Good news!

Love my girls!

Saw a parakeet at the very top of a power pole where the fair is on Jimmy Carter. Probably up from Florida. Originally from S. America called a Nanday.

My Pink Magnolias are starting to bloom.

Studied Spanish.

Took the girls up Stone Mountain.

Not as high as it looked, teehee.


They had a great time climbing the trees. We decided to call this location “Campsite 2.”

This old cedar was great for climbing. Lots of handholds and not too high with spectacular views!

Helped the kids at the mission.

After the mission, I took them to the fair. I was glad Kathy came.

Everly and I enjoyed the Ferris wheel, although it was kind of creaky.

Released Verbal Surgery -835- “On Purpose.”

Got gas.

Dropped off a squirrel.

Good night’s sleep!

Some advice on dealing with the time change.

Spanish!

Mileage.


OYB!

My car started overheating again. It almost immediately cooled back down, but I went to my sister-in-law’s house to pick up the mercury again. Because I was running late, Ashley met me at Rockbridge BC.

We had fun going through a gift box from my friend in Montana. She’s been a big supporter of our ministry and loves the girls.

Put braids in the girls’ hair.

I’ve been hearing this mysterious bird call for months. I finally saw the bird but never really well. In the last week, I’ve gotten some good looks and recorded their calls. I FINALLY figured out what kind of bird it was! The Eastern Phoebe. It wasn’t easy to figure out. It was their calls that really sealed the ID.

The girls had fun playing with their new toys. I love how she does the accessories.

We have a lot of fun together.

Helped the kids with their homework.

The girls have fun with their neighbors.

They’re filming scenes from Ozark near the church.

Sunset!

Processed and deposited checks.

When I got home, I picked up my car to give it a thorough test drive. Never acted up again. I wanted to test it while I didn’t have the grandgirls with me.

During my test drive, I stopped by the fair to get some funnel cake. SO good.

Car ran fine for the whole trip. When I got back home, I checked the engine to see if there was anything unusual going on. Looked perfect.

It cost me over $800. I asked my friends at FBA to help if they can. Never hurts to ask.

Pray that everything goes well.

I believe this.

True!

Not good.

Studied Spanish. Watched a couple of videos by a Spanish teacher I like. Here she’s discussing use of the word “ya” in idioms.

Brain Training.

OYB!

Gorgeous weather!

T&G thinks they finally have my car figured out. Cost nearly $700 and another $150 last week. Kind of bummed me out.

Had a fun talk with my buddy Anthony.

During the zoom conference I did yesterday, many of the students were talking about websites. I shared this link with Anthony about that.

Had a fun bike ride! That was the most exercise I’ve done in months. SO glad about the warmer weather!

This tree is a great example of how destructive English Ivy can be.

I found this book on the side of the road. This was the page it was turned to.

I love Pink Magnolias! I’ve planted three in my front yard.

The cammelias have been so beautiful!

Picked up my car. He wasn’t 100% sure it was perfect. He said the only thing I have to make sure of is not just starting it up and leaving it. He said in that scenario it might have a problem. I never do that so I should be fine.

I went to Stone Mountain this evening. I haven’t been able to because the sticker was on my car which was in the shop. Just looking at that big ol’ rock reminded me of the consistency of the Father’s love for me in the face of all these financial challenges.

Bottom line: It always works out. Amen.

Some nights I’ll wake up and think about someone from my past. Usually, I’ll get up and start researching them. Last night, I was thinking about Cedric a friend of my from WTOC-TV days. He had worked at Fox 5 here in Atlanta. I got some information to see if he’s still there. Just got off the phone with the newsroom. They said Cedric was still there and gave me an updated email address. Just wrote him. This activity is typical for me!

I liked this from Tim Ferris this morning.

Talk about a blast from the past! I remember printing off reams of these to help me get somewhere.

Studied Spanish.

I’m also watching a Spanish novella called Casa de Flores.

Brain Training.

Cold morning!

I’ve heard a bird sound that I didn’t recognize. The bird is hard to see. I’ve had a couple of good viewings lately, but the bird isn’t in my feeder book. Did some online research.

Hard to make a solid guess. I think it’s the Eastern Wooded Pewee.

OYB!
The Shema!

Gorgeous day!

Went to Ann, my sister-in-law’s house. She needed some help getting a door open, TV working and phone case installed. I thought all of those things would be easy. Man, was I wrong.

YouTube for the win!

I’m going to help her get some handles installed in her shower.

