Family

I’m about worn out and really sore from a long day of running – but what a great day it was. Almost the entire day was spent with family, some I only get to see once or twice a year [when I lived here] – but got to see almost all during the course of the day.

I don’t want to brush off the past couple of days…. but catching up quick because I want to get in bed. Today was about getting a new 4 wheeler for our Grandson, spending time with my baby Sister, her husband [Brad] and their youngest son Brandon, who all drove down from the middle of Michigan to spend some time with me and my Queen before we head back to the island. We all wound up at Turoni’s (me and Nelia’s favorite pizza joint)   My “Lil-Sis-Cuz” Susie and her son Paul made it, as well as Stephie, Josh and my Nephew Alex…… What a wonderful, wonderful evening. We ate, drank and laughed for almost 3 hours. We wound up leaving there and going to another local establishment for a round of desserts (Jägermeister and Dippin’ Dots) and another drink or two and tons more wonderful conversation….. just a great, great evening…….

There is a ton more detail – but like I said…… I’m pooped and sore and ready to stretch out – so I’m putting up pictures from today to share….. I hope you notice the expressions on all of the faces……

Good Night Ya’ll > > > > > > > > > > >> Thankx for stopping in~!

 

Gettin’ around……….

Following that first day out of the hospital and dinner with friends – A sponge bath and a semi fitful nights sleep – we were up the next day, ready to tackle the next list of appointments. We first stopped off at one of my Sisters house – only to leave without seeing her. She apparently was in a sleep coma and didn’t hear us knocking – even though that little rat dog of hers was barking it’s brains out.  We took off for our next destination. Back in our old stomping grounds, Hysteric New Harmony. Town has not changed a bit other than a new Dollar General store since I left almost 2 years ago. Other than look around a little bit – the purpose of the visit was to stop and see my # 1 Blog fan….. Mrs. Vera Johnson. We have been neighbors [of sorts] for years and her husband Choppy had been a co-worker at GE and a friend many, many years.  Vera writes to me a lot via my blog (and some FB) and keeps me up on the goings on around town. A delightful woman with a smile that lights up any room and you just have to love her. We chatted almost an hour before we had to excuse ourselves and head off for the next ‘appointment’. I could not make it back after being gone that long without stopping by to give my # 1 fan a hug and to chat a bit.

Left Vera’s and went back to my Sisters house and finally roused her from her slumber. We spent a little over an hour with her, talking about island life and everything going on her life before we had to pack up and move along. Our next appointment got bumped out a little bit, so we swung out past Jeni’s house and scored a little bit of time with new baby Kinsley and Jeni.  Time came to again pack up and head off for our next ‘appointment’. This one was with another Sister and her husband. we met them at a little place on a barge on the Mighty Ohio river. We had drinks and some eats and sat and chatted for almost 2 hours before I wore completely out and had to head to head back to the hotel. This whole heart attack thing is taking it’s toll on me some. The bruising is what’s doing it. It has now crept into crotch (and all the things there) and is now about a fourth of the way down my leg. I did some home work on it an found out it really is not that uncommon – but now reaching into new ‘areas’…. sure does make it painful if I move my leg a little bit wrong~! Rest easy though – I’m not putting up any more pictures of it unless it just gets plumb out of control. It’s kinda weird to see that and know that – that is you in the mirror when you’re looking at it.

Well damn Sam.…. already at my limit again — I have got my pictures out of whack with my writing….. most of what I talked about tonight – you saw the pictures of yesterday….. and it’ll have to stay that way again – cause tonight’s pictures are what I took today even though I talked about yesterday tonight~! Clear as mud huh?

Good Night Ya’ll – – – – – – – – – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!

Grandsons enjoying our pool here in the hotel
Will and his ‘scuba’ diving goggles

My “Mess”
Oma & Kinsley
My little bitty buddy Kylen
Aunt Stephanie and Kinsley

My “Mess” and cousin Kinsley

Me and ‘L T’ a jumping buddy from waaaay back

Me & Lorelei – another skydiving friend

Eye Opener……..!!!

