Another Day in the Books

There's not a better ending to a day than this. Right after the heat, right before the mosquitos. I live for that moment every day...it just sort of wraps everything up for me. There's not much else I want to see again befor a similar views creeps over the opposite horizon about twelve hours later.....actually about ten hours later at this latitude.

We just got back from FCA. Had good food, good fellowship, good fun, and Great WORD. We're just kind of lazing about here waiting on bedtime. Tilena had a bowl of fifteen bean soup waiting for me when I got home. The sheets won't touch the bed all night.

KC's wedding is this weekend. I know she's getting nervous about now. She's probably already in Florida by the time I write this. They live in Colorado, but will be getting married in Seaside, Florida. That's next to Destin out in the panhandle. Hopefully, the tropics will behave and I'll be able to attend. However....there's already a tentative forecast for some trouble spinning up in the gulf. Hey, them's the breaks when you schedule a September wedding on the Gulf of Mexico. I do so look forward to seeing KC, Christy, and my Emma Grace who will be meeting me there. It will be an enormous sacrifice to miss the Seminoles playing their first conference game. However, the 'Noles will play other conference games, but with God's great Blessings, KC will never have another wedding.

Troops, you all have a blessed evening. I'm gonna have a bowl of cereal and go see how many sheep are in the pasture. God is on his throne....He will take care of the goats.

Don & Company

Palm Trees and Sand......................

Duly Noted

As I opened my mail this morning, I was confronted and appropriately chastised by one of the young men I endeavor to disciple. He noticed right away I had omitted some very important people from the blog yesterday about 9/11. There were some other great American heroes who died that day besides those in the twin towers. Many died at the Pentagon and (probably the greatest, bravest heroes of the day) those in a Pennsylvania field.

Thanks, David for the humbling reminder. You're right, it is all to easy to just mention the people in the towers....many more died that day, not to mention a way of life that forever changed for us all.

Don and Company

911 and harvest

Today was a reminder of how frail and fragile we really are. It's been seven years now since the Towers fell. The world would have us forget; our own liberal media deems the photos too graphic, offensive and "insensitive" for the Muslim world. We're not allowed to see the pictures or footage of the horrors of that day. Michael Moore and the other media barons will brush it all away with time. In my heart, the dust will never settle. Now, here we stand at the brink of electing their own representative as president of the USA. My gut just clenches every time I consider the possibility. There are seven small flags in a coffee cup on my desk at work, the seventh just added today. I've received one as a reminder each September 11th since 2002 from the Criminal Justice Class at the High School. The kids sponsor a memorial every year in honor of our fallen heros. Today was the latest in that annual event. Every public safety agency in the region is welcomed and awarded a plaque commemorating 9/11 and their ongoing efforts to aid the community (and a small US flag too). There is a photo above of me with the Fire Chief and Sheriff at the gathering. Those kids always do a great job. My Nick is one of them.

There's also a shot of the only two members of our family who have never appeared on the blog before. They're doing all they ever do. Eat, sleep and poop. You can see booger in the grass behind them. While I was out there I could hear the JV Team playing football in the distance. We're close enough to the stadium to hear the PA if we're outside. I think they won their first game in three years last week...woo hoo!

The other photo is a reminder of a season of God's rich blessings. The coconut harvest is great this year. Plenty of rain and sunshine have yielded a healthy bounty. All the trees are loaded. We have seven or eight of these trees in the yard and they're all heavily laden with fruit.

Tilena is ringing the dinner bell, so I'm off to prosperity. The moon will be creeping up through those coconut fronds soon....you know I'll be there watching.

God Bless you all.

Don & Co.

Pepper, Pepper and I dunno....

Christy wanted a couple more pictures of Pepper, so here they are. There's also a shot of something I've never seen before. This is some sort of a UFO that flew onto the lanai while Bowden, Pepper and I were out there. It's about 3 inches long with fuzzy antennae and long celluloid type thin wings with tapered tips. By way of orientation, it's sitting on a leg roller on the Bowflex. If anyone has any idea what this is, please let me know. I was born and raised in Florida and I've never seen a bug like this.

I've been out in the back yard pulling weeds. There's one area right underneath a Guava Tree that just sprouts them like....well....weeds. If I don't get in there and work a couple times each week, it quickly gets out of hand. It's a nice cool overcast afternoon and the dogs are frisky. They both took turns chasing the cats.

We're having some minor rainbands from Hurricane Ike. Nothing much, but they're just rolling through and adding a bit more rain to our total.

Well, everyone have a great evening. I'm trying to blog a bit more often and a bit less at the time. Everyone drop me a line sometime.

