Thursday, June 28, 2007

Thursday Thing-along

With Canal Day happening this Saturday in Chesapeake City, this is a good warm up song for the weekend.



Here's more about Kenny Chesney.

Wednesday, June 27, 2007

Happy 43rd Mama and Pops (Way Back When-sday)



Today is the 43rd wedding anniversary for my parents. They've actually been together as a couple of some kind or another for probably a little over 50 years considering they started liking each other in grade school. At top is the picture of Mama that ran with the story about their wedding. Yes, that was back in the days when weddings were celebrated and not treated as paid announcements. To the right is the story that ran with the picture. This one appeared in the South Boston, Va., paper. Stories and a photo also ran in the Durham, N.C., paper and in their hometown paper, the Courier Times of Roxboro, N.C. Click on the image to open it in a new window and read it.



To the left is one of the original wedding announcements. You can also click on it to make it larger and read it.


One of the first videos I made after learning how to use photos and iMovie was one featuring old photos of Mama and Pops up until I was born. Check it out by clicking here.

Tuesday, June 26, 2007

Oh to be four again....

One of my nieces shows off her cell phone after going for a ride.

Marching ants

I love watching ants when they march in those long lines. This is a line of ants on a tree. Watch how they chase away these two big red ants that try to invade their line.

NOTE: This video is not in great focus. I will work on that in the future if I make any more ants videos.

Friday, June 22, 2007

Something Funny for your Friday

A collection of TV news bloopers....

Thursday, June 21, 2007

Thursday Thing-along

So while I was at my parents' house Sunday for Fathers Day, I helped my sister-in-law Susan find this song she kept hearing. She knew some of the lyrics and I used those and did a little Google search and came up with it. Now I find myself loving the song .... it's oh so hummable



The artist is Paolo Nutini (Born 1/9/1987).

Nutini is a singer-songwriter from Scotland. His father is of Italian descent and his mother Glaswegian, although his father's family have been in Scotland for four generations. His influences include David Bowie, Damien Rice, Oasis, The Beatles, U2, Pink Floyd and Fleetwood Mac.(SOURCE: Last.FM)

Here's his official site.

Here he is on Myspace.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

Way Back When-sday


This picture was taken at a roadside park near Vanceboro, N.C. The town is known for its Strawberry Festival -- and that's about it. In the photo are Michelle Connolly (from left), David Isner, me, and my brother Stephen. If I could find that jacket in my size now I'd buy it. That thing is smoking hot plaid. I'm not too sure about those brown pants though. Michelle was our next door neighbor in Grifton, N.C., for a while and David was my best friend growing up.

Tuesday, June 19, 2007

Hooping it up

Sometimes I just like to share interesting things I find on other sites. I found this video of a girl hula-hooping at a concert and was mesmerized. It was featured on Vimeo, one of the video services I use. There is a great community of users on the site, unlike the hater-filled YouTube.




Super Hooper from trp0 on Vimeo

Monday, June 18, 2007

New door installation

Brandon and I put a new door on the back porch to his house down on the Bohemia River.

Sunday, June 17, 2007

Happy Father's Day



Happy Father's Day Pops.

.........................

Although I've posted the below video before, I think it's a good one to watch again on Father's Day ....



For more on Team Hoyt, click here.

Friday, June 15, 2007

Thursday, June 14, 2007

Canal Day


Canal Day is getting closer by the second. More on that later.

Thursday Thing-along

Something a bit different to expand the horizons.



Matt Weddle of Obadiah Parker performs his interpretation of Hey Ya by Outkast.

Here's Obadiah Parker on myspace.

Here's Outkast on myspace.

Wednesday, June 13, 2007

Way Back When-sday


Since it's graduation season, I thought I'd post some pictures from my kindergarten graduation. These were taken on May 24, 1972 at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Grifton, N.C. In the picture at top, I'm receiving my diploma -- shake hands with the right, cross over with your left and accept your diploma. In the picture at right, we all have paper bags over our heads.


I imagine there are bear faces drawn on the bags since the back of the photo says this is the "March of Bears" at the start of the graduation program. I am the bag-wearing freak holding the flag. I'm not sure what the "march of bears" signified. If any of you know, please share.

Tuesday, June 12, 2007

Beer Can Chicken ...



This way of cooking a chicken is a great way to make sure it comes off the grill moist and tasty. Here's one site with directions... There are many others.

Sunday, June 10, 2007

A cat and her cardboard box


Parker stretches out her legs and claws (at top) after being woken up by the flash of my camera. I bought a couple of air conditioners a week or so ago and have not installed the one in this box. So Parker has started using it as her nap spot. She also uses it to scratch on, as you can see from the torn up corners of the box. Better the box than the toes of my leather shoes or the corner of the upholstered furniture.

Friday, June 8, 2007

Something funny for your Friday...

Remember that thing I said about being immature about genitalia ...

Cox and Balls

Thursday, June 7, 2007

Thursday Thing-along



For info on the Little River Band on wikipedia, click here.

