Happy 4th of July! As I’m writing this, I can hear big bangs outside.

I dig this.

OYB!

Español!

Walked about 1.75 miles.

I got caught in the rain. Stood under a tree and kept pretty dry. K came and got me. That’s why I’m not sure exactly how much I walked. Even with all my weather apps and especially my radar apps, occasionally a small cell will move into my area so fast that I’m caught unprepared and can’t get home quickly enough.

Had a fun chat with Anthony. Sat out on the porch and watched it rain.

Jessi and I had a nice chat with Nana. We talked with her about the issues we are having with Jessi’s surgery and the bills they say she owes. The insurance approved the surgeries and should be covering ALL of it since she’s already reached the deductible.

Rained about .75″.

Cleared off and got dried out. Much cooler today than it has been.

Español podcast.

Rode my bike 10.27 miles. Cut my ride short because it looked like I could get caught in the rain again. It’s a lot worse on the bike because the road gets slippery. I got home safely. There was a lot of thunder, but the rain stayed just south of us.

A challenging week. Some serious students.

Came in #2 this week. I figured I’d come in third, so I was pleased by my effort.

OYB!

Español!

I was up at my usual 5:45 AM, but walked in my neighborhood rather than in Chamblee this morning. Walked 1.69 miles this morning.

Beautiful sun rise.

Jessi came with me this morning. We drove to Roswell with the girls to ask the doctor about her stitches. Unfortunately, the office was closed. Fortunately, there was a nurse at the CVS across the street who took a look, gave us some suggestions for continued care of the wound and told us that everything looked healthy and healing properly. So that was great!

We brought Jessi back home to Stone Mountain and we went to eat at Waffle House with K.

Then took the girls to Stone Mountain. They really enjoyed doing the Sky Hike.

They climbed the rock wall. They both made it to the top. No way I could do that.

We found the Foam Zone today. The met a girl named Julia that they really enjoyed hanging out with.

Hot. And sweaty.

Looks like tough competition this week.

Studied and walked another 2.44 miles this evening.

I didn’t ride my bike because I thought I might get caught by this.

Every morning and during the night when I wake up from a dream I spend time recording what happened. It’s always fun to think about my “other” life!

OYB!

Español!

Walked 2.41 miles while I studied.

Ordered groceries. When I picked them up they said they only needed to check ID with certain orders. Maybe because I got NyQuil for Kathy?

Air quality was better today, but so humid!

Went to Stone Mountain to record Verbal Surgery “Getting Ahead.” Downloaded it onto my Mac Air.

I didn’t ride today. I thought this thunderstorm was going to plow into us. Narrowly missed us just to the north. Lots of lighting and thunder.

Picked up the groceries.

Cleaned and refilled the hummingbird feeders. I need to do it once a week when it’s so hot. The mixture starts to ferment.

Filled up water jugs.

Refilled bird baths.

Watered my banana plants.

Looks like I’ll come in #2 this week. It was a great competition between the top 5 people. Eventually, hard work pays off. That’s a lot of right answers very fast.

Released Verbal Surgery “Always Branching.” this evening.

I thought this was interesting. For cleaning.

Worked hard. I usually do, but even more when the competition is tight.

Mileage.

Man. It got hot today. I biked in the worst part because of the ozone alert. Next time I’ll take my chances with the ozone and not the heat.

OYB!

Español!

Walked 2.56 miles.

Worked on trimming my yard. I’ve stopped mowing in lieu of using by weeder. Unfortunately, the spools of thread weren’t working well. I decided to buy a new weeder and line.

I should’ve shot an after picture!

Wrote a note to a Brazilian friend of mine who was going through some hard times. He also turned 50 today!

Rode my bike 12.64 miles. Practiced creating sentences about what I was seeing. Reviewed some words.

This is what is was when I was biking. In the full sun add 14 degrees. So it was like 115 degrees. Crazy talk.

Near the end of my ride, I got a flat! Had to walk the last .55 miles home to get my car with the bike rack.

Took her to the bike shop to get a new tube.

Any time I break 20,000 I know I’ve really been working hard.

Air was really smoky today.

