Old Age is................

.....always twenty years older than you are now. At least that what I heard one time. What brought this on? - you may ask. Well, I heard on the radio this morning that Mick Jagger is 68 years old today. DANGGGGG! I was listening to the Stones when I was in Junior High. Mick, Mick, Mick - what the H*ll happen.... - errr, never mind - just caught a glimpse of a mirror. All of us have made many revolutions around the sun since the Stones first burst upon the music scene. I did then - and do now - still enjoy rock & roll. But I know (& DKW will confirm) that my hearing is not what it once was. Ohh Well!
WAAAAHHHOOOO!!! The NFL has finally settled there labor woes and it appears the NFL preseason will start on time. Teams start reporting for traing camps tomorrow - with the last teams reporting Sunday. The first preseason game will take place on August 11th and the first regular season game will be on Thursday Sep. 8th with the Saints at the Packers. I am - most definitely - ready for some football! The only way I miss this game is if my grandson is playing (7th grade) that night. Gotta have my priorities straight - if ya know what I mean!
Everyone Have a Great Day!

Small Cars - BIG Mileage

Ok - when DKW and I got engaged (in Feb. 2009) she was driving a 16 year old Dodge Dynasty (which was needing work - but - in the interest of full disclosure its been fixed and her mom now owns & drives it). Anyway - I wanted her to have a dependable,new car - since she (in her entire life) had never had a new car. She told me that she would like a small car. One with a small turning radius, easy to park and good on gas mileage. So I did some reasearch (price, availability, repair costs, etc.) and gave her some options. After much discussion we decided on the Toyota Yaris (hatchback)(just like the pic above) which we purchased in July, 2009.
In April of this year I decided to finally sell my old (1985) truck and I lucked into a car that I had always desired at an excellent price - a 2003 Mini Cooper - like the one pictured. And it only had 65K miles on it! I love my COOP. Since I've had it I given DKW a bit of good-natured needling about her driving the "big" car now - while she said there wasn't really much difference in the two. So today I did a side-by-side comparison - so to speak - and as is usually the case -she is right. (all measurements in inches) Y=Yaris and C=Cooper: Overall Length Y-150.6 C-142.8 * Max Width Y-66.7 C-66.5 * Overall height Y-60.0 C-55.7 * Minimum Ground Clearance Y-5.5 C-4.4. So, even though the Yaris is (barely) bigger both cars are pretty close to the same size. I did find it interesting though that the Cooper actually has a larger gas tank (Y-11.1 gals C-13.2 gals). But the only thing that matters is that we both like our cars very much.
Everyone have a great day!

Dogs Telling Time ..... & ..... Females

Okay - First - this pic has nothing to do with this entry - I just thought it was cute. If you've been reading my blog for a while you know that DKW and I have two inside dogs. Shaddow - 9 (almost 10) years old, a lab-mix weighing in around 65 pounds and Sophie - 9 months old, a chi-weenie weighing in at 15 pounds. These girls are buds. They play together quite often. Shaddow (being older) is usually the one to decide when and for how long they play. Shaddow does have the endearing habit - when she gets excited - of bouncing her front legs up and down like a puppy. When I come home from work in the evening she meets the car bouncing up and down - I love it. Shaddow is smart too! At 9 PM every day she lets me know that its time for them to get their treat. She is always within 20 minutes of the exact time when she walks over to my recliner, puts her chin on the chair arm and breathes on my hand while staring at me with those big eyes. Gad! Those two girls have me wrapped around their dew claws. When I finally acknowledge her and say the "T" word - she starts bouncing - all the way to where I keep the treats - with Sophie running around her.
As I was dishing out the treats last night I was thinking about how most of the people in my life that I interact with are women. Besides my 2 girls and the lovely DKW - I have 3 daughters, a sister, and (of course) my mama. My new boss (as of July 1st) is a lady as is the other staff person here and I have 4 student workers - all female. Didn't plan it - just worked out that way! But that's okay! To paraphrase Abe Lincoln - "I get along with all of them some of the time, some of them - all of the time ....." Besides - I'm very secure in who I am!
Everyone have a great day!

Are You Ready For Some Football!!!!!!

Okay! I know that today is only July 1st, but dang, I'm ready for the season. If you're a football junkie - like me - you know that the CFL (Canadian Football League) kicked off their season last night with the Montreal Alouettes edging the BC Lions 30-26. NFL network is carrying at least two CFL games a week in addition to their Friday night Arena League game.
I know most people (in the US) don't get caught up in CFL games, but there is news a lot closer to home. The "Sporting News" came out yesterday with their pre-season rankings for all 120 BCS teams yesterday and my MSU Bulldogs came in at #20. This is the first time in about 10 years that the dogs have been ranked early and ALL home games for the upcoming season are already sold out. Everyone is hoping this will be a break-out year for the team.
The pre-season polls for high school sports has Starkville High ranked #2 in 5A - and everyone expects that they will be competing for a state title this year. The SHS season starts 7 weeks from today (playing Noxubee County High in Macon, MS - about 35 miles away. I'm thinking I will probably go - Cause I'm definitely ready for some Football!
Everyone have a great day!

Good bye Friend!

I read this morning that Bully XIX (also named "Tonka") - MSU's mascot from 2001 to 2009 was humanely euthanized yesterday following a long battle with health problems. Everyone who is a member of the MSU family knows/knew of Tonka, but since I worked here at the MSU Vet School I was fortunate enough to see him on a frequent basis. One of my favorite memories is of coming into work one morning at the same time as Tonka and his owner. His owner was talking to someone else and Tonka just followed me into the elevator. I was almost to the third floor when I realized he (alone) was with me. I petted and rubbed his head as I pushed the button to take us back down to his (now frantic) owner - who had missed him and had no idea where he had gone. We had a good laugh about it (then & many times following) about me and my "elevator buddy". Bye Tonka!
Friday, my new boss is scheduled to start working. (July 1st is first day of state's new fiscal year). Laurel will be the third person in the Library Director position since I have been here at the CVM Library. She seems like a nice person, but no-one really knows what a person is like until you actually spend some time around them. I'm gonna give her a chance though and hope things work out.
Everyone have a great day!

Father's Day Card

My granddaughter (Amber - who knows I'm a "Doctor Who" fan) gave me this card yesterday for Father's Day. Isn't it COOL! You can't buy anything like this. Just thought I'd share.
Everyone have a great day!

Father's Day

Well, as this coming Sunday (June 19th) is Father's Day - I've been taking a little time to reflect. I had two (male) people that had a huge impact on making me the person I am today. One was obviously my father and the other was my mother's father (who everyone in the family called "Big Daddy" - pic is of Big Daddy on his 97th birthday with Mama Jenny & a group from MSU.). My Dad's father passed away just a couple of months after I was born (due to lung cancer) so I never really knew him. My father passed away in 1991 (also due to lung cancer) and Big Daddy passed away in 2003 at age 97. As the oldest male in my family now (without being morbid) I often think of those who have gone before. I really miss both of them but sometimes I can almost hear or feel them around. I've read that as long as memories of someone survive - that person is alive. And I like to think (as I move through various aspects of my life) that they are there with me.
My children are all adults now with lives of their own and I hope that they too will keep my dad and Big Daddy alive in their memories. I, myself, hope to be around long enough to be a nuisance to them for many, many years. :-)
Everyone have a great day!