I got her ATT-TV box to work. I think the box is going bad, honestly.

These Otter boxes are kind of hard to put on.

The door handle locked by getting bounced against the wall.

I guy from Israel came to fix it. He managed to get the door jamb to squeeze apart enough from the door to open the latch. I enjoyed quoting some Hebrew scripture for him. He thought I was Jewish!

Went to a parking lot near Stone Mountain (my car has the parking sticker and it’s in the shop!) to record and make calls. My buddy Anthony Jacquin was doing a graduation for his students over Zoom. I was part of the ceremony! I gave them a pep talk as well as quoting poetry by Auden. My friend Amit Badiani did a magic show for them. Supa coo.

Recorded an episode of Verbal Surgery called, “Keep the Change.” It’s very strong.

Came home around 3pm to have a late lunch. Rested.

Studied Spanish!

Cloudy and cooler.

OYB!

Had a fun talk with my buddies Anthony and Caruso. I don’t have a sticker on the Mercury, so I parked at the roller skate place to make calls.

Watched the last episode of Legacies Season 2.
Enjoying playing Ratchet and Clank.

I liked this from Seth Godin’s blog this morning.

Banksy is my favorite artist.

Full Sun Moon!

This irritates me.

I signed up for a Poem a Day. Here’s the first one I got.

Studied Spanish. I had a good conversation with my friend Manuel who came to work on my plumbing.

Picked up the girls!

The girls and I stopped at the fair on our way back home. It’s closed till 5pm.

Gorgeous day.

OYB!

I worked on these today!

I know all the birds I see and pretty much all their songs, BUT there was one I never could figure out. Today I saw the bird making the call. I still haven’t to make a positive ID. It looks like a type of flycatcher to me. I’ll keep doing research

Sewed Everly’s pants and my jacket.

Looks a lot better now!

We enjoyed our brownies.

Vacuumed the kitchen.

We had fun with bubbles.

Everly put all her dolls to bed on a pillow.

We had a good FaceTime with Nana.

We went to the Library Park to use our scooters, climb trees, and have fun at the playground.

My buddy Manuel installed a new part in the toilet so it won’t run.

Two men work installing a new cell receiver on the tower. That looks mighty high up.

Another new license plate. Perhaps I’m just becoming more aware of them. But Hawaii?!

Took the girls over to the other grandparent’s house.

Picked up more groceries and put them up.

Released a new edition of Verbal Surgery -834- “Four Fingers”

I have a friend of mine coming over to help with a plumbing issue. I talked with Ann because I knew that she needed some work in her shower. It’ll happen soon.

I thought this was sad.

Clear and cool.

Studied Spanish.

Listened to Pastor Tito’s sermon. He preaches in English then translates the paragraph into Spanish. It’s very interesting. And a great learning tool.

Also did some Radio Garden. From Madrid.

Brain Training.

Gorgeous day. I’d call it “Nakuru Weather.” It’s like this all year long in the Rift Valley of Kenya.

I knew what this meant, but I get the pronunciation wrong.

I had a discussion with my friend. I enjoy trying to say everything in Spanish.

OYB!

Mine broke. It’s been a great tool.

Stuffed the envelopes.

Watered my ficus.

Checked the mail.

Got the letters in the mail. We were a little late this month. That’s kind of typical for February being a short month.

Deposited checks.

Helped the kids at the mission. Enjoyed watching the grandgirls play.

New plate for me.

I got an egg sandwich at my favorite Vietnamese place. Took it to the PDK airport to eat.

I had some time before the kids got out of school. Went to a new place in the area called the Scavenger Hunt. I thought it was ironic on their trashcans.

Didn’t find anything good. I might go back for a couple of instruments that look like they were from Kenya.

Been awhile since I’ve seen 8-tracks.

Went for a bike ride! First time in months. I don’t like riding in cold weather.

The cherry blossom trees are so beautiful.

Always great to see all my girls!

Full Sun Moon!

Looked at some carnivorous plants. Some of these are just gorgeous.I liked the sundew from Madagascar.

The Xfinity tech came to our house to check out the TV. It’s been losing the signal. He thought if we went from the set top box to the TV inputs using AV cables instead of the coax cable it might work. And it did! I would have never thought that that could have been the issue.

I’ve got so much tech stuff related to recording audio and video it’s incredible.

Studied Spanish.

Penelope had a hole in the bottom of her pants. I sewed it up.

Took the girls to the Doggie Park.

