OYB!

I put a new shaver in the rotation. Gillette Pro-Glide.

View from my front porch. I study Spanish there a lot.

And drink my kahawa.

Español!

Rode my bike 10.20 miles.

Always something beautiful to see.

Saw these on the side of the road. They are putting in a septic tank. These are for the water to go into the septic field.

Gorgeous!

Moved all the plants back outside. They stayed in for the cold snap and the hail storm.

My pink magnolia tree was beginning to cover up the mail box sign. Trimmed that.

Can’t believe I neglected to get a completed project shot.

Cleaned and refilled all the bird baths.

Swept the detritus outside.

Went to Stone Mountain to write my newsletter and record and episode of Verbal Surgery called “Mufflers and Megaphones.”

Called my Mom! Always great to get in contact with her.

Oliver Sacks was a brilliant neurologist. I’ve loved his thoughts on nature and gardens.

Kathy’s Birthday! Woot!

Studied. Can you guess?

I’m on a lesson with past tense irregular verbs. Always good to review the tricky parts.

Beautiful.

OYB! Always new insights.

We are preparing to paint Jesse’s office. She’ll use my table to put her gear on.

Watered my plants. This is what it looks like without the Canon “vivid” filter.

Great to talk to my buddy, Anthony!

Good chat with my Mom. Looking forward to her visit next month!

Squirrel taxi. I’ve transported over 160.

Rode my bike 5.86 miles. I had to cut my ride short in order to get my groceries.

Beauty.

Rained 2.25″ yesterday. That’s a lot.

Picked up groceries.

The grandgirls spent the night Friday night, so this blog post is a double edition! Twice as nice, JACK!

I’m really not sure what I would tag. I rarely lose things. You?

Hard to believe the cold snap. I strained my arm getting all my plants back inside the house. I sure wasn’t going to chance hurting them.

Continue to load my brain with Español every single day.

OYB!

The girls love their Barbie dolls, especially Everly.

On Friday, Kathy took the results of her online class to her employer. They were impressed she’d gotten it completed so rapidly.

I get stuff done, too!

While Kathy went to her orientation, the girls and I rushed over to the Dollar Tree and loaded up with gifts and party stuff for Kathy’s birthday.

I taught Penelope some cutting and wrapping skills. Not easy to figure out scissors.

I’ve realized a simple fact: Candy is a powerful motivator. I just waved a Hershey bar and suddenly Everly was amenable to having me trim her nails.

I ask them, “Do you want to earn a treat?” Then start having Penelope read words and Everly practice counting. I used to do this a long time ago, but Jesse made me feel bad about it. But I’ve seen how effective it is, and I’m all about efficiency and speed.

We took K over to El T for Mexican food.

Guess what language I ordered in?

On the way to pick up the girls Friday morning, I saw a dead opossum in the road. It filled me with great sadness because I was pretty sure it was one of the animals that visits my feeders every night. I realized it was the circle of life. It’s just the way it is.

I told the girls that soon we would see vultures and crows visit this road kill. Sure enough, on our way back from eating lunch we saw three vultures and at least five crows fighting over it.

I tried to get a video of this one crow that would yank the tail feathers of the vulture while it was trying to eat. It reminded me of watching animals in Africa.

Huge difference in the temperature in two days.

We enjoyed an ice cream treat in celebration of K’s birthday. We really don’t need an excuse to get ice cream.

Everly slept through it! After that treat, we picked up food from Always Fresh to take to K’s sister Ann, then went to Goodwill to check on a bike for Penelope. She’s outgrown her little one. No bike, but some great Barbie dolls that both the girls enjoy, including a super cool jet airplane.

I bet that plane cost every bit of $50 when it was new. I got it for $5. We all enjoy looking at the dolls.

I used to play with GI Joes. I remember our fondness for blowing them up with firecrackers. My brother and I liked the realism.

It rained almost all day long Saturday.

One Year Bible!

While we were outside, the grandgirls and I heard a Barred Owl. We always get excited by that! I got my blue tooth speaker, a megaphone and used my iPhone to play some videos of their calls. Of course, we all practice doing our best to copy the calls, too.

We sort of sounded like hoarse roosters. Everly said, “Pop Pop, you’re playing it so loud!” I told her, “What neighbor is going to think I have a speaker playing owl calls?” She couldn’t come up with an answer for that.

The rain let up and I immediately got out my bubble gear. We had fun.

Everything interests me. Not sure what kind of eggs these are, but they’re tiny. When I first saw it, I thought it was a super tiny mushroom. That’s one reason I like my Canon Elph on macro mode. It’s like a microscope.

