30/November/2016 - Storms!

The heavy rain of yesterday continued, with the weather getting worse, with bad storms and excessive winds.  A tornado touched down in Atlanta in the afternoon, and here in Columbus the winds were swirling dark clouds in a circular motion around the sky in the mid-afternoon.

Ugh!!

But life carried on.  Kuya got his act together, and did very well on his school work.  Grump showed up for his job more-or-less on time, and managed not to be fired for another day.  Dodong played, climbed, and jumped like the daredevil he is.  Sweetie watched over and hollered at the boys whilst supervising Kuya's homeschooling.  And moving quietly unnoticed in the background, Lola worked diligently to keep everything together.

It was basically a normal weekday.

Grump did decide to start posting on his http://tea-frenzy.blogspot.com blog again.  Here was a pic he attempted to take of some tea, that didn't turn out so well:

After work Grump and two other obsolete old computer guys, Venerable Watson and Bits-n-Bytes Spina, went Cheddars in north Columbus GA for dinner.

They all ate way too much, and Venerable Watson and Old Grump ate very spicy meals too, which probably means that neither of them will sleep well tonight.  Oh well ...... worse things could happen.


Peace!

29/November/2016 - Rain!

Today it rained!

This is very, very exciting news, because for most of central Georgia it hasn't rained since sometime in September.

It rained, and rained, and rained.  The rain came down HARD, which is good, because we desperately needed the rain.

Here are a couple pics, from the same window as yesterday, showing all the new found moisture:

Rain!  Hooray!!

This was a big storm.  It also rained very hard back home in Macon.

While the rain was good, we have to admit that today wasn't particularly good for Kuya.  For some reason, (tiredness?), he kept intentionally messing up his reading in the evening.  Sweetie thinks it's because when he goes to karate class, (which he did this evening), he is unable to concentrate on his studies afterwards.  That's understandable, I suppose.

I hope Kuya can somehow continue to keep up with his schoolwork, AND go to karate class, because I think both are good for him.


Peace!

28/November/2016 - Monday

Monday rolled around again, like it always seems to do.  Old Grump had to wake up before dawn and make the long, long drive to his job in Columbus, Georgia.

Fortunately for him things were fairly quite at work.  He sits near some windows now; here is a pic of the view out the closest window:

Back at Venerable Watson's apartment, things are pretty much the same.  Here is the living room, where Grump sleeps:

Last but not least, here is Venerable Watson himself sitting in his comfy chair in his bedroom, left hand making a vigorous gesture of some sort:

So life goes on in Columbus, as Grump continues to work in exile away from home.  Someday this will end.  As for when that will be, no one knows.


Peace!

27/November/2016 - Peaceful Sunday

It was a peaceful, mostly restful Sunday, even if Kuya did inexplicably awaken at 5:00 am, and proceed to wake up everyone else.  (Grrr!!!)  But Grump and Sweetie were able to get a short, (all too short, unfortunately!), nap later in the day, so they weren't totally sleep deprived.

You may wonder what the boys did early in the morning, once they finally got Sweetie out of bed.  Dodong played in the morning sunlight, while Kuya played with his iPad.

Dodong investigating sunlight

Kuya with his face stuck in his iPad, where it tends to be more often than not

It was a bit chilly in the morning, so when Sweetie and Grump went out to do some chores, Sweetie bundled up:

Sweetie prepared for Arctic Blasts

Remember the pics of the cold-damaged squash vines from Thanksgiving?  Lola was able to harvest two squashes from them.

Two squashes from our garden, along with some calamondins

The calamondins in that picture are from the calamondin trees that have been marooned in our garage, where with luck they'll survive the winter.


Sunday always has a touch of sadness to it, because Grump has to pack to prepare for his long drive to work in the wee hours of Monday morning.  Today Dodong decided to help him pack.

Dodong helping Grump pack his suitcase

Finally, we added a bit to the Christmas lights we put out yesterday:

Our Christmas lights

Peace, y'all!

26/November/2016 - Hooray for Saturday!

We LOVE Saturdays, especially Old Grump.  Why does Grump love Saturdays so much?  Because he can usually get a nap on Saturdays, that's why!

Today we did a lot of shopping early in the morning, taking advantage of some lingering "Black Friday" specials, and bought gifts for the three boys, Dodong, Kuya, and Grump.

After lunch Grump was able to get a 2.5 hour nap, which pleased him very, very much!

In the afternoon we snacked on Thanksgiving leftovers and other goodies.  Dodong in particular loves to eat seasoned laver, which is a type of seaweed.

Dodong eating laver

Sweetie is from the Philippines, so she eats all kinds of interesting stuff.  For example, here is some ....... uh, I'm not exactly sure what it is, but I think it came from somewhere on a cow:

Unidentified edible cow part

In the late afternoon / early evening, Sweetie convinced a reluctant Grump to get off his fat lobot and set up some of the Christmas decorations they had purchased earlier that day.