OYB!

Cool morning when I walked and studied Spanish.

Español.

Beautiful sunrise.

Walked 2.65 miles.

Love my girls!

Class!

Jessi is still having a little bleeding from a stitch from her ear surgery. I called them back and gave basically the same message as I left yesterday. I don’t know how I could’ve been any more clear.

There is still some white powder mildew on my pink magnolia tree. I keep treating it and hoping for the best.

Went by my office to check the mail.

Came home to see K. She had already eaten breakfast.

Waffle House.

Balance practice.

Stone Mountain Village for the Sky Hike.

Had some rain. Most of it missed us.

We had fun at the Dinotopia playground.

Also checked out the Historic Village.

Trying to figure out what’s going on with one of J’s bills.

And trying to get back my $12 from Marta when they didn’t give me the two children’s tickets. I’ll get a Breeze card next time so I can have them credit my card. All my old cards were expired.

Just keep going.

I’ll still do another fifteen minutes this evening.

OYB!

Cool morning. Got hot.

I cleaned out the yellow jacket nest from me spraying them yesterday. The queen was really big.

Cleaned the front door glass.

Jessi’s ear is still bleeding a little bit from one of the stitches. I tried for over thirty minutes to get it to quit dripping. It still was just barely bleeding. I called the doctor to advise her of the situation. We are planning on going in tomorrow to have her take a look.

Español!

The girls left their wet shoes in my car from yesterday. Stinky. I washed them and am drying them out now.

I took two walks this morning while I studied and read sentences in Español.

Walked 2.47 miles.

I didn’t this anymore was one word. You?

My second walk was 2.24 miles.

Listened to a Spanish podcast while I rode my bike.

Biked 13.55 miles in 1:26:29. Exercised over 3.25 hours today.

It was hot riding in the full sun.

Gassed up my car and checked the oil.

Talked to tech support at ATT. We have had absolutely terrible cell phone service at my house lately. They said they’d been working on the tower. Should be upgraded tomorrow. I hope so!

OYB!

Beautiful day. Especially in the morning.

Español!

Walked 2.67 miles.

Love my girls!

Class.

Deposited checks. Thank you, Jesus.

Waffle House with Kathy.

We spotted a chameleon.

Always practicing balancing, which paid off big on the Sky Hike.

Got to Stone Mountain around 11:30 AM. Went to the Sky Hike which is a rope course. It’s very intense. The girls did great!

What an adventure that was! They were super excited about doing it again. There are actually two even higher levels. Wow.

They are thrilling!

Had a fun ride on the train.

Dino rodeo was the show. It was pretty funny.

Never gets old.

Mini golf. We just have fun. Sometimes we throw the ball. We just keep hitting it until it goes in. No counting. No winning.

Sharing a coke. Penelope and I have a picture of us doing that when she was about three.

Splash Zone.

Cleaned off my deck and watered all my plants.

Gathered all the limbs that had fallen during the big storm and put them in the recycle area.

Blew the roof and cleaned out the gutters.

After I did the roof, I redid the driveway and deck.

I got attacked by yellow jackets when I was cleaning up. Turned out there was a nest in the couch where I sit! The nest was about as big as your hand. I think I killed them all. I got stung once today and once a couple of days ago. Hate ’em.

Beauty.

Hard competition between the top five people for the top three spots. Not sure how it will turn out. I hope I’ll be in the top three.

OYB!

Early morning arrival and study/walk time.

Español.

Beautiful, cool morning.

Walked 2.64 miles.

Love my girls!

Class!

Warm/hot day.

Village Park.

Big crane setting up cell phone receivers on top of this old building.

Cici’s Pizza. We enjoyed it. It’s a fun place with video games. They play like they’re playing the games.

PetSmart.

Always balancing. Of course this was ridiculously easy for them, but still fun.

Dick’s Sporting Goods punching bag practice. I’m hesitant to really teach them how to punch.

Two Bridges Park.

Went by my office to get the mail and process the checks.

I had a good talk with my brother on the way home. I have dreams with him all the time.

This will be a tight competition this week. I hope I can come in at least third. We’ll see.

