2016/July/05 - Short Pump!

With a tear in their eyes, Sweetie and Grump had to "bid adieu", as the Old Grump had to go to Virginia for a business trip.  Short Pump, Virginia, to be exact, which is basically a suburb of Richmond.

Saying our goodbye at the bus station

Grump all by himself on the bus to the Atlanta airport

Sweetie had a luncheon with the ladies at La Parrilla:

Sweetie's Lunch

Grump had lunch at the Atlanta airport:

Grump's Lunch

While waiting for his flight, Grump had time to walk around and check out the scenery.

These magazines are marketed towards women?

Eventually he arrived at his hotel in Short Pump.  It was a very, very nice hotel!

Grump's hotel room

A fat man in the mirror!

The view out the window

The view down the hallway

Grump and his co-workers went out for dinner to a nearby restaurant called Rock Bottom, whose claim to fame is that they brew some of their own beer.  Tempting fate, Grump ordered a watermelon flavored beer.  I'll leave it up to your imagination what it tasted like!

Grump's appetizer - fish tacos!

After dinner Grump and his co-workers all went back to the hotel to their respective rooms, to get a good night's sleep for the exciting activities tomorrow!


Peace y'all!

2016/July/04 - Happy Fourth!

Happy Fourth of July everybody!

Our day started slowly, with a definite reluctance to get out of bed.

Dodong and Kuya hanging out in bed

Eventually Sweetie and Grump got their act together, and leaving the boys with Lola, did what they usually do on a non-working day, namely, GO SHOPPING!

Whilst waiting for Sweetie to try on some clothes, Grump snapped a few odd pics:

Plastic feet behind the door

It's a fat man in the mirror again!

Probably the most interesting part of the day occurred during a phone call with Grandma and Grandpa.  We were talking about how both of them, with God's Grace and hard work, had pulled themselves up from a life of poverty to, well, if not a life of luxury, then certainly a life of predictable comfortableness.  They were presented with opportunities in life, which they wisely took good advantage of.

We wonder if the same type opportunities will exist for Kuya and Dodong?

It will be hard to have such a dramatic improvement in lifestyle as experienced by Grandma and Grandpa.  It's kinda like joining a very good sports team that has won the championship for the past seven years.  While there is always room for improvement, there is much less in that case than joining a team that has consistently had a losing record.

We also wonder how much longer America will stay a great country?  While I don't need to describe all the challenges facing us, it is still true that the USA is probably the best place overall to live in the world.  (Don't believe me?  Then explore other places to live.  Maybe you'll find a place that better suits you.)  But we can hardly say that we have a society that collectively does its best.  Perhaps the best description I've heard of America is that, while in need of a lot of work, it's the best house in a bad neighborhood, (the rest of the world).

Maybe someday soon another country will collectively get its "house in order", and that will become the best place to live?

Maybe someday there will be peace in the mideast?

Anyway ...... happy Fourth of July!

Peace!

2016/July/03 - Brown Farms

Although neither Sweetie nor Grump slept well, we were all up early, determined as we were to arrive at church services on time today.

Grump had an interesting breakfast of cereal and fruits:

Grump's Breakfast

Despite appearances, it was very tasty!

We actually have lots of yummy fruits to munch on at the moment:

Back home after church services, (which we had arrived to ON TIME - hooray!), we just lay about the house, wasting time.

Dodong laying between Grump's stinky old feet

Eventually the boys got bored and restless, so Sweetie decided it was time to GO SOMEWHERE.  As we couldn't think of any place better to go, we decided to drive to the farm market on route 49 north of Montezuma, Georgia.  It's about an hour from our house, so it made a nice drive.

It wasn't long before Kuya was asleep:

Kuya sleeping in the car

On route 49, just north of Marshallville you pass an imposing building.  This is apparently a headquarters of the American Camellia Society, and is situated on the Massee Lane Gardens.

 

We didn't tour the gardens; it was way too friggin' hot, and we were on our way to get some more peach ice cream.  But the gardens do look interesting.  Maybe next spring we'll stop by?

The back of the building, where you pay to enter the gardens

Entrance to the gardens

Finally we arrived at the William Brown Farm Market.  Just like Pearson's, they have fresh from the tree peaches.  They also have some other locally grown fruits and veggies, and the absolute BEST peach ice cream of any place around here.

William Brown Farm Market

Freshly picked peaches

Of course we just had to have some of that delicious peach ice cream!

Kuya didn't like the ice cream, because it had "lumps" in it.  (Bits of yummy peaches, actually.)  Dodong was enjoying his ice cream until he noticed that Kuya wasn't eating any, at which point he decided he didn't like it either.

Silly boys!


For dinner we went to the local Longhorn Steakhouse so Sweetie could order one of their fabulous hamburgers, to make up for the cruddy hamburger she got Friday at FOJ.  Her hamburger, (and Lola's baby back ribs), was yummy and delicious, so dinner was a resounding success.

Despite appearances, Kuya enjoyed his food

Grump and Kuya being silly

The ladies and Dodong

 Peace!

2016/July/02 - Pearson's Peaches

Remember Dodong's artwork from yesterday?  It's still there!  Grump tried to wipe it off, but anything strong enough to remove the ink will unfortunately also remove the paint.  Phooey!

Dodong's artwork

Breakfast was interesting: corn on the cob!

After a late, leisurely breakfast we decided to go pick blackberries and buy some peaches.  We went to Fox Valley Farms first, where Lola and Sweetie picked blackberries and a few blueberries.  (Grump stayed back in the shade and watched Kuya and Dodong.)

Under the Peach Trees

Blue Martins in their "house"

Next we went to Pearson Farm, to buy some peaches.

