T. Rex vs T. Rex

This is "Goldie". She taught us line dancing while we were at the Dude Ranch. We learned the "South Side Shuffle" and the "Cowboy Boogie" among others.

It rained ALL DAY yesterday. I was to have golfed with John C. at his company outing, but they cancelled, and rightly so, it would not have been fun. They'll reschedule. So, instead, Dee and I went to the Carnegie Museum of Natural History. We had a nice lunch in the cafe and then learned all we could about dinosaurs.

They now have a simulated elevator ride into the depths of the earth. The elevator has a TV screen inside. A guy on the screen gives you a tour of what's a various depths below Pittsburgh. We went to 16,000 feet below the surface. Fascinating stuff about how coal is formed etc. I enjoyed it. Also, the dinosaur area is set up according to the three Ages when dinosaurs roamed the earth. So you got to see what kinds roamed when. They have touch screens in front of each exhibit so that you can read about the various animals depicted. Also the info tells you if the bones are "real" or "recast". Other info about the animals' habits, vegetation, when the bones were discovered etc. was also there.

We had fun walking and reading, looking and wondering.

Then, we stopped in the strip district for a cup of coffee on the way home. Our favorite place was closed at 4 PM, so we walked and found another place. Their coffee was OK and we looked at their "cold brew" kits. We ended up buying a pound of the Je-Ju coffee bean blend. At home we tried it and it was superb.

We drove home in heavy rain at the height of rush hour traffic, and still it wasn't bad at all. I seldom find myself in rush hour traffic anymore, so I can tolerate it better now when it does happen.

Another Day in the Life Of

Here's another photo from the Dude Ranch trip. It's a recruiting poster. And note that "Feed, Food and Ammo" are included Hummm.

Well, Dee put in her second day of work (afternoon shift this time). She said it was a good day and that time went by quickly. She's becoming friends with a couple of the other employees. I went to the store with her and met a couple of the owners by chance. McGinnis Sisters is only a mile from our house so it makes the job very convenient for us. They haven't opened the cafe part yet, and so Dee is doing other things in the deli area and loving it.

On the other hand, I spent the day doing several things I'd been wanting to get done. Printed some pictures from our trip that I hadn't gotten to yet; went to Treesdale to hit balls on the driving range and then decided that since it didn't look busy to see if I could play 9 holes - They said, "Sure, no problem." So I played the Grove course. My score was higher than I wanted, but my drives were a whole lot better. I just have to remember to set up the way Christ instruct me to. I had some very nice drives and one par. (Just inches away from a birdie!) I've only had about 4 birdies in my life.

After golf, I went home and took Bonze for a short walk, heated my dinner, and then too Bonz to the Dog Park for some socialization and exercise. There were about 20 dogs there. We had a nice time. After getting home, I did the vacuuming and then went to get Dee at work. And we finished off the evening watching "Burn Notice".

Change is in the Wind

Yesterday we decided to go to the movies. We saw "House Bunny". It was a cute story that was pure entertainment. The later in the evening we watched Big Mamma's House" on television. It was a good story that was enjoyable to watch. Other than that we just chilled out.

Today, Wednesday, Dee was called to start work today. While she went to work, I talked with my doctor and learned that the glucose test I took sometime ago came back with a good report. I just need to continue trying to raise my good cholesterol HDL. I went golfing at Treesdale for 18 holes with another ranger. It was a beautiful day (cool in the morning but warmed up nicely for the afternoon).

Here's a pic of Tim Bowser and son, Conner at the Rotary Picnic...

Afterward I went to the Rotary picnic in Butler. We sponsored a picnic for the mental health agencies in the area. (I understand Rotary does this every year.) There were about 150 clients there for the picnic plus all the Rotarians who cooked and served the meal. We had hot dogs and fresh corn on the cob along with orange drink, and cookies. Afterward everyone played Bingo and had the chance to win some of the many prizes made avaialbe for the games. I even saw Dee's nephew Larry there with his parents (Ruthie and El). It was a nice surprise seeing them there.

When I got home, Dee had just finished working for her first 8 hour shift on the job. She said she enjoyed the work, but that it was chilly in the store and she was on her feet the whole day. She also said the people she worked with were nice to work with. Today was the "soft opening" of the store. We'd heard from Kerri a couple of days ago. She told us that she got a "promotion" of sorts because a new position opened up in her company and she applied for it and got it. She's also applying for a Project Manager Certificate through the University of MD. It requires about 5 courses and the courses could be applied toward an MBA in the future if she decides to do that. Her company recommended her for the course work and will foot the bill. Nice.

I heard from Treesdale. They said that they'll no longer put "Rangers" on a weekly schedule since were getting into fall. They'll call on an as needed basis. However, I can still golf all I want to. PTL!

A Day to Chill Out

Some people had suggested that it would have been nice to hear the quartet whose photo was posted yesterday. Well here it is by popular demand. Click on this link, and then scroll down to "Special Music" and you see Happy Jubilee, and Over in Glory Land. http://www.ccupc.org/worship-online.htm We did alright for a first time and with few practices, (and Sunday was the first time all 4 of us were present to sing) but still, people seemed to really enjoy it.

Yesterday we kinda chilled out after the busy Sunday. Dee went to Contours and I stayed at home and did some work around the house. I am enjoying exploring the ins and outs of "Facebook" and have made some good contacts with very old friends I haven't heard from in ages. Nice. We enjoyed the nice weather on the deck and then in the evening I went to Bogmeister practice. Finishing off the day at Ol' Uncle Bob's with milk and cookies.

