the first shawl!!!

Well here it is, the first thing I created on my new 24" Kromski loom... it is a shawl..... I am ready to do another one, but may have to wait until after surgery on Tuesday.....

on the loom:on the rocking chair:When Sandy gets home in about 45 minutes, it will be on her!!!

Cheers, John

New update about Matthe

http://www.mattfay.blogspot.com/

Keep up the prayers!!

blessings, john

My first completed weaving project.

Sandy wanted me to buy a weaving loom for Christmas. I did.... After Christmas, I was intrigued by the loom and she encouraged me to use it so that I could teach her...

So I started and made 4 place mats and a table runner.....

While they are far from perfect, here they are sitting on our dinning room table with our Valentine's Day roses!!!
I have reloaded the loom and am making some coasters....

Hope you had a nice weekend.

Cheers, John

Some people think that I am nuts!!!!

But actually, I am only half nuts. How do I know? I am going to tell you!!!

This year is the 25th anniversary of my first bout with cancer... That's kind of cool, isn't it?

Well, 25 years ago in 1984, my testicle swelled way up and really hurt. I went to the doctor and he got me hooked-up with an ultra sound of my testicles to see what was going on in there... (The ultra sound story is kind of interesting too, but not for today.)

So, I had an ultra sound and he found that I had one good nut and one bad nut. Here is a picture -
I'll let you figure out which is which.....

He decided that the bad nut should be removed.... so he whipped out his trusty knife...
...and removed the bad nut
and sent it of for testing.........

That left me with only one good nut..........
and half as many nuts as I had to begin with.

Therefore, when someone says, "you're nuts!!!" I know that they really mean, I'm just half nuts!!

HAPPY Valentine's Day.

Cheers, John

Tree Cutting..................

A few minutes after we returned from the Greer Weekend on the 2nd of February, Metcalf Tree Service arrived at our house to cut down some trees...... He got a couple of trees out of the bucket going over our car port.... missed those pictures, but I took some pictures of him in one of the trees in the back yard that he cut down....

When I looked out of the laundry room window and saw him (Mr. Metcalf) hanging by the rope I went ahead and took the shot and then went back to the living room and read a book until they were finished......

Hope you are just hang'n out on Friday the 13th... peace, john

This is the Greer Family weekend retreat at the Tanasi Lodge in Pigeon Forge Tennessee.....

Here is a picture of the chandelier hanging above the large dinning table!!!




now we have a panorama view out of the front - that is Wear's Valley!!!!!! the view is fantastic!!
here are two panorama views out the back of the lodge.......



This is the same lodge where my family and the Cope's celebrated my 65th birthday in July.

Blessings to all, john

New post about Matthew!!!!

Matthew's Blog

Cheers, john

Happy Birhtday - Bo

Thanks for dinner - we had a great time. Cheers, Sandy and John

USA Rookie of the Year!!

I'm Proud to be an American!!!

Snooo Daz

Just a "peaceful easy feeling" from our back deck!!

Peace to everyone, john

New gizmo..... device attaches to camera and tripod - takes up to 12 images in a circle. Software knits them together (or maybe it is crochets).... giving you a 360 degree view ...image above is from out front of our house.... of course our house is in the center!!!

I would take a picture of the device, but, it is attached to the bottom of my camera and I am too damn lazy to take it off....

I think it is pretty nifty, but then it does not take much to impress me...

School started today and even thought this is an odd starting day (Thursday) most of my students were present....

It is too cold... but, not as cold as some places further north.. I am going to start a fire in the fireplace insert in just a minute...

Cheers, john

Here is Jill dog enjoying a rare sunny day by sunning herself and keeping an eye on HER yard!!


I am sure that she is hoping you have a sunny day wherever you are...

Cheers, john

NFL 2008 Rookie of the year!!

Congratulations Matt Ryan and the Atlanta Falcons!!

It's snowing in Johnson City.......

about an hour ago it started to snow here in JC!!! Here are a couple of images from our front porch......


and one out of the kitchen window toward the back yard!!

This post is honor of Dennis and Marie (and Gordy) who are on their way to visit Larry and Ellen on Amelia Island, Florida!!!! Have a great time guys!!! Safe travel (hope Sam's Gap was okay....)

Cheers, john

Utah 31 - Alabama 17

Utah has 13 wins and no losses..... more than likely, they will not be the national champion, but why not, they are the only undefeated team in this division

it is time that Division 1 (BCS) changed it's format and had a playoff!!

