Happy Birthday Marshall!!

Tonight we celebrated Marshall's birthday at Blaine & Judy's. We had pizza and salad. His birthday is Friday but he & Diane will be going out to celebrate. He's 33 in case some wanted to know - sorry Marshall, I had to tell.

BiG FiSH

Okay, okay! Here I go AGAIN. I've tried to post on 4 different occasions now! Twice while we were on vacation. (Note to self: Do not use the blogger spell check! You will lose everything you are trying to post!) I'm just going to post a few pictures now with some captions. It's a chore in it self to go through them all!

This is the BIG FISH that freaked out Diane while we were snorkeling! If you can identify it, please do! We'd love to know what type of fish this beast is.


These are a couple pictures of the beach we were staying on.

Here is us! We'll try to post more later! Take care everyone!

Meghan & Elizabeth's Life

Well....I don't have much to say but felt sorry that NOBODY ELSE IS CONTRIBUTING TO THIS BLOG!

Meghan is going to day care this week and having a wonderful time - $3.00 Monday for the water slide, $3.00 Tuesday for the moonwalk and tomorrow is water day (no charge). They went to Diansaur World today ($7.00) but as Meghan has been about 4-5 times and it's outside - very hot and lots of mosquitos - Meghan (and I mostly) decided she didn't need to go again. Next week she will be going to dance camp at the dance studio where she takes during the year. I will have to drop her off at Mother's every day and then she will take and drop her off at 9:00. D.W. (hopefully) will pick her up at 5:00 everyday - otherwise I will have to leave work early and as much as I would like that I am very busy.

I am now on my 4th boss in 2 years, but my new boss will be my old boss from when I first went out there. That is a good thing, but.....they are combining the Tampa North office (where I am) with the Tampa South office all under 1 manager (mine). Which means I will be supporting about 18 supervisors instead of just 9. It's already starting to stress me out a bit. My present boss is retiring and his last day will by June 30 - then the real fun will begin!!!

Meghan's birthday is coming up soon - July 6. I plan on having the family over the Sunday following (July 9). I'm not sure what I will do for her as far as a friend's birthday party. She has said she wants a sleepover but I have nixed that idea. Now I have to come up with something else - any ideas???

Well, I guess that is enough about my exciting life. Oh, here's something exciting - I will be getting all the Verizon fiber services soon - phone, internet and TV. Everyone will have to come over and try out the computer to see if it's really that much faster and also try out the 180 TV channels - can't imagine all those channels!!! We only look at 3 - Disney, Nick an Cartoon channel. Oh well, I have to support my company - such a loyal employee am I!!!

Message for Marshall

Where are the photos from you trip!!?? Where are your stories about all the fun you and Diane had?

My Week in the Twin Hamlets

After so many years of living in 'The Twin Cities' I like to think of where I live now as the 'Twin Hamlets,' or sometimes 'The Land of Wilkes.' That's what the Not Mayberry site is about.

It's been a quiet week here in the Hamlets. Just got out of an exciting class on Yersina Pestis (the Bubonic Plague to most of you) taught by Maggie's Mom. Now I am in my office busy shirking my duties as acting chair.

Laura is done in Winston today, which means she will eat at an interesting place and shop at Borders. I should have gone with her but I had stuff to do up here.

Last Tuesday I went to the Mellow Mushroom Pizzeria for my weekly beer and pizza with Curtis and the gang. Maggie was there of course, and made me take her to the bar so she could see pizza being made. It was especially fun this week because the Campbells were there with their daughter Joanna, who is a great favorite of ours. She is getting so big and its only been about two months since I last saw her. Curtis has graduated from HS and is now looking for a summer job. He asks my advice, and then ignores it. Mainly he wants me to drive him to the various places he wants to apply to. The group that meets at the Mellow Mushroom every week probably spends more quality time (as Meghan might say) together than most families.

Anybody else have anything out there to post?

Hushpuppies and Rhubarb Pies

Scotty mentioned in an earlier post that we were going to Greensboro, a city about 2 hours east, to celebrate our anniversary. And so we did. Leo went to his usual kennel where I pay a little extra to buy him the 'Resort Package.' For a mere 5 dollars a night extra, he gets 2 10-minutes-long walks, treats and a quilt to sleep on rather than the cement floor. It makes me feel slightly less guilty. We stayed at a nice, older model Hampton Inn - no 'Resort Package' for us.