Wow….. when I said on my last post “… tomorrow is Fathers Day – and not sure what it will bring..” I had no idea the depth of what was about to happen….. As it turns out, I was awaken by a nasty discomfort in my chest about 06:30 Sunday morning. Now understand – I have had several ’bouts ‘ of this discomfort over the past 4 months- but a couple of aspirin and an hour or so – it always went away….. As usual, I popped 3 extra strength Anacin and waited……… the discomfort got much worse, I broke out into a nasty sweat and my right arm started going numb. After going into hour three – I finally told my Queen, I think we need to go to the ER and have it checked out. Turned out to be a pretty good call. This whole story is much too lengthy and detailed to go into – so I’m just gonna hit the highlights…… I went off my Blood Pressure meds about a year ago (yes – stupid…yadda-yadda-yadda)… It turns out my BP was high enough it actually ruptured a couple of small veins on the outside of my heart, which put my heart into ‘distress’…… not my words, that’s what I was told. ANYhow…… an EKG, an ECG, a stress echo, a heart Cath, multiple lectures on smoking, cholesterol, eating better, managing my BP better and a day in the half in the horse-pistol – I am out and fit as a fiddle. All the doctors said….” for an old fat guy that doesn’t take any better of himself than I did….. I was actually in pretty good shape. My heart and all the arteries were in great shape, except for the veins I “blew” open, that actually quickly repaired themselves fairly quickly….” That is not verbatim – but damn close….. So – not a great Fathers Day…. and I managed to p*ss all of my Daughters off by not letting them know what was going on (honestly, I was just trying to keep them from excessive worrying) – but I’m back on BP meds (that I intend to ‘bitch’ about later) and am now, minus some seriously nasty bruising from the heart Cath – I am ‘good to go’. Thought I would share that with you all so you know way I missed the past several days posts.

I managed to get myself discharged from the hospital just in time to meet up with some very dear friends of ours at the Cork & Cleaver, for an evening of drinks – wonderful conversation and some completely unhealthy artery clogging food….. and I wouldn’t have changed anything for the world. Any, Jackie and Joanie became instant friends when I first started my day job at GE….. it started out as suppliers but rapidly morphed into a friendship that has stood the test of time and I absolutely cannot wait until we get to do it again~! A lot more has happened, but at my limit – so putting up some pictures from the past several days…. and hopefully back here tomorrow night…… [warning – one of the pictures is of the bruising  from the Heart Cath – is not easy to look at….. just know, thankfully, it is not quite as painful as it looks]

Good Night Ya’ll – – – – – – – – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~!

Me, Jackie, Andy, my Queen and Joanie
Kinsley Ray Hall
Down town Hysteric New Harmony
OUCH~!
LST 325
The Mighty Ohio River (too thick to drink and too thin to plow)

Us and Little Sister Susan and husband Dave

Deep fried goodness~!!
Love this shot
Not the Caribbean – but not bad……

 

Family and such……………..

I got back to the hotel last night around 9:30 with the BEST intentions of getting a blog written for you all……. I sat down at the table and started my ‘nightly’ routine, and WOW – it was like I had been hit in the a$$ by some serious dart – it was like a light switch~! Granted, I had had 2 or twelve drinks during the course of the day- but still thought I was with in full access of my mental capabilities. The more I tried to concentrate, the worse off I got, and after about 10 minutes, I told my Queen who had [weirdly] taken up sitting right across from me – that I couldn’t hack it and was going to go lay down……  wow-! Haven’t had anything hit me like that in quite a while. I remember laying down on the bed – but cannot tell you what was playing on the TV. I haven’t dropped off like that in ages……

