This and That!!!

These are our inflateable gohsts...... we used them on our deck this year and also in the back of the truck for Trunk or Treat!!!

Our not so scary scare crow!!!

100 pumkins all in a row - all dressed up and ready to go -
To the Coalition for Kids!!!!

Jill on a field trip!!

Trunk of treaters getting some pumpkins!!

A trunk decoration..............

Another Trunk or Treator!!!!

Our less than spectacular fall colors!!!

Peace to you all, John

Dinning in East Tennessee - the bad and the good of it!!!

Yesterday after my PT session for my shoulder, I needed to go to Wal-Mart and wanted to go to eat... So I decided to try the Gondolier Italian Restaurant and Pizza a new place near the Wal-Mart..... Here is the e-mail I just sent to their corporate offices, after all, they do business in 5 states!!!!

I am writing to complain about the service I received yesterday at your Johnson City store. Actually it should be the service I did not receive.

I walked in for lunch at about 11:30 AM on Friday. I was seated and looked at the menu. I decided what I wanted to eat. Ten minutes later no one had been to my table. The hostess went by to seat some people and I ask her if anyone was working this section. She said she would send them right out. The people she seated received immediate service. I sat there for another 5 minutes and no one came to my table. So I left. I will never return and I will never eat at any of your stores. It’s really too bad, I love to eat out and I am a very good tipper.

Cheers, my name

PS: I am a professor at the local university and will be telling all my students about my dining experience, or rather lack of it.

I do not expect one thing from them, but I feel better now.................

The joke around here since I moved here in the mid 80s is that the food is good but the service is not that great!!!

Well, that was the bad - Here is the good -

I have to say that is not always the case. Last night we went out to dinner with our friends Marie and Dennis.. We went to a local place called Cootie Browns.... We were seated and immediately served by a cheery helpful waitress... The food was good, the company was better, we had a really nice evening.... Unfortunately, I spent more space telling you about my bad experience then I did about my good experience...... but the day ended on a positive note and life goes on!!!

I hope you have a nice weekend in blog land or where ever you are.... and remember, take good care of yourself so you can take good care of another........ Peace, john

This past summer Dennis and Marie and Sandy and I went to the beach.... We had a wonderful cabin on the beach!!! We had a great time...... If we had gotten to the Outer Banks and found

these conditions, I would have..............But we did not....... These images and the next bit about Thomas Jefferson I copied form other bloogers around the world..... Google/blogger has a nifty feature that displays images that are posted on blog pages, be careful what you post, it might be seen by the whole blogger world.... I have a lot of fun watching it when I need to relax and do not want to read.. check it out at:

http://play.blogger.com/

In the mean time here is Thomas Jefferson:

and his ten rules!!!

Never put off until tomorrow what you can do today.

Never trouble another for what you can do yourself.

Never spend money before you have earned it.

Never buy what you don't want because it is cheap.

Pride costs more than hunger, thirst and cold.

We seldom repent of having eaten too little.

Nothing is troublesome that we do willingly.

How much pain the evils cost us that never happened.

Take things always by the smooth handle.

When angry, count ten before you speak; if very angry, count a hundred.

Thomas Jefferson

So, thank you bloggers for sharing these thoughts and images.

May we have peace on earth, john

Please pray for my sister and 5 of her 6 children and their families who live in the San Diego area as they cope with the horrific fires of Southeren California.......... pray also for the many thousands of other people who are suffering with this nightmare.......... Thank you.... Peace, john

Cherokee United Methodist Church

Youth

the patch

A pile o'pumpkin

Can you find the el(pumpkin)mo?

Ten little pumpkins all in a row

All lined up and ready to go!!!!

Oh Wow, we are so happy!!!
Because..............
Will soon be here!!!

So, remember to take good care of yourself so you can take good care of another,

Love, John

Fall break in Gatlinburg -

Hi everyone, we are back..... We spent Friday, Saturday and Sunday in Gatlinburg with our friends Dennis and Marie.... we were in a condo near downtown Gatlinburg

We had a lot of fun being together and shopping and eating...... We had hoped for the colors of fall, but we got mostly green and brown....