Great to see emails like this!

Gassed up the Mercury. Cleaned windshield and checked oil.

My PT Cruiser is still at the shop. It’s been a real challenge for them to figure out what was making it overheat. We think it’s going to turn out to be the computer sensor for the radiator temperature. I talked to them several times today.

Went through my old map jackets to see which ones were in the best shape.

Ice cream on the way home.

She went at it hard today. Everly had an hour and a half nap before I woke her up to take her home.

Beautiful day today.

Sunset at the mission. None of the kids had any homework.

Went by the church to check on the mail.

I like this.

Colder.

Interesting.

We’re having trouble with the toilet running. I have my handyman coming to fix it soon, maybe Friday. I have the Comcast guy coming to work on the TV network tomorrow morning.

OYB!

Picked up the girls!

I use rubber bands to hold my hanging items in place.

Studied Spanish.

So much to learn.

Everly and I played with the Duolingo reading app almost 30 minutes!

Made pancakes for the girls. They’re really good.

T and G is still working on my car. It’s been a real puzzle with the overheating. Fortunately, it hasn’t left me stranded.

Everly had fun playing with play dough.

Released a new episode of Verbal Surgery -833- “Linking Thinking!” Vocal awesomeness.

New Whirlwind Labels ordered.

Got Ashley and my family’s taxes in the mail to our tax guy. I was able to get the stamp as well as “require a signature on receipt” all by using the self-service kiosk. WAY better than standing in that long line. I don’t know why people don’t use it. Probably the same reason they don’t use grocery pickup which is also WAY better. Great to have that job done.

I worked on the Donor List for our newsletter.

Ordered groceries. They had an opening for the same day. Groovy! I picked them up after going to the mission.

I thought the clouds looked swoopy today. Like gigantic waves, which they are!

Funny.

I went by the houses of the kids who usually need help. Everyone was ok, so I spent extra time watching Penelope ride her bike.

Cleaned and refilled bird feeders and baths. I’m so glad to have a nozzle again.

Swept the rug outside my door.

Ashley and Miles brought the grandgirls over Saturday afternoon. They just picked them up about 4:30 pm Monday. The blog reflects the long weekend!

Interesting.

Studied Spanish all three days.

I used the dialog box option for the first time this weekend. It was really helpful for clearing up some uncertainties about some answers.

Sunday, I achieved a milestone by being promoted to the Diamond league of Duolingo. That’s the highest level of achievement one can make on a platform of over 500 million people. It really just means you’re extremely consistent and get a lot of answers correct. Still, pretty cool.

I do a lot of different things to study Spanish.

I got a lot of XP by doing these timed tests.

I sit out on my porch when I’m studying. I repeat the sentence three times each, so I prefer to be by myself so I can really concentrate on getting the pronunciation correct.

I listened to some of this in Spanish. Then went to Carnegie.

I had a great night’s sleep on Friday. Saturday’s was one of the worst in a while. Fortunately, Kathy let me go back to bed for a couple of hours. That really helped.

Pretty mild weather.

Brain training.

OYB!

Saturday morning I got my taxes done! I tried to take them twice on Monday, but the line was out the door. I’ll drop Ashley’s package off as well. I have to stand in line at the Post Office to get a certified delivery.

Picked up the groceries on Sunday.

I enjoyed the girls so much.

They went to sleep around 9:00 pm each night.

Cuties!

We talked about this song.

Had to look this one up.

The word itself was recondite. How meta.

OYB!

Paid bills.

Sunday felt hot!

Ice cream!

We had fun at the goose park.

Very unusual zipper cloud. Looks like zipper on both sides!

I finally got a new hose nozzle so I could clean out all the birdbaths.

I tired ’em out.

I liked this article.

OYB!

I folded clothes and cleaned my sheets.

We cleaned the glass doors.

Blew the driveway.

Brushed and put pigtails in the girls hair.

Also trimmed Everly’s bangs.

Penelope, Everly and I put the labels on the letters. We’ll get those printed Wednesday morning, I hope.

Vacuumed the whole house.

I used my small vacuum to do my area downstairs.

Put the fresh bedding on.

I’ve had my car at T and G since Thursday. They were closed from Thursday until today. They finally figured out what was wrong and it’ll be fixed completely tomorrow.

Got cooler and started sprinkling Monday.

Dropped off the financial report at our treasurer’s house. I’m so thankful that Ashley has continued helping with that. Amen.

Deposited checks.

Long blog!