Here's another photo from our Dude Ranch trip...

Quartet Debut

Whew! Sunday was a busy one. Haven't had a long busy Sunday in months. But, yesterday I sang with a quartet at church and there were two services (8:30 AM and 11 AM) with Sunday School in between. Then Dee and I had a nice lunch with Earl and Marilyn before I had to go to the Guard Base to lead worship there at 3:00 PM. While there we had a nice visit with Fr. Jack too. It felt good to participate in the ways I did yesterday doing the kinds of things I like to do. ;) Go Steelers! (we missed the game, but they won without our help.) Here's a photo of our quartet during the early service... (Remember you can always click on the photo to enlarge it.)

The pastor spoke from Matthew 18:15 on the theme of "reconciliation" in relationships. He mentioned how much life in America has changed and we don't know our neighbors and often live in near isolation today. For instance, he said that although bowling is on the rise, more people bowl alone than in leagues today. He talked about how people's homes were open to friends who had "refrigerator rights". That's when a friend is close enough to be able to open your fridge and make themselves at home without any thought of "offending" you. His main point was that relationships are vital to a healthy mature life, and when something injures our relationship it's important (spiritually) to work toward reconciliation.

Our dog Bonz is doing well after his stay at the dog park during our vacation. He sure seemed happy to see us. I was able to install the rope lights on the deck and down to the hot tub on Saturday. They look very nice. So we tried them out last night - ahhhh. That hot tub felt good after a busy day. And the bright moon in the stary sky added just the right touch to close out the evening.

Dudes back from the Dude Ranch

Happy Trails To You !

Well, we are back from the Pine Grove Dude Ranch and Resort in the catskills of NY. We had a really nice time. It's a dude ranch and family resort so there were lots of activities you could participate in or just do your own thing. They had a very nice pool with a cool corkscrew type slide for those daring enough to try it. And many planned activities during the day which they called "contests". All with prizes. Bocce, horse shoes, archery, bingo, basketball shooting from the foul line, bean bag toss (teams), ring toss (teams), shuffle board (teams) ping pong, miniature golf course, volley ball and bad mitten and paint ball course for those who wanted to do it (none in our group did), also a lake for fishing, paddle boats on the lake - which was more like a large pond, but nice area (although there was lots of algae on the pond).

There was horse back riding for beginners and intermediate and advanced. Dee and I did the beginner one day and then I did the intermediate the next. (Intermediate has a few "trotting sections where you bounce up and down. To get to the advanced you have to be able to go from trotting to cantering and do the canter while holding the reins only (no saddle horn holding).

Also there was entertainment and dancing every night - ballroom and line dances to live music. They had a magician and ventriliqist one night and a juggler another night (the guy juggled ping pong balls with his mouth (4 balls at a time. - amazing!) They had a line dance instructor "Goldie" on two days as an activity. She was a good instructor. I read the NYT each morning (something I don't do at home), all the food you could eat although it was served with waiters and waitresses - lots of choices from the menus each meal. Our cell phones were like in a dead zone - had to find just the right place for them to work - although I didn't need mine but once. We did some reading too - Dee finished the memoir book, "The Ice Castle" and started another novel.A mystery this time.

The people we were with were very nice and the escort on the bus was very friendly and got people interacting. Couples and lots of single people on the trip (older). A few single guys. 39 people on our bus. About 133 in the resort total guests. It was after the season ended Labor Day and the staff there was happy the families and kids were gone. They have a staff of 200 in busy season and about 80 when we were there.

Our room was okay - nothing special. Brand new bathroom and air conditioner. The beds were tired, but I didn't have trouble sleeping. Nor did Dee except one night.

We learned a couple of things about ourselves and the kind of people we like to be around, as well as those we avoid (very chatty people). Age wise, there were maybe 4-5 people there younger than us on our bus. Several our age, and the rest in their late 60s to eighties. All very active folks. Some very good dancers too. Fun to watch.

Would we do it again - yes. At that location? Maybe in a couple of years. We heard from the people on the trip about other places too. This was very down to earth, not uppity. I'll be posting a couple of pictures on the blog as time allows.

Happy Birthday Kerri (a couple of days late)

Kerri's birthday dessert with family...

Sunday we went to church. I shared in the leadership of worship with the pastor and I gave the children's talk. I used my Qchord and demonstrated some of it's many features. I had one of the children play it with me as we sang Jesus loves Me. Then we did it with a little rhythm accompaniment. It seemed to go well. I also did a couple of readings and helped serve the communion with Pastor Jim. It was nice to have Kerri and Patrick in town to share in the worship. (They drove back from Plum in the morning so they could make it to church in time.

We had a nice lunch at First Watch and then went back to the house where Pat and Kerri sacked out for the afternoon. Later, Dee and Kerri got to go to Walmart to explore the Labor Day Sales. After they came home we all went out to a birthday dinner at Atria's. That's where we went last year on this same weekend when Pat proposed to Kerri over the Labor Day holiday on Mt. Washington.

After we got home, we worked on the rope lighting for the deck and stairs down to the hot tub. Pat and I put in the hardware to hold the rope in place. It will be nice when it's done. We finished about halfway when it got too dark. We ended the evening watching Big Brother 10. They like it and explained to us how it works. It was interesting and funny to watch.