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.

OYB!

Ordered another tester bottle of Versace Eros.

Mild. Low clouds this morning.

Español!

Walked 2.78 miles this morning.

Sprayed the Pink Magnolia at Azalea with the citrus based fungicide for the white powder mildew.

Ashley was really sick. She has strep throat. She went to the doctor to get some antibiotics. I kept the girls with me all day. They’re spending the night with me to give her more rest and keep the girlies safe.

Sewed up Everly’s pants. Lots of little holes.

Ate breakfast with Kathy at Waffle House. Practiced balanced walking.

Ordered groceries.

Jessi’s neck was bothering her today. Called the doctor. She said it was due to the intubation and having to hold her head at a weird angle.

Jessi felt well enough to go with us to the lake at Stone Mountain to pick up some plants, soil and water to make a small ecosystem.

Class!

Small cell of rainstorms narrowly missed our area. I waited for it to pass before we went to the pool.

I hadn’t heard of an eSim before. I may try this out in Guatemala.

We had fun at the pool. I used my new water proof case for my iPhone.

Worked great although it was kind of hard to see without me wearing my glasses and being so bright outside.

Got us pizza on the way home.

Gassed up the car and checked the fluids before I picked up the groceries.

Funny.

Checking out the ecosystem jar.

Told them some stories. Then they fell asleep.

Keep pushing.

Remember these?

OYB!

Always learning new words, even in English!

Today was a big day! Jessi had the implant put under her scalp and drilled into her skull. In a few weeks she’ll be able to hear in stereo! What a miracle!

We had an arrival time of 5:45 AM to Wellstar North Fulton Medical Center.

Español!

Walked .78 miles while we waited for J to get out of surgery.

They kept us in the loop as to what was happening.

She did great!

I liked this wheelchair. Wish I could’ve zoomed around the hospital in it. Probably not a good idea.

Walked another 2.09 miles after I got home.

A neighbor is getting ready to get grass put in. Instant lawn!

Keep working.

Listened to podcast in Spanish.

Some competition. I don’t expect her to last. We’ll see.

We used to go to Laredo regularly. That’s where my grandparents lived. That’s really hot.

OYB!

Early morning at the mission. Did my walk while I studied.

Español!

Class!

PetSmart!

S. Africa flag. We enjoyed living there.

We listened to this song today.

Perimeter Mall was our next stop.

Plaza Fiesta! Saw a family from Azalea while we were there.

Good chat with my buddy Anthony. He just got back from Brasil.

Always something cool to see at Plaza Fiesta.

Rain clobbered us. Weird weather pattern that flowed towards the west rather from from the west.

Funny.

So cool.

Rained on us. Got them into the house with a big umbrella.

Good talk with my Mom. Connection kept cutting out. Managed to make it work.

Deposited checks. Amen. Thank you, Lord.

I got this at PF today. Beautiful.

Rained 2.25″ at my house.

Watered my indoor garden.

Sewed up one of my map jackets.

One of my shirts.

And one of Penelope’s stuffys.

I actually sew stuff quite often. It’s a good skill.

We will be getting up at 4:15 AM tomorrow morning to get Jessi to the hospital for her surgery which starts at 7:30 AM. Pray for her safety and for the success of the procedure. It will take a couple of months for the healing to compete before they can test the device which will be inserted tomorrow.

Grandgirls spent the night last night. Love them!

OYB!

Español!

My neighbor found a rhino beetle to show me. Super cool!

I watched ten or twelve branches fall to the ground this morning while I was studying Spanish. Turned out it was a squirrel gnawing on them.

Walked 2.11 miles this morning. Everly came with me. That’s a hard walk for a five year old!

We got this email today. We’ll have to get up around 4:30 AM to make this on time. Wow.

Jessi, the girls and I will be working on putting together a little aquarium of local plants. It’ll be a sealed talk. The lid we have for the jar had a little hole. I sanded it down and then hot glued it. That should seal it properly.

Class.

My car is running great again. Cost me $515! I thought that was kind of expensive but it was more complicated to fix than I thought. Basically, a tune up with spark plugs and new wires. It’s a V8 so there’s a lot of moving parts.

Took the girls to eat at Hot and Cold.

It was the first time that Penelope had tried cherry pie.

We liked this.

Went by Publix to pick up meds for Jessi.

And to Waffle House to pick up my umbrella that I left yesterday.

Then to Lazy River to swim. We renamed it Amazon River because it’s kind of rough and fast! Penelope finally built up the guts to go down this big water slide. It was a rite of passage for her! She loved it and probably went down it at least ten more times. Everly was super jealous.

Jessi and I had a long talk with the nurse at the hospital this afternoon. She needed a list of all the meds that J is taking and to give her advice for the surgery. Also needed to try and figure out where the location of the surgery is on the hospital campus.

We had a nice talk with Nana tonight. She thought my yard looked so nice and green. Indeed we’ve been getting rain! I looked at her forecast. That’s hot, Jack!