100 and counting

I had made up my mind earlier this week that I was going to make time today to do an entry here. As the title says, its 100 days until . . . . . . DKB & I get married. So it is a bit of a red-letter day for me. We've got a lot planned and done already, and it seemed like we had all the time in the world to get it done the way we want. Well, now its right around the corner and the "later" that we were waiting on to do some things is "now".

Whats a little scary is that I found out yesterday that one of my high school buddies, (who married his h.s. sweetheart in 1974) has had his wife leave him. I'm not going to go into any of the why's and what's of whats involved, but he is hurting deeply. It makes you wonder, if it can happen to them, is any marriage for forever. But I refuse to allow this to throw a damper on our plans. It was a shock and I hurt for my friend, but I am truly happy with DKB and have to believe that nothing like this could happen to us. I look forward to having her with me for the rest of my life.

Everyone have a great day! Make everyone count, because you never know how many you have.

Catching Up

Its been a little bit since my last post, but I've been catching up at work and doing other things which have taken up my time and preventing me from blogging.

This past weekend I was pretty busy. Friday, I told my oldest grandson for a trip on my motorcycle to the Chuck E. Cheese Pizza place in Tupelo (about an hour + away). He turns 10 today and this was my gift to him. We had pizza and he played games for about 3 hours. He had a great time and I had just as good a time watching him. We got back to Starkville about 5:30 PM and DKB and I went out to have a leisurely meal at Shaherazad's. On the way, however, since we were passing by the house of my late wife's best friend, we stopped and had a nice visit for around an hour. D.M-P-C seemed to really like DKB and that was kind of important to me, since we are getting married in October.

Since DKB and I had been so busy lately with lots of things, I had decided that Saturday would be an US day. We, took a ride on the bike and had a nice meal at Mugshots. Had a nice little visit with my oldest son and his wife (& my youngest grandchild), and then went to see the latest Harry Potter movie. I've not read the books, but I've seen all the movies, and I expected great things from this one - since all the pre-movie hype said it was the best one yet. But, I have to say I was disappointed with it. It was OK, but I guess (because of the hype) - I expected more.

Sunday, I worked on a few tasks around the house (cutting up a storm-felled tree w/my chainsaw, fixing a step, combing out Shaddow, and bathing my 2 small dogs) and then in the afternoon (after a nice, hot shower) DKB and I watched a couple of movies. Dick Tracy (1990) with Warren Beatty and Madonna and The Crow (1994) with Brandon Lee. I thought both were good, but for different reasons. One thing that struck me about "The Crow" was that there was a line at the beginning of the movie (just after Eric & Shelley are killed) where the cop looks at an invitation and says "They were getting married on Halloween? Who the hell gets married on Halloween?" DKB and I looked at each other and grinned, because that is the planned date of our nuptials.

Ahh well, thats enough for now. I have more things to do. Everyone have a great day!!!!!!

Greetings from "The Natural State"

Atleast thats what it says on the licencse plates here abouts. I thought I would take time to make a quick post today. DKB and I got here late Friday and have spent a very pleasant couple of days visiting with her parents and brother. We had thought about heading back today, but my sister called me this morning and said it is raining back in Mississippi and that we should wait until tomorrow. I thanked her for the information and went back to bed, failing to mention that if she had checked her email she would know that we had already decided to do that. Thanks for looking out for me though, Sis. The weather report for tomorrow is predicting only a 10 to 20 % chance of rain along the route we'll be traveling. This is very important since we are on my motorcycle.

If you've never rode through Arkansas, its very beautiful country. Part of the only mountain chain in the U.S. that runs East-West is here. It made for a very pleasant bike ride. Very curvy, but for the most part, well maintained mountain roads, and if you didn't know - which I didn't until we got her - Arkansas is a helmet optional state for bike riders. I had never ridden without a helmet before (and it is not a practice I endorse) but everyone should get the opportunity to do it a least once. You really do get a rush of freedom.

A couple of times when we were all sitting around the table talking, DKB's bro and I would go off talking about scince fiction, books, authors, TV shows and movies. After a few minutes I would look around and everyone else would just be looking at us with a glazed look. I would apologize for M. and I "geeking out". And get back with everyone else's conversation. It was fun though. I probably won't have time to blog again until next week. Once I get back to work on Wednesday, I'll be playing "catch-up" for a while.

Everyone have a great week!!

LOOOONG Weekend

The picture is of me 3 years ago (about 6 months after my wife died). I was going through my gnarly, biker phase. I hadn't cut my hair or my beard since my wife's funeral at the time. I still consider myself a biker, since I ride year round - even when the temps approach zero - which isn't often here in Mississippi. Anyway, I still have the same bike and tomorrow DKB and I are on our way to Arkansas (& very close to the Oklahoma border) to visit her parents & brother. We've been planning the trip for a while and we are both looking forward to it. We are taking the bike. I just had the oil changed in the bike and had it inspected yesterday, so we are good to go. My oldest son is going to take care of the pets for us while we are gone. When I get home tonight we'll pack the big travel bag I have and get everything ready for the trip. That way, when we get up in the morning, we just hop on the bike and hit the road (Cue Steppenwolf: "Born to be Wild") I've loved that song since it first came out - and I'm dating myself, but I was in Junior High then.

I mentioned pets. There is this one website I visit ever possible day. It's called the Animal Rescue Site and just by giving a click with your mouse you can donate food once a day, every day. If you have, or just like, animals - take 10 seconds each day and click your mouse for them. Bookmark the page and visit if often.