Just back from a very fun filled afternoon with our oldest (my Mouse) we sat and munched on sammiches from a local deli….. drinks out in the yard, listening to distant thunder and a breeze, unmatched on our beautiful island that we live on. The afternoon faded to early evening and Mouse decided the kids needed something to eat (other than the remaining sammiches on the table). Knowing my particular affliction for pizza – she mention a local place we should check out, so we loaded everybody up and away we went. Ziggy’s, not to be confused with the fun little place out toward the West end of our gorgeous island. LOTS of Colts memorabilia…. and while I have been a Colts fans since most of you were born…. I was torn, as I haven’t watched a game of my beloved Colts since them butt heads started kneeling during the national anthem. None-the-less…. we had some damn fine catfish nuggets – as bad as I hate to admit it – they were every bit as good as my fish…… and some pizza, a drink or two and just an all around good time. Kudo’s to the Ziggy staff for putting up with our group~!  Bellies full and ready to roll, we bid adieu to Mouse and company and now safely back in our hotel room that was very $hit-ly cleaned while we were out. My bride wants me to complain to the front desk — I say hit them where it hurts with a scathing Trip Advisor review….. what say you????

Any who — I have managed to keep my eyes open long enough to get this written… tomorrow is Fathers Day – and not sure what it will bring….. I spent an hour or so chatting with folks and I am tickled to say – every single day next week is booked to spend at least some time with family or friends. One of them being friends I made while I worked for living. We popped in and caught them by surprise yesterday and now have an evening out planned at the Cork & Cleaver. We are besides ourselves giddy – waiting for it~!

Good Night Ya’ll > > > > > > > > > > > > > Thankx for stopping in~!

My schedule for the next week

Me and “Yadi”
“Semi” respectable cheese cake

Another ‘local’ pizza – not bad, but I wouldn’t write home to Mom about it
Our Dinner crowd, me, Mouse Grant, My Squirt, My Queen and Sammer-Jammers

Me, Mouse & Grant
Me and my Sammer Jammers
Me and my ‘Squirt’…… <3

NO – I am NOT promoting Coors light, I didn’t even realize that sign was behind me………

While I HATE the fact these twat waffles are kneeling during the National Anthem and I haven’t watched them in over 2 years – but my boy Peyton is still arguably one the best QB’s to ever play the game…….

Trying out the local flavor

Posey County Indiana
The beast I am driving…… it has a HEMI~~ 😉

Catching up……kinda~

Left off yesterday just leaving our 4 year old Grandson’s birthday party and on our way to see our new Grand Daughter. On the way there – I pulled a stunt that could have ended very badly……. cruising a local back road…. going well over the posted speed limited…. I flipped a cigarette butt out of the window and almost bounced it off of the hood of a local Sheriff’s car pulling out of a side road. Yes – that got his attention and he changed his direction to come after me….. Great, speeding, bouncing a butt off of his cruiser, out of state plates, out of states license and I had been drinking…… this was not going to end well. He gunned it to catch up to me and followed me for about a mile before turning off. I don’t know why he didn’t pull me over – but I sure was grateful for it~!!! I behaved myself the rest of the drive to Jeni’s house.  🙂  We pulled up and by the time we got to the door we were greeted by 4 smiling faces. Lots and lots of kisses and hugs from Grand Sons and my Honeybear……. Michael was in the living room holding Kinsley. The next several hours were a blur as we held, stared and cooed at our beautiful new Grand Daughter Kinsley. It was soon bed time for all the little ones and by then – my Queen and I were worn completely out. We said our good nights, came back to the hotel, a quick shower and fell into bed. ( I did pause long enough to swing by Long John Silvers and pick up some greasy goodness to inhale, while I waited for my turn in the shower. Showered and 1 quick smoke and we both collapsed into bed. I don’t think either of our heads hit the pillow before we were sound asleep.

