Sandy is on a cruise - she has been to places like Half Moon Cay, Bahamas; St. Thomas, USVI; San Juan, Puerto Rico; Grand Turk; with a couple of Fun Days at Sea thrown in..... She is on a Fun Day at Sea right now!!! Tomorrow she will come home............ I can't wait......

While she has been gone, I have created a pile of brush:and re-hung my upside down tomato on the deck.
I got to watch the College World Series - and blogged about the winner. I also watched several European Cup Football matches... Tomorrow Spain plays Germany for the championship.... I do not know what happened to Ireland....

The dog has taken command of my chair where she can guard the front of the house....
She has done an excellent job guarding. She has occasionally let me sit in my chair - especially when I am eating and she is expecting to get some scraps..... she is usually right about that....

The other night something weird happened - at 15 minutes before 4 AM Jill dog started barking and would not stop.... I got up and went downstairs and discovered that my next door neighbor was investigating his side porch with a flashlight.... His dogs were barking and my dog was barking.... I don't know what he was looking for or if he found it.... but I was wide awake and could not go back to sleep.... I waited a little and let Jill out so that she could get her barking out of her system.... Then we watched the sunrise together.... weird ugh???

Any way, hope you are all having a good day, I am.......

Remember to take good care of yourself so that you can take good care on another and to pray for Matthew.....

Cheers, john

News about Matt from Deanna, our departmental administrative aide:

"I just spoke with Matt Fay. He gave me a call this afternoon and wanted me to thank you all for your continued prayers and support. He sounded very tired, but still optimistic that this treatment would be the one that takes care of this disease. He will begin the one-week treatment again a week from Monday (in about 10 days). He said the 3-weeks began when he takes the first treatment, so he actually only has about two weeks off between them. He has not felt very well the last couple of weeks, but is managing to keep his weight steady, and maintains his optimism. His brother is in town this week, and they are enjoying their time together, mostly enjoying the cooler temps from their back deck."

From me - Thanks for all your thoughts and prayers - keep praying, john

College World Series Champions...........Fresno State Bulldogs

After hitting two home runs and driving in all six of his team's runs, Fresno State right fielder Steve Detwiler finished things by catching the final out (SI)

Lowest seed ever - in any NCAA sport - Wins College World Series - Congratulations Bulldogs!!

We have moved.....................

First, here is a moth(?) that was saying good bye to us as we left our previous home:








Here is an image or the outside













a few Inside pictures:




dining room and part of the living room













kitchen












communication center........














Here us the back door that Dennis put in for us - I helped?

Thank you Dennis and Marie for all of your help!!!!















Some more pictures without furniture......





Living room














Entry way (connected to the living room)















back deck and garage and view.....













our bedroom











the jacuzzi.....












part of the basement!!!













WE LOVE OUR NEW HOME and hope our friends will come visit......

Peace, John and Sandy

News about Matthew http://www.mattfay.blogspot.com/ - Please keep praying. John

MOOOOOVING -

As I said earlier - we are moving from the country to the city...... some things I do not expect to see in the city........... Cows in the yard......










Here is Sandy running the cows - she said she had experience as a young girl running cows.... The cows look scared to me???!!!!















The city has got to be a lot more dull!!!

Cheers, John

Moving soon....... We've been packing and getting ready to move.... I've been teaching two on-line classes this summer, we are in the 4th week of an 8 week session!!! Almost half over... I promise to try and be a more faithful blogger when there is some down time... This is the week that Matt goes to NY for tests, keep him in your prayers. Peace, John

Down the drain!!!!

I saw this in Yahoo this morning.... much more interesting than the current political debates!!!

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080508/ap_on_sc/dissolving_bodies

It kind of reminds me of the old Pepsident commercial - you wonder where the yellow went....

only it would be - you wonder where Johnny went!!!!

Ponder this... cheers, john

Hello everyone..... School is over, the grades are in.... and it is such a relief to have a week off before Summer School begins.... Then I will teach two on-line classes for 8 weeks each... and then, I will have the rest of the summer off for R and R!!!

In the meantime, we are selling our home and buying another..... Our house went on the market on May 1 and by Monday, Cinch de Mayo, three people will have come to look at it...... pray for a contract, a good one even!!!

We have not closed on the new house yet, so we only have one mortgage for the time being.... When we close, we will have two until this place sells....

