Interesting Building Downtown and Funny Sleep Positions

Since I have started blogging, I am much more interested in unusual things that I can take a picture of and document. Carol and I were buying deck paint and we took a detour through downtown Clarksville. We spotted this building and I asked Carol to take some pictures. It has a very interesting architecture, with the novel roof features and all. I will do some research on it later and find out its design history.

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An overexposed view from down the street when we first saw the building and I said "Whoa, what is that?"

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Another view from a parking lot across the street. We have been close by here before because two years ago we watched the fireworks from this area. I did not notice the building then.
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Funny sleep position... Amaya was sleeping comfortably in Erica's arms as we left church. Her legs were a flapping with each step toward the car - it would have made a better movie but a picture was all I could get. I just noticed that Amaya's feet framed her Nana who was ahead of us. Nana still has some nice looking legs.
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Another unusual sleep position - picture taken on Monday morning - Amaya's first day with Grampa as head sitter. She rooted around on the floor for 10 minutes on her soft blanket with pacifier in her mouth. She finally stopped moving as she got into this position. She slept for 30 minutes and then let Grampa know that she noticed that he was not laying next to her anymore.
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Peas Please? -or- No Thank You Please Peas!

First bite of peas, she knew the spoon contained some kind of goody...

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Second bite of peas, not quite so excited...
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The family gave peas 5 out of 10. with rice being an 8 or so... stayed tune, more delicious flavors to be explored.
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Amigos had a fund raiser at a nice gallery in upcoming east Nashville, it was a fun, first class affair. We are all proud of Megan helping the young people have a world class experience.
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Beautiful cumulus clouds caught on my last hanglide trip...
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The Baby is Now Growling for Attention

In the last couple of days, Amaya's high pitched chirps, squeals and giggles have taken a new twist. She sometimes ends her noise campaign with a low tone growl. We are not sure that she will be doing this growl very long so we captured an episode on tape for posterity.

Yannis Was Here!!

I missed dinner with Megan's friend Yannis who is visiting from Santa Barbara because I was at Lookout. However, since the hangliding did not look good, I came home early and Megan took us out to lunch as I passed through Nashville. We went to the popular Mexican place over by the Vanderbilt Health Mall. Great news: Yannis is dating a son of a Benicia high school teacher who cannot be more excited about the budding romance. Rumor is that he serenades them as they sit on the front porch while his son is courting her whenever Yannis gets to town. (The teacher is also an accomplished musician and singer.) We are hoping soon that Yannis will tell his son that his father is playing her song, or something like that. We love you Yannis - Good Luck!!

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Two very beautiful young women...
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Sidewalk art in Megan's driveway caught by an avid family blogger.
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Laid Up at the VW Dealer in Chattanooga

One Saturday morning, I went one way (Chattanooga) and Carol went the other way with a car load of girls that she works with. (They went to Memphis or thereabouts.)

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This post is not chronologically organized and I am too lazy to make it so. Please (if you care to) read the entire post and figure out how it all fits together. This is my dream car, a 2009 candy white Jetta 5-speed with light brown leather and Sirius radio with built in GPS.
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I had lots of time (days) to wander around the two dealer lots and this car was all about Rolly Keith. The old western line in the bar was "Barkeep, make it a Double for my Friend." My line is "Carkeep, make it a Quatro for my Really Good Friend."
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This vehicle was all about my KC friend Vinny. If he wasn't Italian, he would be a great Englishman that would relish this Jaguar (and definitely pronounce it right). Vinny is a no toothpick until he gets to the smoking room kind of guy. He is a class act, except when he is with me, then he acts up. (He is Italian, he can't help it.)
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" Tony the Tiger" I called him. He is the parts and customer driver for the Village VW dealer. He and I had a good time driving to the Mall, to WalMart and Downtown as well. He is a character, as you can see from our short stop at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Complex (CCCC).
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This is the CCCC railroad engine in the museum/courtyard.
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Room 701 - this railcar is a motel room. I want to explore this one with Carol someday. Toot Toot!!!

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A sculpture outside of the Chattanooga Aquarium.
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In between charging batteries, drinking coffee and using the bathroom to take a bath, I checked out the new cars in the showroom. I really liked the VW Convertible; the showroom was quite big so I took it for a test spin. Nice driving machine. Wonder if it will pull the teardrop?

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I haven't met any security yet but today the General Manager of the dealership stopped by to see why I was camping in his lot. I showed him my trailer and told him that I was waiting for service tomorrow. He said that he would do everything he could to get me on the road. He came back a few minutes later and asked me if I wanted to spend some time in the dealership. I told him that I would certainly like to charge up my batteries - computer, phone and camera. Since one of his Technicians was working on a personal car, he let me stay in the waiting room. He also made me a pot of coffee and showed me the facilities. I thought that was right nice.
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The Waffle House down the road some makes a good omelet and they let me charge up my computer. I had a bit of wifi access from somewhere if I hold the computer next to the door of the teardrop just right.

