New walkway from extended patio to trash can pad - done.

Form for new trash can pad - built, not poured yet.

Yes, I mix and pour my own. Not bad for a cabinet guy, huh? Of course, now that I am getting up in the years, I can’t throw the 80 pound bags around like I used to. I am rather nicely surprised by how much I am not stiff and sore. Sure, a little achy, but not bad considering the shape I’m in. TMBWitW told me on Saturday to listen to my body - and to stop when I got tired. “But I’m not finished pouring the sidewalk, and there will be a ragged seam in the middle…”

She said, “I can live with the ragged seam, I can’t live without you. You are stubborn, aren’t you?”

Like that comes as a shock and surprise to anyone who knows me. I’m not stubborn, I’m a perfectionist. Sunday as I was finishing the pour, I was thinking to myself how to topcoat the concrete so it would look all smooth and one-piece.

Cinnamon put her right front paw in the almost-cured part. We decided to put all the paw prints (dogs only) in the same area.

All I have to do is level out the base for the last section, and I can start pouring that part. I should be finished by this weekend, then I can do the concrete Saturday morning. After that, I can start looking for some sod, edging, and kennel grit for the rest of the back yard, and maybe we’ll finally have the upper hand on the dust issue. Maybe. This is Arizona, after all.

First, I apologize for not blogging more often - I have this thing called “a life” that gets in the way of the blog(s) quite often.

Second, I am in the process of moving my e-mail to carycartter AT gmail DOT com - first, because for a free service, it rocks. Second, because for a free service, it provides (currently) 2.65 gigs (yes, gigs with a G) of storage - free. No auto-delete, all conversations remain grouped… go. Now. Check it out here.

And I’ll try to get something a little more interesting up soon.

I promise.

First, I apologize for not blogging more often - I have this thing called “a life” that gets in the way of the blog(s) quite often.

Second, I am in the process of moving my e-mail to carycartter AT gmail DOT com - first, because for a free service, it rocks. Second, because for a free service, it provides (currently) 2.65 gigs (yes, gigs with a G) of storage - free. No auto-delete, all conversations remain grouped… go. Now. Check it out here.

And I’ll try to get something a little more interesting up soon.

I promise.

Saturday morning, I finally got to see Robert again, after twenty five years:

Having retired from the USMC, he is authorized to wear his dress blues for formal occasions. Getting married is pretty formal.

Here’s a shot of me, Robert, and the third of four, Kenny:

The fourth, Gene, couldn’t attend due to his religious beliefs. He’s a Jehovah’s Witness. They aren’t allowed in other places of worship. Too bad, I would have liked to have seen him again also. Can’t have everything, I guess.

On to the ceremony!

This is Sheila’s mom, on the left, and Bob’s mom, on the right, lighting the family candles. That’s Pastor Jeff Coggins on the far right.

Bob waiting patiently:

Wait’ll you see her. You’d wait patiently too. Yowsa.

This is Denise, Sheila and Bob’s next door neighbor, and their ‘official’ photographer:

Hard to tell who was in who’s way. My guess is the only shots she has of me are the ones I’m supposed to be in.

And then I finally “met” Sheila:

What’d I tell you? Yowsa, right?

She looked at me, said “Are you Cary?”

I said “Yes, Ma’am.” Then I went over and hugged her. She started crying, and thanked me for making the trip to be at their wedding.

I got a lot of that while I was there.

Here’s Sheila and her dad, Henry, waiting to make their appearance:

Good thing they’re not nervous or anything.

Melissa Grinnell sang a bit to keep us occupied:

Good voice, good song, very pleasant to listen to. I am sure we have all sat through the friend of the bride or groom who begged to sing for them, and no one had the temerity to pull them aside and say “Listen, you sing well enough when it’s just you and the shower head, but out in public - not so much.” This was NOT the case here. Melissa had a set of pipes, and she knew how to use them.

That’s enough for now, I think. This dial-up is so slow (how slow is it?) I’ve been running the dishwasher and the laundry waiting for the pictures to upload. TMBWitW is in school tonight and it’s my night to hang out and clean. And post.

Bob, Sheila: I love you guys. May you be continually blessed.

OK, maybe not a procrastinator so much as someone who can’t seem to find enough time sometimes.

Between work, five dogs, five cats, driving the church shuttle twice a week, practicing the practice lines for the Christmas music a capella number, and paying enough attention to The Most Beautiful Woman in the World, it seems the blogs take a backseat. Which means the pictures from Bob and Sheila’s wedding are still sitting on the computer at home. And, since it’s a dial-up connection at home, it takes a while to upload each and every one of the photos I have selected to share. Yeah, just the thing to do on a nice cool afternoon when I have a sidewalk to pour, old sod to remove, and the backyard to prep for gravel…

Really, I’ll see what I can do this evening. It’s raining here in the Valley of the Sun, so outside work is even less appealing now than in the heat of the summer.

Saturday morning, before I headed over to Johnston, Ohio for Bob and Sheila’s wedding, I visited Lake View Cemetery to see if I could find a few ancestors. First, a big thank you to Anita at the Lake View office, who was kind enough to look up the gravesites for me. It was, appropriately enough, a windy and damp morning, with rain trying to fall and the temperatures in the brisk range. Beautiful weather. I remember what comes next, and it’s white - so I don’t miss the Ohio weather too much.

This is a picture of Section 5 plot 1 in Lakeview Cemetery. The corner of this section is for Justice David K. Cartter and his family. The headstones are, from left to right, his son Lt. David K. Cartter, the Judge, and the Judge’s wife, Nancy Hanford Cartter.

As mentioned earlier, Lt. Cartter died of Typhoid Fever while at Ft. Scott, Kansas during the Civil War.

This is a closeup of the Judge’s headstone.

A closeup of his wife’s headstone.

Another view of the Cartter memorial.

After I took the pictures of the headstones, I took a tour of the Jeptha Wade Chapel. This building was designed and built by the grandson of Jeptha Wade as a memorial to the elder. The inside was designed and installed by Louis Comfort Tiffany (yes, that Tiffany) and depicts the Old and New Testaments on either wall, with the Glorious Resurrection in the center window. The two bronze doors were cast in Cleveland and each one weighs two tons, yet they are so well balanced they can be opened or shut with one hand.

And I’ll have pictures up soon!

I’ve got to stuff as close to forty hours as possible into four days, since I’ll be traveling again on Friday, and yesterday only saw nine accomplished.

Yeah, the math astounds me too.

I finally met Sheila face to face - Bob sure knows how to pick ‘em!

And I promise, I’ll have pictures up soon.

Traveling was not exciting, which is a good thing. Exciting plane rides rarely end with “and they lived happily ever after.”

I did get to Lakeview Cemetery, located Judge Cartter’s plot, memorial, and headstone. Pictures to follow.

I also toured the Jeptha Wade Chapel on the ground of Lakeview.

Wow. Wait till you see those pictures. I’ll have them up, soon. Gotta work my butt off this week, since I am traveling again on Friday and as an hourly pogue I still need to squeeze as many hours in as possible, even in a short week.

Well, I’ve been running around so much this week that I haven’t been posting.

Let me apologize to all two of my regular readers.

As both of you know, I am flying to Cleveland tomorrow, and then driving to the Farmdale/Johnston area for my friend’s wedding. I am working first, of course, and the flight leaves at 1:00. Tonight is church, and I drive the shuttle for that; when am I supposed to get packed?

Looks like a long night to finish up last minute items.

See you when I get back!!