The Pearson Farm store is inside a peach packing facility.  You can watch the peaches move along the conveyor belts until they are packaged.

Packaging peaches

Whilst at Pearson's, we got some ice cream.

Kuya entertained everyone in the store by rapidly gulping down his ice cream, then vomiting it all up on his way to the bathroom!

On the way home, Dodong slept.

Dodong sleeping in the car

Once home, it was Lola and Sweetie's turn to take a nap ......

Lola and Sweetie napping on the living room couch

...... while a revived Dodong did some scribbling, this time on PAPER!

Dodong hard at work!

We had an early dinner at the Vietnamese restaurant Pho Saigon, then back home all went to bed early.


Peace!

2016/July/01 - Doc Visits

Although today was a weekday, (Friday), Old Grump was home.  He had taken the day off to go to doctor's appointments.

First up was the skin doctor.  She looked at Grump's arms, legs, and back, then gave him a prescription for his persistent toenail fungus.

A Fat Old Man at the Skin Doctor's Office

Whilst there, Grump tried to take an "artistic" picture of himself and Sweetie using a mirror:

After that appointment was over, Grump and Sweetie went to usually fantastic FOJ for lunch, and ....... well, for the first time ever, were disappointed.  Sweetie got a Bruiser Burger which was mediocre.  Bummer!

About to be disappointed at FOJ

After that unpleasant surprise, Grump and Sweetie went to Grump's second medical appointment, this time at the allergy doctor.

A Fat Old Man at the Allergy Doctor's Office

Maybe he needs to see a psychiatrist?

Notice how the chair looks like one you would find at a dentist's office?  Well ...... the resemblance is no mere coincidence!  Grump had to have hardened wax cleaned out of his ears, and his right ear in particular was already quite sore.  It was NOT a pleasant experience!


Back home, we watered plants.  Sweetie and Lola have done a wonderful job with the gardens this year; everything looks fantastic, even the "weed", (passionflower vine), that Grump insists on growing.

Grump's Passionflower Vine is flowering!

Another flower on the Passionflower Vine

Grump is letting the vine grow all over and through our collapsing rear deck:

The Passionflower Vine attempting to cover our deck

One of the plants that surprised us by surviving the winter was the taro.  Sweetie cooks the taro root for us to eat, so if the taro plants thrives here we'll have a perennial source of vegetables.

The Taro Plants

After a slow start, we've also had a bumper crop of beans this year.  Part of the credit for this has to go to the Liquid Fence that Grump sprays on our garden crops once a week or so.

Bean Plants

Lots of beans waiting to be picked!

 Sweetie has been planting lots and lots of flowers too.  Most of them are in pots, so they need to be watered almost every day during the very hot summer here in central Georgia.

Coleus growing in a pot.  I had always thought coleus was a shade plant, but I guess I'm wrong.

Sweetie's Flowers
 

 After dinner, Sweetie and Lola went to Bible study.  Old Grump stayed home with the boys, whom he was SUPPOSED to be watching.  While Grump was being inattentive, (putzing around on his computer, no doubt), Dodong got busy, and using a ballpoint pen, WROTE ON THE LIVING ROOM WALL!  By the time Grump realized what was happening, (or was alerted to the problem by Kuya), this is what Dodong had done:

Dodong's artwork, applied to our Living Room wall!

Needless to say Sweetie was not too pleased when she arrived home, being mostly sore at Grump for not paying closer attention.


Peace y'all!

2016/June/30 - Home Again!

Okay ...... stuff happened today.  It was a nice, but unextraordinary day.  Grump went to work; Kuya and Dodong were up to their usual excitement, keeping Lola and Sweetie and busy.

The best news, I suppose, was that Grump has the day off tomorrow, so he came home after work today.  Lola, Kuya, and Dodong all got take-out from McDonald's for dinner; Grump and Sweetie had a dinner date at Panera, which they thoroughly enjoyed.

Other than staying up too late, that was about it for the day.  Oh ..... we did finally finish uploading some old pics of our 2010 visit to Mindanao, Philippines.  You can see the pics here:

http://planetarypics.blogspot.com/2016/06/old-pics-from-philippines-part-1.html

http://planetarypics.blogspot.com/2016/06/old-pics-from-philippines-part-2.html

http://planetarypics.blogspot.com/2016/06/old-pics-from-philippines-part-3.html



So ...... how about some WonderPolls?

1.  What flavor of ice cream is the best?  a) chocolate, b) vanilla, c) strawberry, d) cookie dough, or e) peach?

Good grief!  Everyone knows that the best flavor of ice cream is mint chocolate chip, and it's not even on the list!  But I guess if forced to choose from the available options, I'd pick "a", chocolate.

Only 25% of respondents agree with me.  Would you believe that "d", cookie dough, was the most popular choice, at 42%?  Yuck!  Vanilla got 23%, strawberry 8%, and peach, which is massively better than cookie dough, was only picked by 2% of respondents.

Cookie dough?

2.  How many times do you spit when you brush your teeth?  a) once at the end, b) twice: once in the middle and once when I'm done, c) I swallow.

I probably spit twice or more, so I would choose "b".  68% of folks agree with me, while 28% claim to spit only once at the end.

4% of y'all got confused and chose "c", which I believe belongs to, uh ...... a different activity!

3. When you go down the stairs, do your feet turn sideways, or do they stay normal?

Unless the stairs are very wide, my feet turn sideways, even if just a little bit.  Oddly only 37% of y'all agree with me, as 63% claim you go down the stairs without turning your feet.  Y'all got small feet!

4.  Do you like background noise when sleeping?

Depending on the noise, I'd say "yes".  While ambient noise helps me sleep, annoying sounds do not.

57% of folks agree with me, while 43% would prefer to sleep in silence.



Peace y'all!