530 – Once in a Lifetime

This trip to Hawaii we begin on Friday, is for sure, an once in a lifetime trip. Personally, I don’t  think I would have gone, had I not found the great deal we got. That said, it’s still not real to me yet, unlike when we go on a cruise. Maybe because I don’t know what to expect. Maybe because it’s a brand new place, virgin territory for us. Either way, Friday morning we’ll be on a jet heading for first Chicago, then a 9.5 hour flight to Honolulu. Oh, and I’ll start my packing tonight.

As to my daughters engagement, she’s talking about a June wedding. She wants to do a “immediate family only” wedding, and a few weeks later, a cookout at her house for everyone to celebrate. It’s different, and I love it. She’s also talking about going to Europe for 2 weeks for a honeymoon… (meaning we get Max for 2 weeks!) *LOL*

Here’s a short video of my Grand-Puppy while he was at our house attacking his green frog!

Max, the attack dog!

Got to run for now, see you after vacation!

529 – Puppy Love

Well, we Puppy-Sat our grand-puppy this weekend and had SUCH fun! Max is such a cutie pie, and fun to have around, we were sad to see him go home, but boy was he happy to see his mommy and daddy! (my daughter and her fiancé)

You read it, Fiancé! My daughter got engaged over the weekend! WHOO HOO! He’s an incredibly wonderful guy, and they’ll be wonderful together.

Back to Max though… he slept through the night and when we woke up, he would just be sitting there looking at us, tail wagging. He sat with Grandpa and watched some UCONN Basketball, and followed Grandma around the house.

Well, busy day… and only 3 days till vacation… so on to something funny:

 

Bill, Jim, and Scott were at a convention together and were sharing a large suite on the top of a 75 story sky scraper. After a long day of meetings they were shocked to hear that the   elevators in their hotel were broken and they would have to climb 75 flights of stairs to get to their room.  Bill said to Jim and Scott, let's break the monotony of this unpleasant task by   concentrating on something interesting.  I'll tell jokes for 25 flights, and Jim can sing songs for 25 flights, and Scott can tell sad stories the rest of the way.  At the 26th floor Bill stopped telling jokes and Jim began to sing.  At the 51st floor Jim stopped singing and Scott began to tell sad stories.  "I will tell my saddest story first," he said.  "I left the room key in the car!"

Have a great Monday!

528 – Happy Thanksgiving!

Here’s hoping all of my friends have a wonderful Thanksgiving, no matter where you are.

Me, I’m thankful for my health, my family, my friends, that I have a good job, and a roof over our heads. I wish the same for you all!

It’s going to be an exciting weekend, as we’ll be “puppy-sitting'” our GrandPuppy, Max. Here’s a new picture of him in the back seat of my daughters car last weekend!

His head is lying on a toy as he sleeps… what a rough life! *chuckling*

(click on picture to ‘embiggen’)

I’ve got most of my Christmas shopping done already, except for my son and wife. My son will be easy, but my wife… well, there’s another story. She’s SO hard to buy for!

Oh, did I mention, 8 days till vacation??? I’m taking a half day off next Thursday, so as of 11am next Thursday, I’m off work.

Instead of something funny today, I’m going to leave you with something so cute…

The cutest owl you'll ever see! Enjoy!

527 - 15 Days till Hawaii!

Yep, amidst all the turmoil that is the cleanup from our enormous storm in late October, Thanksgiving is coming next week, then the week after, Hawaii.

My daughter called and asked if we’d “puppy-sit” our Grand-Puppy for 2 nights so she and her boyfriend could go see his family up in Maine. Of course my wife JUMPED right on that! *chuckling* It’ll be fun having a little one in the house, even if it is a 4 legged one! *S*

Other than that, we’re still cleaning up our backyard, as the amount of debris is overwhelming. Luckily, my son has been giving us a hand cleaning it up and I bought a new chain-saw as my old one died after about 40 years of use.

This weekend, I’m going to put all our paperwork together for the trip, make sure I have everything, and double check all the information.

On to something funny:

And this is a true story!

While on a luxury cruise, the receptionist received a call from a distressed passenger. "I wish to inform you that there is a faulty electrical appliance in my suite. Could you please send someone over to have it repaired immediately?? asked a lady passenger, clearly upset.

