Craft Time

In a return to the roots of this blog, pictures of things we have built or made, I decided to get a baseline for my current cross stitch projects. Since I am going to be here so long this time, I brought a couple of cross stitch patterns with me on this trip. I am showing the completion point as of today. I will hopefully be further along by the time I leave. Maybe with the goal of showing you some progress I will actually work on the pictures. I am a bit of a procrastinator on these things.

This first one is what I call the Birthday Bear. I started it in February 2007., minor procrastination at this point. It is one of those name/birth date/weight/length pictures. I hope to have a need for it one of these days.



This second picture provides a much clearer understanding of why I consider myself to be a procrastinator on these projects. It is a picture of a hunter with his beagle. I started this one while I was still in the Air Force. The date was sometime close to January 1994. I worked on it for a while during that summer after I moved to West Virginia. Then I put it away until sometime in 2005. Then I put it away again. We will see if I can get it done this year.

Wish me luck!

North Carolina 4

Hello from North Carolina... AGAIN!
This is my 4th trip down here. Life is like that sometimes. I have been here for a couple of weeks and will be for another 6 weeks. I plan on going home for Memorial Day and hope Billy can come down for a few days after school gets out. So it isn't a horrible situation. I might go home more often, but at $3 a gallon it is hard.

Last weekend one of the guys I am here with invited me to go along to the Special Ops Museum. I have mentioned the place before on this blog, but didn't have my camera along. This time I made sure to take pictures.
This is the building.

The museum has a lot of full size displays.
This one is a C46 cargo plane that was used to transport Paratroopers to their drop zone. There is a trooper in the door ready to go.

The displays cover every historical event that the Special Ops forces have been involved in. This is from the VietNam era.

There are displays for WWII in Europe and Japan along with many other locations. The equipement and mannequins are set up as realistically as possible. Even the "facilities" are included in one display.
Some of the more recently completed displays include Desert Storm and other actions from that area.
This weekend might include some more interesting places. There is a craft fair, an air show, and an Acorn Festival. I am planning on working on some crafts and my tan. Hey, cross stitch on the back patio! What more fun could there be? More later.

Positive Humor

The deed has been done!

The elementary school at which Billy is in his first semester of teaching math decided to have a fund raiser for their Positive Improvement program. The committee decided that if a couple of teachers would volunteer their hair for a week they could get the kids to buy 25 cent chances at deciding how to "fix" their teacher's hair. Mr Curry and Ms Davis volunteered to be the victims. Here is Billy's before picture. He usually wears a flat top style cut so you can imagine how much this mess has been bothering him for the last month. He even has Bangs!

The winner of the middle school contest decided that Billy needed to have a Mohawk with Virginia Tech initials etched in the sides.

And that the initials needed to be colored in the appropriate school colors.

And that the top should split in half to match those school colors too.

This is Billy and Vanessa, the girl who got to pick his hair style. She doesn't have him for math this year, but they will both be back next year.

Here we have Mr Curry and Ms Davis. Life should be interesting in the school halls for the next week. What a change from the long hair he started with today.

There is talk about Ms Davis trimming the sides off and making the top pink during Walk for Life. Mr Curry has even considered letting his go for a few days next week. Maybe with some different colors though. I will be on a business trip for a while so it won't bother me and the kids will really enjoy it.

Bluefield Daily Telegraph news article http://www.bdtonline.com/local/local_story_120195632.html

Jake at 5

I almost forgot to include Jake's birthday picture.

He and Rex were born round about April Fool's Day in 2002, which fit them pretty well. Rex is gone now, but Jake keeps us in line on a daily basis. So here he is at the ripe old age of 5, or I suppose 35 in dog years.

That is all for now.

Fresh Cherry Pie

My red angus cow Cherry had her third calf yesterday. I named this one Cherry Pie, which goes along with my naming scheme of #1 Chocolate Cherry and #2 Black Cherry. They have all been nice black angus calves.
I walked out with the guys when they went to feed the cows and check on the calf today. They use the four wheeler and a cart that Bill built to haul the hay on, in this case a couple of 4x3 round bales.
















After they were finished putting the bales out they went to tend to the calf.
First step is to catch the calf, here Bill has caught Pie, but Cherry isn't too happy about it.



The next step is to move the calf and the cow over to the new born lot. Seperating them keeps the babies from getting trampled in the herd while they get their feet under them.
Here is Rob and Jake (he is the dog) pulling the trailer that holds Bill and Pie, while Cherry chases along behind them trying to catch her baby.













Once they got the calf and cow out of the main field they stopped in the corral to give him his number tag. Cherry kept a close eye on this process too. The rest of the cows were standing behind us watching too. They weren't much happier than she was about the action.








After the calf was tagged and given a shot they let the pair loose in the next field to spend a few days before they go in with the rest of the young calves. They can get pretty wild sometimes, flying across the field with the cows chasing after them, but here Pie is just getting his balance.

Angus Pictures

People have been asking for calf pictures and I have been promising to get them posted, so here you go, finally.

