Back a few years
My inspiration for this was gained after going back to my early blogging days. I was https://thefidd.blogspot.com I can not believe I first started out in February 2008. On occasion I’ll copy and paste a blog from WordPress to that venue also. Should anyone be interested the old blogs are all still there. Two more upcoming blogs are on the front burner. After this will be, The return of our four greats to the Netherlands & G & Pappy’s European adventure. Following that will be, “A Wedding in our Living Room.” So, if at all interested, stay tuned.
My First Blog – 02/11/08 @ 1545 hrs.
Blog, kind of sounds like a cold, or a zit or some kind of an affliction. My first day with a blog, now what do I do with it? Well to start off I’ll let the world know how I start my day on the Internet. My start up page is http//refdesk.com Having spent twenty years in Connecticut I next go to http://www.courant.com/ to check on the local news and how the UCONN Huskies are doing in any given season. I’m a forty year Huskie fan. http://www.uconnhuskies.com/ Next up, but sometimes #1 is the weather. While in the Marine Corps, way back when, I was in Weather as an occupation with Rawinsonde as a sub specialty. http://usmilitary.about.com/library/milinfo/marineenjobs/bl68.htm I use a verity of weather related sites www.nws.noaa.gov/ #1, my other favorites are www.accuweather.com and www.weatherunderground.com During the Hurricane season I live by the National Hurricane Center. www.nhc.noaa.gov/ I have friends and family in CT, FL, CA, and affections to Key West, FL, Pagosa Springs, CO, Flagstaff, AZ and Ireland and Germany. So, I usually check on the weather in those places.Next it’s off to the Washington Post and Washington Times to get two diametric views on the news. www.washingtonpost.comwww.washingtontimes.com After the two DC papers I go to Google News, which I have preference settings in and glance over that. Next is onto my mail servers. From then on I usually have a Memo Pad with notes on things to look up and it’s off I go. This all starts shortly after I get up, usually around 0500. Once downstairs it’s a hot cup of tea to start the day. Here, I’ve given the world the start of my day for the start of a BLOG. I shall end this bantering with saying Cead Mile Failte – OMG
This weeks Blog
We recently had a visit from son Matthew & family who reside in Connecticut. Two of his and wife Beth’s four children made the trip with them. The boys, David in New York, Brooklyn to be exact and Kevin, deployed to Kosovo for a year with the CT National Guard, 1/169th Inf.. did not make the trip.
Jill, a soon to be Junior at Siena University and Rebecca a soon to be Junior in High School did make the trip. It was great getting to spend some time with them.
The crew of four spent three days with us, mostly in Kathy and Jeffs pool while they were returning greats to Europe. When they departed here they headed to Ocean City, MD for three days in a condo and beach time on the sand. We joined them on their last day for breakfast and to say good by. Prior to leaving OC we stopped at https://www.rosenfeldsjewishdeli.com and brought our next meal home with us.
There is no doubt the girls will make their mark in our society in years to come.
I could not help but reflect on days gone by and the many trips north to visit over the past thirty-three years. When we were there, and the children were young, I read one of the many children’s books in their libraries. I would like to think that in some small way I had a hand in their using their imaginations while growing up. I am proud of their parents and especially proud of the grandchildren.
Here’s some info about David from the Champlain College Alumni magazine.
What a great trip we had to Burlington, VT, several years ago for David’s graduation.
Hi, My name is David and I make noise and push pixles for fun! Professionally I am a Sound Designer/ Composer, and an Interaction Designer/ Art Director. My goal has always been to craft meaningful sonic and visual experiences. When you boil it all down I just want to create awesome stuff!
I am proficient in Adobe’s suite of tools including Photoshop, Illustrator, Premiere, Audition, and After Effects. Along with that, I am also well versed in Cinema 4D, Processing, and have a background working in HTML 5, CSS and Javascript. I have professional experience with multiple DAWs including Apple Logic Pro, Pro Tools, and Ableton Live as a sound designer for Interactive media and film.
For fun I enjoy hacking stuff to do things it’s not supposed to do, writing music, reading and living an active lifestyle.
Check out my Vimeo Page for some of the cool stuff I’ve worked on! Lets create something awesome together!
- EDUCATION
- Greater Hartford Academy of the Arts
- Champlain College
Some info on Kevin
Kevin graduated from the U of Connecticut in May of this year completing a major in Economics and a minor in Geographic Information Science in three years. He joined the CT National Guard after HS to help finance his college expenses. The wife and I made it to FT Sill, OK, for Kevin’s graduation from Army Boot Camp. Son Matthew and I made it to FT. Huachuca, AZ, for his graduation from Tech school there.
Kosovo https://shape.nato.int/ongoingoperations/nato-mission-in-kosovo-kfor-
His Unit
Ft Huachuca https://home.army.mil/huachuca/index.php
I used the below info in a Blog way back in 2013, I must share it once again, it is well worth a read.
If you have children, or ever plan on having them, this is a must read.
Neil Gaiman: Why our future depends on libraries, reading and daydreaming
A lecture explaining why using our imaginations, and providing for others to use theirs, is an obligation for all citizens.
Tue 15 Oct 2013 14.51 BST
It’s important for people to tell you what side they are on and why, and whether they might be biased. A declaration of members’ interests, of a sort. So, I am going to be talking to you about reading. I’m going to tell you that libraries are important. I’m going to suggest that reading fiction, that reading for pleasure, is one of the most important things one can do. I’m going to make an impassioned plea for people to understand what libraries and librarians are and to preserve both of these things.
