This picture was taken back in Oct. 1991 (you do the math). It was a cool, crisp fall day, just like today. We had just gotten back from pumpkin picking and eating at Friendly's Ice Cream shop. BTW, the guy in the middle was my first.

Since I'm not very hairy, I thought I'd do my own meme...flash your fuzzy face Wednesday.

This past weekend was my Jake's 6th birthday. Ever since he was a puppy, he'd chew up stuffed toys (and a chair or ottoman) and just pull out all the stuffing. That's why all his current toys are rawhide chips/bones and he only gets the stuffed toys on his birthday. I tried taking this before picture without him seeing the toys, but it's hard to sneak a toy by him and he was ready to pounce! It was fun to watch him pull out the stuffing and "spit" it to the side and go in for more. Click on the picture to see some action shots and the "after" effects.

Saturday I took advantage of the beautiful weather and drove to the mountains to Chimney Rock, NC (about 20 miles SE of Asheville, NC). The park has several hiking trails as well as the Chimney Rock which is 2280 ft above sea level. You can either take an elevator to the top or hike it (climbing several thousands stairs). I hiked it, ugh. The view from the top was beautiful. After a quick elevator ride down, I hiked one of the trails that ended by the base of a waterfalls. It is supposed to be the location where part of the movie, "The Last of the Mohicans" was filmed. There was a slight cool breeze that helped keep you comfortable while hiking so it was a very enjoyable day.

I've been on vacation this week and got to spend the first few days in Myrtle Beach visiting my parents. My nephew, his wife and their son (who all live in NY) were also there so I got to spend some time with them too. This is a picture of my great nephew David. He's 22 months and a ball of energy. It was only the second or third time I got to see him so it was fun playing on the beach with him. We dug in the sand, boogie boarded and swan in the ocean. Almost made me wish my biological clock was set a few hours earlier, notice I said "almost". It was good seeing everyone. I think my Mom was more upset seeing Jake leave than me. She loves her granddog.

I'm back from my 4 day trip to NJ/NY to attend the civil union of two good friends. The weekend was great as was the weather (low humidity and in the 70's). The ceremony was very nice (although the minister kept using the words marriage/matrimony by mistake). It was about 15-20 minutes long and then a 4 hour party ensued. This picture is of the Atlanta contingency (all of us who used to live or still live in Atl). It was really nice seeing some old friends and catching up on things. Click on the picture to see some others from the weekend.

The next day I took the train into NYC and walked for about 4 hours. I started at 32nd and 5th Ave. and walked uptown just enjoying the weather and people around me. When I got up to Central Park, I continued my stroll thru the park to about 90th street, then crossed over to the west side of the park and walked back downtown, stopping to enjoy a delicious hot dog and pretzel from one of the many street vendors and listening to some jazz from a street performer playing the saxaphone. Made my way down Broadway, thru Time Square and back to Penn Station (32nd St.). Although my feet hurt, I found it a very relaxing day.

My flight home was uneventful (except for the fact I kept thinking about that Air France flight that disappeared over the Atlantic Ocean). I went directly to pick up Jake from the spa (actually the kennel, but he did have a bath, got his nails trimmed,ears cleaned and glands expressed). The technicians are usually pretty quick in bringing Jake out, but for some reason I had to wait over 10 minutes and when a tech did bring out "Jake", it wasn't my Jake (cute dog but I wanted my baby). A few minutes later another technician came out and told me there was a little problem. Jake is a happy dog and wags his tail a lot so apparently he wagged his tail so much against the cage, it started to bleed and they had to bandage the tip of his tail. Not sure I believe that story, but he seemed OK when they brought him out (except for the open bandage on his tail). Of course he was excited to see me and started wagging his tail and the more he wagged the more it bled (not fast but enough to get blood all over my pants). The tech's instructions were to keep him from wagging his tail, yeah, right! Luckily when we got home, he immediately laid down and an hour later I removed the bandage. He's fine and hasn't bled since.

Back at work today and It took the morning to catch up on work mail and emails and only had 2 fires to put out. Feels like I was never gone!

This is a week's worth of beard. I don't have a very thick beard so it has to grow more and fill in the empty spots.