it was you know who ... and that meant dook

Yes sirree, their number one fan was in the house, and it was gold and black and loud.  We had such fun.  (the photo was taken by me returning to my seat at the close of halftime when I had to walk by)  -- he was busy changing his script I am sure.  The big grin on the guy trying to talk on the cell (at half time mind you ) was because we were giving a lesson to  the boys in dark blue--

The lesson specialty was defense as we kept them from getting the ball in the basket, notice how far they are from the basket, notice who they have to get past to get to the basket, notice who is bigger, (I always thought size had something to do with success in this game) and notice who has their hands helping the boys in blue stay away-- no harm no foul.

well now I have seen three consequtive games in which a team which has been ranked number one in the nation has lost (unfortunately one of those was mine) all in the same season, all on the same court, and a shared experience with perhaps 8,500 to 9,000 -- my estimate -- other people.  The stadium holds 14,000 and there were some one time attenders for sure at each game.    Someone with even less to do than me knows just how unique that is.  

trip to Grandmothers

The view of the pastures of course is always beautiful and restful.  And of course if I pause as I look across the fields to reflect, I can recollect various points where I worked on a host of farming activities ranging from fence repair, to mowing, to tractor driving for the hayrides, drainage ditch repair and of course equipment repair, cattle moving around for various reasons and much much more with Buck, Ed, Gene and Art.  

and if you note the screen saver on Grandmother's desktop, our two favorite Granddaughters in one of our many "favorite" photos.  And that statement can be made regarding so very many photos.

and as you can see though we came to see Grandmother, I still do not have the picture arranging thing down right, hers should have been first, so I loaded it first, forgetting that you have to load in reverse order.  You will note that since Grandmother did not have enough to look after she has added goldfish.  

and we have had a very very nice time here as is our custom, and one which we enjoy a lot.

a snow day

Sunset looking across the deck at our Christmas tree, in a fresh snow sure was pretty-- as was the whole day.  This morning when we woke up, we knew that school would be closed, and work would be delayed if it were even to open.  That is a good way to wake up here in Wake County.

The tree is a very recent addition to our deck.  It just left the den where it almost set down roots.  It stayed up through the 18th - I think a new long term record for time into January, but since it did not get decorated until about the 18th of December, the month was probably about average for us.  When the weather gets a little nicer, the tree will migrate down the hill the resting place of some 20 or so of its predecessors.

and tomorrow we will be back at work.   The roads look pretty clear and the snow was melting.

it was a goooood time

Last Sunday evening, Eric, Charles, Kelly and I went to Winston to observe a proper thrashing and it was such good entertainment.  I called Mark and held up the phone so he could hear the sounds of encouragement we were directing toward the players-or in the case of those in baby blue, hoots of direction.  

Number "O" put a lot of not "O"s on the scoreboard, here he goes around and through the matador defense that the opponents were playing extremely well.

and of course it was show-time before the game-- with appropriate lights and sounds

I have decided I just like show-time -- and we are getting it right.     

and I figured out how to write around pictures and by default (load them in reverse?) how to get them in appropritate order - a feat yet to be accomplished.  At least I did not double one this time I do not think.

Visiting Andy' and EA' kids

We had just the best time visiting with the neighbors of Julianna and Lydia who just happened to be in Mebane!  While visiting Julianna and Lydia a month or so ago we stayed in their apartment.

Emma Grace and Jack are such joys and Patt especially enjoyed holding Jack.   After dinner he slept so soundly while she held him.  Here are some photos of the evening--well there are some photos of the evening, I reckon I will figure out how to get words around and above pictures later.

Last night, with EA, Andy and EA's Mom and Dan,  we laughed at ourselves as we from time to time realized in our conversation that we came back to quoting children and being amazed at them - the joys of being Grandparents and new parents are wonderful.  Not that we did not work on some of the worlds problems, but we did spend some time being amazed at little children, which I reckon is wonderful.

Visit to Oak Island

After the hoopla for New Years I went with Charles, Linda, Kate and Emily to Red Sky at Oak Island.  Gray and cloudy outside, football and conversation inside, though we did walk and go outside on occasion.  Charles, Emily and I walked around the end of the Island and across the dunes behind the big houses on their beach access paths, quite beautiful!!

a Second post on Oak Island

That first post was done while at the Apple store in my "one to one" training class.  We, my trainer and I decided not to use the mac offering for a blog and so we went with bloggspot and the guy helped me figure it out.  and there you go.  Now I am at home and trying to figure out a second one.  So far so good.  We will see how it goes from here.  I would advise against holding your breath.  Next thing I will try is seeing where the photos go.  

and some how the time on my first post is wrong, so I reset the time on this one to match the time on my computer.  

the pictures were made on two different days - one gray and the other during a brief clear bright stretch.