The first cut is the deepest

First love... Breakup... Healing.

My daughters life at the moment.

Day trip to Wrightsville Beach

As I watched the weather during the week I decided we were going to Wrightsville Beach on Saturday. The beach is only a 2 1/2  hour drive from my house, so it's a great day trip destination. Parking can be a nightmare so you need to arrive early. To get a good parking spot I suggest you arrive around 9:00 am. Our timing was perfect. We landed a great spot in the parking area near Johnnie Mercer's pier.

It was an absolutely gorgeous day! You couldn't ask for better weather. The temperature was in the high 80's with low humidity, and winds at 10 mph. The ocean was rough, and a little cool when we arrived, but had calmed down, and became warmer during the day. The waves were nice, which was an added bonus for the surf event going on down the beach from where we were.

After 5 hours of sun and surf, it was time to go. We had purchased a day parking pass, so as we were leaving we gave the pass to the person who was waiting for our parking spot. It felt good to make someone's day a little nicer.

I'm already looking forward to our next beach trip!

Scan Update

Good news. Dennis remains stable with a slight improvement (-.3 cm) in his third right rib and left pelvis, and his labs were normal. He will continue taking Votrient and go back in 4 weeks for lab work. Dennis was having issues with vomiting and diarrhea, so he had his medication reduced to 600 mg. I hope and pray the drug continues to work at a reduced dosage. It has only been a few weeks since this reduction, but so far so good. Dennis returns for lab work on August 1st.

Airport parking

Friday afternoon I had to pick up my Aunt Sherry at the airport. I arrived early and went through the hourly parking line to get my parking ticket. I grabbed the ticket from the ticket dispenser, and placed it in the dashboard gauges area as I always do every time I get a ticket for a parking garage. This works great in my car, but not so much in Dennis' truck. As soon as I released the ticket I watched it disappear. CRAP! (not my exact words) I tried to pull the plastic dashboard out enough to get my fingers in there and feel around for the ticket. No luck! I couldn't feel the ticket, and was afraid to pull too much on the dash in fear of breaking it! Now what? I explained to one of the guards at the door what happened and asked what my options were. He was a very nice gentleman, and after showing me the flight board to check on the planes arrival time, and pointing out the area where my aunt would be arriving from, he suggested I check at the information desk. The ladies at the information desk put me in touch with the parking department, and I explained what happened. Since I didn't have my ticket I was informed I would be charged a lost ticket fee of $17. The normal parking charge is a dollar an hour, and I was wasn't even going to be there an hour. I was not a happy camper. I had about 5 minutes before the flight arrived, so I went back out to the truck to try again. I felt up under the steering wheel area, but there was no way I would be able to reach up very far. I pulled again on the plastic dashboard and was able to get a few fingers in there and feel around, the whole time hoping the dash wasn't going to break, or squish my fingers if I lost my grip. I finally felt the ticket, pulled the dash out a little more to get a grip on it, and pulled it out. Whew, what a relief! My fingers were a bit sore, and I did have an indent mark for about a half hour from pulling on the dash, but hey, parking only cost a dollar!!!

I'm still employed!

Yesterday truly sucked at work. It was awful hearing throughout the day who they let go. Unfortunately, it seems they are releasing long time employees and that doesn't sit well with me since I've been there for twenty years. I know of at least sixteen they let go. Two were from my department. I also heard of three people who put in their notice. Since I wasn't very busy yesterday I took the time to go through my work area and box up all my stuff. There wasn't much, everything fit in a 11 x 17 box. When my time comes it will be a fast exit!

Layoffs...

Here we go again!!

It's been 7 months or so since the last round of layoffs. Layoffs started yesterday, with more coming today. I heard about forty people will lose their job.

Work's going to SUCK today!!!

Hummingbirds

Last week I enjoyed watching the hummingbirds in our yard, and was lucky enough to get a few pictures. I stood very close to the feeder and use the zoom just to get these shots. Wow! For such a small bird those wings sure do make a lot of noise. I could always hear the birds before I could see them!

Ahhh... the feeder all to myself.

Hey! Where did you come from?

While taking pictures I happened to catch one of the birds doing acrobatics. As a second bird flew over to the feeder the first one fell backwards, was hanging upside down, and then turned his head to check out the other bird. It all happened in a split second, and I'm truly amazed I even got the shot!