We ate at the Alamo Friday night; on Saturday, we ate breakfast at the condo, then Dennis and I ate lunch at the Fox and Parrot pub and Marie and Sandy went to a tea room, then for dinner we ate at the Greenbrier; on Sunday, we ate breakfast at the Cracker Barrel, a late lunch at the Black Mountain Brewery in Pigeon Forge, and we had cheese and crackers and bread; on Monday, after packing the vehicle, we ate at FlapJacks and came home.......... We had a good time eating ........ Here is the Alamo - it says so on the sign!!!!

Before we went to many, many craft shops in a lengthy loop of such places, we went for a ride to find the Tanasi Lodge - Why you ask? Well in February the Greer's are having their retreat there and next summer, we are celebrating my 65th birthday there.... We got lost (even though we could see the place up the mountain), and drove around places where the signs said private property do not enter, and other such inviting commentary's........... we were close........ we asked someone if they knew where we were and they said "you are right here!!" - no, not really.... the fellow I talked to knew where it was and told us exactly how to get there.... my GPS system was about a full block off..... anyway, we drove up this mountain and at the end of the gravel road, we found the Tanasi Lodge.......... And here it is and after the lodge is the view down the mountain into the valley!!!

While we were relaxing in our condo..... the ladies would be doing knitting and crocheting...

Somebody took off his shoes!!!
And was later seen floating in the wall behind the mirror!!!!!

Since the foliage was less than spectacular, we did not visit the woods!!! However, on one of our shopping trips, after outletmalling until we nearly dropped, we ate at the brewery in a shopping area that was sorta interesting.... I was able to purchase something called smoked venison trail steaks (a type of jerky - no comments please)....... and we did encounter a friendly black bear.....

We had a wonderful time with our friends..... we are home now, with all the new stuff found here and there, and tomorrow it will be back to work for Sandy and back to normal for Dennis and Marie and one more day of Fall break for me!!!

Oh, yah! After we got home we went and picked-up Jill at the spa... she had a bath and got a new boo rag.....

And she wishes you a

season!!!!

So, we had a great time - and we are closing in on Halloween..... so, remember to take good care of yourself so you can take good care of another. Peace, john

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI)

MAGNETIC RESONANCE IMAGING (MRI)

Last Thursday I had a MRI of my shoulder...... From the title, above, you can see what MRI stands for. You may not know what it is but if you can read the secret code in the second line, you will know!!! Actually, that is the same as the first line except it is in a font called Webdings!!!! There you have it!!

Here is a picture of the MRI machine!

I have had a CAT scan and two MRIs so I wasn't concerned - Yes you are in a tunnel and yes it is loud - sort of like being in a 55 gallon drum with someone beating on it with several different types of hammers.... anyway, I was not overly concerned...

This time, they put my shoulder in a hard plastic harness and stuffed me and the harness into the MRI machine. Well, I was in an awkward position and by shoulder was being twisted in an unusual position. I have never been able to judge time in the tube, no watch, and all the beating throws you off your counting routines... Anyway, after a short period of time my bound-up shoulder was in pain and the rest of that arm was numb..... The pain got worse and the arm continued to be numb.... Finally, I moved.... bad deal... they had to have a do-over for that part of the test so it lasted a little longer than the 30 minutes that it was supposed to last... my bad...

Well that is behind me and I have the results. No torn rotator cuff.... good news.... I have, to quote my doctor, really bad, bad, bad, advanced arthritis." He immediately sent me to the orthopaedic surgeon, Dr. Aiken, who I can see on November 7the.... he is really good and is very busy!!!! He did my knee!! My doctor, not wanting to be overly optimistic, says he my want to scrape or replace my shoulder... Hummmmmmmm, I will have to think about those options.

More importantly, I am bummed out about the fact that this is my second joint to have been affected by my arthritisto the point of surgery or possible surgery. I have been pondering the possibilities of a continuing list of joints that will continue to deteriate over time.... Well, I will hop off of my pity pot now....and get on with my life.

Thanks for listening. Remember to take good care of yourself so you can take good care of another.... Love, john

Matt Fay update--

I don't know much but here is what I do know. Matt has just started another round of chemo and is really worn out.... he has at least one more round to go before they evaluate his tumor... it looks like he will be in treatment for most of the rest of the year... after he is finished with chemo he will have surgery...

