Congratulations Josh...

   It's official ...

   I can no longer keep up with my nephew's logic.  I wont say he is smarter than I am (he would never let me forget it, if I did), but I just tried to follow a comment string on facebook between him and some of his friends.  They were debating philosophy statements.  WTF???  I was lost on planet Earth, while they were talking in the stratosphere above me.  I now have a headache and a creak in my neck from looking up.

   I should have known better than to try to keep up with college students.  Especially this one.  He was always to smart for our own good, and now he has gone and surpassed himself...

   He has made the DEAN'S LIST in his first freshman semester taking sophomore classes at a TIER ONE university.

   My chest swelled with pride so much, I had to change from a medium to extra large shirt.  (....It was pride not the fudge brownies I made this weekend, I promise.  Besides if my brownies could make your chest bigger instead of your stomach, I would be rich.)

  So I would like to take this moment to announce to the world and my nephew...

“Congratulations Josh on being so smart and being a great guy.  Keep up the good work. I love ya...”

   Now if you would excuse me I have to go set off the fireworks display,

Image via Wikipedia

pay the skywriter

and find an extra-extra large shirt.....maybe I should just go with a 3X instead.
    

A Very Happy Pyromaniac....

   Okay you know how I have told everyone how I have a hard time typing because of the cold in the office.  Guess what ... we now have heat in the house.

   This pass Thursday 3 very big and very nice guys came over and in less than 2 hours we had this....

Okay we already had the dog.

   A brand new (to us) wood stove.  We could have picked it up and installed it ourselves, but I think it would have taken a lot longer than 2 hours.  I also don't think the chimney hole in the roof would look as good as this...

Bud cut that by hand isn't he good.

   Now there is a really, really, happy pyromaniac in the house ...

Okay the flash washed me out. I swear I'm not a ghost.  I think...

  I had to take this last picture for history...

Our first of many fires.

  Our first night with the wood stove burning the temperature outside was 24 degrees Fahrenheit, but the temperature in the bedroom didn't get below 50 degrees.

  That was great for us.  I am sure the house will heat up a lot more when we finally get the walls, and ceiling in. 

   I would like to thank Clayton, Bud and Chris of American Chimney Cleaning in Houston Texas for the outstanding job they did and for helping us out with the best price.  If any of you need removal, installation or just cleaning and repair for a fireplace or stove, give them a call.  I'm not sure how far out of Houston they go so you guys outside of Texas and the United States might be out of luck.

  Oh and remember this tree (check out what happened here)...

   It had just better watch out, we have a chainsaw and a wood stove and know how to use them.





Oh wow.  I can now shop for a whole
new set of things for the house....

Reconnect this year ...

  This time of year I always seem to get melancholy.  Maybe it is because the hustle and bustle of the Holidays are over.  Maybe it is because a new year has started and we tend to stop and take stock of what we got out of the previous year and what we want out of the new year.   What ever the reason, I think a lot more about friends and family that are no longer around and wish I could talk to them.

    As we get older, we tend to realize how important our friends and family are to us.  Unfortunately a lot of the time we remember them, when it is too late.

   This year why not pull out your old address book and take the time to call an old friend to talk, or visit that Aunt or Cousin you haven't seen in a while.  If you reconnect with one person every month, that's 12 people ... once a week ... that's 52.  Why not spend a few minutes and connect with your pass .

   I am notorious about thinking of people and never getting around to contacting them.  My ESP just doesn't seem to work, or if it does it only works one way and I don't get a reply.

   If you are one of my many friends or family, I haven't forgotten about you, I just seem to have forgotten how to pick up the phone and dial. 


This song reminds me that you never know when it will be too late...


(Hankie alert ... this is a tear jerker, get out the tissue now...)