We slept until almost 9:00 the next morning….. we needed it. Still a little groggy from what turned into a very long trip, but in much better shape. We took off and got some errands ran that needed done, then headed out to Chandler to see my Cousin’s. We arrived to a series of hugs and lots of crying over the loss of Angela ( I discussed this a couple of blogs ago) We wound up there for the bulk of the evening, tears slowly turning into laughter remembering all the good times. We didn’t get away from there until close to Midnight…… coming back here for another ‘crash’ into bed and another much needed nights sleep.

The next two days have all kind of ran together as we met up with friends and family. We have got to watch a Grand Daughters ball game ( and almost froze our a$$es off in the process) We have had family night out at a little local diner that had fairly decent eats – I tried to track down a couple of old friends – but that never happened – although follow up we have times set up now to get together. I managed to swing by my old drop zone where I spent 30 years skydiving (pictures last night)  Today was ‘guy time’ with Will and Josh while we shopped for a 4 wheeler for Will. Already over my limit – so some pix from today…..

Good Night Ya’ll – – – – – – – – – – – – Thankx for stopping in~~!

Turoni’s pizza – best pizza on the planet~!

Kylen, Honeybear and Kinsley~ <3 

I just liked this shot

My Deuce in his new helmet and gloves

Tryin’ out Bubby’s new helmet

again – BEST pizza on the PLANET~!

Their cheezy bread is almost unmatched as well~~~

Happy little boy  : )

And away we go…………

Finally made it into the EVV terminal…… first thing to do – well smoke a cigarette of course~! Shame on those nasty ole airlines making us nasty smokers go that long without polluting our lungs~! Once we got that out of the way – we gathered our luggage (which amazingly made it) and headed for the Alamo counter to pick up our vehicle……. only to find it was closed~! This day just keeps getting better and better. A small note on their counter directed us to another rental agency. After filling out more paperwork than I did when I enlisted and 30 minutes later, we were finally on our way out of Dress Regional. I went with Alamo because they were the only rental agency that advertised having a Chevy Silverado pick up truck (my vehicle of choice)….. That is, of course, if they had one in the lot when we got there~! Also if you pay close attention – the ad says Chevy Silverado or similar vehicle………… and of course…. they didn’t have one…..rotten so & so’s tried to give me a Ford~! Oh HELL no…….. I settled for a Dodge Ram….. nice looking truck, brand spanking new – (2300 miles) and still had the ‘new car smell’ to it. It is a gorgeous Black – so I wasn’t completely upset….. got a big ole Hemi in it and runs like a striped a$$ ape~! A little digging revealed that this particular Alamo doesn’t have any Chevy trucks in it’s inventory~! Bast*rds….. I’ll take that up on Trip Advisor and let them know what I think about it. Got the truck loaded and away we went. A little bit ‘odd’ driving on the right side of the road for me now….. but it came back to me fairly quickly  (We drive on the left side of the road in St. Croix). Over the past several days – I occasionally have to think out loud before I pull in or out of a parking lot or road – but for the most part, staying on the right.

We had a birthday party for our 4 year old Grandson Colt to get to, and since Delta loused us up once again — we had just enough time to drop our bags off at the hotel (thankfully that went smooth) and high tail it to Posey County for the Birthday party. We were fashionably late and I’m sure we looked like open a$$ after having been up for almost 36 hours, no sleep, unshaven, sweaty and worn out. You sure couldn’t tell it though when we walked in the door. We were instantly smothered with hugs and kisses from Daughters, Son-in-Laws and Grand babies. A pretty great feeling~! We chatted and watch kids playing in the sprinklers and had a grand ole time. We did that for a little over three hours before we finally had to bid adieu…….. After all – we had a new Grand baby to go see yet. We loaded back into the truck and was off – back to Vanderburgh county to the West side of Evansville.

Well crap…. at my limit again already….. it’s already 10:00pm here and I’m pooped from a long day….. so a couple of pictures I snapped today….. more tomorrow as I try to catch up.

Good Night Ya’ll . . . . . . . . . . . . Thankx for stopping in~!