For those who don't know, Matt is a student worker in my office that was diagnosed with a fairly rare form of cancer late last year and has been in treatment ever since. He was able to finish the spring semester, but not able to come back to school this fall.

Please pray for this young man. He is a real warier and is fighting this cancer with all his strength and with the help of the grace of God.

So for sure, take good care of yourself, so you can take good care of another.
May the peace of Christ be with you and yours, john

Doggers and Kitty Katters:

As many of you know I really love our dog Jill..... and I love our cats Little Bit and Roxy. But, I am particularly fond of Jill.... On our recent trip to Tampa for the wedding of Sandy's niece we had the pleasure of meeting and spending time with some other pretty cool doggers and a kitty kater. I am not sure why I call them doggers and katters, but it is something that started with Jack and Jill and I'm sticking with it.


Kumba the katter!!!


He is named after a roller coaster ride at Bush Gardens near where Sandy's sister lives......

He is a big cat and not really afraid of mingling with the rest of the pet clan........ sometimes he will let you hold him...

Our first night there he slept with Sandy... Sandy was sleeping approximately the same place as the picture above, sometimes the katter was too!!!



Now we have Pogo....

Pogo is a Jack Russel and I am sure in his younger days was more like a pogo then he is now!!! However, he is pretty "bouncy" and very friendly....




Pogo is looking out at the pool - all of the doggers love to swim in the pool... However, Kumba is not that interested in doing that!







This Lexus the pit bull.... she is as gentle as a lamb.

She usually travels with Sandy's brother-in-law but she was home for the wedding, as was he!!!





Lexi, as she is sometimes called, is quite old now but holds her own with the rest of the pet clan!!! Hummmmmmm....








This is Mater (with a long a). Mater is named after the tow truck in the movie Cars.....

He is the youngest of the lot. He was a rescued dogger and is a little shy to get too close to people.... He as a lot of energy!!! Actually, he ownes the young man and woman who got married and was having a sleep over while they are on their honeymoon..


Here are Mater and Lexi side-by-side!!!

Well there thy are - the doggers and katter we visited this past weekend..... I was sad not to have Jill with us... but what we decided is that our dogger and katters can learn to live together in harmony!!!

Remember, take good care of yourself so you can take good care of others. Jesus said, I did not come to be served but to serve... and so it should be for us as well.

Peace, john

Hello - I have been to a wedding!!!!

We are near Tampa Florida at Sandy's sister house..... Sandy's niece got married this evening. Between the rehearsal and the wedding I was able to take about 250 candid pictures... The real photographer took all the posed pictures!!! I had a great time....

Through the magic of the Internet, I have been able to grade students assignments while being away from home......not wanting to miss anything I ask my friend Dennis send us the church bulletin , the Compass. We will be home before you know it and life will be back to normal... whatever that is???

Well, remember to take good care of yourself so you can take good care of another. Peace, John

I was at the dentist office, where were you?
I went from there to work, where were you?
I went from work to home, where were you?
I saw tower fell on TV, we all died a little,
Where were you?

God grant us peace on earth and througout the universe.

Total Eclipse of the Moon

There was a total eclipse of the moon this morning. It occurred between shortly before 5am and continued to last until after sunrise. I was lucky enough to experience it shortly after it began until it was total and to capture a few images of it...... they follow:

the previous images were taken with just the regular camera settings operating on automatic... for the next two images (actually, they are the same image with one being cropped and the other being the full image) were taken with a lengthy time delay....... this was the last image I could get before the moon went into full eclipse!!!!

Thank you God for providing the wonders of the universe. It is not at all difficult for me to understand why people from another time may have thought the world was ending with the lunar or solar eclipse..... We know better now........... We are much smarter... In fact, we have figured out much more sophisticated ways of killing each other. It is very difficult for me to understand why we do that.... God bless you all and remember to take good care of yourself so you can take good care of another. I love you, john

bloggers meet?

and

We had a wonderful time!!!

pelican horned in on the party... no bird can like the pelican!!

What a wonderful time - love, john

Some thoughts on starting the school year!!!