The cows were keeping a pretty close eye on me. At one point I was watching a calf and got on the ground to take a picture of it, turns out the calf's Mom was behind me. When I got smaller than she was by being on the ground she started running at me. I stood up pretty quickly and she turned, but that was a bit exciting for a second.









This little guy looks like he has some attitude. We call him Big Ears because his ears were swollen when the guys tried to give him his numbered tag, which you can see they were not able to complete. His ears must have come out in a bind when he was born. Of course that name might be why he has the attitidue.








This baby was taking a nap, but I managed to wake her up and then she wanted some dinner. The zoom on my camera let me get this close. There is no way I could get this close while the baby was eating otherwise.
















Here the babys are taking a break after their Moms cleaned up a roll of hay.



Well that is all I have for calf pictures right now. There will be more though, my cow Cherry just had her calf today. I hope it is a bull calf they sell better at the market and I have student loans to pay off!!! Yes the grace period has ended.








More pictures coming up soon. We have Jake and Cherry's baby to show off.

Bill's Graduation

Finally we have made it to the big day.
Billy graduated with Cum Laude honors in Elementary Education and Math from Concord University on the 16th of December 2006.


Here he is outside the auditorim before the ceremony.













The line of people in the middle of this picture include his mother, two of his sisters, one brother-in-law, one nephew and one fiancee niece.









Here is "the Man" again waiting his turn to go across the stage.
My stage crossing picture was no good.

He started working "YEAH!" on 2 January. The math degree is what did it, there are plenty of available elementary school teachers, but not one of them was certified in math. So, with 3 math positions available in the county, he was hired before he even graduated. Nice thing about it is that he is working only two miles from the house.


Today is the last day of his first week at work. Things have been going pretty well. The kids don't know what to think of him yet and the other teachers like the environment he creates. I am very happy for him. He is a wonderful husband and a great teacher. The world needs more people like him.

Return to Georgia

I made it back home again and survived Billy's Graduation so now I have time to send out some updates.

First let's look at my second trip to Georgia.
Most weekends were spent doing not too much of anything, but Thanksgiving weekend was included in this trip and I had some visitors. Mom came down to see Paula Deen and Billy came down to see the alligators. LOL I was just there to show them around.

On Thanksgiving Day we went for lunch at Lady and Sons. We showed up about 15 minutes before the seating time and managed to get a table. Some people had been there for a couple of hours just to make sure they got a table. We got lucky on our timing. The food was wonderful, but we should have eaten more when we got the bill. It was fun though. We also went down to the river front and walked around some. Not all of the shops were open, but it wasn't crowded either so that was nice.


We went out to the animal preserve looking for gators and saw lots of turtles. There was a whole family of them getting some sun on some reeds in one location and a few others hanging around in a quiet pond.

















There were a few alligators out there though. We never saw any really big ones, but this one might have done enough damage if he wanted to.

We also went to the beach on Tybee Island one afternoon. Here Mom and Billy are looking for sea shells.

We had a pretty good time for the rest of the weekend. Did some shopping and relaxed a bit.

Once I got home I had a week to get the house ready for Billy's graduation party. I will post that story next time.

Georgia Part 1

HI! Yes it has been a while. I hadn't been on a trip for a while, but that drought is over. I just got back from a 3 week trip to Savannah, Ga. I like to find adventures or at least insteresting sights during these trips as you can see from past blogs. This trip has lots of stuff to see, but the best thing I took pictures of so far is out at the wildlife preserve in South Carolina.


The preserve is basically a swamp with wildlife in it and a four mile road that people can drive through it on. The grass is actually too tall at this time of the year to see much, so we didn't seem very many animals, but I did get some pictures. Like this heron below. It was standing in some shallow water waiting for something to happen.

The alligator below was sitting near the bird, just getting some sun. I missed him the first time I was looking, but he isn't exactly noticable until you know he is there.

We drove through most of the preserve without finding much else, but about 100 yards from the exit we found this little guy. I am pretty sure we were watched all the way through the park. The alligators are out there, they are just hiding.


After I left Georgia and got back to the land of hills, dales, and real trees I noticed how the leaves were just barely hanging on to their leaves. So I took the scenic route from the airport and snapped some pictures. Here is one that shows the top of the world from my angle.


I have another trip to Georgia in a couple of weeks. So look for new pictures. Later!

NC and WV in July

Ok, this is how July worked out for me. I ended up going back down to NC like I said in the previous post. While I was there I finally got a picture of this interesting building. I don't know what the history is, but any thing shaped like that with so many doors is interesting to me.

Before this return trip to NC got scheduled I had made plans to go to a Car Show and Charlie Daniels band concert in Beckley, WV. I didn't realize that the show would include a parachute jump by the Black Knights. It was kind of funny, I spend weeks working with the Army and have to go home to see them perform, but it at least gave me more pictures! This one carried in the West Virginia flag. Another was supposed to drop in with the football that would be used at the Marshall vs WVU rivalry game, but they didn't have the right harness to hold it in place during the jump, so that got scratched.

After the jump and the opening act were done the main event, Charlie Daniels started. We were pretty far back in the crowd, but my camera has good zoom. We loved the concert. I had never been to any like it before and had a great time, so we might have to go to more. This one had a good price though, thanks to the WV Coal Show for bringing it in.