"Certainly, I shall arrange for someone to look into the matter immediately. Which electrical appliance would that be?? asked the concierge.

"It?s the microwave. I?ve been trying to warm up some supper for myself but the microwave wouldn’t start,? replied the passenger.

"The microwave, Madam?? repeated the bewildered receptionist. "Yes, the microwave. You know, the heating device that is installed in the wardrobe,? replied the passenger sarcastically. "I?ve been trying for the past hour but my supper is still cold.?

Upon arriving at the suite, the receptionist found the lady passenger standing in front of the wardrobe, pressing vigorously at the control panel of the safe deposit box installed in the wardrobe. "Let me show you how what I have been trying. I key in the number of minutes here, but I don?t really know which one is the start button...?

Have a great day all!

526 – Power, or lack thereof…

Well, 99% of the power is restored in Connecticut, although I’m glad I’m not part of THAT 1%. We’re on the 12th day of outages.

We were very fortunate to get our power back last Tuesday night. My brother, sister in law and their dog came to stay with us till Saturday afternoon, when their power came back on. It was kinda nice to have them over, and we had a lot of fun.

On Saturday, my daughter and her boyfriend came over with my “grandpuppy”.

Check out his Halloween Costume! *chuckling*

(Click on my buddy to ‘embiggen’)

He’s hilarious when he’s at our house. Runs like a nut on our carpet and has a great time.

Seems we’re going to be “puppysitting” him for a few days after Thanksgiving!

Well, on to something funny from my friend michelle:

Punishment Air Force Style 
A US Air Force C-141 is scheduled  to leave Thule Air Base, Greenland at midnight. During the pilot's pre-flight check, he discovers that the latrine holding tank is still full from the last flight. So a message is sent to the base and an airman who was off duty is called out to take care of it. This  guy finds that the latrine pump truck has been left outdoors and is frozen solid, so he must find another one in the hangar, which takes even more time. He returns to the aircraft and is less than enthusiastic about what he has to do. Nevertheless, he goes about the pumping job deliberately and carefully (and slowly) so as not to risk criticism later. 
As he's leaving the plane, the pilot stops him and says, "Son, your attitude and performance has caused this flight to be late and I'm going to personally see to it that you are not just reprimanded but punished". Shivering in the cold, his task finished, he takes a deep breath, Stands up tall and says, "Sir, with all due respect, I'm not your son; I'm an Airman in the United States Air Force. I've been in Thule, Greenland, for 11 months without any leave, and reindeers' asses are beginning to look pretty good to me. I have one stripe; it's two-thirty in the morning, the temperature is 40 degrees below zero, and my job here is to pump shit out of an aircraft. Now, just exactly what form of punishment did you have in mind?"

Have a great day!

525 – The Good, The Bad and The Ugly

With a nod to Clint Eastwood (for the title), the Good is that we have our power back, and we have my brother and his wife and dog at our house. It’s been kinda nice having them around, and I’m very glad we could help.

The Bad is how long it’s taking for people to get power. There are still 312,000 people without power today, and they don’t expect most to be back till late Sunday, IF at all. Our Governor says it may be another week.

The Ugly is how our utility company is handling this. There are SO many upset people, this man needs to quit. They’ve cut back so far on their budget to cut trees, that this happens. Meanwhile, the shareholders of the utility company just rake in profits. Laws will be made to make sure this doesn’t happen again.

The good news is that the weather has been very mild since the storm, and a lot of the snow has already melted. I think I’ll be looking into a generator for the future though.

Stay safe people.

524 – Life Without Power…

SUCKS!

We got smacked with what I consider the worst storm I’ve ever seen in my life on Saturday, October 28th. We got 12 inches of wet, heavy snow on top of trees that still had most of their leaves on them.

The NorthEast part of the US has over 2 million people with no power.

Our state alone had over 800,000 with no power. We lost ours Saturday night, and just got it back Tuesday night at around 7pm.

Thank you to the electrical crews from Sumter South Carolina, for coming to Connecticut and working 16 hour days to help us. I made sure I went out and thanked these men for their hard work and sacrifice of being away from home and friends for so long.

Here’s just one of the trees with broken branches in my backyard.

Click on the pic to ‘embiggen’.

 

My thoughts and prayers go out to all the rest of the people who have no power.