Hi everyone…. Thank you for caring for me as I had my annual cancer follow-up. As Dennis said, the results were negative and that is positive!!!

Next week, Wednesday, we have our opening convocation of the faculty to begin the school year at East Tennessee State University. Classes start the following Monday. This semester I will have two in-class and one on-line class – all of my classes are full – This year, I will teach, or try to teach, approximately 225-250 students…….

This will be my 24th year at ETSU and my 30th year teaching overall. I taught for 6 years at the University of Louisville before coming to this university and these wonderful mountains… I am a really good teacher, I have done a really good job at university service, but my research productivity hasn’t been that good. That is the main reason why, after all these years, I have not achieved the rank of Professor, I remain an Associate Professor.

I love to teach and have made the transition from chalk boar, dry erase board, TV classes, and now to Internet classes…I have taught on the main campus mostly with some classes in Kingsport and some in Bristol…

Over the years, I have taught somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 students…. When I came to ETSU we were teaching mostly first generation college students. That is, students who parents did not go to college… Sometime their parents didn’t understand the importance of going to class… I remember one student who said to me, when the tobacco crop comes in I will have to be gone for several days when we harvest it….. Sandy has done that and she tells me it is truly not any fun………. That is not something students seem to do any more, thank God. Now, I am teaching some of my students children, that is too weird.

I tried administration at a low level, and really did not like it or do well. I was the Director of the College of Business Honors Program, the Director of Assessment for the College of Business. I found that those kind of administrative duties did not suit my personality, I would wake up in the middle of the night thinking about this little duty or that report… I love teaching and it does not wake me up in the night.

I have been the Faculty Senate President and did a decent job of that. I also have been something called the NCAA Faculty Athletic Representative. That is a position that connects the academic community with the athletic… That allowed me to be very active in athletics and also to be very active in the Southern Conference. ETSU belonged to the Southern Conference before we did away with football and had to leave to join the Atlantic Sun Conference.. That is a whole other story.

While I make a very good salary, I am significantly underpaid relative to those just entering the teaching profession…. That is called salary compression… Even with the new raises we will get this year, I will be somewhere between $15,000 and $20,000 below market for a person at my rank and years of service…. I am sad about that as I begin to close out my career, but I am blessed to make the salary that I do make…

I want to thank God for the opportunity to do this job all of these years. I want to thank God for allowing me to touch so many people and help to educate them. I want to thank God for keeping me healthy enough to have only missed a few days through the years to illness – remarkable considering that I have had cancer three times. Thank you God for sending the Holy Sprit to me with the gift to teach…… I have been truly blessed.

Peace to you all, john

Well, first of all, what I called a frozen section of my urine is really called a cytology test. So, live and learn.......... Now - my cytology tests are back and they are negative.... Praise God. That is wonderful news and I am so happy..... Blessings to all, john

Ok - I have still not heard from the frozen section of my urine.... It will not be two weeks until tomorrow.... so I decided to write something.......... My new neighbors have moved in - remember, they moved in last year and then went back to CA because his Mother was, is, ill.. well they are back..... Yesterday, they were running errands and decided to go to ChicFilet in North Johnson City..... They were walking up the hill and Carol slipped and fell head-over-heals down the hill and broke her ankle.... She had to have surgery today... I haven't heard how she is doing... There son is in second grade and he came over at a few minutes before 6 and stayed with Sandy and I until the bus picked him up at about 7:30.... I now know that not only am I not smarter than a 5th grader, but I am not smarter than a 2nd grader either!!!!

Today I cut the grass at church..... Next week, Ruth will help cut the grass at church..... I hope it is not quite so dry... I was afraid there would be a grass fire it is so dry.........

Here is a picture of my sun flowers.......... actually two pictures.

They did not grow on those fence posts!! I bet you knew that...........

Here is Jill dog eating an elephant.... It used to be Maddie's but she didn't want it any more so Marie gave it to Jill.... Jill was so interested that she was able to get the insides out...

This is Jill dog having a nap - she probably had a nap after getting the insides out of the elephant too, but this was not it!!!

She and I compete for the most naps.....................

Have a great day and remember to take good care of yourself so you can take good care of someone else. Peace, john