It makes no sense to me that computers, coaches, and sport broadcasters should pick the champion.....does it to you?????

lets have a playoff!!!

HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYBODY!!!

click the greeting above and join the New Years 2009 Celebration in New Zealand!!!!

I know the NFL season is not over with yet, but this has got to be the best play of the year......

By the way, that is called a forearm shiver..... Ref 1, Rams 0.......and if the images don't tell the whole story, watch the video!!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mpYroK4SRmg

Is there any wonder why the Rams are having a loosing season???

Well, the Rams play the Falcons Sunday in the last game of the regular season....

GO FALCONS!!!!!

Today was verrrrry cooooold here in Johnson City, TN..... when we awoke the temperature hoovered around 10 degrees F. The wind chill temperature was zero (0) degrees F. Burrrrrrr!!!

As the day progressed to noon time or so the sun was our the wind was calmed down and the temperature was around 20 degrees F... I went out and took a couple of pictures of our front yard decorations......
and
As you can see, it surly was a very nice sunny day.....

A few minutes later I was eating my lunch and watching Sports Center on ESPN when I happened to look past the TV and out the window and saw that it appeared to be snowing...

it looked quite a bit like a blizzard... which seemed unusual since it was bright and sunny out the other windows...... so I investigated.............
Low and behold I discovered that it was snowing in my neighbors yard.... I walked closer and discovered......that my neighbor was making snow on his front yard....... WoooooooooooHaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!
Now I have to tell you that is the very first time I have seen anyone blowing snow here in Johnson City, Tennessee.... One time in the last 25 years here in JC I sprinkeled my yard and tried to make a skating rink..... but, honestly, I never I thought I would see snow blowing here in the city!!!

I am as excited as a little boy and I wish I could go lay down in it and make a snow angle!!! I have however, given the state of my back, decided that might not be such a good thing!!!!

So, have yourself a very merry WHITE Christmas, I am!!!! Peace on Earth, John

Favorite e-mail from finals week.....

Before you read these, you should know a little about the final.

It was a comprehensive 100 question multiple choice and True/False exam.

All questions from the first half of the course were take directly from the mid-term (also a 100 question mc & t/f exam).

Oh yah, I almost forgot to tell you, this was an open book, open note, exam taken on-line without supervision.

In order to cut down on the obvious ability for students to share information, I set up the exam so that each student received a different random order of questions and could only answer one question at a time and there was no back-tracking...........

Class averages on the Final Exam were:

My two in-class (sometimes called land) section's averages were 71.77 and 71.75; whereas the on-line section's average was 75.02..... My presence may be irrelevant!!!! (These averages were for students who actually took the exam - there were some who skipped it and received a zero......


Anyway, the e-mails follow:

I just took the Final, and did not do as good as I thought I would. I believe it is going to bring my grade down, even though I have gotten 100's on all my assignments and discussions, except 1 I got a 90. I really thought I would receive an A, and I think now because I did poorly on my final I will be 1 point away. Is there any way I can take the final over, or anything I can do to receive an A, please???

Followed by:

I will immediately retake or whatever will be possible to do better. I obviously was not as prepared as I thought I was. I apologize for any inconveince. [notice misspelling of inconvenience]

and another:

I was wondering if you offered extra credit?

I just took the MIS exam. I must say it was one of the hardest exam I have
ever taken in my life. I studied for it before I attempted it and I did not
even get the chance to finish it. I was on a good track I felt and then I
started running out of time so I just had to start clicking random answers
in hopes to choose the right answer! I felt I could have used a little more
than 2 hours! Anyways, with such a low score on the grade I know I will do
poorly in the class now, probably, I cannot afford this! Do you plan on
curving the exam? Is there anything I can do to raise my exam score?

Missed an A by 0.75, almost made the Dean's list again. I enjoyed the class.
[I rounded this one up and this student received an A..... He did make the Dean's list again!!!]

That's not so many comments for the 106 students I have - what a great job.....

The end of the semester brings many interesting comments such as these...... I am sure that you have your own interesting (or like this one, not so very interesting) stories and, of course, that is why we blog....

happy trails to you until we blog again...., john

My friend Zeno on his blog Zeno's Happiness posted a video about being in search of pie..... I thought it would be fun to look at a somewhat different video concerning Pi....... click on the following link

In search of Pi

To be honest, I like Zeno's pie better than my pi...... Remember that it is better to split a hair -
pi vs pie than to split an infinitive or an atom.........

it's finals week.....................do I need to say any more than that?????

Peace, john