Kathy took the girls for a walk while I cleaned the house and organized all their stuff in preparation for Ashley to pick them up. Wow. Did Kathy ever let them get dirty! No idea how I ended up being the “clean” grandparent, but I am. No way I would have let them get soaking wet and muddy, but I’m positive they had fun. And it wasn’t cold.

Ordered groceries.

I think this looks cool.

I released Verbal Surgery “You Beauty” this evening. It’s excellent!

Super powerful thunderstorms rolled through late this afternoon. Can’t believe I just had my roof done and we have a hail storm! Hopefully, there wasn’t any damage!

I left my car out of the garage so Ashley could get all the girl’s stuff in. I start hearing the hail and rushed out to get it inside.

Didn’t look like it was damaged.

I brought all my plants back inside. It got down to 34 degrees last night. Wow.

Good to hear.

Español!

GREAT to have my girls!

We went by Ingels to pick up some fruit and veggies.

OYB!

We enjoyed the corn! Made Penelope a little sick later, however.

I liked this poem.

We went back to Loganville to get Kathy’s fingerprints done. We had a LOT of trouble with it. May still have to go back to try again.

On our way home, Penelope got sick to her stomach and threw up. I cleaned her up, gave her a bath and cleaned her car seat.

Helped the kids with their homework. They had to write an essay about the Cherokee and the Trail of Tears.

I made a copy of the Dolch list for Penelope.

Went by the office to check the mail.

Picked up my groceries.

Gassed up my car. Checked levels.

Teehee.

Studied. Surprised?

Cold and windy. I had my warmest gear on today. Wow.

Just a picture of me and Ashley! The girls weren’t dressed warmly enough to handle the chill!

OYB!

Worked with Kathy on her test for the day care center job.

We went to Snellville to take the girls to eat at Hot and Cold. It was very good. Seemed safe. Lots of social distancing. Of course we have all had Covid and had the shots so we aren’t really scared of it any more.

We weren’t able to do the fingerprinting today for K so we’ll go back tomorrow.

I enjoyed a visit with Jon Paul while the girls had a blast with his dog Bella. She’s my favorite dog.

I bought her a pack of 12 small dog toys. We are taking her a couple of new ones every time we visit.

They were tired out after all that playing!

Went to the church to check my mail and my ficus.

I processed my checks and went to my local ATM to deposit them.

I misread the amount and the deposit was off by $900! Had to call the claim center and let them know I had caught the mistake.

Honestly, I know that a teller goes through all those checks to make sure that the amount deposited is accurate. From time to time they make corrections. Still, I felt like I needed to do my due diligence on the matter.

Ordered groceries.

Full Sun Moon!

Released Verbal Surgery “I Don’t Know.” Such a great episode.

As well it should be.

I’m helping Kathy learn the computer so she can do her test for the day care job. She’s doing well for a total beginner!

Studied Spanish. Surprised?

K went with me to pick up the girls.

I think about six of the wysteria roots I planted seem to be doing ok. I’m hoping all of them will. I keep watering them, even if they look like they’re dead.

These I planted about two years ago!

OYB!

Cleaned and refilled bird baths. I have four.

Penelope likes to help. Actually, they both do, but Everly was taking a nap with K at the time. I taught P how to use the hose today. It has a thumb control.

Every Mother’s Day or Valentines, I buy a rose bush for K and plant it.

Penelope and I worked on letters.

Another gorgeous day.

I bought the girls some new cans of play dough.

The fingerprints K did didn’t turn out well. We’ll have to go back tomorrow to redo them.

Went by my office to check the mail.

Helped the kids at the mission. Most don’t have homework because they’re doing testing.

Kathy helped watch the kids while I worked on homework stuff.

I processed all the checks. That includes endorsing them, taking a picture of each of them and adding them all together. Then I went to the bank to get them deposited.

Kathy and I enjoyed a date of Vietnamese food on the way home. It was so good.

I don’t see this very often.

This just makes so much sense. What is wrong with our country?

Exciting to see our little drone work on Mars! Wow!

Studied. You know what.

I am in the Diamond League in Duolingo. That means that I compete against a random group of 30 people each week in Spanish with the highest level of experience. Our competition ends each week on Sunday. So briefly on Monday I was #1! Usually, I end up about #12 or so. But it was still fun to see.

OYB!

Kathy is getting ready to back to work at her day care place. That means she has to go through all the background checks. I helped her get organized for her fingerprinting. Some UPS stores are now certified to do that. This one was in Loganville.

Had a good talk with my buddy Anthony today. We don’t get to chat as much as we like because of our schedules. Usually, Monday is a good day to connect.

I left voice mail for my Mom. Sorry I couldn’t talk with her today.

Recorded an episode of Verbal Surgery called “Pain and Gain.” Downloaded it onto my Mac for future release.

Another gorgeous day.