Wednesday, June 6, 2007

Send Laurie Anne all your porn spam

I've been tagged by that troublemaker Laurie Anne over at All Over the Bored to do one of these thing-a-ma-jigs. WTF. I was minding my own business and then BAM .... Anyway, here are the rules:

1. I have to post these rules before I give you the facts.
2. Each player starts with eight random facts/habits about themselves.
3. People who are tagged need to write their own blog about their eight things and post these rules.
4. At the end of your blog, you need to choose eight people to get tagged and list their names.
5. Don’t forget to leave them a comment telling them they’re tagged, and to read your blog.

Here goes:
1. I never said I was sorry: to the people on the balcony beneath ours in college when the wind blew my piss back onto them. We were having a party, the line was long and it was my balcony. I just forgot there were people beneath me. So I say it now. I'm sorry.

2. I quit college for a while: I dropped out the first semester and took some time off before returning. You've heard of the five-year plan. Well, I was basically on an eight-year plan. I graduated high school in 1984 and college in 1992. I hated it when I first got there. I despised living in a dorm with a roommate I didn't know and a bunch of people I didn't want to share a bathroom with.

3. I know how to dry clean clothes: On my time off from college, I worked at a dry cleaner. The owner taught me how to get spots out of clothes -- including stains on dresses -- as well as how to press suits and how good a cold beer feels after a few hours around steam. He was Korean and every afternoon he'd give me 10 bucks to go buy a case of Busch for us. After a couple of beers, I could barely understand him. But he was funny as hell. And a nice guy.

4. Ocean swimming: I like it, but I always feel like there's a shark about to bite me. That's why it's easier to do if I've had a couple of drinks. Enough to give some liquid courage but not enough to drown me.

5. Tanqueray gin and Slim Jims: I once threw up a mixture of the two all over a hotel room in Ocean City, Md., during a journalism conference. Nastiest mess I ever saw and smelled. The worst part ... I was sharing the room ... I really am sorry Mike. Really. I am.

6. Genitalia: I'm immature as hell when it comes to genitalia references. I still crack up when someone says Fort Dix. The worst part is my job. The copy desk at many newspapers is divided between the rim and the slot. Imagine my constant inner giggling... What did you do with your story? I moved it through the rim and put it in slot.

7. I like chick flicks: and have seen Notting Hill at least a dozen times. Whoopsy Daisy.

8. Tattoos and piercings: One tattoo and my left ear is pierced twice. It was pierced three times but I put one in crooked and eventually took it out. That's right, I did them myself. I was too scared to let anyone else do it. As for piercing anything else -- I almost had one of my nipples pierced by accident when my best friend and I were fighting. We were about 8 or so and wrestling. I had him pinned down into the pine needles and he bit me to get me off of him. I thought he bit my nipple off but it was just below it.

These are the people I am tagging:
1. Mara at Whole Lots o' Nothin'. Will tequila be mentioned at all?
2. Victoria at Our Life in Idaho. I know these will be interesting facts.
3. Kathleen at Kathleen's Wacky Life. Did she ever have to show her breasts after a hare run?
4. Zoe at Royal Mom. I won't even venture a guess at what her eight interesting facts may be.
5. Traci Lyn at Jecilyn and Treavor's Mom. How many times has she shown her hoo-hahs to those who asked?
6. Lacey at Prattlings about Law School. Has she ever let her dog poop on a sidewalk and left it there?
7. Esteban at Parra Grafs. Who in the hell knows what he may come up with.
and finally
8. Natalie at Bow Wow Meow. Ex-con Martha Stewart is still one of her idols.

Now here's the perfect song after all that:

Way Back When-sday


This picture is from 1969 and is of me (far left), my brother Stephen and our friend David all sitting inside a toy chest. If parents were to let their kids do this today, child services may come after them for letting kids be put in a situation where a lid could close on them. Nothing bad happened to us. As a matter of fact, by putting us in this box for the picture, our parents just gave us some good play ideas. After this, we began looking for old chest freezers we could climb in and shut the lids behind us. We also started looking for abandoned cars so we could play in the trunks of them.

Just kidding. We knew better than to do those things ...

Tuesday, June 5, 2007

Has it been that long?















This is the cover and an advertisement from the inside back of the cover from an Eye magazine from April 1969. Click on the pictures to see them larger. The cover story is teased as:
BOYS AND THE PILL: Do they want girls to take it?
Does it hurt male egos? Does it cause psychosis? Is it moral?

My mama gave me a stack of these old magazines and they have given me quite a perspective on the world as it was then. Included in the stack of magazines was an original program from Woodstock. I posted about that on a previous blog I had [BrothersGentry] but have re-posted a slideshow of photos of the pages from it.

I've also re-upped a video I made using the pages from the program and some music. That video is below.

Monday, June 4, 2007

A special day for a special person



Autumn, one of my nieces, turns 5 today.

Happy Birthday Autumn

Sunday, June 3, 2007

Saturday, June 2, 2007

More golf ...


Here's another clip from Tuesday's golf outing. This is a couple of tee shots from my youngest brother. The first is on a par four and the second is a par three with a pond in front of the green.

Friday, June 1, 2007

Something funny for your Friday

Funny and firm, that is....