Light The Tree!

Well here this years Christmas Tree spectacular, lol!!!
Chris replaced all the green lights this year as many of the strands we’ve used for four years and they had lost their green color.
He also added from top to bottom a green light rope to accent the trunk. This picture doesn't show that the tree is almost 50' tall!
I suggested maybe some light-up presents under the tree would finish the display.
Chris reports a few drive by lookers already!

Team Viagra Gets It Up!!!

Team Viagra conquered temperatures in the thirties, high winds and a lack of team members to achieve today’s enormous tree erection.
New guide wire side mounts and a pivoting base made this the easiest erection in years!
Assisting this year was Joe, Emery, Ralph, Chris, and Molly, Chris’s mother, several members of Joe’s family and new neighbors from across the street.
Chris will install the lights this week and we’ll all enjoy a tree lighting Friday evening.

Team Viagra Fails to Achieve Erection!

The annual day after Thanksgiving get together of “Team Viagra” to erect the neighborhood Christmas tree fell short of its erection goals due to mechanical problems.
All the team was disappointed in their performance but vowed to attempt full erection of the tree tomorrow, lol!!!

Sweetest Dog on the Planet!!!

Okay yes she’s our dog but you have to admit she’s pretty sweet and she smells like warm brown sugar all the time.
Our vet says Janie maybe a reincarnated peaceful soul. I vote she’s an angel come to earth to bring us unconditional love and an unending smile to both our faces!

Waiting!!

Here’s Beth and Ralph patiently waiting for their human cargo to finishing whatever they were doing in that huge garage, lol!!

Ralph wore is Canadian license plate and Beth was looking oh so sporty and sexy!!!

Gram and Papa come to the rescue!

With Margaret away for the holidays in Washington DC we thought we’d have to have dinner without her world famous home made cranberries but thankfully Gram came to the rescue!!! Gram called Margaret getting the recipe over the phone and made the cranberries so our dinner would be complete!
Here are Beth’s parents Judd and June lovingly known as Gram and Papa enjoying Thanksgiving dinner too!

Madelyn's Cupcakes

For several years Madelyn has made cupcakes for school, family events and her Uncle Ralph! This year her “Red Velvet Cupcakes” were the best ever!!
Somehow three cupcakes were smuggled out in a plastic bag when Uncle Ralph drove Gram and Papa home last night!

Family Thanksgiving

This years Thanksgiving family gathering was held a Beth’s sisters home in Roswell GA just 17 miles east of us in Woodstock.
Beth drove over Wednesday evening and spent the night while I tended to the dogs and drove Gram and Papa over Thursday morning.
Here’s Beth’s sister Kristy and niece Madelyn peeling potatoes for the mounds of mash potatoes everyone enjoys!
The “King” of turkey and dressing here’s Kristy’s husband Pete carving the finished turkey. I wait every year for Pete’s what should be his award winning dressing!!!

Georgia Color

As you can see by these pictures taken today we're at the peak of our fall color in Georgia. We're two weeks behind in our fall colors from Mom and Dad in Canada. Our days are much cooler and a bit frosty at night.

Fall and Rain

The leaves are changing in GA and AL. This picture was taken along I-20 in AL on my return to Atlanta.

Georgia Gov. Sonny Perdue prayed for rain yesterday on the steps of the state capital and look what happend!! We got a 1/2 inch in Woodstock last night! I wonder if it was devine intervention or if he watch the morning weather forcast??

For more visit: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21680340/

Fountain and Flowers

The Portofino Bay Hotel had many beautiful and relaxing court yards throughout the complex.

All had wonderful fountains with lavish tropical plants.

Sun Set on Portofino Bay!

Sunday evening sun set on Portofino Bay.

RGIS Annual Meeting Orlando Florida

RGIS held it's annual management meeting in Orlando Florida at the Portofino Bay Hotel this weekend. The hotel is an upscale re-creation of Portofino, a seaside village in Italy, and provides a spa, 3 themed pools, bocce ball courts, and a piazza with shops and fine-dining restaurants. The 750 Italian-styled guestrooms feature authentic Italian furnishings, high speed internet access, minibars, and complimentary in-room safes.

For more visit: http://www.loewshotels.com/en/Hotels/Portofino-Bay-Hotel/Overview.aspx

A Long Way Home!

Taken at the Ontario International Airport on Thursday afternoon home was 1885 miles to the east!

Foggy California!

This week I returned to California and the CVS located in Azusa a city NE of the Los Angeles-Long Beach metro area.
One tradition says the name derives from an Indian term for "hill to the east," while another has it that a local store sold everything "from A to Z in the USA".

Azusa is at the foot of the San Gabriel Mountains it was founded during the real estate boom of the 1880s and was a former shipping center for citrus fruits and avocados.

For more visit: http://www.ci.azusa.ca.us

Winter Feeding Station

With winter around the corning I double my efforts to keep food and water fresh for our visiting birds, squirrels and chipmunks.

Our 5 feeders and 1 birdbath are always busy!

Bigger In Texas!

Located in DFW’s 200-acre Rental Car Center this sculpture is enormous! It depicts a cowboy driving two long horn steers.

DFW Airport is full of wonderful art.

For more visit: http://www.dfwairport.com/cdp/art/artists.html

American Airline's DC-3 Flagship Knoxville

Sitting on the hard stand at DFW yesterday was American Airline's Flagship Knoxville!

The Flagship Knoxville's last flight came on May 4, 1993. Piloted by Capt. William S. McCormick and Capt. Ray Newhouse, the aircraft was flown from Tulsa to the Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport. Capt. McCormick had previously flown the Flagship Knoxville in the 1940s and had accumulated more than 10,000 flight hours in Douglas DC-3s. From the D/FW Airport, the Flagship Knoxville was disassembled and towed to the C.R. Smith Museum. Lifted into place on the museum's patio by a pair of cranes, the aircraft served as a focal point of the then newly opened museum.
Unfortunately, during the following five years, exposure to Texas weather took a terrible toll on the Flagship Knoxville's markings and fabric covered control surfaces. The aircraft was removed from its perch in front of the C.R. Smith Museum on February 9, 1998 and towed to the American Airlines maintenance facility at D/FW Airport. A team of volunteers and American employees completed a second restoration of the Flagship Knoxville in the fall of 1998. The aircraft returned to the museum and was lifted into its specially built "hangar" in November 1998. The cost of the constructing the Flagship Knoxville's 10,000 sq. foot glass exhibit pavilion was supported by the sale of thousands of engraved bricks that make up its floor. Preserved and protected in its new home, the Flagship Knoxville continues to serve as a tangible reminder of American Airlines' early history and the golden age of World War II-era commercial air transportation.

For more visit: http://www.crsmithmuseum.org/AAhistory/flagship.htm

A Walk To Nowhere!

I took this picture yesterday on a flight from Dallas Tx to Atlanta Ga.

Here's some interesting facts.

At 35000 feet the temperature is -68.72 and the pressure is 7.04.

Average Effective Performance Time for flying personnel without supplemental oxygen at 35000 feet is 30 to 60 seconds.

Up to approximately 35,000 feet, an aviator can keep sufficient oxygen in his/her lungs to permit normal activity by use of oxygen equipment that supplies oxygen upon demand (inhalation). The oxygen received by the body on each inhalation is diluted with decreasing amounts of air up to approximately 33,000 feet. Above 33,000 feet and up to approximately 35,000 feet, this equipment provides 100-percent oxygen. At approximately 35,000 feet, inhalation through the DEMAND oxygen system alone will NOT provide enough oxygen.