I enjoyed seeing my good friend Jon Paul today! I had ordered him some exercise equipment and a new cane. I told him it’s great to give people gifts they actually WANT!

We went to a late lunch together. He’s always a blessing to me.

Part of getting the child care job back for Kathy is doing some certification work. I help her with that. She’s not super good with computers, especially if she can’t do it on her phone.

Picked up my groceries. The order was ready about an hour late, and they forgot to put in my potato chips. Not zesty. I had planned on riding my bike, but by the time I got them put up it was too late. I was tired anyway.

I learn new English words, too!

One thing I enjoy about Sunday mornings is that I have a subscription to a blog called Brain Pickings. I’ve had a great time reading her blog. It’s loaded with links to other subjects and one of those links talked about William James who I consider to be the father of modern psychology.

He had some interesting quotes about attention which is an area that I’m fascinated by. How do we keep someone’s attention? How can we focus our own attention for longer periods of time? After reading this, I went to Stone Mountain and recorded an episode of Verbal Surgery which I called, “Attention Intention.”

I thought this was beautiful.

I liked this poem. I receive two poems every day from different email lists.

Studied Spanish.

Brain training.

Another gorgeous day in the ATL.

OYB!

Ordered my groceries. I’m back to picking them up.

I went to Stone Mountain to record and make calls.

One of the email subscriptions I get is called the Magnet. I read something today that I thought would interest my son-in-law, Miles. It did!

Gassed up my car. I used my new Murphy gas app and got ten cents off per gallon. I don’t think I’ll get that every time, I’ll just have to see. I don’t completely understand the program.

I checked my oil and cleaned the windshield while I was getting gas. I noticed that my radiator fluid was a bit low in the reservoir. Chryslers use a specific kind of fluid that I have to get at an auto parts store. Picked some up at O’Reilly.

Went to the bank to deposit checks.

Ordered flash cards to use with Penelope.

I brought all my aloe vera plants back inside. I was glad to see Jesse’s plants beginning to recover from the cold weather outside. They were turning brown and mushy.

I went for a bike ride today. Rode 5.89 miles. I tried to take it easy and not go too far. It was one of my first rides since having Covid.

I need to do more yard work, but my arm has been bothering me from the extreme effort I used last week.

I listened to this while I rode.

Always something beautiful to see.

I even find mold on bread interesting and lovely.

Cleaned my carpet outside.

And my shrine to St. Francis.

Watered my inside garden.

Uploaded the new episode of Verbal Surgery onto my Mac.

I remember going to Philadelphia and seeing Ben Franklin’s grave. He’s one of my heroes! And a great day to have the N. Gwinnett Church team in town!

Studied Spanish.

After our singing and prayer time, I took the team to the Buford Highway Farmers Market for lunch and a tour.

Then to the missions!

Fun Day!

I dig Emerson!

Studied Español.

Beautiful day!

The new school year will be upon us before we know it! Penelope will start Kindergarten!

I pass Rock Bridge BC every morning that I pick up the grandgirls. I pray for my dear friends Bill and Piper Cordrey who are studying Spanish in Costa Rica.

One of our favorite movies is Moana. It’s set in Polynesia. Today, we had a Moana party with tropical fruits and a coconut. It was fun.

I’m constantly teaching the girls something. I got out some of my saws. Two types of hack saws, a mitre saw (my favorite!) and a wood saw.

I explained to them what each were for and what they cut.

Then I asked them, “What two things do I need before I start cutting?” They immediately replied, “Safety glasses and gloves.” Yeah, baby.

While we were downstairs getting what we needed to open the coconut, Penelope found some stickers that a friend of ours had sent us. She went a bit crazy with them.

It’s not easy to cut a coconut.

I scored it all the way around.

Then banged it with a hammer to crack it open evenly.

Then sawed off the top to pour the juice out. The girls thought it was super gross.

We tried some pieces, not too bad.

Then to Zoo Atlanta! We renewed our annual membership.

The girls got to feed the giraffe! I only shot video of the feeding.

Two of my favorite cities!

So much to see!

I talked to my tax guy while the girls saw the naked mole rats. Not one of my favorites! Looks like everything is ready to go to be sent in!

The pandas were a big hit!

They pretended they were petting him.

We love llamas.

This represents about half of what we walked. We were really tired.

For some unknown reason, not all the pictures I took with my Canon camera got onto my iPhone. Bahd luck. I had some great pictures of gorillas.

Went by my office to check on the mail.

Released a new episode of Verbal Surgery “Cautiously Optimistic.” So good.

Just found out today that our next door neighbor will be moving. They are the ones that built the big fence next to us. Although I didn’t like him burning leaves, overall they were good folks and will be missed. Never know who might be next. I’ve had four different neighbors on the south side of my property and three different neighbors on the north side.