Our new Christmas decorations

Hopefully these will be the only deer we ever see in our yard again!

Finally, in the evening, just before going to bed, Grump created a new webpage in his ever-hopeful quest to earn some online affiliate income, http://buyingnirvana.com/products/paper-airplanes/.  Maybe there will be enough interest in making paper airplanes for him to earn a buck or two?


Peace y'all!

25/November/2016 - Work ..... Ugh

Would you believe that Old Grump had to wake up before dawn and drive half-way across the state to his job on the day after Thanksgiving?

The moon rising over our neighbor's house as Grump leaves for work

Yep ...... Grump had to work today.  Sad but true.  But, truth be told, it wasn't really that bad, as the roads were mostly empty, and Grump got to leave and come back home at 2:00 pm.  So he really only worked a little more than a half day.


The leaves are turning in Columbus, as you can see from this pic of a pretty tree:

It's getting cold all over Georgia now.  We're supposed to have a bitter winter this year.  Maybe we'll even get some snow?


Back home, Sweetie let Dodong try on her headphones that she uses to listen to Filipino videos on her PC.  Dodong was grateful for the opportunity!

Dodong and Sweetie

Peace!

24/November/2016 - Turkey Day!

Thanksgiving Day finally rolled around again.  We celebrated at home this year with some friends and family, and a turkey breast purchased from Krogers.  Sweetie cooked some bihon, fish, and camotes to add to the feast.  In accordance with tradition, we all overate.

I'd love to share some pics with you, but as you know our various iPhones have been seized by the boys, particularly Dodong.  But I did get a few pics early in the morning, before the festivities started.

Kuya started the day like he does most non-school days, by cuddling up with the iPad, (which he now calls HIS iPad!).

Kuya and HIS iPad

With the recent cold weather, our tender plants have been moved into their winter quarters in the garage, where they will struggle to survive the winter.  Some will make it; some won't.

Tender plants struggling to survive in the garage

Lola's squash vine has already been zapped by the cold.  I wonder if any of the fruits, (squashes), will ripen now?

A cold damaged squash vine

A squash fruit that didn't ripen in time

Thanksgiving is of course a time for giving thanks for all the joys and happiness that come into our lives, and this year, like every year, we had lots and lots and lots and lots to be thankful for.

We all hope that your Thanksgiving was as joyous as ours, and that your holiday season is off to a wondrous start!


Peace!

23/November/2016 - Pre-Turkey Day

While today was Hump Day, even more significantly it was the day before Thanksgiving, a national holiday here in the American Empire.  Because of this, Grump got off early from work, and made the long drive home before dark.  (He hasn't gotten home from work before dark since Daylight Savings Time mandated that the clocks be turned back one hour.)

Once home, Grump's job was to watch the kiddies while Sweetie and Lola cooked.  He did this by hiding with them in the upstairs office, playing on the desktop computer whilst the boys played with their iPads and iPhones.  

As I stated yesterday, there is a dearth of photos at the moment due to Dodong commandeering Grump's iPhone.  We take most of our pics with Grump's iPhone, so until this situation is resolved not every day will have pics.  Instead, you will be forced to read these words.  

What you could do in the meantime is check out this cool gun, which shoots salt to kill flies:

http://astore.amazon.com/httpwwwwaypat-20/detail/B00STSZ77G

..... or this t-shirt, which Grump wants for Christmas:

http://astore.amazon.com/httpwwwwaypat-20/detail/B00NMFTL5U

Because isn't that what the spirit of Christmas is all about anyway, namely, buying all sorts of stuff like a good consumer so that we can keep this bubble of an economy inflated for just a little bit longer?  

Peace!

22/November/2016 - Work, Work, Work!

Work, work, work, and more work!

Okay, it's not that bad, but Old Grump was stuck at work for the second day in a row.  (And he'll also be there tomorrow, God willing and the creek don't rise.)  Neither he nor his colleagues were all that excited to be there, as it's Holiday season now, but there are bills to be paid, (yuck!), so as Snow White's dwarves once sang:

"Hi Ho, Hi Ho (It's Off To Work We Go)"

..... or something like that.  (YouTube seems to have more versions of the song with "it's HOME from work we go" as lyrics.  Odd, huh?)

I guess the breaking news was that, after waiting more than a month, Old Grump finally got paid for some affiliate sales.  This is his first time ever making money on the internet as an affiliate marketer, so he is kinda excited about it, even if the amount he was paid is paltry.

On a more somber note, you'll have to excuse the paucity of photos in recent posts.  The cause is Dodong's sudden intense interest in Old Grump's iPhone, which until recently has been the source of most pics.  But now we'll simply have to get by with verbiage.

