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June 21, 2007

And the Living's Easy

Been busy with a lot of things lately, especially my Wordpress blog. We have been enjoying the pool and the gas grill and summer in general. It is going to be a busy summer for me. Besides all the yard work we have planned there are a number of trips coming up. This weekend I will be going to the Well, which is past Smithfield. The Well is a retreat and I am going as a part of my church to meditate and discuss the future of our church. I have never been to a religious retreat and it sounds like a relaxing, meditative time, something I really need. Last Saturday I finally took my long delayed hike to Lake Drummond in the Great Dismal Swamp. I shouldered my new pack with most of my hiking gear in it just to see how it would work on a long hike. The trek to Lake Drummond is 9 miles round trip. I managed to hike the 9 miles along with a few stops and some time to enjoy Lake Drummond in about 4 hours. I was sore the next day but I suprised myself with how well I handled the 9 miles with a pack. Coming up in July is the much anticipated vacation to Nevada and California for the LDRS. I will also be exploring the Mojave National Preserve.

I have also been selected to attend the 2007 LandWarNet Conference which is being held in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida the second week of August. I will arrive Sunday night and probably leave either Thursday night or Friday morning. I am looking forward to that also. I really love Florida and I have never been to Ft. Lauderdale except the airport on my way to Key West. Teresa and I also hope to find some time for a weekend getaway to Ocracoke Island on the Outer Banks of North Carolina. It has been a long time since I was last there and it should be very relaxing and lots of fun too. So I should have a lot to write about this summer and I hope I can find the time to write about it.

 

Posted by Michael at 8:40 PM | Comments (0)

June 10, 2007

Summertime

Summer is here to stay, at least for a couple of months. The new pool is wonderful. The sand filter has done a great job cleaning the water. Right now the water is crystal clear. The pool came with a pool vacuum that works great cleaning up the bottom of the pool. The pool is so big I can actually swim a few strokes and I have been swimming on the bottom with my speedo goggles. The gas grill is also working well. We have been grilling and eating on the deck almost every evening. I took off Friday from work so we could go see the Virginia Parade of Sail that starts Harborfest this year. We got a great view from Point Comfort on Fort Monroe. There were over 50 ships in the parade with many of them sailing ships. I shot some great video which I posted to my other blog. We also had a free lunch with some ex NFL players that was hosted by Fort Monroe. After all that we went shopping in Phoebus, which is just outside the gates of Fort Monroe.
But summer is not all fun. I have been working very hard in the yard. Actually Teresa has been doing most of the work. She has planted shrubs and flowers around the pool and in the gardens in the front and side yard. I have been mowing and trimming and putting down truckloads of mulch. Today I am watching STS-117 as it gets ready to dock with the International Space Station. The shuttle flights will be ending in 2010 with the completion of the ISS. After that there will be a delay of several years before the next generation of manned space vehicle, Orion, is ready to fly. As someone who grew up watching the manned space program from Mercury to Gemini and Apollo, I am looking forward to the Orion and the eventual return to the Moon. It is about time.

Posted by Michael at 8:24 AM | Comments (0)