Although moving is not our favorite thing, we are excited!!! Here is a picture.......
More later................ cheers, john

Special meeting of the 4:00 O'Clock Club...

Last Tuesday we had the regular meeting of the 4O'CC but Sam and Michael could not attend....


So on Thursday we had a special meeting so everyone could attend...... I have a new toy, a remote control for my Nikon...

In the top image Dennis and I are trying out the remote control and the beer while we wait for our other friends... in the bottom image there we all are - Dennis, Joe, Sam, Michael, and John .... the nameless fellow in the background was pleasant and gave his permission to be included in the image....

We had a great time as usual and the remote control worked exactly as it was supposed to work!!

Oh yah, the weather was wonderful.... I am way over dressed for such a nice day..

Take good care. Peace, john

New Deck Furniture!!!

Today I had to forgo breakfast with my friends - Dennis, Marie, Joe, Roz and Bo so that I could stay home and wait for a UPS Freight drop shipment sometime between early morning and early afternoon..... I ate bacon and eggs in honor of my friends!!



There goes the 18 wheeler after dropping off the 5 boxes of new deck furniture!!! Sandy and I decided to forward spend some of our expected government economic stimulus money!!! That actually probably means we will spend it again when we get it!!!

anyway......


As you can see the furniture came in pieces instead of wholes!!!!

I set about putting it together...





Using the tale gate of my truck as a work bench, I started with the chairs and they went together without a hitch!!!






Here is a representative sample.....

Next came the table!!! When I opened the package with the directions and the hardware low and behold if the directions were not for a table, but for a chair!!! I already had 4 sets of those and really wanted the directions for the table..... not to be!!!


Oh well, I am lucky to be a pretty intuitive guy with good ability to see how things go together.... (I wouldn't try an airplane) so I studied the parts and the hardware and was able to figure out how everything should go together......... Thank you God.




And here are a couple of pictures of the finished product...

Pretty soon it will be deck weather everyday and I cannot wait!!




Cheers to everybody..... Peace, john

Snow day - March 24, 2008...............IT CAME!!!







































































March 25, 2008.....................IT WENT!!





One more reason for loving East Tennessee!!!!!

Easter 2008 - Christ is Risen!!!!!



the vigil fire - waiting for the sunrise service - Waiting for the risen Lord.








Our best friends - Marie and Dennis!!!!







musicians








the choir







the best praise band in the world!!!!








our wonderful pastor Michelle Buckles







Sandy and others playing Hand Bells








Lee making announcements









Amen.

I cut the grass yesterday....St. Patrick's Day... It has been a long time since I cut the grass before April......... hope that is a good sign for spring!!!

New Orleans!!!!

Sandy and I traveled to New Orleans on Thursday to attend the wedding of my son, David. David and Lindsey are getting married on Saturday.

We are staying at the Maison St. Charles Hotel in the Garden District of New Orleans.

After we checked in, we went to Emeril's Delmonico for dinner....

Emeril has several places and this one is more of a steak than cajun as the name delmonico might suggest....



Here is Sandy waiting for her dinner!!! in the background is the garden..... remember this is the garden district..... and a reflection of the dinning room where we ate....

Sandy had a petite fillet (aged beef) and I had lamb chops..... Dinner was yummmmmmmmy!!!!!!




In this shot, you can see some of the New Orleans architecture.





On the way back to our room we encountered a couple of cats that hang out at the hotel.... I am thinking they are mousers!!!!















This morning, Friday, we took the trolley downtown....

to Cafe de Munde

We had coffee and beignets (the kids had hot chocholet)!!!!

It was everything we expected - and we will go back tomorrow!!!!










Then we walked around and saw some sights.....

Church in the background and a garden much like the squares in Savannah!






a bridge across the Mississippi







this river boat is a ferry that crosses the Mississippi and you get to tour around.... it has a paddle wheel in the back....






Here is a tug boat







that is the paddle wheel









palm trees

and a cannon





After all these sights and some shopping we ate lunch at Bubba Gumps and then returned by trolley to the hotel...................... The bride and groom, Lindsey and David, are treating all of us travel weary guests to a Cajun buffet here at the hotel - the buffet is being put on by the Gumbo Shop.......

So for now, I will say good bye ...... cheers, john