Peace!

21/November/2016 - Back to (yuck!) Work

It was another icky Monday, and y'all know what that means: Old Grump had to wake up before dawn and make the long, long drive to his job on the other side of the state.  But until we find some other way to make money, (as Amazon affiliates?  www.arph001.com/amazon is one of our affiliate links.  Check it out!), Grump will have to continue to make the drive.

They've remodeled the place where he works.  Instead of cubicles we now have this icky "open floor" plan:

Grump's new "desk"

Grump works at what is basically a fancy card table.  Sure, you can raise it up or down with the push of a button, but it still feels like working at a table instead of a desk.  This is progress?

It will be interesting to see how friggin' loud it will be at this place once everyone gets back from the holidays.  Why do large bureaucracies always do such stupid things?


May your day be wonderfully free of bureaucratic follies!  Peace!

20/November/2016 - Church, Part 2

So what can you say about a day where the BIG EVENT was going to church, for the second day in a row?

I suppose if you're a good person, you'd say that's wonderful!  But if you're an old grump ...... well, we won't worry about what old grumps think, okay?

Sweetie dressed up all three of her boys in dark pants and white shirts, and attempted to take their picture.  This sequence of pics may illustrate how futile it sometimes is to get all the boys to behave long enough to snap a pic.

Grump has Kuya, and is attempting to grab Dodong

Trying to settle everybody down for the pic

Probably the best shot

Kuya and Dodong are getting restless

Oh no!  Dodong escapes!

As I stated above, we went to church this morning, this time to the Filipino American Christian Fellowship in south Macon, in the basement of the Avondale Baptist Church.

After worship service we had a very nice luncheon buffet at the church, then came home to ....... well, Grump was hoping to catch a quick nap, but Sweetie had some shopping to do, so off to go shopping she, Grump, and Dodong went.

In the late afternoon / early evening all five of us, (Lola, Grump, Sweetie, Kuya, and Dodong), went to Mama Sue's house to have an early pre-Thanksgiving dinner with her and her family.  Then it was back home so the Old Grump could go to bed early, to prepare for waking up way too early to drive to work tomorrow.

Peace!

19/November/2016 - Church, Part 1

I don't know if I ever told you that, before marrying Sweetie, Grump had set foot inside a church maybe 5 or 6 times in his entire adult life.  Well, now he is making up for lost time!  Sweetie is a Seventh Day Adventist, which means that her church meets on the Sabbath.  (Saturday, the last day of the week.)  She and Grump also attend a Filipino church in south Macon, which meets on Sunday morning.

As it turns out, Sweetie had spoken to the SDA pastor earlier in the week, and committed to attending worship service on Saturday.  This was IN ADDITION TO committing to the Filipino church pastor to attend worship service on that church on Sunday.  So this weekend Old Grump was going to attend worship services twice!

Kuya dressed up to attend SDA worship services

Now we haven't been to an SDA church service in quite some time, so imagine our, (okay ..... maybe just Grump's), shock when the SDA worship service went on, and on, and on, and on, and on .......  For 2.5 hours it continued, and was still going strong when Grump finally forced a reluctant Sweetie to get up and leave, because Dodong and Kuya were getting restless.

Back home we ate some lunch, very briefly rested, then got ready for Uncle Mac's 60th birthday party.

Lola getting ready to celebrate Uncle Mac's birthday

Uncle Mac's party was held at a place called "Twang", right next to the old Payne City Mill.

A smokestack remnant from the Payne City Mill

Dodong, Sweetie, and Kuya  (Lola is hiding behind a pole)

Lola, Dodong, Sweetie, and Kuya

Twang has an interesting decor inside:

Weird vents, huh?

One of Old Grump's relative, no doubt

Kuya got to play with his friend, Mr. B. .................

............ while Dodong got to closely inspect the decor.

Peace!

18/November/2016 - Lazy Friday

It was a lazy, lazy Friday!  We didn't do too much, which was fine as far as Grump was concerned.

Probably the most exciting thing that happened was that Dodong was banging around the non-functional singing Santa Claus, when suddenly Santa began to move his mouth and sing!  It scared the heck out of Dodong, but it was funny as heck!

The Singing Santa, in a quiet moment

Since it was a weekday, Kuya still had to go to school.

Sweetie, a crying Dodong, and Kuya, at Kuya's school desk

I don't know why, but Dodong did a lot of wailing today.  Maybe he wasn't quite over the cold he had earlier in the week?

Cry, cry Dodong!

As the next photo shows, Sweetie makes an excellent pillow:

Sweetie the pillow

Grump is but a very poor substitute for Sweetie's squishy softness:

Grump is a poor pillow

Grump also wants me to add that he got a short nap, which as always was the highlight of his day.


Peace, y'all!