Well, that is it for the show. We brought some friends' kids with us, three 14 year old boys. They had a good time looking at the cars and daring each other to talk to the girls. Some friends also came along with their kids and they had a good time over in the game area. Over all it was a lot of fun.

Next trip is tentatively in October, so I have a long time at home to get things done and aggravate Bill for a while. I have already been working on decluttering the house. We took a bunch of too big and too small clothes to the Goodwill, made a run to the dump with some other things, we rearranged the basement slightly and put down a floor made up of 2x2 foam pieces over the concrete. That makes it much more barefoot friendly! We got the whole end by the pool table done and the base of the stairs padded. We have some more that will make a path toward the laundry room door, but we have to stay away from the wood stove so that will stay bare.

Next is the living room, which needs rearranging and paint. That should be fun. By the way I almost forgot, while I was in NC Billy and his cousin repainted the bedroom! I was very surprised by that, it looks great! Later, All!

Return Trip NC2

OK, I really didn't mean anything bad by saying Fayetteville is kind of boring. It really isn't that bad, I could put more effort into finding the interesting stuff. Now can I go home?

The rest of the story is that we had some computer problems so the trip is taking longer than it was supposed to and I had to come back a week after I left. I did volunteer, so you know, be careful what you ask for, it might actually happen.

I am actually glad to be here working because this part of the project is what they call Over the Shoulder. We are going out to the locations and checking on them to make sure they aren't having any problems with the new system. I have learned a lot about what I need to work on, that is for sure. I will be here for a while yet, so I might be able to get out and see some sights.

North Carolina

I don't want to offend anyone from the area, but there really isn't much to see right around Fayetteville, NC other than military museums and the like. Well, ok, there is the girly bar, tattoo shop, pawn shop, and used car sales repetitive circle that exists outside most bases, but that isn't really something I want to take pictures of to remember it.

I didn't have my camera along at the Airborne and Special Ops museum or I would have a picture or two of that. I must say that is the best museum of its type I have ever been to. It is interesting, the displays are well laid out, and the information is good for all ages to get something out of it. You can go take a look at it on their website though. If you are in the area I recommend seeing it. http://www.asomf.org/museum_lobby.htm The best part is it is free. They also have some interactive sections that cost a little bit, we missed those somehow, but I would go back and see them if I had the chance.




On the way home we stopped at this place in the picture below to look at the roses this man had for sale. They are beautiful plants for the money, I would have gotten some, but I don't have anywhere in the yard that I want to put roses right now.

That was North Carolina. We worked, ate, and slept for the most part. Learned a lot on that trip and all, but not much to look at. Next trip is probably somewhere in Georgia.

Midwest Vacation Part 2

The trip out west included travel through a lot of states along lots of miles. We were in Kentucky, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri along with West Virginia, which isn't really very much west but was our start. I spent most of my time looking out the window in search of old barns or other scenic things to take pictures of on the way.


I found this old barn in Kentucky, I think it was a tobacco shed, but I don't know. I saw several other old barns in various stages of life, the one below has seen better days.



















This old house was sitting in the middle of a field in Minnesota. It looks so alone out there. Probably at one time it was surrounded by trees and other signs of life, but now it just waits for the crop to come up around it and hide it a little bit.









A sight in Minnesota that was new to me was the wind farms. Up around Woodstock they are showing up everywhere, they are even building a factory to build more of them in Pipestone.











This old barn is actually hidden from the road, it is on a farm in Missouri. The lines are still straight on the roof, so it might find another use in the future. Just needs some wall boards and doors replaced from this angle.









The strangest thing I recall seeing is this ferris wheel sitting between two buildings in Iowa. I have done some work on the picture to remove some power lines that were covering it up some, and intended to take the chevy out before I posted it, but you get the idea. What it is doing there I don't know, but it was worth taking a picture of for sure.




That was most of our trip to the Midwest. Next up is a business trip to North Carolina.

Midwest Vacation

Latest trip was for personal reasons. My Vande Berg family all collected in Orange City, Iowa for Grandma Jen's 90th birthday party. We did pretty good, all but 2 of our cousins made it to the reunion. Jenny was happy to see everyone and we were all glad to be able to visit with her a little bit.

















Here you can see Bill and I, my mom Kae, my brother David, and sister Kim. This spur of the moment picture turned out a bit better than some of those we have paid for in the past. Except that Steve (Kim's husband) is missing of course, he was coaching some winners at the Nationals that weekend.










The luck of the birthday party timing put us there during the Tulip Festival. The court house is a pretty building with a nice bed of tulips out front.

Later after one of the parades I caught a bunch of the children still in costume playing on the court house lawn. The city is very authentic about how they do this parade. Lots of people in costume even in some of the businesses.























After a few days in NW Iowa we headed back to Kim's to have lunch with her and Steve before moving on to Missouri to visit some friends.

Billy and I rode in Mom's van while David and Mom followed us in his van.

I will have to add some more to this later.
Bye for now.