Walked 2.24 miles this evening while I studied some more.

Released Verbal Surgery “I Don’t Care.” Powerful stuff.

On Sunday night we had big storms and the power went out. This is what happened on 6.25.23

Study better!

OYB!

Español!

Walked 2.29 miles.

Biked 16.09 miles.

Got stung by a yellow jacket as I was putting my bike up. Ouch.

Hot.

Produced my newsletter and did the labels except for the stamps.

Big storm blew through. Lots of limbs fell. Called Walton Power to let them know about the situation. Power was out for over three hours.

June 26, 2023

Kevin Kelly’s new book of advice.

OYB!

Got to the mission at 6:45 AM.

Came in #1 in Duolingo last week. Very tough competition this week. Wow.

Walked 2.62 miles.

Love my girls! Ashley still isn’t 100% but went to work anyway.

Everly got a new watch. I set it for her. It was good practice for her to read the numbers over 20.

Class.

Sprayed my little Pink Magnolia with fungicide again. C’mon, baby!

Headed downtown from the Doraville MARTA station.

Peachtree Center station. Whopping big escalator.

Fun and excitement! Our two words for Summer School.

Metro Cafe Diner for breakfast/lunch.

Topped off with Chocolate Suicide cake. So good.

Downtown Atlanta is beautiful.

Always challenging them.

We enjoyed the Central Library. Super tight security. Seemed like going through the airport! Wow. Nice art.

Penelope read us a book. She did great.

They got hot and tired. I try not to push them TOO much. Focus on staying in the shade as much as possible.

We got a nice breeze.

Checked out CNN Center. I used to work with CNN.

We checked out the Baptist Tabernacle. Kathy’s Dad used to pastor this church. Now it’s a music venue. How the times have changed.

Headed back to Chamblee.

Picked up the newsletters at FBC Doraville, then went to get stamps for the envelopes.

To the mission to collate, stuff, and stamp.

In the mail. A little bit early this month. Amen.

I got a micro SD card to expand the memory capacity of Penelope’s tablet. She was really happy about that.

Good chat with my Mom on the way home.

After the big storm yesterday, I needed to blow the driveway, pick up limbs and clean up. I also noticed some of my nemesis: poison ivy, which I immediately dug up and chopped up. Hate it.

Piled up sticks. I’ll haul them to my back recycling area soon.

Finished vacuuming the house.

I took the vacuum cleaner almost completely apart to clean it.

The rotor was horribly clogged up.

Put it all back together once it was clean.

Then cleaned out the container and the filters.

Went to Metro Cafe (the one in Stone Mountain this time!) to pick up some food for Jessi and Kathy. Seemed only fair.

Two of the people in the top four made nearly 30,000 points last week. I normally run around 20,000 which is still a lot when compared to most people. I figure I’ll come in #3 this week. Unless the DVB guy really turns up the heat. Last week he made substantially less than me. We’ll see. I don’t get too up tight about it but I still enjoy the competition. It makes me work harder.

One of my best friends turns 50 today! Happy Birthday, Kat! I sent her a gift card for Amazon.

OYB!

Just keep going.

Stretch.

Your mind.

Beautiful morning walk while I study. Went 2.06 miles.

Not sure I really want to get these in the mail.

Gorgeous day.

My girls and I challenged ourselves with their first hike up and down Stone Mountain.

Always interesting things to see.

As far as I know, these have never been translated.

Cool.

Half way up!

I always have them practice balancing.

Beauty!

Last push up.

Made it all the way up in exactly an hour. I thought that was great for being 5 and 7 years old!

Break at the cafe at the summit. Ice cream sandwiches, pretzel, popcorn and a coke.

Summit panorama.

Made it back down quick!

We stopped at the Stone Mountain Museum so they could get their official certificate for climbing the mountain!

We enjoyed lunch at MJ’s.

Warmed up!

After a brief rest, we went back to Lazy River for a swim. The place was PACKED. Doubt we’ll go on a Saturday again. It was still fun.

Listened to some Spanish radio podcast.

I worked hard this week. Doubt they’ll catch me in one day.