Thanksgiving Dinner, Good Wine, A Night Out, Free Drinks, Glutten Free Pancakes and a Stroller Sleep

We took Family Christmas card pictures after a wonderful meal and guess what, everybody's favorite picture was my worst one. Alas, I probably care less than anyone so no problem. Just call me Grumpy...

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Are not these a couple of sweet things all dressed up alike. Precious Grandbabies.
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Carol and I decided to go out to Music Row one night to do a little dancing - decided we would just get a hotel so that we could live it up and not have to worry about driving. We looked at Howard Johnson's but decided on an upgrade to the Renaissance. Nice digs for a pretty lady...
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In our travels through Music Row, we met John and Walt. One happens to be working, one happens to be watching his brother work. Can you tell which is which? Both are swell guys.

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An added treat to the weekend, Carol and I stood in line for an hour to eat at the Pancake Pantry. Can you believe it, they have wonderful glutten free pancakes. Yummy!

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Later on Saturday after we arrived home, Carol and I took our grandbaby out for a little walk - she took a little nap while we were out. Erica and Carol ended up putting up some Xmas lights out front - very pretty.
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Thanksgiving Morning in the New Orleans French Quarter - I saw Santa and Evidence of the Reindeer

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Dead Battery but Elvis is Alive and Driving a Tow Truck Near New Orleans

I drive to Job # 2 near New Orleans and decide after a few days to rent a condo instead of a motel room. I found an OK efficiency (smaller than a one bedroom) in Craig's list and met the owner who is living with her sister since she is having back surgery soon. I settled up on things and I am renting in a nicer place for half the cost of a motel room. It is nice to have a big bathroom, a small kitchen with a full size fridge and a King size bed. No cable TV or Internet though so that is a bit troublesome. (Too cheap to have it hooked up for just one month.)

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I have a nice pool view from my deck - although it is a bit cool for swimming - gets down to about 50 at nite. It is stunningly quiet at night - sometimes I sit on the deck and do a divers ear puff just to check that my ears are not plugged. It is really quiet and dark at night - very nice change from the motel life. I also have a nice Country Club a block away but I have not yet had time to wander over there to see what is going on. Lots of golfers on nice days - not sure if it is restricted to members or not. Might be a good Sunday activity if the public can play there.
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Unfortunately Elvis and I met on my first day at the Condo. My car would not start and it turns out that the battery was so bad that it would not charge either. Elvis, the local AAA tow truck driver who drives for Corvette Towing (yes, this is his name and he sings in the local clubs and he has the tapes to prove it - listen to the movie below) took me to Walmart for $20 to get a new battery. He then took me to the Waffle House near my old motel to catch his buddie's taxi back to Diamondhead, MS where I now live (it cost me $30). He could not pick me up at Walmart that is 8-blocks away because it is technically in a different city and he cannot get a license there because the mayor's uncle already owns the cab rights there. Boy, the things you learn by asking...
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Working at a Pipe Mill in Little Rock, Arkansas

I spent a month working with Frank, Terry, Terry, Terri, Gilles and others in Little Rock at a Pipe Mill owned by an India Corporation. I really enjoyed working with the Team Quality People and it was also fun & interesting to get back into "Technical Issues" after two years of virtually no involvement. Hope to do more of this with Team Quality Services. I met several people of note: Charlie Lamb of Napa fame is Plant Manager, Mike Wilheit of Double Ender World Wide fame was there as well. I also met two Indian gentlemen in the Lab by the name of Chary and V-Jay. Both have recently obtained their Masters Degrees from the SDSM&T in Rapid City. We had a great laugh about that - small world eh I would say - trying to speak Canadianese like the rest of the group. Chary and V-Jay were very capable and cooperative Quality people and most open to suggestions based on my experience.

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One of my assignments was to inspect the 50-car unit train before it left the Port of Little Rock. I did a whole bunch of walking. The whole train is almost a mile long.
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While I was busy with the UP unit train, Warren bought BNSF, the switch engine that works at the Port now belongs partially to me. I had an interesting conversation with the engineer who is pleased about the sale.
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I missed my girls. Upon return, Panama came for an overnight. We had several walks, including this one where we found a collective of plastic animals along the sidewalk. Of course, we had to stop, name each one several times and rearrange their positions in the world. (We in fact had to rearrange several times. Panama sure knows her animals - the only one she did not know was the porkypine (not going to risk a spelling error.))
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Amaya had three firsts while I was home: her first cold, poor thing, her first all juice popsicle and her first dose of brain freeze half way through the eating of it.
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Woke up on my 58th Birthday to frost on the pumpkin - frost on the windshield actually.
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On the Road Again... another pipe mill down the road near New Orleans. The scope and length of the job yet to be determined. Bye for now...
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I Miss My Lovely Wife - Have Fun in Florida!!

Hi to all of our California friends meeting at Tim's place in Florida. Sorry I could not make the trip - little busy right now finishing up a job in Arkansas. Tim, I will see you at some point - we need to golf...