Day Two Hundred Fifty One 2012

Grandson Elijah’s elementary school has one very important fundraiser each year—The Cougar Run. The kids collect pledges for every lap they run/walk (or a flat donation). The school mascot is the cougar, and as we all know, cougars run very fast. The first grade classes were the first up to run this morning. Beautiful blue sky and hot sunshine and no breeze made for some red faces, but Elijah ran most of his laps—15 total. I’m proud of him for his determination and his good job helping to raise money for his school. All the kids were pooped by the time their run was over, but they got to enjoy a picnic lunch later and a relaxed work day, and a lot of them got to leave school early. He chose to leave early (what kid in his right mind wouldn’t?) and hang out at Granny’s house, playing video games, watching TV and eating Bomb Pops.  And I love his spiked hair! His mom spiked it for this event. Gives him an edge, don’t you think? Happy TGIF, everyone!

Day Two Hundred Fifty 2012

My fake plants died because I did not pretend to water them.
~Mitch Hedberg
(My fake sunflowers through a fish eye lens)

Day Two Hundred Forty Nine 2012

"If I had known grandchildren were this much fun I would have had them first."

~Author: Unknown

Day Two Hundred Forty Eight 2012

Hubby Neil had the day off today. We finally made it to a local indoor shooting range this morning and did some target practice with a .22 we recently bought and also one of son in law Jerry's handguns, a Glock. This is the first time either one of us has fired a handgun. Neil did very well. He never strayed from center. (The guy next to us was shooting at a zombie target.) (Another guy was firing an AK47. Sounded like a canon going off. I feared for my hearing, even with ear protection.)
On the other hand, it took me several shots before I got used to the sight. My shots went all over the place at first, but I got better at it. I did hit a few center. The .22 is pretty easy, but that Glock certainly has a kick!

We used the same target, but it's easy to see who was the better shot. Neil hit the head shot dead center (so to speak). We're going to take the handgun safety class and get our permits to carry a weapon. We really enjoyed the target practice and look forward to doing this again soon.

On a much lighter note, grandson Knox is here for a visit along with his mom and dad. He's nine months old now and is crawling all over the place.

He is so sweet and funny. He's waving and clapping his hands now and has his own little vocabulary.

Grandson Elijah played his first Fall Ball-T Ball game this evening. He loves batting, but he made several plays fielding, getting two or three outs. His team has red shirts and they played a team with black shirts. No formal team names and they don't keep score in Fall Ball.

Good job, Elijah! Good kid.

After the ball game, Knox's dad Kerry sat him down in the grass. He had the best time pulling it up and throwing it around. It's the little things. Life is good. 

Day Two Hundred Forty Seven 2012

LABOR DAY

No picnic for us today. All Neil and I did was work around the house. He spent his Lowe’s gift cards and bought this nifty chain saw attachment for his weed eater.

And this is what he did with it. There were piles of tree and bush limbs laying all over the yard when he finished. Well, finished for today. Nothing like a new toy.


It’s Monday which is always laundry day around here. I did that plus wash windows, starting with the ones in all the doors—inside and outside = 138 panes of glass. I haven’t even begun to clean the regular windows yet. Labor Day, indeed.


After supper, we landed in Dogwood Park with our camp chairs to soak up some local culture and cool breezes and listened to the Cookeville Community Band play their last concert of the season.

This is the first time we’ve attended one of their concerts. I told Neil I can’t believe we’ve never been. They played marches, swing tunes, New Orleans jazz, and the concert ended with Rocky Top, a Tennessee fan favorite. Good times.
Happy Labor Day, America!