The reason we picked Greensboro was that our local NPR station put together a special package for the opening night of the movie 'A Prairie Home Companion'. For a mere 35 dollars, we got two tickets to the movie, a live performance by a local blue-grass group called the Hushpuppies, a coffee mug with the movie logo, and two smaller-than-a-regular-pie-but-bigger-than-a-tartlet rhubarb pies. The movie was very enjoyable; although, it made Scotty rather nostalgic for the Twin Cities.

Had a look around Greensboro's downtown on Friday, lunch at a nice Thai restaurant, picked up Leo, and came home.

Saturday I went to Mass because little Lucy Albanil was having her 'presentation'. In Mexico, a child is presented to the faith community at 3 years old and again at 15. Both times the Mass is followed by a humongous party. Scotty and I were invited to the party and had a great time. He wrote about it in the Mayberry blog.

Marshall and Diane: We are looking forward to the Hawaiian photos.

-Laura

The Beach

Well, Meghan and I have returned from the beach. We went to the GrandShores where Jackie/Art and Lynda Sue have a timeshare. Lynda has an extra room and Meghan & I could go for free thanks to Lynda. We met Bill - her beau from Virginia - seems very nice. We survived the tropical storm no thanks to the news weathermen!! If you listen to them too much you would have evacuated Friday and flown to Kansas! There was lots of surf which was fun to see. Hopefully I can figure out how to attach a couple pictures. In the picture with Meghan in pink suit and hat - she has to hold the hat because the wind was very, very strong - you can see the waves in the background - this was today - Tuesday.

Me and some unusual students

If you click here and scroll down you will see me lecturing some students on the Second Punic War. You will notice that they are paying strict attention.

[The secret is the little hamburger I have hidden in my hand]




It the link doesnt work here's the URL
http://www.history.appstate.edu/FacultyFullTime.htm

Our Saturday with Maggie

Maggie came down to visit with us last Saturday. We had a lot of fun. So much in fact the Leo, the Dog, and Uncle Scott both collapsed as soon as she was gone. You can read all about it on one of my other blogs. In this version I use the Irish version of her name, Maeread, and I call myself Oscar B. Lykes.

Some E-mail Answers

Just talked to mother and she told me about the recital - and about Elizabeth bravely saving Tram and giving Andy a bath and drying his cloths somewhat less bravely. Sorry we missed it all.

Elizabeth - your last e-mail message to me was held back by my spam filter. Not sure what you wrote in it that offended the spam guard. I hear that most spam filters think that certain words indicate porno messages but couldn't see what you could have said to get its suspicions going.

Gail - I don't think I know how to respond to your e-mail. If you mean the comment section you shouldn't need a password unless you create one for yourself. If you are talking about responding to the invitation to become a member you shouldn't need a password unless it asks you to create one. I am not sure since I have never seen what the invitation looks like or how you complete the process. There should be instructions. Or better, make Thomas do it! I am sure he would love to share his business with the entire Internet.

Recital

Well, the dance recital is over! Meghan and I were at the Performing Arts Center at 11:00 this morning for dress rehersal. Her half ended about 2:30 but she wanted to watch some of the 2nd half so we didn't leave there until 3:30. Then we swung thru Steak N Shake drive thru to get something to eat, got home in time for me to change clothes and then picked Mother up about 4:40. We had to be back down there at 5:00 so Meghan could be in the dressing room and change back into her costume. The show started at 6:00. Mother, Jackie, Art, Blaine, Judy, Marshall, Diane and Jenifer all came out to see Meghan's 5 minuntes on stage. Blaine took a few pictures that he might share. Her dance was The Circus Band (tap dance) and I thought they had a real cute costume - although very hot (long pants, long sleeves). I bought a DVD so for whoever missed it - next time you visit I can let you watch!

Bon Voyage!

Marshall and Diane
Hope you guys enjoy the trip. You must be excited. Post some pictures if you can.

The invitation to you, Diane, to join the blog is out there, somewhere in the ether world.
Marshall, like I said, the gift is on its way, sometime or another.

Laura likes the map, and wants to put one up showing how we are driving to Greensboro (about 2 hrs away!) to watch the premier of the Prairy Home Companion Show movie with Garrison Keilor. Apparently we get a free rhubarb pie to go with it. It's our way of celebrating our anniversary.

Have fun.