My old hang out – Carmi Airport
“My” bench – pretty sure that bench has a permanent imprint of my butt on it
My ‘used to was’ home away from home

Kinsley Ray
Dinner companions for the night
Fairly decent Cheeseburger

more dinner companion joining us

Back in the land of plenty……

Been almost a week since I got on here and I do apologize…. the last 2 days before we left were a whirlwind and involved LOTS of alcohol so I didn’t get anything written before we left. The day we left started our fairly tame as we weren’t scheduled to leave until 4:00 in the afternoon……. about noon I got a text message from Delta saying our departure had been delayed by about an hour….. no biggie – everything will stay on schedule….about 30 minutes later…. another text – another hour delay……. will be difficult but still manageable…… another 30 minutes… another hour delay……DAMMIT EMMIT~! This one will mean we will miss our connecting flight into Evansville…… This kept up for anther couple of hours. Sometimes the flight got moved up – sometimes it got moved back….. what a friggin mess~! We finally headed for the airport for what we thought was supposed to be a now 6:30 flight and we waited…. and it got delayed…. and we waited (you see where this is going) I figured at the very least – IF we got to Atlanta, I could rent a car and drive up to Evansville. We finally made it into Atlanta….at 01:30 in the morning~! The only bright spot in that whole cluster was my travel agent had managed to book us a new flight at 09:00 the next morning – even when Delta agents couldn’t~! We discussed going into town to rent a hotel room – but we figured it would be at least 02:30 by the time we got into a room – and we’d have to be back up by no later than 06:00 to be back to the airport for our flight, so IF we were lucky –  we might get 4 – 4.5 hours of sleep for the mere price of $ 150.00…… Ummm… no thankx – we’ll hang out in the airport~! Now I don’t know if you’ve ever tried to sleep in an airport, but even at 04:00 in the morning – a big airport like Atlanta is busy….. and noisy. There are no longer nice big couch type chairs to stretch out on, just hard plastic ones with arms that do not allow you to stretch out across a couple of them. And it’s noisy~! Unless you’re still in your 20’s and or have some kind of chemical help, you are going to have a miserable night – and we did~ Fast forward to getting to our gate and ready to board. Gate agent finally shows up and said…” we are SO sorry…. but there is a delay”  KILL ME NOW~!!    THAT went on for 2+ more hours….. excuse, after excuse, after excuse. We finally wound up changing gates and planes but were finally in the air. The flight was short and mostly uneventful and we soon were taxiing into EVV airport – where we promptly had to sit and wait another 10 minutes on the tarmac to be guided up to the ramp~! Welcome to Evansville~!

I am almost already at my limit and there is so much more I want to share – so I’m gonna stop here and put up some pictures….. This is the first night since we left the island, we are in our room this early (7:30pm). Last couple of nights have been Midnight or later…… we did get to meet our beautiful new Grand Daughter though~!!More later.

Good Night Ya’ll + + + + + + + + + + + Thankx for stopping in~!

Oma first meeting Kinsley Ray

Beautiful little Kinsley Ray Hall

Me and April
Me and my liL-Sis-Cuz Susie
Me & Paul – trouble, waiting to happen

April, Susie and my Queen

Paul and Daughter Paige

I gave in to temptation almost immediately     😉

What a messed up couple of days……

I really don’t know where to go with this post tonight….. my brain is all over the map. I am over ecstatic that my ‘baby’ and her new baby are now safely and happily back in their home and doing well…….. I am also torn with what I am feeling over the loss of my cousin who was raised in our home almost like a Daughter [albeit briefly] is no longer on this planet with us….. my brain and my heart for the first time in memory don’t know what to do…… tough place for an old fart that is used to always being in charge and always knowing what to do…… now……….don’t…………………..I said to my son EMMIT….. Godamnit  EMMIT~!!

