Daily News: May 2008 Archives
It has been a while since my last entry so let me see if I can remember what has been happening. I have spend a lot of my day at the computer, mostly with my Wordpress blog. When not thinking about what to write on my blog I have been reading, watching lectures on "The Great Ideas of Philosophy" , watching TV, or working in the yard. One of the highlights of this past Memorial Day weekend was the successful landing of NASA's Phoenix Mars lander. It is a pity that I was not watching the landing of men on Mars, but that is another story. I hope I am around long enough to see men finally land on Mars, no matter how long overdue. I went out to the airport in Windsor where the Tidewater Soaring Society operates its gliders. I talked to a couple of the members about Teresa, Dana, and me taking a ride on one of their gliders. They said it should not be a problem to get one of the members to take us up for a ride. So I am looking forward to doing that next week. I still plan on my son Jason and myself taking a trip to Yellowstone National Park sometime this year. It has been a while since I have had a vacation and I have never taken Jason on a vacation anywhere, so I am looking forward to that. I have also driven my Mother to the doctors for appointments a couple of times. Considering that she is 89 years old she is in remarkably good health. May she live forever.
In the last week we have had some very bad weather. A week ago an F3 tornado touched down in Suffolk and destroyed or damaged over 140 houses. Three buildings in Driver were destroyed and many buildings in a community in Suffolk. I spent Saturday morning with 1500 volunteers cleaning up some of the damage in the community in Suffolk. We worked in one cul-d-sac where 4 of the 6 houses were destroyed. Two of the houses were razed to the foundation and the other two condemned. The amount of destruction I saw in that one neighborhood was like nothing I have ever seen. Today the weather is very poor with high winds and temperatures in the 40's. I have been staying busy with reading, building and launching model rockets, and working in the yard. I just wish there were more sunny days for doing things. I think since I retired in April there have only been a handful of sunny days. It is becoming somewhat depressing.
The construction around our house is also quite irritating. I will be glad when both projects are finally completed, although I think the pyramids of Egypt were built in less time. I saw some of my old work mates from TRADOC this weekend when I attended a party that Eugene Thacker (my old, now retired, boss) threw for his wife Jean's 50th birthday. Mike Burns, Steve Swartwood, Anastasia, Don Moses, Mark McGowan and Sam Tanguy were in attendance. It was good to see them all again. Now if the weather would just improve and the construction around here ended I could enjoy my retirement more. Oh, I forgot about the rising price of gas and food. Just when I retire the economy falls apart. So much for trying to get by on a fixed income. Guess I will play some Second Life, read my book, and work on my blog today, while praying for better weather. Enough for now.
The construction around our house is also quite irritating. I will be glad when both projects are finally completed, although I think the pyramids of Egypt were built in less time. I saw some of my old work mates from TRADOC this weekend when I attended a party that Eugene Thacker (my old, now retired, boss) threw for his wife Jean's 50th birthday. Mike Burns, Steve Swartwood, Anastasia, Don Moses, Mark McGowan and Sam Tanguy were in attendance. It was good to see them all again. Now if the weather would just improve and the construction around here ended I could enjoy my retirement more. Oh, I forgot about the rising price of gas and food. Just when I retire the economy falls apart. So much for trying to get by on a fixed income. Guess I will play some Second Life, read my book, and work on my blog today, while praying for better weather. Enough for now.