And I am biased, obviously and enormously: I’m an author, often an author of fiction. I write for children and for adults. For about 30 years I have been earning my living through my words, mostly by making things up and writing them down. It is obviously in my interest for people to read, for them to read fiction, for libraries and librarians to exist and help foster a love of reading and places in which reading can occur.
So I’m biased as a writer. But I am much, much more biased as a reader. And I am even more biased as a British citizen.
And I’m here giving this talk tonight, under the auspices of the Reading Agency: a charity whose mission is to give everyone an equal chance in life by helping people become confident and enthusiastic readers. Which supports literacy programs, and libraries and individuals and nakedly and wantonly encourages the act of reading. Because, they tell us, everything changes when we read.
And it’s that change, and that act of reading that I’m here to talk about tonight. I want to talk about what reading does. What it’s good for.
( To read the rest of the story, please go here 🙂
Once more i ask that you please check on the elderly. If you haven’t had your Covid shot, please think of getting one. Please don’t forget support for our first responders.
Semper Fi theRooster
August is sliding right on by.
The last blog post by the Rooster was back on June 22, 2021. Where has this summer gone, I ask myself. I have kept abreast of the writings by others during these days; however, One blogger I’ve been following for some years, Mehrling’s Muse,(https://amehrling.com/about/) for whatever reason, I no longer get her notices. Perhaps her niece, a WordPress Techie, oops, Happyness Engineer, knows the reason behind that glitch. I do keep up with Anne’s husband, John, through E-Mail however. We have to keep that Train Ride going, right John. Oh, and Anne, I’m glad to hear the vision is good after the Cadillac Surgery, and you two are not flooded out.
From the Netherlands to America
Back about seven weeks ago, granddaughter Samantha and husband, Zed, transported their four children to Zeds parents. Sam made the trip alone. The kids would spend six weeks with Zed’s side of the family.
Here is a rundown by Grandmom Elaine on their activities as posted on FaceBook and a few pictures.
Don’t tell the horses. 
A hard day’s ride.
Well that’s a wrap! The Wild West Grannie
Four grandkids for the summer.
– Seattle in a flash (space needle, Ferris wheel, fish market)
– Ranch adventure (horseback riding, dirt bikes, ATV, chores, water trough swimming, milkshakes, baseball, branding, birthday party, ditch wading, lawn mowing, treehouse climbing, a few bumps and bruises, fireworks, babies and Moosey) Thanks Cindy, Erik, Mylee, Scott, and the ranch crew for all the help.
– Burns adventures (yardwork, city pool, rodeo, church, parade, baby blessing)
– Road trip to Idaho (older “cousins”, swimming pools, RV sleeping, police car, Bear World, pizza and family) Thank you Sara, Rachel, DaeNell, Ben, Zach, Melina, Savannah, and all the others of the family there…so much appreciated help.
– On to Utah- (family time- more older “cousins”, baseball, dinosaurs, more good food, ducks, chickens, and solid sleep). Thank you Jessup and Amanda and family.
-then Colorado (water trampoline, watermelon and burgers, piano, run and run, feed chickens, sleep like the dead) Many thanks Bringhurst bunch!
– on to Missouri (quality cousin time, sleepovers, pizza, ice cream, Aunts and Uncles, swimming, jet ski and tubes, splash pad, baseball, trampoline, amusement park, Wonder of Wildlife Museum and Aquarium, rodeo, beef demo and the Oscar Meyer WeinerMobile, and 3 new babies) Thank you Uncle Dallen, Uncle Wes, Uncle Jeff, and the Aunts!
– fly to Detroit for next adventures with other grandparents. Good luck and have the best time Jeff and Kathy. We miss them already ! Amazing is all I can say Elaine, good job.
Off to DelMarVa
The kids hung out with “G” & Pappy, Sam’s parents on the Eastern Shore of Maryland for the next two weeks. The backyard pool got a whole lot of attention. Zoe, who didn’t like putting her head in the water on day one, was swimming under water by the end of the visit.
Trips to the beach at Ocean City and Assateague, the wild horses, no, not the kids, the ones at Chincoteague, VA were enjoyed. Great times with Libby and Ben, (Dogs,) Aunts, Uncles cousins, and friends. A special set aside day for a Barbecue and an invite for all friends and family to come and get reacquainted with the kids was great. Pappy had his usual array of Brats, Burgers, Dogs & Chicken on the grill.
The visit was too short, and before we knew it the kids, with pappy and G in tow, were off on their return to Europe via PHL to AMS. That’s Philadephia to Amsterdam for you non-flyers. Pappy & G would spend ten days across the pond; they would visit with friends Brian and Rose, travel the Netherlands, Germany, Poland, and hang with Sam and Zed a bit.
All four kids would start school, Zoe a first timer in Pre-K. Free at last, Free at last, at least for a few hours Monday – Friday for same and Zed to declare.
Misc.
So my friends I’m back out here once more. Our chickens are producing eggs once again after a brief hiatus from the production business. My but they were slackers for about three weeks. We’ve gone back to layer crumbles with Fly Larve,a few Sun Flower seeds and a 1/2 cup of song bird feed and the protein boost seems to have done the trick.
Now you are up to date as of, let us say, to 8 August, 2021 anyway. A few more happenings in the journal, for the sake of being called a Rambler I’ll close for now.
If you don’t have a Covid shot, I wish you’d get one. Take care of the elderly, and Semper Fi to all and God Bless the men and women in Blue.
The Rooster
As The Rooster Crows 