saved on the 40 Megabyte (yes - megabyte) Hard Drive. I don't remember exactly what it said, but he was talking about how he and my Mom were about to go to Hawaii for their 40th (Maybe 35th.. Not sure) Wedding Anniversary. The only part I really remember was that he said [I'm going to Hawaii soon]... "with my love, my wife, my best friend."

When I think about my other 'best friends' in life, it's curious how many of them we (I) really have kept up with. How lucky I am to still have Will, Jamie, Doug and Jeremy - and their families - in my life. Having just married my best friend Donna, it makes me realize how thankful I am for friends such as those of you I hold in my heart as friends.

Our journeys have all been long and wonderful. May they continue to be full of all the things that have made them so until now. 

New Year's a few months ago

 


This is a picture from new years. I really don't have much to say about it besides it was a blast. I'm printing our Wedding Invitations now and watching Dodgeball for the forty-eleventh time. Maybe I'll start writing more soon.. As soon as we get this plant going. I miss you all.. And Jamie - thank you for the birthday card. It was one of the best ever! 

January Free Roll Poker Tournament

Donna and I played in the Tennessee Poker League's January Free Roll Tournament today. We both made it through the first round and get to go back tomorrow. I finished the day with $16,500 in chips. Donna has $31,000 in chips. I hope we do well tomorrow. The first and second place prizes are an all expense paid trip to Tunica with a seat in a $1000 WSOP tournament. The top place female gets to go to a Women's event.

I hope we win.

New Year Poker

Happy New Year! Doug and Kristie came up for the new year, and we had some friends from poker over as well.

Larry had been in the hospital but came home yesterday. It is very good to have him back across the street.

The carpet on our stairs is being cleaned at the moment.. as well as the carpet in our bedroom.

Miss you all. It was great to see Doug and PK1.