Don & Co.

Rainin' Cats and Dogs

Another Good Day! At my age, Every Day is a Holiday. Pepper and I just got back from the Doctor....He's turned up with a case of the worms. It was time for his vaccination booster shots anyway so we took care of it all at one time. Of course they gave him a courtesy bath and trim then touched him up with a bandana...he looks like a regular little bandit right now.

Check out these photos close. It rained so hard last Friday Morning, the walking catfish were out. When I pulled up to the house for lunch I noticed one in the drive way. When I was standing at the sink making a sandwich I saw these two on the back porch. It rained 4.88 inches between 5 a.m. and Noon. That was on top of the 18 inches we had received in the two weeks prior. Catfish knocking at the door was the least of our problems.

Hey all, How 'bout them NOLES! We should jump and hoot while we can. Something tells me we won't get many opportunities for celebration this year. The weekend was very fruitful for me sports wise. Noles won, Dale Junior finished 4th, and the Hurricanes lost....pretty good round up. The only way it could have been better was if the Gators had lost.

Well troops....thanks for reading and participating. The votes for best all time TV are coming in. Make sure to get your two cents in.

I'll have more to say in a day or so.

Don & Co.

Ole Red Eye

New day, new challenges. I woke up this morning with a red, itchy, gooey eye....I knew I would. Yesterday at lunch, I let Pepper out to pee and poop. I let him back in without paying much attention really. Then I smelled him before I saw him. The dreaded puppy runs. He had it all over him in that long fur; and therefore by that time, all over the floor as well.

I spent lunch cleaning carpet and washing the puppy. While I was washing him he shook and got it in my eye....yeeeccch. So, today the ole red eye.

The photo here is my old buddy Don Nix and his family. This shot was taken in our back yard a couple of years back. He's the best and most loyal friend I've ever known and I miss him a lot. He's like me in the fact he married over his head and out of his class.

Otherwise things are rocking along. Hope you all caught the speeches by Rudy Gulianni and Sarah Palin. Boy did they rip Obama Sama Bin Laden. But he had it coming. By the way....thanks to those of you who voted in the presidential poll posted on the blog. The results were Bobby Bowden 50%, John McCain 37% and Osama Bama Bin Laden 12%. I just can't believe any readers of my blog would actually vote for a terrorist. An ignorant terrorist at that.

Well, all eyes are to the East this week. We'll just claim God's protective hand and see what's in store. I may be sending Tilena and the boys away mid week. Day by day....new challenges, same solutions...keep looking up.

When a Show was a Show

Every now and then I get a reminder of just how old I really am. Sunday Night I went with Tilena, Nick and a buddy of Nick's to a John Mayer concert. He is supposed to be "THE" entertainer of our day. Let it be said.....things have changed a bit since I last attended a concert. Being a veteran of these things, I was prepared for a show. But it was just not what I was expecting.

See, the concerts of my day "The Eagles, Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boston...now those boys rocked! As good as the music was in my day, the show may have been better. Laser lights, fog machines, fireworks, explosions, jumbotron TV, bodies being passed overhead, "exotic" aromas, dancers, fighters, lovers, police...a real show. Sunday Night we just watched a little bird chested boy sing and about 10000 middle school girls scream and swoon. It was a lot like 2008's answer to Neil Diamond....when he was fourteen. It's not that seeing swooning little girls bothers me, but 30 years ago even the girls were enjoying the show too much to swoon. Just imagine "or remember" 80,000 people in a stadium at night with Boston lighting up the night with a couple of those lead guitars roaring, fireworks shooting off.......makes my chest thump just to remember....those guys could really bend some guitar strings.

This little Mayer boy may be a star today, but if he is, kids really need something more to do. Guys like Jim Morrison, David Bowie, Steven Tyler....now they were rockers...they were musicians....they were showmen. There is really no comparison....they were just extraordinary and bigger than life. The world was just a lot more fun then.

I've grown up a lot since then, physically and more importantly spiritually. I realize that Steven Tyler and John Mayer are both probably lost and saving a miracle...both will probably spend eternity in Hell. But if given the option, I'm glad I grew up when I did and was able to experience the world I lived in. The wildness of our day seemed more born out of a sense of hope and a world learning to live together. What we were doing then was who we were. Sunday Night I sensed desperation and a need for escape. A sad world with no one of this earth to listen to. Just a skinny little boy with no sense of entertainment.

I hope I have the opportunity to witness to them all. Unfortunately for Jim Morrison, its too late. He knows the truth. Praise God I lived long enough to know the truth.....One day, I'll see a real show.

Don & Co.


Palm Trees and Sand........................