So far my dealings at the Village Volkswagen have been good. I met the Sales Manager, Ron K who told me he was working late on Saturday nite on the Clunker program. He sympathsized with my plight and said it was ok to stay in the parking lot. I have yet to meet the Security guard. Plenty of places to eat around the corner so I think I will be alright here.

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Bobby, the tow truck driver, looks alot alike and talks just like the comedian Larry the Cable Guy. He is a Tyson chicken truck driver that helps his buddy do tows on the weekend. He did me ok although the trailer has never been towed as fast as it was coming down the mountain into Chattanooga.
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Bobby the driver told me early on that he could also haul my trailer for an extra $40 over the AAA no-ccharge. Sounded like a good deal to me so I said Cowboy Up, he said Gitter Done so I guess we communicated.
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Alas, on my way to Lookout Mountain to work on my aero tow rating, I dropped into the rest area off of I-24, mile post 134, at the top of the mountain and all of the water from my engine gushed out almost immediately as I turned off the ignition. (Boy, that was a long sentence.) What luck I was not on the freeway when my babie's water broke. The hoses were ok but I noticed that the plastic body holding the hose to the engine block was broken. Should be an easy fix depending on the cost of the part, the coolant flush and labor. ($275)
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A Second Birthday Party for Angela

Keith just retired and invited me to his place. He did not realize that I would almost beat him to his house. (He arrived Tuesday and I arrived Thursday.) We went over to the golf course 1/2 block from his house and admired the beauty of it all. I took a picture of him and his grand daughter Anglea - she is a beautiful, brown curly haired little lady.

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His grandaughter was having her 2nd birthday. It was a fun evening - I caught Tracey and Angela with birthday balloons in the background. We all had a great time!

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Keith has just retired and is trying to look the part. I glanced over at one point and told him that all he was missing was a "lap dog." Tracey found one... now his look is complete. He is retired, sitting in his favorite chair with his blanket and lap dog. Note that he is sipping his G&T with his grand daughter's curly sippy straw.
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Ellen and Anglea sharing a birthday secret.
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Angela eating the frosting first off of her cake.
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Ellen and Keith - what more can I say about this picture.
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Keith took me over to look at the golf course near his retirement house. We looked a bit and then spent the next 25 minutes trying to catch up to Angela. She took off down the cart path of the 6th hole. I literally had to jog some to get her before the street came up at the end of the 400 yard hole.
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We wandered over to the club house and was talking to the marshall when I felt a little curly head on my shoulder - I guess we finally wore her out.
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First Rice Cereal and A Fancy Ice Cream Desert

It is a special occasion evening as we are about to watch Amaya have her first rice cereal. Michael decided to celebrate the moment and made Banana Foster for everyone - we had it on vanilla ice cream. It was really good - he got the recipe from Valentino's - a nice Italian restaurant in Nashville.

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A bit of rum flame.
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A bit more of rum flame (for the effect perhaps more than anything).

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Megan and Panama were here for the occasion -

Amaya's first rice meal was certainly a family celebration.
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Panama is pointing at something - the photographer missed the appointment.
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Panama hiding from the photographer; sometimes a girl has to play hard to get.
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The First Rice Cereal That Amaya Has Had Movie.

A Trip to KCMO to Visit a Few Friends

We left early in the morning - Carol wakes up at 5 normally to go to work - and we made our way to I-24 West. There was a beautiful sunrise & fog in the fields. A nice way to start your day... with your favorite best friend beside you.

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We made St Louis about 10 or so, late enough to miss the rush hour.
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I do not understand this city. I suppose that it may be a fairly poor city, however it seems as though it has lost its perspective on how it looks as people drive through it.
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There are dozens of empty, some burnt out, buildings that are highly visible as you make your way through the city. We cannot figure out why they do not tear them down - what an eyesore to give visitors a poor first impression. By the way, we love the revitalized down town area - we are strong St Louis supporters - we just do not understand why they do not clean things up.
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Dan, Vinny and Doug upon arrival. Dinner planned, after cocktails at our favorite restaurant: Strouds. How can you resist a place that chokes their own chickens. (I do really miss the caramel rolls though. Remember I am gluten free.)
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The girls are: 1). Excited that they do not have to cook, 2). excited that they are married to handsome, successful men, or 3). excited to see each other.

Pick a reason but do they not look really excited?
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Daniel joined us for supper as well. He is doing well working with his father. At supper, I started the rumor that Dan will give Daniel the business for a dollar as soon as he gets married and has two grand children. (Why two? Lets say three, why not...) Daniel is a high flying bachelor with lots of male compradres. They are lake hounds I hear... not sure what they do in the Winter.
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I was not joking - they do choke their own chickens.
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I asked Vinny to take me to the car auction the next day - what a crazy place. This particular auction is small - only 4-lanes. I cannot imagine how crazy a big one gets. Vinny and I looked at several cars before the auction started but he missed one of them that we were going to bid on. I was watching the bid but did not have enough courage to raise my hand without him. It is a fun place - I could hang out here alot... ha
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Here is a short clip of two vehicles being auctioned at once. Imagine all 4-lanes at once, then multiply by 3-times. (Some of the auctions are 12 or more sale lanes.)

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