My Queen and I went out for a long scheduled Chef’s special last night and then got a last minute invite to spend this evening with dear friends at Blues tonight…… so our life on this gorgeous island moves on as [almost] required……. but I still remain at a loss. I spent the better part of the day taking care of the aggravating and mundane tasks of everyday life and getting ready to head back to the states this weekend.  It has been over 2 years since I have been back, to anywhere with any since of normality and familiarity. I’m excited and dreading it all at the same time. That probably isn’t the right thing to say and it probably don’t sound ‘right’ – but that is just where I am right now…… confused. The Chef’s tasting was nice (although nothing remarkable) – – – – the evening this afternoon with Shawn and Cynthia and his 3 Daughters was much more enjoyable – for multiple reasons – including watching his 3 young beautiful Daughters throw bean bags, run, tumble, cartwheel and fuss among themselves……….. which brought back wonderful memories and made me smile on multiple occasions………

I wish I was going somewhere specific with this….. but I just can’t……. I’m in a fog I haven’t been in, in quite some time. I’m sure I will come out of it by the time we land in the arm pit of the Mid-West (Evansville)……. having a lot of time to sort things out while zipping through the skies at 350 mph……. Lots of running to do tomorrow for final prep for our flight back to the land of plenty……. but until I get my head on straight….. I’m leaving it here… and some pix from the last day or so………..

Good Night Ya’ll . . . . . . . . . . . . Thankx for stopping in~!

Hat in picture for reference to size of bottle~

Rum and Wine Bar…. R.A.W.

Hard to tell – but there is water running down the entire face – Angie loved it~!

Imagine navigating THOSE stairs… drunk or sober~!

Me and My Queen~~

Kinsley Ray Hall

 

God giveth…………He taketh away……….

Yesterday I was carrying on about the newest addition to our family — our 9th Grand child – Kinsley Ray, born to Jeni and Mike yesterday afternoon. I didn’t get to share a lot of photo’s because ‘Mom & Dad’ had not announced it to the ‘world’ yet, but we were ecstatic none the less, happy to welcome the gorgeous little girl  into our world. Up this morning waiting for the pages of Face Book to be populated with the big news. While waiting – I got a message from another family member…. he is technically a second cousin, but I have been “Uncle” Bill his entire life. Sad, sad news….. his Sister, Angela had passed away. She had been battling a variety of health issues – but none (to my knowledge) had ever been what I would have considered life threatening…… there are a whole lot of gaps in my information at this point, but all I know is that beautiful young lady is no longer with us now. Just turning 41 a little over a month ago, she was much too young to be leaving this world. Besides her Mother and Brother, she is also leaving a young Son and Daughter and a myriad of friends.  I have known her since she was just past a toddler….. I have always been ‘UB’ and she was Sweet Cheeks to me. She had a smile that could light up any room and an infectious laugh to go with it. Her Mom (my 1st. Cousin – has always been more like a Sister to me) My heart was breaking not to be ‘there’ to welcome our new Grand Daughter last night and even more so now – not to be able to be there to console my family in this time of loss…………………..

 

Rest in peace Sweet Cheeks~

A new Grand Daughter~!!

A long calm day turned into chaos, a blue dozen text messages and culminated in a brand new Grand Daughter. Kinsley Ray Hall – 7.1 lbs — 21″ long.  She apparently put up quite the fuss about coming into the world which resulted in an emergency C-Section….. but – finally – Mom (Jeni) and baby are doing fine. A big shout out to my nephew Alex who was there (he works there and had just got off of work) and kept us up on all the goings on and then hung around to be helpful. Thank you so much Alex~!

Don’t have many pictures yet – but sure that will change in the next 24 hours and I will happily and proudly share them~!

Honeybear – if you’re reading this – We hate that we weren’t there for you – but please know that  I love you and am very proud of you. I got several reports you were quite the trooper….. I wouldn’t have expected anything less. We will see you Sunday afternoon~! I Love you~!

Good Night Ya’ll . . .  . . . . . . . . . .  Thankx for stopping in~!

IMG_1455   Video — Kinsley Ray Hall