New Beginnings

When I first started this blog last year, during the summer of 2024, I wasn't sure what I wanted to write about so I started writing about the projects I had been working on since I retired a few months earlier in January. I thought it might be interesting to read those activities and posted several entries. After a few weeks I re-read them and even I was bored with the content and ended up deleting the several posts and consolidated them into a single story. After thinking about it for a bit, I re-started it with what has ended up being a collection of my trips, adventures and memories. I thought this would be a great resource for my grandkids and their children so they would know more about me than I ever knew about my grandparents.  By the end of the year I had published about 45 blog entries complete with pictures. One day I had the thought, 'what would happen if Google stops supporting and does away with this platform?' All of the work I put in to create these stories ...

 If you have never had cows or worked cows, it may surprise you to know that they are among the most curious of animals. I cannot help but laugh at them. After they have been in one area for a period of time and they are used to their surroundings they will notice when something has been changed or out of their 'ordinary' and they will have to check it out. If they notice that I have closed a gate that is usually open, they will immediately go over to check it out and see what is up. It is not just the 2 cows I have now, they have all been like this. I cannot tell you how many times I have shut the gate to the small pasture next to the house so as to move hay, or cut trees or some other activity that I do not want them in there, they will walk up to the gate and just stare at it, as if they stand there long enough it will just open up for them. Anytime there has been a very strong storm, I almost always some tree damage that will range from a broken branch to a split tree. When...

 Earlier this week I finalized plans to do a bike ride on Saturday morning with my buddy Larry. We were going to meet at the college parking lot at 6:45am and ride toward Valley View then back to Lindsay. After that we would head over to the Gainesville Municipal Airport. By now we have completed just over 18 miles on the bike ride. The airport was having a breakfast for those that have an airplane at one of the hangers. We had a nice breakfast and I met more people than I can remember names. After we finished breakfast and visiting with a few more folks, Larry says, hey I haven't had my plane out in a few months, would you like to take a ride? I said sure. He does his pre flight check list and we pull it out of the hanger and head to the runway. We taxi to the north end of the runway (since we had a south wind this morning) and take off. It is surprisingly warm inside and as we build speed down the runway to take off the plane kind of bumps and bounces until the tires get off the ...